Loopy Screensharing

So if you ever wondered what happens if you screenshare in a loop, here is a nice fun picture =)

Aspect Ratios

People will argue until the end of time whether or not widescreen is better than traditional 4:3 monitors. Personally, I believe most webpages and most documents are much taller vertically than they are wide. So you want the most vertical space possible. I’ve heard the argument that with widescreen you can have two vertical documents simultaneously. But, nothing prevents you from having to vertical documents with even more vertical space on non-widescreen monitor. 1600 wide is really no different than 1680 wide when viewing two documents at once.

So at the end of the day, what really matters is how many pixels get on screen and for any user who’s been around since the days of CRTs, for the most part widescreen has been a big downgrade not an upgrade. If you are buying a monitor for the first time in today’s market I can see how widescreen would not seem like a downgrade. But since most CRT users came from using either 1280×1024 or 1600×1200 the equivalent widescreen models have been downgrades.

I would argue that most users who had CRTs at 1280×1024 looking to upgrade to a LCD would have preferred 1600×1200 rather than 1680×1050. Unfortunately, widescreen monitors were much cheaper in comparison. Only recently in the last couple years have 1980×1200 become available at consumer prices. So I would argue that for the most part widescreen monitors have been downgrades rather than upgrades for anyone who has had a high-resolution CRT.

More recently 1920×1200 models have come out and they are still pretty pricey, some examples of very high rez monitors…

For me, when it comes down to it, maximum pixels on the screen means more to me than anything else. So 1.92MP is better than 1.76MP any day of the week, so i’ll be sticking with 1600×1200 until I decide to upgrade to a 1920×1200 model.

Deka EXT18L

Gratuitous RX-7 pic I took

So i’ve thought about putting in a light weight battery for awhile now and earlier this year my old battery finally gave up the ghost, so I decided to try a light weight sealed AGM racing battery. I was a bit worried about whether or not he would become problematic, so I went not with the smallest possible battery but with something just ever so slightly larger. I’ve heard of people often using the Deka EXT14 (I’ve read these are the exact battery the more pricy racing brand Braille uses) which is a 200CCA 12lbs battery. I’ve also heard that if you don’t start on the first or second try it may not work. I’ve also heard that if you let your car sit for a too long it can be a problem. So I went for the EXT18L which is a 300CCA 18lbs battery. 33% bigger and more weight seemed totally reasonable to me. After removing the original battery tray and battery I saved 22lbs! Nice savings for a mere ~$80 battery which I picked up at Battery Power Inc. (818) 896-6455 (sylmar/burbank area of LA). Installation was 3 very large heavy duty zip ties.

So 6 months later? NO PROBLEMS at all… I’ve allowed my car to sit for seven days and it had no problem starting up and I’ve also had no problems turning it over multiple times. Actually, compared to my old battery which was way past due to be replaced its been a large improvement in the available power.

The only downside in going with a battery this size is that you don’t want to leave your car keyed on with the engine off for long periods of time. Also, note you’ll need some screw on battery posts. Here is a link with some pictures, links and discussion.

A123 Battery

So, I recently ran into this article called “New Report Card Grades for the 12 Leading Lithium-ion Battery and Ultracapacitor Development Companies in the World”. Yes, I know, ridiculously long title… anyway this particular article was doing something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time which is consolidate all the battery technology advances I’ve been keeping track of in one easy to read blog post. Well, maybe not so easy to read but at least consolidated in one place. This particular article was written purely from a investment standpoint, which isn’t exactly what I had in mind. There are certainly benefits of looking at these companies from a financial perspective but I’m more interested in the technology.

Standard lithium chemistry batteries have some obvious issues. In the past battery technology (lead acid, nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, etc.) was too heavy and/or too bulky to be appropriate for modern vehicles. These days the current lithium chemistry that is used in a variety of consumer products is well within the range of powering a wide variety of vehicles. The problem is there are a few drawbacks with the current chemistry:

• Limited charge speed
• Limited current capacity
• Safety
• Cost

The good news is that these problems are being handled by advanced new lithium chemistries.

Section 1: Advanced Lithium Chemistries

Valence technologies
http://www.valence.com/
Technology: Lithium Phosphate
Claims: “Safe, rugged and reliable technology with a cycle life 3-4 times that of lithium cobalt” they claim after 1400 cycles at 115f (its maximum operating temperature) it will retain 80% (90% at 73F) of its capacity. They also claim a full charge in roughly 2 hours. This sounds like a solid technology for the average commuter car. Safe, long lasting, and reasonable recharge rate.

7/10

Boston power
http://www.boston-power.com
Technology: Lithium Manganese and softshell aluminum cases
claims: ”

• Longer life - up to three years of everyday charging
• Faster charging - up to 40% capacity in just 10 minutes, 80% in 30 minutes
• Safer to use - multiple, redundant safety features mean better protection for the user
• Better for the planet - awarded Nordic Ecolabel for environmental sustainability”

Unfortunately, there are no obvious data sheets on their products on the webpage. So, there is really no way to make a real comparison against the other products are. Again though, they seem to be squarely targeting EV’s. while these potentially have much better recharge time, the lack of real product information makes them lose a point.

6/10

A123 Systems
http://www.a123systems.com/
Technology: Lithium Nanophosphate
Claims: “At A123Systems we have developed breakthrough, patented Nanophosphate(TM) lithium ion battery technology that provides engineers and application developers significantly higher power, an inherently safer chemistry, and an order of magnitude longer life.”

From their data sheets, they claim 80% capacity at 800 cycles at 140f and 95% at 77F! The great news about these guys if they are shipping actual real products today! Both Black & Decker and DeWalt have lines of power tools that use A123 batteries. The world’s fastest” EV powered motorcycle the “kilacycle” is powered by their batteries. The current major downside is cost and lack of large cell availability. They advertise a small kit with 6 26650 cells for $110 each, but this is hardly a scalable solution. On a side note, its apparently cheaper to harvest them from power tool battery backs 3rd parties sell to the public.

7/10

Altair NanoTechnology
: “Nanosafe batteries”
http://www.altairnano.com/”
Technology: Nano-structured lithium titanate spinel oxide (LTO)

Claims:

• No operational safety issues
• Three times the power of existing batteries
• A one-minute recharge
• High cycle life–10,000 to 15,000 charges vs. 750 for existing batteries
• The capability to operate in extreme temperatures: -22* to 480*F
• Low life-cycle costs

While Altair batteries have a specific energy (~95wh/kg) higher than NiMH and similar to that of LiFePO4 batteries (in other words better than NiCad or lead acid but not as good as state of the art lithium-ion), they’ve made significant breakthroughs in specific power (available current). They make some bold claims that if they can deliver on would be fairly disruptive, including 10-100x watts/kg, the fastest recharge time, the most cycle life, the widest range of temperatures, and with total safety. They are closer to ultra capacitors in specifications in any other battery in this group. Pricing? Unclear…

8/10

Toshiba
“Supercharge SCiB”
Toshiba Press Release
Technology: unknown
Claims:

• Excellent safety
• Current performance equivalent to an electric double layer capacitor
• 5 minute recharge (to 90%)
• 3,000 to 5,000 cycles
• Low temperature use -30*C

Sounds very familiar doesn’t it? While not exactly as extreme as Altair is claiming, Toshiba is claiming much of the same advances. Which makes me highly suspicious they are either 1. using similar technology or 2. Sourcing technology from Altair.

“According to a report in the Nikkei, Toshiba will begin producing 150,000 batteries a month at a Saku, Nagano Prefecture, factory. It will shift to mass production by 2010 with plans to make 600,000 cells for hybrid and electric vehicles and 400,000 batteries for forklifts and other industrial equipment.”
— green car Congress
Green Car Congress

“Toshiba…19,440 kWh a year…”

“For comparison A123 is likely producing 40,000 in the eye in 2007. Altair is likely doing less than 3,500 kWh in 2007.”

9/10

ElectroVaya
http://www.electrovaya.com
Technology: “Lithium Ion SuperPolymer” (Lithiated Manganese Oxide)
Claims:

• 40-60 percent higher energy density compared to LiFePO4
• Comparable safety characteristics to LiFePO4

This Canadian company was founded in 2000 and makes a variety of lithium-based chemistry batteries. They seem to be going down the lithium manganese path as opposed to the lithium phosphate path. I don’t know a lot about them but I will start keeping my eye on them.
?/10

Generic Chinese LiFePO4
Claims:

• Safe
• Reasonable density 100wh/kg typical
• Decent temperature ranges
• Typically claim 1000-4000 cycles
• 1C-10C of available current

There are at least a dozen chinese companies building and selling LiFePO4 batteries. While most of them are still fairly pricey, a few of them are bringing costs down to the point where real EV’s are possible. I believe this is the most likely way consumers will see electric vehicles in the short-term. Major auto manufacturers will probably drag their feet and ignore these companies until the market pressure forces them to play their hand.

8/10

Section 2: The holy Grail… Ultra capacitors

While batteries store chemical energy and make it available as electricity. The disadvantage of this is that the chemical reactions necessary for rechargeable batteries are limited in the speed at which they can happen, in the number of times the reaction can be repeated and reversed, and in the shelf life of the chemicals. In contrast a capacitor stores its energy by putting electrons between a pair of conductors, there is no chemical reaction. This means they could potentially last forever and they can charge and discharge at very high rates. in the past, the problem with capacitors in general was capacity. Even the last generation of super capacitors were only capable of 1000th the capacity of the lithium-ion battery.

EESTOR
Ultracapacitors
EEStor Wiki
Technology: barium titanate coated with aluminum oxide and glass capacitors
Claims:

• Nontoxic and non-hazardous
• Non-explosive
• For a 52 kWh unit, an initial production price of $3,200, falling to $2,100 with mass production is projected.[6] This is half the price per stored watt-hour as lead-acid batteries, and potentially cheap enough to use to store grid power at off-peak times for on-peak use, and to buffer the output from intermittent power sources such as wind farms.
• No degradation from charge/discharge cycles
• 4-6 minute charge time for a 336 pound (152 kg), 2005 cubic inch (33 L), 52 kilowatt hour (187 MJ), 31 farad, 3500 volt unit, assuming sufficient cooling of the cables.
• A self-discharge rate of 0.1% per month

Queue up EESTOR!
Claims to have Capacitors with storage density of 280 wh/kg. typical LiION is 100-200 wh/kg and in 10 times typical lead acid. In real-world terms this means you could build a vehicle that would get 4-500 miles per charge and recharge in roughly 5 minutes.

Secrecy and “adjusted schedules” has caused some concern of vaporware. On the other hand, defense contractor Lockheed-Martin has recently signed and exclusive deal for defense applications. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see consumer applications for awhile simply so that the US Military can get a good multi-year jump on building new technology around such game changing energy systems.

1 point off for my gut telling me its not going to be this cheap, 2 points off for lack of any real products.

7/10

Conclusion:

Pb (lead) - 30wh/kg, 300-500 cycles, can’t be discharged to 0%
NiCd - The past
NiMh - Memory issues, medium density, medium power
LiFePO4 - 100kw/kg, great cycle life, lots of power and reasonable price today, also doesnt have a huge environmental cost compared to NiMh.
LiMn2O4 - Reasonably safe, potential for higher density, wear quickly at high temperature and not as available.
LiCoO2 (”typical” Lithium ION) - NOT safe, best power/weight and very expensive.
Ultracapacitors - Ideal technology but not available yet.

So the winner is LiFePO4. As LiMn2O4 become more available they may have a chance and ultimately if and when EESTOR comes through on its claims, ultra-capacitors will win the long war.

Nice Lithium comparison chart

Misc…

Recent rage of adding some capacitors and batteries together to increase battery life and increase instantaneous current/power.
Technology Review: A Cheaper Battery for Hybrid Cars

Research

Stanford University - 10x lithium with nanowires
High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires

MIT Ultra capacitors
MIT Builds Efficient Nanowire Storage to Replace Car Batteries

glass under pressure…

So, I was going to write a big post about battery technology. But, it is going to have to wait until tomorrow as a huge window in my house has just exploded… Thank the inventor of safety glass! I suppose this is one of the downsides of living in a house that was built in the 20’s. Well that and the fact that my office is tilted just enough that my chair always wants to roll away from my desk…okay and maybe lack of central air =P

It’s still crackling and splintering in a disturbing way…maybe I’ll take another picture in the morning.

iTunes

I wrote a long thing on what to do, then my wireless went down and when i went to post it, it lost it. gee I love technology….any so now you get the short end of the stick =)

This worked for iTunes 7.6 Build 29 (no guarantees…)

Backup
~/Library/Preferences/cmp com.apple.iTunes.plist

Use a Hex editor and change byte 0×13FF from 01 to 00

Launch iTunes…presto bingo, the warning should be back.

Topanga Canyon Fire Map as of 10/23/07 6am

So I’ve been showing my maps to a few people and decided they should to be posted. You’ll have to excuse the list of names, I’m sure you’re mom and mine aren’t in the same location!

Topanga Canyon Fire Map as of 10/22/07

Topanga Canyon Fire Map as of 10/23/07 6am

T-Cep (Topanga Collation for Emergency Preparedness) Fire Zone Map

T-Cep Information Updated Live information

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Air direction and speed map Red numbers are air-speed, black are temperature. Direction is the line heading away from the + symbols.
Regional visible satellite images 1KM Loop (daytime only and requires Java)

City of Malibu page (source of original fire maps)

Update: 10/24/07 9am The Fire Department reports that the fire is estimated to be 4500 acres and is now 75% contained. Full containment is expected by Friday, October 26. All major highways are now open in both directions. Press Release

Update: 10/24/07 9am Charter expects that customers will have service restored between 6:30 and 8:30 pm this evening. Charter Press release

Southern California Fire Map google mashup (doesn’t seem to be frequently updated in many locations)

Deca.tv

Long time no post…

So I’m working at a new company. First job since some where in the early 90’s. No really…ok first time I’ve worked for someone else since then. We are a digital studio…the official marketing blurb…

“DECA is committed to creating unique, high-quality digital entertainment properties that combine premium video, social media applications and community. Our goal is to consistently provide new and exciting digital brands to consumers, marketers, distributors and creative talent.”

Reality:

Dog and Pony Show: cheeky interviews with business innovators.
BoingBoingTV: Boingboing…but video

So wish us luck and check out the content and let us know what you think!

The Moon (warning its a biggie)

So back in November I did this set of photos of the moon. Recently I borrowed this 8″ Celestron telescope and got a shot of Saturn. I was both impressed (that you could see it at all) and mildly disappointed I couldn’t capture what you could see with the human eye. Hence I aimed my scope at something a little closer to see if I could improve on my past attempts without a real long lens. The results are not too shabby.

So until next time I can think of something else to take a picture of…signing off…

Update: Ok, so I managed to find some mostly free image stacking software, did a quick 10 stack and substantially improved the resolution, enough so that I’m willing to show the 100% version. Warning this is 3872×2592 but its quite impressive what you can do to remove the atmospheric distortion with multiple photos.

Saturn

So instead getting an image of something really close up (which I often like doing), here is something far far away. It’s nothing spectacular or amazing like this. But, its the best I could do with equipment on hand and not being NASA. Maybe if I can get the tracking a little better I could improve it marginally, but really I bet better viewing conditions would have a much greater impact in quality.

It’s also really overkill but impressive on things much closer to home. Here is my best shot with a marginal quality 320mm lens. Same thing at 2032mm (no eye piece and reduced to 50%). Impressive!

I’ll get a much better moon shot once it rolls around, its not coming up until like 5am or something silly.

Celestron C8 Telescope (2032mm F10) 8mm eye piece (so like 254x magnification)
Pentax K10D 10MP Camera