AllanThinks

Just Testing

Just testing Typepad's new iPhone/iPod Touch interface.

I don't know how often  I will make use of it, but it is very cool.

It's one more reason to love the iPod Touch. And there are already many reasons to love it.

Testing...1...2...3

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Cockpit

Clicking the image will take you to its Flickr page. You can see a larger version there.

Ali and I bought a new car last Friday. It's a 2007 Honda Civic LX.

We've needed a second car since she moved here, and we finally bought one.

We still have the 2002 Jetta, but plan to trade it in soon for another new car. The Jetta is out of warranty, and is becoming a maintenance nightmare. It spent the week we were in Washington in the shop, and cost me $1200 plus for repairs.

We are still trying to decide what to replace it with. We've talked for some time about buying a pickup truck or small to mid-size SUV for the utility they would provide for hauling things like furniture and garden supplies. The Honda Element seems like a pretty good fit.

But last night, while we were out to dinner with the local Drinking Liberally group, our friend Elle suggested to me that the Civic was now our 'sensible' car, and that the second new car should be something fun. Like a convertible.

She went on to tell me how much fun her Miata convertible is.

And, those of you who read Mike's blog, know how much he loves his new Miata convertible.

What to do? What to do?

Lava Lamps are cool!

Clicking the image will take you to its Flickr page. You can see a larger version there.

Exposure:  0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV

I Think This Might Qualify Me For UberGeek Status

Clicking the image will take you to its Flickr page. You can see a larger version there.

This is our new ION USB Turntable. Yes, you read that right. It has a USB port on it, so that it can be connected to a computer.

With the included audio editing software, one can rip music from vinyl records to MP3 files.

I have a collection of several hundred LPs that I have not listened to in a few years. My last decent turntable died after over 20 years of service and I never replaced it. I intended to buy a new one, but never did.

I had CDs and the radio to listen to, and I think in the back of my mind I expected that some day a turntable that could be connected to a computer might exist. And now the technology exists.

And it works great. I've only ripped three tracks from a single LP so far, but Ali and I will be going through my collection to see what else might be worthy of digitizing.

myPod

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

One more week.

I ♥ The Internets

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

It makes it feel like she is not so far away from home.

I love competition.

Recently, our local telephone company announced that they had begun offering FIOS, a fiber optic to the premises service, promising very high speed Internet access (up to 12 MB/sec) as well as other features like digital television over phone lines. However, they are only offering it to new residential developments. Old neighborhoods won't be able to get it for now.

But in advance of this announcement, the local cable company, from whom we get our Internet access, announced a system upgrade to provide all Internet users increased throughput. Up to 10 MB/sec downstream and 1 MB/sec upstream.

We've noticed faster downloads of files, and multimedia content for the past couple of months. Today I decided to put it to the test.

These are excellent results considering the load on our home wireless network. We have two computers running multiple browser tabs (some of which reload automatically), and the Roku Soundbridge streaming our favorite radio station at 128kbps.

Yep. Competition is a good thing.

Curio

Click image for a much better view.

This is the photo that resulted from the setup shown in my last entry.

Look what I made!

Click image for a much better view.

I spent the late afternoon and early evening building this homemade light tent to use as a portable macro studio. Those who know me know I love to do macro work.

The plans for this were published on a photography blog called The Strobist. A friend brought the article to my attention a while back. I finally got off my butt and made the thing.

It took a couple of hours to put together. But I was being very careful in cutting out the windows in the box so as to not destroy it.

I took this shot to show what it looks like. I also took a few test macros, but I haven't processed them yet. I'll post them on my photostream later this evening.

I was using a cheap high intensity desk lamp as my light source, but I plan to buy Nikon SB-800 Flash to use with it.

The cheapest commercial light tent I could find on the web cost about $55. I think this was well worth the effort to save $50.

If you would like to make your own, the plans can be found here.