Author: John

DIY Drones

DIY UAVI’m sure this is going to end up like the guy that has had a site about building the DIY cruise missiles.This

is a resource for all things about amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): How-to’s, links, videos, images and a discussion group. Among other things, this is where we’ll be listing all the parts, software and instructions to build each of our UAVs.

I know that I’d like to have a plane with a camera built into it. An autopilot would make lining up a good photo a lot easier. How cool would that be? It’s simply amazing what you can do with off the shelf stuff and some brains. Oh yeah, and LEGOS. Yes, one of these planes has a servo actuated camera mount that is built from LEGO parts. That in mind your not going to be loitering over your target all day looking for the guy that has been stealing your newspaper every morning. These UAVs get about 20 minuets in the air and can only go about five miles. Still, it is very cool.
DIY Drones

Japan’s Internet Cafe Homeless

'Net cafe Tokyo Image by Kai Hendry
Nice to know that if I’m ever in Tokyo and need a place to sleep I can just hunker down in an Internet cafe for the night. Apparently there are a few thousand people that just can’t get enough work to afford an apartment in Tokyo. You have to remember that when you undertake the renting of an apartment you have to pony up about four months worth of rent as the down payment. Ouch! You also have to have a co signer in case you can’t make the rent, if you don’t have one of these your out of luck. It’s no wonder that these guys will spend 980 yen ($US) for a place to sleep. The deal breaker is the free coffee and soda that the cafes offer.

[via boingboing and futurismic]
The internet cafe refugees – no friends or prospects, and only a cubicle to call home

The Sultan’s Elephant


This is a thing of beauty, I blogged this before but these clips are a whole bunch better.

 

The Sultan’s Elephant is a giant marionette show put on by the French street theater company Royal de Luxe. It has been performed in several European cities.

I find it simply amazing that a gargantuon marionette can be manipulated in such subtle ways. If it weren’t for the block and tackle surrounding her you might almost forget that it’s 30 feet tall.

 

CK Pinhole Photography Resources

CK Pinhole Photography ResourcesI ran across this a few days ago:

Being a photographer who is passionate about pinhole photography, I wanted to create a complete all-in-one internet resource that offers information for the beginner, amateur and professional pinhole photographer. I hope you find this information helpful whatever your pinhole interests are.

Maybe one day a few of my pinhole projects will end up on this fine list.

[ CK ] Pinhole Photography Resources

DIY Canon Camera Firmware Enhancements

One of the greatest things about technology isn’t what it does, but it’s what it can do. This is a shining example of this very concept:

If you have a point-and-click digital camera made by Canon, you may be able to turn on all sorts of features usually reserved for more expensive SLRs. That includes live histograms, depth-of-field calculation, under and overexposure highlighting, and — best of all — shooting your pictures in RAW. The secret is CHDK, an enhanced, free software replacement firmware.

I’m going to have to disagree that the best part of this is being able to shoot in RAW mode. Don’t get me wrong, I love using RAW (or NEF as it’s called on my Nikon) but the best part of this enhancement is that fact that you can do scripting in a BASIC like language in the camera. Wow… This is like getting a computer that has predefined programs on it and then discovering the programming tools for it. With these scripts you can do such amazing things as automatically create a series of photos for HDR stacking that can later be run through software to extend the dynamic range of the images. You can run an interactive interval timer to take X number of photos ever X seconds, minutes, or even hours so you could do a time laps study of ice melting or a building being built. Those are just two examples of what can be done with the powerful feature.
One clever thing is that if you make a mistake and screw something up that chance of you ‘bricking’ your camera is quite low. To remove the firmware enhancement you simply remove the CD card and power up the camera. Bingo, everything is back to normal. I for one will be on the lookout for a camera that this will work on.

[via MAKE]
Linux.com :: How to give your low-end Canon digital camera RAW support

Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE

Google sponsors Lunar X Prize to create a space race for a new generation
Ripped from the headlines of today…

The X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million prize purse. Private companies from around the world will compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.

Well this is just cool, a $30 million dollar (US) prize may not sound like all that much when your talking about going to the moon but the money isn’t what is at stake here. Charles Lindbergh didn’t set out to win the Orteig prize (Started in 1919 by a wealthy hotel owner, it offered $25,000 for the first allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York NY to Paris France vice-versa) just for the cash. I’m sure the money was part of the incentive, but the achievement of winning was it’s own reward. When Lindbergh finished his 30 plus hour flight his accomplishment ushered in a new age for aviation. I can see
No one has eve said that space travel is easy. It may possibly be the single hardest task to accomplish in the world. It’s full of risks, high costs, the potential for catastrophic disaster is high. But the long term rewards are fantastic. The knowledge gained by undertaking such a task could benefit mankind for years to come. If your one of those people that think that thing like the exploration of space and a contest to get robots to the moon is just a waste of time and money I’d like you to give a long hard look at what your reading this on. If it’s a computer, and I bet I’m right, then you yourself have already reaped the rewards of technology that was pioneered for space exploration. No matter how you slice it, setting a mark and offering people a chance to excel breeds innovation and advancements that the entire world benefits from.

[via CNN Money]

Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE to Create a Space Race for a New Generation