Staticfree Blog

I just completed my first IR webcam mod, loosely following the simple directions found on this forum: open it up, scrape off the infrared filter from the lens with a screwdriver, add a visible light filter (in my case, a Wratten 87), and finally close again. This particular webcam (Intel CS-330) is nice for experimentation in that it has an adjustable lens for focusing close up on things.

I modified the directions slightly, so I could preserve as much image quality as I could manage. Instead of scraping off the old filter with a screwdriver, I opted for 600 grit sandpaper (use higher if you can find it) and a little veggie oil (I think you're supposed to use mineral oil, but this is all I had).

So far, it works! So far, I haven't had much to look at yet as almost all our apartment's lighting is compact fluorescent and emits little IR. The above photo was taken in my bathroom with the only remaining incandescent light bulbs. Of course, my shirt and hat are both black, despite them showing up as bright white and grey (respectively) in the photo.

Once I get some daylight, I'll be posting many more photos to this gallery. As I have a lot of the Wratten 87 filter left, I may mod a more portable camera as well for experimentation in the wild. I was able to see quite a bit with just the Wratten 87 filter held in front of my Nokia 6103's camera (that photo was taken during the day).

A new [borrowed] toy

We just got a few Socket Bluetooth GPS adapters in at the office the other day. This device meets my approval with its minimalist interface, while still remaining hackable enough to not suck. It has a place to feed it, a place to make it stronger (antenna), a switch to make it go, and three blinky lights to let you know what's going on inside its little black case. This is good. Except for the ability to replace the battery or perhaps change the Bluetooth pairing key, I can't think of anything else it'd need to meet my approval. I like this trend of devices: where they function on a basic level, do it well, and are flexible enough to meet a geek's approval.

I managed to make it go with both my Palm and my Linux-running laptop - a true trial of a device's compatibility. They both work Really Well with it, so much that they make me want to go get one right away.

In more technical terms, it's simple as well: you pair it with a device, establish a serial connection and it starts spitting out GPS coords in the standard NMEA format. I was able to successfully get it going in Linux with GPSDrive (and gpsd) and on my Palm with Mapopolis. I've been pondering a cheaper USB one for µ, but the novelty (and potential benefit) of being able to use it without a full-fledged computer is starting to win out cost. Walking down the street on my Palm, GPS in backpack, listening to OGGs playing off it is just too wonderful a thing.

Bluetooth doesn't suck!

Despite initial skepticism, I'm starting to like Bluetooth. Devices today seem to mostly play nice: I can go online using either my laptop or cellphone as PPP proxies from either my laptop or Palm without any trouble. (Well, not quite, but that's a known firmware bug on the cellphone.) I can send vCards and other contact information the like between any of the devices, I can place calls on the phone from the Palm - all in all, it actually works.

In my extensive playing around with the technology, I've come across a few usability bugs.

1. Pairing - an obvious problem for devices, like the GPS, with no user input. The device really should have a user-configurable "pairing password", but most just have some arbitrary hard-coded value. Otherwise, anyone who's near you can pair with the device without your knowledge and potentially get at sensitive information. (Although GPS data is arguably not "sensitive" data)
2. Detection - Bluetooth device detection seems to be flaky. Frequently, when I scan for nearby Bluetooth devices, one or more that should be shown are not. A second scan tends to correct that problem, but you shouldn't have to do that. Once device detection occurs, a way of seeing what the device can do (can it connect to the 'net and act as a modem? can it accept contacts? can it act as a fax sender?) called service discovery takes place. That frequently fails to give useful information (at least in Linux with Bluez).
3. Too slow - I've already hit the limit of Bluetooth, hard. I've tried to go online with my cellphone, connect the phone to my laptop so the laptop can be online, then connect my palm to my laptop so I can use that connection. That totally hosed the Bluetooth. I'm not quite sure entirely what went wrong, but I have a feeling it has to do with sending/receiving so much data at once. I ended up getting less than 1KB/s on the Palm which is simply unacceptable.

Besides these complaints, I'm fond of the technology. I still can't get over how keen it is to have a bunch of boxes in various locations on my person (cell in cargo pants, GPS in backpack) and have them all work successfully. This is the wave of the future.

PuTTY for SymbianOS (the operating system of my cellphone). PuTTY is my favorite SSH client when I can't get the real thing. Having it live on my cellphone means that I can have an ssh client...in my pants. (Arguably, I've had such for awhile, but the program is for my Palm and is remarkably slow). I recall drooling about the idea a few years back and hearing various people saying, "bah. what's the point?" The point? Does there need to be a point? It's SSH in my pants! [From MobileWhack]

This robotic vehicle is totally awesome. It has 4 carefully-controlled wheels per side which can rotate more than 90° as well as move forward and backward, raise and lower. It can drive normally, sideways, spin in place, walk(!), and other keen things. If only there was enough monetary interest to build a full-scale model of it. Now that I'd pay to see.

I'm presently sitting in the Trident Cafe with Allyson connected via the free wireless connection here. Allyson didn't bring a computer, so we have to share µ's net connection. I also forgot my cellphone at home, so I can't go online with my Palm. What do I do? I set up a ppp connection over bluetooth from my palm to my laptop and do NAT to get it online. I've a caching DNS server running on µ that serves anything that connects to it via NAT.

Internet gateway → Trident ISP --802.11a→ Airport --802.11b→ µ --PPP over bluetooth→ Palm

And the best part is that it's all wireless and it works. I ♥ wireless.

I wonder how much E someone was taking to come up with this twisted combination: digital watch + lighter + LED bling. Impressive. Grab that, show your Jesus-pimpin' pride with your "magnetic flashing rave cross", and make absolutely sure they know you're a candy raver by putting a flashing LED pacifier around your neck. Geeze, and I thought the electroluminescent wire that I wore to a club once was tacky.

This has got to be the cutest ring-tailed lemur I've ever seen. I want one! In addition, people really need to get up and dance more. [from Boing Boing]

Oh, and regarding my cellphone which fatally crashed? The replacement (which, I might add, I said OK to them charging me $15 for next-day air) still has not arrived. Hopefully today will be my lucky day, but we shall see. Even if it does, I'm a bit paranoid that it will have the old firmware. Version 2.54 of the firmware came on the broken one and according to various messages boards, is quite buggy for other people too. Fluffy just got a one from T-Mobile and it came with version 2.54, so I'm a bit skeptical that they even have any with a newer version in stock.

My cellphone crashes while booting and there is no hard reset pin.

I love technology.

I hate printers; I want one (as seen on my favorite geekporn site). I always thought it'd be cool to have a printer that worked somewhat like a hand-scanner, but in reverse. And, unlike a hand-scanner, people don't really care about quality as much as they care about the ease-of-use. I can't wait to see this little bugger on the market: as it can print onto any surface, including scrap paper; I might actually succumb to using paper for communication again.

The robot competition went well. After many-an-hour of last-minute tweaking, building and designing, we got our robot mostly working. I was able to get manual-override going nicely, so I could drive the robot around with a USB joystick. The automatic mode doesn't entirely function correctly - it seems to be a bit confused as to how to actually drive the robot. With some luck and testing, we should be able to fix that soon, though. There're some photos online for your photonic, pictoral pleasure.

It's that time again: robot crunch time. We worked on our robot until 1:00 last night and ended the night by getting the treads on and aligned. We strapped on (using electrical tape, of course) some 30Amp 12v batteries, a high-current relay and a "Emergency Off" switch on on a long cord and started driving it around outside. We took photos and videos. The thing's a beast and is definitely prepared to crush all hu-mans.

Today, Andrew and I need to make the robot's brain's go. It's got all its brunt, but without brains, it's just a killer robot that makes a ton of noise. With brains, it's a smart killer robot that makes a ton of noise. Smart noise. We've gotten USB part #1 going - the GPS. Next up is the motor controller controller. We need to make one PWM generator for each motor controller that we use, then write some simple code to interact with them. Once we get the USB chip's programming done we're essentially home-free.

On a more chocolaty note, I've forgotten how much I love hot, malted chocolate. Thankfully, I've a rather full container of it on my shelf in Geekhaüs's cupboard. Ah, I miss Geekhaüs - I went to bed before ¾ of its inhabitants at a wholesome 04:00. Now if only Rochester had a job or two lined up for me, it'd be perfect. Well, almost perfect: I still need to get a car so I can visit some friendly .ma.us friends (especially those at remote .edu's).

As any computer geek knows, having a good keyboard is very important. Understandably, as most tend to have their hands poking away at it for at least a few hours a day - I can't think of many other things where you can say the same. Now, as I've been using my laptop as my main computer, I've been poking away at a reduced-size keyboard for a while. This is well and good, but my hands are not as content with it as I. So I've been hunting for the Perfect™ keyboard, and I think I may have found it.

The IBM USB Trackpoint Keyboard seems to have all the features I want in a keyboard (except perhaps a numpad). The most important ones being:

Full-sized

I have big hands, so I like having a keyboard that actually fits them. I'm always surprised that I can deal with my laptop's keyboard, as it's reduced in size.

TrackPoint (nipple)

I hate mice. They're very bad for ergonomics: in normal use, one is constantly moving their hand away from the keyboard to the mouse and back again. Well, that's not entirely true: I just hate mice for every-day tasks like clicking a link on a web page and such; they're great for doing 3D modeling, graphics work, other things where you have one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard. Trackpoints on the other hand, are great as their small size and easy access makes switching between them and keyboard negligible. Just don't try and do oekaki with one.

Feel

I've grown to like the feel on my big, black IBM TrackPoint II keyboard. It's got a key feel that lets you know you're pressing a key. "*press* CLICK *release*" This is due to the buckling spring mechanism in each key (sorry for all the Japanese sites. I can't seem to find any equivalents in English). Unfortunately, it looks like the USB one I'm looking at doesn't have that same mechanical feel. There's nothing quite like a keyboard that weighs so much it could be easily used as a bludgeon, and is so well-constructed it would also withstand being used suchly.

Color

Black is just cool. Other colors are good as well, just so long as it's not beige. Who decided generic stuff had to be beige anyhow?

So, ultimately this is the perfect keyboard except for the key mechanism. The IBM Trackpoint II would be excellent, but they're hard to find (I believe they're discontinued) as well as slightly large for the laptop world and most importantly, PS/2 not USB.

The code is almost complete! Well, by complete I mean mimimally functional. Which is useful as the competition is a day or two away and we've not yet tested the bot as a whole. Let's hope the unit testing works out as well as it is supposed to. Andrew, Zac and I pulled an all-nighter in the labs, tossed the code into CVS (finally!) and just coded as much as we could.

Why does this still work? Because people were stupid and did not provide an escape for the escape sequence '+++' which would be used on all transmitted data. This is common knowledge: if you want to make '+++' mean something special, you have to make it so normal applications can still transmit '+++' without having that special meaning activated. Ug.

SGML and HTML do this: if you want to write a '<' symbol (which normally would be interpreted as meaning a tag) you write &lt;. And to write the '&' in &lt; you write '&amp;. It's messy, but it works.