geek

I was involved in making this really awesome, smart, fun, geeky history show with a strong science bent and a maker ethos. I hope you all watch the the show tonight, because it really deserves to live on as a series (and there’s a dearth of smart, fun, geeky shows on the air)!

From History.com:

Meet Nikola Tesla, the unsung genius behind the most miraculous advances of the Age of Electricity, and Hacker-extraordinaire Bre Pettis who will break the history of electricity down to its nuts and bolts. Bre will show you how to build your own versions of Tesla’s greatest inventions and takes you on a journey from New York City’s ultra modern power plants, to one of the world’s most advanced satellite research labs, and then onward into the future of energy…unlimited wireless power.

If you want to know more about it, check out these links:

• History’s listing for the show, they’re calling it “Hacking History” for some reason.
• MSNBC.com: History reveals: Tesla totally awesome!
• Bre’s Behind-the-Scenes photos and viewer photo group on flickr
• Help turn History Hacker pilot into a show!
• DAN JOHNSON - HISTORY HACKER SOUND RECORDIST
• HISTORY HACKER - DAY OF SHOW

By the way, you’re welcome to grab the image above (or click through to get the bigger one on flickr) and use it on your own blog or wherever to help promote the show. Go History Hacker!

I knew it! Well, at least a split between Indy and James Bond. Not too shabby. Which film hero are you?

Indiana Jones : 76%
James Bond : 76%
Hannibal Lecter : 73%
Néo (Matrix) : 72%
Batman / Bruce Wayne : 70%
Jim Levenstein (American Pie) : 70%
Tony Montana (Scarface) : 70%
Maximus (Gladiator) : 70%
Forrest Gump : 68%
Eric Draven (The Crow) : 63%
Schrek : 63%
Yoda (Star Wars) : 62%

Quel héros de film es-tu ?

After Effects Anaglyphic 3D Video, originally uploaded by bobtiki.

First test of using two Flip Video Ultra cameras to record stereo (3D) video. The cameras were gaffer-taped to a hard metal ruler with the lenses separated by three inches — more than a realistic intra-ocular distance, but I thought it might work out well to exaggerate the effects of the 3D separation. The videos were then synced and combined in After Effects (above) by assigning the left camera to the red channel of the image, and the right camera to the green and blue channels (creating a cyan look).

This is meant to be viewed with old-style red/cyan 3D glasses (red on the left eye). If you don’t have a pair laying about, you can get a free pair by mail from Rainbow Symphony.

The cameras were not aligned exactly, but seemed to give pretty decent result nonetheless. The only major issue is the Flip cams really tend to smear when panning, so it probably works best if you go really slow. Also, optimizing alignment and intra-ocular spacing will need some work. Still, looks promising for cheap 3D video.

Next up, color anaglyphs.

I was going to post a video of it here, but no matter what web-suitable format I tried (and I even tried AVI and WMV9), they all compressed the color in such a way that the red-green separation was damaged, and the 3D no longer looked very good. Surprisingly, in the case of H.264, it smeared the colors together into a double image, no mater how high a data rate I allowed it. I’m now wondering with the way these codecs reduce the color information, if perhaps a color anaglyph will actually fare better than an old-school black-n-white one.

I will test that soon, but in the meantime, the morbidly curious can download a 243 MB Apple Pixlet version here, that’s as small as I could get it.

Ferengis like to have their ears rubbed, originally uploaded by bobtiki.

…or so I hear.

Redesigning your website is like getting a haircut. If it’s a good haircut, you walk out happier than when you walked in. You stand straighter, walk with a skip in your step, and maybe actually pay attention to combing your hair for the next week or so.

I’ve been meaning to redesign the site for a while, but with my crazy schedule, and other personal projects that just seem more important when I’m not sleeping, I never made time for it. I always thought it would be cool to redesign it with a transit map theme, even more so since I picked up Transit Maps of the World. I even have two or three half-finished designs that I never was happy with. But, alas, it was not to be. Not this time, anyway.

So, tonight I broke down and purchased a new WordPress template. I like the basic look a lot, though I’m sure I will modify it over time (the sidebar seems especially busy now), but at least I have a nice clean slate to start from. Gone is the Golden Gate Gothic in the masthead, aside from the logo “M”, and I like the idea of the random header pic, which I never had before, but I suspect I’ll be modding how that works soon enough as well.

It’s also really wide, and I’m not sure I like how it ignores the tenets of good grid-based layout. But anyway, it’s a start— a kick in the pants, if you will. Love it? Hate it? Give me another kick in the pants in the comments below.

That’s right, it’s that time again. I’ve skipped out on the NAB convention festivities for the past two years, and will again this year, but just a week after it ends, I will be heading out for a weekend of sin in celebration of a Mac dev (dare I say) colleague’s birthday bash.

I barely know enough about Mac-devvery to feel comfortable calling myself a Mac dev, and I have spent all of four hours in the personal company of said colleague before they invited me, so I guess I must have made some sort of impression. Needless to say, I was flattered to be thought of for the invitation, and wouldn’t dare miss a chance to visit Sin City in the company of a number of people I know mostly from ‘net conversations, and many of whom I greatly admire.

So, I’m doing my ritual pre-Vegas catch-up on news and reviews (check out MyVegas impressions), and brushing up on blackjack basic strategy (of which I should have a HowTube up later this weekend) and the rules of craps (at which I bet only on come/pass (or don’t), odds, and 6/8 place bets). Aside from the occasional drunken pocket-change fishing expedition to the slots (which, admittedly, has netted me some serious dough in the past), those are the only two games I’ll touch, because at least there’s the slimmest of chances that I will actually win something, as opposed to the heavily house-favored odds of most of the table games.

If you’re heading out to Vegas soon, I heartily recommend two books: Las Vegas Little Black Book imparted a lot of good info about hidden gems I might not have otherwise stumbled across in all the hustle and bustle. The only problem is, things change fast in Vegas, and the older the book, the higher the chance you’ll run across references to places that were demolished last year. The book is also a little skewed toward guys, but its more recent companion, the Little Red Book, seeks to balance the scales with a more femme-focused guide.

My second recommendation, the Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling proved invaluable in teaching me the true odds on a lot of bad Vegas bets, which is why I stick to the two table games noted above — aside from the slots, which I pretty much play only when there’s good friends and good conversation (and hopefully snappy service from the drink-comping waitresses). If you really want to dig deep into blackjack, then I’d add the Mensa Guide to Blackjack as a solid third tome for your Vegas research.

Happy carousing!