Archive for July, 2011

Lomography LC-Wide 35mm film camera

John / July 28, 2011 / Photography, Reviews / Comments Off

I recently purchased a new compact point and shoot digital camera, a Nikon P300. I had high hopes for it’s small size and unique features. Sadly, I wasn’t that impressed with it after using it for a little while and returned it. My iPhone is just too good of a point and shoot camera.

So then I decided to treat myself to Lomography’s newest 35mm film camera, the LC-Wide which had just come out:

The appealing thing about the LC-Wide was that it came with an awesome 17mm ultra wide angle lens, hence the name.

I’ve put about four rolls of film through it now and think I’ve finally got it all figured out and have been loving the results from it.

Here’s a handful of my favorite shots, taken over the last month during my travels:

Here’s a brief run down of my likes/dislikes of this camera:

I Liked:

solid – camera doesn’t feel cheap or ‘plasticy’ and has some heft to it
well built – unlike my Holga’s, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to break simply by advancing the film
small – fits easily in my hand and can be tucked away in your jean or cargo short pockets if you needed to
awesome wide angle glass lens – 17mm on a ‘full frame’ 35mm film camera is fabulous…that is all.
great focal distance – you can easily switch between 0.4-0.9m or 0.9m to infinity focus distance which means you can get really close to your subjects with that wide angle lens

I didn’t like:

expensive – it came with a huge wooden box and two printed books along with other accessories including a remote shutter release cable that was DOA. I would have preferred to just buy the camera and skip the ‘extras’ which while nice, inflated the price of the package
cheesy screenprinted graphics – (see above photo) it seems to be Lomo’s schtick but it would look like a more serious film camera if the body didn’t have cartoon people printed on it…especially for this price point. At least they disappear when you open the lens cover.
tiny ASA dial – to change the film’s ASA setting, the dial is tucked away beside the front of the viewfinder and you need tiny child hands to be able to change the settings

Sure I can probably get similar results if I mess around on my iPhone with Instagram, Hipstamatic or Lemeleme but I still love the look of film, the ‘Christmas Day’ joy of getting a roll back from being developed (I usually just get my rolls developed and scanned to CDs) and seeing the results. I have other film cameras I use occasionally too but this one is usually in my bag all the time since it’s so compact and a ton of fun to use.

MakerBotCam is live

John / July 22, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hardware, Technology, Video / 2 Comments

I’ve setup a UStream channel for my MakerBot so you can see what I’m currently printing with it.

Can’t promise it will always be on but will try to record interesting prints and live stream as much as possible.

If you have any suggestions for better/free ‘webcasting/recording’ software that is Mac compatible, drop a comment as I’m not entirely happy with the UStream option. I’d like to at least record in HD if not broadcast in HD as well.

How to install Preware onto your HP TouchPad on a Mac

John / July 22, 2011 / Hacking, Hardware, Technology / 46 Comments

I’m a little late to the party but I was recently given a HP TouchPad by the nice folks at HP Canada and stumbled across an interesting app today called Preware. In the WebOS world (which runs the TouchPad and other Palm/HP smartphones) it’s the equivalent of Cydia for iOS devices which basically allows you to jailbreak your TouchPad and install homebrew applications like Cydia does on iPhones/iPads/Touches.

The big difference though is that HP has embraced this and even supports it’s development unlike someone else. WebOS has a large homebrew community and it appears to be quite vibrant…at least as far as the smartphones goes…it’s still very early days for the TouchPad.

Why would you want to ‘jailbreak’ your TouchPad?
To enable functionality that hasn’t yet made it to the official firmware and generally have more control over your device. The options this gives you is still in it’s infancy because the tablet only came out a few days ago but it’s already progressing at lightening speed.

The install process is quite similar on a PC or Linux but since I hacked mine with a Mac, this is what you get from me. There are a number of ways to get Preware on your Touchpad but I’m going to cover the WebOS Quick Install method that doesn’t require installing the SDK.

Let’s get started.Step 1: Enable Developer Mode
The first thing you need to do is enable Developer Mode on the TouchPad. I can’t believe that the way you do this is by simply performing a search in the “Just Type…” search box for the Konami code:

upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart

This will reveal a hidden app that has a slider to enable Developer Mode and set a password if you want to on this mode.

Step 2: Install WebOS Quick Install
Grab WebOS Quick Install from here and run the .JAR file

I didn’t need it but you can also grab Java 1.6 from that same link. I did this whole process on a stock Snow Leopard Mac Mini running 10.6.8.

Make sure your TouchPad is connected and ensure you click cancel on the USB drive prompt:

Allow Quick Install to install the Novacom drivers if it prompts you.

UPDATE: Someone in the comments suggested that if you’re having problems installing the drivers, use the HP SDK method instead.

WebOS Quick Install

Once you get the above screen, click on the globe icon on the righthand side, just about the phone image. This will give you the repository listing for all the apps. Type ‘preware’ in the search box (make sure you’re in the Applications tab), select it in the results list and click install.

I didn’t get any feedback that it was done…but rest assured, you should have Preware in your downloads tab on the TouchPad:

Launching Preware gives you this screen:

At the moment, there isn’t a lot of TouchPad specific apps/patches but more is being added all the time.

I installed these patches to start and can say for sure that they have dramatically sped up things on the TouchPad:

I also installed “Add Launcher Tabs” after this screenshot was posted in order to give me the “Games” and “Homebrew” tabs.

Good luck and have fun hacking your TouchPad!

Update (August 18, 2011): Looks like HP has thrown in the towel on WebOS based devices with the OS future uncertain at this point.

3D Printing a Hyperboloid

John / July 19, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hardware, Technology, Video / 7 Comments

Trying out my new time-lapse rig, using a Creative Live! Socialize HD Webcam here is a hyperboloid pencil holder I found on the Thingiverse:

Just over 2.5 hours to print and surprisingly sturdy!

Catamaran cruise of Alaska’s Kenai Fjord National Park

John / July 14, 2011 / Photography, Travel, Video / 2 Comments

Our first full day in Alaska had us going on a 6+ hour catamaran boat cruise with Kanai Fjord Tours of the Kanai Fjord National Park.

Apparently, they rarely get sun in Alaska as the crew kept (jokingly) apologizing for the amazingly warm weather. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt but also brought a rain jacket and fleece as instructed.

Heading out from the surprisingly beautiful Seward harbour, we headed out for open water.

Then the trip started to feel like a put on. Kind of like how a cruise like this would be at a Disney resort. “And over here we have our friend, the sea otter, playing in the water” – and presto, a sea otter appears and does many little rolls in the water for the adorning crowds on the boat:

Then, as if on cue, we had our first (of many) whale spottings:

I wasn’t able to get any ‘good’ shots of the whales (there were at least two at this location) other than lots like this as they never really broke the surface…at least from my vantage point.

The wildlife highlight of the trip (for me) was definitely the half hour visit we had with these dolphins (I forget their exact name) which looked like mini-orcas. This was shot from the bow of the ship and apparently there were lots along side the ship as well:

I’m not sure exactly how many there were but my guess was at least a dozen (they are hard to count!). Even the ship’s crew commented they haven’t seen that many at once before (usually only 3-4 at a time). They probably tell all the tourists that.

If you want a sure fire way to make over a hundred people really, really happy, invite dolphins to the party…everyone was euphoric during and after this encounter.

We then headed toward the main event: glacier ice on the water:

I’d never seen a glacier up close like this before and it was spectacular:

The sounds the ice makes as it breaks up is unbelievably loud…like being front row for a thunderstorm.

This guy shot photos and video of the whole cruise with just his Blackberry Playbook:

After spending a fair bit of time at the glacier, we headed out again and then came across a ton of stellar sea lions:

We weren’t as close to these guys as I got during my zodiac tour earlier this year but close enough to hear them fighting each other for prime sunbathing spots.

Then, after a brilliant day at sea, we headed back to Seward harbour. I still can’t believe the amount of wildlife we saw on the cruise…the brochure really didn’t lie as others on the same trip which took the same cruise the following day confirmed the amount of wildlife they saw as well.

I had heard good things about cruises in Alaska but really wasn’t expecting them to ‘deliver’ in this way…it was an incredible experience. One tip though – you may want to bring some gravol with you. Out of the 6 of us in my party, apparently, I’m the only one with the stomach for the Alaskan seas as everyone else was a little green for parts of the trip. I guess I can submit my application to the Deadliest Catch now!

Here’s a slideshow of all the photos I took during the cruise:

Disclosure: GM Canada paid for this activity as part of the media tour of Alaska that I was on.

Use your iPhone as a 3D scanner with Trimensional

John / July 12, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hardware, Mobile, Technology / 2 Comments

I first saw this app a few months ago, well before I had decided to get into 3D printing.

Trimensional is an iPhone app that lets you take 3D photos. I thought it was just a fun camera app to make animated gifs like these:

That is until they added the ability (via a modest in-app purchase) to export the scans as files that can be read by a 3D printer (.STL), like my MakerBot:

So here’s the scan of my face from above, printed in ‘nuclear green’:

Pretty cool and just a little creepy!

Glacier Ice Hiking in Seward, Alaska

John / July 8, 2011 / Photography, Travel, Video / 1 Comment

I just got back from spending the better part of an amazing week in Alaska as part of a media tour for the launch of the new Chevy Volt electric vehicle which will be available in Canada this fall. But more on that part of the trip in a future post.

One of the activities our group chose to do was glacier ice hiking. This involved meeting up with Exit Glacier Guides in Seward, Alaska where our guide, Julian, outfitted us with crampons, trekking poles and backpacks and gave us some introductory tips for hiking on the glacier.

We then took a van (powered by bio-fuel!) to the local airstrip a few minutes away where we got on a helicopter for a 7 minute flight up to the Godwin Glacier.

Much to my delight, Sean, our helicopter pilot already had a GoPro mount on the front of the helicopter and offered to let me shoot footage of our flight up to the glacier…so enjoy the breathtaking scenery in Alaska:

I also had the GoPro mounted to my helmet the entire time we were hiking shooting still photos so here’s some of the best shots combined with ones taken by my Nikon D7000:

View the full photoset on Flickr.

My huge thanks to Adria, Veronica, Garry and Lisa for making this trip possible and the rest of my hiking crew Kathy, Alex, Jason, Garry and our excellent guide, Julian.

The guys at Exit Glacier Guides were fabulous and I can’t recommend them enough if you every want to check out this experience for yourself.

Definitely the trip of a lifetime!