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Makerbot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer: Part 1

John / June 20, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hardware, Technology / 2 Comments

After wanting one for literally years, I finally took the plunge last week and ordered my first 3D printer, a Thing-O-Matic from Makerbot Industries:

What is a 3D printer? Well, it let’s you print anything you want (up to a certain size) in ABS plastic, basically the same material that Legos are made out of. It’s an open source design that is based on the Arduino platform and few other custom electronics, motors, and stuff.

Here’s Bre Pettis, one of the Makerbot co-founders (who I met at SXSW a few years ago), explaining the process along with some video of the Thing-O-Matic in action:

The printer shown in the video (complete with green LED lighting) is exactly what I ordered (in kit form) plus a spool of some green ABS plastic filament (it comes with a starter supply of ‘natural’ plastic) and the Gen 4 Interface Kit so I can print without a computer attached (from SD cards). It’s a kit so I’ll have to assemble it all and I’ve read it can take anywhere from 12-20 hours to assemble it depending on the assembler. I’m hoping to be somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

So what will I print with it? That’s tough to answer at this point. My mind is racing with all kinds of ideas of things to use it for. Makerbot has a website, Thingiverse, where people post their designs to share with other 3D printer owners. It’s a database of all kinds of cool stuff people are dreaming up and printing. Another cool thing about having a 3D printer is that you can literally print things that can improve your 3D printer directly like this spool holder for the plastic filament.

I also wanted to share this video from Ignite Phoenix, called Why I love my 3D Printer which should give you some more insight into why I think this is the future and fun:

Some things that have caught my eye so far that I want to print include lego pieces (any size, color & quantity I want!), project boxes for my Arduinos, Space Invaders, mounts for my GoPro camera, a Flying Spaghetti Monster, a toy helicopter for a friend’s son, some new frames for my glasses, my own Millennium Falcon, even some designer jewelry for my girlfriend.

This gearset is particularly interesting as it really shows the potential of the printer in creating items that snap together, and use no glue or fasteners of any kind. Here’s a video of the finished product:

As you can see, there are tons of things to be printed and I haven’t even mentioned the ability to create & scan your own stuff! Using a Microsoft Kinect (meant for an Xbox 360), you can use it as a 3D scanner:

If you’ve got a Kinect and a Mac, check out the software options yourself – it’s plug and play. Microsoft has also released an official Kinect SDK for Windows you can also check out. I had my Kinect pointed at my desk from behind me and it felt a little like Tron and that I’d be scanned into “the Grid”. I’m still learning how to scan stuff but so far my scans have turned out pretty good…we’ll have to wait and see how well they print out though. I’ll also be printing a tripod adapter for my Kinect as well.

Of course, you can also create stuff in various 3D software packages (there are some great opensource ones) and then load them into the printing software which will then do all the calculations to print it in plastic. More on this aspect in future posts.

I haven’t received my printer yet, it’s currently in transit. I found out (ironically due to the Canadian Postal strike) that there is actually a Canadian distributor (based in Saskatchewan) for Makerbots which saves us Canadians $100s in shipping, duties and brokerage fees. It’s also a much cheaper way to get plastic supplies for the printer although I am still looking for a Vancouver based supplier. Greg @ Makerbot.ca has been very helpful so far and I’ve had a number of email exchanges and even a phone call about using the Thing-O-Matic. Great service so far and I don’t even have it yet!

Stay tuned as I plan on documenting the assembly of the printer along with my first few 3D prints…this really does feel like the future.

PS. If this kind of thing interests you in the least, you should check out the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire, happening this weekend (June 25-26) in Vancouver. I don’t know if there will be any Makerbots at the faire but there will be a few Reprap machines on display which are similar 3D printing systems. See you there!

UPDATE (June 21): My makerbot has arrived! Now the assembly process begins.
Here’s a few photos of the unboxing:

I’ll be posting more photos of the build process, which will likely take about a week, on Flickr.

Hands-on with the Caanoo handheld videogame system

John / April 29, 2011 / Hardware, Reviews, Technology, Videogames / 1 Comment

I’m a huge retro videogame fan…I play all the new games and consoles but always go back to my childhood games from the 80s. Every time I get a new gadget or computer, usually the first thing I do is see what emulators can run on it. This has also lead to me re-buying the same games over and over again as they become legitimately available for a new device.

This passion for retrogaming even led to me building my own arcade cabinet (on my Westend balcony) so that I could relive these games in all their glory, complete with dual joysticks, 12 pushbuttons and a working coin slot – yes, I made my friends pay to play. The cabinet contained a PC running MAME – the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. This is a cross platform emulator that can run over 5000 arcade classics from the 70s to just a few years ago.

Eventually, I had a living room full of arcade cabinets running pretty much everything. I’ve since scaled back to just one machine but am considering converting it to a mini-MAME cabinet.

I recently posted about a MAME emulator for jailbroken iPhones. It works quite well for emulating games. Unfortunately, the controls leave a lot to be desired. Touch interfaces just don’t work well with retro games that were played with a joystick, a paddle or a trackball. This is possibly one of the reasons why I really don’t do a lot of gaming on my iOS devices…I’m old school like that.

Then one day, I stumbled across the Caanoo handheld gaming device from Game Park Holdings in Korea. It came out last fall and is the followup to a number of previous devices from GPH that are considered open source alternatives to the Nintendo and Sony handheld gaming devices.

Here was a handheld device that was dedicated to emulating my favorite games and it also had a few other tricks from the modern era that made it a pretty compelling gadget that I ordered almost immediately. I did first check out how well MAME ran on it and there are tons of videos on Youtube demonstrating this.

The main features that interested me were:

completely opensource – the device runs on a Linux variant and is apparently very hackable
true analog joystick and proper game buttons
robust developer community creating all kinds of software and games for it (there is even a true app/game store)
a touch screen that works with your fingers or the included stylus
stereo sound – although the speakers are located in a strange place
vibration – which has varying support in games and has an intensity control to dial it up or down
wifi support – not built in but available using a small & inexpensive dongle
G Sensor – their version of an accelerometer that can allow the handheld to be used to control the games (tilt for steering controls for example – works quite well even with MAME)
uses SD cards (up to 32gb) for storage
drag and drop app installs
decent battery life (rated for 7 hours, realworld seems to be about 5)
TV out support (via a proprietary cable that is not included)
a USB port for adding a second player using a USB joystick or gamepad
you can rotate the screen for some of the vertical games and the controls are laid out in such a way that it’s actually very playable vertically and comfortable to hold – I couldn’t imagine doing that with a GBA or DS
it’s also an open media player (music/movies/ebooks/etc – in just about any format) – not something I really care about or need thanks to my iPad but a nice bonus nonetheless
an empty, Caanoo branded 4gb SD card came in the box…despite no mention of it anywhere

It pretty much seems to be the perfect retro gaming handheld at the moment and it is about half the cost of the new Nintendo 3DS.

The back of the unit…note the curious location of the speakers (right were you place your hands):

The animated menu system is pretty basic and boots quickly to help you get to your games quickly:

The emulators – pretty much every console or computer I ever owned (including my beloved Vectrex) and a few I didn’t:

Atari 2600 running Keystone Kapers:

The MAME menu:

MAME running Gauntlet:

A video from the Caanoo’s maker, that highlights the features of the console:

A great starting point for all the emulators for the Caanoo is OpenHandhelds.org where you’ll find a ton of different console, computer and arcade game emulators to download. PDRoms is also another good spot to check out the Caanoo section.

For obvious reasons, you’ll have to look elsewhere for the rom files needed to run the emulators but chances are if you’re interested in retro gaming at all, you’ll know where to look.

A few things I didn’t like about the Caanoo:

touchscreen gets very smudgy…I’ve been spoiled by Apple’s protective coatings
the only way to charge the unit is using a proprietary USB cable – let’s hope I don’t lose it
the power light on the left side is pretty large and unnecessary
the app store and product registration requires Windows to work. No official Mac support but you can easily populate the SD card on a Mac with games, emulators and roms and just pop it into the Caanoo with no trouble
wifi not built in & requires a dongle that sticks out of the bottom of the unit – not a huge deal since I’d rarely use it but if a friend does pick up one of these, we could play head to head over wifi

Other than those few items, I really have no complaints about the Caanoo. It works better than I imagined at running pretty much every game I’ve thrown at it at near perfect speeds. I’m still impressed that hardware of this caliber and quality is available so inexpensively (~$150) and that the community is as big as it is. I also considered the Dingoo (really? who comes up with these names?) but it’s a bit older and has a little less power than the Caanoo (336mhz vs 533mhz) although it’s nearly half the price ($~80) so it may be an option if you want to check out these kinds of handhelds on the cheap.

I ordered my Caanoo from Think Geek but it’s available online from a number of places including eBay.

Hands on with the Blackberry Playbook

John / April 19, 2011 / Hardware, Mobile, Reviews, Technology / Comments Off

This morning I had an opportunity to check out the new tablet on the block, the Blackberry Playbook from Research in Motion.

Of course, I had to try the camera(s) on the Playbook (shot with the rear camera in low light):

It has a 3mp front facing camera and a 5mp rear facing camera which seemed pretty decent.

The Playbook fits easily inside the touchscreen area of my iPad 2.

What I found surprised me. Here’s my quick takeaways after playing with it for a brief amount of time:

I liked:

Form factor – fits nicely in your hand and is about the size of my Kindle 3 in it’s leather case which means it’s perfect for curling up on the couch with
rubberized back…something I like immensely over the Apple aluminum backed iPad
Multitouch bezels – let’s you swipe from the black bezel areas in order to get to options, switch apps, etc.
Multitasking – works as advertised and you can swipe from side to side in the bezel area to switch between apps
There is a file system! I was able to log into Flickr and use the uploader to access the breakfast photo I took and post it directly online – something I wish was possible with iOS

What I didn’t like:

App World – obviously it’s launch day so there aren’t a ton of apps…this should get better with time if enough people buy the Playbook. I’m still skeptical about the Android integration but we’ll see.
Custom connectors for HDMI – I’m sure it’s a space thing but it would have been nice to have a standard port instead of having to buy a dongle (could have been included at least)
Blackberry required for native email/contacts/calendar – this is a huge dropped ball…other than webmail, there is currently no native email app unless you pair with your BB. I can’t imagine any non-Blackberry owners getting one anytime soon until they release some native apps to address this (which I’m told is coming soon – but it should have been there on day 1)
cheesy neoprene case included in the box

I guess only time will tell if there is a market for the Playbook. It launched at 7am around North America and there wasn’t a single person lined up to buy one (most pre-ordered them I’m told). I also know that my company is giving them a pass, at least this year, which is a little surprising considering the Blackberry centric enterprise I work for.

My thanks to Elliott, Paul and Brittany at Future Shop for the hands on playtime with the Playbook.

Hands on with LG’s Windows Phone 7 smartphones

John / April 6, 2011 / Hardware, Mobile, Reviews / Comments Off

Recently, my friends at LG loaned me a couple of their new smartphones running Microsoft’s latest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7.

The one on the left, the LG-C900B (aka the LG Quantum) has a slide out keyboard and the one on the right is the LG-E900h (aka LG Optimus 7) which is a full on touchscreen model.

As with previous LG smartphones I’ve reviewed, I found the build quality to be excellent and the form factor, especially on the Quantum, to be great in the hand. The Optimus was a little large and it’s edges a little sharp for my liking.

Both smartphones have 5 megapixel cameras with flash, a dedicated camera shutter button and also a bundled app for taking panoramic photos.

I quite liked the built in panorama app that made it really easy to create images like this one by simply holding the cameraphone up and moving it in the direction you want to capture. The app will snap a photo when you are lined up and take care of the stitching automagically:

My only complaint about the panorama app is that the resolution is quite low considering the ability of the camera.

The camera itself was pretty decent although even at the highest settings, it still looks a little web cammy to me.

I didn’t have a ton of time to really put the phones through their paces but overall I quite liked them. Not unlike the Zune MP3 player, I found the user interface to be fast, responsive and very slick. It felt much more polished than I’ve seen on Android devices and even made me wish my iPhone did some of the same tricks.

During the time I had with the phone, I didn’t get to try a lot of the applications in the marketplace but all the usual suspects were there with quite polished versions of Facebook, Twitter and the like. Even Netflix was there and worked very well.

Like Android & iOS devices, using Windows Phone 7 is centered around a core user account from Microsoft. Android uses Google accounts and Apple uses iTunes. The frustrating thing on WP7 was the fact that if you enter your initial account information incorrectly (I had mistyped my Windows Live password) you are basically screwed. There is no way on the phone to delete the account and try again or even correct the mistyped password. You can add additional accounts but the primary one has to be valid and correct for ANYTHING to work properly on the phone.

The only solution was to do a complete factory reset. While I hadn’t been able to setup much on the phone yet, it was still incredible that the only way to resolve the situation of a mistyped password was to reset the phone.

Initial pains aside, I still really liked the Windows Phone 7 platform based on my brief experience with it…I think it’s an easier platform for people new to smartphones to use and understand compared to the brutally fragmented Android arena. Microsoft also has the potential to really capitalize on its Xbox integration with these devices although the current implementation was a little weak with only minor connectivity to your Xbox Live account. Using your WP7 smartphone as a controller for your Xbox 360 could be very cool indeed.

I’m still not ready to give up my iPhone 4 but I certainly welcome Microsoft and it’s partners like LG to compete on an ever increasingly level playing field. Only time will tell if they can help make things better for all consumers. As I’ve said many times, competition is great to keep Apple in check and we’re finally seeing devices that at least have a chance to compete for market share.

Jailbreak your Kindle

John / March 27, 2011 / Hacking, Hardware / Comments Off

I finally got around to jailbreaking my Kindle 3. Why? Because you can replace the default ‘screensaver’ images of authors that the Kindle normally displays when you turn it off to anything you like:

It’s very easy to do. Follow the tutorial (with downloads) on this site. You can make your own screensavers or browse tons of them on this site.

Hands on with the GoPro HD LCD BacPac

John / February 24, 2011 / Hardware, Photography, Reviews, Video / 1 Comment

I’ve been really enjoying the GoPro HD camera I bought a few months ago. But one thing that I’ve been waiting for and that has been lacking for it is the newly released, LCD BacPac which gives the GoPro a much needed rear LCD screen:

The GoPro by itself is tiny and great for all kinds of action photography and video but sometimes it would be really helpful to see what kind of framing you have, especially in tight spaces. The BacPac addresses that shortcoming very well, without adding much bulk and for a reasonable price.

The LCD comes with a speaker for playback and an additional button for navigation. It easily attaches to the GoPro by clipping it into place:

My GoPro required a firmware update to work with the LCD BacPac but was painless to upgrade.

The LCD BacPac has another interesting benefit: it makes the cryptic mode codes usually found on the front of the GoPro completely understandable by using the full descriptions of each mode:

There is also a new mode for playback that you access by holding the LCD button down for 2 seconds. It let’s you playback video and photos as well as adjust the brightness:

A nice bonus is that the BacPac comes with a box of alternate back plates for the various types of mounts, including waterproof and non-waterproof versions for the regular housing and the wrist mount:

I recently purchased the Wrist mount and used it with the LCD attached while surfing in Ucluelet:

The BacPac is a little hard to see in full sunlight but it’s good enough to be able to frame up your shot and do a quick review (with sound) in the shade when you’re done shooting. There is also a hit to your battery if you use it a lot but it can be turned off by simply pressing the LCD button anytime. To me, it’s definitely a must buy if you have a GoPro.

As of right now, it’s only available directly from GoPro.com but shipping was only a couple of days from California to Canada. I did have to pay HST on the $79.99 price when importing it from the USA.

What the hell is Arduino?

John / January 2, 2011 / Hardware, Photography, Technology / Comments Off

I first heard about Arduino from a friend that was learning about them in her industrial design class at the Emily Carr Institute and finally picked up my first one towards the end of August:

I ended up giving a talk about Arduino at BarCamp Vancouver in November…more of a geeky show and tell really as I just wanted to share this cool little device with my fellow nerds.

So what the hell is it?
From the Arduino.cc homepage:

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

What I like about Arduino is that it accessible to just about everyone because it’s inexpensive (~$30 for a basic board like you see above), easy to learn & program for non-programmers and just fun to play with. Think of it as lego for adults or an updated 300-in-1 electronics kit like the one you had as a kid (well, I did anyways).

The Arduino UNO is the latest version of the board and should be available everywhere. The older board, the Duemilanove still works just fine and can usually be found for a few dollars less.

It can be programmed to run standalone or while connected via USB to a computer. It’s programmed via the Arduino programming language which is very easy to learn and understand but also can interface with a number of other ones including Processing.

So what can you do with it?
Since it’s an open platform, there really are no limits to what people are using these devices for.

Some examples I’ve seen that are interesting include a moisture sensor for your plants that will update twitter when it needs to be watered, an Arduino based Pong game, an embedded webserver (using an ethernet shield with onboard microSD card slot) and even a beer dispensing keg with iPad control!

I mentioned that I think of Arduino as adult lego…and you really do just connect them together. Using add-on modules called ‘shields’ that literally just connect/stack together on top of the Arduino, you can add all sorts od different things like an LCD screen with input controls:

There are also shields available for hooking up all different kinds of sensors, motors, servos, lights, LEDs and the list keeps growing.

What am I doing with Arduino?
While I was poking around the net researching Arduino, I found the OpenMoco community and I stumbled upon this video, shot by a guy in Whistler using a Canon 7D, a homemade camera slider and an Arduino. This combination allows him to put his camera on a 3 foot rail and the Arduino pulls the camera along the rail for a wickedly smooth, tracking time-lapse with motion:

Needless to say, this is my end goal.

Jay (aka MiLapse) has created a product that does something very similar over at Dynamic Perceptions that I’d eventually like to purchase but for now, I’ll have to just drool over the videos he keeps posting of it in action:

My goal is to build a simple box that attaches to the one metre slider I’ve purchased and have it pull my camera along the track at a preset interval that will be displayed on the LCD module. I’m using these plans as my starting point and making some adjustments to suit my needs.

Where can I get my own Arduino?
There are many ways to get your hands on your own Arduino boards & shields. I’ve bought them from Fry’s Electronics in Silicon Valley, online from Adafruit Industries, Maker Shed & eBay and in person in Vancouver from Lee’s Electronics.

Update (Jan 7, 2011): A short documentary about Arduino has been released! Like the device, it’s available for free and you can watch it right here:

Arduino The Documentary (2010) English HD from gnd on Vimeo.

Why you may want to consider an ebook reader this holiday season

John / December 13, 2010 / Hardware, Technology / 11 Comments

Earlier this year, I bought an iPad which I thought would be the end all, be all as far as portable computing/reading was concerned. One device to rule them all and all that.

Well, I was wrong.

Yup. You read correctly, the iPad isn’t the only device you need….if you want to read books that is.

It first dawned on me during the summer time when I actually made time to do something I hadn’t done in a long time, read a book. I’ve always been more of a magazine reader – short, quick articles that I can skim quickly. Never been much of a curl up in front of the fire with a good book kind of person…mostly because the books I typically read are computer or photography related…not fiction.

So when I finally sat down to read a book on my iPad, the experience left me a little cold. Simply getting comfortable holding the iPad for a few hours was a chore. Not to mention the reflection issues as I was on my balcony for most of the novel. The iPad works great for short sessions but I found it very distracting to use to read a novel.

Around the same time, a number of friends were talking about buying one or the other (iPad or eReader). Mark even has a great post on why you should buy both (which I fully agree with).

For my 40th birthday this year, I bought myself an Amazon Kindle that helps me to slow down and simply enjoy reading again. Amazon had just come out with a new model that was smaller, cheaper and better looking. Not to mention the *cough* Amazon credits *cough* I had from the ads on this site.

My reasons for buying it were pretty simple actually:

Comfort: eReaders are much smaller than an iPad and are infinitely more comfortable to hold for hours on end. Sure you can put the iPad in a stand, but that doesn’t work so well on the couch or a chair on my balcony
You can use an eReader outside: shortly after getting my iPad, I was using it in my car, in a somewhat shady spot and it still got really warm and eventually displayed this message and then shut down:
You can take it to the beach: I’d never take my iPad to the beach, but the Kindle is small enough to simply slip into a ziplock bag (grab one of those ‘gel & liquids’ bags from the airport on your way out of town which fit perfectly) and it’s waterproof for beach/poolside reading.
Cost: I chose the 3G model of the Kindle for the simple reason that for $50 more than the wifi only model, you get free, unlimited wireless data usage in over 100 countries. The wifi only Kindle is still a great deal at only $139 but a one time ‘extra’ charge of $50 means I can have basic internet access (via the crudly implemented Kindle browser (which is based on WebKit though).

As I mentioned, the Kindle has built in wireless internet…even Google Maps works!

While it’s not going to replace a laptop or smartphone, it’s a nice backup for at least checking your email in a foreign land if you don’t want to bother with unlocking your phone, paying roaming charges, etc…especially if you really do want to stay offline while on vacation.

So far I’ve mentioned the Kindle….it’s not the only eReader out there though. There is also the Kobo and the Nook among lots of others. I’ve been playing with a review unit of Sony’s Touch eBook Reader, which is very similar to the Kindle.

One of the biggest things I like about the Sony model is the touch screen. It was very hard not to touch my Kindle’s screen after getting so used to the iPad. Sony’s device works really well for this since you can simply touch the screen to navigate to your books, change settings and of course, flip pages.

Here’s a few comparisons between the Sony and Amazon devices since I’ve actually used them:

I liked:

the fonts and layout of the Sony interface – very clean & modern compared to the Kindle
the battery life on the Kindle is up to a month with the 3G/wifi turned off – I’ve found this to be accurate, if not actually better than that – Sony states up to two weeks on the Touch Reader
the Sony comes with SD and MS slots to hold your music or books
the 3G data on the Kindle works great and is fast
both devices have beautiful, high contrast and easy to read displays – you can easily read for hours without eyestrain
both devices work great with music playback…don’t have definitive numbers on battery usage with playback but it’s good enough to not really care
both devices use standardized USB plugs for power/syncing
your ebooks on the Kindle (assuming they are purchased) are auto synced across their many apps for the iPad/iPhone/etc so your books and bookmarks are available anywhere

I didn’t like:

the Kindle’s interface and menus seem clunky and not as clean as Sony’s
Sony’s metal casing – the Kindle’s plastic case was nicer to hold onto
Sony’s page flip buttons – while the touch screen works as well, it’s not as good as the Kindle’s dual side buttons for flipping the page
the Kindle’s keyboard is goofy and awkward but since it’s not a touch interface, they had to do something I guess
both devices aren’t backlit so you’ll need a well lit room or a clipon light to use them in the dark. I opted to buy the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover

The Kindle can be used completely without a computer. When you order it, it’s already been setup at the factory with your account info so you can literally order books from Amazon and send them wirelessly to the Kindle while it’s en route to you.

The Sony Reader requires a computer to populate (it has no wifi or 3G networking) and also wanted me to install their proprietary software upon first connection to my computer.

For both devices, I opted to use Calibre, which is a free, open source tool for managing your ebooks. There are TONS of free books available digitally out there online (even public libraries loan them out now for compatible readers) in lots of different formats (ePub, Lit, RTF, TXT, PDF, etc.) and Calibre can convert most to something that will be compatible with your reader. Another bonus with Calibre was that I could sync the same library to both my Kindle and the Reader effortlessly.

So far for the past couple of months, I’ve really been enjoying having an ereader and it’s been coexisting perfectly fine with my iPad.

UPDATE: This post spawned an interview with CBC News Vancouver and a segment about eReaders:

Nikon, Flip and Olympus…oh my!

John / November 14, 2010 / Hardware, Photography, Video / 2 Comments

It’s been like Christmas lately with a whole bunch of new camera gear coming across my desk. Here’s a quick overview of some of the new stuff I’ve been playing with.

D7000
Earlier this week I received the much awaited Nikon D7000 camera body that I had preordered awhile ago:

It’s a significant update to my D90 that I’m still digging into…I’ll try to get a proper first look post in a few weeks after putting it through it’s paces a little more. I’m still debating on selling my D90 versus having a second camera body – something that would have come in handy a few times this year, especially during the Olympics.

Flip UltraHD
Flip Canada just unveiled their latest batch of HD cameras with some interesting upgrades including image stablization and a new expansion port (FlipPort) that promises to give a ton of new options for shooting video with.

They gave me a Flip UltraHD to play with and I’m currently working on a comparison review with my Kodak HD camera.

Olympus EPL-1
On Friday I received a Olympus PEN E-PL1 from Olympus:

This micro four thirds camera has been getting a lot of buzz lately with my photographer friends so I’m anxious to spend some time with it and see how it performs as a point and shoot with a lot of the abilities of a DSLR.

Post your questions about any of these cameras in the comments and I’ll try to answer them.

Sneak Peak of Playstation’s Move Motion controller

John / September 15, 2010 / Hardware, Reviews, Videogames / 2 Comments

Today I had the chance to get a sneak peak at Sony’s new Move Motion control system for the Playstation 3.

Similar to the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote, it’s a wireless controller that you use to control various types of videogames. Today, we got to play beach volleyball.

Unlike the Wii though, the Playstation controller also incorporates a camera that sits atop your tv that adds an additional level of accuracy to gameplay. This level of precision is what sets the Move control system apart from Nintendo’s offering, albeit a few years after the Wii system debuted.

Getting the chance to play with the Move system early is one thing, but getting to play beach volleyball against a professional volleyball player, Leah Allinger, who will be competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is another. She completely killed me on the court but it was a lot of fun to try the game against someone like her, who seemed to really appreciate the simulation aspects of the game. The game experience was also a great workout…everyone that tried it worked up a sweat in no time.

We also played around with Start the Party which is a mini-game collection. What impressed me was the precision of the Move controller and combined with the camera, allowed for some pretty stunning augmented reality usage of the controller as you can see in this short clip:

Also unlike the Wiimote, the Move controller is completely cordless so you have more freedom to use the control that the cabled Nunchuk on the Wii.

I don’t own a Playstation 3 but I’d certainly consider the Move system if I did as it seems to add a level of gameplay not currently found on the Playstation 3. It, like many videogame accessories, will be interesting to see what third party developers create to take advantage of the system. This may be where Nintendo has the advantage (aside from being first in the motion control space) as the cost of the hardware is included in their console (albeit not as precise) but costs as much as $99 to add the camera and motion controller to a PS3. It will also be interesting to see how things play out with Microsoft’s upcoming Kinect camera control system that requires you to get off the couch as there is no handheld controller at all.

Thanks to Future Shop for hosting the preview.