Rob Galbraith DPI: Alex Majoli points and shoots. Just as a reminder that it's the photographer who makes the pictures and not the camera. So the design of the image. And yes, "flat depth of field" is not always the answer to "what makes a good picture".
Linkblog - 13.2.2011 - 13.3.2011
HowTo: Using Radio2. Well, ok, I understand his motivation. But well - I click on the "Press This" bookmarklet from WordPress and write a sentence - I've customized the bookmarklet form with JavaScript and Custom Post Types (in this case Aside) does the rest. And up top I already have a link blog - and it also has its own feed. And it's also quick, enclosures are also easy to make and tagging works right away. Sorry, Dave, but somehow I already have all of that! Update: I just set up a Twitter account and now I'm pushing new posts there. Let's see what comes of it.
The risks of technology cannot be abolished. But the way we deal with it can be changed. Facilities like nuclear power plants, which can cause unimaginable damage, should not be operated by any state. And people who make money with such facilities, like our esteemed nuclear industry, should clearly be branded as irresponsible lobbyists. They have the situation under control in their speeches, while the reactor hall is already falling apart behind them.
via Dieses Vertuschen und Verzögern ist ein unfassbarer Skandal: Die Methoden der Atomlobby - taz.de.
Re: Factor: Google Charts - I really should use Factor more often. Every time I see how practical a visual REPL is (in Factor, graphical representations of objects can be embedded in the normal output, similar to old Lisp machines), it tempts me.
consistency and ecosystem opportunities - Twitter API Announcements is an email where Twitter pretty much leaves all reality behind. Just to remind you: Twitter is this cute service where you can send 140-character messages - and I'm not saying that to make fun of it, it's often quite practical to search there when something is currently happening. But when I then read this bloated nonsense about "prevent diffusion of user experience" and other bullshit bingo in the email, I can only wonder what they're smoking. The real thing behind it is probably rather an attempt to close the platform to control and exploit it more - for example, the uproar about this absurd fat bar in Twitter has probably caused some panic at Twitter. Because if all users leave the official client, no one will look at the bought trends anymore ...
Python Tools for Visual Studio. If you are on Windows and a number cruncher - SciPy and NumPy are now directly available on the .NET platform with these tools. And I wonder why Apple doesn't include something like this with Xcode, as it would certainly be popular in the university environment (just think of Sage).
ABCL - Release notes v0.25. New version out and ABCL is increasingly developing into a really usable Common Lisp implementation. Since it runs on the JVM, you also have easy access to many libraries (if you want to) and since 0.24, Quicklisp also runs smoothly with ABCL, giving you easy access to many Common Lisp libraries. However, there are some issues with the CL libraries, as many programmers do not consider ABCL (and there are still deficiencies in the CLOS area).
BBC News - Voyager: Still dancing 17 billion km from Earth. It is often forgotten and because it is still one of the most fascinating missions - the Voyager probes are still active in service. And they are still making important contributions to research. More of that!
J Source is now available under GPL3. The craziest programming language in active use is now even more accessible. But beware of the Source: it's C, but C from someone who thinks in J and writes in J and only abuses the C compiler for it.
blueMarine is a project I was previously unaware of, taking inspiration from Lightroom and Aperture. However, it currently has no RAW editing functions (while Darktable has non-destructive editing), but focuses solely on image management. This might actually work in my favor for Linux, as I usually just want to view images there, with editing mostly happening on the Mac.
darktable seems to have completely passed me by unnoticed - an open-source alternative to Adobe Lightroom for Linux. I should really take a look at it. I really like Lightroom, but it's always good to know an alternative, as there's no guarantee that I'll always like Adobe in later versions ... (and for Linux I will always need an alternative as long as Adobe doesn't support Linux)
fantasm - Project Hosting on Google Code. Definitely worth checking out, a workflow engine in Python. Something like this could be quite interesting for projects at work.
harukizaemon/hamster. Immutable Threadsafe Datastructures - for Ruby. You can't change them, but you get new, modified versions back. Ideal for using them across thread boundaries. Clojure has this built-in, Scala since 2.8 as well. I would like something like this for Python ...
Pyjamas - Python Javascript Compiler, Desktop Widget Set and RIA Web Framework. I already mentioned this in the old blog, but a) a lot has happened and b) it came up again today as a topic, so I'm blogging about it again.
Check it out: pqc - PostgreSQL Query Cache. A PostgreSQL proxy that caches queries via a Memcache database to improve performance for recurring queries. Since it works as a proxy, it can also speed up applications that don't already implement caching on their own.
Whoever the asshole at Apple is responsible for the appallingly bad app sorting in iTunes (seriously, how can someone be so completely braindead to replicate the already quite clunky sorting interface for the home screen in iTunes with the mouse in nearly the same stupid way?), that "designer" deserves to be slapped, kicked, and fired. If I spend 20 minutes sorting my apps, I expect that when I click "Apply," it will actually be applied. I certainly do not expect all the icons to revert to their original positions before my 20 minutes of work. And no, this is not the first time I have cursed this pathetic app sorting interface. Bah.
The Sinclair ZX81: 30 years old today. Happy Birthday, old plastic box. I loved that thing and started some crazy projects on it. It started with 1 Kilobyte of memory, later with the great expansion to 16 Kilobytes - you couldn't hit the table too hard, otherwise the connections would wobble and the computer would reset. And the box even got me my first (and only) article in c't! After the ZX 81 came the ZX Spectrum with gigantic 48 Kilobytes of memory (from the money of the article). Then it got boring with PCs. It wasn't until the 90s that Macs came into my life.
jsFiddle is a very nicely made online editor for JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Various JavaScript frameworks are supported, and there is the possibility to save snippets and discuss them with others. Progressing.js is also available, as well as a number of tools to unleash on the code. Quite cool for experiments.
Toolbox, H5 and twentytenfive are Wordpress templates that are based on HTML5. I should take a look at them and see if I can't build my own theme on one of them, instead of deriving it from the standard theme. Since I am currently a subtheme of the standard Twentyten, Twentytenfive might be the easiest - but Toolbox could also be interesting because it is a really minimal theme that I could use as a real base.
balupton/history.js provides an API for accessing HTML5 History manipulation, but it also supports older browsers and uses that ugly # notation - but only when HTML5 is not available. Could be quite interesting for a project of mine.
Today I learned that there are two-legged skinks (which are actually legless reptiles) that use their front feet as shovels like a mole: Handwühlen. Just when you think nature is already weird enough, you learn a new curiosity.
Plagiarism scandal: Doctoral supervisor distances himself from zu Guttenberg. Just as a question posed to the room (honestly, I don't know!): doesn't a doctoral supervisor read the doctoral thesis of their doctoral candidate?
WordPress JSON API. I don't know if I really need this, but it might come in handy someday - the XMLRPC or Atom APIs are quite cumbersome if you just want to quickly access data from the blog via JavaScript.
Feeding the Bit Bucket» Blog Archive » Common Lisp, Clojure and Evolution. No, Clojure is not described as an evolution of Common Lisp - it's simply the example program "Evolution" from the book "Land of Lisp" translated into Clojure by someone who is learning Clojure by implementing all the examples in Clojure using the Common Lisp code as a basis. And therefore a good comparison opportunity between Clojure and Common Lisp. Maybe interesting for 2 or 3 readers of my blog. Otherwise, for me as a bookmark to look back at later.
Naked Password - jQuery Plugin to Encourage Stronger Passwords. Yes, that's what it says. The internet is very, very strange.
Hundreds of Tourist Photos Weaved into One (18 total) - My Modern Metropolis. Many tourists photograph the same subjects from the same angles - and here someone has layered many of these images on top of each other and produced composite images. Gives the images a wonderful painterly impression.
MostAwesomeDude/bravo is a Minecraft server written in Python. Looking at what's happening around Minecraft, I think I should check it out. Especially after a bit of browsing - it seems to be a good mix of freeform building like Lego and (adjustable difficulty) monster-slaying gameplay. And since you can run your own server, which can now also be multiplayer, you can build your constructions together with others or share them (though they can also break everything if you let them). And it doesn't cost a monthly fee, which personally kept me away from Lego Universe (even though I bought the box).
Ada 95: The Craft of Object-Oriented Programming. Free online book (formerly Prentice Hall from 97) about Ada 95. Quite nice to see the beautifully byzantine-looking source code of Ada again.
Because I wrote about Prograph: Andescotia Software seems to have a new commercial Prograph version available. The whole thing works under OSX 10.4 and there is a demo version to try out. And it's not expensive at all with 68 dollars. I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight! And as a free download there is the book "Visual Programming With Prograph CPX". Update: the playing has been canceled, the demo does not start under Snow Leopard ... (and the traffic on their mailing list does not look like there is a big reaction to be expected). Too bad. I wrote an email, maybe something will happen yet, but it sounds very much like a dead project again. Once again.
hotzen/ScalaFlow provides a very interesting extension to Scala: dataflow programming with automatic resolution via continuations - you define variables, can access variable values before values are assigned to them and the system itself sorts all accesses and assignments into the correct order. Particularly interesting as a basis for parallelization, when partial areas only emerge later but corresponding processing should already be defined earlier. Dataflow languages have been of interest to me since Prograph. The integration into a normal language as a basis could be quite interesting.
remogatto/gospeccy - a ZX Spectrum Emulator written in Go. Since I was an old Spectrum owner and this was my first box that I bought with my own earned money (back then an article in the c't! My first and only foray into writing!).
lsyncd is somewhat like Dropbox but very simple. Essentially, it's a daemon that listens for directory changes via inotify and automatically triggers an rsync if needed to synchronize directory trees. Since you can sync any directories with it and can also intervene in the sync process via Lua integration in lsyncd, it could be useful for some loosely coupled sync situations (e.g., autonomous nodes in a very loosely coupled cluster or home servers that automatically sync to a server on the internet). Additionally, it offers functions similar to Hazel - you can assign various actions (not just sync) to different file change events.
Plagiarism – GuttenPlag Wiki. With the latest politician statements in support of Guttenberg, I really wonder if a Mrs. Merkel and a Mr. Seehofer are really too stupid to look at the Wikia page beforehand - at the time of my post 175 instances with evidence of the copied originals. This has nothing to do with mistakes or negligence, this is just plain system.
Totally wild: MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 3.5/35. A lens produced in a very small series (only 200 pieces) for the Leica-M bayonet. The basis is a triplet - i.e. a three-lens - but designed with modern calculations and modern glass types. Of course, triplets have known problems - some show up in a softer drawing and lower line resolution, others in the rather meager light strength. Nevertheless, the little guy is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the edition is already completely sold out. For my M8 (and the NEX-3 with adapter) it became a C Biogon 2.8/35 from Zeiss for me. That is already a much more classic calculation and execution, also not so super light-strong, but nicely compact. And Zeiss-typical "chön charf". I admit, however, if Leica had a retractable Elmar 2.8/35 or 3.5/35 (i.e. new, not the old, known lens for screw Leicas - the old one has too many optical defects by today's standards), I could get weak (Elmare are four-lens, I already use a 2.8/50 and 4.0/90, both retractable, the 50 is a hybrid: a four-lens triplet, i.e. the last two lenses cemented).
Spherical aberration. Not only about spherical aberration, but also about the problem of focus shift when stopping down - the latter is not so intuitive to understand, because why should the point of best focus shift in the plane, just because you stop down - after all, only the depth of field is increased. But it's never quite that simple, especially with fast lenses.
BoPhoto.com: M8 coder - simple manual handcoding of M lenses. Another useful template to apply lens coding. Some Zeiss and Voigtländer lenses have a small gap at the bayonet, where you can even use paint for the marking, which then holds better and doesn't wear off as quickly. Or you can make the markings on thinner paper and clamp it between the lens and the body. It's a bit fiddly, but perhaps practical for occasional changing.
Get inPulse and Hack Your Watch. Looks pretty cool, just a small computer and a display, programmable, connected via Bluetooth. Could do some nice tricks with it. Maybe even display the time.
PyPy Status Blog: PyPy Winter Sprint Report. Most important point: fast-forward is in Trunk, so the next version of PyPy will definitely have 2.7 compatibility.
And for those who want an overview of various S3 file systems: Comparison of S3QL and other S3 file systems. The list also includes commercial packages and a simple feature comparison is made.
s3fs - I should also check this out, as it allows me to mount Amazon S3 on the server and access it from the outside via WebDAV, indirectly also to S3. For my pictures, it might be sensible in the long run to have two offsite backups with different techniques. For this purpose, I should also take a look at the s3fslight fork, as it is said to work better with rsync and that would be interesting for automatic backups. Both store files directly in S3, so they can be trivially downloaded. On the other hand, both have problems with the eventual consistency feature of S3, you have to run the synchronization multiple times, especially when you make many changes. Therefore, I should also take a look at s3ql, which forms a complete file system that only uses S3 as storage. This makes it more difficult to access file contents outside of s3ql - but there are also things like deduplication and encryption (in cloud storage, it seems more sympathetic to store things encrypted rather than unencrypted, even if you can trust some providers more than others).
nginx HttpDavModule. I want to check it out to get easier access to my server from OSX - might be quite interesting for some things (e.g. backups of my pictures to my server to have an offsite storage location).
Newspaper: Guttenberg plagiarized parts of his doctoral thesis - and now everyone with the princes: "everything just stolen"!
LR/Blog - Send images to your blog from Adobe Lightroom. I had already found another plugin for this, but this one is more flexible and supports other blog types as well (down to "naked" MetaWeblogAPI). However, I don't know if it works with Lightroom 3 and newer WordPress versions ...
Contador can get back in the saddle - and Spain is systematically making cycling even worse than it already is. The whole thing is just a joke and an insult to every cycling fan, what the Spanish cycling federation is pulling off.
Bracketeer: Exposure Processing Software. Hmm, I've only played with the built-in HDR in the Sony NEX so far, and with HDRTist (I think in the free version). But I could try this one as well. Currently available for 5 Euros in the AppStore.
KammaGamma » Articles » Solving the Leica M8 DNG riddle. Interesting because Leica still claims the M8 is a 16-bit camera - but only 8 bits per pixel are actually stored. The article sheds light on what this means for the images. Short version: reserves in the shadows, but fewer reserves in the highlights. Should be taken into account when photographing. What remains, however, is the dynamic range - because the LUT maps the entire dynamic range, it simply creates holes in the highlight gradations. Nevertheless, I would prefer it if Leica offered an optional DNG format in which all the RAW data would be stored. It would be possible with a firmware update. (By the way, the M9 offers compressed and uncompressed DNGs as a format)
Main Page - Esolang. You should bookmark this blog because Wikipedia keeps deleting programming languages because they are supposedly completely uninteresting ... (currently deleted: Nemerle, Alice ML and Factor is also up for deletion again). What bothers me the most about the whole thing: Google and others now rank Wikipedia so heavily that it's almost impossible to find other programming wikis beyond these deletion pages.
Working Leica M8 Created Using Lego. And while we're at it, crazy cameras ...
- 3D Portfolio of Michael Grote -. If you like fantastic 3D renderings and want to take a peek behind the scenes (he often includes wireframe and concept renderings), just click. Really great work - I particularly like the Steampunk camera ...