Category Archives: Different

Google Local: Cool but Scary level of detail

Posted on January 24, 2006 | 1 comment

googlelocal.gifSaw this first on Gothamist and followed the link to Google’s Blog.

In the Google Blog, they have a link to a close up of the Statue of Liberty that is stunning to see. Zooming in on the Deck of the Intrepid is pretty Wild too.

Mind you, being able to view New York City this way is incredibly cool, but I wonder what limits, if any should be considered?

Here is a close-up of LaGuardia Airports Control Tower (JFK Too!). I read somewhere that certain sites were made to be Fuzzy on purpose, but Even the White House can be zoomed in on. (With the DOJ suit against Google to get Search Info, do you suppose that link would raise Flags?? )

In this Day and Age, should things like this be that Available?

BTW: No, I’m not a Paranoid person, I’m just wondering aloud.

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Different, Images

Google News is Finally out of Beta

Posted on January 23, 2006 | Comments Off on Google News is Finally out of Beta

googlenews.gifAccording to Google Blog, Google News is coming out of “Beta”. Not sure what the difference is, other than the word Beta removed from the logo, but I think it’s good news (No pun intended).

I use Google News every day. I like it as it offers a fairly International view of world events and neatly displays news on the page. Other news services present simular information, but I like the straight forward layout that Google News offers. Using it and configuring it is easy to do.

What I’m Curious about is: How do they expect to generate Revenue from the Service?

Most of the news content has provisions that you can’t insert Advertisement banners when you redisplay the news. At a guess, I’d bet that Google resells the information they gather when people hit the links on the page. This might be a concern about one’s privacy, especially since the Department of Justice is suing Google for information on what people are searching for (Can you Say “Big Brother” boys and girls?) all in the Name of fighting “Porn”. The fact is that people give up thier privacy everyday, often without realizing it. I’m not advocating the sacrafice of ones privacy, but I think there are Gray Areas. Preseting the News in the fashion that Google does takes resources to set up. To pay for these resources, you sacrifice a little of your privacy.

You could read about privacy Concerns on this Iafrica.com page retrieved via news.google.com

In Any Case, this is another good service that Google has presented.

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Different

Konica Minolta Bails from the Camera Market

Posted on January 23, 2006 | 2 comments

maxxum7d.jpgI know this is a few Days old, but Oh Wow, Konica Minolta threw in the towel in the Camera Arena! For me, this is shocking.

My experience with Minolta goes back to my Minolta X-700, a fine SLR with advanced features in it’s time. I spent several years using my X-700, a camera Ken Rockwell calls

“Minolta’s best mass market manual focus camera, ever.“

I’m not familiar with Konica Minolta’s Current Digital line, but I bet there all good quality cameras.

Here are some articles regarding the news:
DPReview
CNN
Photography Blog
Ken Rockwell

Photo of a Maxxum 7D From Konica Minolta’s Site.

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Posted in Different

Amazing what you find on the Internet

Posted on January 23, 2006 | Comments Off on Amazing what you find on the Internet

Rion took a photo of a place that has the Latitude and Longitude where one would expect the Address. The address was in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds which is not used by most mapping API’s (Should be!) so, I went to the FCC site and converted it to Decimal notation.

40

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Nikon to Stop Making Most Film Cameras

Posted on January 13, 2006 | Comments Off on Nikon to Stop Making Most Film Cameras

I read on NYC Photobloggers: “Nikon Plans to Stop Making Most Cameras That Use Film”.

It’s a logical progression for Nikon, but I get a little Nostalgic as the first SLR I used was my Cousin’s Nikon F with a Photomic FTn viewfinder such as the one pictured on the right. It weighed a ton but I took some good photographs with it and was sorry when I had to return it a few years later (it was on loan only).

I’m biased towards Nikon as I like that they tend to feel very Solid and well balanced. Currently I Own a Nikon D70s with a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom lens (like the one below after the break). My D70s is honestly the best Camera I’ve ever owned, but their are times I’ve missed using a Film SLR like the Nikon F or my old Minolta X-700. In college, I assisted the Photo Editor of the School Newspaper to develop Black and White film for the Articles. This gave me access to the photo lab for my own use. Every now and again, I get tempted to convert my basement wash room to a darkroom and develop some Black and white film, but the expense of it stops me (that and the fact the my wife would not like the Chemicals…)

Nikon concentrating on Digital Cameras will be remembered as a minor turning point in the history of photography. I wonder when other Film camera makers will start to throw in the Towel? Months ago, Kodak has announced it will no longer make Black and White Paper. When will they announce the End of thier Black And White Film Line? How long before the Film companies stop making Film alltogether?

Continue reading →

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Posted in Different, Images

Google Earth!

Posted on January 11, 2006 | 1 comment

Read about Google Earth on Lifehacker. If you have a Mac or PC and a broadband Connection, Check it out.

FBOWEB.com has Flight tracking from a few airports such as JFK. Not sure this is a good idea or not, since it seems to show near real time tracking of airplanes heading towards JFK. I’m having fun plotting out where I and my family live. Seems to work ok with Web Proxies too.

On googleearthhacks.com you could download all sorts of overlays. There is even a good Google Earth Blog too.

Very cool and definitely worth checking out 

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Different

New Years Resolutions

Posted on January 5, 2006 | Comments Off on New Years Resolutions

 

So many people make them. I normally don’t, but there are somethings I do need to work on so here is my list:

  1. Be Neater – To put it mildly, I’m messy. This drives my wife to distraction so for both our sakes, I’ll try to clean up more.
  2. Work on Tardiness – I’m not always late getting things done, but often enough that it’s a nuisance.
  3. Finish more models – One of my hobbies is assembling plastic models like planes or models based on Japanese Animation like Gundams. I have quite a queue of them so I’m trying to finish more of them this year.
  4. Take more photo’s – Now that I have a Nikon D70s, I have even more reasons to get out ans snap more photos.

That’s about it.

 

 

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PC Magazine: The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years

Posted on December 27, 2005 | Comments Off on PC Magazine: The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years

Wow, I’ve owned Several items on the List! The other Items we’re owned by my Father or Brothers

2. Apple iPod (2001)
4. PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
6. Motorola StarTAC (1996)
7. Atari Video Computer System (1977)
14. BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld (1998) – Work made me use it…
16. Texas Instruments Speak & Spell (1978)
17. Texas Instruments SR-10 (1973)      
23. Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963) – Great Camera for a Kid!
24. MITS Altair 8800 (1975) – My Father had one.
25. Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983) – My Father and one of my Brother’s had one.
27. Commodore 64 (1982) – Also owned a Vic 20 (4K of RAM!)
29. Sony Betamax (1975) – Better than VHS but doomed.
36. Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
38. Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
43. Polaroid Swinger (1965) – Another cool Camera for a kid.
47. Timex/Sinclair 1000 (1982)

Hmmm, I would have put Nikon F on the List, But  since it may have come out BEFORE 1955, I guess  it would not qualify.

 

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MTA Strike is over

Posted on December 23, 2005 | Comments Off on MTA Strike is over

NY Daily news sums it up perfectly. Since the Union apparently did NOT get the concessions it asked for, What was the purpose behind the strike?

The mediator has the right idea: A total press blackout. I’m sure Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki will have some "I’m Tough" position to take, but I can’t say I really care what they think. I wonder: did we have these problems under the old NYC TA? Currently, the MTA is an "Authority" that apparently does not directly answer to anyone…

 

In other news:

Have a Merry Christmas one and All! 

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MTA Strike – Day 3

Posted on December 22, 2005 | Comments Off on MTA Strike – Day 3

The Daily News has it right: At this point, "War of the Words" is exactly what  this is. This is getting seriously ridiculous.

Politicians like Mayor Bloomberg  keeps posturing for even stricter fines and penalties, the Judge in this case is threatening jail time *AND* even Gov. Pataki crawled out and did his "No Talks Till the Strike Ends" bit.

Apparently, the MTA didn’t get the memo as they’ve been negotiating since 1:00am this morning. In the mean time, people and business continue to suffer. As I said before, I think they have the right to strike, but TWU Local 100 made a mistake doing it now. the Anti-Union pundits are having a blast with this strike.

In other news, Jeanine Pirro abandoned her campaign for Senator. Not terribly fond of either her or Hillary Clinton, but you have to feel a little sorry for her. Her campaign started with a whimper and finally ended when her own party screamed for her to drop out.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign adviser Howard Wolfson summed it up best:

"We know at some point the Republicans will sort out this process and choose a nominee."

Ouch.

Not sure why they think she’ll do any better for State Attorney General. People will remember her for giving up more than anything else. She has a good record as a Prosecutor, but all the screw ups in her campaign is, IMO, too much to overcome. I think she should skip out of this next election.

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