Ron's Log

An Hour Away

cartoo.dyndns.org (it doesn't even have a proper name!) is a site that will calculate how far you can get from any particular starting point in any given time via automobile, bicycle or foot travel.

Below, for example, is how far it calculates I could get from Desert Hot Springs in one hour by car:

Not bad, but clearly it needs some refinement. I added the green arrow to point out the obvious glitch on highway 74. There are no drivable roads that I'm aware of that go from the Indian Canyons directly up to highway 74, so the only way to get to that point is to come up from Palm Desert on 74, so that entire stretch of 74 should be included in the under-one-hour calculation.

Atlanta Beating

I saw the story earlier today on an Atlanta TV station's website about two videos of a supposedly gay man being beaten on the street in Atlanta. Didn't link to it because the TV station had converted the original video so badly that (1) you couldn't hear anything, including the alleged gay slurs; (2) you couldn't see anything but some dark blobs jerking around like there might be a fight going on; and (3) there was no evidence the man they were saying is gay was actually gay. The one who was beaten has not come forward to the police, so there's little to go on.

But those good journalists at The Smoking Gun have done it right. Go there and you will see a clear video including these words: "Jack City - no faggots", "No faggots in Jack City" (4 times), and "No faggots, man."

None of that tells us if the victim is gay or not, nor even whether the perpetrators were beating him for being gay. But it does show you how to properly present a video on the web.

UPDATE: The beating victim has come forward. He's Brandon White and he is gay. So now we've got the facts lined up. Now they just need to get the perpetrators.

Old Stuff From 2003

I have been going back and clearing out some old dead wood from Ron's Log. This version you are reading extends back to August 2003. A lot of links have died since then, so I'm fixing the ones that can be, deleting the ones that can't. In the process I've come across some items that I guess I included because either the technology was pretty gee-whiz for the time, or the price was impressively low, or both. Here is some of what I found between August and December 2003:

• 4 Gb Microdrive $500 (Microdrives were little hard drives in Compact Flash format). I think they are no longer being manufactured, but you can buy a used 4Gb model for $10. A regular 4 Gb Compact Flash card can be had for as little as $13 now).
• 4 megapixel camera with 10x zoom, $500
• The 40 Gb iPod cost $500. Today it's 160 Gb and costs $250.
• 6 Gb Compact Flash card for $5,000. They don't seem to be selling 6 Gb CF cards these days. You can get 4 Gb or 8 Gb. An 8 Gb card can be had for $15.
• 2 Gb SD cards predicted to be available "soon." Today you can buy 128 Gb SD cards.
• Recommendations for your first digital camera from SiliconValley.com:
  • 3 megapixels is enough
  • Don't go less than $200
  • Upgrade the memory card to at least 256 Mb. Yes, megabytes. You can still buy a 256 Mb SD card for less than $5.
  • Photoshop!
• A 5 megapixel camera was introduced for $400.
• A 20 Gb USB hard drive for $250. Today there are lots of choices in USB hard drives. I found a terabyte drive (1,024 Gb) for $145. It's hard to find one as small as 20 Gb, but I did, and it's $38.
• Google labs unveiled a new experiment they called "Search by Location" which has since become their standard feature "Search Nearby."
• A 20 Gb USB device with a built-in compact flash card reader. The killer feature was that it could output video and jpegs directly to a television. In addition it could simultaneously play MP3s while showing jpegs! Also, you could rotate the jpegs! It came with a remote control so you could use it in presentations. $400. Or you could go up to the 60 Gb model for $600. At the time I thought $400 was incredibly cheap for all this power.
• Kodak announced that it would stop making slide projectors by June 2004, but they had no plans yet to discontinue any slide films.
• A USB-powered "personal vibrator" could be had for £30 in 2003. The link is dead, so I can't say for sure exactly what features this might have included - remote control? Synch to music? A quick Google search turned up one available today with remote control for $11.80.
• Stories of Google's impending IPO in 2004 were circulating. There were estimates the initial value would exceed $15 billion. It turned out to be $27 billion. Today its market capitalization is $205 billion.
• A Pioneer DVR with an 80 Gb hard drive and the ability to burn DVD-R for $1,200.
• A waterproof, 2 megapixel camera for $200.

Redesigned Web Site For Cabot's

This website redesign is way, way, way overdue - and it looks pretty good.

The Best Viral Videos Of 2011

If you are the sort of person who never goes to look at popular videos on the internet, you are probably very pleased with yourself for all the time you've saved. It should be no problem for you, then, to squeeze out just four minutes and twelve seconds to watch this compilation of the best of the viral, 2011. Don't worry, Kim Jong-Il died too late, so no North Korean funeral videos, and I spotted only one Presidential candidate - unless that's Herman Cain on the couch (?).

Go here for direct links to all 79 individual videos.

Kindle Fire (it's a tablet) - Only $199

Color, backlighted display, touchscreen, video, web access, no camera. Smaller than an iPad (iPad: 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34 inches, 601 grams; Kindle Fire: 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches, 413 grams). Promotional video here. Connects via Wi-Fi, and it's got a USB connection. Battery life is said to be 7.5 to 8 hours if Wi-Fi is off. 8 GB internal.

The display: "7-inch multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors." It's the "anti-reflective" treatment that's critical in my opinion. The iPad is way too shiny. The plain Kindle screen is very readable. But how does the Fire look with color and backlighting and video? Somebody buy one and show me.

They created a new browser for it called Amazon Silk. Info and promotional video here. The video is reminiscent of Apple's videos when they release something new, only maybe a bit less breathless. You'll see black shirts and men speaking a language somewhere between plain English and tech jargon overload, all of which is designed to make you want to buy. Their point is that the major advantage to Amazon Silk is that most of the heavy lifting is done up on the Amazon servers (one of the "clouds" that are referred to by those who want to be cool). Then your 'umble Kindle Fire sends a web request to the cloud, which quickly responds with what it has already anticipated you will be wanting.

Here's what it looks like next to a human hand. Only $199 and Amazon has a good return policy. Pre-ordering now, shipping November 15.

CNet passes along rumors that there is a 10-inch model in the works that will have 3G connectivity and an option to switch between backlight and e-ink.

Origin Of The Internet

Something To Play With

Google Earth driving simulator. Put in starting and ending points and then fly along above your little car as it automatically drives itself along the route.

Makes You Happy To Be Alive (and have an internet connection)

The Google Art Project.

Google has taken their streetview technology into 17 art museums around the world and put the results on-line for all to see. The Google blog post all about it is here. Each of the museums selected one artwork to be presented in gigapixel resolution. In addition, there are 1,000 "other" images (presumably these are merely high res photos). More museums and more art will come, of course.

Get you excited:

Get more explanation:

They show off some of the details of the technology. I always wanted to ride a bike in The Hermitage.

The 17 museums:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
• Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
• Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin
• Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC
• MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City
• Museum Kampa, Prague
• National Gallery, London
• Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
• Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
• The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
• The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
• The Frick Collection, New York City
• Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Palace of Versailles, Versailles
• Von Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
• Tate Britain, London
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Detail from "The Apparition of Christ to the People" by Aleksandr Andreyevich Ivanov at The Tretyakov Gallery

Cool Webpage

It's about security for your iPhone or iPod, but who cares? It's interesting.