Petman prototype

Judgment day not too far ... Just kidding, I am pro robots, at least, till the day when they try to smack the living day lights out of humans. This is amazingly close to a "human walk". Interesting and cool.



Via Gizmodo

Got me self a Donut

Got my self the android 1.6 update. New features like the Quick Search (across history, contacts, bookmarks, web etc), Gestures, test to speech and more.
Update 1.6 highlights

As before get it here:
HTC Developer Centre

Interestingly note that the radio image is the same for 1.5 and 1.6. So one can skip this part if one is already updated to 1.5.
download the SDK
download the radio image
download the system image
sudo ./adb devices
connect device using USB. But, DONOT mount from phone
sudo ./adb push ../../ota-radio-2_22_19_26I.zip /sdcard/update.zip
sudo ./adb shell sync
start phone in recovery mode:
press HOME button while restarting
Alt+l
Alt+s
HOME + BACK
done!

NOTE: had to erase the user partition this time as many apps did not work after the update.
enter fastboot mode (hold the BACK key while starting)
sudo ./fastboot erase cache
sudo ./fastboot update signed-dream_devphone_userdebug-img-14721.zip -w

to get to the settings menu (to enable wifi) without having a data connection in the FASTBOOT mode try this:
sudo ./adb shell
$ am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.Settings
Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cmp=com.android.settings/.Settings }

From:
Unlocking G1 or ADP1 without sim card

McLaren MP4-12C in 2011

No, this is not a mixed breed Mercedes McLaren that we are talking about. Its pure McLaren this time.



Official site: http://www.mclaren.co.uk/
The MP4-12C: http://www.mclarenautomotive.com/uk/default.aspx

Lots of drool worthy pictures and info at:
Via: Autocar.co.uk & Car Magazine via Jalopnik

My Android Dev Phone 1

Ah! finally a unlocked phone with an open OS that seems to be going somewhere. First, impressions are impressive. No branding of any kind on the phone. No mention of the word Google or HTC on the outside of the phone, except for the Android robot on a polygonized terrain. Opening the cover reveals HTC mentioned on the battery. For a first cut OS release, Android rocks.

Functions are intuitive and has very good integration with Google applications. One can't initially start the phone without creating/having a Google account. Plethora of applications are available on the android market place. And, I think a lot more will be coming soon. Apart from the default applications I downloaded the following free applications from the market place and gave them a try. Decent...
http://www.android.com/market/free.html

Compare Everywhere: Barcode scanner which returns comparative pricing of the items scanned.
GPS Status: Shows the satellites the GPS has connected to. Also, shows other information from the Compass and sensors on the phone. Pretty decent to have.
GpS Tracker: Can track GPS coordinates real time. Also, has a functionality to get activated by SMS sent to the phone.
Homer Soundboard: DOH!
Barcode Scanner: Another barcode scanner.
Last.Fm: Yups they already have an official application for Android.

Opera: I will make this clear. The default browser Chrome on Android sucks on Edge connection.
Phonalyzer: Various statistics one always wants to know from one's call history/log.
SkyMap: This tool is awesome. It uses the phones GPS, compass etc. to show you the starmap with the names of the stars and constellations in front of you.
Screenshot: This is what I will use to post some screen shots soon. Does not work
SMS Backup: One needs this. Backs up the SMS'es to gmail.

Updating to Android 1.1
Recently, update 1.1 was released. Below is my summary of how to update Android. Don't follow these without first going through the complete official instructions here. Then again consider yourself warned.
http://www.htc.com/www/support/android/adp.html

download fastboot
download the SDK
download the radio image
download the system image
sudo ./adb devices
connect device using USB. But, DONOT mount from phone
sudo ./adb push ../../ota-radio-1_22_14_11.zip /sdcard/update.zip
sudo ./adb shell sync
start phone in recovery mode:
press HOME button while restarting
Alt+l
Alt+s
HOME + BACK
done!

enter fastboot mode (hold the BACK key while starting)
sudo ./fastboot erase cache
sudo ./fastboot update signed-dream_devphone-img-130444.zip
NOTE: I wanted to keep the data in the user partition so ignored the option -w

Latest Star Trek Trailer

Via Crunchgear

FitBit

From underutilization of "A day in the life" to reaching a point of realization that there are only 24 hrs in a day - is something! But, when that point is reached things need to be optimized, and tasks triaged to fit the day.

The plan simple - Health, Wealth & Wisdom in that order. Tracking is helpful. Tracking my wealth (income, debt, payments, expenses) in a simple spreadsheet for just a couple of months, helped me reverse the falling curve.

I guess tracking some aspects of one's health, could have its benefits too. Anticipating this device ( hopefully, it won't turn out to be vaporware ). Also, hopefully they have a Linux app. in addition to Windows and Mac, for syncing with the website.



Now, how about tracking wisdom?

FitBit

Last.fm

Having my music organized and mobilized, one more problem to automate. How does one keep track of the music one likes? Move them to a folder/folders, rate them, keep large number of unmanageable play lists over no underlying structure, track the play count. Organizing music on the go is not possible with the iPod Nano. Rating music requires one to be proactive and takes effort. So, I will go with the simplest - tracking the playcount. Now the music you like will have the tendency to float up with a higher playcount. The iPod tracks the playcount just fine. Also, moving among operating systems, installing uninstalling stuff begs for a web solution - a centralized repository to maintain my listening history.

The solution to this one was simpler than I imagined. Last.fm allows for something called "audioscrobbling". You can listen to music using your favorite software and install a pluggin that will upload your "listenings" automatically to last.fm.

Now the problem is to upload the playcount from my iPod to Last.fm. Well, download the last.fm plugin for Rhythmbox and you are set. It seamlessy uploaded the playcounts from my iPod to Last.fm. Just keep listening to your music and occasionally sync your iPod with RhythmBox and Voila your playcounts are updated on Last.fm.

Also, Last.fm has plugins for almost any decent music player under the sun and it can make listening suggestions based on your listening history.

Musicbrainz Picard

My music collection is was a strange mess confluence of ripped cds (using early non-standard rippers), downloaded music from the time of Audiogalaxy, Napster and kazaa. Okay, I pirated "some" music (there I said it) Har. In my defense - I have spent good money on purchasing audio cassettes and CD's and whole albums for just maybe one song. Anyway, that is besides the point. The thing is, I ended up with about 9 Gigs of unsorted disorganized music files. To make things worse I organized and renamed them to suite my tastes long back and ripped all my CDs using some shady ripper. A manual re-organization not only seems infeasible but, an intractable problem. Almost, came to point where decided to delete the whole damn thing in disgust and restart a clean collection.

Problems:
1) Files with wrong names. Some music files just have names track001.mp3, track002.mp3 etc
2) Worse there are actually files in my collection that have the wrong ID3 or empty tags for most fields.
3) Smaller annoying problems, non standard naming of files some with underscores, some with spaces and some just a mess.
4) Folder structure crazy. Some like "I like", "Me Favs 12jul".

SOLUTION: for each file listen to it first. Look up the album on the net and then rename the tags and the files and put them in a proper folder. If I can remember the name of the song that is. Leave aside the question - how does one create a proper folder structure. And all this manually.

Pulling my hair with both hands and shouting Aaaaaah.....

But, just then the sun rose, the birds chirped, the flowers blossomed. Picard to the rescue (strange coincidence, considering how many time the character namesake of the tool has saved the day for the enterprise). It uses acoustic fingerprinting (equivalent of listening) during scanning of every song, then looks up that AudioFingerprint in the Musicbrainz database to figure out the album. Then optionally (using plugin) it can lookup the cover art, do a cross lookup to other music repositories like amazon or just do a google search. Also, it will fix the ID3 tags, rename the file and organize the folders by artists/albums. Optionally you can ask it to move all the files it was able to fix to another directory in well organized structure. Leaving the files that it couldn't look up the fingerprint for in the original place. And boy it is good. Of the 2400 odd files, now, I am only left with about some 400 files. It is so good that it figured out the right album for a files whose ID3 tags and file name I deliberately garbled. Took some time about 1 to 2 hours to sift through all my music.

Now, with what remains you can do a standard lookup based on the current ID3 tags (the screenshot shows what I have left). It will do its best to locate a match and present its findings with a color code ranging from green to red (great match to bad match). You can then visually sift through these. For those files with multiple matches it will present you with a web page allowing you to choose among the various choices.

Then to top it all off - "there's no Price for Awesomeness, or Attractiveness".

MusicBrainz Picard

Klipsch image x10

In my attempt to be able to listen to my music collection anytime anywhere, got myself an iPod Nano (1st generation) long time back. But, just after a couple of days this got relegated to a dark corner of a cabinet. Did occasionally take it out, but then again and again kept sending it straight back in to that dark dingy corner. The problem were the uncomfortable headphones. My ears actually pain with these things. Toleration time was about max 30 minutes. Tried some other brand ear-buds too. But, gave up thinking my ears may not be the standard size or something !!. Got myself a Sennheiser px250. These I could tolerate for about an hour or 2. But, then the whole idea of having your music pocket-able gets thrown out of the window. These headphones are definitely not pocket-able. So, back went the iPod.

Organizing my music recently. Decided to give this one more shot. I had pretty much given up the idea of ear buds. So, balked at the thought of "in ear" buds. Having something so close to your tympanic membrane, gives me the shivers. Let alone the thought of some cheap headphone manufacturer, even giving a damn about your "ear health".

So, how do the really rich music guys who have all the money in the world, listen to their music? The answer surprisingly is NOT unaffordable really really expensive well calibrated music systems and special rooms, but custom in ear ear-buds!! Yes! Ah now the custom ear fit makes these comfortable. But, what makes the sound quality so great. Another surprise, their headphones don't use the standard micro speaker technology. These headphones are based on Balanced Armature technology. Usually dual or triple balanced armatures to be able to faithfully reproduce the full range of frequencies. This technology is currently only available in the US and the UK. Okay some quick translation is in order now. The micro speakers are more like ordinary speakers but small (micro) in size. Armature technology, on the other hand, directly produces sound frequencies more akin to a tuning fork (Am I right?). And, these are expensive really expensive.

After reading much about these, narrowed down my search to Klipsch x10 and SleekAudio sa6 and finally ended up with the Klipsch. Both have single balanced wide/ultra-wide band micro armatures. Some how the thought of dual/triple armatures did not appeal to me, maybe, because of how much more complicated (and more expensive)it is to design a good crossover. Well, if you are still in the dark ages of 5$ cheap Chinese headphones. I am sure you won't be disappointed moving to one of these. I have used these for over 3 months now and they are worth every penny. But, I suggest looking up various choices yourself before settling on one, as these can make quite a dent in your wallet. Actually, suggest trying before buying. Also, suggest pairing these with comply foams.

Klipsch Image x10 Retails for 350$ (got mine off ebay for 220$)

Also, check out these:
www.earphonesolutions.com/
www.sleek-audio.com/
www.ultimateears.com/

The Hadron Collider goes online this Wednesday

Woo Hoo or Big Bang. Any hoo big day for physics.

5 Quirky Gadgets You’re Bound to Love

The following is an interesting guest post by Sarah Scrafford. Thanks Sarah.

Gadgets are taking the world by storm – they’re getting smaller, more sophisticated, and indispensable to daily life. While some are useful, others come with sheer entertainment value. They’re not must-haves for the serious gadget freaks, but for those who enjoy a good laugh now and then, here’s my list of five quirky yet charming gadgets in descending order of importance to me:

• E-Cigarette: An electronic nicotine patch? A cigarette-shaped placebo that hoodwinks you into ditching the nasty and unhealthy habit? Whatever it is, the E-Cigarette Anti Cigarette Nicotine Replacement Therapy cartridge promises to cure you of your smoking habit by simulating the smell and feel of smoking a cigarette, sans the harmful effects of tar and other cancer-causing chemicals. What it does have though is nicotine – each cartridge has supposedly less and less of the noxious substance to help you wean yourself gradually from the pleasures of smoking.
• Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt: Be prepared for the stares all around with this contraption. An instant Wi-Fi detector, this piece of clothing senses the strength of the Wireless Fidelity signal in the area around you and glows accordingly. The shirt is washable once you remove the animated decal and the hidden battery pack that powers the detector.
• LED Faucet Lights: Like the idea of water that glows, both blue and red according to the temperature? If so, then this gadget is your cup of tea. Fix it to your faucet and light up your bathrooms, literally. While the blue LED gives your water a bluish shade, the blue/red LED makes the water turn red once the temperature touches 89 degrees.
• Phone Excuses Key Ring: The perfect gadget to get you off the phone and away from the pest on the other end of the line – this nifty key ring has a whole range of sound effects that you can use to good effect to offer the most genuine excuses when you want to hang up the phone without being overtly rude.
• Clocky: Though the moniker makes me feel all warm and snug inside, Clocky is one mean SOB when it comes to dragging you out of bed each morning. If you thought the snooze button was your best friend, Clocky the Runaway Alarm Clock is here to cause friction between the two of you – by running away from you as soon as the alarm rings. This means that you’re forced to get out of bed if only to shut up that dratted clock when the alarm rings after a snooze period. Clocky allows you between 0 to 9 minutes before it starts its morning jog, and a setting of 0 means you don’t get any snooze time at all.

By-line:

Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of Capella University Reviews. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.