Saturday, June 1, 2013

Canon 6D - how to fast forward and rewind video

It wasn't clear to me at first.  You select the frame forward or back icons and then hold down the Set button.  The longer you hold it the faster it goes.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Two apps that caused the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera to fail

I'm not sure which of these two apps caused the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera app to fail, but when I installed them the camera didn't work.  When I uninstalled both the camera was fine again.  So it's one of these two apps (both for language learning):

- Obenkyo
- Rosetta Stone

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Possible backup drive in the future

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/07/seagate-central-review/#continued

How to work around HTC wifi bug

There's a nasty bug on HTC phones that have to interact with EAP authentication.  You enter in all the information but the Connect button never lights up.  The only way to work around this is to choose the wrong authentication protocol and when it fails, go into the profile and hit modify, then the Connect button enables.  Yikes!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

DSLR and shutter speed

What I got from this blog:
http://tylerginter.com/post/11480534977/180-degree-shutter-learn-it-live-it-love-it

and this blog:
http://www.canon5dtips.com/the-basics/the-effects-of-shutter-speed-control/

Are that if you come from the world of photos going to video:
- When it comes to exposure you're boxed in by FPS.  Think about it, if you are shooting 24 fps, the most amount of time any frame of video could get would be 1/24th of  second.
- So when it comes to shutter speed, it can't be longer than your fps.  It can only be smaller than your fps.

- We're all used to seeing shutter speeds that are at least 1/2 of the fps (as explained nicely in the blog).  Going to smaller than 1/2 of the fps make the picture look stuttery (think Gladiator).  You never want to go longer than 1/2 fps (too smeary).
- See this Lynda.com blog entry to see another example of less and more than 180 degree shutter.

- So when it comes to me taking video on my DSLR I'll likely choose FPS and its default shutter speed, and the really use aperture and ISO as the variables to get the right exposure.


Sunday, April 28, 2013

If you're getting started with a new pool, here's what you need...

After taking care of my pool for 1 year (came the with the new house), here are some of the key things I needed:


Chemicals I use regularly:

  • Liquid chlorine
    • Power raises calcium hardness over time
    • Tablets raise CYA over time, both are VERY hard to get rid of later on.  
    • Store in cool, shaded place.  Doesn't lose potency if used within a month (according to a site I recently came across).
  • Muriatic acid (to lower pH)
  • Polyquat algaecide when I feel like it to prevent algae growth if it gets really warm



Thursday, April 25, 2013

Cronos Pro

Is a very nice font I gotta say.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Good article on dioptric adjustment

http://www.flickr.com/groups/digital_rebel_faq/discuss/72157594489188111/

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Tricks for the Canon 6D

- In order to play back video full screen using the HDMI output you need to go back to still image mode.  I couldn't figure out a way to do it while still in movie mode.
- Really enjoyed using the Rode Stereo VideoPro mic so far.
- Definitely choose a manual sound input volume, otherwise you're going to hear a bunch of static.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Mint.com filter by date

https://satisfaction.mint.com/mint/topics/how_do_i_filter_transaction_by_date_range
Can't believe you can't do this except manually in the transaction view.

Add the following "?startDate=06/01/2009&endDate=06/30/2009" at the end of the URL and hit enter. You can change the start and end date to the dates you want to search.

Quick ways to get an interesting portrait

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/photography-blog/2013/mar/08/how-to-take-portrait-photograph

Friday, March 1, 2013

Best Buy starts online price matching!

Yes!
http://consumerist.com/2013/02/15/best-buy-confirms-price-matching-policy-change-with-low-price-guarantee/
The above URL indicates which online sites BB is willing to match as well.

Apparently Target also already does this.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Free stock photo sites

Described here: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/01/22/foter-open-licensed-photos-for-wordpress/

"Though some sites, such as Morguefile (previous coverage) and Stock.xchng (previous coverage) offer free stock photos that you can use without concern, the libraries are generally limited and it may be difficult to find the photo you want or need. Wylio, Xpert, OpenAttribute and, most relevant to WordPress bloggers, PhotoDropper (to name just a few)."

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Whatahotel.com

For perks if you're staying at the very best hotels, see this site: http://www.whatahotel.com/

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Motorola SURFboard eXtreme Cable Modem SB6121

I was able to get my new Motoroloa SB6121 cable modem I bought up and running when connected directly to a computer, but I was having no luck getting it to connect to my Linksys hub. I used my alternate wireless internet connection and on the motorola site it referred to the fact that a cross over cable was needed to go between the cable modem and the hub. Fortunately I had one on hand and after resetting the modem, then plugging in the cross over cable, and THEN turning on the router, it all worked. Phew!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Post mortem technique

Two interesting tricks I saw in a postmortem I just attended:

Take a poll via anonymous sticky note poll on the relative safety in the room:
4 - Secure: I can share everything
3 - Safe: I can share almost everything without filtering
2 - Neutral: I can share most of what I want to share without filtering
1 - Dangerous: I cannot share some of my important contributions in the room.
0 - Treacherous: I cannot share most of my important contributions in the room.

Then talk about what ground rules could be put in place to help this.  Then up/down thumb vote to confirm everyone agrees to abide by those rules.

The other was to do a Return on Time Invested (ROTI) at the end of the meeting:

5 - Awesome!
4 - Exceeded expectations
3 - Was worth the time invested
2 - Wasn't worth 100% of the time invested, but worthwhile
1 - Not worth my time

Monday, January 14, 2013

Asana and Trello

Two new task mgmt. tools:
- Trello
- Asana

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Latest glasses perscription

OD (right eye)
Sphere: -1.25
Cyl: -0.50
Axis: 090

OS (left eye)
Sphere: -1.50
Cyl: -0.75
Axis: 030

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Apple salad recipe



Equal parts sour cream, real mayo, pineapple juice from a can which has the whole pineapple with the hole in it.
Add a little sugar to balance out the sour parts.
Add to Fuji apples peeled, cored and sliced, sliced pineapple, pecans and optionally raisins and/or very small chopped celery

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Apple FAQ on thunderbolt and bootcamp

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5219?viewlocale=en_US#1

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Sit-stand desk options

http://www.ergodesktop.com/
http://store.steelcase.com/products/sit-to-walkstation/
http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikea-Standing-desk-for-22-dollars.html

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Audiophile test tracks

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57552249-47/the-audiophiliacs-top-music-tracks-for-testing-speakers-and-headphones/

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Camera eyepiece article

Maybe I should wear my glasses while shooting after all
http://photo.net/columns/mjohnston/column6/

Monday, October 22, 2012

How to get MacBook Pro Thunderbolt / Mini-displayport to HDMI

How to get MacBook Pro Thunderbolt / Mini-displayport to HDMI

* Check here to see which model MacBooks support native audio output over HDMI:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4241
* If yours supports audio, buy this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TY600VC/A/griffin-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-with-audio-dvi
* After plugging in the cable and adapter, to get sound working go to the Sound control panel, and under the output tab choose your external audio system



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Getting an MP4 file to show on PS3 using USB drive

Two simple steps that got this to work for me:
- Make sure to put it in an folder on the USB drive, not at the root level
- Before diving into a submenu on the usb drive, select the drive at the movie level, click the green triangle for options and select Display All.  Then all the files showed up correctly.

How to search in a specific site

http://www.techerator.com/2010/05/google-tip-how-to-search-within-a-specific-website-domain-or-news-source/

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Copying HTML tables to Excel

Forgot how I was able in the past to get complex web tables to properly get put into an Excel worksheet (my former MFL, aka Master Feature List).  I now remember, thanks to this post, that what I would do is:

  • Open the page in question in IE
  • Save locally
  • Add a stylesheet in the header to get the next step to work correctly
  • <STYLE type="text/css">
    br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}
    </STYLE>

  • Resave the local HTML page
  • Open the local HTML page in IE
  • Copy and paste from IE into Excel
  • Wha la, just what I wanted.



Thursday, August 9, 2012

New Testament verses regarding the trinity

Matt 3:16-17 (Jesus' baptism)
Matt 28:19 (baptize in the name of...)

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Minute Physics

Great explanations of difficult physics concepts in a minute:
http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics

Picture worth a thousand words

Awesome set of government related infographics (how a bill becomes a law, senate rules).  Eat your heart out School House Rock!

http://www.good.is/post/infographic-how-a-bill-actually-becomes-a-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+good/lbvp+(GOOD+Main+RSS+Feed)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Tree identified

I'm pretty sure we have a crapemyrtle tree in our front yard after some investigation.

T8 fluorescent bulb lighting setup

http://www.joeedelman.com/blog/photography/lighting/no-flicker-fluorescent-studio-lights-cheap/

This looks like a great way to get a nice big bank of lights for little power and cost.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Monday, July 9, 2012

Solar water heating panel installers

I think docs from the previous owner indicated that the installer of the solar panels for heating the pool water in our house were done by:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/poco-solar-energy-santa-clara-2

Thursday, July 5, 2012

How to remove a rusted screw

Best tips were:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/auto-home-improvement-diy/how-to-free-a-rusted-bolt
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-loosen-a-rusted-screw.htm

PB Blaster and Liquid Wrench seem to be the best of the box options from what I read online - outside of mixing transmission fluid and acetone by hand...

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012

Video settings for Canon 5D Mark III

http://www.eoshd.com/5d-mark-iii-settings-vault
A guy can dream...

Gotta remember to use BeyondWork

Totally forgot about BeyondWork.  They have some great discounts there.  Gotta make sure I check them next time before I go to an attraction like Great America.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Finally got Dolby decoding working

I have a Pioneer VSX-819H and could never get it to show Dolby decoding.  This page finally explained what I needed to do:


http://www.highdefforum.com/archive/t-114165.html


The PS3 must be set to bitstreaming rather than Linear PCM for the receiver to detect the signal as dolby digital 5.1/DTS. 

The menu item to adjust/verify is (from XMB): Settings: --> Video Settings --> BD/DVD Audio Output Format (HDMI).




Arg...I had kept going to the audio menu, not the video one.  All fixed now.  Working with a PS3 slim.