The Litter Box

It’s been a while since I’ve done an official post. Those who poke around the site might have noticed that there were some pictures added over the past few months, with random photos getting added here and pictures from a November trip to Yosemite on the vacation photo site.

Today’s project of note was finally getting around to converting more Mike Jittlov videos from VHS to digital format. Years ago I acquired a copy of the Mike Jittlov Demo Reel. It’s got interviews and segments from many of his early short work. I’ve split it up into several parts for your viewing pleasure. I also figured out a way to include the reversed sound in the backwards version of the Wizard of Speed and Time short. All the videos are in the Brightcove Player associated with the original post.

On the work front, the big news from last week (other than another round of funding) was the fact that Barack Obama used a Brightcove Player to announce his intention to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee. You can see the Barack Obama video here.

I was scheduled to go on another trip aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov, this time circumnavigating Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Yesterday afternoon I received a call from the tour operator that the trip was being canceled because the Khlebnikov (a 123-meter Russian icebreaker) was stuck in the ice near Barrow, Alaska during it’s Nortwest Passage tour and wouldn’t be able to get to Resolute, Nunavut, Canada (the embarkation point for our voyage) in time for our trip. Damn. My first thought was “That sucks,” my second thought was “I’m glad I’m not on the Northwest Passage trip.”

Doing a little reasearch on the web, I learned from a CBC news story that there were actually three icebreakers stuck in the ice off Barrow. In addition to the Khlebnikov, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier and US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy were also stuck. Here’s the story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/northwest-passage/logbook.html.

The USCGC Healy has extensive information available on the web, including mission information, tracking map and pictures from it’s webcam.

The Healy and is back on the move, but I grabbed a some of the data and images from the past week so you can see what they’ve been up against, after the cut…
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Brought my “new” (pronounced “refurbished”) camera to the office to test it with the telephoto extender. It seemed to be peforming reasonably well, as seen in this Photo Album.

I have to say I’m a little disappointed with Nikon repair service. I picked up my replacement camera and ran it through some tests. First off, the serial number is 1.4 million lower than the camera I sent in. I wonder when it was put into service. Turning the camera on I noticed that firmware version 1.3 was installed. The most recent firmware version number is 1.7 and was released in August 2005. Nikon couldn’t take the time to install the latest firmware? Next I took a couple pictures so I could test for hot/dead pixels. The picture number was in the 9800’s. I wonder if the count has ever been reset (I suspect I could find a repair shop that has diagnostic tools to get an actual count). I’d taken about 2500 pictures on the camera I sent in. So, I sent in a relatively new camera (that was admittedly having problems) and received a heavily used camera for which I have no clue as to it’s past problems or repair history. Sigh. The camera store’s going to follow up with Nikon.

As for the picture tests, I got mixed results with the pixel test. I first did the test with high-quality JPEGs and definitely found hot pixels. The test procedure recommends TIFF images, and doing so resulted in fewer hot pixels. I’ll just have to keep an eye out for them in my pictures.

The weather wasn’t overly condusive to taking pictures today, but I took a few (a couple links below). Perhaps tomorrow I’ll get out with my tripod so I can set up comparisons between the Nikon and my Fuji F30.

Last year when I was in Hawaii, the command dial on my Nikon camera stopped functioning for half a day (it would only change settings in one direction). It was fine the next morning, so I didn’t think much of it and completely forgot to have Nikon check it out when I sent the camera in for repair last November (there were lots of dead pixels in the images). In mid-June I was taking some pictures and discovered the command dial was completely non-functional. The camera is no longer under warranty, but the store manager informed me that Nikon sometimes doesn’t charge to fix small problems. Wouldn’t that be nice.

6/20/2006: I drop off camera at the store so it can be sent to Nikon for repair. I’m told they should know within 2-3 weeks how much it will cost to repair and that the camera should be back within 4-5 weeks.

7/6: I receive a call that camera has been returned. I’m happy because it’s been less than 3 weeks and since I wasn’t asked to authorize the repair that means there’s no charge. Yay!

7/7: I go to the camera store to pick up my camera, only to learn that the repair center returned the wrong camera. People at the store don’t know where my camera is. (Ummm… you couldn’t have called me back?)

7/10: I speak to the store manager, who tells me that Nikon has fixed my camera and they’re sending it back. It should arrive in 3 days. Once again I’m happy because I’m not being charged for the repair. (Yay!)

7/15: I’d sort of hoped to hear from the store, but I had to call them. They don’t know where my camera is, but hope to find out on Monday. (Sigh.)

7/18: Again, I would have liked to hear from the store, but I had to call them in the afternoon. It’s the manager’s day off, and he’s the one who’s been tracking this issue. The sales associate with whom I speak mentions they’re holding the camera that was originally returned as a hostage until they receive my camera. I wonder if this policy is actually necessary to get Nikon to resolve the issue more quickly. All I know is that if I were the owner of that camera I’d be pissed.

7/19: I had to call the store and spoke to the manager. He’s still trying to get a tracking number from Nikon. Rumor has it that Nikon is sending me a new camera, but he hasn’t been able to confirm this information. (I wonder whether it will be new or refurbished.) (Grrrr.)

7/21: The store called to let me know that a camera has arrived for me. It’s most likely to be refurbished. If I can leave work early enough tonight I’ll pick it up on my way home, otherwise I’ll get it tomorrow. Then I’ll run it through some tests (and you can be sure I’ll be testing for dead pixels and focusing problems, which is why I sent the camera in for repair last November). Assuming it’s a refurbished camera, I wonder if the store has the diagnostic capabilities to let me know how many pictures the camera has taken.

I realize the camera is back within the promised 4-5 weeks, but I can’t say it’s been an overly relaxing experience, and I wonder how long it would have taken had I not kept bugging the store for updates.

Was it just 99 degrees or does the outside temperature display on the Prius display only go up to 99 (perhaps like the MPG display max’es out at 99.9).

As some of you may have noticed, I started using ZenPhoto to display my non-vacation albums. It’s a wonderful, simple online gallery solution. Once installed, you just upload your images into an album directory and it automatically generates the structure of the album. In admin-mode, you can interactively add descriptions, reorder albums, manage comments, etc. There are a few themes floating around and more being created all the time. At the moment I’m still using (and tweaking) the default theme. I’d initially disabled comments to avoid comment spam, but recently implemented a crude hack in an attempt to foil generic spam (it would be easy to circumvent my implementation if someone wanted to directly target my site, but I wouldn’t like you very much if you do). I also made some theme usability upgrades to help identify those images that have comments (although nowhere near as interesting as the “Recent Comments” page I saw on someone else’s site). I’m sure all this would have taken a lot less time if I actually knew how to program, rather than just muddling through examples found on the web. I’ve done some basic testing of my changes with IE and Firefox on Windows and will get a chance to check on a Mac soon. [Update: My code seems to work on Mac browsers, although the theme has layout problems with IE on a Mac. That's not much of a concern in my opinion, because my philosophy is that if you're using IE on a Mac you deserve to have problems. ] I probably won’t make many more changes, as ZenPhoto is still in its infancy with lots of planned enhancements, so I’m thinking I’ll wait for the next generation of features and themes to arrive from those more skilled than myself.

My Photo Albums

I watched the Boston Fourth of July fireworks from the Brightcove office, which is located on the 12th floor in Kendall Square. The view was spectacular. It’s really amazing how fireworks are experimenting with color, speed, shape/direction, and intensity. At times the display went for sheer volume, and other times it exhibited subtlety. There were some amazingly huge explosions.

To get downtown, I parked at Alewife and took the T. Heading back after the show, the “line” to get into the Kendall Square T stop packed the stairs and out onto Main Street. Figuring it would probably take a long time (in a stifflingly hot venue) to get on a train, I walked to Harvard Square. Once at Harvard, the platform was practically empty and most people got off the train that arrived shortly after I got there. Getting out of the Alewife garage was another story. It took 45 minutes to start moving, and perhaps another 45 minutes to get to the street. Mental note: Don’t park at Alewife when there’s a major event.

Click here or on the images to see more pictures.

I went to see the fireworks in Lexington last night, so I got to test my new camera’s “Fireworks” setting, choosing a 3 second exposure. The fireworks were pretty good, although they were having some technical difficulties that made for a couple long delays in the middle of the display. I was also pleased with the camera’s capabilities.

Click here or on the images to see more pictures.

It seems I make have spoken to soon about product interoperability. While my computer doesn’t seem to have a problem reading the xD-Picture card through the Compact Flash adapter, my Archos Gmini isn’t faring as well. The thumbnail view on the Archos is fine, but some full-size images are unreadable. Images that are readable have scattered pixel errors. Sigh.

On a more interesting note, the fireworks barge is anchored in the Charles River for Boston’s annual Fourth of July display. Assuming the barge doesn’t move, there should be an excellent view from the Brightcove office. I wasn’t planning on coming in to town for the display, but given the setup, it might be worth it. The barge is circled in red.