Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

An Open Letter To Bose Corporation

Dear Bose Corporation,

There is a crater where my road used to be.  The house across the street is an obliterated pile of rubble.  The days are filled with the sound of explosions and endless pounding that rattles the dishes in the cabinet.  The nights are filled with the sounds of heated arguments in the streets.  If I didn't know better, I would swear my house is in the center of a war zone.  There are pictures of my neighborhood after the Battle of Bulge and it looks disturbingly similar.

However, this isn't a war zone.  It's a construction zone.  Except for holidays and the month of August, the small city square I live in has been in a constant state of renovation since we moved here almost two years ago.  They've dug up our street three times in the last 21 months.  When one building is demolished and a new one is built in its place, they move down to the next address.  As I write this, there are two demolition projects underway across the street, one behind our house, and the third attempt to do whatever it is they can't stop doing to my street kicked off yesterday afternoon.  Occasionally, one of our adjoining neighbors to our row home (architectural creativity has blessed us with 5) gets in the act with a sledge hammer or a hammer drill.  If there is a disease that creates an unquenchable desire to tear things down and rebuild them, there are a lot of infected people in this town.  One would think that after quitting time, all this racket would cease.  Alas, the clientele from the bar around the corner picks up where construction crews left off.  All told, there are approximately 3 hours a day of peace, between the hours of 4 and 7 A.M.

While I'm sure there are some people that thrive in this type of environment, I'm not one of them.  During the week, my time is spent editing photographs, painting, writing, or editing video.  I need a quiet environment so I can, well, hear myself think.  At the beginning of September the construction reached a new level of intensity and I found myself unable to stay focused on what I was doing.  The only time I could get somewhere quiet was when I rode my bicycle out to the middle of nowhere or I walked up into the forests.  Unfortunately, doing that meant I wasn't able to paint, write, or do anything else.  I was becoming frustrated, irritable, and sometimes downright enraged.

Then, one day I walked into one of your shops and popped on a pair of your Quiet Comfort 15 Headphones.  At that moment, I knew life was about to significantly improve.  They were playing loud music in the shop.  There were other people inside talking at a level to be heard above the music.  But, when I flipped that little switch on the right ear cup, all of that was silenced.  I heard absolutely nothing.  It was beautiful.  I'll never forget it.  I think I may have teared up a little.

I've owned these headphones for two weeks now and I cannot stop talking about them.  I put them on as soon as the construction crews roll into town at 7 A.M. and I'm blissfully unaware of their presence for the entirety of the day.  I thought that wearing headphones all day every day would be uncomfortable, but these are so light and soft I forget they're even there.  Whether I have music pumped into them or not, they provide that quiet environment I have been craving for so long.  They are allowing me to hear my thoughts again, to focus, and to express them.  I cannot begin to explain what that means to me.

In short, thank you, thank you, thank you.  Please, give your Quiet Comfort development team a hug from me.  I can honestly sayyour product has changed my life for the better.  That is big deal.

Sincerely and with my deepest thanks,
CG
Prisoner of Constructionville

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Handlebar View From A GoPro Hero2

A few days ago a parcel arrived in the mail bearing a new toy that I had been looking forward to.  I ripped open the box postmarked from the Netherlands and in it was nestled a rather complicated looking package which contained the GoPro Hero2.



For those of you who have not heard about the GoPro, let me explain.  GoPros are adorable little cameras that have become the go to method for recording sports and outdoor activities from just about any perspective and in any condition you can come up with.

The camera itself is about the size of the palm of my hand.
While it may not look like much or have a lot of bells and whistles (notice the lack of viewfinder or LCD display), the GoPro makes videography and photography of just about any sport easy and a whole lot of fun.  It is particularly popular with cyclists (from commuters to cyclocross racers), surfers, skydivers, snowboarders and skiers...really whoever wants to capture the action of their fast paced activity.  A friend of mine took his along on a chest mount when he ran in a Warrior Dash event a couple years ago.  The resulting footage was hilarious and entertaining.

Now, while it is popular to use for video montages for athletes, bike commuters may also find a helpful use for them.  Not only can you record your commute to show people what it is like, but you may find the footage is indispensable if you have a problem with a driver.  The price tag of $300 for the Outdoor Edition (includes waterproof housing, helmet mount, head strap, and 4 adhesive mounts) may not seem too bad if you have a particularly tricky commute.  I definitely wish I had one when I was buzzed by one of Akron's Finest a couple years back.  In fact, footage from a GoPro may determine if you win in court after an accident.

Of course, having one can open up many doors in photography/videography too.  The optics are 2X Sharper Professional Glass Lens, f/2.8 Fixed Focus, 170º Wide FOV (Including 1080p), 127º Medium FOV (In 1080p), and 90º Narrow FOV.  

Video specs are:

  • HD RESOLUTIONS:
    • 1080p: 1920×1080, 30FPS
    • 960p: 1280×960, 48FPS + 30FPS
    • 720p: 1280×720, 60FPS + 30FPS
  • STANDARD DEFINITION RESOLUTIONS
    • WVGA: 848×480, 120FPS + 60FPS
  • High Performance,1 /2.3” CMOS Image Sensor
  • Light Sensitivity: .84 V/lux-sec
  • Video Format: H.264 codec, .mp4 File Format
  • Exposure Control: Spot, Center Weighted
  • White Balance: Auto
  • Audio: Mono, 48 kHz, AAC Compression, Auto Gain Control, Stereo External Microphone Input (3.5mm)
Photo specs are:

  • RESOLUTIONS: 11MP, 8MP, 5 MP
  • FOV: Wide 170º FOV, Medium 127º FOV
  • CAPTURE MODES: Single, 10 Photo Burst, Time-Lapse, Self-Timer
For more details visit the GoPro Website.  There are several different mounts you can buy including chest straps for lower and more active looking perspectives and mounts for bicycles, surfboards, etc.  You can also get a WiFi remote pack that eventually is supposed to work with smartphones.

So, do I relish this little device?  You bet.  I may get some strange looks from the folks around here (honestly, I get strange looks anyway), but getting some great footage is worth it.  I look forward to using my GoPro to capture my rides here in Europe.  For now, here is a snippet of a brief trip to meet the husband after work as viewed from my handlebars on the FX.


September Bike Commute from CG Inlux on Vimeo.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Valve Snob

I'm a believer.  I believe in Schwalbe tire tubes.  Well, to be fair, I believe in metal valve stems.  Schwalbe just happens to be the brand my LBS carries.

My road to conversion came to an end yesterday when yet another Giant Schrader valve split when I attached the pump nozzle to its fragile, threaded mouth.  That was the sixth tube rendered useless by a sensitive valve stem.  There was no doubt about it anymore, it was time to change brands.  I admit, I had been in denial.  Maybe it was that crappy floor pump I picked up at Walmart last year.  I replaced it with a fancy and overpriced BBB model.  Maybe there was a rough spot in the rim's bore.  OK, there can't be a rough spot in every single bore of every rim in on the Varsity, Trek, and the Diamondback.  Nope, I had to face facts- the problem was the stems.  While the cause for the rubber failure may have been the temperature fluctuations in our shipping container, there's nothing to be done about that.  It was time to move on.

It always seems to happen when I'm running late.  While I have full intent and purpose to get down to the bike garage and check my tire pressure earlier in the day, inevitably I will be rushing at the last minute.  Friday was one of those days.  I already wasted five minutes looking for my gloves and my husband was waiting at the bus stop 4 towns south for our afternoon ride.  I was frazzled.  It looked like rain, so I grabbed the Trek off the rack and nudged the pump's nozzle over the valve.  I hadn't even locked it down when that awful sound- Pssssssfpppphhhhh hit my ears and that familiar hole in the valve stem appeared gaping open, laughing at me.

"Now you're never gonna make it!  Might as well just cancel.  I, the faulty valve stem, have defeated you yet again.  Muwahaha"

Not be beaten by a stupid little tube, I jumped on the Varsity despite the impending rain and the worn out 40-something year old saddle clamp that keeps slipping.  I was late, but I got to the bus stop and we went for our ride.  Thankfully, it didn't rain.  Unfortunately, after all that, I forgot my gloves.

One thing was certain, however.  From now on I'm only buying tubes with metal valve stems.  No more floppy stems that have to be forced into the pump.  No more crappy valve caps that sheer away.  None of this splitting open when I'm running late crap.  Nope, no matter if they're Presta or Schrader, I'm using tubes with a metal stem.

That's that.