Think Global, Act Locally

We have a new development proposed just around the corner from us.  This is replacing a small house with a 5 story condo building.  It involves excavating the lot from lot-line to lot-line for underground parking.  It is basically too big for its siting.

In addition, it will kill a 100 year old Garry Oak tree on its neighbour's lot.  Have a look at our website: http://www.stopthequest.ca

Thanks.

3D Printing

Wow, I haven't written anything for a long time.  

Well, I have 'laid my money down' on the QU-BD campaign on Kickstarter: One-Up/Two-Up.  This is a $199/279 3D printer kit.  Inexpensive, but looks very capable for the price.  The Two-Up has a bigger print area: 175x175 mm.  I got in late, so my delivery date isn't until March.  However, perhaps I can learn about the whole process by then.  

Per chance, I came across John's blog about rebuilding his PrintrBot Simple into a derivative of RichRap's 3DR Delta printer, by printing out new parts.  This is a great example of bootstrapping into an improved 3D printer.  Recommended.   

LEDuino arrives!

Well, I got myself a LEDuino -- its much smaller than I had thought -- very cute. So far I have just run it with the Arduino software and made a led fade in and out. However, now the fun and more difficult part begins --- developing some libraries to use the DCC and CAN connections it has on board. These are used in the model railroading community to network their trains and accessories.

JMRI wins a Big one.

The open source project JMRI, Java Model Railroad Interface, lead by Bob Jacobsen has won a significant battle in their legal action with KAM Industries. Matt Katzer, the owner of KAM industries had sued Jacobsen over patent infringement. One of Katzer's employees had used some of the JMRI project data with attribution. The Appeals Court has ruled that open source licenses, such as the Artistic Licence, is enforcable as a copyright.

Electronic Ink

Looks like 'electronic ink' is finally becoming available. This is a technology that lets you change a display, but the display is permanent, even without power. Looks exciting.

Interestingly, one of the selling points is that these displays are readable in sunlight, like the OLPC computer. I bought one of these, very nice.

Some links:

• E-Ink Corp

• One of their development kits

• Linux Journal

LEDuino Announced

Well, Silicon Railway has announced their Arduino clone, which is called the LEDuino. In its basic form it is totally compatible but has a smaller USB port connector, and has a power switch. However, it can also be configured with a DCC interface for railroad buffs, a I2C interface, and/or a CAN interface. Its a well-connected board.

You can read more about it here, or go to their website, or even buy one on EBay. The Arduino original site is here.

Photo-editing on-line

I guess this is a portent of what is to come -- most applications being on-line based. As someone pointed out -- this makes you operating system rather moot. This has huge implications on business models.

Anyway, I have just become aware of photoediting software on-line. This in includes: Adobe Photoshop Express, Picnik, and splashup. These use Flash and other techniques to let you edit your snaps on-line. While some of them are limited to minor modifications, Slashup lets you edit in layers. I have only briefly looked at them, but I am sure they will become very handy.