Projector

This week Becky and I started looking for projector. Here are the requirements we found​

  • We want to projector with 3000 lumens
  • Have a 50,000 hour light bulb life-LED
  • At least a 3000:1 contrast ratio
  • Display dimensions of at least WUXGA
  • Wi-Fi enabled so that we can do presentations wirelessly (from OS X or iOS)

Some of the models we looked at are:

For the un informed (like I was), there was some good reading at the following websites:

Design Review…. of iTunes 11

I was having some difficulties with iTunes 10.7 so I opted to update to iTunes 11, now I want to roll back. My opinion is that the UI (and to an extent the UX) sucks, sorry Jonathan Ive. – Yet at the same time I realize that as artists when we have come to a new “enlightened” state about one of our designes solving more relevant problems we have to wipe away the old version and reach out for the new potentials. But in this case I think bringing over the design elements from iOS is a bit overkill. It does not respect the device and the mood created by the device (bring touchscreen to the Mac and I might reconsider).

I have several beefs Continue reading

MacMini Server

I have been thinking about using a MacMini as a media / web server. I wonder if there might be some long-term financial benefit to running the server at home, with higher levels of RAM. Rather than paying an annual cost for a hosted solution.

There are several articles which have been interesting on the matter.

AKAI GX-220D

This past weekend I walked across the street from our house with Becky and went to an estate sale. In one of the rooms there was a stack of electronics. There on a dresser was a Reel-to-Reel machine in almost perfect condition.

AKAI GX-220D

AKAI GX-220D

The week prior I had been working with some Reels of language data in the archive. We have two machines but one of them does not work completely. Some amazing stuff. So now it sits on my desk and I am using my Marantz PMD 661 to digitize all sorts of Reel to Reels. Today I was looking up this model online and found it on Ebay for $300 and in Germany on Ebay for 500€, not bad as I paid $35 for mine. I finally found the manuals online for Free! It seems that somebody is trying to sell print offs on ebay for $11 each. But here is what I found.

Specifications

Track system: 4 track, 2 channel stereo/monaural system

Maximum reel capacity: 7″ reel

Wow and flutter: 0.08% at 7.5 ips

Frequency response: 30Hz to 24kHz at 7.5ips

Distortion: less than 1.5%

Signal to noise ratio: >50dB

Heads: 3 heads

Motors: 3 motors

Dimensions: 430 x 425 x 230mm

Weight: 19kg

One of my concerns is with the 30Hz playback.

Was this standard for reel-to-reels or was there better recordings done but I will never know because of the model of playback machine I have?

Another concern I have is about the heads:

If they are magnetized will they erase my tape? How do I tell if they are magnetized?

Here is a listing of Reel-to-Reel machines by AKAI.

Here is a youtube video of the same model I have.

Review of Garmin eTrex Venture HC for Language Documentation

In a recent (2010-2011) Language Documentation Project we decided to also collect GIS data (GPS Coordinates), about our consultants (place of origin and place of current dwelling), about our recording locations and for Geo-tagging Photos. We used a Garmin eTrex Venture HC to collect the data and then we compared this data with GIS information from Google maps and the National GIS information service. This write up and evaluation of the Garmin eTrex Venture HC is based on this experience.
Continue reading

OS X Error -36

I had an OS failure while I was in Mexico. I managed to reinstall the combo update and things started working again. However, some of my big files (movies) will not copy, Time Machine fails, Some PDFs are now failing to copy. It always comes back to a -36 Error. I cannot find the error report for this online. It seems to be some sort of I/O error. I left a comment over on this blog.

prompt%> mv /Users/phil/Desktop/movie.avi .

I tried the command line mv command and the command line told me Input/Output error.

Failed mv

Failed mv

But I can play the file on my harddrive. – I have the same error if I try to copy the file to somewhere else on my internal harddrive.
Using OS X 10.6.5 on MBP 15″ moving the file to a WD My Passport via USB. The file in question is a .mts movie file. I can move other .mts movie files which were made with the same camera, at the same time, and are in the same folder to the external hardrive.

Error -36

Error -36

I can’t figure out why I have this error or how to solve it.