Be Prepared - Food Storage for Geeks - Part 1
October 2, 2008
In the last little while it’s become more important for me and my family to have some emergency supplies set aside. After talking to everyone I know at the office and most other people I run in to I’ve realized that I’m not the only one.
Why a GeekInspired post about it? Because techno geeks like us are the type of people who like projects. We like to learn at our own pace and enjoy putting stuff together and seeing the results. We build models as kids. We watch “MythBusters” and “How It’s Made”. Putting together a 72 hour kit and then building a food storage area gives us the same opportunity to geek-out as does building a custom case for our D&D supplies. Read more
Book Publishing - Common Terms and Definitions
September 29, 2008
As I mentioned my writing resources article, there’s more to writing a book than just writing. There are two parts to getting your book idea into the hands of eager readers. First, you must create your masterful work of fiction (or whatever else) and second, you must reproduce your work and distribute it for sales.
While creating a great book is a really tough thing to do, it is just as hard to get a book published. Publishers are very picky about what they print and sell, and to make things even more difficult, the world of publishing is filled with their own set of terms and acronyms. This can be a very intimidating front to a new writer. So, I’ve assembled some of the more common terms and acronyms on this page. Let’s start first with the acronyms and work our way into the terms and definitions. Read more
Learning to Write - Top Resources
September 24, 2008
Since my interest in writing began about a year ago, I’ve spent many hours searching the web for useful information on the subject. The amount of information I found was surprising. For some reason, I thought that writing as a career was unpopular. Boy, was I wrong. I discovered countless books, forums, and blogs all about writing.
It wasn’t long before I learned that writing is just half the battle. In my ignorance, I assumed that once you had written a book, fat checks were around the corner. “After all,” I told myself, “most people don’t write well or at all. Publishers are probably glad to see a book come their way.” I quickly learned that while many people don’t write well, publishers have enough books to keep them busy. Wait, let me rephrase that last part. Publishers have so many book submissions that you probably won’t see a book deal for a long, long time. That doesn’t mean that your shouldn’t try, it’s just going to be harder than you may have expected. Read more
Why the Sound of Music Sucks Today - Part 3
September 18, 2008
In Part 2 we learned how the loss of dynamic range has helped make music today sound like a bag of butt-holes. Now we’re going to talk about the worst thing to happen to sonic quality since the cassette . . the dreaded MP3!
We all know how the MP3 has helped change the entire music industry. The file size of an MP3 at 128kBit is one/tenth the size of 44.1kHz WAV or AIFF file (CD quality audio). One minute of CD quality audio is about a 10 megabyte size file. The MP3 of the same audio takes up only 1 megabyte. By reducing the file size the MP3 made it easy to send and receive music over the internet and revolutionize the industry.
Midweek Geek Links for 9-18-2008
September 18, 2008
It’s time for this week’s Geek Links!
- Chase Jarvis recently worked on a promo for the Kung Fu HD Network. He posted a behind-the-scenes video on his site along with some stills that he took. Incredible stuff.
- The guys over at Wired interview with Charlie Kaufman about his work on the upcoming movie, Synecdoche, New York. This guy is very interesting and the interview is pretty cool.
- Patrick Lavoie gives us an inside look at his Digital Photography Workflow for Fashion Photography.
- Here’s a mass of other tutorials recently found around the web:
Viral Networks Prelaunch Contest
September 16, 2008
ViralNetworks, a new social networking site built for online businesses and marketers, is holding a pre-launch contest. All you have to do is sign up and start referring people. It’s a race to the finish, though, and the first person to reach 1000 referrals wins the top prize. All other prizes (21 of them!) will be distributed according to the remaining participants current position in the race. Read more
Midweek Geek Links for 9-4-2008
September 4, 2008
It’s time for this week’s Geek Links!
- Google just released a public beta of their new browser, Chrome. For in-depth reviews on the broswer, check out Ars Technica and LifeHacker.
- More Google tidbits; Geekabout.com gives us the 17 most bizarre sights on Google Earth.
- Last Google entry, I swear! Here’s 101 Google tips, tricks, and hacks. Seriously, no more Google stuff today.
- Steve over at PaxtonPrints gives us a good tutorial on Using Textures to Create Scratches and Distress Your Images.
- Even though it feels like the Adobe CS3 install disc is still warm from our disc drives, it looks like Adobe CS4 is not that far away.
- For all you science geeks out there, check out the Periodic Table of Videos, where you can see a video presentation on each element.
Why the Sound of Music Sucks Today - Part 2
August 21, 2008
In Part 1 we learned that the loudness of music we hear has an effect on how we perceive the way it sounds. More to the point we learned that a louder song sounds like it has more bass and treble and therefore sounds better on most small stereo systems. So what harm can it do for an engineer make their mix sound louder than someone else when the volume limits are set by the playback format and the listener?
Back when music was delivered on phonograph records there was a limit to how much information could be etched into the disc before it cut across the grove and rendered the disc unplayable. On magnetic tape there was a limit to how much magnetic energy the tape could hold before it became distorted. With digital audio there is a limit on how loud you can go when sampling the sound-wave. That limit in digital audio is called 0 db (zero).
Xbox 360 DVD Drive - Unreadable Disc
August 18, 2008
Last Wednesday, I decided I would play some GTA IV before the wife got home. So turned on the Xbox, popped in the disc, and got to it. About 20 minutes into my session, I began to hear a horrible noise coming from the DVD drive. After a few seconds of growling, a Xbox blade came across the screen saying the disc was unreadable.
Cursing under my breath, I got up from the couch to give the Xbox and game a close look. Of course, the disc was fine. I put in another game just to be sure, and got the “unreadable disc” error once again. I inserted a movie we had watched over the weekend. No dice.
Read more
Midweek Geek Links for 8-14-2008
August 14, 2008
It’s time for this week’s Geek Links!
- The Orwell Diaries, which were previously unpublished, are being posted online as a blog. The entries begin on August 9, 1938, and are being made available online as each entry reaches the 70-year-old mark. I think this is a really neat idea regardless if you know who George Orwell is (aka Eric Arthur Blair).
- USB 3.0 is on its way, which when maxed out “will offer ten times the bandwidth of USB 2.0 – 4.8 Gb/s, which translates into a massive bandwidth of 600 MB/s.” That should be useful for external storage and HD Video Cameras.
- Yet another break-through in the quest for invisibility has been made. This time, scientist say they are able to “cloak” 3 dimensional object with the use of a special “metamaterial.” Probably not recommended for people who loose things easily.
- Google will help you stay onto of your favorite Olympic games with their new 2008 Summer Games site.
- A startup company in Texas claims to have made a new battery that has an energy density three times greater than lithium-ion batteries. It seems that they’re taking steps to bringing this technology to mass manufacturing, which could in turn make cheap electric cars a reality.
