Author: Toby Seaman

I checked out my links library today and I seem to have rather a large collection of Art and Culture links.  So many that it seems odd that I don't tell both of you about them.

All that is set to change: from now on, expect regular art and culture postings when I see neato stuff.

 

Lets start with a classic 'Abandoned Places' Photography site.  This one is by the clearly talented Shaun O'Boyle.  Check it out now.

Moaning with your workmates about the cold snap in the UK at the moment.  Think again: perhaps you better take a look at these pictures of a village on the shores of lake Geneva before you complain too loudly.  Don't worry they are worksafe.  Flipping cold, but worksafe.

As if the multi-touch screen was not cool enough technology, now check out the mixed reality interface .  As soon as you see it you'll thing it's obvious, but whats clever is not the technology as such, but the very idea and that it works so well.  I bet you can thing of a hundred uses for this all by yourself!

Decorating the Living room was like breaking a bond.  It was one of those things that we knew needed to be done and yet it was a big enough job that we put it off for nearly five years.   The big push this year came about when I came home one eve and just grabbed a hammer and chisel to see how difficult it would be to remove the york stone covered chimney breast.

2 days later and the room was a wreck.  On  the plus side, without the fake chimney breast there was a nice empty wall just begging for a big TV.  I've never been a big fan in the past, but recently we have been watching a lot of movies at home and it occurred that if we do spend a lot of time in front of the TV, might as well make it a good system!

Here we are two months later and the first part of the master plan is complete. The room is essentially finished and we are now the proud owners of a great home cinema system, except for the TV! 

The system is based on two key components: the surround sound speaker system and the decoder/Amplifier.

For the speaker system, I went for the KEF KHT-1005 set, which is a 5.1 system.  The gorgeous  aluminium egg shaped speakers landed at £300.  Don't bother shopping around for these: KEF have a very strict retail agreement which means that these are not available by courier.  This means that prices are strictly controlled too!

One word of caution though: make sure any accessories you want are available: the sexy KEF stands for my speakers are still on a boat somewhere between China and here and the speakers don't look the same without the stands. 

The same restrictive sales policy does not apply to the stands so shop around: I'll get mine for £55 per pair when there are some in the UK to buy!

The Amp that I went for is the Yamaha DSP-AX757SE .  It's a flipping great big unit that is far too deep for the fireplace but it works great.  It has 7 inputs, each with composite, Svideo and Audio connections.  There’s a big bank of Digital inputs too so most digital kit will work just fine.  Note there is no HD available though, so look elsewhere if you want HD ready kit.

I do want this feature, but I'm happy to bypass the AV Amp with the HD Video signal when the kit is available.

Shop around for this unit, I got mine for £322 delivered which is a whopping saving on the RRP. 

Okay, so it's all plugged in and although the speakers are presently sitting on the floor, it is one impressive sound.  I can't begin to describe how eerie it is to have ambient sounds behind you when you watch a movie.

I'll post again when the Telly is installed and the speaker stands are in. 

 

 

Recently, I audited my work laptop.  I set lots of the services disabled so that I control to some extent what runs and when.  All pretty obvious stuff for a security professional.  An interesting point was noted when I next tried to run Windows Update though.

Not surprisingly, Windows update has some dependancies which must be satisfied for update to work.  They are BITS, Automatic updates and Event Log.

I can understand that.  Windows update kindly reported to me that some of Automatic Update, Event Log and BITS were not running and asked me to go start them.

I did and interestingly, Windows Update still did not work.  It transpires that it is not good enough to start the services: You must set them to Automatic in order for windows update to work.

This is a bit of an arse.  I can see that MS want this stuff running, but it's a bit naughty to insist that the services are set automatic rather than that they are running.  It means that to apply updates, I need to jump through a whole lot of hoops: changing service settings every time.  I'm certainly not happy to just leavee this stuff running the whole time.

Unfortunately, it seems that MS still don't get it..

Have you checked out google today? Google showed us the power of their Ajax driven mapping application a few months ago when they added lunar maps seemingly overnight.

They have excelled today though: To coincide with the arrival of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at Mars, they have released updated the maps application with Elevation, Infrared, and traditional visible light versions of Mars. Check it out and see what you can see. Hopefully not houses and streets.

Interestingly enough, since the high resolution maps were added to the UK service a month ago, It's been noted that a number of _ahem_interesting locations are no longer available at the same high res they were in February. TurboTas can't help wondering if this is due tosomeone somewhere pulling strings at Google.

Well, put simply imagine a screen which is touch sensitive.  Okay, no great shakes there, but imagine that the display actually lets you touch it multiple times at once.  Then get some smart software which interprets those touches and you have the multi-touch screen:  http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

It’s official, Project veggie is up and running!

That’s right, my late 90’s Mondeo has now run 6 litres of straight vegetable oil (SVO) through it’s system with no adverse  effects noted. Admittedly I ran it as a very low ratio mix with standard diesel, but thats not the point.

In the meantime, read on for my progress with the rest of the system!

Oil Tank Progress 

The Oil tank for the boot, based on a modified jerry can is ready for installation.  Basically this is a standard can with the addition of an oil feed and return line.  My present plan is to use this for vegetable oil during the testing phase and eventually to switch this to the diesel tank for normal usage.

My can also has a heater matrix as I was originally intending to use a heated tank system.  In the end though I have dumped this and gone for a heat exchanger under the bonnet.

Presently  I don’t plan on using the return line.  Instead, the return line will flow into the main tank regardless of which source is selected. My task list includes the measurement of the return flow so I can see how important this really is.

The next tank task is the actually fit the thing into the car and to work out how to provide the breather. 

Fuel System Progress

Fuel system progress has continued.  I purchased a large diesel filter from ebay and have measured the flow to be completely acceptable, even using cold oil.  This is now installed under the bonnet over to the left near the windscreen washer bottle.

The fuel solenoid is now fitted to the car and is placed under the bonnet very close to the injector pump.

I’ve run the car for a few days without the lift pump running and performance seems identical, so I’ll not be installing a lift pump in the new part of the system.

In fact, testing the lift pump that I bought from ebay showed that it’s not too keen running with thick vegetable oil, so When the systems get swapped over I may disconnect the existing lift pump too.

The heat exhanger is connected and ready to run and the system is basically ready to connect up.

 The residual problem is the lack of feed to the rear of the car.  Despite best efforts, I’ve not been able to get enough fuel hose to make the second system.

Next task is to get the existing system so that it is fed through the solenoid.  This requires neat diesel to prime the pipes and exhanger and will be a good opportunity to measure the amount of oil between the pump and the solenoid.

It has also been a complete pain to find a useable cable run between the dashboard and the engine bay.  I know you would not thing that a tough challenge, but I can assure you it has been! This work is ongoing. 

Heater System Progress

The heat exchanger was completed in December and fitted to the car over the Chrismas break. I removed and cut the top radiator hose and inserted the exchanger in line. I’ve done about 500 miles since and no coolant leakage has been noted.

My exchanger comprises a 28mm copper pipe core which is inserted into the coolant flow.  Around this core is a 35mm copper jacket fed by 6mm copper pipes.  The jacket  contains a thin layer of oil contacting the inner exchanger surface.  Within just a few moments of entering the exchanger, the oil is heated considerably. 

Copper is an excellent heat conductor and this system is many times more efficient than wrapping copper tube around a rubber hose. 

In terms of the temperature, the exchanger is too hot to touch within seconds of the thermostat opening.  This is a good sign that the oil temperature will be high enough.  I have spare heat exchangers made to sell and will set up a test bed to show that the oil temperature is accepatble for an example (high) oil flow rate.

Other that the bech test, the heater system is complete.

Check out the Project Veggie gallery here  

I seem to have over purchased slightly on the copper tubing so if you want a heat exchanger for your self then £35 will secure one for you delivered to your location in the UK.

My design is the standard jacket type.  A large diameter (28mm) copper pipe is inserted in the hottest part of the engine coolant flow.  Wrapped around that pipe is a copper jacket which maximises the surface area which can contact the water pipe.In my design, this is a 35mm jacket with a 28mm internal coolant pipe.

This will give significant oil heating even at  relativly high flow rates.  My tests show that 50 degrees C is the ideal temperature for SVO to acheive a low viscosity.

My design is soldered together just like your home plumbing system.  This minimises bulky compression fittings and heat loss.  Fuel system connection is made to the two 6mm Internal Diameter copper pipes which protude slighly from the oil jacket.

If necessary, the whole jacket could be insulated to minimize the chances of losing oild temperature to the surrounding air.

This design minimises the chance of fuel system contamination as the central copper water piper is completly unbroken.

I would suggest that you install the exchanger after the solenoid in a two tank system so it can be as close to the injector pump as possible.

In my car, I have only about 1 meter of pipe and the jacket between the solenoid and the injector pump, so I’m confident that the changeover time is minimal, perhaps as low as 5 minutes at tickover.

 

 

Hey, Did you know that when you want to learn IOS, you can't buy a working Cisco on Ebay?   Thats a really interesting thing.  The only working cisco products in the whole world on either the new or used markets can only be bought from Cisco.

What the hell are you talking about I hear you say.

Well Cisco hold that you can buy and sell Ciscos but you may not include the software.  Technically, this means that the moment you buy a Cisco from anyone other than Ciso, you have just bought a worthless piece of junk unless you then go and pay for the software.

This is a great money spinner for cisco.  Those old 2500 routers that we know and love can now make £1200 for Cisco each time they change hands!  Lets say that one 2500 is passed between mates so they can learn IOS.  Each time that device changes hands, Cisco earn £1200. 

Scarey: Given that Cisco hardware only runs cisco software products, they are trying to make the captive market even more captive.

Hilarity ensues when you map the model across to the physical world: You can sell your Ford when you are done with it but the new owner has to buy a new engine.  Ford engines are non transferable.

Silly billy, who would buy what is effectivly an unuseable Ford?

Okay, so the nub of this idea is that someone (alas not me, I'm too thick) should get a linux kernel running on Cisco, then make an IOS like interface. All those people that love the Cisco hardware and interface can get routers routing and those twits at Cisco Marketing that want us to buy the same software for the same unit again and again and again can go jump in a lake 😉

So the big idea is: dump Cisco: buy products which remain valuable when you've finished with them!

 

Today’s weird idea came to me while watching one of those Discovery channel ‘when things go wrong’ type programs.  This particular program was about an aircraft with a fuel leak.

The captain misread the warnings, the plane ran out of fuel at 33,000 mid Atlantic and disaster was only narrowly avoided with a very long glide to safety.

So the idea is that as well as the black boxes, the plane sends all telemetry channels via satellite to a central computer which does two things.  Firstly it archives the logs just like the real BB does.  bingo, you no longer have to find the BB after an accident.

Secondly, and more importantly, a dedicated computer could analyse the telemetry streams in real time and look for anomalies, sort of like an AI system.  If anything awry is noted, then an expert could be alerted in real time to look at the issue.  Of course, for this to be useful the system would have to be bi-directional.

All this could easily be acheved with a 10kbit stream, even including the cockpit voice recorder assuming the data is packetised and compressed.

Just another crazy idea. 

Sony has been caught in the act of installing malicious spyware on the computers of its loyal music purchasing customers.  It seems that certain copy protected CDs from the media giant install un-removeable rootkits when you put them in your PC.  turns out that this may break the law in a number of countries as there is no EULA telling the user what is happeneing.

As if that were not bad enough itself, the software masquerades as critical parts of the windows OS so that even nowse users would not try to remove it.

Read the complete article by Mark Russinovich analysing the nasty little tactics that Sony are now using here .

 Updated  11 Nov 05: The first exploit taking advange of the Sony spyware is now in the wild.  You have been warned!

Net disaster Lets you inflict your own brand of punishment on your least favorite website…. Frickin marvellous!

This incredible input device from Tactiva could just be the death of the mouse. Okay, you think I’m crazy already, but you better just check out the site before you reinforce that notion. It looks like a weird touch pad, but wait till you see the demo video.

Not only does the device support multiple simultaneous touches, but it also has tactile feedback so you can feel stuff happening for example buttons which are greyed out feel different to active buttons. The camera system is used to grab a silouette of the hands which are then shown on the CRT to enhance the effect.

The system is used to make the mouse obsolete by having far more common functions available by direct interaction with the screen/pad. For example, touching with one finger on each hand and moving apart zooms in, moving apart zooms out. grabbing a shape and moving to drag it, touching a shape with two fingers to rotate it. I really can’t do it justice here, you must check out the Tactiva site and watch the demo video.

Alas, it’s time for another rant article. Next time you are in the market for a printer, think very carefully if your chosen product is a Lexmark. Renowned for their low price, low quality approach to output devices, Lexmark just won a landmark battle that should ring alarm bells for anyone with a Lexmark printer.
Your printer supply costs just went through the roof. You don’t know it yet, but you have just got well and truly shafted. Lexmark just won a landmark case that makes it illegal under patent law for anyone to manufacture cartridges for their printers or even refill Lexamrk cartridges.

Who cares? Probably you should. Lexmark original cartridges cost a fortune. An absolute fortune. As an example, a set of cartidges for an average Lexmark printer designed for home use will cost you around £80.

Cartridges for a similar Epson printer will cost around £14.

Go figure, but don’t take too long. Stay away from Lexmark and do yourself a favour!

Project Veggie began a few months ago when I read a Slashdot posting
about home biodiesel production. I had not even heard of biodiesel.
After some trawling I turned up lots of interesting facts about our
best friend the car, and about our perhaps worst enemy, the
petrochemical companies that earn mega bucks from the pretty exclusive
fuel lock-in.

It all boils down to a stranglehold on innovation and an
effective blanket on what we can do with our friend the car. Heres an
interesting point: did you know that when Rudolph Diesel invented his
famous engine, it ran on just about anything: Parafin, Corn oil, you
name it.

Turns out that the early petrochemical companies, in a
shrewd move, named one of the waste products from Petrol production
after good old Rudolph, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In fact, even the modern diesel engine found in a typical family car
can still run on a pretty wide range of fuels. The limiting factor
turns out to be the delivery method: the fuel pump and injectors are
geared towards a specific viscosity of fuel and don’t take too kindly
to this being meddled with.

Thus is born project veggie: To move my car from A to B without
mess, fuss or bother and without using anything made by a petrochem
company.
Step one, the acquisition of a suitable vehicle has been completed:
enter one Ford Mondeo, 1.8 TD, 1998, with 90k on the clock.I suspect
there are another 90K miles not on the clock, but there you go!

First
steps now are to make the car safe (it has a wobble at speed, perhaps
wheel balancing or bearings), then to get a couple of tanks of the
dreaded DERV through it so I can check it runs okay.
Check back soon for more on project veggie!

One summer day in France in 1826, Joseph Niepce took the world’s first photograph. It’s a photo of some farm buildings and the sky. It took an exposure time of 8 hours. Voila! It must have felt pretty incredible to see the photo back then.

No one’s exactly sure how he did this or what chemicals were used. All that’s known for sure is that the photo is on an 8"x 6.5" pewter plate. It’s so faint it has to be tilted in order for the light to catch it just right, to see it at all. The Getty Museum in California did two weeks
of tests in 2003 in a joint project involving the Rochester Institute
of Technology and France’s Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation des
Documents Graphiques. Then it
went back on display at the University of Texas,
where it’s been on display since 1964. I’m not sure why it’s in America not France, but "hah".

The current theory about how the photograph was taken is that Niepce coated
the pewter plate with bitumen, a petroleum derivative sensitive to light.
After it spent those 8 hours hardening, he washed the plate with a mixture
of oil of lavender and white petroleum. This dissolved the portions of the
bitumen that didn’t ‘see’ direct light, so didn’t harden. Pretty damn clever.
Niepce called his work a "heliograph," in a tribute to the power
of the sun.

Source: anomalies-unlimited.com