Wordpress for iPad

2010-05-28 – 10:20

tl;dr be careful if you use it. As of version 2.4, it doesn’t save the contents of the active editing view when the app is closed; I lost 15 minutes of typing this morning to this misfeature. Even the Web version is better about auto-saving than the iPad app! It also doesn’t support copy and paste in the editing view, though it does in the difficult-to-find URL entry pop-up.

By frank | Posted in Geek | Comments (0)

Ubiquitous robotics on the verge?

2010-05-28 – 08:39

The Economist’s Babbage writes about robotics today. He mentions several software development kits (SDK), and highlights one from Stanford, Willow Garage, that is very promising. He then says, “But the killer applications for personal robots remain as illusive [sic] as ever.”

Think of robotics as the extension of computers, or more generally, automation, in to the physical world. There are any number of repetitive or dangerous tasks that humans perform daily. Any of those tasks would be a candidate for robotic automation.

For example, in the USA we drive our automobiles an average of 9500 miles per year (google for annual VMT for more statistics). I live pretty close to work (7 miles) in a relatively low-traffic area, and I still spend 25 to 45 minutes commuting each day. Our vehicles should be robots that happen to have passenger compartments. Many may complain that they enjoy driving, but I bet those people are referring to the types of driving romanticized in automobile commercials and action movies – I occasionally enjoy a spirited drive in the country, but if tomorrow I were offered a robot to chauffeur my daily commute and trips to the grocer, I’d gladly accept. Many families could benefit from robots: to prepare and clean up from their meals; to gather, wash, dry, fold and store their dirty laundry; to de-clutter and clean the house; and plenty of other repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

Babbage says,

To make the transition to a world of mobile personal assistants—for helping the disabled, providing care and companionship for the elderly, extending the strength and endurance of soldiers, handling hazardous materials and dangerous machinery, and many things more—is going to require a leap of imagination that no-one can yet foresee.

but that’s because he examines the wrong aspect of the problem. Today’s robots can already perform repetitive, difficult, dangerous or time-consuming tasks. Personal robotics killer app will be to know when to perform DIVERSE tasks.

By frank | Posted in Gadget, Geek | Comments (0)

I think I need some tunes on my R1150RT

2010-05-07 – 08:49

It’s been a year and a couple months since I bought my nicely used R1150RT, and I’ve only managed to put about four thousand miles on it in that time. That includes two decent road trips and a bunch of commuting. Often when I ride it, I notice the little radio antenna wobbling along next to the windscreen and think, “I should get a radio for this.” I looked in to the BMW OEM radio when I bought the bike, but it’s expensive, on the order of $1000, and seems to be some trouble to hook up.

I’d really rather just have a radio that could take mp3’s on some kind of flash media, have an ipod/aux input, and have a weatherproof remote control I could mount somewhere handy. I’ve found several references to the wiring harness on the bike closely matching the adapters for a 2001 Z3, with just a little bit of filing required to get the connectors to mate.

Something like the Sony DSX-S100 might do the trick, though I’d prefer a wired remote control to an infrared one.

By frank | Posted in Gadget | Comments (0)

How to cope with live criticism via twitter

2010-04-26 – 07:59

Next time Digital Urban gives a lecture or presentation, it might be interesting to project a live feed of related tweets during the presentation.

By frank | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Evans Road Infrastructure is Barely Keeping Up

2010-04-24 – 11:07

I used to commute by bicycle, not every day, but more than occasionally. When we moved to Evans in 2001, there were no stop lights or stop signs on Washington Road from Ronald Reagan Drive by the Government Center, which at the time lacked both the new courthouse and library, all the way out to William Few Parkway. I think it was also a 2-lane road the whole way, one traffic lane in each direction, with no center turn lane, or as they’re colloquially known around here, ’suicide lanes.’ There were also many hundreds fewer homes off of Hardy McManus Road, William Few Parkway, and Riverwood Parkway. My own neighborhood was barely half its current size.

Though the roads were smaller, they were also a lot less crowded. On my way to work, I could easily turn left across Washington Road from Halali Farm, ride a third of a mile to a right on Blanchard Road, and hardly ever see a car. Hereford Farm, another rural two-lane road, took me most of the rest of the way to work, again without much traffic.

These days, despite a traffic light at Gibbs and Washington Roads, the widening of Washington Road to 4 travel lanes, and the very recent addition of a traffic light at Halali Farm and Washington, it’s very difficult to turn left across Washington Road from Blanchard Road, there’s no more shoulder than their was 9 years ago, and still no bike lane or bike path. Hereford Farm Rd now seems like the main construction artery used to bring cement and dump trucks from the western parts of the County in to Evans, and it is no longer safe for bicycles.

There are some bicycle lanes in the County these days, but they start so far in towards Martinez that they leave all the neighborhoods I mentioned above completely unserved by any sort of bicycle infrastructure for at least 2.5 miles of rural style 2-lane road with narrow or even soft shoulders.

I want to make a map to show all of this, but so far I haven’t found the data. Ideally, I’d show travel lanes, shoulder width, and rush hour traffic density along the roads, plus population density of the areas served by the roads.

Any ideas how I can get that data or the equivalent and make a map out of it? The Columbia County, GA GIS web site doesn’t seem to provide the data.

By frank | Posted in Columbia County, GA, Cycling | Comments (0)