The Akashic Field Chronicle

Trip to San Diego to attend the TV Whitespaces Coexistence Workshop

A few attempts on some slow moving subjects

For anyone still reading this blog. No, seriously, I’ve been trying to post so bad, and I always run out of time. If only there was more than 24 hours in a day. Then, I guess I’ll have more time to procrastinate and still fail to blog. LOL.

Anyways, just some quick updates:

Summer

The school year is officially over. Yeah! My first school year ever (3 quarters to be exact). Oh, wait, what?! Summer’s only for undergrads and liberal arts majors?! Darn. Sad but true. I guess ‘the research’ never sleeps. Moving on then.

Moving Out

Lots of changes going on here, especially in the housing front. People moving, sublets being subleased, graduating and going elsewhere, getting jobs (what’s that?!). I am no exception of course. My contract at Weyburn Terrace ends at June 30th and I already have a new place around Santa Monica, thanks to my friend Allan Kelley.

• Pros:
  • Close to the beach!
  • Close to 3rd St. Promenade!
  • Close to a lot of other cool stuff!
  • A good deal cheaper
  • Weyburn just has this feeling of being part of the school. I feel like I’m always in school (sort of like a dorm)
  • Great people to share the house with.
• Cons:
  • Not so close to UCLA. I have to take a bus, and they are far apart and stops roughly every 2 blocks.
  • I have to say goodbye to the insanely fast UCLA residential internet access. Goodbye!
  • I really enjoy biking to school. If I still want to do that, I have to figure out how not to sweat

Overall a great blessing if I may say so.

Goodbye Weyburn! I will not miss your prohibitively steep roads.

WordPress 3.0

Speaking of updates, this blog has been updated. Woohoo. WordPress 3.0 is here. I haven’t really explored that much. So far, the only thing I’ve noticed is a slightly different color scheme. I’m sure a more thorough exploration will reveal what great new features these awesome developers have in store for us.

P.S. Oussama, another member of our lab just started a blog, which kinda reminded me that I also had one, which has recently fallen into neglect, thus prompting me to do this update post. Thanks and I’ll be watching your blog (ok, not really, but I’ll subscribe to your feed and in effect be watching your blog, only in a more efficient manner).

Computer mice that is… (I’m afraid I’m spending too much time in the lab )

ergonomics or fashion?

microsoft or apple?

The answer might be obvious now, but just a while ago, a lot of people thought they knew better. Interesting they way people’s ideas about design evolve.

Disclaimer: mice used without explicit consent… Uber cool looking mice property of Przemysław Pawełczak (whose name, apparently, is non-ASCII compliant LOL). Ugly looking Microsoft mouse on loan to me via CORES lab.

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

About a month ago, I decided to purchase a digital point-and-shoot to replace my old and battered Sony CyberShot. I got the SD940 IS from Canon and I simply love it. Here are a few reasons I think people should consider this tiny marvel, on this week’s POW.

The Canon SD940 IS - don't let the size deceive you.

What I’m looking for

Of course, everyone has different reasons for buying a camera, so I want to make clear what I was personally looking for when I bought this one. My primary criteria are size and price. Size is definitely the #1 factor. I’m not looking to buy a DSLR because I wan’t something I can bring along everywhere I go. Much like a cellphone camera (but better quality). With regards to price, well, I’m kinda broke . Ok, not really broke, but as a graduate student, I barely make a living, so I need something that’s easy on the pocket.

The Camera

I actually bought this exact same camera for a friend back at home last Christmas, so I got to use it for a while without buying it first (woohoo). In the short span of time that I was using it I was really impressed by how great the photos looked (samples below). So when it came time for me to replace my old camera I went straight to this one with barely a thought.

Things I like

• It’s really small - fits-in-your-pocket-small, but not small enough to be difficult to operate. Just my size. But I’d warn people with slightly bigger hands that this might not be the camera for you.
• Relatively cheap - head on over to Amazon to see the price (doesn’t make sense for me to put it in here because of the way technology prices are).
• It takes great photos - samples below
• It takes decent 720p video clips – ok, you probably won’t be making your next movie using this camera but for less serious stuff with good lighting and not that much zooming, it’s good enough. Better than I expected. Unfortunately, I don’t have video samples right now that are for public consumption. Will add one later.
• Not bad in low light – of course it isn’t great as well (not a lot of point-and-shoots are) but with a good stable surface, you can definitely capture great shots (even better if you have some sort of tripod). But then again, there’s a reason why it’s called an ultracompact. You simply can’t have everything.

Samples

For other photos, head over to my blog’s photo gallery. FYI, the gallery is actually just an interface to my Flickr account. So if you’re on Flickr: add me! Also, if you want a Flickr gallery on your wordpress blog: here’s an old post where I talk about it.

Will try and add a video made using this camera in the future.

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries