Friday, January 31, 2014

Using cheap plastic lenses to get MACRO effects

How to use an iSight camera or webcam to look at small objects or magnify object detail.

I have cheap plastic lenses that I use with my MacBook iSight camera to shoot closeups of objects I wish to document.  This works really well.  I glued a magnet to the edge of my MacBook.   I put metal clips on two cheap plastic lenses I had.  Once the lense is in front of the iSight camera, macro magnification occurs.  Positioning can be very sloppy.  This idea has worked out very well for me.  Sometimes you have to adjust the lighting.  Sometimes you must stabilize the item you are viewing.

This will work for webcams as well.  I also placed a webcam above a microscope from Radio Shack.. that worked as well.


Macro lens
Macro lens snapped to MacBook


super Macro lens

Back side of lenses


Front side of lenses



99guspuppet   tags:   #macrolens  #cheapmacrolens   lens  lenses  MacBook  macro DIY magnify magnifying glass  webcam   #DIYUSBMicroScope  #DIYmacroLaptopCam
























 
Project #2     MicroScope
I also used a MicroScope from RadioShack ( MSRS ) to create a USB MicroScopeCam.
I had a scrapped articulated arm from an old camera.
I glued a magnet on the end of the arm.
On the MSRS I glued a large net for the magnet to attach to.
I modified the eyepiece to accept a webcam.
I chopped the end off a cheapie webcam I had and added a centering washer and magnet.
( I am sure there are better ways to do all these things )

base has rubber feet made from silicon caulking. I really like GE Silicon II clear Stock#GE5000


magnet is glued to end of arm

sample end of microscope   bulb is for lighting

webcam attached to eyepiece end of microscope

the whole enchilada


brass adpater ring and "washer" magnet to hold webcam to microscope

New design clamp on quick release extension cord

see 3D CAD   here    http://www.3dtin.com

I want to use Nitinol wire to pull a collar closed on an electrical connector for an extension cord.
quick connect ...  quick release... no voltage out of extension cord
Red is the color of the fake tool ... maybe it is a drill....   there are two conductive rings ( yellow ).... plus a conductive end cap ( yellow )
connector ( female ) until it mates and locks.
An extension cord female slides over end cap and two rings and then squeezes to smaller diameter.
this makes electrical contact and locks the extension cord to the tool. 
End cap is *hot* , center ring is ground and top ring is neutral





99guspuppet      #qwikReleaseElectricalExtesion

Monday, January 27, 2014

Conversation with ComCast tech support #ComCastSupport

My email went away for 24 hours.... I first called my provider of web services .... ixwebhosting.com.  The tech support person laughed when I mentioned ComCast.  He said that IX customers from the east coast to the west coast had reported problems with ComCast.

Then I chatted with ComCast ......   2014m01d26  ~2300 MST USA
Here is the transcript.......

analyst Bryan has entered room

Bryan: Hello JOANNE, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Bryan. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Bryan: Welcome to Comcast! It's a pleasure to have you on chat. How are you doing today?

JOANNE: My Issue: I have not received email routed through ixwebhosting.com for about 23 hours. Their tech support said the problem was at your end. I can hardly wait to see what you say.

Bryan: I understand that you are having problems receiving emails. Am I correct?

JOANNE: I have a cold and I am coughing... can you fix that ? are you a medicine shaman ?

Bryan: Get well soon, Joanne.

JOANNE: yes my email account based on yes@nope9.com is down

Bryan: I am here to provide you with excellent customer service today. Please be assured I will do my best to help you with your issue.

Bryan: After we have resolved you issue I will review your account to make sure that you have the best value of service from Comcast.

Bryan: Just to set your expectation, what I will do is to troubleshooot the problems on on your email when receiving messages and if this not work I will create a ticket for you. Would that be fine with you?

JOANNE: I am always looking for 1000mbits/sec plus 900 channels of Cable TV for $25/moonth.

JOANNE: yes, go ahead

Bryan: Thank you for providing that information.

Bryan: In order for me to understand the specific issue and assist you further, would it be fine to ask you a few questions?

JOANNE: I think the answer is 42

JOANNE: okay

Bryan: May I ask what is the username that having issues?

JOANNE: username for what ?

Bryan: Username of the email.

Bryan: The email that having issues receiving emails.

JOANNE: I don't know. the account is yes@nope9.com. I log in to ixwebhosting.com using that email

Bryan: I see. Let me set your expectation that we don't support 3rd party emails. We can only troubleshoot for your Comcast email. What I can suggest you is contact them.

JOANNE: exactly what I expected..... ixwebhosting says it is a problem at your end.

Bryan: I understand. Please confirm them that this is not an issue on our end.

JOANNE: ZEN KOAN: What is the sound of two fingers pointing at each other ?

JOANNE: Would you repeat what you said ?

Bryan: I understand. Please confirm them that this is not an issue on our end.

Bryan: I'm glad that I was able to inform you that we don't handle 3rd party routers.

JOANNE: Your sentence makes no sense to me

JOANNE: I am glad you are glad.... sounds like no one is going to do anything... what do you suggest ?

Bryan: Please tell them that this is is not an issue with on our end. I advice to contact them.

Bryan: Do you have any additional question?

JOANNE: proper word is *advise*. Since I already talked to them, I am f********** I will take a take a hot bath and see if I can hold my breath until the email starts working again.

JOANNE: bye bye best to you

Bryan: Thank you for correcting that.

Bryan: It was truly a pleasure to speak with you! Thank you conctacting Comcast. Feel free to contact us again through live chat (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Comcast also offers great FAQ and Help forums located at www.comcast.net to help you solve many issues on your own. You can also reach us at (1-888-739-1379).

Bryan: Enjoy the rest of the week!

The analyst has left and your issue has been closed.

Bryan: Analyst has closed chat and left the room

update:
Immediately after chatting, I tried my email again.  Now messages are streaming in.  What pixie caused that ?  You guess... I do not know.

by 99guspuppet     777comcast

Saturday, January 25, 2014

CyberPunk me and my body #CyberPunkMe

30 years ago I read novels by Gibson and Sterling and I wanted to be a cyberpunk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk

Now ( with Iot and Wearable Tech and WIOT )......  I want more than ever to have my body techno-enhanced in and out.  I want zoomable eyes with macroscope capability.  I want to talk to the cloud by mumbling and waving my arms.  I want to talk to devices in my vicinity.   Sensors , warnings , .....  I want to talk to guns.my refrigerator , cameras around my house , my car , ......

I want to know my heart rate , my blood sugar level , the envelope of my pulse , my core temperature, ....

I am a nosy guy.

99guspuppet   #WearableTech

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Some Thoughts about IoT, WT , WIOT , IPPP & Moore's law

content ==>   http://arts-tech-creation.blogspot.com/2013/12/overview-of-iot-and-wiot.html
Reminders
pcduino
wearable IoT    2G USB stick
WR703N
Cinema passes

Wearable IoT    WIOT  ( Elmer Fudd )   Where is that wabbit ?


Resources    global and local
BlueStamp Engineering
AT&T IoT Hackathon   Las Vegas  
AT&T IoT Hackathon   Boulder
DenHac , TinkerMill , Sparkfun ,

Lightning Topics
== Addressing   IPV4 plus ports    IPV6
== Best Communications protocol    XML    JSON    other?
== What is IoT and what is not ..........   ( What is a thing ? )
         Big Data
         Remote control of devices , processes & software   SSH
== Best Media      Ethernet , Bluetooth , Infrared , PowerLine ,
== WIOT    what's up doc ?   Where is that wabbit ?
== Using openWRT
== Review of Wearable Conference




tags ... #IoTthoughts   #IPPParadigm  #MooresLaw  #WIOT

Time of flight distance measurement How cheap can it be ?

LIDAR-Lite: A New Benchmark for Optical Distance Measurement Sensors


This is a great concept. Expensive versions of this are already being done......
http://www-lite.larc.nasa.gov/

The excitement is... how cheap can reliable LIDAR be made ?  Dragon Innovations says it can be under $100.  Sounds really cool.  Questions remain for the techno geek crowd .....

Questions .....

Will this be open source ?  Open source is the best chance for the technology to advance quickly.  More brains will be improving the algorithms and uses and hardware.

Does it require a special chip that will remain proprietary ?    Not much fun if the idea is locked up in proprietary hardware.

Has this been demonstrated to reliable 3rd parties ?  If I am going to invest... I would like to know that credible geeks have seen this prototype work and they feel it is for real.  Most tech sites parrot the claims of the *inventor* and there are questions about how reliable the news from the inventor is.








Tags       #DistanceLTOF      #LEDlidar        99guspuppet

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

IoT Meetup News #IoTDenver

Internet of Things Meetup 
Thursday 1900 hrs   2014m01d23 
 2lemetry.com     Floor #9

Equipment
Both Floor #9 and Floor #14 have large screen displays that are attached to Apple TV devices.  If you have a recent  Apple laptop or ( IOS based ) iPhone / iPad / iPod  , then you can show your content on the screen.  AirParrot  ( http://www.airsquirrels.com/airparrot/ )  works as well for Windows and older MacIntoshes.

Parking
This website shows parking in Downtown Denver.  Just click the parking selection and navigate to 16th Street and Arapahoe.   Evening rates are $5 and up.  If you are willing to hike 4 blocks you can pay $3.  ( 20th and Arapahoe )  There is also 2 hour metered parking in the area.

Location
At the north corner of 16th and Arapahoe is the D&F Tower.  Go inside and use the elevator.  Instructions will be posted at the elevator.  ( or go to the 9th floor )  

Agenda
Discuss ways to set up educational projects about IoT / WT / WIOT.
Discuss recent news items and trends    IoT / WT / WIOT are very hot these days
Discuss Job Opportunities and local companies
Lightning Talks / Show&Tell / Q&A    If you have topics you want covered , let us know.

Preliminary
1900-1920      Show and Tell   SBS, Spectrum Analyzer, RASPBMC , etc.
1920-1930      IPV4 addresses , Moore's Law , IPPP
1930-1940     
Sponsor introduction ... 2lemetry.com....   IoT for Enterprise....  Coyote  MQTT
1940-1950      Attendee introductions ( voluntary )  what's happening in Colorado ?

Break
2000-2100      Lightning presentations , discussions , show and tell 

Rules: Ask questions , interrupt the speaker, offer witty insights , no belching. 


Loaner stuff
Experimenters & Developers  in IoT , WT , WIOT tech areas can get free advice ( worth every penny ! ) and loaner test equipment and development boards through #IoTDenver.  See partial list here .....

From Tim
I’m doing some work organizing the Denver Internet of Things (IoT) meetup group this Thursday and I was hoping some of you might be interested in participating. It’s going to be located at 2lemetry’s office at 1601 Arapahoe St. in Denver (14th floor this time), 7-9 PM Thursday January 23rd.

http://www.meetup.com/Internet-of-Things-Denver-Meetup/events/156570952/

Below I have some time slots that are still available. If anything sounds interesting to you, reply to this email and I’ll mark you down. If you have something but you’re not sure if it fits below, ask me. If you want to just show up and see what’s going on in IoT, come and have some food & drink!

This Month in IoT: 10-15 minutes. Facilitate a discussion of news items and headlines that have popped up since the last meeting. Anything is fair game, as long as it ties back to the Internet of Things. You can pick one or two things or just give an overview of the month. Feel free to ask the crowd for help or come prepared with everything - your choice.

Project of the Month: 10-15 minutes. Show and tell us about a project you are working on, or just a project you want to do. It could be embedded programming, home automation, sensor data analysis, tools, Arduino/Raspberry Pi, visualization, or anything that ties back to IoT.

Trends: 10-15 minutes. Talk about a trend that you see in IoT. It can be a prediction for 2014, a best practice, or just talk about things that stand between where we are now and full scale IoT rollout. It could be about home automation, enterprise integration, wireless standards, protocols, microprocessors, human-computer interaction, or anything that you see on the horizon.

Job Board: Looking for a job? Have an opening? Does your company offer IoT services? Looking for a company that supplies IoT services? Stand up and announce it. If you can’t make it, just send your request to me and I’ll make sure you’re spoken for.

Please don’t feel that you need to be an expert. We all just want to hear what everyone else is doing and share ideas. If you want to talk about a topic that’s not listed or if you’re not sure is IoT related, reply to this email and ask me!

Looking forward to seeing you there. Invite friends!

Tim Kellogg
Sr. Software Engineer, Protocols
2lemetry
@kellogh


From Gus
Please let me know if you have a project you would like to show off.  Your show and tell can be 5 minutes, 10 minutes , 30 minutes ...... whatever you like.  We promise to ask smart questions.
Show some software you are using , some hardware you are using, a simulation you are running, a design you plan to implement , a class you plan to teach ........ or bring questions you want answered about a project you are working.  Or bring an article about some cool advance in IoT or Wearable Technology.  I am particularly interested in Wearable IoT ( WIoT ).

If someone is interested and  asks , I ( @99guspuppet ) can bring an Oscilloscope or an RF spectrum analyzer or an IoT demo board ( BlueTooth , Raspberry Pi , BeagleBoneBlack , WR703N , PCduino , MSP430 LaunchPad ,  etc. )   I will keep a list at
http://arts-tech-creation.blogspot.com/2013/12/resources-for-iot-experimenters.html

From Trevor Howard
( Trevor started the Denver IoT meetup and is trying to get Denver based IoT action off the ground.  I asked him if he was a socerer - Gus )
Ha, no evil plans here. Postscapes tries to bring all of these companies together online in the topic and would hope that the Meetup would work like that as well (at least that's why I wanted to start it here..)

I think the IoT conversation is a very difficult one to wrangle as people approach it from such a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds. I would hope to get IoT Denver and other Meetup groups to work together on something bigger than the sum of their parts and help focus energy instead of fragmenting it across so many projects that just get replicated again and again....finding that project to work on and how to frame it and organize is the hard part. :(

Here is something we did last year for IoTDay and think there would be plenty of energy for something big if it is framed right: http://iotevents.org/details/2013-internet-of-things-day

From Tim Kellogg  ..... rival IoT group

From: YES NOPE9 <yes@nope9.com>
Date: January 28, 2014 1:24:14 AM MST
To: Tim Kellogg <tim@2lemetry.com>
Cc: Joanne Yamaguchi <joanne.yamaguchi@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: New Meetup Group

I suspect there is more to this than you are saying.  I am 100% behind individuals learning about technology and specifically IoT and WIOT.  So I applaud any scheme that delivers that.  I don't see why there has to be a new group.
Best
Gus


On Jan 27, 2014, at 6:39 PM, Tim Kellogg wrote:

Hi Gus,

I’m writing to give you a heads up that I’m creating a new IoT meetup group. One of the major drivers for the decision is to create an organized place where participants can get help with projects and exchange skills. I don’t believe the current group can support this goal because it’s aimed at a more narrow audience. Thanks for starting the current group, it was my inspiration to shoot for something even further beyond what we’ve already done.

Regards,

Tim Kellogg
Sr. Software Engineer, Protocols
2lemetry
605-593-7099
@kellogh



tags   #DenverIoTmeetup