june 2007
Completely forgot that today was the 10th!
Quick! Go print your WWDC 07 Bingo Cards!
Seriously.
I have mine right here in front of me, and have a good feeling about the revelation of 'Leopard secrets', new 'displays with cameras', and "Boom" (this one is more than likely).
Not so sure about ZFS after SUN basically lied about it last week, and highly doubt that Apple would go about integrating virtualization software into Leopard at its current state (though I could be wrong).
I hope they don't introduce Illuminous as the next L&F. I like Aqua. It's bright, aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly - usable (in the most HCI of terms). So why change a winning team?
Man, Apple's stock is going to skyrocket today. Lucky you, Ryan!
(You should be a stock advisor, Rhys. A couple more of these suggestions and we could all be RICH!)
Quick! Go print your WWDC 07 Bingo Cards!
Seriously.
I have mine right here in front of me, and have a good feeling about the revelation of 'Leopard secrets', new 'displays with cameras', and "Boom" (this one is more than likely).
Not so sure about ZFS after SUN basically lied about it last week, and highly doubt that Apple would go about integrating virtualization software into Leopard at its current state (though I could be wrong).
I hope they don't introduce Illuminous as the next L&F. I like Aqua. It's bright, aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly - usable (in the most HCI of terms). So why change a winning team?
Man, Apple's stock is going to skyrocket today. Lucky you, Ryan!
(You should be a stock advisor, Rhys. A couple more of these suggestions and we could all be RICH!)
Did you know that the word 'photograph' was chosen over other suggestions such as 'heliograph' and 'sunprint'? Me neither. Imagine. Digital heliographs, or heliographics. (Would that be Digital Heliography?)
Anyways, ended up cancelling my order for the Nikon L10, since they were taking forever to send it (June 19?!), and ended up going to Best Buy to pick up the Fujifilm A825 which was on sale. Best decision (camera-wise) EVAH. This camera is so easy to use it's ridiculous. The auto presets are all there, and surprisingly, the images are sharp and relatively noiseless even at ISO 400. Might even be better than Canon in that regard. It takes 2AA's which lasts pretty long (~100 shots on the alkalines provided in the box) and SD memory (which is cheap as dirt nowadays). Unlike the L10, shutter lag is nonexistent, even when shooting at super high resolutions (3296x2472).
The only gripes I have with it, is that it's slightly larger than the 'slim' dimensions, so even if you can fit it in your pocket, you probably wouldn't want to (it's still smaller and lighter than the Canon A75 which I used previously). Secondly, when in auto mode, there should be someway to set the exposure of the shot, as the light sensor seems to over-accomodate (ie. when taking a shot of a sunset, or of a darker colored object with the sun in the background). Also, zooming in fully yields images which are slightly blurry. I believe this happens with all point-and-shoot cameras though. Oh, and it doesn't seem to orient vertical images automatically when it saves them. Bah, minor details ;)
Overall, this is a wicked newb-friendly camera which is really affordable and takes pretty nice pictures (sharp, vivid colors, low noise).
Also ended up walking along the Emeryville peninsula to test out the camera today, but headed home early since the wind was picking up. I could use a hat.
EDIT: Also picked up a case which matched my crumpler bag (I have a 'Skivvy'). They make fine bags.
Pics taken with the A825 follow. 56k'ers beware!
A nice looking bike
A roller (is that what they're called?)
No tresspassing indeed, some security guy was watching me take this picture from his truck.
As if I would even try and jump the fence carrying two bags of groceries :|
Solar panels -- how forward thinking of them!
It came from above!
Just a tree.
Just a fountain. Across from the Amtrak station. Rested here for a minute or so.
The little luggage cart. The station was so empty today. Void of all human life it seems.
Trains! Lots of them. Coming every half hour. Honking their horns. WHY OH WHY?
The Emeryville Public Market - has a bunch of international food outlets (ie. korean/jamaican/thai fast food), and also the home to the local Borders. I've been reading more since internet and tv were previously unavailable. They serve these tiny peanut-chunk ice cream cups to customers on saturday mornings, which is nice. Good Sci-fi selection, and surprisingly, an even better manga selection.
Macro mode works as advertised.
Haven't actually read all the book before, so I am doing so now. Douglas Adams is a good writer.
My prescreening tickets for Ratatouille.
(In the unlikely event that you (anyone I know) are in the area on the 22nd, let me know and I'll get ya in :)
Oddly mechanical, yet graceful in its apparent ability to balance on two corners.
(Yes, I know it's welded on)
The 'old skool' Emeryville theater. Haven't actually watched anything here yet. The newer one at AMC is pretty good, but expensive.
Looking back from the peninsula onto the freeway leading from Oakland. This is at 4x optical zoom, hence the slight blurriness.
It wouldn't be California without P-P-P-PALM TREEEEEEES
OK. This is one of several boxes littered around Emeryville, all of which have oddly fascinating pictures on them (all of them dealing with the stick-guy). I'm pretty sure these are the wireless receivers that track the Emery-Go-Round, and my goal is to capture a picture of every one of these boxes.
Gotta catch 'em all!™
A macro-sized pine-cone. I obviously got the zooming wrong when taking this picture. :(
"Kay, so what do you need? (besides a miracle)
Yachts. Lots of Yachts."
More macro mode. Got these earphones cause the ipod-like ones hurt my ears :(
My trusty Crumpler bag, the 'Skivvy'. They make awesome bags. Nice looking, durable, spacious and always ridiculously named.
Luckily, I found a matching Crumpler camera pouch, the 'Thirsty Al' (who comes up with these names!?). Woot!
Anyways, ended up cancelling my order for the Nikon L10, since they were taking forever to send it (June 19?!), and ended up going to Best Buy to pick up the Fujifilm A825 which was on sale. Best decision (camera-wise) EVAH. This camera is so easy to use it's ridiculous. The auto presets are all there, and surprisingly, the images are sharp and relatively noiseless even at ISO 400. Might even be better than Canon in that regard. It takes 2AA's which lasts pretty long (~100 shots on the alkalines provided in the box) and SD memory (which is cheap as dirt nowadays). Unlike the L10, shutter lag is nonexistent, even when shooting at super high resolutions (3296x2472).
The only gripes I have with it, is that it's slightly larger than the 'slim' dimensions, so even if you can fit it in your pocket, you probably wouldn't want to (it's still smaller and lighter than the Canon A75 which I used previously). Secondly, when in auto mode, there should be someway to set the exposure of the shot, as the light sensor seems to over-accomodate (ie. when taking a shot of a sunset, or of a darker colored object with the sun in the background). Also, zooming in fully yields images which are slightly blurry. I believe this happens with all point-and-shoot cameras though. Oh, and it doesn't seem to orient vertical images automatically when it saves them. Bah, minor details ;)
Overall, this is a wicked newb-friendly camera which is really affordable and takes pretty nice pictures (sharp, vivid colors, low noise).
Also ended up walking along the Emeryville peninsula to test out the camera today, but headed home early since the wind was picking up. I could use a hat.
EDIT: Also picked up a case which matched my crumpler bag (I have a 'Skivvy'). They make fine bags.
Pics taken with the A825 follow. 56k'ers beware!
A nice looking bikeA roller (is that what they're called?)No tresspassing indeed, some security guy was watching me take this picture from his truck. As if I would even try and jump the fence carrying two bags of groceries :|
Solar panels -- how forward thinking of them!It came from above!Just a tree.Just a fountain. Across from the Amtrak station. Rested here for a minute or so.The little luggage cart. The station was so empty today. Void of all human life it seems.Trains! Lots of them. Coming every half hour. Honking their horns. WHY OH WHY?The Emeryville Public Market - has a bunch of international food outlets (ie. korean/jamaican/thai fast food), and also the home to the local Borders. I've been reading more since internet and tv were previously unavailable. They serve these tiny peanut-chunk ice cream cups to customers on saturday mornings, which is nice. Good Sci-fi selection, and surprisingly, an even better manga selection.Macro mode works as advertised.Haven't actually read all the book before, so I am doing so now. Douglas Adams is a good writer.My prescreening tickets for Ratatouille. (In the unlikely event that you (anyone I know) are in the area on the 22nd, let me know and I'll get ya in :)
Oddly mechanical, yet graceful in its apparent ability to balance on two corners.(Yes, I know it's welded on)
The 'old skool' Emeryville theater. Haven't actually watched anything here yet. The newer one at AMC is pretty good, but expensive.Looking back from the peninsula onto the freeway leading from Oakland. This is at 4x optical zoom, hence the slight blurriness.It wouldn't be California without P-P-P-PALM TREEEEEEESOK. This is one of several boxes littered around Emeryville, all of which have oddly fascinating pictures on them (all of them dealing with the stick-guy). I'm pretty sure these are the wireless receivers that track the Emery-Go-Round, and my goal is to capture a picture of every one of these boxes. Gotta catch 'em all!™
A macro-sized pine-cone. I obviously got the zooming wrong when taking this picture. :("Kay, so what do you need? (besides a miracle)Yachts. Lots of Yachts."
More macro mode. Got these earphones cause the ipod-like ones hurt my ears :(My trusty Crumpler bag, the 'Skivvy'. They make awesome bags. Nice looking, durable, spacious and always ridiculously named.Luckily, I found a matching Crumpler camera pouch, the 'Thirsty Al' (who comes up with these names!?). Woot!
Emeryville is a small place. Small enough to walk from one end to the other (Oakland to Berkley) in only a couple hours. But lucky for me, there are actually several ways to get around; primarily, the Emery-Go-Round, AC Transit, BART, and Amtrak.
The Emery-Go-Round is the set of privately funded shuttles which run through the main streets of Emeryville throughout the day, servicing all the major companies (Pixar, Novartis, etc.) on the weekdays, as well as the BART and the Bay Street shopping district. This service ROCKS for a number of reasons, the first of which is that it's FREE to ride. Yes, unlike all those times that I wished I could just hop onto a near-empty streetcar in Toronto to ride a few blocks to school but didn't want to pay two bucks each way, the Go-Round takes us to and from work, grocery shopping all without having to worry about paying for riding a block. I think that a large part is due to the small population of Emeryville (only ~7000 according to wikipedia) which means that they are rarely crammed, even during rush hour. However, that's hardly the best part of the system. No, by far, the best part of the system is that each and every shuttle is fitted with a wireless transponder which you can track in real time. Thats right. You can track the shuttles moving on google maps right up to when they arrive at the stop outside your office/home. This means that I never have to run or wait unnecessarily for a shuttle (unless I miss it), which is pretty frickin cool in my books. I wish they had this service everywhere.
The AC Transit supports a municipal transportation network (much like the TTC) which runs though the bay area (San Fran, Berkeley, etc). The fares are slightly cheaper than those of the TTC, but BART ("Subway") transfers don't actually work like they do in Canada (you still have to pay a fee to get on the bus) which sucks. I don't actually ride this too much (since the Go-Round is free and runs on a quicker schedule), only when I'm out after the Go-Round service ends (at around 9-10pm).
The BART stands for the Bay Area Rapid Transport system, which services San Fran and the rest of the Bay Area. It's kind of comparable to the Kipling line in the TTC, except the stops are about twice as far apart. Oh, that and the trains are frickin NICE, and not as dirty as those in Toronto (the seats have CUSHIONS, of the soft-fluffy variety). I know a part of this is due to the fact that it only services roughly 15% of the amount of traffic that the TTC services daily (which includes all services), as well as the fact that the TTC stuff is ancient. They also have a nice info system at the stations which tell when the next train arrives (which is incredibly accurate), with how many cars, where to get on, etc. It's pay-as-you-go, so you actually buy credit on this BART card (a flimsy plastic ticket), and slide it though the machines when you enter and when you leave a station. It's an awsome idea, and only costs three dollars to head into San-Fran, and a dollar fifty to head to Berkeley.
The Amtrak is an inter-city rail system, much like Via Rail in Canada. I haven't actually used either, so I can't say much about it except that we are situated at an intersection by the railroads, and the frickin trains ALWAYS HONK as they are going through the intersection. This happens mostly during the day, when I'm at work, but during the nights, if we don't close the windows, we are treated to air horns going of every half-hour. It's driving me NUTS :P. (To be honest, they aren't really as bad as the freight trains though)
PS. I'm not bashing Toronto in particular (I love the place), but everyone agrees that the TTC sucks :) (Stop raising the price of tickets!)
PPS. No pictures until my camera comes in. Got a cheap one off dell, and they are taking forever to send it.
EDIT: they've fixed the internet. woot!
The Emery-Go-Round is the set of privately funded shuttles which run through the main streets of Emeryville throughout the day, servicing all the major companies (Pixar, Novartis, etc.) on the weekdays, as well as the BART and the Bay Street shopping district. This service ROCKS for a number of reasons, the first of which is that it's FREE to ride. Yes, unlike all those times that I wished I could just hop onto a near-empty streetcar in Toronto to ride a few blocks to school but didn't want to pay two bucks each way, the Go-Round takes us to and from work, grocery shopping all without having to worry about paying for riding a block. I think that a large part is due to the small population of Emeryville (only ~7000 according to wikipedia) which means that they are rarely crammed, even during rush hour. However, that's hardly the best part of the system. No, by far, the best part of the system is that each and every shuttle is fitted with a wireless transponder which you can track in real time. Thats right. You can track the shuttles moving on google maps right up to when they arrive at the stop outside your office/home. This means that I never have to run or wait unnecessarily for a shuttle (unless I miss it), which is pretty frickin cool in my books. I wish they had this service everywhere.
The AC Transit supports a municipal transportation network (much like the TTC) which runs though the bay area (San Fran, Berkeley, etc). The fares are slightly cheaper than those of the TTC, but BART ("Subway") transfers don't actually work like they do in Canada (you still have to pay a fee to get on the bus) which sucks. I don't actually ride this too much (since the Go-Round is free and runs on a quicker schedule), only when I'm out after the Go-Round service ends (at around 9-10pm).
The BART stands for the Bay Area Rapid Transport system, which services San Fran and the rest of the Bay Area. It's kind of comparable to the Kipling line in the TTC, except the stops are about twice as far apart. Oh, that and the trains are frickin NICE, and not as dirty as those in Toronto (the seats have CUSHIONS, of the soft-fluffy variety). I know a part of this is due to the fact that it only services roughly 15% of the amount of traffic that the TTC services daily (which includes all services), as well as the fact that the TTC stuff is ancient. They also have a nice info system at the stations which tell when the next train arrives (which is incredibly accurate), with how many cars, where to get on, etc. It's pay-as-you-go, so you actually buy credit on this BART card (a flimsy plastic ticket), and slide it though the machines when you enter and when you leave a station. It's an awsome idea, and only costs three dollars to head into San-Fran, and a dollar fifty to head to Berkeley.
The Amtrak is an inter-city rail system, much like Via Rail in Canada. I haven't actually used either, so I can't say much about it except that we are situated at an intersection by the railroads, and the frickin trains ALWAYS HONK as they are going through the intersection. This happens mostly during the day, when I'm at work, but during the nights, if we don't close the windows, we are treated to air horns going of every half-hour. It's driving me NUTS :P. (To be honest, they aren't really as bad as the freight trains though)
PS. I'm not bashing Toronto in particular (I love the place), but everyone agrees that the TTC sucks :) (Stop raising the price of tickets!)
PPS. No pictures until my camera comes in. Got a cheap one off dell, and they are taking forever to send it.
EDIT: they've fixed the internet. woot!
Went to Red Sox/A's game in Oakland with my roommates yesterday (which was jam-packed, over 31k people) and our seats ended up in this large pocket with other Red Sox fans; which was funny as everyone else was boo-ing while we were cheering. Got to see Mastuzaka pitch though; which was crazily consistent. Other than that; game was pretty uneventful, ending in a 0-2 loss for the Sox (although three bats broke, which I would guess to be statistically improbable). Heard the Jays won 12-11 though!
Kinda reminds me of the time me and Rhys went to the Jays game ... last year!
Kinda reminds me of the time me and Rhys went to the Jays game ... last year!
Went to the first showing of Knocked Up last night with the roommates at the AMC, and it was frickin hilarious! The story wasn't as cohesive as the 40 Year Old Virgin, but the jokes were equally funny.
Pirates of the Caribbean though ... was terrible. A lot of dumb scenes, and people only really laughed at the monkey jokes. They should have left out all the magic and kalipso (or whatever her name is) ties. Also didn't notice anything that wowed me in terms of sfx. Ah well, at least we didn't have to pay to watch the pre-screening.
Pirates of the Caribbean though ... was terrible. A lot of dumb scenes, and people only really laughed at the monkey jokes. They should have left out all the magic and kalipso (or whatever her name is) ties. Also didn't notice anything that wowed me in terms of sfx. Ah well, at least we didn't have to pay to watch the pre-screening.
may 2007
The *other* san-fran bay bridge
Chinatown
"The store with beautiful things"
Is the house slanted or are the cars slanted?
The winding road (whose name escapes me)
Alcatraz Island (lucky there's no VX! ;)They still haven't gotten internet at the apartment, so we've been leeching off some wireless connection in the by the mailboxes in the lobby (shhhh! ;)
Got a change to head into San Francisco last weekend, which was a nice break from all the PU training. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up again, so I ended up using Mike's camera most of the day which turned out just as well. Basically walked around downtown (they had some Carnival thing going on, so there were tons of people enjoying the summer day. Things got pretty cold later in the day though when the fog descended on the city; hence, no pictures of the actual Golden Gate Bridge, as we couldn't even see it from a hundred meters away. Walking along the pier, we eventually got back to the Embarcadero BART Station, and back to Emeryville.
Interesting notes:
- chinatown is smaller than I thought (only a couple streets, maybe slightly larger than that of Toronto's), though like in asia, people seem to walk as they please across the streets
- we passed like 20 camera shops, all of which seem to be owned by the same people (seriously)
- the trolleys (yes, those trolleys) are crazy expensive ($5 USD per trip), so we decided not to ride unless we get extremely tired from walking
- some of the hills are steep. So steep that old people would have trouble walking up and down. So steep that there's no way that cars would park if it ever snowed. So steep that ... well, you get the point. Only in San-Fran I guess.
- California is colder than I thought (at night); and I should have bought that spring jacket before I left :P DOH
Anyways, we've just started real work this week, and what I've seen thus far of the project is amazing.
And it looks like I won't be going to the ratatouille wrap party after all (too late to reserve a Tux, and I really can't afford to spend $4/500 for a suite (it's not even a nice one)). Ah well, maybe next time.
Next week: Maybe visiting Alcatraz, or the Zoo, or just chilling at home ... who knows?
The Pixar GatesEmeryville is wierd! Today was the first day of my summer internship at Pixar which felt so surreal! Although today was mostly orientation, training, and meeting people, we also had a chance to tour the facilities which are absolutely fantastic. I can't wait till we actually start working on our product for real next week!
As for where I'm staying, Pixar has provided housing for me and two other interns (Matt/Mike) down at the Courtyards which is pretty nice (but internet and cable has yet to be installed). This being the first time I've stayed in California (or the US) for any length of time, I'm very much looking forward to having a chance to wander and explore the San-Francisco Bay area this weekend.
As to why Emeryville is wierd; the whole town is a mixture of residential and post-industrial architecture where there are a number of odd looking buildings, not to mention that everything around here closes at 9pm! Maybe I'm spoiled by the luxuries of living in downtown Toronto, but I've gotten pretty use running across the street to grab groceries at 3am. Other than that, the weather is NICE (as long as you don't stay out in the afternoon too long), and despite what people say, Americans here are just the same as Canadians in Toronto (or Calgary).
More shots to come later in the week, but there's already homework to do on the first day :P.
Ah, less than a week until the last final exam I'll be writing for the next little while. Coincidentally, it's for a Software Engineering course; the very Computer Science specialist degree I'm completing here at UofT. Good times!
Btw, toronto-based foodies can check out startwithsoup.com, a fun little site that we started earlier to help people find nice places to eat.
This week's episode of The Office was absolutely hilarious (best episode in recent memory).
Btw, toronto-based foodies can check out startwithsoup.com, a fun little site that we started earlier to help people find nice places to eat.
This week's episode of The Office was absolutely hilarious (best episode in recent memory).