Imaging
Helium balloon movies…
On a warm summerday, with 50 euro worth of helium in three balloons…aerial photography using digital cameras. The setup was relatively simpel: A 3.1 megapixel camera, hanging from three balloons (50-70cm). Total weight of the setup was somewhere around 450 gram, the balloons had a pull of about double that. Two threads of 100 meters connected the ballons to us, so that we could get the camera to land again [via] Link.
Build Your Own Render Farm
The idea of coaxing multiple machines to gang up on one graphics-processing job is old; but the feasibility of configuring such a system on a shoestring budget is rather new. With open-source solutions proliferating on the Web and businesses kicking decent PCs to the curb like so many red-headed stepchildren, money’s no longer an obstacle. Only one question remains, really: Are you a big enough geek to put it all together? Link.
Flickr printable books and posters
So, this is not public, and is not shipping yet, but here is a sneak peak of what is on its way for Flickr freaks (like me). A poster and and entire book of Flickr photos. Once the Flickr folks are ready, I suspect you’ll hear more about this soon. Link to Flickr on Flickr.
Google Earth – Wonderful world…
Here’s a really neat video of Google Earth being used as a world touring visualizer of video bloggers. The Maker writes “What I love about videoblogging (or video in general as a medium) is that if I get an idea, I can visualize it in almost no time at all because the tools available are so easy to work with, and I get some result immediately”. Link.
How to build a helmet-mounted camera for mountain biking for $35
Another great CVS camera hack HOW TO…When I first saw the CVS disposable camera, I knew that it would be hacked soon. I also knew that as soon as it was, I would have to buy one, and I knew exactly what I wanted it for: Mountain biking. Here are directions for building a helmet mount for the CVS one-time-use camcorder. Includes photos and a 10 minute trail riding video. Link.
Digiscoping With LE-Adaptor
“Digiscoping”, based on methods of marrying your digital camera to a conventional optical device, is an off-the-shelf solution for TreeHugger closeups of birds, concerts, and sporting events. The better way is to adapt a decent digital camera, which you may already have and spent a lot of time learning to link to your computer, to fit with a decent spotting scope. Link and Link.