NorthStarNerd.Org

Creating a Dual Boot OS Digital Camera

Do you think of your camera as a mechanical device, or a computer? The answer to this question should be a computer. Although your camera may have mechanical components and mirrors for the actual process of taking a picture, what drives your device is software.

• Better software yields better photographs
• Low quality software means bad pictures

In the computing world, we techies / nerds often create "dual boot" systems with multiple operating systems. Is it a surprise that cameras now have the same capabilities? By performing a hack on your camera, the end result will be a device with many more features (for less money) than the manufacturer had intended!

Surprisingly, performing the hack is not too difficult for Canon cameras. Better yet, unlike the world of PC hacks where your changes often mean you enter the world of no return (i.e. mistakes could mean an unresponsive computer), with CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) your hack is installed on your SD card. Thus, the hack runs off the SD card, and by performing a normal camera power on process, you boot to the factory operating system / defaults!

My camera is a Canon SX40. By performing the hack I acquired some of these benefits:

• Extended the shutter time for 15 seconds to 32 minutes
• Acquired the ability to perform time lapse photography
• Acquired the ability to take motion triggered pictures of lightning strikes
• Extended the aperture, exposure, ISO options (useful for night time photos)

Normally I would have to purchase a much more expensive camera to acquire these options. If you have a Canon camera, explore this web site (CHDK Downloads) to determine if a hack exists for your specific model. Finally watch this YouTube video from BigNate84 on how to install the CHDK hack. I would also recommend this YouTube playlist from Fatdragon100 which has additional information about the Canon sx40 hack process.

I would recommend watching BigNate's video twice. The first time you view the video, just absorb the content without performing your hack. When you watch the second time, use pause and play and perform your hack. In total, if you are cautious like me, the process should take you about two hours. The hack in terms of commands invoked is very short, but it's always best to work through content like this slowly!

Happy hacking, and remember ... your camera is a computer!

Promotion to Chief Nerd!

Retiring from Honeywell means I get to change my LinkedIn profile for the first time! Thus, I have promoted myself to Chief Nerd of NorthStarNerd.Org.

Here is my new LinkedIn profile:

Chief Nerd
NorthStarNerd.Org - Duluth, Minnesota  

Trying new roads in life revolving around web development and bike touring! After 28+ years with Honeywell in Corporate I.T. and Engineering, at the relatively young age of 57, decided it was time to take an early retirement and explore new ideas and perspectives. In addition to seeing America at 13 mph on a bike, am taking consulting roles that help companies optimize their web presence via the use of cost effective web 2.0 tools.

• View via LinkedIn (including Honeywell experience)
• View recent projects & examples

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Sorry Honeywell Employees ... It's my fault!

Earlier this afternoon I installed a super new cool app on my Google Nexus 10, Look to the Future. The app allows me to examine the future and understand the collective net effect of my actions taken as a Honeywell senior technologist.

Given I'm only 8 days short of my retirement, imagine my horror to learn the result of all the collaboration and web development projects I've led over my 28+ years with the company. My co-employees, please accept my apologies. It's obvious that I should be ashamed, perhaps even fearful of retribution!

I used the Look to the Future app and watched the trailer for a History TV documentary from the year 2068 entitled: "The Internet: A Warning From History". I truly had no idea my actions would lead to these problems. Thus, for each of these projects ... and more ... I'm sorry. (projects listed below the History TV trailer).

For obvious reasons of confidentiality, I can not link my Honeywell work. However, over the years I have used NorthStarNerd.Org as my personal R&D platform. When possible I've linked related blog posts from the past. Here are just a few of the projects I've led: (additional details about my impending retirement)

• Format:
  • Category: Work Project | Start Date | Related Blog Example

• Web Design, Development, Social Media and Video
  • Web Design | 1997 | Honeywell Technology Center via Internet Archive
  • Web Analytics | 2008 | WebTrends
  • Social Media Monitoring | 2009 | Twitter and more - Dilbert!
  • Web Analytics | 2010 | Google Analytics | Google Campaign Builder
  • Search | 2010 | Google Site Search | Noble Prize Winner Seminars / Videos
  • SEO | 2010 | Google Webmaster Tools and much, much more | Marvin the Martian SEO
  • LinkedIn | 2010 | Honeywell LinkedIn Channel - My Research
  • YouTube | 2011 | Honeywell YouTube Channels 
• Internal Collaboration, Learning & Knowledge Management
  • IBM Compatible PC Training | 1985 | n/a
  • eLearning | 1990 | NETg - NTU - SkillSoft - Stanford Online
  • Virtual Meetings | 1999 | Placeware, now Live Meeting from Microsoft
  • Virtual Library | 2000 | Online access to research, magazines, manuals and more
  • Internal Wikis | 2000 | Wikipedia drives first Honeywell wikis -  Wikimania
  • Search Engine Tagging | 2007 | Connectbeam
  • Microblogging Portal | 2008 | Cat 2.o or Cyrus Joins Our Yammer Network
  • Video Sharing Portal | 2012 | Brightcove

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Oh well, given the damage is already done ...

I am open to some part time consulting projects.

• RichardHoeg@GMail.Com
  or 
• LinkedIn Profile: Rich Hoeg

Review: Send to Kindle via Nordic Waterfall Skiing

Strange title?! I wanted to test Amazon's new service which allows any web site owner to send content to a Kindle. At the same time, here in northern Minnesota we have some of the best Spring snow conditions in years, which means excellent white water skiing! Thus, this post reviews both a favorite and little known favorite sport of mine, Nordic River Skiing ... and Amazon's new feature that allows a web site owners to easily (?) configure content to be sent to a Kindle. I wanted to include some interesting content for my Send to Kindle test ... thus Nordic River Skiing.

First the techie part, then on to river skiing. Amazon's instructions for web site owners may found via this web link. Upon reviewing the options, the process actually looks somewhat complex. Although a software nerd, I have to admit I don't pay much attention to CSS (cascading style sheets) and html formats for this blog. The Amazon template almost appears to be more trouble than it's worth in terms on setting up proper configurations and syntax.

The three screenshots that follow this paragraph were taken in succession on the Amazon Send to Kindle Setup Page. I decided to to ignore all the options and just clicked to obtain the code. In other words, I did zero configuring and just copied the standard code. Eureka it worked! You will need an Amazon account, but that requirement is obvious. You would not have a Kindle otherwise. In addition, you are able to send the finished product to Kindle software on other devices, not just an Amazon Kindle. Later you will see screenshot examples from my Nexus 10, the Kindle App.

If you would like to test the Send to Kindle service, you will find my Send to Kindle button at the very bottom of this post. Click and Try!

(click upon any image to view at full size)

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Oh yes, I promised some Nordic River Skiing as part of this post! While most of you are enjoying the first days of Spring, here in northern Minnesota, Winter is still very much in force. I enjoy skiing up rivers from Lake Superior. The frozen waterways provide trails into the back country wilderness which are impossible to reach (or at least very difficult) in the Summer. Here is how the sport of Nordic River Skiing works:

• Find Lake Superior (quite easy ... it's the largest lake in the world)
• Find a river (should not be to difficult)
• Ski up stream!

The only thing to remember is that the river current under the ice will be stronger on outside bends, and right under waterfalls. As long as you use a bit of common sense, your ski into the wilderness will be quite enjoyable! By this time in the Winter the ice is normally quite thick, and the river flow much reduced. Thus, on the one or two times I've broken through the ice in my life, only my feet and lower legs became wet.

It is truly unique experience to hear rapids gurgling underneathe your skis as you enjoy a workout. The final rush is when you head back downstream to the starting point of your journey. Remember those waterfalls you skied up? You now get to ski down a waterfall. It's a hoot. In addition, I saw zero people during my three hour ski ... just me and the wilderness!

In closing here are a few photos from yesterday's ski up the Lester River, including one taken at the top of a waterfall a few moments before my descent. In addition, I've included a screenshots from my Nexus 10 ... this blog post "sent to my Kindle".

(click upon any image to view at full size)

 
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And Kindle screenshots of this post from my Nexus 10!

   
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Send to Kindle

 

Creating True HDR Photos on your Android Tablet | Nexus 10

Early this year I purchased a Google Nexus 10, and ever since I've been trying to find a way to create true HDR photos on my tablet. While plenty of apps exist which combine photographs taken using your tablet's built-in camera, many of of you may wish to do "true HDR" using your own camera, in my case a Canon SX40. Your camera gives you the ability to control many settings such as aperture and shutter speed and thereby generate much higher quality images. Obtaining these kind of high quality input images are not possible with a tablet's built-in camera.

A question may come to mind. Why would I want to combine three images into a HDR photo on my Nexus 10, rather than use my laptop's Photomatrix software? Mobility is the answer! Like many of you, I am often not near my more powerful computer. While mobile I would like to learn whether my HDR photos turned out into a nice finished image. In my case, I will be taking a 2,000+ mile bike ride this Summer (Grand Gaspe Tour). For over two months I will be without my laptop and its software; it would be nice to see some finished products before the end of my bike trip.

Research seems to indicate there are not any Android apps which combine/import images from external cameras (not one's tablet's camera) into HDR images. However, the combination of Firefox, Flash, and Android's open operating system came to the rescue. A search via Google discovered a free online HDR service, Fotor. This web service allows one to import photos from any device, and then combine them into one finished HDR image. Upon first browsing to Fotor via my Nexus 10, given their use of Adobe Flash, additional pre-work was required. Android tablets including my Nexus 10 do not support Flash "out of the box". However, with some minor work that problem may be solved (i.e. using web pages that require Flash). Here are the installs and configurations required:

(click upon any of my Nexus 10 screenshots to view at full size)

1. Install the Firefox Android browser.
2. Install a good file manager on your tablet (I use ES File Explorer). 
3. Download "flash player apk v11.1". (good source with instructions).
4. Navigate to the directory in which you will find your downloads.
   
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5. Via your file manager, tap to install "flash player apx".
   
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6. Via your file manager, tap to open.
   
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7. Select "open with Firefox". You may wish to select "always" for this action.
8. Firefox will then open ... "tap to activate plugin"
   
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Everything done up to this point in items #1 to #8 were one time events. You are now ready to actually create HDR images using Fotor. Your first step is to take three photos with your good camera and inport them onto your tablet (my three images and resulting HDR photo are at the very end of this post). I personally like to transfer these images to a newly created photos in the picture directory named HDR (your new app ES File Explorer will come in handy again). In addition, I like to manage my Nexus 10 photos with QuickPic. It gives much great control over your photo gallery display options.

Assuming you've taken and importes your three photos, here is the process for online HDR image creation:

• Open Firefox, navigate to Fotor, select HDR (you may need to activate your Flash plugin)
  
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• Via Fotor, invoke the import images command to select the photos you wish to combine
  
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• Navigate via your tablet (Nexus 10 in my case) and select your three photos
  
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• Press <Start> to begin the upload / HDR conversion process
  
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• A confirmation screen should appear
  
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• Adjust your settings
  
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• Save your new image locally (or share online)
   
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• Confirma via your file explorer software!
   

Here are a few closing comments. Your finished image will not be of the same resolution as a finished product as you would create with software on your own computer such as Photomatrix, but the results are very good! In my case, the final HDR image was only 332 kilobytes. Normally, a finished product on my laptop would be in the 5 to 7 megabit range. Depending upon how you plan to use your images, this may not be a concern. In my case, I will still probably create better versions ultimately on my laptop, but this gives me an immediate option while mobile! Fotor is a great product, and it is hard to argue with the online conversion price. It's free.

My photos and end HDR image. I took these photographs near sunset without the use of flash. As I was just running a test, I did not utilize a tripod, which would be my norm for low light situations. Thus, one gets a bit of camera shake no matter how still I try to hold my camera

Three Original Images via Canon SX40 (normal, underexposed, overexposed)
   
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Fotor HDR Image
 

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