Electric Desk

       

Click here to download:

Electric_Desk_tag_hardware_erg.zip (620 KB)

Lately there has been more and more articles[1,2,3,4] and research about the detrimental effect sitting can have on your health. Supposedly even if you do try to balance your passive sitting with active sports it is unhealthy. Since I know myself well enough that cutting down on computer-time isn't going to work I did the next best thing and solved the problem with, of course, technology. Even if the research, which is still preliminary, ends up being false a good desk is nice to have. Several friends who work at least part of their day standing up also say it has benefitted them mentally and creatively so I figure I'm in good company.

The desk in question is a 160x80cm IKEA Galant, I have had it with static legs for little over a year now and considered the elevator-legs even then but the 500 euro cost felt a little much at the time. I reconsidered and spent the saturday "upgrading" and at the same time redoing all the wiring with a bunch of zip-ties.

Obviously its too early to tell but first impression is very favorable, the desk is very stable and the legs feel very high-quality, definitely not what you'd first think of when you hear IKEA (personally i have nothing against IKEA but some seem to have a hard time with them). Standing and working obviously takes some getting used to but that too feels pretty good.

All in all, very happy with my new desk!

[1] http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/phys-ed-the-men-who-stare-at-screens/

[2] http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?em

[3] http://www.talouselama.fi/tyoelama/article330415.ece

[4] http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Tutkija+Istuminen+on+vakava+terveysriski/...

Apple's rumored Magic Trackpad

     

Click here to download:

Apples_rumored_Magic_Trackpad_.zip (189 KB)

Back way before Apple released the iPhone there was a small company called FingerWorks[1] that made a very cool multi-touch keyboard called the TouchStream (along with some other very cool multitouch interfaces). I remember this company because I was drooling over their products but couldn't really afford one. Back in early 2005 they were acquired by Apple and all products were discontinued.

Fans of FingerWorks-products hoped that Apple would make them more mainstream and affordable but nothing was seen or heard until the iPhone and iPod touch was released. Clearly a well-planned purchase by Apple considering the touch-sensitivity of their products is still unequaled by their competitors. The same technology was later incorporated into their laptops to create the best trackpads on any computer. Not very many MacBook-owners use external mouses because of them (except when at their workstation perhaps). 

Now the rumors [2][3] are saying that Apple is releasing a "Magic Trackpad" which would enable desktop users to use a large trackpad instead of a mouse... Which makes me very hopeful! A large multitouch trackpad with gesture support etc would be an excellent addition to my iMac! Link [3] suggests that it could even be released very soon since FCC-approvals are usually very well timed by Apple.

Here's hoping...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
[2] http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/apples-magic-trackpad-revealed/
[3] http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/apples-magic-trackpad-gets-fcc-approval/

Lapland pictures, early summer 2010

Finally got around to editing and posting some of the pictures I took on our trip to Lapland a few weeks ago. The weather wasn't especially good but to be honest, I'd almost rather have a drizzle of rain over the current heat-wave but I'm weird like that - being warm-blooded and all that. Anyway.. Some highlights, link to set at the end.

More pictures here:

Obligatory HDR over-processing

Everyone needs to create a few over-processed HDR-images to get it out of our systems before calming down and using it right :). Here are a few of mine, taken early this morning when the light was all reddish and weird.

To be fair, the rainbow-picture didn't need much post-processing to begin with, here is a more reasonable (normal) picture of it with only some minimal color-editing and cropping:

I used the free and very easy to use HDRtist from http://www.ohanaware.com/hdrtist/ - you just drag and drop pictures onto the app and choose the strength of HDR. Really easy way to maul perfectly good pictures :).

Week of Water

Heatwave

It's hot in Finland, thankfully the beer is cold. I will return with more pictures and stuff sometime when my brain works again, take care people and do go read this excellent blog-post about what drowning looks like for real (hint: its not like in the movies) : http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/drowning/?10981 Very good to know in these hot times, stay safe!

Kicking the caffeine-habit

Research has shown that one of the main reasons I drink coffee, it helps to concentrate or makes you more alert, is actually not true. The research can be found here: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/npp201071a.html and some good analysis here: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=2023 . Basically its not because caffeine isn't an active pharmacological agent, because it is, its that you get used to the effect quite fast and then the caffeine just gets you back up to your baseline (which habitual use has lowered). Now you could still argue that you can control when you are alert by drinking caffeine to get back to your baseline at your choosing instead of when your body-chemistry, sleep-cycle and other factors allow you to be alert but that's not really the same thing, is it?

So as I try to live a rational life and make decisions based on science and reason I am currently typing this while my body is trying to cope without morning coffee. I'm also posting this because research also shows, surprise surprise, that people will hold a public promise more often than a private personal one. That said, after kicking the habit I will probably drink small amounts of coffee when necessary because coffee-drinking when not habitual also works, and is a social thing too.

Oh, and I would be amiss to not admit that my friend Jonatan ( http://twitter.com/zch ) was way ahead of me about this when he quit coffee almost exactly a year ago, which I teased him about. Sorry :)

Smoke on the horizon

Picture of the smoke coming from a warehouse fire on Puusepänkatu. More information (in finnish):

 Suurehko varastorakennus on syttynyt tuleen Turun Puusepänkadulla. Palo syttyi noin kello 18.20, ja varasto on parhaillaan ilmiliekeissä. Aurajokirantaan nousi palon sytyttyä korkea savupilvi, joka herätti ihmisten huomion. Poliisin mukaan rakennuksen ulkopuolella on majaillut toistakymmentä romanikerjäläistä. Tässä vaiheessa ei tiedetä, onko sisällä ketään.

http://www.ts.fi/online/kotimaa/144781.html

Hulluun Poroon pääsee pian Airbalticilla | Kauppalehti.fi

Rainy day in Lapland

Took this while playing around with the camera on a rainy day last week:

My new Panasonic GF1 was absolutely fabulous to have along while on the move. Really fast, versatile and reasonable size. Still learning about editing both video and RAW pictures. The pictures from my Fujifilm are actually easier to edit because they come out all full of vibrant color straight off the camera. This is more real-world I guess.

I didn't have to recharge the camera at all during the trip and saved almost 10GB of media on it, 544 RAW pictures (20-30 with flash), 26 minutes of 720p video. Glad I got the 16GB memory card :).

More pictures to come when I get them sorted out!