Dec 8 / 10:28am

Lunch with Dr. Mac!

Steve Lomas and I had a wonderful lunch with Bob LeVitus, better known as Dr. Mac. Check out his new book, iPhone 4s for Dummies. http://boblevitus.com

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Chipp Walters
CEO Shafer Walters Group, Inc

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Nov 28 / 6:08pm

Jambox review: Funny Little Guy

Jambox

Over the weekend, I purchased a Jawbone JAMBOX (Black Diamond), on sale at AT&T. It is an interesting piece of technology and design which allows you to play music wirelessly using a bluetooth connection from your phone, tablet, or computer. It's supposed to go for 10+ hours on a single charge, and really does sound very good for it's diminutive size (6 x 1.6 x 2.8 inches ; 12 ounces).

It's a funny little guy. First off, it's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, and has a solid quality feel to it. It's currently on sale at Amazon for $149, but even at that price many may find it's a tad expensive for what you get. You can certainly find cheaper speakers which sound as good, but they aren't as small nor as portable. And, the audio, while fine for my tastes, may disappoint those who really like to rock out, as it's just not really all THAT loud. Still, there's something intangible about the combo stereo speaker/speakerphone product-- which I very much like.

Perhaps it's the Olivetti type rubberized controls and the simplicity of operation. Like many Apple products, it "just works." You can configure it with custom voices and other special features by going to Jawbone's website and downloading new MY TALK software for it. I don't know of any other speakers with this sort of functionality. And the LiveAudio patch creates amazing stereo separation from a six inch long speaker. You really have to hear it to believe! The speakerphone is okay, but not omni-directional.

All in all, I'm very satisfied, even though I had to replace my first one because the battery couldn't take a charge. I recommend the JAMBOX as a personal speaker for those who do not listen to music at really loud volumes.

And for those who already own one, or are intending to buy one, there are a few important things to note, which aren't explained very well in the documentation.
Here are a few observations which I believe may help others who are new owners of JAMBOX.
  1. You can't check battery status UNLESS the Jambox is already paired AND unplugged from a charging source. This of course makes no sense, and is not documented anywhere, but two separate calls to support have confirmed this. I wish the interface designers paid as much attention to the software part of this as the engineers did. There are numerous issues with software interface design feedback. I can't understand why you can't check the battery status without being paired.
  2. Be sure and upgrade to the 2.1 software. There are numerous voices which can be added PLUS the all important LiveAudio binaural algorithms are installed which allow for much better Right Left music separation (note, turn OFF LiveAudio when listening to movies and the voices are much crisper). Also, there is a new setting called "Sound Clarity" which, when turned on, reduces the clipping and distortion of the speaker when turned up fully. This can reduce the volume for those extra loud passages. IMO, it's worthwhile.
  3. When using with Bluetooth, you should set your originating device to max volume, then use the + - buttons on the Jambox to mitigate volume.
  4. When using an audio cable, do not set the originating device to max volume, but rather 1/2 to 3/4 volume, so as to not overdrive the devices amplification, causing clipping and distortion on the Jambox.
  5. Don't forget, you need to press the + and - buttons simultaneously WHILE THE UNIT IS ON to toggle LiveAudio on and off. Because of the signal attenuating algorithms, LiveAudio plays less loud than the regular mode, so when you toggle it off, be sure and press the + button to make it louder.
  6. If you are using the Jambox with an audio cable and NOT bluetooth, then the LiveAudio is OFF and cannot be turned on. IOW, LiveAudio can only be toggled on/off and used when paired with a bluetooth device.
  7. I've been told by two service reps that instructions on 'resetting' Jambox on their forum and FAQ are incorrect. The FAQ says,
1. While the JAMBOX is ON, hold down the TALK button (circular button)
2. Plug in the JAMBOX to the charger. The charger must be plugged in to power.
3. Once the JAMBOX is plugged in to the charger, you can release the TALK button.

These are WRONG! Number 1 above should be (2 & 3 are the same)

1. While the JAMBOX is OFF, hold down the TALK button (circular button)

Unfortunately, and again due to poor interface design, there is NO SIGNAL when this has been accomplished correctly.

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Nov 7 / 8:42pm

Virtual Collaboration

http://db.tt/iIIsV8hq

Last weekend I was invited to give a talk to other design members of NC State's College of Design Leadership Council in Raleigh, North Carolina. I created the following PDF entitled, Virtual Collaboration Blueprint on my iPad using Neu.Notes and presented it via GoodReader.

I am currently helping a few companies evaluate their current infrastructure to see if they take the appropriate advantage of cloud technologies.

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Oct 28 / 8:32am

Aquarium Design Sketches

Here are some concept sketches I created on my iPad recently.

(download)

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Oct 27 / 10:32pm

3D Printing an Aquarium LED Fixture

As previously mentioned, I have become interested in Aquarium Lighting, so I found some LED fixtures and decides to design a sheet metal fixture with plastic end caps and snap on feet. After much research, I decided it would be least expensive to use the online services Ponoko and Shapeways to 3D print the plastic parts, and then use Ponoko to laser cut the sheet metal.

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So, first I sketched up a design and modeled it in SketchUp, and then rendered it in KeyShot. Once complete, I exported as STL files and sent them to the various online services. I actually tried several different plastics and even a sintered aluminum. I was very happy with the quality of all the parts. I carefully bent the sheet metal along the "dotted vent lines" and press fitted the endcaps. There was no need for fasteners as the press fit was extremely tight.

Here are some pictures of the finished and painted unit. The endcaps ended up costing around $25 each. The feet were about $4 each and the sheet metal was just under $50.

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And here are some pics of the unit (not painted) on the tank.

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Filed under  //  3D   Aquarium   Product Design  

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Oct 27 / 9:43pm

Aquarium Lighting Concept

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I've been interested in saltwater aquariums since I was a child but I've always known the hobby to require a tremendous amount of maintenance, startup capital, and time. But, now, the technology has come a long way, and whereas previously the smallest tank you could start with was 30 gallons, you can now create pico saltwater reef tanks in 5 gallons or less. So, I've recently started my own 3.5 gallon reef saltwater tank.
Unlike saltwater fish tanks, reef tanks require a tremendous amount of light, and there are no decent fixtures available for picos-- so I decided to design one myself.
Here are the renderings of it. The tank and fixture was modeled in SketchUp and rendered in KeyShot.
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Filed under  //  3D   aquarium  

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Sep 21 / 11:15pm

Epson vs HP

Epsonhp

I certainly like to buy local, and HP seems to me to be more local than Epson- for sure. 

And, I've purchased a couple HP ePrint machines over the last year. They're great for wireless printing from iPads and iPhones because they just work. Sadly, though, not for long. I've had to return two of them and am now working on my third, which will also be my last HP printer for a very long time. I spent well over three hours today in the Phillipines with HP non-support. Besides having me do the most basic routines (turn it on, off, on again, off again), I was disconnected twice with never a call back-- even though they promised they would call back. The last time I was disconnected was when I was working out the details of exchanging my current non-working HP printer for yet another new one. The details were never finalized. When I called back, they said there was nothing they could do and someone would have to CALL me tomorrow. No email, or web support-- just their word someone might call.

Very, very sad. HP, once a prideful and decent company is no longer one I can trust with my dollars.

So, over in the corner sits an Epson Stylus Photo 2200. Hasn't been used in years--literally dust balls all over it. It's not even plugged in-- to the wall or my computer. I do both, then go online and install the drivers. Only 8Mbs! When was the last time you installed printer drivers and they were only 8Mbs? They installed and I print out a test page. A disaster. Missing colors, jagged edges-- won't work. So, I go into the Epson control panel and clean the nozzles-- 5 or 6 times. Turns out the Yellow is out, so I dig around and find an old Yellow cartridge from years back, stick it in, clean some more nozzles and..

WHOA! 

The damn things prints like a top! I'm working on a project with my daughter. It's a 19" x 13" poster and we chose WHITE text on BLACK background for the design. I put in a old sheet of Epson 13"x19" Semi-gloss, press print and fifteen minutes later I am holding a PERFECT PRINT. Not one pixel off. Nowhere.

Not hard to figure out where my money is going for any next printer purchases!

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Aug 9 / 7:02pm

Saving iPad Keynote files to DropBox

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As many of you know, exporting files from Apple's Keynote presentation software in iPad can be a real pain. Especially if the files are large-- because email clients and iPad tend to barf on files any larger than a couple Mbs. And, my presentations are typically at least 10Mbs, so the only solution has been tethering my iPad to a PC, waiting the 30-90 minutes for it to sync and update, then copying the Keynote file to my DropBox on my PC.

Bummer-- way too lengthy a process for a simple way to share a Keynote presentation with a colleague. After some research, I came across DropDav.com, which could map my DropBox account to a WebDav address, which Keynote (and all Apple iPad apps) have a file option for. So, I started to use it, as did obviously many others, and the eventual solution to the 'too many users' problem resolved itself when DropDav started to charge everyone five bucks per month for their service. Seeing how I may use their service once each month, I really didn't want to pay their fee. A bit of Google sleuthing and I arrived at SMEStorage.com and found their CloudDav product. You can download it directly from the iPad AppStore for a one time fee of five bucks. After a setup, you can then use it to transfer data to and from DropBox in Keynote, Pages and other Apple iPad apps. Super!

Plus, they have a whole lot more as well. Definitely worth checking out!
Filed under  //  iPad  

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Jul 25 / 11:27pm

A Completely Different Sort of Storage Memory...

Composition2d

SecureThought™ Memory Vault by Altuit, Inc.

available second quarter 2018

Been awhile since I did anything in my favorite modeling program, SketchUp-- so this past weekend I set a goal to 'speed' design and model a couple of fantasy products. I'll probably use them for a website design in the future, but for now, let's just say they are a 'different sort of memory storage.'  

Rendered in KeyShot.

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Jul 14 / 8:53pm

New Downloads for DiagramCreator

I've updated the engine and provided new download locations for DiagramCreator:


Mac Version: http://db.tt/xCVEspl

There were a few engine related bugs to the Mac Version, so I udpated it-- and the PC version as well. Things should work better. As always, remember, it is beta software! ;-)

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