The ramblings of g1powermac

Not sure if I should laugh or cry on that one. Either way, it’s pretty good.

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There has been much speculation over a product being designed by Apple codenamed the ‘brick.’  9to5 Mac has recently released details as to what the ‘brick’ is.  It is actually not so much a product but more of an entirely new process to create macbooks.  The rumor stipulates that Apple has created their own factory that is using lasers and water jets to carve macbooks directly from bricks of aluminum.  This is in contrast to not only using contracted out manufacturers to build macs but also to the multiple parts it takes to build a macbook case.  I really wonder how this is going to turn out.  I may just have to buy a new macbook when these things comes out.

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A gyrostabilized camera mount is basically a camera mount that uses gyroscopes to stabilize any unwanted motion when moving the camera.  Take a look at this one made for helicopters:

That video has inspired me to try to create my own system. I got a tripod ball head that I think I could use to create a gyrostabilized mount using servos and some form of gyro sensors. Hopefully I can get my hands on some sensors without spending alot of money.

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It seems a study regarding the chemical additive of many plastics, called Bisphenol A, shows that people with heart disease and diabetes have more of the chemical in their body than people without those diseases, according to a Reuter’s article.  Of course you can’t say from this article that BPA is causing heart disease and diabetes, but this does leave me to wonder. This chemical is used primarily in polycarbonate and epoxies which are used greatly in our food supply.  So, what if you stopped eating or drinking anything that touched plastic?  Obviously if you live on processed food, you really can’t avoid the chemical.  But if you grew all your own food and/or bought only fresh produce not wrapped in plastic from the grocery store, how much healthier would you be?  Obviously, you must take in the fact that eating this way is healthier to begin with.  But would removing the plastic from your diet help?  Could this be expanded further with removing pesticides by eating only organic foods from the grocery store?  What about all the chemicals around the house, like flame retardents, VOCs from paints and carpets, and chemicals found in cleaners?  What if you decided to live a completely ‘natural’ life, away from all man made chemicals?  Would disease rates fall considerably versus someone who eats a comparable diet but is exposed to these chemicals?  These are the times I’d like to be a scientist doing a study like this.

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Now this is something interesting. Engadget is reporting that the new iPod Touch has a Bluetooth chip inside it.  However, it is actually used only for the Nike+ integrated module on the Touch which uses a proprietary interface.  But this leads me to a few questions.

First, the actual chip is a Broadcom BCM4325 Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, which actually does more than just Bluetooth.  It also does wifi and fm receiving.  So is this chip physically wired in a particular way to render all these functions completely useless?  Or is the custom Nike+ interface based on the firmware loaded on the chip?  If this is so, I wonder how hard it would be to find a general firmware for this chip found on another device and reflash the chip in the Touch to allow full access to these other features.  It may even be easier where the interface is built ontop of the firmware loaded on the BCM4325.  I wish I could get my hands on a few devices with this chip as I’d love to see if this is actually possible.

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The Zipit 2 is a really neat handheld instant messaging device that I bought a while back.  It currently runs a really stripped down version of Linux. That inspired me to hack the device to make it run a totally new and improved Linux OS.  And that’s what I’ve been working on at my Zipit 2 System project site.  My goal is to not only run a completely customized Linux OS on the device but also to build hardware modules that will expand its capabilities.  This includes a camera and even a GSM module so you can get internet access anywhere you have cell phone reception.

So far, with some help from others, the serial and JTAG ports have been found which have allowed me to try out customized Linux kernels directly on the hardware.  With this, I’ve also tested the USB device port that has been brought out to the back connector which will eventually allow you to directly connect the Zipit2 to a host computer.  I hope to be able to get back to work on this project soon.

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