Posted November 6th, 2015 @ 10:01am by Erik J. Barzeski
My Mid-2012 Mac Pro doesn't have Bluetooth 4.0. I haven't been able to use Continuity on it, ever.
That doesn't bother me too much.
But, I was looking to upgrade to the Magic Trackpad 2 today, and saw that it requires Bluetooth 4.0, and so now I'm looking to upgrade this relatively recent Mac Pro with some newer hardware.
Some things I've discovered and questions I have to ask:
Posted November 4th, 2015 @ 02:20pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Well, the wife washed the Tempur-Pedic remote accidentally, a few weeks ago, and now the bed is acting pretty wonky.
Fortunately, whatever company originally made the "Orthomatic" base that we have was later bought by Leggett & Platt, and their warranty service is pretty good for a bed that was apparently manufactured 12/19/2000. For $120.72 (including UPS two-day shipping), we're getting a new motor, new converter box, and a new wireless remote.
Cleaning the remote out worked temporarily, but the rubber conductive pads seem to have been spoiled or some of the circuits fried or something, as the remote will "turn on" when you're not pushing on it sometimes, and not work when you push buttons sometimes.
Posted June 17th, 2015 @ 08:33am by Erik J. Barzeski
The U.S. Open kicks off tomorrow at Chambers Bay. Let's hope the contestants have a better ride than the one across this bridge:
I remember being shown that video in school. I think we were learning about resonance, and the winds just happened to produce a frequency that matched that of concrete (or something like that, and I'm too lazy to look it up, or not:1). Any way, a pretty crazy thing.
Posted January 28th, 2015 @ 03:04pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I have a Canon 5D Mark II that we've used to make some pretty nice videos. I have a Sennheiser EW 112p G3 Wireless mic system with two transmitters and two lav mics1.
The setup works great for the videos we've done so far: short instructional videos and the like. I've even done some multi-cam stuff with iPhones as second and third cameras.
But we're looking to branch out and have more than one speaker talking, and thus, want each person to have their own microphone.
So… the question I have right now is this: What do I need to mix two channels of audio with the current setup? I don't need eight channels, but if we can pay a little more and get four channels instead of just two, cool. I don't even care if the mix goes into separate tracks, the same track, or even right into the camera.
I've looked around a bit and a lot of the mixers seem to be XLR input based, while the Sennheiser receivers output via 3.5mm output.
So what do I need to buy?
We only have one receiver, currently, and would likely need to buy a second. [↩]
Posted January 26th, 2015 @ 12:22am by Erik J. Barzeski
I've deleted some, because I've punished myself enough reading them again.
I don't miss my 23-year-old self. Not one bit. And there's still more of him around than I wish, though thankfully that's just me being hard on myself.
Sorry, Jamie, Gabe, Daria, Erika, Jen, Kati, and Annie. Heh… Yeah.
More protein than beef. More omegas than salmon. Tons of calcium, antioxidants, and vitamin B. In their secret R&D lab, the scientists at Beyond Meat concocted a plant-protein-based performance burger that delivers the juicy flavor and texture of the real thing with none of the dietary and environmental downsides.
I don't care what my burger is made of so long as it tastes and feels like a burger.
Posted January 20th, 2015 @ 03:02pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Is there a great utility out there which will easily allow you to watermark a video on OS X?
I'd like to watermark some video before uploading them to YouTube. Obviously I can do this in iMovie or Final Cut Pro, but I'm looking at more of a batch utility.
The videos are .avi files from a Casio camera (high-speed video of golf swings).
Posted January 18th, 2015 @ 01:21pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I'd like to get a good set of kitchen knives. The $50 set I have had for nearly 15 years is starting to show its age.
I'd like:
Six to eight steak knives.
A paring knife.
A bread knife.
A chef's or carving knife (for quartering chickens).
A sharpening or honing blade.
A pair of kitchen scissors.
Possibly a santoku.
Possibly a filet knife.
Possibly a vegetable knife or some other specialty knives.
That's between 13 and 18 knives or so.
Amazon has a few sets, but I don't even know what brands are good. Chicago Cutlery is easy to find, but seems mid-level at best. There are sets like this one at Williams-Sonoma for $369.
I don't really have a price range in mind. It seems I'll be spending between $100 and $500. I appreciate a good amount of heft, and solid knives that hold an edge. I don't know whether that means ceramic, carbon steel, or whatever.
I don't really even care too much about how well the set matches.
I'm willing to buy from just about anywhere, though we have an Amazon Prime membership so perhaps there is best.