Wi-Fire Review

Thanks to the guys over at hField Tecnology we had an engaging new gadget to play with over our holiday vacation. The Wi-Fire is a USB device that extends wireless access connections from up to 1,000 feet away which is three times further than a traditional internal wireless adapter.

The Wi-Fire uses a powerful directional antenna, highly sensitive receiver and proprietary software (which is included) to find and enhance normal Wi-Fi signals. Now we are not saying that just because you will be able to find and connect to a range of wireless connections that you should do so willy nilly but, with this product and an open network or with the help of the guys over at Whisher you will be equipped to do so.

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We have now moved the blog to the following http://keeneelectronics.wordpress.com

We will be udating all the post from here in the next couple of days.

Thanks for visiting, we hope you join us at our new venue.

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Write to TV

Learn to craft smart, original scripts and teleplays for a variety of television formats, including comedy, animation, drama, movies of the week, pilots, reality television, TV news magazine, and children’s programming. Using the tools the author provides: checklists, sample outlines and treatments for each format, sample script pages, war stories from writers and executives, and a sample query letter to introduce finished script pages to agents, you’ll avoid common pitfalls and come across as an industry veteran. Benefit from the experience of pros: 45 luminaries contribute their experience and wisdom, including Jay Leno, Mike Wallace, Norman Lear, Paul Haggis, writers for “Grey’s Anaatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” and more!

With twenty-five years of industry experience as a television writer and producer, Martie Cook teaches you not only how to hone your craft but also how to break into the industry. Guiding you through the often confusing television hierarchy, Write to TV offers practical advice on important issues such as how to get an agent, how to write a query letter, how to network, even how to “do lunch”. By learning how to craft smart scripts for a variety of television formats and how to get your foot in the door and keep it there, this invaluable book will help you get that big idea out of your head, onto the page, and then to the top of the heap.

More information

Music That Listens to You

Not too long ago, the Computer Game Developers Conference (GDC) was a shockingly small affair. Audio vendors like Roland, Mediavision, and Creative Labs were using fold-up tables with a banner. In 2008, videogames are a $19 billion industry, and last month’s show took up the entire North and West halls of San Francisco’s Moscone Center. More than 18,000 game designers, graphic artists, business people, and — most interesting for us — composers streamed in to learn about the latest techniques for creating interactive entertainment. And more than a dozen companies were showing off new audio technologies.

As hardware has advanced, developers and players alike are taking game audio more seriously. The sawtooth melodies and white-noise percussion of the past have been replaced by symphonic scores recorded by large orchestras — or sometimes by individual composer/performers with “laptop symphonies.” Let’s hear what the experts at GDC 2008 had to say about the state of audio in games, and then dive into some of the technology advancements that are changing the interactive audio landscape.

More than 18,000 video game developers stormed GDC 2008, making it the biggest gathering ever. (Photo courtesy of the Game Developers Conference.)

In my role as chairman of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG), I’m fortunate to have access to some of the best and brightest in game audio. IASIG started at GDC 13 years ago to solve problems that face game-audio professionals, and each year we return to collect more ideas and then launch working groups to implement them. The reverb design in the Xbox, for example, was the result of an IASIG working group’s efforts.

But first, what is “interactive” audio? Put simply, unlike most music we listen to, interactive audio almost never sounds the same twice. The soundtrack — music and effects — changes based on the player’s behavior in the game. That can go a long way toward keeping the experience fresh and exciting over the 40 hours or so a player might spend with a typical game.

Composer DS Wallace told me he sees game scores becoming much more artistic. “One positive change taking place is that in the past, programmers were the ones who controlled the music and audio,” he explained. “It’s not really their fault, but games can suffer without an artistic hand managing the music. Today, games like BioShock are breaking this cycle by really doing things outside of the box and having the music interact more with the player’s actions.”

Another well-known audio professional, Scott Gershin of Soundelux, spoke about raising the bar in sound design. He emphasized how important it is to understand timing, and how the rhythm and pace of scenes and the story affect the experience in its entirety. He said that a sound designer needs to provide contrast in sound just as one would do in picture by mixing high and low frequencies at the right time. “When a train goes by, I want to hear the subwoofers fire,” he insisted.

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The High Definition DVD FAQ v0.81 released

Toshiba made the announcement that they will ramp down the HD DVD format, so the so called war in between the HD DVD and Blu-ray is finally and officially over. Supporters of the HD DVD format are naturally disappointed, but in general this is good news for the consumers. Now nobody has to speculate which format to choose, and the whole industry, including vendors and content producers, can focus on Blu-ray. This should result in improved selection of movies and hardware on the market. They wasted quite a bit of time battling against, which has slowed down the adobtion of the high definition video, so obviously their next target is to push Blu-ray into mainstream format.With a very convenient timing, the most complete and comprehensive  High Definition DVD FAQ (this does not refer to HD DVD, but high definition formats in general) has been updated by the author Xiao Fang. The latest edition contains a lot of updates regarding the end of the so called format war, plus other additions. Be sure to check it out – excellent reading!

YouTube: The Platform

In case there was still any doubt that Google wants to use YouTube to host all the video on the Web, it’s announcement earlier today to broaden its APIs makes it clear that is its goal. Once again, instead of making it easier to search videos elsewhere, Google is making it easier to host videos on YouTube. Except that the new APis allow people to upload, watch, search, and comment on the videos on other Websites. The key here is that the videos themselves are hosted on Youtube’s servers. This brings Google back full circle to the initial strategy for Google Video, which originally required videos to be uploaded directly to Google in order to become indexed. YouTube is gradually replacing Google Video—that is where most people upload videos anyway—but getting as much video from the rest of the Web onto its servers allows it to do many more things with it than if it simply indexed the videos elsewhere. It can search them better and throw up ads against them.

Specifically, the new APIs allow Web developers to:

* Upload videos and video responses to YouTube
* Add/Edit user and video metadata (titles, descriptions, ratings, comments, favorites, contacts, etc)
* Fetch localized standard feeds (most viewed, top rated, etc.) for 18 international locales
* Perform custom queries optimized for 18 international locales
* Customize player UI and control video playback (pause, play, stop, etc.) through software

YouTube is not just white-labeling its video-hosting infrastructure for other sites, devices, and desktop applications. It is offering video-hosting for free. This could prove highly disruptive to other video-hosting platforms such as Brightcove, Maven Networks (now part of Yahoo), and Move Networks. Partners already using the APIs include Animoto, Casio, Electronic Arts, Helio, KickApps, Slide, and TiVo. Yes, you can now watch YouTube on TiVo.

Continues at Techcrunch 

world’s first roll-to-roll manufactured OLEDs

Researchers at GE have created the world’s first roll-to-roll manufactured OLEDs — a newspaper printing-like process that is the first step to plentiful, cheaply produced, flexible lighting. Production of the thin, organic materials in this manner could lead to a wide array of innovations in the use of lights, sensors, and displays, and could make a noticeable impact on the efficiency and environmental performance of lighting and electronics. The company envisions a new playing-field for businesses, architects, and lighting designers who need access to cheap, energy-conscious materials, and see this research as a first step to an emerging field of commercialized OLED lighting. Yes, a new vista of discovery, wealth, and prosperity awaits those who take this bold step into the wide, wonderous, and uncharted worlds of scientific research and prototyping — let’s just hope it doesn’t end up all Bioshock-y and weird.

[Via MetaEfficient]

Build your own camcorder function controller

Build your own camcorder function controller

An exciting project to build your own LANC or Pana 5-pin camcorder function controller. Files includes hardware components list, software, and full assembly, installation and use instructions.

 

What is it? – An Overview Some time ago we (Keene Electronics) decided to develop a product that would control a camcorder by its edit port (Lanc or Panasonic 5pin) using a PC. We were successful, developing a design using a Pic 16F84 and a max 232 to control the camera. The complete set-up consists of a Visual Basic 6 program and an adapter board that connects to the RS232 port of the PC. There are four push buttons that can each be programmed by the PC with a function to control the camera, even when not connected to the computer (ie it can be used as a hard wired remote to stop and start recording for bird watching, drama groups etc). The unit can also be used to send service mode codes to Sony cameras from the PC (to enable DV etc). There is an optional 2 line LCD display giving the mode and counter reading.

Because of the changing camcorder market and the costs involved in bringing what is a niche product to market, we have now decided not to manufacture and market the product. Rather than just write off the development time and effort we have placed the design here on our web site as a FREE download.

The complete design is here: the circuit, the PCB layout, the parts list, the PC software and the assembler and Hex files for the pic, together with full hardware assembly, software installation and use instructions.

More information
Download control.zip (4.4MB zip archive)

Keene Instruction Datasheets download

Current Keene products instruction/data sheets

As PDF files (Acrobat Reader required)
Keene SyncBlaster RGB cables with RGB processor Syncblasteri.pdf
Keene SVGA Distribution Amplifier SVGADAi.pdf
Keene SyncBlaster Black Box RGB processor SBBOXi.pdf
Keene RGB/S-video Convertorr RGB2Si.pdf
Keene RGB/Component video Transcoder RGB2Ci.pdf
Keene LANC Remote Control KLRi.pdf
Keene LANC-X Remote Control LANCXi.pdf
Keene LANC PIR Remote Control KLRP1i.pdf
Keene LANC PIR Remote Control (PCB only) KLRP1PCBi.pdf
Keene Aptus 1 RGB to Component video convertor APT1i.pdf
Keene Cat5Blaster instructions CAT5Bi.pdf
Keene Cat5Blaster Technical Bulletin CAT5TBi.pdf
Keene Cat5Blaster review by ‘Digital Satellite Choice’ magazine (1.1MB) C5B_REVIEW.pdf
Keene Cat5Blaster QC instructions CAT5QCi.pdf
Keene Phono Distribution Amplifier KPDAi.pdf
Keene Scart Commander switchbox ORIGINAL KSCi.pdf
Keene Scart Commander switchbox Mk2 version KSCMK2i.pdf
Keene CBC1 battery belt charger CBCi.pdf
Keene Headphone Monitor/Amplifier HPAMPi.pdf
Keene Headphone Monitor/Amplifier STEREO HPAMPi.pdf
Keene 4-way AV distribution amp with line drive KDAi.pdf
Keene Scart Distribution Amplifier SDAi.pdf
Keene lead/acid battery chargers KLACi.pdf
Keene RF Modulator KRFi.pdf
Keene RF Through Modulator KRFTi.pdf
Keene Wide Band RF Through Modulator KRFTWi.pdf
Keene PRO Series camcorder battery dischargers PSDSi.pdf
Keene IR Distribution Amplfier IRBKITi.pdf
Keene PC Patch bay PCPBi.pdf

Other manufacturers product information

Casablanca instruction manuals can be accessed here
PV200 progressive scan convertor information sheet PV200.pdf
MVS122 VGA splitter information sheet MVS122.pdf
MS9700 X10 security kit manual MS9700m.pdf
X10 product information – MS13 Hawkeye sensor MS13Ei.pdf
X10 Unirem universal remote UNIREMi.pdf
X10 SC2800 telephone controller instructions SC2800i.pdf
X10 general – multiple products instruction sheet X10MULTI.pdf
Philips PRONTO PRO remote manual PPRO.pdf

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