Really Rocket Science

If the thought of taking home-movies on a low-quality, cheap video recorder makes you squeamish or, better yet, embarrasing your family with a clunky, odd-ball camera makes you smile, try building your own camcorder.

The Chaos Blog took-on the project and left us with some pretty good instructions.

1) Capturing
The core of the project is a standard CCD surveillance camera.

These goodies comes in all shapes and sizes. I recommend a monochrome with 480 tv-lines or more. Colour cameras are quite expensive especially if you’d want 3CCD, and it’s very hard to control the colours of your recordings, if you don’t know what you’re doing. You should never choose a higher value than 0.5 lux when it comes to light sensitivity. If you stick to this you’ll always be able to shoot video indoor with just a few lamps turned on.

2) The optics
The Chaos blogger recommends standard SLR optics from your 35mm camera. They are cheaper than camcorder optics and you probably already own a few different focal lengths. Purchase a C-mount lens adapter (specific to your SLR lens brand) or build the adapter yourself.

3) Storage/Recording

For storage/recording I have used a SONY Digital8 recorder. They are easy to come by and relatively cheap on e-bay. The really cool thing about these recorders is that you can record both from an analogue video source or digital (firewire) video source. So if your standards get higher you can always buy a security camera with a Firewire output. And the quality of these recorders are superb though they are aren’t that young. No doubt this is a pro video tool and with lots and lots of option settings.

A number of readers also recommended using a cheap Aiptek MPVR. A more expensive Archos AV500 Mobile DVR would also do the trick.

4) Microphone & Pre-Amp
Any compact microphone with a built-in pre-amp should work.

5) Viewfinder

Since decent viewfinders that you can actually use for this project are very hard and expencive to come by, I’ve chosen to use a LCD-screen instead. Luckily, I already had one that was as “made for the job” all ready with a hotshoe build on, so it would be easy to mount.

6) Batteries

Since both the recorder and viewfinder-screen carry their own battery pack, the only thing I had to supply with power was the security-camera (12v dc) done with 8 1,5v AA batteries. A lot of security cameras can even take aprox. +-3, but for the safety of your camera it may be a good idea to put a “current controller” between the camera and the battery pack.

7) Mount
This is where you have to be very creative. Unless you have a perfect contraption laying around (the Chaos blogger used “an old Velbon monopod and other bits”), you will need to sort through your garbage stack and hardware store. I’d even consider using wood, which would make your DIY-camcorder even more ridiculous looking (and, thus, better).

Still not satisfied? Try building these:

Underwater Camera

Nightvision Camera

Excellent instructions on building a nightvision camera from a disposable CVS video camera are available here.

With the new Transformers film now in theaters, it is only fitting to discuss robots. The San Diego Union-Tribune takes-up machines based on nature:

“The Wright brothers learned how to control (a plane’s) direction by watching hawks in flight,” he said. “They figured out that turning a plane had to do with changing wing surfaces, though not the way hawks did it.

“That’s an important distinction. The Wright brothers drew inspiration from biology, but they didn’t exactly copy it.”

Robotic designs based upon natural organisms are as diverse as the animal world itself. There are devices in the works that mimic caterpillars, spiders, dogs and octopuses. Their goals and purposes are equally varied, from new medical treatments to space labor to being a soldier’s best friend.

The satellite business took note:

In January, a pair of small robots developed by European and Japanese scientists took their first steps in space – not steps, actually, since the robots lacked legs, but the feat was still a giant leap for robotkind.

During the brief suborbital flight Jan. 22, a rocket launched from Japan released a satellite that, in turn, deployed three daughter satellites. These three pulled out a 360-square-yard triangular net with the mother satellite at its center.

From the mother satellite, two palm-sized robots then crawled onto the net like spiders moving across a web. To avoid drifting off in zero-gravity, the spiderbots were equipped with a series of wheels that gripped both sides of the netting.

The experiment did not last very long. One spiderbot stalled after just five seconds of movement; the other after 30 seconds.

Engineers say the problem was likely knots in the net. But they contend the experiment was a conceptual success. They say the technology may ultimately revolutionize the satellite industry because large, costly antennas and solar panels could be launched from small, inexpensive rockets, then assembled in space by tiny robots.

What was the design inspiration?

Bernhard Putz, responsible for their design took advantage of the experience gained during several years of very successful robot soccer games. The viennese team regularily ends up in the final of European and World championships and is renouned for its innovative and robust designs. (link)

If you’re ever been to Bermuda, you may have noticed a very large satellite antenna in Devonshire Parish while motoring around the island on a rented scooter/moped/motorcycle. We read last month they’ve begun dismantling it since a new submarine cable is being light up for service:

World’s largest commercial satellite dish to be replaced by fibre optic cable

It’s out with the old and in with the new as Cable & Wireless begins tearing down its satellite dish, the Standard A Earth Station antenna.

The dish has been a Devonshire landmark for 24 years and is visible from North Shore and Middle Roads.

A new 800-mile submarine cable that will replace it is due to be operational by the end of October.

It has 700 times more capacity than the old cable it will replace, and will link all of C&W’s customers with access to their global network, the company said.

Like the satellite dish, the telecom firm’s existing undersea cable is obsolete and will be replaced by its new next-generation ‘Gemini Bermuda’ cable.

In its heyday the dish could carry 400 simultaneous circuit feeds to 15 different countries, and could withstand hurricane winds of up to 180mph, the company said.

As telecommunications technology evolves, dismantling outdated equipment like the dish marks the end of an era for Bermuda and indeed the world.

Weighing 400 tonnes and boasting a diameter of 300 meters, the 30-metre-high structure is the largest commercial satellite dish in the world.

"The new undersea cable will satisfy the growing demand for diverse, reliable high-speed data and broadband services which cannot be provided by the restricted capacity of the current cable," said Eddie Saints, C&W’s CEO. "This investment is one in a series of capital investments planned for the Bermuda marketplace in the near future in order to deliver truly world class communications services."

He assured reporters gathered at the facility for a press call yesterday that the transition from ageing cables and satellite transmitters, to state-of-the art fibre optic cables would be seamless.

"It’s extremely reliable and has withstood hurricanes," Mr. Saints said. "If one unit fails, a separate and equal (secondary) satellite takes over."

He said the company will continue to use the 400-tonne base of the station as high-speed data processing centre.

C&W has commissioned M.R. Construction to tear down the dish.

The $750,000 dismantling project, which began three weeks ago, will take another seven weeks to complete. "It cost money to put it up and it costs money to take it down," Mr. Saints said.

Most of the scrap metal will be recycled, some of it here, but most of the materials will go elsewhere.

"Carbon steel remains will be recycled as local mooring weights, [but some material will go to the] landfill," Mr. Saints said. "Other materials such as stainless steel and aluminum will be recycled in the United States."

We rocket scientists always favor recycling materials, so we’re glad to read they’ll be doing that. That’s why Bermuda is cool and at the forefront of technological innovation. Internet access is ample, to be sure.

This new cable, which is owned by Brasil Telecom and runs from Bermuda to New Jersey to Venezuela and Brazil — sort of a modern Bermuda Triangle made of fiber-optic cable — runs along the Continental Shelf, in water ranging from 20 to 600 meters in depth.

Not only are they moderninzing their telecommunications capabilities with other countries, they announced a country-wide RFID system for all their vehicles yesterday. Actually, it’s a first:

Bermuda’s Transport Control Department (TCD), an arm of Bermuda’s Ministry of Tourism and Transport, has launched an island-wide deployment of electronic vehicle registration (EVR) to automate compliance and enforcement using TransCore’s radio frequency identification (RFID) eGo® windshield sticker tags and readers. Initial deployment is underway.

The EVR system will automate enforcement of Bermuda’s vehicle-specific regulations including vehicle inspection, insurance, and registration and ensure the accuracy of vehicle data. Over the next five years, TCD expects to recover approximately $11 million in lost fees from unlicensed vehicles on the island’s roadways and reduce the number of non-compliant vehicles to less than 1 percent.

“Bermuda is a country with 53 square kilometers of land with 65,000 people and 47,000 moving vehicles. We’re the sixth largest population per square mile,” said Randy Rochester, Director of Bermuda’s Transport Control Department. “Bermuda has the world’s highest density per square kilometer of motor traffic on its roads. Consequently, we needed a system to facilitate compliance and lessen the burden on law-abiding citizens and our civil servants. EVR will expedite enforcement and ticketing of those not in compliance and recover lost fees more efficiently than our current manual system.”

TransCore is doing some good work — and they use satellite. We like that.

Talk about the rapidly-shifting media landscape! For the last several days, the press has been abuzz with conflicting reports about the fate of Dow Jones and its true content-producing prize, the Wall Street Journal.

Interestingly, a major satcom player has stepped into the scene of this high-stakes business drama.

A few days ago London’s Business Online claimed an exclusive scoop, handing the prize to Rupert Murdoch:

 Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, according to sources acting for the Dow Jones board. Negotiations on price and matters of principle have been completed, though some details remain to be resolved. None is regarded by either side as a deal-breaker.

The Dow board is confident that the terms of the deal will be accepted  by the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of voting shares in Dow Jones, over the next few working days. A formal announcement is expected next week.

On Friday afternoon London time, Dow Jones, reacting to the first posting of this story, issued a statement saying that it was "incorrect". When The Business contacted Dow’s corporate affairs, however, it refused to elaborate on the record.

While it’s only Tuesday, and news confirming the scoop could come at any moment, Forbes reported yesterday that Dow Jones may be holding out for a White Knight: 

Dow Jones, in talks to be acquired by News Corp., is holding onto hopes that it can avoid Rupert Murdoch’s grasp. The Wall Street Journal publisher was to meet Monday with a supermarket baron who has been looking to buy a major newspaper.

Dow Jones (nyse: DJ – news – people ) board members were scheduled to sit down with billionaire Ron Burkle. Last month, the Dow Jones union approached Burkle about a possible bid. The union, which represents over 2,000 employees, has opposed a $5 billion, $60-per-share offer from News Corp. (nyse: NWS – news – people ) saying that Murdoch could meddle with the media company’s editorial products and hurt its journalistic integrity.

But perhaps the White Knight will come from the stars or — in an ironic twist — from a consortium that includes a Web 2.0 guru who got famously rich from (you guessed it) Rubert Murdoch himself:

EchoStar Communications is part of an investor group, led by MySpace cofounder Brad Greenspan, which is looking to buy part of Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Greenspan brought together of group of investors that are looking to purchase part of Dow Jones at $60 per share and to invest another $250 million, offering an alternative to Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion offer for the financial-news company.

Greenspan’s group “would include the participation” of EchoStar, according to The Journal. EchoStar declined to comment to the paper.

Looking to invest in Dow Jones would be the latest in a series of unusual investment moves on the part of EchoStar, the nation’s second-largest direct-broadcast satellite provider. Earlier this year, Charlie Ergen’s company reportedly made a failed $2.13 billion bid for ION Media Networks, which owns 60 TV stations and runs a broadcast network. ION ultimately accepted a tender offer from NBC Universal and Citadel Investment Group.

And just last month, EchoStar teamed up with its satellite rival, DirecTV, to make a bid for Intelsat, the world’s biggest provider of fixed-satellite services. But BC Partners won in that auction, acquiring a majority stake in Intelsat for $5 billion.

Now, for those who haven’t been closely following the plot: NewsCorp bought MySpace, making Brad Greenspan a rich man. EchoStar chief  executive Charlie Ergen and Murdoch were previously locked in a years-long battle for No. 1 satellite-TV operator DirecTV, which Murdoch’s  News Corp. eventually acquired. Now EchoStar and Greenspan appear to be going head to head with Murdoch in a bid to grab one of global media’s premier content properties.

What’s at stake in this ongoing competition between Ergen and Murdoch to build their respective satellite and content empires? News Corp. wants to launch Fox Business Channel, so having Dow Jones would give them a competitive advantage over CNBC. Considering how quickly Fox News became competitive with CNN, or how quickly MySpace added value to NewsCorp’s media portfolio, it’s not an overstatement to say that the final results of this bidding war will reverbate for years to come.

And so the convergence continues….

Very cool video by Andrewwski, courtesy of NASA SpaceFlight.com Six minutes of entertainment. They put this up on a server over at the Johnson Space Center and the crew viewed the video and loved it.

These are the kind of video edits NASA TV should be broadcasting!

Zhongxing-6B (Chinasat-6B), a French-built communications satellite, had a nice launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center last week.

Via Xinhua:

The satellite was lifted by a Chinese Long March-3B carrier rocket which blasted off at 8:08 p.m. (Beijing Time) Thursday. It was the 101st launch mission for the Long March series of carrier rockets.

The satellite separated from the rocket 26 minutes after lift-off, entering its preset orbit.

"Chinasat 6B", manufactured by France’s Alcatel Alenia Space, has a designed lifespan of 15 years.

Fitted with 38 transponders, the satellite is expected to improve telecommunications transmission for Asia, the Pacific and Oceania.

The 2007 Tour de France kicked off on Saturday from London, England — and Stage One, which ended in Canterbury, has already featured some high drama.

London mayor Ken Livingstone wrote about the course of the race prior to the Grand Depart, and the standings so far can be found here. But race fans have no doubt already heard about Robbie McEwan’s incredible comeback from a crash early in the race. As one fan writes:

McEwen crashes 20km from the finish line and is out of the race due to the furious pace being set at the front of the peleton by teams such as Quick-Step, Milram, Credit Agricole and Lampre. He is somehow brought back into the peleton with just a few kilometers remaining by his teammates despite the best efforts of the sprinter teams to make sure he stays out of contention. He then works his way through the entire Tour de France field in the space of a couple of miles and, despite all the exertions and a wrist injury, appears in the last 200 metres to blow all the other sprinters away. One of the most historic non-mountain stage wins in the Tour de France.

Here’s the video on YouTube:

Fans outside of England wouldn’t know about McEwan’s comeback without satcom, of course, and this year marks the first time that le tour is being broadcast in HD, thanks to a suite of satcom services being provided by Globecast:

GlobeCast will supply French broadcaster France Televisions and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with satellite and microwave transmissions to provide complete HD coverage of the race. GlobeCast will be deploying up to eight SNG (satellite news gathering) and mobile microwave units at each stage of the race, supported by 30 technical professionals. That includes coverage of the race’s start in London, England–a first for the Tour–where GlobeCast recently launched a full-service broadcast and playout center.

GlobeCast mobile units stationed at various points along the course will transmit footage shot via motorcycle and helicopter by SFP (Société Française de Production) back to France Televisions’ production trucks at the finish line. GlobeCast will provide unilateral satellite contribution feeds to the channel’s master control room in Paris, and its mobile units will distribute the official world feed of the Tour de France to rights holders throughout the world on behalf of the EBU.

The overall communications solution provided to the Tour by France Telecom, which now markets all its services under the Orange brand, includes 1,500 temporary telephone lines to be deployed every day in the technical and press areas; high-speed Internet access in those areas; an upgraded mobile network over the entire course to ensure optimum coverage, mostly in 3G or 3G+; and a team of 50 technicians. The team will be mobilized around the clock, with support from 330 regional colleagues at each stage, and will handle the transport, assembly, operation and supervision of the necessary infrastructures and systems for five specific areas: stage finish line, organization headquarters, intermediate points, press room and stage departure village.

If you want to see the excitement of the tour in even higher definition than HD (or at least on a bigger screen), be sure to check out Wired to Win, an IMAX film about the Tour de France that  is now making its way to select cities.

Summer’s got you in the mood for some adventure, and the mountain bike in the garage is calling you to get outdoors and blaze some new trails with your handheld GPS.  But the weather forecast is for hot. Heiß. Caliente. If only you could mountain bike after dark, you think….

Which brings us to this week’s DIY Friday project: a high powered LED headlight for your mountain bike helmet.

The folks over at Singletrack provide the instructions, and a list of materials you’ll need:

• A 7.2v 1400mAh Ni-Cad battery 
• A 150mA trickle charger
• Some 2 core mains cable
• A White luxeon star V LED 
• A collimating lens
• A 22mm pipe cli
• A AMD heatsink
• Some thermal paste
• A re-usable zip-tie
• Some small zip ties and electrical tape
• A DPDT sub-min toggle switch
• A 1 Ohm resistor and a 0.47 Ohm one, both rated at 3W

Singletrack provides a list of suppliers for the above materials in the UK; a little bit of Googling (DIY style) should turn up suppliers for our U.S. readers. (Tools required consist solely of a junior hacksaw, a file, some glue and a soldering iron.)

Still need more illumination than the light that is now attached to your helmet? Race Day Nutrition provides the plans for a bike light (that you can attach to the handlebars) using three 3W Luxeon LEDs.

For additional ideas — more illumination, as it were — check out the DIY LED Bike Lighting Guide, which makes the case for LED over halogen for a variety of factors, from more acceptable battery drain to lighter weight and less heat.

Now get pedaling. 

DirecTV customers have been promised 100 HD channels by September — and the delivery of that promise is riding on a rocket that launches tomorrow night.

The Proton Breeze M launch vehicle will lift off from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with the DIRECT 10 satellite on board. According to the International Launch Services (ILS) website, "this will be the debut of the Enhanced Proton Breeze M, which is capable of launching spacecraft over 6,000 kg into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)."

The payload is the Boeing-built Direct 10 satellite:

DIRECTV’s next-generation satellite features state-of-the-art antenna and payload subsystem that will provide customers with unparalleled national and local HDTV (High Definition Television) service. The powerful 131-transponder payload integrates 32 active and 12 spare TWTAs at Ka-band for national service and 55 active and 15 spare TWTAs for spot beams. The payload is powered by a gallium arsenide solar array that spans more than 48 meters. DIRECTV 10 will receive and transmit programming throughout the United States with two large Ka-band reflectors, each measuring 2.8 meters in diameter, and nine other Ka-band reflectors.

ILS is running a launch blog, where the most recent entry chronicles the rocket’s journey out to Pad 39 on Tuesday:

The rather uneventful train trip out to the pad could be watched from various points around Area 95 and drew the biggest crowd of onlookers we have seen out here so far. Everyone who wanted to attend was permitted on the pad deck to watch the incredible sight as the assembled ILV rolled horizontally into position next to the flame bucket. Then it was hydraulically rotated to its vertical launch position.

Talk about a photo opportunity. Pictures, videos, Russian and Americans alike… everyone tried to capture it in as many ways as they could. One of the favorite pictures to take is to pose as if one hand is pushing the rocket to vertical. It never really DOES look like one person is doing the lifting, but it is a tradition to try and get that shot to commemorate this exciting day.

The launch will be webcast live here. Also be sure to check out this photo gallery. 

Via TechWhack:

Airtel and Reliance to offer internet through DTH

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are two companies which are all set to enter the Indian Direct to Home market by launching their services.

They would take on the existing players in the segment including Zee Dish TV and Tata Sky DTH.

However, one interested aspect of their upcoming services is that both Reliance and Airtel are planning to offer satellite-based broadband internet services along with regular DTH services.

Bharti Airtel president, broadband and telephone services, Atul Bindal spoke about their plans: “Satellite internet is a North American model. There are a lot of areas where Bharti would possibly never lay copper cable as it does not make economic sense. In these areas, Bharti will look at a offering broadband through Wi-Max or through DTH.”

Reliance in addition to internet services is also considering offering other services like video on demand to attract more customers to their upcoming BlueMagic service.

 

And now this bit of promising news from Satellite Finance (subscription):

The Indian government is considering increasing the foreign investment cap in domestic DTH companies from 49% to 74%.

At present the foreign direct investment (FDI) component of any international investment is only 20%. The change in law would bring DTH on a par with cable companies where foreign companies are allowed to own up to 74%, FDI or otherwise.

FDI ownership in a DTH company would, however, remain contingent on a composite shareholding. The move will encourage foreign investment into the sector, with the burgeoning number of cash-starved DTH operators looking to fund their expanding services in a market rife with demand.

Currently, TataSky has 20% FDI, as does Sun Direct TV, while Dish TV has received approval to invite foreign investors to invest in it. The current players in the DTH market are TataSky, Doordarshan and Dish TV with Sun Direct TV, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications to roll-out their own services within the next few months.

The government is undertaking a review of foreign investment across all industries, including aviation, media and telecoms. The law change would be of particular interest to Bharti Airtel, which had to reduce its holding in Bharti Telemedia recently due to the existing FDI rules.