Thursday, June 27, 2019

Charging Ricoh Theta S and powering from USB battery packs

The Ricoh Theta S is unusually fussy about charging. In my experience, your results may vary with anything except a high quality USB charger, 2A minimum (I use a 2A iPad charger). Also, if the battery runs out, it can be difficult to recharge. Theta S cameras that won't recharge are often interpreted as "damaged", and there is no proof that there is any actual damage. My advice is to use a high quality USB adapter, minimum 2A capacity and a good quality USB cable that uses all 4 pins (not a "charge only" cable). It is OK to use a higher capacity quality charger as the Theta S will only use the current from the charger that it needs.

A USB battery pack can be used to operate a Theta S for extended periods. Some battery packs will turn off while in use...I suspect that the Theta S is not drawing enough current for the battery pack to detect. My solution is to use a Porta Pow Battery Monitor. The Porta Pow is connected in between the Theta S and the battery pack, using the "No DATA + Smart Charge" USB jack. Now the Porta Pow is in charge of regulating current to the Theta S. Cost is about $12.

The Porta Pow is also great for finding the charger that works best with your USB powered device. The display indicates how much current is being delivered.

Monday, February 06, 2017

Use Jekyll for blogs and static web sites

If you want to build a simple, static website or blog, there is nothing easier than Jekyll. If you don't want to pay for hosting, create an account on GitHub and publish a site with Jekyll via pages.github.com.

Jekyll is software which processes files written in Markdown (a simple text markup language) into static web pages.

The advantage of static web pages is that they are lightning fast and don't depend on backend databases to render content.

If the Jekyll software is incorporated into the system that is used to manage your content, then no further work is necessary. Edit your pages and walk away.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Best Lightning connector.....

....by far is the Apple Lightning to Micro USB adapter

Retail cost is $19, but I usually get them from vendors on eBay. I usually pay about $7 to $8. Be sure to get the Apple ones...the knockoff ones don't work and may mess up your Lighting jack. If it costs less than $7, it is likely a non-Apple adapter. How to tell the difference...

The best feature of these is that they don't wear out like the traditional Apple Lightning cables. If the cable gets damaged, swap it out for another. The biggest problem is losing the adapter -- it is quite small. I usually leave it on a cable. Using a short (less than 6 inch) cable makes it very compact.

These are especially nice for folks that need a Lightning cable and a regular Micro USB cable.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

EEG and creativity

Since my last post about EEG devices, a lot has happened. I purchased the MUSE headset for $300 and the data was significantly more useful than with the NeuroSky. Not that I am necessarily finished with the Mindwave...I now have 4 of the MindFlex headsets in store for a good project. Not ony does the MUSE provide useful data, their SDK has become quite reliable and includes useful visualization tools. I used the MUSE with PureData running on a MacBook Pro for a music composition class. In one piece, I controlled the levels of various insect sounds based on brain activity. In another, I used EEG data to generate live accompaniment while I watched a video.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

The State of mobile device printing

Decided to try printing some of my GameBoy Camera photos from my iPhone via Flickr. First, Walgreens. Their iOS app allowed me to order pictures without creating an account or signing up for anything. Downside is that they only offer 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 sizes. Their system also reformats non-rectangular photos by cropping. There is likely a way to fix that on the device before sending, but still, an extra step. Target has a photo center in their store, but no way to access via an app. RiteAid was interesting (in a not good way). I downloaded the app, selected the photo center. I was immediately prompted to create a Plenti account before I could do anything. The signup on the Plenti site was graphically intensive and very slow. Selecting the photo center generated a pop up that the site was not functional and that I should go to a specific URL for more info. No link to click or automatic redirect. Rite Aid has shut down their online photo processing due to a data breach. At least they were up front about it.

Friday, May 16, 2014

More on BCI, waiting for OpenBCI

Continuing to experiment with the NeuroSky Mindwave. Using Mindwave OSC on a Nexus S (Thanks Carrie!) which communicates with my iMac over OSC. PureData grabs the OSC stream and presents the data in my pd patch. Getting some interesting results -- the biggest problem is that the data stream seems quite erratic, which makes it difficult to correlate my thoughts with the results. 

Missed the Kickstarter for the OpenBCI interface, but looking forward to trying it out. All of the interface software is open source, which should make it easier to experiment with the different brain wave types. As a bonus, the Open BCI interface is capable of processing EKG (heart) and EMG (muscle) sensors.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI)

Commercially available, relatively low cost Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and related software

Is it possible to create music with brain waves? It's a work in progress.

You can find all of my links here : http://delicious.com/tkarches/search/EEG

An incomplete summary :

Mindwave Mobile (Neurosky)

  • Retails for $99 (Brainwave Starter Kit)
  • Works with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
  • A number of iOS apps (search iTunes store with "neurosky") - most cost $$$
  • Brainwave Visualizer (Mac, WIndows) shows all brain frequency bands - almost too much data
BioZen software : http://www.t2.health.mil/apps/biozen
  • Neurofeedback software
  • Free
  • Developed by the military to help soldiers
  • Runs on Android devices
  • Most input devices supported are based on Neurosky headsets

MindFlex and MindFlex Duel - Toys by Mattel that use the Neurosky electronics. Only uses Attention parameter. Headsets can be modified for full EEG output. These are available relatively cheaply on eBay and Amazon (around $50)

Muse - no product has shipped as far as I can tell - currently taking pre-orders

Melon - another EEG headband, shipping Summer 2014

Bitalino - not for EEG, but is a set of physiological sensors for EMG, EDA, ECG along with a light sensor, an accelerometer and an LED. Can be split up into individual modules. Cost is $150 Euro.