Jeff Barr’s Blog

• Genetic Science Learning Center: Cell Size and Scale - “The smallest objects that the unaided human eye can see are about 0.1 mm long. That means that under the right conditions, you might be able to see an ameoba proteus, a human egg, and a paramecium without using magnification. A magnifying glass can help you to see them more clearly, but they will still look tiny.“
• Wall Street Journal: Life on Severance: Comfort, Then Crisis - “You become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. When your world changes and things dictate that you change, you’re pretty stubborn to give things up.“
• Makerbot Store: Stepper Motor Driver v1.2 Kit - “This board allows you to control one stepper motor, as well as receive input from two limit switches. “

• Wall Street Journal: Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis - “The American tradition of tinkering — the spark for inventions from the telephone to the Apple computer — is making a comeback, boosted by renewed interest in hands-on work amid the economic crisis and falling prices of high-tech tools and materials.“
• Seeed Studio: Electronic Bricks? - “By using electronic bricks, you may connect Arduino compatible boards easily with various digital, analog and I2C/Uart interfaces. These the breadboard-less firm connection are prepared to extensive modules like poteniometers, sensors, relays, servos…even buttons, just plug and play.“
• BBC News: LauncherOne: Virgin Galactic’s Other Project - “Virgin Galactic’s aim is to provide an air-launched system which is faster, cheaper, and more flexible. “

• Pixels and Policy: How Tough Economic Times are Encouraging Virtual Workplaces - “There are obvious cost benefits to working in the virtual world that stand out at a time of global recession and rolling bankruptcy. Travel costs are reduced to zero as avatars from around the world come together in one central space.“
• Second Life Blog: Introducing Second Life Enterprise, Now in Beta, and Second Life Work Marketplace - “Over the last few years, the number one request and core business requirement of many of our enterprise and government customers has been the need for a behind-the-firewall Second Life solution. The extra layers of security and administrative control in a stand-alone product would allow these organizations to explore virtual work as a powerful and effective collaboration and communication tool—if it was available.“
• ThinkBalm: When Is Second Life Enterprise Beta Right For You? - “The ability to create from scratch, and possibly animate, virtual replicas of your organization’s buildings, products, or other assets for acculturation, training, or prototyping purposes — without a seven-figure budget and legions of consultants.“
• Epic Games: Download The Unreal Development Kit - “All the tools you need to create great games, advanced visualizations and detailed 3D simulations.“

• The Big Picture: Launch of the Ares I-X - “NASA’s Constellation Program’s 327-foot-tall rocket produced 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and reached a speed of 100 mph in eight seconds.“
• Science at NASA: A Mars Rover Named “Curiosity” - “The small, car-sized rover will ramble about on the rocky surface, gizmos at full tilt, not only brushing dust off rocks but also vaporizing them with a laser beam, gathering samples to analyze on the spot, taking high resolution photographs, and more.“
• IO9: Robert Heinlein’s Bizarre Fan Mail Response Letter - “An ever-increasing flood of mail forced me to choose between writing letters and writing fiction. But I read each letter and check its answer. … [ ] Please do not write to me again.” - Via Tim Ferris.
• RepRap Blog: The RepRap Factory - “For some time we have intended to set up a RepRap Factory at Bath consisting of four machines that will be dedicated to printing RepRap parts for others. We shall then sell these on at cost.“

• Replicator: For The Price Of A TV You Can Start A FabLab - “The educational applications of these tools are very exciting and can help bridge the gap between making things with Lego Mindstorms and having to outsource production to expensive machine shops. “
• Contraptor: Open Source DIY Rapid Hardware Prototyping - “Contraptor is a DIY open source construction set for experimental personal fabrication, desktop manufacturing, prototyping and bootstrapping.” - Via Make.
• Dark Roasted Blend: Rare Photos of the Russian “Buran” Space Program - “Climb inside to experience rickety-looking Soviet computer panels and monitors. It takes guts to fly into space with these..“

• SkyTran: It’s About Time - “SkyTran is a new transportation system, currently under development at NASA Ames Research and other locations. Light-weight vehicles ride above ground traffic on a magnetic levitation (maglev) micro freeway, also called the guideway.“
• SkyTran: Personal Mobility for the 21st Century - “No need to drive. Enter your destination, then enjoy full web access, entertainment and climate controls.“
• Official Second Life Blog: The Time for Work Avatars Has Arrived - “Speaking as the person leading Enterprise Marketing, and the Second Life Work brand at Linden Lab, I believe that the professional avatar is an imperative on the road to enterprise-wide adoption of immersive environments as a powerful collaboration and work tool. If virtual work is to be taken seriously, then our avatars need to look–and act–as professional as we do in a physical workplace.“

• MicroRax: Made Small for Big Ideas - “MicroRAX a light weight miniature T-Slot framing system. Suitable for use on your desktop or bench top to build science, engineering, or advanced hobby and DIY projects. This small rugged framing system is ideal for use in machines, school science projects, robotics, design houses, workshops, prototypes, repair, models, gadgets, maintenance, etc. “
• MakerBeam: An Open Source Building Kit - “Mini-T is a miniature version of larger T-slot building systems. It consists of extruded aluminum beams, 10 mm on a side, and various connectors and panels that slot into the sides of the beam, making up the full MakerBeam system.“
• Metrix Create: Space - “Espresso, Snacks, Tools, Fast Internet (50M/10M Cable), 3D Printing, Laser cutting and etching, Electronics, Sewing machines and craft supplies. Events and Workshops.” - A Seattle hacker hangout.

• MSNBC: Lack of Computer Skills Foils Many Job-seekers - “However deeply computers may have embedded themselves into modern life, there are still millions of people for whom they remain a challenge. For these Americans, finding a new job during a time of high unemployment can be especially difficult.“
• Official Second Life Blog: Virtual Worlds Certificate Program at UW graduates First Class - “Several of the students agreed to meet me a few days before graduation for a tour of the University of Washington Island and to give me the student perspective on the certificate program. I was struck by the diversity of the group.“
• University of Washington: Certificate in Virtual Worlds - “Learn to use simulated environments to enhance all types of organizations, including online communities, education, retailing, political expression and military training. As technologies develop, Virtual Worlds become more sophisticated, more common and people spend more time in them. Position yourself to be part of this emerging movement that has become a reality beyond just gaming. Your education will be hands-on and practical; you will learn exclusively in a simulated environment. “

• Space.com: 5 Years After SpaceShipOne: Commercial Spaceflight Ready for ‘Go’ - “Within the next few months the first companies will begin flights and within two years the first paying customers will be flying. Within three years the first commercial facilities will be overhead and within five years you will be able to fly commercially to orbit on a private spaceship.“
• Space.com: Space Tourism: The Virgin Galactic Way - Part 1 - “For most of us, escaping the constraints of gravity is something we’ve only been able to achieve in our dreams.“
• Space.com: Space Tourism: The Virgin Galactic Way - Part 2 - “There’s this panorama, like you’ve never seen. It’s majestic.“
• TED Talks: Burt Rutan Sees the Future of Space - “We think 100,000 people will fly by 2020.“

• Discover Channel: ‘Ardi,’ Oldest Human Ancestor, Unveiled - “The world’s oldest and most complete skeleton of a potential human ancestor — named “Ardi,” short for Ardipithecus ramidus — has been unveiled by an international team of 47 researchers.“
• Joel Achenbach: A Nation of Engineers - “Advice to graduates: Become an engineer. Design the future. Become someone who knows how to squeeze energy out of seawater or turn sunlight into electricity for pennies on the kilowatt.“
• Open Source Living - “Open Source Living is a community-driven dynamic archive of Open Source software spanning all major platforms.“

• Jet Propulsion Lab:
  NASA Researchers Make First Discovery of Life’s Building Block in Comet - “NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft. “
• Starts With A Bang: Hell Yeah, Hubble - “The first thing we did was take a patch of sky that was relatively empty. No bright stars, no large galaxies or clusters, no planetary nebulae, just a little tiny patch of black, empty sky. And then we point Hubble at it. And what do we do? We sit there. And wait. Collecting tiny, miniscule amounts of light. First, for minutes on end. And then the minutes turn into hours, and the hours turn into days. All the while, Hubble just patiently sits there, pointing at the same patch of empty sky. Over 10 days, Hubble took a photograph of the same exact patch on the sky 342 times.“
• Lifehacker: 10 Must-Dos for the First Week of College - “With the start of the academic year, it’s time to switch out of vacation mode—pronto. What you do the first week of classes can majorly impact your grades four months from now, so don’t skip these first week must-dos.“

• Second Life Blogs: Introducing the LLMedia API - “We’re constantly working to enhance the Second Life experience, and I wanted to share an exciting development I mentioned in my keynote yesterday at SLCC: today’s release of the LLMedia API, which lets developers create plug-ins for the Second Life Viewer to bring new media-rendering capability to Second Life.“
• Second Life Wiki: Media Rendering Plugin Framework - “With this branch of the Second Life Viewer, Linden Lab introduces the ability for third-party developers to create media rendering plugins to display rich media content inworld. The Viewer provides this capability by loading media rendering plugins at runtime.“
• Avatar Planet: SLCC 2009 Day Two - “Jeff Barr of Amazon Web Services gave a fascinating talk – ok, fascinating to technical people – about using the Linden scripting language LSL together with PHP to collect data about objects in Second Life.“* - ““
• Pocket Lint: Microsoft LifeCam Cinema Goes 720p - “This is the first consumer webcam to support 720p video at 30fps. That’s the full 1,280×720, unlike some other attempts at so called HD video for some 2 Megapixel webcam’s that only managed 960×720 which isn’t really HD. “

• ThinkBalm: New ThinkBalm Innovation Community video: “The Bridge” - “The bridge is an immersive 3D space where decision makers and project team members can meet to view and interact with data, collaborate, and make business decisions. It can be the bridge between the physical world and the virtual world; an organization and the outside world; and where we are and where we want to go. It can be the bridge among people who need to collaborate across silos, cultures, languages.“
• Dave Winer: Programming Wisdom - “Every year or so, re-read the docs for your programming environment. You’ll always find a feature you didn’t quite grok the importance of the last time you read the docs.It may make your code simpler, or enable you to approach a problem you previously though unsolvable.“
• Make: The RGB Coffee Table - “IKEA Granas side table (over 2×2 feet, big enough for coffee table) with 9×9 array of 81 ShiftBrite RGB LED modules. Currently running a simple sine plasma into HSV/RGB conversion on an Arduino.“
• Flickr: ShiftBrite RGB Coffee Table - “IKEA Granas side table (over 2×2 feet, big enough for coffee table) with 9×9 array of 81 ShiftBrite RGB LED modules. Currently running a simple sine plasma into HSV/RGB conversion on an Arduino (Seeeduino). “

• Cheese and Burger Society - “We are the Cheese & Burger Society. We believe that cheese is the Grand Poo-bah of every cheeseburger grilled at a backyard barbecue or flame-broiled at a roadside diner. But not just any slice of cheese, Wisconsin Cheese. So join us as we celebrate the greatest cheeseburgers ever made.” - Sorry, dieters.
• Macetech: Octobrite - “The OctoBrite is a unique product that allows independent control of eight bright RGB LEDs.“

While the world watches Boeing’s struggle to get the much-delayed 787 Dreamliner assembled and off the ground, great progress has been made on another very cool Boeing product, the 747-8 Freighter. This plane is 18 feet longer than the already-massive 747-400, with an overall length of 250 feet.

I ran into a few cool links over the last few days and I need to close some browser tabs, so here goes:

• Randy’s Journal has a 2 minute time-lapse movie of the crucial FBJ, or final body join.

• The SeattlePI’s Aerospace News blog has had some short blog entries surrounding some amazing high resolution pictures (click on the small pictures, wait for download, ooh, ahh):

  • Two Sets of Wings.
  • Wing Attachment to Body.
  • Final Body Join.

By the way, Boeing folks, I’d love a special tour if you happen to read this!

I haven’t had the time to do a real post for quite some time. Here’s what’s been happening:

• Daughter Tina graduated from Eastlake High after spending her senior year in the Running Start program at Bellevue College. She’ll be entering the University of Maryland in the fall and plans to study Journalism.

• Son Stephen graduated from the University of Washington with degrees and honors in Applied Math and Economics. He drove cross-country at the beginning of July and is now in the Finance Ph.D program at the University of Rochester.

• After taking an intensive (5 credit) course in Portuguese at the UW, son Andy departed for Brazil in early July with plans to visit a number of cities. He’s been having a great time and will return in mid-August, just in time to help out at Gnomedex and then return to the UW, where he’s studying Math, Physics, and Astronomy.

• My wife Carmen has been forging ahead with her real estate career. Despite a tough market, people are still buying and selling and she’s staying busy.

• Our other daughters (Bianca and Grace) spent a week in York, Pennsylvania with my mom and her husband before catching up with Carmen and Tina in Maryland.

• I spent the early part of July working with my Amazon colleagues to get ready for the Amazon Career Fair in Second Life. I did some of the building and planning, but the majority of my time was spent putting together a great statistics package using LSL, PHP, and Amazon SimpleDB. We had a great turnout and are already making plans to run another fair later this year. As a result of some contacts I made at the fair, I have been invited to speak at the SLCC (Second Life Community Convention) next month.

• Also on the Second Life side, I will be participating in the ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Professional Networking Event on the 4th of August. Sam and Erica Driver have done some really good work in the 3D immersive internet space, including some very readable and informative reports.

• I am hard at work on a programming book, to be published this fall by SitePoint. Early this year I was asked to be a secondary author, with responsibility for writing the PHP code samples. This seemed pretty easy and I was eager to get started. After the primary author had a change of heart, the publisher asked me if I would take on the whole project. I got permission (and a generous time allocation) from Amazon and I’ve been writing since mid-May. I am now about 65% of the way through the first draft of “Build Your Own Cloud Computing Application Using Amazon’s EC2.” Writing is hard, but enjoyable (coding is a lot easier) and I suspect that this won’t be my last book.

• I am looking forward to a busy fall, with a trip to Hong Kong in mid-September to speak at SIBOS, with another stop or two (ideas are welcome) in the Far East as a possibility.

• We’ve got some maintenance and renovation underway on our home. Last week, Ryan and his crew from Red Ox Roofing replaced our dingy old cedar shakes with fresh and durable composites. They did a great job, showing up early, working late, and leaving everything clean. Trevor Bean of [Bean Construction])(http://www.beanconstruct.com/) is renovating our guest bathroom, starting from the bare walls.

I think that covers the highlights!

• jquerylist.com: The Ultimate jQuery List - “A really big 1-page list of plugins and examples for jQuery.“
• 9 Lessons: Load Data while Scrolling Page Down with jQuery and PHP - “We have lots of data but can not display all. This script helps you to display little data and make faster your website. Take a look at live demo and scroll down.“
• Smashing Magazine: 50 Fresh Useful Icon Sets For Your Next Design - “This large collection of recently released icon sets is supposed to help designers improve their designs on their web-sites and in web-applications. All icon sets are free.“
• The News Tribune: The Tunnel: Seattle’s Big Dig - “The tunnel boring machine for the Alaskan Way project will have to dig a single tunnel that is large enough for four lanes of traffic – two lanes stacked on top of two other lanes, each pair carrying traffic in opposite directions.“
• Paul Allen: New Employee Checklist - “Because Yammer is such a powerful tool for internal company communications, the first thing on my checklist would be to invite the new employee to Yammer, ask them to update their profile with all their contact information, and to browse the org chart to see who reports to whom. I wish the org chart could link directly to every employees LinkedIn profile–because I would require all the new employees to review the LinkedIn profile of all current employees. I’d also like them to spend a few hours browsing through various Yammer posts, doing searches, and seeing who has been involved in past discussions on topics that are relevant to them. All this would really give them a feel for who is on our team.“

• Ralf Ebert: Visual git tutorial I - “I hope I was able to provide a good starting point for using git. I’m a big advocater of versioning projects with the git system. I have been using it for one and half years now to keep track of all my projects and git has never let me down.“
• Github: MozRepl - “MozRepl lets you program Firefox and other Mozilla-based applications from the inside. “
• Cool Tools: Park Tool AWS-1 - “Peer behind the service counter at most bike shops and you’ll see a Park Tool workstand. There’ll be a waist-level tool tray on the stand, and unless it’s already in the hands of a mechanic, the triangle-shaped AWS-1, which features a 4-, 5- and 6mm hex wrench, will likely be one of a handful of tools resting in the tray.“
• IdeaPaint - “When you’re confined to the space of a typical whiteboard, your ideas are destined to be small. IdeaPaint turns virtually anything you can paint into a high-performance dry-erase surface, giving you the space you need to collaborate, interact and fully explore your creativity. No matter where you use it, big ideas follow.“
• Massively: Second Life objects to become HTTP-aware - “The HTTP-in method, will allow external services to push data to in-world objects and receive simple responses, saving significant quantities of bandwidth and server resources. That, right there, stands to revolutionize a lot of scripted systems.“
• Second Life Wiki: LSL http server - “While llHTTPRequest lets scripts in Second Life request data from HTTP-accessible sources, this HTTP-in enables outside sources to request data from scripts in Second Life. The key difference is that llHTTPRequest exchanges data when the script in SL wants; HTTP-in allows outside sources to determine when they need to communicate with scripts in SL.“
• Mark Forster: Get Everything Done: The Autofocus System - “The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal). As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time in the following manner.“

• jQuery Ribbon - “A ribbon control built on jQuery. It supports grouping, dropdown menus, nested lists theming and more.“
• Beverly Coggins: 10 Ways to Double Your Time - “Would you like to squeeze more time out of your day? Who wouldn’t? Here are a few suggestions to help you do just that. Then hopefully you’ll have some more time to do what you want to do!“
• The Big Picture: Bailout Costs vs Big Historical Events - “It is exceedingly difficult to convey exactly how much we are spending on all these bailouts. Whenever I start talking trillions (versus mere billions), I get puzzled looks from people. Humans have a hard time conceptualizing any number that large. I wanted a graphic way to clearly show how astonishingly ginormous the amounts involved were.“
• Second Life Wiki: Move Build - “This guide shows you how to move your build, such as a house or store, from one parcel of land in a Region to another. It presumes you have camera movement and object editing skills. Take your time, enjoy the videos, and take care with fine details so nothing is lost. This guide focuses mainly on moving larger, complex builds but the principles apply to builds of any sizes. Digest it thoroughly so you understand before actually making the move. “

• Massively: Linden Lab releases Snowglobe 1.0 for Second Life - “One of the biggest developments you might see in the Snowglobe viewer is that the map is now an order of magnitude faster to load, rather than taking several fractions of forever, as is traditional. This is the start of a new texture-transfer pipeline, which we can reasonably expect to become standard in future viewers, and to encompass more kinds of textures, however there’s a new caching architecture which should benefit all textures. “
• Visual Literacy: A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods - “As we classified the visualization methods along those two dimensions we also tried to organize them in a similar way. That means as you move down a column, you will find similar methods for similar purposes but getting more and more complex. This is an ordinal measure within a group, meaning you will find in one period different amounts of complexity. “
• Ralph Lengler & Martin J. Eppler: Towards A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management - “In this paper, we describe the effort of defining and compiling existing visualization methods in order to develop a systematic overview based on the logic, look, and use of the periodic table of elements. We first describe the current fragmented state of the visualization field. Then we outline the rules and criteria we applied in conducting our research in order to present a revised periodic table of 100 visualization methods with a proposition how to use it. “