Eric Martindale

Please help!:

My Open Source Scanning/Tunneling Microscope (a device that can see atoms) is competing for an open hardware scholarship grant - that's ~$2k to help me get this project (finally) reach a public beta stage! The award is determined by 24 hours of internet voting, and voting ends at 6pm US eastern standard time (7 hours from now).

Just do the following:
1. go here: http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/open-hardware-scholarship-voting/
2. select "Chemhacker Scanning/Tunneling Microscope"
3. click "vote"

Thanks very very very much!

If you want to learn more about my project, go here: chemhacker.com
If you want to learn more about all the projects up for the scholarship, go here: openhardwaresummit.org/scholarship

Please help!:

My Open Source Scanning/Tunneling Microscope (a device that can see atoms) is competing for an open hardware scholarship grant - that's ~$2k to help me get this project (finally) reach a public beta stage! The award is determined by 24 hours of internet voting, and voting ends at 6pm US eastern standard time (7 hours from now).

Just do the following:
1. go here: http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/open-hardware-scholarship-voting/
2. select "Chemhacker Scanning/Tunneling Microscope"
3. click "vote"

Thanks very very very much!

If you want to learn more about my project, go here: chemhacker.com
If you want to learn more about all the projects up for the scholarship, go here: openhardwaresummit.org/scholarship

Please help!:

My Open Source Scanning/Tunneling Microscope (a device that can see atoms) is competing for an open hardware scholarship grant - that's ~$2k to help me get this project (finally) reach a public beta stage! The award is determined by 24 hours of internet voting, and voting ends at 6pm US eastern standard time (7 hours from now).

Just do the following:
1. go here: http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/open-hardware-scholarship-voting/
2. select "Chemhacker Scanning/Tunneling Microscope"
3. click "vote"

Thanks very very very much!

If you want to learn more about my project, go here: chemhacker.com
If you want to learn more about all the projects up for the scholarship, go here: openhardwaresummit.org/scholarship

Please help!:

My Open Source Scanning/Tunneling Microscope (a device that can see atoms) is competing for an open hardware scholarship grant - that's ~$2k to help me get this project (finally) reach a public beta stage! The award is determined by 24 hours of internet voting, and voting ends at 6pm US eastern standard time (7 hours from now).

Just do the following:
1. go here: http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/open-hardware-scholarship-voting/
2. select "Chemhacker Scanning/Tunneling Microscope"
3. click "vote"

Thanks very very very much!

If you want to learn more about my project, go here: chemhacker.com
If you want to learn more about all the projects up for the scholarship, go here: openhardwaresummit.org/scholarship

So, I bought a new laptop from System76. About damn time, I say.

The specs:

• 15.6" HD+ LED Display @ 1600x900
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 Graphics with 512MB GDDR2 Memory
• Core i5-520M Processor ( 32nm, 3MB L3 Cache, 2.40GHz )
• 2 GB - DDR3 1066 MHz (DDR3: zoom zoom. ;])
• 250 GB 5400 RPM SATA II (I considered a bigger hard drive, but I have a NAS at the house and honestly plan on taking advantages of synchronized OSes like ChromeOS in the very near future, so I decided against it)

So far, I'm absolutely lovin' it. The hardware is very clean and Apple-like, with no disgusting third-party stickers plastered all over the thing. There's a System76 logo sticker on the back, which I could easily remove with some isopropyl if I so chose. Part of System76's sales pitch is pre-built Ubuntu boxes (which is what sold me, to be honest), so it came with Ubuntu 10.04, my day-to-day operating system of choice (especially since Backtrack makes things oh-so-awesome.)

I do have some minor complaints:

1. I had a dead pixel on my LCD. They won't replace it unless "there are more than 6 dead pixels. :(
2. As a result of the hinge design, the screen won't fold back more than ~35°. A bit of a pain in specific use scenarios.
3. A lack of one-button volume controls. The volume controls are only available through function keys, sadly. Some buttons on the top right for volume up, down, and mute would make this already awesome laptop perfect.

I don't know how much control System76 has over these hardware-design issues, but fixing them would seal the deal on any of my future purchases. ;)

One of the sites I own and run (RolePlayGateway) has a pretty large forum, with several customizations and features that I've added on to the base install of phpBB3. As time went on, we continued upgrading the servers (moving from GoDaddy shared hosting to GoDaddy virtual dedicated servers, then onward to MediaTemple's (gs), and now we're on the second tier of MediaTemple's (dv) hosting) in an effort to keep the hardware moving as fast as possible.

As I'm sure you know, hardware can be pretty expensive! One month, while on MediaTemple's Grid Server, we racked up $600 in CPU time overage charges. (Ow.) Now that we've moved onward to bigger and better packages, we're shelling out just about $100 per month for a rock-solid server solution that can be upgraded seamlessly in the future. But since upgrades can only go so far without being prohibitively expensive, I thought it was time to take a look at some of our coding approaches.

Enter memcache, the distributed database caching solution originally designed by LiveJournal to help them deal with massive databases and large volumes of users. DavidMJ has written some shiny ACM modules to help phpBB3 make use of some caching systems, and a memcache module was among them.

That didn't work so well. It gave about a 50% boost to phpBB3's performance (which was great!), but we were still choking the server, and ended up upgrading to a bigger and more robust package with MediaTemple. So I started looking into more options, and DavidMJ suggested xcache. So I go grab xcache and compile it, then enabled it in php. Bingo! There's a 500% boost in our page compile times, and across most of our pages we're now well under 0.1 second compile times. (With the exception of viewtopic.php, which frequently approaches 2 seconds due to bad coding on my part... this will be fixed soon.)

So now that I've got the thirst for speed, let's take a look at how we're performing. To do this, use the apache benchmarking tool:ab -n 100000 http://www.mydomain.com/my_page This will test the URL you specify 100,000 times, and give you some feedback about how the page performs. You'll end up with something looking like this:

Server Software: Apache/2.2.3 Server Hostname: www.mydomain.com Server Port: 80 Document Path: /my_page Document Length: 0 bytes Concurrency Level: 1 Time taken for tests: 15.30100 seconds Complete requests: 1 Failed requests: 0 Write errors: 0 Non-2xx responses: 1 Total transferred: 715 bytes HTML transferred: 0 bytes Requests per second: 0.07 [#/sec] (mean) Time per request: 15030.100 [ms] (mean) Time per request: 15030.100 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests) Transfer rate: 0.00 [Kbytes/sec] received Connection Times (ms) min mean[+/-sd] median max Connect: 0 0 0.0 0 0 Processing: 15030 15030 0.0 15030 15030 Waiting: 30 30 0.0 30 30 Total: 15030 15030 0.0 15030 15030

Some tweaks to the default xcache config that I recommend:

Set the number of caches to one per processor on your server! ; set to cpu count (cat /proc/cpuinfo |grep -c processor) xcache.count = 4

This post will be updated as I explore phpBB3 and more server side options. (I wrote part of this post, then stopped writing... and figure I'd publish it a couple days later anyway!)

It would probably be fun, but I don't have my hardware setup. I don't even know where my mic is.

I think the bitcoin evolution crossed a major hotizon when it survived the Chinese "deregulation" a year or so ago.  Bitcoin has since held its value and the unabated release of consumer-level  mining hardware since then has further cemented bitcoin as a currency here to stay (and I have not even mentioned the derivative crypto-currencies cropping up in the wake of  bitcoin).

Also, I really want to be able to view the CGM data on my Droid. I have talked to a few people (Twitter, TuDiabetes) who have attempted, but it seems like everyone who has tried has given up. I really don't think it is more difficult to crack than the AACS Encryption Key, i just don't think the same number of people are trying, or even have the access to the hardware.

Here's some cool technical details on why your images can appear differently in different browsers or applications, despite using the same display hardware. Worth the read if you edit photographs!

As it turns out, various applications (and the libraries they use) handle four-channel images differently, some even choosing to discard some of your image data entirely. It looks like even between Photoshop CS4 and CS5, the methods used to handle these layers are different!

#phtotography #photoshop #design #media

Here's some cool technical details on why your images can appear differently in different browsers or applications, despite using the same display hardware. Worth the read if you edit photographs!

As it turns out, various applications (and the libraries they use) handle four-channel images differently, some even choosing to discard some of your image data entirely. It looks like even between Photoshop CS4 and CS5, the methods used to handle these layers are different!

#phtotography #photoshop #design #media

I've been in the market for my dream phone for almost a year now. Products have been released left and right, but none of them seem to have the functionality that I am desiring. Okay, I admit - "phone" is a bit misleading. What I'm really looking for is a smartphone... no, not a smartphone, a digital companion.

Things I'm looking for:

• Phone


• Camera


• Media Player


• Freedom

Phone
I want a mobile phone with what has become industry standards, including the dual-mode functionality of GSM and WiFi connections. I should be able to take this phone to any service provider, and get service using this device, keeping both my number and my contacts.

Camera
I want a decent camera that gets decent lighting. While a 2 megapixel camera is about the range I'm looking for, most important is the quality of the resulting pictures. The functionality of a modern-day camera should be available, including light temperature and balance. I should be able to record video using this, as well.

Media Player
I should be able to play any format of media on this device as I can play using my home Linux box. OGG, MP3, MPEG, AVI...

Freedom
I wish to be able to install software freely, from wherever I may choose. If I choose to install emulators and play me some NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis games, I should be able to do this freely, and have the necessary hardware resources to do this. I want to be able to make changes to my device's software at any point in time. I should be able to sync my calendar, to do list, and contacts with my choice of repositories.


I'll grow and review this as necessary. Until then, the Apple iPhone looks bitterly disgusting, while the Motorola Q's use of Windows continues to push me away.

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable consumer-level AR applications on our smartphones ([5], [6], and [7]), but they will all remain novelty applications until we see major innovation in the display space.

One of the more practical examples I've seen of augmented reality in the real world is WordLens [8] (sadly only available for iOS), which provides instantaneous video translation through your device. It's not hard to imagine a pair of Oakley glasses with this display technology built-in, providing you with always-on translation while in an unfamiliar foreign location. Or perhaps even displaying your friend's tweet as a speech bubble above their head for a few seconds -- imagine if it were built right, how amazing it could be.

I genuinely hope to see more of this transparent display technology built in to more consumer-level products, and eyewear in particular. We need a lot more developers playing with the practical applications of augmented reality, and not just displaying compass-aligned markers over a geotagged Wikipedia article or Flickr photo. The high-power hardware necessary to do real-time computer vision processing is coming, and the applied software world needs to be ready for it.

[1]: Amazing Screen Technology : Samsung Flexible AMOLED
[2]: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/
[3]: http://www.oled-info.com/tdk-starts-mass-production-transparent-24-qvga-pmoleds
[4]: http://www.laster.fr/produits/promobiledisplay/
[5]: http://www.layar.com/
[6]: http://www.wikitude.com/
[7]: http://www.junaio.com/
[8]: http://questvisual.com/

Compelling Narratives using Augmented Reality
+Google Glass has, for better or worse, shaped the narrative around augmented reality this past year.  We've seen the arms (eyes?) race rapidly develop, culminating recently with the +YCombinator-backed +meta announcing their "SpaceGlasses" [1], one of the first truly compelling experiences built around a convincingly capable device [2].

The hardest part of augmented reality is not the hardware, nor the computer vision software—both extremely difficult academic challenges in their own right, and certainly not to be taken by the faint of heart—but in the experience.

These problems will be solved, through no small effort, but they will be solved.  The most daunting challenge is to build a compelling story that binds the available data (read "the Internet") to the real world, and exposes it in an unobtrusive and seamless fashion.  This too will emerge naturally, but early pioneers in the space need to think carefully about the application of augmented reality in order to succeed; no one wants a world filled with advertisements [3], and in fact—some even try to eliminate them [4].

Here, +Field Trip attempts to builds one such compelling story.  The experience of contextual information making itself available without interrupting your interactions with the real world is so tantalizingly close you can feel it, but one wonders just how much control the user will have over the frequency and relevance of the information "popups".  In the early days of the software industry (late 60s, early 70s), an ongoing debate between the [then] default of free software vs. closed software unfolded, setting the foundation for today's conversation around open source and free [5] software.  I'll be talking more about this in a presentation at the upcoming #RTP180 : Open Source All Things event [6] in North Carolina.

It's another step forward for ubiquitous augmented reality, an exciting one indeed, but one that won't achieve mass adoption until the user can control their own experience [7].

[1]: https://www.spaceglasses.com/
[2]: SpaceGlasses are the future of computing
[3]: https://vimeo.com/8569187
[4]: http://unlogo.org/pages/about
[5]: that's free as in libertas, not as in gratis.
[6]: http://www.rtp.org/rtp-180-open-source-all-things
[7]: I recently started a project to this effect called "Para", a client-agnostic peer-to-peer network for implementing a data layer on top of the real world.  I'm seeking collaborators!  Check it out: http://para.io

Compelling Narratives using Augmented Reality
+Google Glass has, for better or worse, shaped the narrative around augmented reality this past year.  We've seen the arms (eyes?) race rapidly develop, culminating recently with the +YCombinator-backed +meta announcing their "SpaceGlasses" [1], one of the first truly compelling experiences built around a convincingly capable device [2].

The hardest part of augmented reality is not the hardware, nor the computer vision software—both extremely difficult academic challenges in their own right, and certainly not to be taken by the faint of heart—but in the experience.

These problems will be solved, through no small effort, but they will be solved.  The most daunting challenge is to build a compelling story that binds the available data (read "the Internet") to the real world, and exposes it in an unobtrusive and seamless fashion.  This too will emerge naturally, but early pioneers in the space need to think carefully about the application of augmented reality in order to succeed; no one wants a world filled with advertisements [3], and in fact—some even try to eliminate them [4].

Here, +Field Trip attempts to builds one such compelling story.  The experience of contextual information making itself available without interrupting your interactions with the real world is so tantalizingly close you can feel it, but one wonders just how much control the user will have over the frequency and relevance of the information "popups".  In the early days of the software industry (late 60s, early 70s), an ongoing debate between the [then] default of free software vs. closed software unfolded, setting the foundation for today's conversation around open source and free [5] software.  I'll be talking more about this in a presentation at the upcoming #RTP180 : Open Source All Things event [6] in North Carolina.

It's another step forward for ubiquitous augmented reality, an exciting one indeed, but one that won't achieve mass adoption until the user can control their own experience [7].

[1]: https://www.spaceglasses.com/
[2]: SpaceGlasses are the future of computing
[3]: https://vimeo.com/8569187
[4]: http://unlogo.org/pages/about
[5]: that's free as in libertas, not as in gratis.
[6]: http://www.rtp.org/rtp-180-open-source-all-things
[7]: I recently started a project to this effect called "Para", a client-agnostic peer-to-peer network for implementing a data layer on top of the real world.  I'm seeking collaborators!  Check it out: http://para.io

Compelling Narratives using Augmented Reality
+Google Glass has, for better or worse, shaped the narrative around augmented reality this past year.  We've seen the arms (eyes?) race rapidly develop, culminating recently with the +YCombinator-backed +meta announcing their "SpaceGlasses" [1], one of the first truly compelling experiences built around a convincingly capable device [2].

The hardest part of augmented reality is not the hardware, nor the computer vision software—both extremely difficult academic challenges in their own right, and certainly not to be taken by the faint of heart—but in the experience.

These problems will be solved, through no small effort, but they will be solved.  The most daunting challenge is to build a compelling story that binds the available data (read "the Internet") to the real world, and exposes it in an unobtrusive and seamless fashion.  This too will emerge naturally, but early pioneers in the space need to think carefully about the application of augmented reality in order to succeed; no one wants a world filled with advertisements [3], and in fact—some even try to eliminate them [4].

Here, +Field Trip attempts to builds one such compelling story.  The experience of contextual information making itself available without interrupting your interactions with the real world is so tantalizingly close you can feel it, but one wonders just how much control the user will have over the frequency and relevance of the information "popups".  In the early days of the software industry (late 60s, early 70s), an ongoing debate between the [then] default of free software vs. closed software unfolded, setting the foundation for today's conversation around open source and free [5] software.  I'll be talking more about this in a presentation at the upcoming #RTP180 : Open Source All Things event [6] in North Carolina.

It's another step forward for ubiquitous augmented reality, an exciting one indeed, but one that won't achieve mass adoption until the user can control their own experience [7].

[1]: https://www.spaceglasses.com/
[2]: SpaceGlasses are the future of computing
[3]: https://vimeo.com/8569187
[4]: http://unlogo.org/pages/about
[5]: that's free as in libertas, not as in gratis.
[6]: http://www.rtp.org/rtp-180-open-source-all-things
[7]: I recently started a project to this effect called "Para", a client-agnostic peer-to-peer network for implementing a data layer on top of the real world.  I'm seeking collaborators!  Check it out: http://para.io

Compelling Narratives using Augmented Reality
+Google Glass has, for better or worse, shaped the narrative around augmented reality this past year.  We've seen the arms (eyes?) race rapidly develop, culminating recently with the +YCombinator-backed +meta announcing their "SpaceGlasses" [1], one of the first truly compelling experiences built around a convincingly capable device [2].

The hardest part of augmented reality is not the hardware, nor the computer vision software—both extremely difficult academic challenges in their own right, and certainly not to be taken by the faint of heart—but in the experience.

These problems will be solved, through no small effort, but they will be solved.  The most daunting challenge is to build a compelling story that binds the available data (read "the Internet") to the real world, and exposes it in an unobtrusive and seamless fashion.  This too will emerge naturally, but early pioneers in the space need to think carefully about the application of augmented reality in order to succeed; no one wants a world filled with advertisements [3], and in fact—some even try to eliminate them [4].

Here, +Field Trip attempts to builds one such compelling story.  The experience of contextual information making itself available without interrupting your interactions with the real world is so tantalizingly close you can feel it, but one wonders just how much control the user will have over the frequency and relevance of the information "popups".  In the early days of the software industry (late 60s, early 70s), an ongoing debate between the [then] default of free software vs. closed software unfolded, setting the foundation for today's conversation around open source and free [5] software.  I'll be talking more about this in a presentation at the upcoming #RTP180 : Open Source All Things event [6] in North Carolina.

It's another step forward for ubiquitous augmented reality, an exciting one indeed, but one that won't achieve mass adoption until the user can control their own experience [7].

[1]: https://www.spaceglasses.com/
[2]: SpaceGlasses are the future of computing
[3]: https://vimeo.com/8569187
[4]: http://unlogo.org/pages/about
[5]: that's free as in libertas, not as in gratis.
[6]: http://www.rtp.org/rtp-180-open-source-all-things
[7]: I recently started a project to this effect called "Para", a client-agnostic peer-to-peer network for implementing a data layer on top of the real world.  I'm seeking collaborators!  Check it out: http://para.io

Following suit with the likes of Tim Bray and Eric Meyer, I figured I'd throw together my browser's letter sweep tonight.

• [A]dmin Site. Yeah, I guess I would be visiting the admin panel for this. Quite frequently.
• Mirascape's [B]log. An infrequent haunt of mine, but fairly obvious.
• [C]MON. Cluster Monitor for MySQL Cluster, something I almost always have open.
• Google [D]ocs. This one is painfully obvious, I use Google Docs extensively.
• [E]ricMartindale.com. Okay, that's a gimme. Does this make me egocentric?
• [F]acebook. I'm actually fairly ashamed of this one. Why can't I have a cool F site? sadface
• [G]mail. Three accounts linked using Google's Multiple Sign-in. Open [almost] all day.
• [H]ighcharts JS. A pretty kick-ass Javascript library for generating charts on the clientside.
• [I]nternal Discussion. A site for communication with my team. :)
• [J]Query Mobile Demo, 1.0 alpha 3. I've been spending a lot of time toying with jQuery Mobile, seeing where it's going compared to Sencha Touch.
• [K]r.github.com. Keith Rarick's GitHub redirect. Total ass-kicker.
• [L]inkedIn. Pretty straightforward, between hiring for our team at @Mirascape and the travel to and from various conferences and Meetups lately.
• [M]irascape. The augmented reality platform I'm responsible for.
• [N]oxBot. A nice PHP-powered IRC bot with various plugins. A bit out of date, but very powerful. Been using it for a couple things lately.
• [O]K, QR Me!. A QR Code-generating link shortener I built.
• [P]ostmark. Best Email delivery service I've used. Nice RESTful API, flat rate for emails sent.
• [Q]uora. These guys nail Q&A, and they're doing it pretty well. Check out all their buzz, too. But for some reason, I just don't stick.
• Google [R]eader. “From your 1,040 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 21,549 items, clicked 274 items, starred 853 items, shared 37 items, and emailed 8 items.” -- </stats>
• [S]erver Stats for Mirascape. Powered by Munin, it's how I keep track of the status and metrics of all my servers.
• [T]witter. Not surprising. I love their webapp for my personal use, but own and manage at least five accounts using SplitTweet.
• [U]serVoice. Pretty sweet tool I use for giving the communities I manage a good way to build a consensus on what they desire most. Examples I run: for RolePlayGateway, and EVE UserVoice for EVE Online.
• Google [V]oice. Allows me to use SMS from my computer, read (as opposed to listen to) voicemail. Great tool. If only it supported MMS.
• [W]achovia. One of the places I do banking.
• [X]DA Developers. An indisposable resource for getting rid of carrier-installed crap and running my own choice of software on the hardware I purchased!
• [Y]ouTube. Another big namer. No surprise.
• [Z]ecco. Where I trade most of my public stocks. :)

Surprisingly populist, and there's a lot of Google-owned properties in there. I'm also using Chromium, so I think it prefers the roots of the sites I visit instead of searching through my history for individual pages.