Category: Tech

  • Sensor cleaning – My experience

    After my recent trip to South Africa, my Konica Minolta Dynax 7D digital SLR camera had a significant problem with dust on the sensor (5 or 6 spots very visible on clear skies or plain surfaces). I decided to go for the Sensor Swabs from Photographic Solutions Inc. All in all, this is a very…

  • Disk defragmenting on the cheap

    HardwareLogic offers to go much further than the usual defragmentation offered in standard by Microsoft. In a detailled article, they describe the use of Contig (a Microsoft tool with an indigent command-line interface) and Power Defragmenter GUI (a software application that provides exactly the right human-readable interface for the previous one). Two free tools that…

  • A terrible name for HDR photo under Linux: Qtpfsgui

    Qtpfsgui is really the name of this utility program for GNU/Linux that allows to do High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography by grouping several images exposed differently to get a new image surprisingly clear and readble. Any Linux-loving digital photographer should try it.

  • Dye sublimation explained

    I previously wrote about the various techniques used for inkjet printing, but a good reader (thanks Daniel!) made me notice that there is a technique less common than the usual dye-based or pigment inks. I admit easily that I did not know it before. But it is a slightly older technique that was used by…

  • Extend your WiFi network, the repeater solution

    The #1 problm of WiFi networks (well before the speed of data transfers)? Merely, the network range. There is always a corner of the office or of the house that is not reachable (or nearly not reachable) with your WiFi-enabled laptop: in the master’s room upstairs when the router is installed in the office downstairs,…

  • I love time zones

    I love time zones

    I have always been fascinated by the elegance of globe map representations showing the zones lighted by the Sun or left in the night. Probably because the longues undulating sinusoids remind me of when I was still able to play with mathematical equations (I am quite rusted now). I tend to easily notice such a…

  • 1 Tera-pixel!

    1000 millions of pixels, that was good enoug. 1000 billions of pixels is better! But it’s really a technical challenge. Before we can see the first 1 Tera-pixel digital photo camera (don’t wait for it), Aperio defined an extension to the TIFF image format allowing to create such a large image. Even better, they demonstrated…

  • Watch TV online for free

    OK, I know that I don’t have TV because I don’t want to be continuously force-fed with mindless junk. However, plenty of people would like to be able to have their TV on the Internet. Up to now, you were mostly depending on your ISP and possibly some subscription additional to your basic broadband Internet…

  • Models at 1/6th scale

    Models at 1/6th scale

    For the amateurs of models, trains and military dioramas, here is a site where you’ll find photos of a surprisingly good work at 1/6th scale.