Entries Tagged as 'r2h'

#wtrip11 – The Video – Newcastle to Melb in 4 Min ( ripping down the Hume at 300kph )

The first roadtrip with the Wolfcat Cubs for Xmas…. and it worked. The Cubs were very well behaved. We broke the trip up and back into two days.

The video from the trip up suffered from the usual technical problems ( this time a blown power inverter half way up ).. but with a new inverter onboard I finally got a clean video run for the trip home.

This shows the trip from Edgeworth ( Newcastle ) to Melbourne down the F3, around Sydney and down the Hume, stopping overnight in Jugiong then on to Melbourne. ( Approx 1100km in distance )
The video is also availble in 720p HD as well, just watch it on youtube 🙂

( and yes that is me at 2:09 taking photos )

(as far as the map is concerned, please ignore the error that Google Maps has that refuses to let you drive down the Hume near Holbrook )


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On reflection it was a good drive

The car in reflection of a truck hub on the trip home.

Kingston SE to Adelaide Video for #wtrip10

The Video

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route: 350km Approx


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The Drive from Warrnambool to Kingston SE #wtrip10

The Video

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route – Approx: 416 km


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Quick Drive Video up the Old Corrong Road

The Video

The Route
41.3 km – about 1 hour 39 mins


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Great Ocean Road in 2 Min 25 – HD Version

Finally got to do a HD Video of the Great Ocean Road….

Note to self: Never do the Great Ocean Road on the weekend or in Summer, people are idiots and drive slowly and never use turn outbays ever.

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route:

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The Drive Adelaide to Melbourne in 7 Min

First video from #wtrip10…. the one day drive from Adelaide to Melbourne.

Video from a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, attached to an Asus R2H and a Seagate 880 USB HD. Video captured at 5fps 720p quality. Then speed up in Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route


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A suprise near conclusion for the #telstradesire

When I started this, I was thinking would I use this phone to replace my Nokia n95-8gb and whilst the answer is a qualified yes… there is a different item it may well end up replacing.

The Car Computer for the Road Trip My UMPC, the Asus R2H which I use primarily as my car computer these days (yes I am that sad I have a car computer).  I’ll need to trick it up a bit.. like with a bigger SD card or two but it could be possible.  The main things I do with the R2H are make time-lapse driving videos (eg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwjbluNF3So)  and run OziExplorer for offline detailed topomaps to see where I am and where I want to go.  Google maps just doesn’t cut it when you get off the beaten path. And have some music to sing along badly to.

With a few well choosen Apps I could do this.  It is going to take sometime to work it all out, but I really think that this is possible.

There are a few things that the R2H can do that the Desire can not.. storage and downloading photos from my D90, but I can still take the computer for longer trips, just not mount it on the windscreen.  One of these weekends I’ll get a decent screen mount, and I already have a lighter to USB power supply, plug in my FM transmitter to the headphone jack and I think it can be done.

I really wish that I could get offline navigation for free like I can on my Nokia with Ovi Maps (well not free $10 because I have an old phone) but still… the fact I am even considering this I think is noteworthy about the device.

http://www.wolfcat.com.au/randomrants/tag/r2h

3000K of Australia in under 7min

This is the main part of my trip compressed down to just over 7 min of video.

Of course like all tech there were some issues, namely the HD died on the way to Canberra taking with it the video from Newcastle to Canberra and also meaning I could not get the Canberra to Melbourne video as well.

However this still covers over 3000k of Australia from Melbourne to outback NSW to West Queensland then down the Pacific Highway to Newcastle.

I recorded each days video or approx 500k of compressed video then ran all those subvideos to make this master file.

Enjoy the changing landscape of this amazing country.

The video was all recorded at 10FPS onto my WD 320 HD as avi’s from a logtech 3000 webcam recording into virtualdub. At the end of each day the video was compressed using Windows Movie Maker on a Hp Mini Note running Vista, then all the subvideos were compressed again, using the good old speed up double till the movie was below the 10min mark. Nothing more complicated than that.

Yes I am in the video at approx 2:45 when I got out to photograph a lizard on the road.

The Approx Route:

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This image was taken at 4min 22 in the video.
Driving into Rain (B&W Version)

(The Car Computer… set up)
The Car Computer for the Road Trip

If you are reading this…. Chances are you are not the iPad audience…

I’ve given up even trying to read the pro and anti iPad hype or even the iTampon jokes (yes I may have made one or two on twitter myself).  I’ve given up trying to argue with zealot fans on both sides of the argument (*). I’ve even given up reading the tech specs of the competing devices or which price point each device fits into.

Lake Mountain Snow ChaseI thought about doing a blog post pointing out how my 3 year old Asus R2H is still more powerful. How flexible and user friendly it is in the full knowledge that I could do a nice little graph showing all the features and benefits of the device.  Here in lies the issue, the R2H is a great device which I use all the time. Sadly though as one of the first Origami devices from Asus and Microsoft most of you have never heard of it.

This is a device like so many was built for those like me. Not built for an audience that was going to buy it.

This is where people are failing in their criticism of the iPad.  Of course the Kindle is cheaper; of course a Win7 based netbook has more functionality for half the price; of course the Nexus One has a processor just as if not faster.

Why would anyone buy an iPod when the Zen drives have more storage and are cheaper.

Yes if you are reading this and even know what a Zen drive is you are already showing yourself not to be the target audience.  In a world where people Google for something, Photoshop an image and listen to their music on an iPod you see what has become genericized in the tech industry.  People may not even use Google, Photoshop or an iPod, but these are the terms we use when using similar tools. Not because these companies were the first (or even best) but they were the ones that created the tools and the framework to establish themselves as the dominate paradigm and a verb.

The CrowdSure the iPad doesn’t have a changeable battery, can’t multitask, is a closed OS environment, doesn’t have Flash, and so forth.  There is also the very long list of acronyms that the public never understand, that is does and does not have. Even with all of these points there is the fact that it costs more than devices that can do all of the above.

The feature list on my 2 year old Nokia N95-8GB in some aspects still outstrips the iPhone 3GS, such as the camera, flash, Real (for streaming audio), multitasking. Which phone do people now own and which phone do people even remember.

People are buying iPhones and iPods despite the reasons the tech commentators complained about in the first place.  Why because Apple marketed the devices to the people that wanted them, not people like you and I.

When I built my new computer for home last year it would have cost me twice as much to build even close to the same specs in the Apple environment, but then I am not the audience.  If you are dual booting your Mac laptop into Linux distro’s and have jail -broken your iPhone you also are not the audience.

Front row at #media140The iPad will make a lot of money for Apple, you developers are going to need them.  I guarantee before year’s end you will see people sitting on the train reading books and watching video on the commute to and from work.  Parents will buy them for themselves and quickly work out that the iPad is the perfect way to quiet children in waiting room or the back of the car. Before very long they will be buying a second device just for the kids.

We can at least for today all pat ourselves on the back as we all know why we won’t buy the iPad.

The arguments that we all used when the iPod and the iPhone were released are still the same today with this new device.  Yet the cult of Mac has grown, grown to the point that now a large number of very technical people use nothing but Mac.  Sure it is not Mac as the public knows it but seeing the Apple logo on the back on a laptop all they see is that it’s a Mac.

Yes we are not the audience… but a large number of you even reading this blog will go out and buy one.  You’ll wait for the jail-break and side load all that useful software.  Some of you will even work out how to put Linux or even Android on the device and Apple will be grateful for the sale.

But you are not the audience, try and remember that.

*ok this part is not true 🙂

New Driving Video (may make you motion sick)

Driving video from the weekend trip to Lake Mountain.

This is the drive home… this time coming via the back road via Warburton through Yarra Junction.  (Where the police pull me over… his question… what was the thing on the windscreen in my car.  The R2H setup I have didn’t look like a GPS.  Poor officer he asked me what it was… didn’t take long for his eyes to glaze over and for him to let me on my way :-). (The standard clip format… R2H video via a webcam under the passengers front visor)

And don’t say I didn’t warn you about the road.  It has the advantage of little or no traffic and is a fun drive and is about the same time and distance as the Black Spur trip as well.

(And the KML)

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And the obligatory shot from the location as well.

Lake Mountain Sunset - 1