![[Valid RSS]](images/valid-rss-rogers.png "Valid RSS")
This is a valid RSS feed.
This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.
line 44, column 0: (43 occurrences) [help]
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
line 96, column 0: (53 occurrences) [help]
line 289, column 0: (3 occurrences) [help]
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><figure id="attachment_1022" aria-des ...
line 316, column 0: (11 occurrences) [help]
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1e9-1f1ea.png" ...
line 457, column 0: (18 occurrences) [help]
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="New York City, Tilt Shift Workshop 2018" wi ...
line 894, column 0: (3 occurrences) [help]
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
line 897, column 0: (3 occurrences) [help]
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf- ...
line 934, column 0: (2 occurrences) [help]
<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/posts/ ...
<p>The episodes, the stories, the music, the depth. Here’s a video abo ...
<p>The episodes, the stories, the music, the depth. Here’s a video abo ...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Chris Marquardt's Soapbox</title> <atom:link href="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com</link> <description>Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else</description> <lastBuildDate>Sun, 07 Jul 2019 14:25:42 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.9</generator> <item> <title>512GB microSD for $6 – Too Good to Be True</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2019/07/07/512gb-microsd-for-6-dollars-too-good-to-be-true/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jul 2019 13:31:18 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[debunk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fake]]></category> <category><![CDATA[flash]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fraud]]></category> <category><![CDATA[huawei]]></category> <category><![CDATA[memory card]]></category> <category><![CDATA[microSD]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reader]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sd card]]></category> <category><![CDATA[speed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[speed test]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tool]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=1054</guid> <description><![CDATA[What you see above is the output of a flash card testing tool called f3read. File 15.h2w is where the corruption sets in… Let’s step back. About a month ago a friend of mine enthusiastically told me how he ordered a super cheap 512GB microSD card for his camera. Just a few dollars, no shipping […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure class="wp-block-image"><img width="1024" height="462" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfail-1024x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1059" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfail-1024x462.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfail-300x135.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfail-768x346.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfail.jpg 1544w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> <p>What you see above is the output of a flash card testing tool called f3read. File 15.h2w is where the corruption sets in… </p> <p>Let’s step back. About a month ago a friend of mine enthusiastically told me how he ordered a super cheap 512GB microSD card for his camera. Just a few dollars, no shipping cost. From China. Of course I was more than skeptical, having fallen prey to at least a couple of cases of fake flash cards before. </p> <p>But for the sake of the greater good, I went ahead and bought not one, but two cards. One with 512MB and the other with 256GB (allegedly). </p> <p>Together they set me back a whopping $10. <br>Let me tell you how it went.</p> <h2>Here’s How They Do It</h2> <p>Let’s first look at fake cards and how they come to be. </p> <p>I’m vastly simplifying here, but in general this is what happens when manufacturers make new flash cards: They don’t make separate cards for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and so on. Instead it is much cheaper to produce mostly larger cards, test them for speed and bad blocks and remap the cards to their final size. So if you buy a 32GB card, it probably mean that the memory chip inside of it is bigger, but it has bad blocks beyond 32GB. The meta-information on the card makes sure that your camera will never get anywhere close to the faulty memory blocks.</p> <p>This is perfectly normal. Until the fraudsters come into the picture. Some people just have too much criminal energy. </p> <p>The (original) factory will scrap memory cards that don’t adhere to a minimum quality level, or they sell them cheaply, because they are either too slow or have too many bad blocks. What the fraudsters will now do is mess with the meta data on the card. The information that tells your camera or computer how many Gigabytes the card can hold.</p> <p>By manipulating that information on the card, just within a few seconds, they turn a 16GB card into a 256GB card. Bad blocks and all.</p> <h2>I Tried It, so You Don’t Have To</h2> <p>Hey, what’s not to like about the prospect of getting a fast 512GB microSD card for only $4. Yes,<strong> four </strong>US dollars. So I went ahead and ordered two cards, one that said Huawei Pro Plus, 256GB, UHS Class 3 (30MB/s), and the other with the same stamped-on specs, but 512GB in size. It took about 4 weeks for them to arrive, as I opted for free shipping from China.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="768" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/APC_0005-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1078" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/APC_0005-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/APC_0005-300x225.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/APC_0005-768x576.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/APC_0005.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>$10 for two cards: Huawei Pro Plus UHS Class 3 256GB and 512GB. Including SD adapters and a USB microSD card reader each. </figcaption></figure> <p>When the cards arrived the other day, I ran f3write against them.</p> <h2>f3 – The Tool</h2> <p>f3 is a suite of command-line tools. I run them on my Mac to test each and every new flash card that I get. Here’s <a href="https://fight-flash-fraud.readthedocs.io/">the f3 website</a>. If you use homebrew, the install is as simple as typing </p> <p><code>brew install f3</code> </p> <p>in the terminal. There’s a Windows alternative too*</p> <p>Here’s how you do it: You’ll need to be a bit comfortable using a terminal and the command line, but it’s not too hard.</p> <p>First format the card (I used ExtFat as the filesystem), then run </p> <p><code>f3write /Volumes/NAME_OF_YOURCARD</code></p> <p>The tool will write sequencial 1GB files to the card until it is full. Yes, with 500GB it writes 500 individual files. That will take a while. Several hours in my case. </p> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="439" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/f3write-1024x439.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1057" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/f3write-1024x439.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/f3write-300x129.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/f3write-768x329.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/f3write.jpg 1292w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Writing 500 1GB files onto a slow(ish) memory card takes time…</figcaption></figure> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="311" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/finishedwriting-1024x311.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1058" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/finishedwriting-1024x311.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/finishedwriting-300x91.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/finishedwriting-768x233.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/finishedwriting.jpg 1330w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>… and then reports an average writing speed of 20.81MB/s </figcaption></figure> <p>After successfully (allegedly) writing all 512GB, the average write speed is reported as 20MB/s, which is below the UHS Class 3 promise of 30MB/s, but hey, the card was only $6, so who am I to complain?</p> <p>I used a reasonably fast card reader to do the test.**</p> <h2>Reading It Back</h2> <p>After f3write has filled the card, all you have to do is run f3read against it. Same syntax, different command: </p> <p><code>f3read /Volumes/NAME_OF_YOURCARD</code></p> <p>then lean back and wait. Mine ran over night, but I could have stopped it much earlier. </p> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="462" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfailfail2-1024x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1063" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfailfail2-1024x462.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfailfail2-300x135.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfailfail2-768x346.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/readfailfail2.jpg 1544w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> <p>f3read tries to read back all the individual 1GB files, to determine these three things:</p> <ol><li>Find out if they can be read at all</li><li>Find out if they are the same files that have been written</li><li>Find out how fast the card can be read</li></ol> <p>In case of the 512GB card, the corrupt sectors started showing in file 15.h2w, which translates to: This 512GB microSD card has 14 usable Gigabytes on it. </p> <p>Fourteen.</p> <p>I didn’t expect it to be quite as bad, but you get what you pay for.</p> <h2>Oh Look, a Free Card Reader</h2> <p>Just for kicks and giggles, I did the same test using the USB card reader that came in the box. The write speed instantly caved to about 11MB/s, which is a bit over half of what the faster card reader did.</p> <h2>Another Reason for Corruption</h2> <p>Not all corrupted cards are fake cards of course. Another way to introduce file systems issues is to pull a memory card before the camera has stopped writing to it. While unlikely, it’s definitely possible.</p> <p>I’m convinced that the 2-second-rule*** has saved my butt (aka the photos on my memory cards) more than once.</p> <h2>Learned Something?</h2> <p>So I knew what I was in for when I ordered the cards and $10 aren’t too much to spend for a good story on a blog and a podcast. But your reasons for buying a card will probably be different ones. </p> <p>So what can we learn something from this?</p> <ol><li>Buying something as easy to fake as memory cards from non-reputable sources is probably a bad idea. The least I will do is make sure I can return the card if it turns out to be a dud.</li><li>Religiously test all cards the moment you receive them. Even the ones you bought in a store. Worst case is you return them. But at least you’ll know their write and read speeds.</li><li>Stick with brands you know and that haven’t let you down in the past. Of course ownership can change (as we saw with <a href="https://www.lexar.com/longsys-acquired-the-lexar-brand-from-micron-and-that-lexar-is-a-company-owned-by-longsys-a-chinese-company/">Lexar</a>), but at least so far this hasn’t failed me. I won’t give you a specific brand recommendation, but I stick with a big name that has been around a long time.</li></ol> <p>And of course: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.</p> <h2>Was It Worth It?</h2> <p>Was it worth for me to buy the two corrupted cards? Absolutely! From the perspective of someone who creates podcasts on photography, this makes for great content while helping some others to avoid the same issue.</p> <p>I also learned that things are still as bad as they used to be 10 years ago.</p> <p>How about financially? Even if I managed to “repair” the metadata on the card and turn it into a proper working card that officially reported 14GB as its size (it’s possible), it wouldn’t really work out: At the time of writing this article, I can get a perfectly good 16GB UHS Class 10 microSD card for well under $10. I paid $6 for a dodgy 14GB card that claims to do 512GB and that took 4 weeks to arrive. And for which I don’t have any hope of returning it and getting my money back.</p> <p>At least they tossed free microSD USB readers in the box albeit slow and flimsy ones.</p> <p>But for the majority of readers I’d say keep your hands off those cheap offers. Spend a few more bucks to get something decent. You can buy a 128GB UHS Class 3 microSD card from a reputable brand for well under $30. </p> <p>Above all, is it worth the risk of losing valuable photos? Probably not.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <p>* The Windows alternative is called <a href="https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2testw-50539">H2testw</a> from German publisher Heise.</p> <p>** I used my pretty descent USB 3.0 Transcend TS-RDF8K card reader to do thes tests.</p> <p>*** The 2-second rule: After turning off your camera or after opening the card latch, wait for two seconds until you physically pull out the card. Some cameras will write to a card for a second after you turned it off and pulling the card too early could lead to corrupted data. I haven’t had a flash card issue in 10 years. </p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Von der Quelle in den Tank</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/12/23/von-der-quelle-in-den-tank/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 23 Dec 2018 11:42:13 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Mobility]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=1021</guid> <description><![CDATA[Ich diskutiere gerne und über viele Themen. Besonders zum Beispiel über die Elektrifizierung unserer Mobilität. Dabei bleiben entsprechende Gegenargumente nicht aus. Der Strommix in Deutschland sei viel zu schmutzig, der Wirkungsgrad würde übertrieben, andere Technologien seien deutlich vielversprechender. Da komme selbst ich ab und zu mal ins Stolpern. Wenn zum Beispiel ab sofort alle Autos […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><figure id="attachment_1022" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1022" style="width: 3268px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/max-bender-560106-unsplash.jpg" alt="" width="3268" height="4896" class="size-full wp-image-1022" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/max-bender-560106-unsplash.jpg 3268w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/max-bender-560106-unsplash-200x300.jpg 200w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/max-bender-560106-unsplash-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/max-bender-560106-unsplash-684x1024.jpg 684w" sizes="(max-width: 3268px) 100vw, 3268px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-1022" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Max Bender</figcaption></figure><br />Ich diskutiere gerne und über viele Themen. Besonders zum Beispiel über die Elektrifizierung unserer Mobilität. Dabei bleiben entsprechende Gegenargumente nicht aus. Der Strommix in Deutschland sei viel zu schmutzig, der Wirkungsgrad würde übertrieben, andere Technologien seien deutlich vielversprechender. Da komme selbst ich ab und zu mal ins Stolpern.</p><p>Wenn zum Beispiel ab sofort alle Autos mit Strom statt mit fossilen Brennstoffen fahren würden, würde dann unser Stromnetz zusammenbrechen? (Antwort: Nein, würde es nicht. Die Voll-Elektrifizierung des Verkehrs würde nur 20% der gesamten Elektrizität in Deutschland verbrauchen). Oder stimmt es, dass das Wasserstoffauto einen Wirkungsgrad hat, der dem Elektroauto den Rang abläuft? (Antwort: Nein, stimmt nicht. Von der Quelle bis zum Rad gerechnet erreicht das rein elektrische Fahren hier deutlich mehr). Basiert der Strommix in Deutschland tatsächlich auf 80% Kohle und Gas? (Nein, tut er nicht).</p><p>Michael von Hohnhorst hat auf Medium einen gut recherchierten und mit nachvollziehbaren Quellen belegten Artikel verfasst, der ausführlich, unaufgeregt und äußerst sachlich mit vielen Vorurteilen aufräumt. </p><p>Aus diesem Artikel ergibt sich nur ein logischer Schluss: “Es ist nicht mehr die Frage, ob die Elektromobilität kommt, sondern wie schnell sie sich durchsetzen wird.”</p><p>Ich denke es lohnt sich, sich diesen Link für die nächste Diskussion mit den Unbelehrbaren ins Munitionsköfferchen wegzuspeichern.</p><p>Zum Artikel: <a href="https://medium.com/@lukasvh/die-elektrifizierung-der-mobilität-warum-die-zukunft-elektrisch-fahren-wird-und-das-schneller-e21e0d98a5f6">Die Elektrifizierung der Mobilität: Warum die Zukunft elektrisch fahren wird — und das schneller, als man denkt</a></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Sprachen / 🇬🇧 Languages</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/12/23/%f0%9f%87%a9%f0%9f%87%aa-sprachen-%f0%9f%87%ac%f0%9f%87%a7-languages/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 23 Dec 2018 11:20:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[English]]></category> <category><![CDATA[flags]]></category> <category><![CDATA[German]]></category> <category><![CDATA[languages]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=1015</guid> <description><![CDATA[🇩🇪 Ich poste hier mehrsprachig. Manchmal auf deutsch, manchmal englisch. Das entscheide ich aus dem Bauch. Je nach dem, ob ich denke, dass der Artikel interessanter oder relevanter für eine deutschsprachige Leserschaft ist, oder halt doch eher international. Damit die Sprache der Artikel leichter erkennbar ist, habe ich die Titel einiger bisheriger Artikel mit Sprachflaggen […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash.jpg" alt="" width="5472" height="3648" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1018" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash.jpg 5472w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/capturing-the-human-heart-528371-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 5472px) 100vw, 5472px" /></p><p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1e9-1f1ea.png" alt="🇩🇪" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> Ich poste hier mehrsprachig. Manchmal auf deutsch, manchmal englisch. Das entscheide ich aus dem Bauch. Je nach dem, ob ich denke, dass der Artikel interessanter oder relevanter für eine deutschsprachige Leserschaft ist, oder halt doch eher international. Damit die Sprache der Artikel leichter erkennbar ist, habe ich die Titel einiger bisheriger Artikel mit Sprachflaggen gekennzeichnet und werde das auch in Zukunft hier so handhaben. </p><p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1ec-1f1e7.png" alt="🇬🇧" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> My posts on this blog are multi-lingual. Sometimes in German, sometimes in English. I decide this based on my gut feeling. If I think an article might be more interesting or relevant to a German-speaking audience, I write in in German. Otherwise in English. To make it easier to see the language of an article right away, I have marked the titles of many previous posts with an according flag. Future articles will be marked too.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 RSVP: Free Wide-Angle Webinar on Oct/3</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/09/26/rsvp-free-wide-angle-webinar-on-oct-3/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Sep 2018 21:06:42 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free]]></category> <category><![CDATA[photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rsvp]]></category> <category><![CDATA[webinar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wide-angle]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=989</guid> <description><![CDATA[Heya, I will hold a free webinar on the challenges of Wide-Angle photography on Oct 3 2018 at 11am Pacific Time. Can’t make that time? Register anyway, because that way (and only that way) you will get access to the free replay later. Again, everyone who RSVP’s will receive both a link to the live […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" title="wide-angle_webinar.png" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wide-angle_webinar.png" alt="Free Webinar on Wide-Angle Photography with Chris Marquardt - RSVP NOW" width="795" height="534" border="0" /></p><p>Heya, I will hold a free webinar on the challenges of Wide-Angle photography on Oct 3 2018 at 11am Pacific Time.</p><p>Can’t make that time? Register anyway, because that way (and only that way) you will get access to the free replay later.</p><p>Again, everyone who RSVP’s will receive both a link to the live webinar, and a link to the replay. </p><p>Did I mention it’s FREE?</p><p>The live webinar is on Wednesday, October 3rd at 11am Pacific Time / 20:00 Central European Time.</p><p>» <a href="https://events.genndi.com/register/169105139238464306/a8101c870c">REGISTER HERE</a></p><p>Looking forward to seeing you there.</p><p>And please share this on your social media, here’s the shortcut link: https://tfttf.com/webinar2018</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Enterprise Car Rental Gone Wrong</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/08/28/enterprise-car-rental-gone-wrong/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 28 Aug 2018 21:16:11 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=960</guid> <description><![CDATA[My apologies, dear followers, for putting this here. I hate to use my platforms to write about things like this, but we’ve just been through the most ridiculous car rental experience of my life and by putting this online, I hope that it will help others when deciding who to rent their cars from. The […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My apologies, dear followers, for putting this here. I hate to use my platforms to write about things like this, but we’ve just been through the most ridiculous car rental experience of my life and by putting this online, I hope that it will help others when deciding who to rent their cars from.</p><p><strong>The short tl;dr version of our little odyssey:</strong> </p><p><em>For a photo tour I rented a car from Enterprise rent-a-car in Ireland. The car (and several follow-ups) had issues and we needed to swap vehicles four times until we finally got one that was safe and not faulty. In the process we lost valuable time that was planned and needed for our photo tour and which annoyed our paying clients. In total it was a bit of a disaster, but Enterprise finally delivered a working vehicle and is trying to make up for it by offering to refund part of our pre-payment.</em></p><p>If you came here through an internet search, a quick word about me: I do photo tours in different parts of the world. I have rented cars in many places and from many car rental companies like Hertz, Sixt, Alamo, Avis, Europcar and of course Enterprise. And from smaller local ones too. I don’t consider myself a fussy car rental customer at all. I don’t mind a few dings here and there. All I want is a car that works, that is clean, safe and that fits my needs.</p><p><strong>The long version of our experience, in chronological order:</strong></p><p><strong>July 2018:</strong> Depending on the kind of photo tour I either hire transportation or if we need to be nimble and fexible, we self-drive. In this specific case we chose the latter option. So I booked well in advance to make sure to have the right vehicle for our August 2018 Ireland photo tour. I knew we would need a 7-seater at Donegal airport, so I looked at the options, found Enterprise rent-a-car and booked online a month in advance. I also pre-paid right away, almost 890 EUR for 10 days.</p><p><strong>2018-08-24:</strong> While I was waiting at Dublin airport in the morning, Enterprise called me to ask if it was okay if they gave me an automatic instead of a shift car. I didn’t mind and thought it was really nice of them to ask.</p><p>I arrived at Donegal Airport in the afternoon, they gave me a Ford Galaxy. As is often the case with rental cars, it had a few dings and scratches, which I didn’t mind. We noted everything in the contract so there was a record and I wouldn’t be held responsible later on. Standard practice, very professional.</p><p>I drove towards Dunfanaghy, which is our photo tour base camp. It’s about a 45 minute drive. Some 20 kilometers into the drive it became obvious that something wasn’t right with the right rear tire. I checked and it was only half filled. I inflated the tire at a gas station.</p><p><strong>2018-08-25:</strong> The tire didn’t hold up over night, it lost enough pressure to get me worried. Luckily I had to go pick up a client from the airport anyway, so I returned the car and asked for a fix. They had no 7-seater available, the Enterprise rent-a-car office at Donegal Airport is quite small. But as I had to return to the airport again the next day for another pickup, they gave me a Seat Leon for the day, so they could repair the Ford and then swap it back the next day. Good plan.</p><p><strong>2018-08-26:</strong> I returned to Donegal airport to swap the Seat back for the Ford Galaxy. I was a bit surprised to be told something along the lines of “we brought it to the garage, they inflated the tire and they said there’s nothing wrong with it”. I insisted on a fix, as I wouldn’t feel safe to drive my clients around in a car with a leaky tire. Safety first, especially on the windy Irish roads. The Enterprise rent-a-car manager (?) finally agreed to fix it. He even gave me his private phone number and asked me to call him the next morning at eight to arrange for a car swap where they would deliver a working car from the Letterkenny office.</p><p>I drove back to Dunfanaghy with the leaky tire, while keeping an eye on the tire pressure.</p><p><strong>2018-08-27:</strong> I called the manager at 8, he wasn’t in the office just yet and promised to return the call by 8:30.</p><p>We topped up the tire and started our planned photo tour, driving south for the day. We received the promised call a bit later while driving. They had another 7-seater available for us and they would send someone from Letterkenny to where we were and swap it out. We arranged to swap in Dungloe.</p><p>An Enterprise employee showed up with an equivalent replacement car at the agreed place and time. This would’ve been perfect, if it weren’t for the (not so) minor inconvenience of having a broken boot (trunk). The door wouldn’t open. The Enterprise rent-a-car employee was as surprised as we were. But we are photographers who carry a lot of luggage/gear and need to be in and out of the car with access to our photo equipment, so this was an even worse option for us than the leaky tire.</p><p>The employee promised to find a solution and said he’d call us back later that day.</p><p>We continued our photo tour with the replacement car. Getting our equipment in and out of the car by folding down the back seats was not much fun and slowed us down.</p><p>We didn’t hear back from Enterprise by 8pm, so we called the Enterprise hotline. After explaining what was going on, the call abruptly ended. Did they hang up on us? Not sure, might have also been a technical issue. (As an aside, a friend <a href="https://twitter.com/PlannerSean/status/1034163482445467648">told us about his own problems with aborted calls with Enterprise Ireland</a>). We called them again and explained everything from the start. We managed to escalate this to their UK office, who then involved the Dublin office who finally got to the Enterprise Letterkenny office. They promised us a call back.</p><p>The call arrived a while later, it was the Enterprise Letterkenny manager and he promised a fix and a call in the morning at 8:30. </p><p><strong>2018-08-28:</strong> We received a call by a lady from Enterprise rent-a-car at about 8:15. She said she would deliver the car by 9:00. Our original plans were to leave at 8:30. We waited with our clients. At around 9:10 we received a text message from her apologising for being late and that she would deliver the car by 9:30.</p><p>She finally arrived at 9:45 with the Ford Galaxy, which had a new right rear tire. Our photo day could finally begin around 10:00. The tire seemed to be alright, holding the pressure this time. We used the car all day and it didn’t have any further issues.</p><p><strong>Here we are</strong></p><p>This is where we are right now. In the middle of a photo tour, four car swaps later and not really happy with our experience with Enterprise rent-a-car. But in all fairness, the lady who delivered the car this morning said that to make up for the inconvenience she’d reduce the bill and give us a partial refund.</p><p>Because of this mess, we weren’t able to give our clients the full experience that they paid for. This might cost us future business.</p><p>After several tries Enterprise rent-a-car finally did came around and they got us a car that works and that’s safe. I wish there were alternatives at Donegal airport though. Unfortunately it looks like Enterprise rent-a-car seems to be in a monopoly position in that location.</p><p>In the end I can only leave it up to you to speculate what weird chain of circumstances might have lead to this mess of a car rental experience with Enterprise in Ireland.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Lüftergestützes Podcasten</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/08/04/luftergestutzes-podcasten/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 04 Aug 2018 18:06:56 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=952</guid> <description><![CDATA[Es ist Sommer und es ist heiß. Zumindest so heiß, dass mein Studio mit Fenstern in Richtung Osten schon morgens hübsch warm wird. Das einzige was hier hilft ist Durchzug, egal ob durch offene Fenster oder mittels Ventilator. (Und keine Sorge, Durchzug ist nicht böse). Das offene Fenster ist hier auf dem Land normalerweise bei […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Es ist Sommer und es ist heiß. Zumindest so heiß, dass mein Studio mit Fenstern in Richtung Osten schon morgens hübsch warm wird. Das einzige was hier hilft ist Durchzug, egal ob durch offene Fenster oder mittels Ventilator. (Und keine Sorge, <a href="https://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/wettermacher/index.php/475/das-ammenmaerchen-vom-boesen-durchzug/">Durchzug ist nicht böse</a>).</p><p><img loading="lazy" title="IMG_1740.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_1740-1.jpg" alt="IMG 1740" width="1512" height="1512" border="0" /></p><p>Das offene Fenster ist hier auf dem Land normalerweise bei der Podcast-Aufnahme kein Problem. Es sei denn, die Bauern müssen wegen der derzeitigen Dürre ihr Getreide Noternten. Dann ist der Traktorverkehr und die damit verbundene Beschallung durchaus deutlich.</p><p>Die Alternative ist also: Fenster zu und Ventilator an. Die Pustequirle sind aber meist nicht leise und das beißt sich wieder mit dem Podcasten. Da kam mir die Idee, statt des auf dem Boden in einiger Entfernung stehenden lauten Püsters einen 140mm kleinen leisen, regelbaren, doppel-kugelgelagerten und USB-anstöpselbaren PC-Lüfter zu kaufen, der mich direkt von vorne aus ca. 40cm Entfernung anpustet. Der Luftstrom ist jetzt zwar nicht so orkanartig, wie bei den dicken Lüftern, dafür kommt der stetige Luftstrom ganz aus der Nähe und reicht mir so vollkommen aus. </p><p>Ich kann das Pusteteil zwar immer noch mit meinen Ohren hören. Dank seiner <a href="https://shuredeutschland.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/mikrofongrundlagen-richtcharakteristik/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true/">Nierencharakteristik</a> und dank der Tatsache, dass die Rückseite des Mikrofons jetzt genau zum Lüfter zeigt, ist er aber in der Aufnahme quasi akustisch unsichtbar. Das Mikrofon kann einfach gut ignorieren, was von hinten schallt.</p><p>Fazit: mit der Kombination aus Røde NT-USB (<a href="https://amzn.to/2vCvqT7">Affiliate-Link</a>), AC Infinity MULTIFAN S4 (<a href="https://amzn.to/2AGVxhv">Affiliate-Link</a>) und der richtigen Ausrichtung des Mikrofons ist jetzt Podcasten bei geschlossenem Fenster ohne Hitzetod und mit trotzdem gutem Sound möglich. Wegen mir darf’s also erst mal heiß bleiben. </p><p>Übrigens, <a href="https://thefutureofphotography.com/media/tfop040.mp3">so klingt das dann</a>, also quasi genau wie vorher <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f642.png" alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="https://thefutureofphotography.com/media/tfop040.mp3" length="27634622" type="audio/mpeg" /> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Das DIY-Reprostativ</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/07/14/das-diy-reprostativ/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 14 Jul 2018 17:06:03 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=947</guid> <description><![CDATA[Jochen Möller hat’s entwickelt, Firma Dold hat es als Selbstbaukit für einen guten Preis in ihren Shop getan und wir haben jetzt eins davon in der Viewfinder-Villa stehen. Der Zusammenbau hat ca. 20 Minuten gedauert, als Werkzeug bin ich mit zwei unterschiedlich großen Imbusschlüsseln (Innensechskant) ausgekommen, einen mit 4 und einen mit 3 Millimetern. Was […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" title="reprostativ_verpackt.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/reprostativ_verpackt.jpg" alt="Reprostativ, frisch geliefert" width="640" height="480" border="0" /></p><p>Jochen Möller hat’s entwickelt, Firma Dold hat es als Selbstbaukit für einen guten Preis <a href="https://www.dold-mechatronik.de/Copy-Stand-Kit-V5">in ihren Shop getan</a> und wir haben jetzt eins davon in der Viewfinder-Villa stehen.</p><p><img loading="lazy" title="reprostativ_ausgepackt.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/reprostativ_ausgepackt.jpg" alt="Reprostativ ausgepackt" width="640" height="480" border="0" /></p><p>Der Zusammenbau hat ca. 20 Minuten gedauert, als Werkzeug bin ich mit zwei unterschiedlich großen Imbusschlüsseln (Innensechskant) ausgekommen, einen mit 4 und einen mit 3 Millimetern.</p><p><img loading="lazy" title="reprostativ_aufbau.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/reprostativ_aufbau.jpg" alt="Reprostativ, Aufbau" width="640" height="480" border="0" /></p><p>Was man separat dazu benötigt: Stativhalterung (eine Empfehlung ist in der Bauanleitung), eine <a href="https://absolutanalog.de/2017/04/negative-mit-lichtplatte-digitalisieren/">LED-Leuchtplatte</a>, ein paar Filzgleiter, wie sie unter Möbel kommen (2,5 x 2,5cm, Baumarkt), eine Kamera und ein Makro-Objektiv (oder ein normales Objektiv mit Zwischenringen). </p><p><img loading="lazy" title="reprostativ_v5_by_jochen_moeller.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/reprostativ_v5_by_jochen_moeller.jpg" alt="Reprostativ V5 by Jochen Möller" width="640" height="480" border="0" /></p><p>Als nächstes hoffen wir, dass der Negativhalter <a href="http://pixl-latr.com/">pixl-latr</a> möglichst schnell produziert wird. In der Kombination ist das alles dann vermutlich fast unschlagbar.</p><p> </p><p>Hier noch mal die Links in kompakt:</p><p><a href="https://www.dold-mechatronik.de/Copy-Stand-Kit-V5">Reprostativ V5 Kit</a></p><p><a href="https://absolutanalog.de/2017/04/negative-mit-lichtplatte-digitalisieren/">LED-Leuchtplatte</a></p><p><a href="http://pixl-latr.com/">pixl-latr</a></p><p>Es gibt dazu auch noch <a href="https://absolutanalog.de/podcast/absolutanalog/show/aap041">eine kurze Podcast-Folge</a> von uns.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 New York City 2018 – Impressions</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/06/21/new-york-city-2018-impressions/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 21 Jun 2018 10:36:26 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=940</guid> <description><![CDATA[A few impressions from the Canon New York City Tilt-Shift Architecture and Street photography workshop. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A few impressions from the Canon New York City Tilt-Shift Architecture and Street photography workshop. </p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="New York City, Tilt Shift Workshop 2018" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GKIJyrGqsG4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 45 Seconds on the Castle</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/05/27/45-seconds-on-the-castle/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 27 May 2018 19:04:36 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=936</guid> <description><![CDATA[We spent the weekend at Berlepsch Castle in Germany to hold a photo workshop. It was the third time we were there and Boris had organized models, a modeling coach and a wonderful location (“Rittersaal”), the most beautiful room the castle has to offer. Always great to be there! Here’s a 45-second look at one […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We spent the weekend at Berlepsch Castle in Germany to hold a photo workshop. It was the third time we were there and Boris had organized models, a modeling coach and a wonderful location (“Rittersaal”), the most beautiful room the castle has to offer. Always great to be there! </p><p>Here’s a 45-second look at one of the photo sessions:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Happy Shooting Schlossgespenster - Fotoworkshop auf Schloss Berlepsch" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1boxOeo3rlg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p><a href="https://happyshooting.de/workshop">Happy Shooting Workshops</a></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Tilt Shift: Seven Lenses In One</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/05/14/tilt-shift-seven-lenses-in-one/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2018 14:27:51 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=917</guid> <description><![CDATA[I just returned from an amazing weekend teaching Tilt-Shift photography in New York City. The workshop was organised by Canon Live Learning, a division of Canon Inc. who made this a wonderful experience for everyone. This 3-day workshop was amazingly well organised and Canon provided a stunning amount of gear and technical instruction to everyone. […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-920 size-full" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9869.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9869.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9869-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9869-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9869-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" />I just returned from an amazing weekend teaching Tilt-Shift photography in New York City. The workshop was organised by Canon Live Learning, a division of Canon Inc. who made this a wonderful experience for everyone. This 3-day workshop was amazingly well organised and Canon provided a stunning amount of gear and technical instruction to everyone. Thanks everyone for pulling this off!</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-927" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9645-HDR.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9645-HDR.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9645-HDR-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9645-HDR-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9645-HDR-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></p><p>Why tilt-shift? Well, Canon has the world’s best line-up of these lenses, ranging from 17 to 135mm. These lenses are extremely versatile beasts. You get at least SEVEN lenses in ONE and I’ve been shooting several of these lenses for almost a decade now.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-921" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9716.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9716.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9716-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9716-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9716-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></p><p>Here’s what they can do:</p><ol><li>A tilt-shift lens is a super sharp prime lens</li><li>Shift lets you correct perspective. Or exaggerate it. Your choice.</li><li>Shift lets you emphasise parts of the frame</li><li>Shift can make your camera disappear in mirrors</li><li>Shift can help make your panoramas better</li><li>Tilt can give you seemingly infinite depth of field while using a wide-open aperture</li><li>Tilt lets you emphasise portions of the picture while de-emphasising others</li><li>Tilt lets you create a pseudo miniature effect</li><li>Some of these lenses will double as excellent macro lenses, too</li></ol><p>Tilt-shift lenses work great for architecture, portraits, street photography, landscapes, food photography… you name it. Or in short: there is almost no genre of photography that cannot benefit from a tilt-shift lens.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-928" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9698-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9698-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9698-200x300.jpg 200w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9698-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9698.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></p><p>Of course you can best learn all the tricks these lenses can do on a workshop, away from your daily treadmill. And that’s what we did, together with 14 awesome students who had come to NYC from all over the US.</p><p>What a wonderful group of people, I’ll miss you all!</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-930" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/32324231_1693673560711222_6431707864993103872_o.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="479" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/32324231_1693673560711222_6431707864993103872_o.jpg 720w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/32324231_1693673560711222_6431707864993103872_o-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /></p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-925" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9511.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9511.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9511-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9511-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9511-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-926" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9624.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9624.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9624-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9624-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9624-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-923" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9825.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9825.jpg 3000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9825-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9825-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_9825-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></p><p> </p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 78°N and Back</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/03/23/78n-and-back/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 23 Mar 2018 11:40:43 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=907</guid> <description><![CDATA[It’s not often that I get an opportunity like this. In May 2017 we chartered the Noorderlicht, a 100 year old two-mast schooner, to sail with a group of 16 photographers around Svalbard (aka Spitzbergen). We had an amazing time and when the owners Floris and Mariëlle announced they would cross the Barents Sea from […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It’s not often that I get an opportunity like this. In May 2017 we chartered the Noorderlicht, a 100 year old two-mast schooner, to sail with a group of 16 photographers around Svalbard (aka Spitzbergen).</p><p>We had an amazing time and when the owners Floris and Mariëlle announced they would cross the Barents Sea from Norway to Svalbard I got the chance to join the adventure as a quasi crew member.</p><p><img loading="lazy" style="float: left; padding-right: 10px;" title="20180311_IMG_9187.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180311_IMG_9187.jpg" alt="Tromsø Construction" width="1249" height="833" border="0" /><em>Tromsø Construction</em></p><p>We spent three days in the open sea, sailing straight north as fast as we could, through strong winds and wild seas. While I was quite busy during my shifts (4-8 am, 4-8 pm) I managed to do a little filming and put that into a 7-part vlog.</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="NEW ADVENTURES | NOORDERLICHT PT.7" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/14JLHFlgquo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>The seven parts cover everything from stowing supplies to de-icing the ship while at sea and while it was tough. Here is the <a href="https://tfttf.com/noorderlicht2018playlist">full playlist</a>. I would do it again in a heartbeat – and hopefully will in the future.</p><p><img loading="lazy" style="float: left; padding-right: 10px;" title="20180315_6B7A0460.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180315_6B7A0460.jpg" alt="Noorderlicht on Ice" width="1249" height="833" border="0" /><em>Noorderlicht on Ice</em></p><p><strong>A few links:</strong></p><ul><li>If you want to know more about the Noorderlicht, check out their <a href="http://noorderlicht.nu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.</li><li>Check out <a href="http://curiouslypolar.com/curiouslypolar/show/cp037" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode 37 of Curiously Polar</a> where we cover what it means to cross the Barents Sea.</li><li>To come with me on a future photo tour (possibly even on the Noorderlicht) check out <a href="https://discoverthetopfloor.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discover the Top Floor</a>.</li></ul>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 A sneak-peek at KodakCoin</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/01/09/a-sneak-peek-at-kodakcoin/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2018 23:33:13 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Crypto]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=886</guid> <description><![CDATA[Kodak is building their own blockchain. Or rather KodakOne is. With their own token Kodak Coin. Let me try to explain why I think this is an interesting move. I don’t believe they are building their own blockchain, but they will likely piggy-back on an existing blockchain like Ethereum, which offers features that go beyond […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" title="kodakone.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/kodakone.jpg" alt="Kodakone" width="573" height="124" border="0" /></p><p>Kodak is building their own blockchain. Or rather KodakOne is. With their own token <a href="https://kodakcoin.com"><em>Kodak Coin</em></a>. Let me try to explain why I think this is an interesting move.</p><p>I don’t believe they are building their own blockchain, but they will likely piggy-back on an existing blockchain like Ethereum, which offers features that go beyond just a currency.</p><p>They claim Kodak Coin will enable the following features:</p><ul><li>Image registration: register your images on the block-chain. Once it’s on there, everyone can see it and it can’t be taken off again. Used as proof of ownership.</li><li>Rights management: records and confirms ownership and licensing terms.</li><li>Accounting: that’s the currency portion of the blockchain. Like Bitcoin, but with Kodak Coin as the payment token.</li><li>Distribution platform: licensees and licensors can trade images here.</li><li>Post-licensing: they want to build a platform that crawls the web and finds your registered images for legal enforcement.</li><li>Usage tracking: this will allow you to track where your images are used and in which way.</li></ul><p> </p><p>And last but not least one areas that I find especially intriguing:</p><ul><li>Community Marketplace: they want to bring the entire photo ecosystem (travel, models, venues, studios, etc.) onto the blockchain. Creating an entirely new market place based on a new technology is definitly an ambitious goal. </li></ul><p> </p><p>Many buzzwords, blockchain here and blockchain there. For those who are new to the whole crypto currency space, this is probably highly confusing. And KodakOne is clearly riding the crypto train here, which in other places has been in full swing for a while. The meteoric rise of Bitcoin from $800 to now $14000 in 2017 has gotten quite a few people interested.</p><p>Let me try to shed some light on this. Kodak Coin is an ICO. An Initial Coin Offering. Like an IPO, but in the crypto space. it’s a token crowdsale. A bit like a Kickstarter, just that you invest some Bitcoin or Ether and in return get Kodak Coin tokens that are will be the lubricant for new services.</p><p>Do they have value? They will be sold for a price. And like other crypto currencies, their value will go up as their usefulness rises. So if KodakOne manages to pull off what they claim, Kodak Coin could be used by more and more people for more and more photo-related things and the token’s value will rise with that.</p><p>Here are a few examples of recent or ongoing ICOs: SETHER is being developed as a social media currency. Bob’s Repair issued the BOB token “to eliminate review fraud and provide lower pricing in the home repair industry”, it’s basically a home repair platform based on a blockchain. And Insurepal is trying to revolutionize the insurance industry by being a decentralized insurance platform that uses a crypto currency token as a token of trust and endorsement.</p><p>Those are just a few examples. They are from different fields, but what they have in common is that their tokens will not only be used on their respective platforms and services, they will also act as an investment vehicle. By buying tokens during their ICOs, you’re taking a bet on their success. If the platforms prove to be useful and find their clientele, your investment could yield big payouts. Or you could see nothing in return, if they tank. Like with Kickstarter. Or with traditional stocks.</p><p>Back to Kodak Coin. </p><p>They are trying to do exactly the same, but for the photo industry. All the things mentioned above can definitely be recorded on a blockchain. Images can be registered (there have been Bitcion blockchain-based notary services for years), smart contracts are a thing today (Ethereum has been doing it for a while) and bringing different parts of the photography field together on a new type of de-centralized platform has the chance to change this market.</p><p>At this point nobody can tell if it will. It’s all in the execution and adoption. </p><p>Their ICO is on January 31st. I’ll keep my eyes open.</p><p><em>(update 2018-01-10: spelling, removal of one reference)</em></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 When Casey Neistat Starts A Podcast</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2018/01/05/when-casey-neistat-starts-a-podcast/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jan 2018 14:38:46 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=879</guid> <description><![CDATA[When A-list YouTuber Casey Neistat announces he wants to do a podcast, you know podcasting was the right thing to get into 12 years ago. In his video update Casey Neistat says he needs to “figure it out first” … no, wait, he says “we need this time to figure things out how to do […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When A-list YouTuber Casey Neistat announces he wants to do a podcast, you know podcasting <a href="https://chrismarquardt.com/podcasts.php">was the right thing to get into</a> 12 years ago. </p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="GOTA NEW CAMERA! but mostly this is a boring update vLog" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NGjcPQ05Fns?start=464&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>In his video update Casey Neistat says he needs to “figure it out first” … no, wait, he says “<strong>we</strong> need this time to figure things out how to do it, best practises, …” which of course means: someone from his team needs to figure it out, not Casey himself. He briefly touches on things like they need needs a studio, on sound quality and on figuring out a distribution method.</p><p> </p><p>Sorry, but to a podcaster who has done this for 12 years, this sounds strange. </p><p>Of course, nowadays, if you use the term “podcast”, it might mean any of 500 different things. It could be a cultural phenomenon or a distribution channel for radio shows. Above all (and this is coming from one of the original podcasters) podcast is real.</p><p>All the things Casey mentions sound like they’re looking at a polished production that would be a better fit for radio. And I have nothing against radio. Other than it isn’t podcast. And it is a medium on a time and location limited distribution channel, where every piece has to be edited down to the point where loses part of its soul. </p><p>Podcast is raw, podcast is real, podcast is authentic.</p><p>When Adam Savage was hired by SyFy to host their <a href="http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/podcast-episodes">Origin Stories podcast series</a>, I was first thrilled. Then when I listened to it, it turned out to be highly polished versions (dare I say radio-fied?) of wonderful conversations. And with each episode I listened to, I wished they had just left the whole one-hour-or-longer conversations in there or at least made them available for me to listen. The highly polished versions of those talks just don’t appeal to me. They’re a photoshopped version of a wonderful original. With the wrinkles removed and a few pounds taken off the hips. Hell, I would’ve loved to hear Neil Gaiman’s ummm’s and aaah’s and him clearing his throat. Instead someone took the life out of it.</p><p>That’s missing the true potential of this wonderful medium.</p><p>With Casey Neistat now working for CNN (they bought his company Beme last year), I can only assume that Casey’s podcast will go the same direction. Polished material edited by people who come from an old media background and who want to cater to an audience that has been conditioned to expect bite-sized polished pieces of sound-bites. People who have forgotten how great raw content can feel.</p><p>And there’s one more more surprise in store for Casey: audiences don’t really translate between media. A YouTube viewer will not become a podcast listener. His podcast will not end up anywhere near having the 8.6 million subscribers that his YouTube channel has. His podcast episodes will not get anywhere near the couple of million of listens that his videos get views.</p><p>I had to learn this long ago. When I began appearing on US radio, as a guest on Leo Laporte’s Tech Guy show, which airs in over 170 cities in the US and Canada, that exposed me to a sizable audience every week. Listeners have an interest in tech and thus in gadgets like cameras. My hope was that some of that would rub off on my podcast. My podcast listener numbers kept growing, but in the same organic way that they did before. So regularly talking about photography to a lot of people on the radio doesn’t make them also listen to your podcast. A few maybe, but not in a measurable way.</p><p>So let me make a bold prediction on Casey’s new podcast: due to lack of audience translation it won’t take off in any significant way. There’s a good chance they will shut it down within a year.</p><p>Your thoughts on this?</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Magic Leap One</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/12/20/magic-leap-one/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 20 Dec 2017 14:45:47 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=873</guid> <description><![CDATA[Update: the two major sticking points right now are field of view and multiple focal planes. The first one is definitely not big, according to a piece in Rolling Stone magazine. The multiple focal planes are crucial to avoid convergence accommodation issues, something that has plagued 3D technologies forever. Rolling Stone couldn’t get a clear answer […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Update: </strong>the two major sticking points right now are field of view and multiple focal planes. The first one is definitely not big, according to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/lightwear-introducing-magic-leaps-mixed-reality-goggles-w514479">a piece in Rolling Stone</a> magazine. The multiple focal planes are crucial to avoid convergence accommodation issues, something that has plagued 3D technologies forever. Rolling Stone couldn’t get a clear answer on that one either.</em></p><p>The highly secretive and well-funded <a href="https://magicleap.com/">Magic Leap</a> has finally dropped the curtain. In today’s announcement they introduce their Magic Leap One. No pricing and availability yet, but a better idea on how it looks and what it can do. According to them.</p><p><img loading="lazy" title="ml.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ml.jpg" alt="Magic Leap" width="605" height="486" border="0" /></p><p>Its official title is the “Magic Leap One: Creator Edition”, and they’re shooting for a 2018 release. Its main target are those who want to develop for the platform. Creators. I think it’s also fair to guess that it will be pricey in the beginning.</p><p>It is also more than just the goggles. It connects to a small computer that you carry on your belt. They call that the <em>Lightpack. </em>It also comes with a hand-held controller that helps you interact with the mixed reality in your surroundings.</p><p>It was about time they got a bit less vague in their announcements.</p><p>Here are some of the things Magic Leap claims this will enable in the future:</p><p><em>Take content out of the web.</em> Think online shops with 3D previews of goods.</p><p><em>Create displays.</em> Plaster your surroundings with virtual displays of any size. Stick them somewhere or have them follow you.</p><p><em>Gaming. </em>Integrate games with your real world.</p><p><em>Tele-presence. </em>Meet with virtual avatars of others.</p><p>Let’s keep an eye on this space… </p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 “Auf den Punkt gebracht”</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/12/19/auf-den-punkt-gebracht/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 19 Dec 2017 14:27:14 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=867</guid> <description><![CDATA[Das Weitwinkelbuch ist jetzt im Handel, viele Exemplare sind bereits bei den Leserinnen und Lesern angekommen und was macht man da als Autor? Auf Amazon den Refresh-Button klicken und auf neue Rezensionen hoffen. Und davon tauchen gerade mehrere pro Tag auf. Ich bin ehrlich gesagt etwas geplättet und auch sehr erleichtert 😌, denn irgendwie hatte […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://tfttf.com/wwbuch"><img loading="lazy" title="12431-1.jpg" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/12431-1-1.jpg" alt="Weitwinkelfotografie Cover" width="320" height="400" border="0" /></a></p><p>Das Weitwinkelbuch ist jetzt im Handel, viele Exemplare sind bereits bei den Leserinnen und Lesern angekommen und was macht man da als Autor? Auf Amazon den Refresh-Button klicken und auf neue Rezensionen hoffen. Und davon tauchen gerade mehrere pro Tag auf.</p><p>Ich bin ehrlich gesagt etwas geplättet und auch sehr erleichtert <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f60c.png" alt="😌" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />, denn irgendwie hatte ich halt trotz des eigenen sehr guten Gefühls immer noch das kleine Teufelchen auf der Schulter, das mir ins Ohr flüsterte, dass das Buch entweder zu seicht oder zu tief oder zu unstrukturiert oder oder oder … aber wenn ich in den Rezensionen z.B. lese <em>“Selten wurde in einem Buch über Fotografie Unnötiges so konsequent weggelassen und das Wichtige so sehr auf den Punkt gebracht”</em>, dann plumpst mir trotzdem ein ganz schöner Klotz vom Herzen.</p><p>Und damit: herzlichen Dank allen Rezensenten für die netten Worte. Ich bin zutiefst froh darüber.</p><p>» <a href="https://tfttf.com/wwbuch">zum Buch</a></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Go Home Siri, Germans Don’t Boil Their Rooms</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/12/12/go-home-siri-germans-dont-boil-their-rooms/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Dec 2017 12:32:49 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=862</guid> <description><![CDATA[Our house is partially automated. We started with lights* and a couple of power outlets**, then recently began to adda few thermostats*** into the mix. That’s the extent of it. No locks, no blinds. Our automation system of choice is Apple’s HomeKit. And it’s been fun so far. And a lot more useful than I thought. […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Our house is partially automated. We started with lights* and a couple of power outlets**, then recently began to adda few thermostats*** into the mix. That’s the extent of it. No locks, no blinds. Our automation system of choice is Apple’s HomeKit. And it’s been fun so far. And a lot more useful than I thought. “Set the living room to cozy” brings up a pre-programmed scene with dimmed lights, while “set the hall lights to brightest” is perfect if you’re looking for your keys.</p><p>Of course you can also give the lights percentages from 1 to 100. “Set the living room to 100” sets the brightness of all living room lights to their maximum. At least it used to, until we added the thermostats.</p><p>Now the same command “set the living room to 100” results in the thermostats getting cranked up all the way. Which, in our case, ends up being 86°F.</p><p>Let me take a step back. I live in Germany. We don’t do Fahrenheit. We use the (of course way more logical) Celsius scale. And my iPhone, which controls our HomeKit setup, is set to use degrees Celsius as the temperature unit.</p><p>But for whatever reason, Siri seems a bit confused. Whenever I say “set the living room to 100”, what used to be a perfect command to set the brightness, is now being misinterpreted to mean temperature. Which makes no. Sense. What. So. Ever. Especially in a country that is on the °C scale. Water boils at 100°C. But even in a °F country, you’d never set your room to 100°F.</p><p>I can only assume that Siri thinks I’m referring to Fahrenheit and tries to set the thermostats accordingly. Which it can’t because room temperatures with our thermostats are limited to 30°C (possibly that’s even a HomeKit limit), which is equivalent to the 86°F from above.</p><p>Here’s your solution, Apple: room temperatures range from 17 to 25 degrees Celsius, or about 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. 100 as a temperature for a room is nonsensical in any of the two scales. First, obey the system’s temperature scale setting. Second, apply a bit of logic and define a range within which temperatures make sense.</p><p>Of course, this can all be avoided by adding “lights” or “temperature” to your commands. “Set the living room lights to 100” will yield the expected result. But then, why on earth, Apple, did you allow me to train myself to omit the word “lights” when we didn’t have the thermostats yet?!</p><p>* Philips Hue<br />** Elgato Eve Energy<br />*** Elgato Eve Thermo (2017 model) </p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Weitwinkelfotografie – First Look</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/12/06/weitwinkelfotografie-first-look/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Dec 2017 20:41:14 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=857</guid> <description><![CDATA[Ein Mal im Schlelldurchgang 🙂 (hier im Handel)]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ein Mal im Schlelldurchgang <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f642.png" alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> (<a href="https://tfttf.com/wwbuch">hier im Handel)</a></p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Weitwinkelfotografie - ein erster Blick" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FkHx2TIn7XU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The Future of Photography – The Revolution is NOW</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/11/27/the-future-of-photography-the-revolution-is-now/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 27 Nov 2017 16:31:57 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=853</guid> <description><![CDATA[Ideas take time to take shape. This one began dawning on me a couple of years ago when a friend of mine showed me a picture out of a good digital camera that was all bent out of shape. When I looked at it on my computer, it wasn’t bent at all. That was the […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ideas take time to take shape. This one began dawning on me a couple of years ago when a friend of mine showed me a picture out of a good digital camera that was all bent out of shape. When I looked at it on my computer, it wasn’t bent at all. That was the moment I began to realize that camera manufacturers more or less secretly had begun to routinely modify pictures in camera, way beyond than what “traditional” JPG processing would do.</p><p>We are in the middle of a revolution in photography. Computational photography is hidden in plain sight. Your DSLR does it, your mirrorless camera does it and – to a much larger degree – your smartphone camera does it.</p><p>Let me make a bold prediction. About a year ago, I bought two pro-level DSLRs. I’m sure I won’t ditch those anytime soon, the last one lasted for eight years, but I have the distinct feeling that those two cameras are going to be my last DSLRs. Technology is moving so fast right now, AI is taking care of so many things, we ain’t seen nothing yet.</p><p>Or course, as a professional I take pride in my skills. It took me a long time and it cost quite some money for me to learn all this.</p><p>I have two choices. I either cover my ears and go “laaaa la aaaaaaaaa laaaaaaa it will go away” or I embrace it and explore what is coming.</p><p>Enter “The Future of Photography”, a brand new podcast that tries to go deeper and find out what’s upon us and how we can make the most of it.</p><p>Subscribe to it wherever you get your other podcasts. Or here: » <a href="https://thefutureofphotography.com/">The Future of Photography</a></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The new iPhone is a Clear Piece of Glass</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/09/06/the-new-iphone-is-a-clear-piece-of-glass/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Sep 2017 08:27:53 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=840</guid> <description><![CDATA[Update: It’s two days after the keynote. I was wrong. And so was Robert (Facebook link). I still have no doubt, that we’ll get to that vision within the next year, but Apple is playing this the Apple way, e.g. slowly. Easing everyone into it in good time. One year ago, in October 2016, Robert Scoble […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Update: </strong><em>It’s two days after the keynote. I was wrong. And <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/posts/10155686504504655">so was Robert</a> (Facebook link). I still have no doubt, that we’ll get to that vision within the next year, but Apple is playing this the Apple way, e.g. slowly. Easing everyone into it in good time. </em></p><hr /><p><br clear="all" /><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-837 alignleft" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11870840_10153524611739655_7586413668320955415_n.jpg" alt="" width="160" height="160" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11870840_10153524611739655_7586413668320955415_n.jpg 160w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11870840_10153524611739655_7586413668320955415_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11870840_10153524611739655_7586413668320955415_n-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px" />One year ago, in October 2016, Robert Scoble <a href="https://virtualrealitypop.com/im-inside-tim-cook-s-head-but-i-really-wonder-what-s-going-on-inside-mark-zuckerberg-s-head-5babf01c5713">posted this</a>: “Just had a source that I trust tell me it is a clear piece of glass.” As you can imagine, he was met with some disbelief and even ridicule. And while Robert tends to easily be excited, this time I believe he’s mostly right.</p><p>Now I know it’s not smart of me to come out with bold statements just a few days before the actual reveal of a product, especially as I don’t have any first-hand information. I might look like a fool on September 12. But it’s all quite logical if you think about it.</p><p>We can safely assume a few things:</p><p>1. The iPhone 8 (or whichever name it will have) will have two 3D sensors, one pointing forward, one at you.</p><p>2. It will also have dual front-facing cameras.</p><p>3. It will come with iOS 11 and thus with Apple ARKit.</p><p>4. The iPhone also comes with world-class inertia sensors that can tell rotation and acceleration and help the iPhone know where it is in space and where it’s pointing.</p><p>5. The display will cover most of the front of the phone.</p><p>In short: the iPhone will know where it’s pointing and it will also know where your eyes are. (the eyes part is crucial) And its camera sees what’s in front of it.</p><p>My guess, just 6 days ahead of the big reveal (and most likely not the only one coming to this conclusion): the new iPhone will bring an AR mode which will make it *seem* like it’s made of glass. With all the information it has, It can put on the screen what your eyes would see if the screen wasn’t there, making it seem like the device is made of glass. It can then overlay information on that picture, so it’s like you’re looking through a slab of glass to see AR content.</p><p>It’s a glass simulation. Remember the brushed metal knobs on the music player that would change the light depending on how you held it by using the rotation sensor? That was a simulation that felt a little bit like magic. Remember when Apple introduced the API for depth layering, visible on the lock screen when you tilt the phone? It’s a simulation that felt like magic, and that was especially convincing when demoed through a 2D camera. It falls slightly short when looked at with your own eyes due to the stereo vision, but it demoed really really well on stage.</p><p>Now we’ll get this new simulation that is way more than eye-candy. It’s a logical step towards glasses, it makes the phone disappear even more then before and melt with the real world around it. You will just see the overlays hanging in mid air. And it will be like magic.</p><p>Its only tiny shortfall: you’re looking at a 2D surface with your stereo eyes, so the expected parallax won’t be there. But it will demo really well on stage, when seen through a 2D camera. And it will be close enough for real-world use. The only way to perfect that would be a 3D display, but I don’t think it’ll have that or we would have seen supply chain leaks by now.</p><p>So Robert pretty much got that one right: “it is a clear piece of glass”</p><p>Let’s see on September 12 if his information was correct or if I will look like a fool.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 What they don’t get…</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/30/what-they-dont-get/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:02:48 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=831</guid> <description><![CDATA[There it is again. I’ve seen this article in about a million versions and it’s always about the same thing: why shoot film when you can emulate its look with digital means. *sigh* What these kind of articles completely disregard is that there are so many other reasons to shoot film than just the look. […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There it is again. I’ve seen <a href="https://petapixel.com/2017/08/30/film-vs-digital-lets-put-test/">this article</a> in about a million versions and it’s always about the same thing: why shoot film when you can emulate its look with digital means.</p><p>*sigh*</p><p><figure id="attachment_833" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-833" style="width: 740px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-833" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/angels-1024x776.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="561" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/angels-1024x776.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/angels-300x227.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/angels-768x582.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-833" class="wp-caption-text">Orangerie, Sanssouci Berlin, May 2008. Picture by Chris Marquardt http://www.chrismarquardt.com</figcaption></figure></p><p>What these kind of articles completely disregard is that there are so many other reasons to shoot film than just the look. Working with film is one of the best things you can do to become a better digital photographer. The process teaches you how to expose (ever shot with a hand-held light meter and had to decide what to use as a reference?), how to pour a bit more effort into every single shot (each click will cost you). It will help you slow down (tried 4×5″ large format yet?) and it will make you appreciate the wonders of infrared light and shadow detail without having to sacrifice any highlights. Film will even teach you to see what’s important in your picture by making you manually choose where to focus.</p><p>If you manage to digitally emulate the look of analog film, then you emulate that film at <strong>one</strong> ISO, with <strong>one</strong> specific developer using <strong>one</strong> specific agitation method at <strong>one</strong> specific temperature and <strong>one</strong> specific developer dilution. Those are at least five parameters that you can change. Give the film more light, do a pull development with a different developer using a different development time and your result will be completely different from that digital emulation.</p><p>Film is organic. It’s on a sliding scale and any emulation of “the film look” will always be a teeny tiny scratch on the surface of what is possible. Compare a few different recipes on <a href="http://filmdev.org">filmdev.org</a> and you’ll know what I mean.</p><p>(via <a href="https://petapixel.com/2017/08/30/film-vs-digital-lets-put-test/">Petapixel</a>)</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 2,33mm – 25 Tage später: Formulor.de hat endlich nachgebessert</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/25/formulor-hat-endlich-nachgebessert-nachgeschmack/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:59:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=823</guid> <description><![CDATA[Die leidige Geschichte mit Formulor.de kommt zu einem halbwegs guten Ende. Nach einigem hin und her hat Formulor jetzt endlich nachgebessert und neue, passende Teile sind heute bei mir angekommen, deren Maß innerhalb der Toleranz von 0,5 mm liegt. Noch mal kurz die Chronologie: 31. Juli: ich bestelle bei Formulor, wie schon mehrfach zuvor, Sperrholz-Laserzuschnitt […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-824" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7359-1024x775.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="560" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7359-1024x775.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7359-300x227.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7359-768x582.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p><a href="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/18/ungutes-erlebnis-mit-formulor-modulor/">Die leidige Geschichte mit Formulor.de</a> kommt zu einem halbwegs guten Ende. Nach einigem hin und her hat Formulor jetzt endlich nachgebessert und neue, passende Teile sind heute bei mir angekommen, deren Maß innerhalb der Toleranz von 0,5 mm liegt.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-825" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7358-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p><p>Noch mal kurz die Chronologie:</p><ul><li><strong>31. Juli:</strong> ich bestelle bei Formulor, wie schon mehrfach zuvor, Sperrholz-Laserzuschnitt mit 2 mm Materialstärke.</li><li><strong>11. August:</strong> ich hake nach, weil die Teile, anders als sonst, noch nicht da sind.</li><li><strong>15. August:</strong> die Lieferung ist da, die Teile sind aber mit 2,64 mm zu dick, ich reklamiere per E-Mail.</li><li><strong>15. August:</strong> Herr L. von Formulor sagt, alles sei innerhalb der Toleranz von 0,5 mm. Ich widerspreche.</li><li><strong>18. August:</strong> Herr L. von Formulor schiebt das Problem aufs Wetter und auf meinen Messschieber.</li><li><strong>18. August:</strong> ich habe Hals, trage die Sache hier ins Blog.</li><li><strong>18. August:</strong> Herr L. von Formulor bittet plötzlich um Rücksendung zur Überprüfung. Erst per E-Mail, dann auch telefonisch.</li><li><strong>18. August:</strong> ich schicke die Teile zurück.</li><li><strong>25. August:</strong> die neue Lieferung von Formulor trifft ein. Die Teile sind tadellos.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Alles gut, sollte man meinen. Trotzdem bleibt ein öder Nachgeschmack.</p><p>Zum einen ist nicht jeder so schnell laut, wie ich das manchmal bin. Viele geben da schneller auf oder haben nicht die Plattform, über die sie ihrem Unmut Luft machen können. Wenn das für mich schon nicht leicht ist, mit meiner Beschwerde von Formulor ernst genommen zu werden, dann möchte ich nicht wissen, wie viele andere sich bei einer ähnlich gelagerten Geschichte schon haben abwimmeln lassen.</p><p>Außerdem sind da die fast vier Wochen, die die gesamte Sache jetzt gedauert hat. Die geplante Zeit für das Projekt für das ich die Teile brauche, ist jetzt erst mal weg. Ich werde es also zunächst auf Eis legen müssen. Das ist maximal ärgerlich.</p><p>Dann hätte ich von Formulor zumindest noch ein kleines “T’schuldigung, soll nicht wieder vorkommen” erwartet. Der Ärger war groß genug und die Verzögerung erst recht.</p><p>Nicht zuletzt ist da aber noch eine sehr grundsätzliche Sache, und die hinterlässt den größten Nachgeschmack: als Kunde erwarte ich ernst genommen zu werden. Der Mitarbeiter von Formulor hat genau das nicht getan. Stattdessen hat er mir durch die Blume mehrfach mitgeteilt, dass er meinen Aussagen nicht traut. Dass der (offensichtliche) Fehler bei mir liegt. Das habe ich als herablassend und entmündigend empfunden. Für Formulor und Modulor mag diese Strategie, statt Qualität zu liefern lieber gerechtfertigte Reklamationen abzulehnen, kurzfristig gewinnbringend sein. Auf lange Sicht spricht sich das aber herum und die Kunden tragen ihr Geld woanders hin. Ich schlage Formulor deshalb allerdringendst vor, ihre Support-Mitarbeiter auf ein Kommunikations-Training zu schicken.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 Mein MOTU darf gehen</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/20/mein-motu-darf-gehen/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 20 Aug 2017 17:53:34 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=813</guid> <description><![CDATA[Seit zwei Jahren ist mein Audio-Interface das ein MOTU Ultralite AVB. Quasi alle Podcast-Episoden von z.B. Tips from the Top Floor, Happy Shooting oder Curiously Polar während der letzten 2 Jahre wurden darüber aufgenommen. Aber ich werde mich von ihm trennen und biete es hiermit zum Verkauf an. Gleich vorweg: das Teil ist in top Zustand, es hat sich als […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Seit zwei Jahren ist mein Audio-Interface das ein MOTU Ultralite AVB. Quasi alle Podcast-Episoden von z.B. <a href="https://tfttf.com/">Tips from the Top Floor</a>, <a href="https://happyshooting.de/">Happy Shooting</a> oder <a href="https://curiouslypolar.com/">Curiously Polar</a> während der letzten 2 Jahre wurden darüber aufgenommen.</p><p>Aber ich werde mich von ihm trennen und biete es hiermit zum Verkauf an. Gleich vorweg: das Teil ist in top Zustand, es hat sich als Interface an meinem Rechner aber leider immer nur gelangweilt. Da es für meine Anwendung (pre-amp für ein bis zwei Mikrofone und Ausspieler für Kopfhörer und Boxen) von den Features deutlich zu viel kann, will ich es jetzt gegen was kleineres tauschen, vermutlich was mit Thunderbolt.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-821" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ultralite-front-rear-stack-1.png" alt="" width="1000" height="587" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ultralite-front-rear-stack-1.png 1000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ultralite-front-rear-stack-1-300x176.png 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ultralite-front-rear-stack-1-768x451.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p><p>Die Verbindung zum Rechner per USB oder AVB (das steht für Audio Video Bridge, ein IEEE-Standard mit dem man Audiosignale über Ethernet schicken kann. MOTU ist da ganz vorne dabei) Per Netz lässt sich das Teil auch steuern, konfigurieren und das vom Rechner bis sogar zum iPad.</p><p>Es hat 18 Ein- und 18 Ausgänge: 2 Mic in, 2 Gitarre in, 6 Line in, 8 Line out, Kopfhörer out, 8-Kanal optischen I/O und das alles gleichzeitig). Die optischen Ports unterstützen auch TOSLink (optisches S/PDIF).</p><p>Der eingebaute DSP macht u.a. EQ, Kompression und Reverb und ist gut für Sprachkanäle geeignet. Der eingebaute Mischer ist in Vollausbau schwerstens beeindruckend.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-815" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mac-display-mixer-300x237.png" alt="" width="456" height="360" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mac-display-mixer-300x237.png 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mac-display-mixer-768x606.png 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mac-display-mixer.png 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px" /></p><p>Das Gerät ist toll, es kann außer Kaffee kochen fast alles, es klingt super, aber für meinen Anwendungsfall brauche ich das alles ehrlich gesagt nicht wirklich. Weitere <a href="http://motu.com/products/avb/ultralite-avb">Infos findest Du hier</a>.</p><p>Der Thomann-Neupreis liegt aktuell bei 739,- €, ich würde es für 580 € in gute Hände geben.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇩🇪 2,64 mm – mein ungutes Erlebnis mit Formulor.de</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/18/ungutes-erlebnis-mit-formulor-modulor/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:52:09 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=802</guid> <description><![CDATA[Update 25.8.2017: Formulor hat nachgebessert Ich muss mal kurz Dampf ablassen. Sehr konkreten Dampf. Es ist überhaupt kein Problem, wenn eine Firma, bei der ich in der Vergangenheit immer wieder tolle Dinge bestellt habe, mir aus versehen Ware schickt, die nicht dem entspricht, was ich bestellt habe. Dann reklamiere ich, die Ware geht zurück, ich […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-806" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="740" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289-100x100.jpg 100w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7289.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p><strong>Update 25.8.2017: <a href="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/25/formulor-hat-endlich-nachgebessert-nachgeschmack/">Formulor hat nachgebessert</a></strong></p><p>Ich muss mal kurz Dampf ablassen. Sehr konkreten Dampf.</p><p>Es ist überhaupt kein Problem, wenn eine Firma, bei der ich in der Vergangenheit immer wieder tolle Dinge bestellt habe, mir aus versehen Ware schickt, die nicht dem entspricht, was ich bestellt habe. Dann reklamiere ich, die Ware geht zurück, ich bekomme eine Neulieferung und gut.</p><p>Wenn diese Firma dann aber wiederholt implziert, der Fehler läge bei mir und nicht bei ihnen, dann bekomme ich einen Hals und werde bockig.</p><p>Konkreter Fall: ich habe bei formulor.de (gehört zu modulor.de) Birkensperrholz zuschneiden lassen. Laserzuschnitt. In der Vergangenheit ging das immer flott und korrekt, die Sache wirkte auf mich immer sehr sympathisch. Die Ware wie erwartet, der Kunde zufrieden.</p><p>Diesmal habe ich etwas größeres bestellt. Wieder 2mm-Birkensperrholz, wieder Laserzuschnitt. Es kam an und war zu dick. Bestellt waren 2,00 mm Materialstärke (mit ±0,5 mm Toleranz). Geliefert wurden 2,64 mm. Das mag sich jetzt nach wenig anhören. Für meine Anwendung ist es leider genau diese 0,14 mm zu dick. 2,5 mm wäre gerade noch irgendwie gegangen, drüber sind die Teile leider nutzlos für mich.</p><p>Ich schrieb dann zurück und bat darum, mir neue Ware innerhalb der Toleranz zu liefern. Die sinngemäße Antwort: “das ist innerhalb unserer Toleranz, siehe Website, da steht ± 0,5 mm” – wo die 2,64 mm innerhalb dieser Toleranz liegen sollen, wurde mir nicht erläutert.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-808" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7272-1-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7272-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7272-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_7272-1.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></p><p>Auf Ablehnung und erneute Rückfrage kam sinngemäß: “Sie können das ja abschleifen, außerdem wirkt sich die Luftfeuchtigkeit auf die Materialdicke aus und ihr Messschieber ist sicher auch nicht genau genug.”</p><p>Hals. Ganz dick. Der Mahr 16ER ist fast schon sowas wie ein kleiner Mercedes unter den Messschiebern. Und die erste Messung vor drei Tagen (bei 49% relativer Luftfeuchtigkeit) erbrachte quasi das gleiche Ergebnis wie die Messung heute (83% relative Luftfeuchte), bzw. liegt sogar noch 0,01 mm darunter. Außerdem: wenn ich als Formulor von einem Lieferanten Sperrholz geliefert bekäme, das</p><p>Und ich soll das jetzt ausbaden? Man misst eine Firma wie Formulor besonders daran, wie sie mit solchen Verkackern umgeht. So jedenfalls nicht.</p><p>Für den nächsten Laserzuschnitt (und auch für meine weiteren Bastelmaterialien) werde ich mir neue Lieferanten suchen müssen. formulor.de und modulor.de fühlen sich gerade gar nicht gut an. Irgendwelche Vorschläge?</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 You’ve Never Measured Your Kitchen This Fast</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/08/03/youve-never-measured-your-kitchen-this-fast/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 03 Aug 2017 09:20:45 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Other]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=795</guid> <description><![CDATA[Just one of the many use cases for AR 🤔 measuring a kitchen shouldn't be this satisfying…like, at all 🤔 https://t.co/7nhacasdnO → app by @SmartPicture3D 📏 pic.twitter.com/eztjNbDVyL — Made With ARKit (@madewithARKit) July 12, 2017]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just one of the many use cases for AR</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f914.png" alt="🤔" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> measuring a kitchen shouldn't be this satisfying…like, at all <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f914.png" alt="🤔" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://t.co/7nhacasdnO">https://t.co/7nhacasdnO</a> → app by <a href="https://twitter.com/SmartPicture3D?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SmartPicture3D</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4cf.png" alt="📏" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://t.co/eztjNbDVyL">pic.twitter.com/eztjNbDVyL</a></p><p>— Made With ARKit (@madewithARKit) <a href="https://twitter.com/madewithARKit/status/885217993088782339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2017</a></p></blockquote><p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The AR Diet</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/31/the-ar-diet/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 31 Jul 2017 08:35:15 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=792</guid> <description><![CDATA[This dramatically changes the ordering process (and puts new requirements on kitchens regarding exact reproduction of said food). And if you want to lose weight, just sit there and watch the images and have a virtual meal 😉]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This dramatically changes the ordering process (and puts new requirements on kitchens regarding exact reproduction of said food). And if you want to lose weight, just sit there and watch the images and have a virtual meal <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f609.png" alt="😉" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Augmented Reality Food Menu Application" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kO-GodvY0OU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The Dam Is About to Break</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/26/the-dam-is-about-to-break/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Jul 2017 12:22:34 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=782</guid> <description><![CDATA[Of course, what Robert Scoble says isn’t set in stone and sometimes it’s helpful to have a grain (or a shovel) of salt at hand, especially when he gets really really excited about something. Like AR lately. I’m positive that something big is coming though, just how big and how fast it’ll come is not […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Of course, what Robert Scoble says isn’t set in stone and sometimes it’s helpful to have a grain (or a shovel) of salt at hand, especially when he gets really really excited about something. Like AR lately. I’m positive that something big is coming though, just how big and how fast it’ll come is not clear.</p><p>Then Robert posted this:</p><div id="fb-root"></div><p><script async="1" defer="1" crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://connect.facebook.net/de_DE/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v6.0"></script></p><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/posts/10155529361249655" data-width="750"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/posts/10155529361249655" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>My thesis: Apple is going to wipe out the VR industry in September.</p><p>Gepostet von <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble">Robert Scoble</a> am <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/posts/10155529361249655">Freitag, 21. Juli 2017</a></p></blockquote></div><p> </p><p>I was about to dive deeper, <a href="https://skarredghost.com/2017/07/25/will-apple-arkit-disrupt-arvr-market/">when I found this article</a> that I believe sums it up nicely. The tl;dr? Scoble might really have something on his hands here. Apple is likely to make a huge dent in that market, possibly re-define it and lead the pack for years to come. ARKit is the foundation, but what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning.</p><p>Here’s his video, a bit long, but worth watching.</p><div id="fb-root"></div><p><script async="1" defer="1" crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://connect.facebook.net/de_DE/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v6.0"></script></p><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/videos/vb.501319654/10155535524679655/?type=2&theater" data-width="810"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/videos/10155535524679655/" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble/videos/10155535524679655/"></a></p><p>What I've learned by saying VR will be wiped out by Apple in September. Which is why I started Apple AR World with Shel Israel.</p><p>Gepostet von <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RobertScoble">Robert Scoble</a> am Sonntag, 23. Juli 2017</p></blockquote></div><p> </p><p>Especially interesting in this context are three key acquisitions that Apple made between 2013 and 2015:</p><p><strong>Primesense</strong>, the original makers of Kinect, were bought by Apple in 2013. Back then they had an amazing 3D sensor that in terms of resolution and depth sensing was far beyond what the Kinect ever was. Apparently their depth sensing was so good that even back then it could measure someone’s heart beat from several feet away. That was four years ago and we haven’t heard from them since they became part of Apple.</p><p>In 2015 Apple bought German startup <strong>Metaio</strong>. Their tech is the basis for the camera-based inside-out tracking and mapping that we’re now seeing in ARKit. Combine that with the Primsense’s 3D sensing (expected to be in iPhone 8) and among a ton of other cool stuff, you’ll have the most solid tracking there is.</p><p>Then there’s <strong>Faceshift</strong>. Apple also bought them in 2015. Their marker-less facial motion capture tech was used in Star Wars and it’s impressive.</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Faceshift mocap test - photorealistic head animation" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9jxad61EeKI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>Combine this with Primesense and Metaio, make it part of the iPhone and the amount of potential applications is immense. Remote presence right in the palm of your hand is just one of the things that come to mind.</p><p>Will Apple wipe out the AR industry this fall? Let me know what you think.</p><p> </p><p>(source: <a href="https://skarredghost.com/2017/07/25/will-apple-arkit-disrupt-arvr-market/">skarredghost.com</a>)</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The DSLR Shutter and the 100 Year Old Lens</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/25/the-dslr-shutter-and-the-100-year-old-lens/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 25 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=778</guid> <description><![CDATA[Last year when Monika bought an old old lens, I started a project to attach it to a large format camera. Problem was, the lens didn’t have a shutter. After some discussion on the Happy Shooting Slack, Jochen Möller (of flying 4×5″ fame) came up with a solution: the shutter from an old DSLR. Of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last year when Monika bought an old old lens, I started a project to attach it to a large format camera. Problem was, the lens didn’t have a shutter. After some discussion on the <a href="http://tfttf.com/warumslack">Happy Shooting Slack</a>, Jochen Möller (of flying 4×5″ fame) came up with a solution: the shutter from an old DSLR. Of course it features an Arduino and I’ll have to do a bit more work to integrate it with the camera and be able to change shutter speeds.</p><p>Here’s the first test:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="DSLR Shutter on 100 Year Old Lens" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BVtWJA7o_sM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 AR Killer Use Case #73</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/23/ar-killer-use-case-73/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 23 Jul 2017 08:02:59 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=774</guid> <description><![CDATA[I‘ll just leave this here. Make sure to watch both videos. https://mobile.twitter.com/AndrewProjDent/status/888380207962443777]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I‘ll just leave this here. Make sure to watch both videos.</p><p><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/AndrewProjDent/status/888380207962443777">https://mobile.twitter.com/AndrewProjDent/status/888380207962443777</a></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 A Tiny Glimpse Into the Mobility Future</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/11/hyundai-ioniq-hybrid-mobility-future/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 11 Jul 2017 09:20:44 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Mobility]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=759</guid> <description><![CDATA[I’ve been delaying the new car decision over and over again but it was getting obvious that I needed to do something. My old car was 12 years old, the repairs were picking up and the clock was ticking. But even with the pressure on, there were still about million reasons for the delay. Well, […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-762" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941.jpg" alt="" width="2252" height="1597" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941.jpg 2252w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941-300x213.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941-768x545.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941-1024x726.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941-100x70.jpg 100w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_6941-367x260.jpg 367w" sizes="(max-width: 2252px) 100vw, 2252px" />I’ve been delaying the new car decision over and over again but it was getting obvious that I needed to do something. My old car was 12 years old, the repairs were picking up and the clock was ticking. But even with the pressure on, there were still about million reasons for the delay. Well, more like three or four, but they felt like a million.</p><p><strong>A) Cost.</strong> A car is one of the most expensive things you can own, while at the same time it is one of the <a href="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/05/the-dawn-of-the-new-mobility/">least used</a> items. Most cars spend over 90% parked. They are an expensive resource that isn’t getting any serious use. In my case that’s even more true than for most others. My commute is 10 steps long. While I have several longer drives during the year that rack up quite a few kilometers, most of the short distance driving is for shopping and other errands.</p><p><strong>B) Change.</strong> The current pace of change is another thing that held me back. Transportation is inevitably going to be electric. It’s just not happening fast enough for me. Charging infrastructure will take a bit more time. EV prices will take a while to come down while more and more car manufacturers announced their own battery <em>Giga Factories</em>. I beliefe it’ll be 4 to 5 years until things start to look good. Many projects are currently under way to improve infrastructure and pretty much all car manufacturers are working on vehicles and technologies.</p><p><strong>C) Re-sellability.</strong> My gut (and a whole bunch of numbers and articles) tells me that selling an ICE (internal combustion engine) car in 5 to 10 years might be really hard. Nobody will want to buy one as pretty much everyone will want electro mobility by that time. There’s a chance that people won’t buy cars at all at that point, but rather call a self driving fleet vehicle to pick them up. In that future, car ownership isn’t something people would consider. The market for used cars is bound to crash.</p><p><strong>The solution, sort of…</strong></p><p>To solve for A (cost) my only option would be to buy something used, e.g. older and with an ICE. Not an option, I have an old car and it has an ICE. It really is time to move on. I could also have gone for a used Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf, both are fully electric, but this feels still like an early adopter phase with all its warts and wrinkles. While I’ve tried a whole lot of early stuff in the past, I didn’t feel I wanted to go that route this time. A Tesla would be nice, but issue A and my bank are against it. Another thought that briefly crossed my mind: some form of car-sharing would help. Easy enough in any bigger German city, lots of infrastructure. We don’t live in the city though. Out here in the countryside car sharing is not an option.</p><p>Issue B (speed of change) could be solved in several ways: either go for it now and buy something new later, but that would collide with A). Alternatively I could wait a bit longer to the point where things feel at least a little more stable. Which isn’t really an option because, remember? The clock on that old car is really ticking.</p><p>Finally C (re-sellability). Means to get something modern that won’t age too fast in terms of features.</p><p><strong>The decision</strong></p><p>To make a long story short, I now drive a Hyundai IONIQ Hybrid. I did not buy it but instead went for a leasing contract over 4 years. This won’t really help me in terms of cost, but it solves B (speed of change) as it buys me time. And it takes care of C (re-sellability) because I get to hand it back at the end of those four years. It’s a compromise in terms of the issues it solves, but given all the factors it feels like it was the right thing to do at this point. And if you’re now rolling your eyes and file me as a tree hugger, let me give you some facts:</p><p><strong>The future</strong></p><p>There are several reasons why I specifically went for this car.</p><p>First the Hyundai brand. Over the last years I’ve driven several Hyundai rental cars at various opportunities and they all left a really good impression on me. The build quality of those was really decent and they all had a decent feature set. Their chief designer being German might have also had something to do with that positive bias.</p><p>Second the hybrid thing. Don’t think “slow”, “boring” and … well, “slow”. It’s a “diet” EV, it has some battery and uses that to bring down fuel usage. With a claimed 58mpg average it beats the Prius. Mine wasn’t quite as low, but better than anything I’ve driven so far. I got 4.7 liters per 100 km on long Autobahn stretches. That’s about 50 mpg, it’ll be a lot more efficient in the city as that will result in more EV mode driving. The fact that it uses both the ICE <strong>and</strong> the electric motor to accelerate from zero makes it way more zippy than I thought it would be. Especially in sports mode. I also like the IONIQ’s looks better than those of the Prius. It looks much more like a normal car and not like a space ship. Drives like a regular car too. The tech is easy to handle, you won’t have to manage anything regarding the drive train, it will automatically switch between its different modes whichever way it sees fit for the current situation. From full electric to mixed EV/ICE to charging the battery during braking. You just drive it. It comes with a 6-speed dual clutch transmission (not the strange CVT) and feels pretty much like any regular car with a modern automatic transmission.</p><p>Third the feature set. I have to admit, this is what tickled me most. Given my old car didn’t even have bluetooth or cruise control, the model I got feels like it has everything and comes a bit from the future. I’m not even exaggerating. Adaptive cruise control? Check. It sticks to the car in front like it’s glued to it. Keyless entry? Check. Just walk up with the key in your pocket and the door is unlocked. When you do it at night, it greets you with lit door handles and lights the sidewalk for you. Start/stop button? Check. Heated steering wheel? Check. Reverse camera? Check. Auto wipers/lights? Check. Auto emergency braking? Check. If a child runs in front of the car, it’ll do its best to stop. Same with other cars that are suddenly in the way. Heated seats? Check. Auto steering? Check. A gazillion of airbags? Check.</p><p>Wait, what? Go back a bit. Auto steering? Like auto pilot? Yes, kinda. Not quite Tesla level, but on the Autobahn it’ll nicely keep the car between two lane markings if they’re clear enough. Of course it requires you to keep your hands on the wheel, but in combination with adaptive cruise control, this is a game changer for long highway drives. This really feels like a glimpse into our autonomously driving car future.</p><p>And finally the fact that it supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto helped close the deal.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 ARKit Will Shake Things up in a Really Big Way</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/08/arkit-will-shake-things-up-in-a-really-big-way/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 08 Jul 2017 11:45:07 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=749</guid> <description><![CDATA[https://youtu.be/72N3or0ZgMU If Pokemon Go was the last time you’ve looked at Augmented Reality, look again. With the iOS 11 announcement at this year’s WWCD, Apple introduced ARKit, which is their take on Augmented Reality. Developers now have their hands on the tech and they’re showing some really impressive demos. You can see a few in […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>https://youtu.be/72N3or0ZgMU</p><p>If Pokemon Go was the last time you’ve looked at Augmented Reality, look again. With the iOS 11 announcement at this year’s WWCD, Apple introduced ARKit, which is their take on Augmented Reality. Developers now have their hands on the tech and they’re showing some really impressive demos. You can see a few in the video above. The tracking is one of the best I’ve seen so far. It’s worth mentioning that they achieve that with the camera and the accelerometers only. I believe down to iPhone 6s. So as opposed to <a href="https://get.google.com/tango/">Google’s Tango project</a>, Apple’s implementation requires no special 3D hardware. Once iOS 11 is out, this fact alone will open up their AR ecosystem to many millions of people at once.</p><p>Apple seems to have several things solved in their implementation: camera- and accelerometer based inside-out mapping, surface detection, light detection and mapping. Unfortunately most demos don’t show any occlusion (that’s when something goes between the camera and the “holograms”) which is of course a lot harder based on just the camera. However, their future devices are almost guaranteed to have 3D sensors. Remember that back in 2013, <a href="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/21/3d-sensing-is-coming/">Apple bought Prime Sense</a>, the company that invented the Microsoft Kinect. Since then they had four years behind closed doors and with really good R&D funding to miniaturize and refine their already small 3D sensor even further. Four years ago, right before Prime Sense disappeared behind Apple’s well-guarded lab doors, their sensor was the size of a stick of gum. With the AirPods, Apple has proven their ability to make cool tech really really small.</p><p>What’s also to come is object recognition. Apple’s Photos app already <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/20/photos-app-detects-432-objects/">recognizes over 4000 different objects</a> using machine learning. While Photos is impressive enough to be able to tell cats and dogs apart most of the time, once they open that up for ARKit, this will become even more precise because it has the advantage of 3D, either through camera-based photogrammetry or in the future through their 3D sensors.</p><p>While ARKit will initially be available on iPhones and iPads, I fully expect them to come up with some head-worn gear either this year or in 2018. Glasses sound reasonable and they will take an already impressive experience several notches up.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Magic</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/06/magic/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Jul 2017 10:20:57 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=746</guid> <description><![CDATA[Despite initial appearance, this guy does one of the most brilliant and fun card routines I’ve ever seen. Maybe there’s even a little life lesson hidden in there somewhere 😀]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Despite initial appearance, this guy does one of the most brilliant and fun card routines I’ve ever seen. Maybe there’s even a little life lesson hidden in there somewhere <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Close-up card magic with a twist | Lennart Green" width="810" height="608" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1_oa8m5Oq00?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 The Dawn of the New Mobility</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/07/05/the-dawn-of-the-new-mobility/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jul 2017 10:24:01 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Mobility]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=728</guid> <description><![CDATA[Let me put on my prediction hat for a minute. Over the next 10 years, our mobility will see profound changes. We will not own cars anymore. Instead, we will call a car, it will arrive and take us to where we want to go, then it will go on to do something else. In […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let me put on my prediction hat for a minute. Over the next 10 years, our mobility will see profound changes. We will not own cars anymore. Instead, we will call a car, it will arrive and take us to where we want to go, then it will go on to do something else. In case we own a car, we might opt to let it earn money for us while we don’t use it. Everything that’s going on today points to that future. And to a lot more.</p><p>There are two of the main drivers behind what I expect to come:</p><ol><li><strong>Electrification</strong> – We are in the middle of a dramatic infrastructure ramp-up, charging networks expand their number of stations, car manufacturers are building networks, some interoperability efforts are in the making. Even the die-hard petrol-heads are coming around. Just one example: Porsche who poo-poo-ed electric cars for almost ever now <a href="https://electrek.co/2017/06/26/porsche-electric-vehicles-mission-e/">plans to make 50% of its production electric</a> within 6 years. And if you own a diesel or petrol car today, you might have a hard time selling it in 5 years. This development is exponential and it’s only speeding up.</li><li><strong>Autonomy</strong> – Cars are on the verge of driving themselves. Currently still on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Classification">Level 1</a> and under constant driver supervision, but pretty soon they will ascend to Level 3 (“eyes off”) and Level 4 (“mind off”). Initially those will be geofenced, e.g. it will be fine to sleep while driving long stretches on the Autobahn, but you’ll have to take over on other types of streets. But given the current pace of progress, Level 5 (“wheel optional”) is already on the horizon. As soon as this is achieved, you can send your car to pick up your kids from school or let it chauffeur other people while you don’t need it around.</li></ol><p> </p><p>Today’s cars are among the least efficient and resource wasting objects we own.</p><ul><li>they sit in parking lots for most of the day</li><li>in traffic jams and stop-and-go traffic they idle a lot</li><li>numbers indicate that up to 30% of the space in our cities has to do with parking</li></ul><p> </p><p>Getting off the old way of doing things has the potential for profound impact on more areas that we can imagine.</p><p>Here are a few from the top of my head:</p><ul><li>Transportation of goods (a lot fewer drivers required)</li><li>Transportation of people (kids and elderly people can drive – or rather be driven)</li><li>Real estate prices in cities (by freeing up a lot of space that won’t be needed for parking anymore)</li><li>Financial freedom (cars are one of the most expensive things we own. Soon, instead of owning cars, instead of paying for gas, insurance and tax, we will pay for miles or time or luxury. Or if we own a car, it will earn money for us in the 90% time it would sit in a parking lot)</li><li>Education and entertainment (the commute time can be used for other things)</li></ul><p> </p><p>Let me know if any other things come to your mind.</p><p>By the way, this is the video that triggered me to write this post:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Electric Vehicles Outlook | Fully Charged" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vod6TmjUVoo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Bumper Car Choreography: A New Way of Light Painting</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/06/18/bumper-car-choreography-a-new-way-of-light-painting/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 18 Jun 2017 08:17:48 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=724</guid> <description><![CDATA[What happens if someone hands you and 27 photographers the keys to an entire bumper car ride? Well, … this: Guess I’m now an officially certified bumper car choreographer. Haven’t had this much fun in a long time. Ten out of ten, would ride again. We did this as part of our Vienna photo workshop. [Grand Autodrom, Prater, […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What happens if someone hands you and 27 photographers the keys to an entire bumper car ride?</p><p>Well, … this:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Happy Shooting: Wir haben das Synchronschwimmen neu erfunden" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RGZdy7JZisA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>Guess I’m now an officially certified bumper car choreographer. Haven’t had this much fun in a long time. Ten out of ten, would ride again.</p><p>We did this as part of our Vienna photo workshop.</p><p>[<a href="http://www.praterwien.com/en/attractions/details/a/grand-autodrome/">Grand Autodrom, Prater, Vienna</a>]</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Husky Puppies</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/05/17/husky-puppies/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 17 May 2017 08:01:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=719</guid> <description><![CDATA[Traveling always bears the risk of getting stuck somewhere for longer than anticipated, missing a connection flight or getting in some other form of trouble. If you have a ship going at a designated time and no way to catch up, planning a day or two of buffer time to get there is advised. If that […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Traveling always bears the risk of getting stuck somewhere for longer than anticipated, missing a connection flight or getting in some other form of trouble. If you have a ship going at a designated time and no way to catch up, planning a day or two of buffer time to get there is advised. If that ship takes off from one of the most remote ports in the world, then doubly so.</p><p>So we arrived in Longyearbyen, Svalbard two days early and we had to make use of the time. Which we did. Monika is now trying to find space in her luggage to bring back that husky puppy..</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Svalbard Dogsledding - Before our Photo Expedition" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kPq-nc6nXfM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>This afternoon we will board the s/v Noorderlicht and sail the coast of Svalbard for 12 days. We will go on land whenever possible and capture beautiful photos of ice, snow and a lot of arctic wildlife.</p><p>Oh, and it’s daylight 24/7 up here. Photography around the clock <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f609.png" alt="😉" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>To become good, you’ll have to create a lot of garbage first…</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/05/07/to-become-good-youll-have-to-create-a-lot-of-garbage-first/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 07 May 2017 10:50:01 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=714</guid> <description><![CDATA[… subtitle: quantity equals quality. Yep, I know, sounds wrong. But the way to becoming good at something is to produce lots of crap first. I look back at my photography 20 years ago and it was worse than my photography 10 years ago, which in turn was worse than my current photography, which I’m confident […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>… subtitle: <strong>quantity equals quality</strong>.</p><p>Yep, I know, sounds wrong. But the way to becoming good at something is to produce lots of crap first. I look back at my photography 20 years ago and it was worse than my photography 10 years ago, which in turn was worse than my current photography, which I’m confident is worse than my photography in 10 years from now.</p><p>It has to do with some of the ideas from <em>Art & Fear</em> (awesome book, definitely recommended).</p><p>I find the “50 pounds of clay” idea from that book especially compelling in that context. In short: a teacher splits the kids in a pottery class into two groups, the first ones get rated on the quality of their work. The second group gets rated on quantity and nothing but quantity. Turns out, the second group consistently ends up also producing much better quality than the first one.</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="PNTV: Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0mioyFKoFw?start=259&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>Apply that to your photography as you learn to get better and you will.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>The world’s most efficient podcast production pipeline</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/26/the-worlds-most-efficient-podcast-production-pipeline/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:43:23 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=702</guid> <description><![CDATA[Creating a new podcast and getting it online can be super easy if you use a service like libsyn.com – there are also many wordpress-based solutions (Podlove Podcast Publisher for example) but having done this podcasting business for 12 years, I like to take a bit more control while reducing the post-produciton time per episode […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-706" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chad-kirchoff-202730-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="416" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chad-kirchoff-202730-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chad-kirchoff-202730-300x169.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chad-kirchoff-202730-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>Creating a new podcast and getting it online can be super easy if you use a service like <a href="http://libsyn.com">libsyn.com</a> – there are also many wordpress-based solutions (Podlove Podcast Publisher for example) but having done this podcasting business for 12 years, I like to take a bit more control while reducing the post-produciton time per episode to as little as possible.</p><p>I’ve seen many podcasts come and go and I believe one of the reasons a lot of people don’t stick with it is that they burn themselves out on the post production. All the making-it-sound-pretty and the shownotes and the promotion and the constant search to optimize the tech.</p><p>My approach is a little more like putting a puzzle together into a well-oiled machine that I feed a fresh recording and let it do the rest for me.</p><p>And as I just now brought a new podcast online (about film photography, in German), I invite you to have a look at that process.</p><p>Most important and at the very beginning is of course the decision to make a podcast at all. Having a topic is even better. And being able to do it regularly is an important step to building a loyal audience. Monika and I had thought about doing a film photography podcast for quite a while, but never really managed to kick it off, because of other commitments. Then after we recently got asked on Twitter if we knew any German film photography podcasts, and we couldn’t really think about any, we looked each other in the eye and decided to finally do this.</p><p>Here are some pieces of my very personal getting-a-podcast-off-the-ground puzzle. Your own approach might be very different from this:</p><ol><li><strong>Decide on recording infrastructure:</strong> should we use a professional full-fledged headset setup with sound-proofing in the room and editing each episode or would a small microphone based ad-hoc production setup be sufficient? This one was easy to answer as we already have enough experience producing and cleaning up iPhone-based recordings. So iPhone it is (iPhone 6s in our case). The audio quality is remarkably good (if you don’t breathe straight into the microphone), it allows us to record wherever and whenever we want, and we can directly publish from the very same device we use to record. Flexibility wins. Based on previous experience, this decision took us just a few minutes.</li><li><strong>Decide on packaging</strong> (music, editing, etc.): what should it sound and feel like? Do we want an intro, an outro, jingles, music, ear-candy of any other form? We decided on a short and simple music intro and a slightly longer music outro with some voice-over telling people where to find more. Other than that, the rest of the episodes are just us talking. This took a bit longer, especially to find the right music.</li><li><strong>Get voiceover for outro</strong>: get someone to record an couple of sentences for us to put in the outro. “You’ve been listening to…” – luckily we know someone who has the perfect voice for that and who was nice enough to do that recording for us. This took a day from asking someone to getting the finished recording back.</li><li><strong>Create/edit intro/outro</strong>: build intro and outro from the above pieces, test in context to see if it works. Toss audio back and forth in the editor, until it feels right for both the intro and the outro. This step took an hour.</li><li><strong>Set up podcast publishing system</strong> (<a href="https://github.com/eazyliving/firtz">firtz</a> in our case): add subdirectory on server or set up new domain, install system, edit config files, test. This probably took the longest. Firtz is one of many ways to publish a podcast, we’re using it because in conjunction with auphonic (see below), it allows us to set up an almost fully automated publishing pipeline, which is pretty much the only way we can produce yet another podcast. With over a day, this one took the longest. You’ll need to be technical and know your way around at the command line.</li><li><strong>Decide on and create podcast logo</strong>: graphic design, minimum requirement is a square podcast logo at 1440×1440 pixels. No podcast without a logo. We took an existing one and modified it. Took maybe an hour and a couple of iterations until we were there.</li><li><strong>Set up tracking</strong> (subscribers, downloads): optional but we’d like to know if people actually listen to what we do. We use <a href="http://feed.press">feed.press</a> for this purpose. Setup of this took about an hour, especially to get the redirect right that is required on your podcast server to make sure feed.press works correctly.</li><li><strong>Set up post production pipeline</strong> on <a href="http://auphonic.com">auphonic.com</a> (templates, metadata, etc.): that system is the best thing since sliced bread. Takes your audio and massages it to sound good. Adds metadata and intro/outro automatically, then uploads to your server. This in conjunction with firtz is the world’s best production automation pipeline if you want to be as hands-off as possible when it comes to the audio. Setup time was under an hour and the resulting time savings are immeasurable.</li><li><strong>Test post production pipeline</strong>: make sure everything works by sending some test content through the pipeline. Had to adjust a few parameters before everything went smooth. But it’s set it and forget it. Works well now. Time for test was a just a few minutes.</li><li><strong>Record and publish several episodes</strong>: we like to have a couple of episodes on a new podcast before it goes live, just to give people a bit more to choose from and to make it look nicer. First episode was meta (why are we doing this, what is it?) second and third episodes were already with content. We did the first two in one go, the third one a day later. Recording time under 20 minutes each.</li><li><strong>Submit to iTunes and wait for confirmation</strong>: Very last step after everything else is done. iTunes is by far the most important directory to get your podcast on. Submittal is easy enough and if everything is golden, Apple will take a day or two to add it. Time for this is just a couple of minutes. Give them a link to your feed and some additional information, then wait.</li><li><strong>Tell the world about it</strong>: finally it’s online and can be subscribed to by the world, so we better tell everybody about it on social media and then brace ourselves for the initial feedback.</li></ol><p>What’s awesome about this podcast production pipeline is that recording and publishing an episode won’t take much longer than the actual recording itself. Once you’re done, all you’ll have to do is send it to auphonic right from the phone you recorded it on, fill in some metadata and hit <em>publish. </em>The rest happens automagically.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-710" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-150x150.png 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-300x300.png 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-768x768.png 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r-100x100.png 100w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/absolut_analog_1440_r.png 1440w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />In case you’re interested to listen to two film photography nerds (who wrote <a href="http://tfttf.com/getthebook">the book</a> on it) talk about film photography, in German – or if you doubt that a smart phone-based recording can be any good, here you go: <a href="https://absolutanalog.de/podcast/">Absolut Analog – Der Filmfotografierpodcast</a></p><p>Let us know what you think.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Documentation creates value</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/26/documentation-creates-value/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Apr 2017 09:05:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=698</guid> <description><![CDATA[Today’s tools (like Apple’s Clips app) make it incredibly easy to document the things you do. And having things documented adds more perceived value. Look at the last four days in my life: there was a two day photo workshop here in the Viewfinder Villa, I did an electronics project and started a new podcast. […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/20170426_6B7A4536-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-699" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/20170426_6B7A4536-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/20170426_6B7A4536-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/20170426_6B7A4536-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><br />Today’s tools (like Apple’s Clips app) make it incredibly easy to document the things you do. And having things documented adds more perceived value. Look at the last four days in my life: there was a two day photo workshop here in the Viewfinder Villa, I did an electronics project and started a new podcast.</p><p>Thanks to just a few seconds of video here and there and the easy tools to put them together, I now have two documents (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0pC9_MP_NY">video of the workshop</a> and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HID9FA3IWQQ">video of my electronics project</a>) – both are short to the point and they give a sense of what was going on. </p><p>The <a href="http://absolutanalog.de/podcast/">new podcast</a> (about film photography, sorry only in German) is self-documenting, but sooner or later I might shoot a short video documenting the process of how it’s made.</p><p>By the way, just for kicks and giggles, I’d love to automate my new “ON AIR” sign.. any good pointers from anyone?</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>AR Showcase: Stair Lift</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/23/ar-showcase-stair-lift/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 23 Apr 2017 09:53:26 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=694</guid> <description><![CDATA[Well, stair must be one of the most boring things, but here’s an interesting showcase for how to use AR in a construction context. Spacial awareness means our devices will be able to do so much more than they can do now.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well, stair must be one of the most boring things, but here’s an interesting showcase for how to use AR in a construction context. Spacial awareness means our devices will be able to do so much more than they can do now.</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Microsoft HoloLens: Partner Spotlight with thyssenkrupp" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IgtHnCJJUMU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Things photographers do on a Sunday afternoon</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/16/things-photographers-do-on-a-sunday-afternoon/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 16 Apr 2017 18:47:51 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=690</guid> <description><![CDATA[It started with Monika and myself standing outside in the garden the other day, looking at how several plants of lemon balm were taking over the herb section. So I decided to brew up an infusion. Lemon balm, mint, glass jar, boiling water. Let seep for an hour: super yummy. I noticed how awesome the […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It started with Monika and myself standing outside in the garden the other day, looking at how several plants of lemon balm were taking over the herb section. So I decided to brew up an infusion. Lemon balm, mint, glass jar, boiling water. Let seep for an hour: super yummy. </p><p>I noticed how awesome the leaves looked when swirling around in the glass jar, so I decided to film that. And then I decided to film myself while filming it. Here’s the result:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Things photographers do on a Sunday afternoon" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1TEVyL26E0M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Standing at Stage 3 of Augmented Reality</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/12/standing-at-stage-3-of-augmented-reality/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 15:37:31 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=680</guid> <description><![CDATA[Photo: Samuel Zeller Benedict Evans is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, an investor company who has their money in a good number of well-known tech businesses. And in Magic Leap, who I’ve written here about before. He just released an interesting article regarding Augmented and Mixed Reality, in which he talks about the first decade […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/samuel-zeller-158996-1.jpg" alt="" width="853" height="1280" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-686" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/samuel-zeller-158996-1.jpg 853w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/samuel-zeller-158996-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/samuel-zeller-158996-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/samuel-zeller-158996-1-682x1024.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px" /><br /><em>Photo: Samuel Zeller</em></p><p>Benedict Evans is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, an investor company who has their money in a good number of well-known tech businesses. And in Magic Leap, who I’ve written here about before. He just released an interesting article regarding Augmented and Mixed Reality, in which he talks about the first decade of augmented reality and where he sees this going.</p><p>Among other things he makes a good comparison with the mobile phone transition from keys to slabs of glas and multi-touch. </p><p>Here are a few excerpts from his article…</p><p>…on discovery of what AR/MR is/will be:</p><p><em>“In the late 1990s we argued about whether ‘mobile internet’ devices would have a separate radio unit and screen, plus an earpiece, or perhaps a keyboard, or a clamshell with a keyboard and screen – we were in form-factor-discovery, and it took until 2007 (or later) to resolve on a single piece of glass. VR and AR may be in discovery for a while as well.”</em></p><p>…on questions regarding user interfaces: </p><p><em>“It does seem to me, though, that the more you think about AR as placing objects and data into the world around you, the more that this becomes an AI question as much as a physical interface question. What should I see as I walk up to you in particular? LinkedIn or Tinder? When should I see that new message – should it be shown to me now or later? Do I stand outside a restaurant and say ‘Hey Foursquare, is this any good?’ or does the device’s OS do that automatically?” … “So, when we went from the windows/keyboard/mouse UI model of desktop computers to the touch and direct interaction of smartphones, a whole layer of questions were removed – the level of abstraction changed. A smartphone doesn’t ask you where to save a photo, or where you are when you order a car, or which email app to use, or (with fingerprint scanners) what your password is – it removes questions (and also choices).”</em></p><p>…on how ubiquitous this could become: </p><p><em>“Finally, a quite important question – how many people will have one of these? Is AR going to be an accessory that a subset of mobile phone users have (like, say, smart watches)? Or will every small town in Brazil and Indonesia have shops selling dozens of different $50 Chinese AR glasses where today they sell Androids? (What would bandwidth cost by then?)”</em></p><p>What are your thoughts on this? Hit one of the buttons below and let me know.</p><p>(Source: <a href="http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2017/4/10/the-first-decade-of-augmented-reality">ben-evans.com</a>)</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>AirPods – My Verdict</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/09/airpods-my-verdict/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 09 Apr 2017 17:12:11 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=673</guid> <description><![CDATA[When the AirPods were finally out in December 2016, I got my order in for the first batch. The cabled EarPods always fit my ears well, so they’ve got that going for them. While they don’t cover all use cases, they worked well for me and so my expectation for the AirPods was to do pretty much […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-675" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5855-300x263.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="263" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5855-300x263.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5855-768x674.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5855-1024x898.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />When the AirPods were finally out in December 2016, I got my order in for the first batch. The cabled EarPods always fit my ears well, so they’ve got that going for them. While they don’t cover all use cases, they worked well for me and so my expectation for the AirPods was to do pretty much the same, but without the cable mess.</p><p><br clear="both"></p><p>I have two main things to say about the AirPods:</p><ol><li>they are probably the most convenient and comfortable pair of earphones that I’ve ever owned. Seemingly endless battery life if you’re willing to give them a quick rest in their tiny charger box after several hours of listening. And I’ve had several occasions where I was walking around the house searching for them, just to realize that I was wearing them all along.</li><li>they have one really big quirk that’s regularly driving me up the wall.</li></ol><p>I cannot elaborate too much about 1. – they simply match my currently most prominent personal use case really well, which is being around the house, working on books and stuff, producing podcasts and other things. Now that spring has sprung and I’ll be more out and about, that might change. During my last flight, I went back to my trusty Etymotics (modded with Shure foam plugs) as usual, because they don’t take up any serious space, don’t use battery and they cut out airplane noise really well.</p><p>Let’s talk about item 2.</p><p>Here’s the thing: a while ago Apple introduced one of the most overlooked but most wonderful featureswith the iPhone: instant Siri reaction times. No need to wait for the *bing* sound, no need to wait for Siri to realize that you’ve stopped talking.</p><p>Here’s the way this works:</p><p>a) you press <strong>and hold</strong> your iPhone’s home button<br />b) you immediately being talking (no waiting whatsoever)<br />c) once you’re done, you let go of the home button</p><p>Siri will pretty much instantly react. Of course it will still send what you said to its servers that do voice recognition and so on, so there’s that waiting time, but all the other waiting time is gone. I use Siri this way all the time. It’s fast. It’s convenient. I don’t like waiting for computers, so this usage model is a wonderful fit for that.</p><p>Back to the AirPods: this feature completely breaks when using them. To get to Siri you have three main choices:</p><ol><li>“Hey Siri” – too slow for me most of the time. And too unreliable. So I don’t really use it.</li><li>Double-tap the AirPods. This will pause whatever you’re listening to right now, wait for a second, then go *bing* to signal that you can talk. Once you’re finished talking, it will wait for an eternity of one to two seconds to make sure you’re done. Only then will it do something. This is agonizingly slow.</li><li>Press <strong>and hold</strong> the iPhone’s home button. Instead of reacting immediately they will still wait for a second before they give you the *bing* and let you talk. At least they stop right away once you let go of the button.</li></ol><p>So I’ve traded convenience and comfort (and no pesky cables, yey!) for a delay that Apple had done a great job training me to not expect anymore. *sigh*</p><p>Maybe in version 2?</p><p>How do you like your AirPods?</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>You go, Mastodon!</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/04/07/you-go-mastodon/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 07 Apr 2017 17:36:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=667</guid> <description><![CDATA[Another social network. Open. Decentralized. Getting a bit of hype lately. I’m there. Dipping my toes in. As chrismarquardt@mastodon.network – giving it a fair shot. I’m a fan of open and decentralized, so I wish it all the best. You go, Mastodon! Ping me here.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-669 aligncenter" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5790-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5790-150x150.png 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5790.png 200w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_5790-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></p><p>Another social network. Open. Decentralized. Getting a bit of hype lately.</p><p>I’m there. Dipping my toes in.</p><p>As <a href="https://mastodon.network/@chrismarquardt">chrismarquardt@mastodon.network</a> – giving it a fair shot. I’m a fan of open and decentralized, so I wish it all the best. You go, Mastodon!</p><p>Ping me <a href="http://mastodon.network">here</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Anchor, stop crippling your success</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/03/22/anchor-is-crippling-its-own-success/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 22 Mar 2017 12:06:25 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcasting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=634</guid> <description><![CDATA[Anchor.fm just released version 2.0 of their app. They claim it’s a new form of radio and I have to admit, it’s quite nice and it lets you build your own virtual radio station. It lets you record snippets and publish them to your own station. You can add music too. And you can make a […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Anchor.fm just released version 2.0 of their app. They claim it’s a new form of radio and I have to admit, it’s quite nice and it lets you build your own virtual radio station. It lets you record snippets and publish them to your own station. You can add music too. And you can make a call-in to another station which the owner of that station can then put on their own station.</p><p>I was planning to use Anchor as a side-channel to my main podcast (<a href="https://tfttf.com/">TFTTF</a>) – to release a daily photo tip for my audience and answer questions that they submit as call-ins to my Anchor station.</p><p>In addition I wanted to re-use my Anchor content on TFTTF.</p><p>Here’s why that might fail:</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-637" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_5708-300x266.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="266" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_5708-300x266.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_5708.jpg 750w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p><p><strong>a) Anchor lets me export my own content, but the export quality is horrible.</strong></p><p>In fact it sounds so bad, it doesn’t even come close to what I find acceptable for my podcast. I <a href="http://tfttf.com/028">do make exceptions</a> if it’s really good content, but only occasionally and only if it’s not every single week.</p><p>But what’s worse:</p><p><strong>b) Anchor will not let me export the wonderful call-ins that I receive from the audience.</strong></p><p>Call-ins are the very soul of my podcasts. Hearing listener’s voices is not only great content, it also makes the show so much more valuable to everyone else who listens. It gives people the feeling they are not alone with their questions. It’s a major identification point for the audience.</p><p>Anchor won’t allow the export of those. No reason given. It just won’t do it. Which makes it close to impossible to use Anchor content on my shows.</p><p> </p><p>Too bad, I had really hoped they’d get it right this time around. Instead they remain tightly clasped to the idea that allowing content to be used outside their ecosystem might hurt them in some mysterious way.</p><p><strong>My prediction is the complete opposite: if Anchor.fm allowed the content of a station to be freely used with good quality outside their walled garden, podcasters would instantly become their biggest recruiting army. Every single podcaster is looking for a great audio feedback channel into the show and if that feedback channel existed, podcasters would tell every single one of their millions of listeners to download Anchor and use it to send feedback into the show.</strong></p><p>I don’t get why Anchor doesn’t see that that’s a huge potential for synergy and growth.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Peace of Mind: My Travel Tips</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/25/peace-of-mind-my-travel-tips/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 2017 13:18:14 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=612</guid> <description><![CDATA[For some people travel causes a lot of anxiety. What if you forget to pack something? What if you miss a flight? Many what-ifs.. even with me. For example I have a habit of double-triple-quadruple checking if I have my passport. Over the years I probably made almost every mistake there is when it comes to […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For some people travel causes a lot of anxiety. What if you forget to pack something? What if you miss a flight? Many what-ifs.. even with me. For example I have a habit of double-triple-quadruple checking if I have my passport.</p><p>Over the years I probably made almost every mistake there is when it comes to travel.</p><p>But I’ve come up with a list of things (and stuck to it) that have one goal: peace of mind.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-618" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/all-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="416" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/all-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/all-300x169.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/all-768x432.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/all.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><h3>Make a travel checklist</h3><p>Biggest one first. Sit down for 20 minutes and in your mind, go through different situations on your journey and think of what you will definitely need. And what you can do without. Use any simple tool at your disposal to capture these points. I use the reminders app on the Mac and iOS because they sync nicely. My list contains things like: toiletries, earplugs, fleece jacket, sunglasses, computer & power supply, pen, passport, pants, hat.</p><p>The travel checklist is the ultimate peace-of-mind tool.</p><h3>Don’t overpack</h3><p>I know it’s easy to overpack. When making your list, make sure that every time you add something to also think: will I really need 3 pairs of shoes? What if I forget this? Could I buy it where I go? You wouldn’t believe how often I forgot to pack my favorite shower soap because subconsciously I knew every hotel will have soap.</p><h3>Get pack bags</h3><p>I’m not sure if that’s the right term, but if you’d tip over my duffel and pour everything out on the hotel bed, you’d end up with about 5 separate bags. One holds socks & underwear, one for stuff above the waistline (t-shirts, fleece jackets), one for pants, one for other stuff (hats, gloves, ..) and one for tech stuff like cables, power adapters, and so on.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-622" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="740" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5368-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>They come in different colors and sizes and materials (I like the mesh ones) and they make it so easy to find stuff, and unpack and re-pack while things stay tidy.</p><h3>Ziploc bags</h3><p>Smaller stuff sometimes goes into ziploc bags. You see the contents and things stay together. Makes it quick to find stuff.</p><h3>Wash</h3><p>Some of my t-shirts and underpants are specifically made for outdoor travel. They’re easy to wash in a hotel sink and they usually fully dry within just a couple of hours.</p><h3>Emergency clothes</h3><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-614" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/clothes-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="555" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/clothes-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/clothes-300x225.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/clothes-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>1 light t-shirt, 1 pair of socks, 1 pair of underpants, 1 emergency toothbrush set – put those IN YOUR CARRY-ON LUGGAGE. You’ll thank me once you run into a cancelled flight that will result in an unplanned lay-over where the airline will either not give you anything or a pack with a pair of horrible paper underpants. Happened to me.</p><h3>Bring a scale</h3><p>Another one of those anxiety things that are easily taken care of. Will my luggage be over? Will I have to re-pack things while in line at the check-in counter? Will I have to leave things behind? Get a pocket scale – fishing scales work well. There are digital ones but I love the spring loaded ones. Not 100% as precise, but good enough and springs never run out of battery.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-617" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="740" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/scale-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><h3>Long flights are loud</h3><p>Use something to protect your hearing on a long flight. Preferably something that doubles to hear music or watch a movie.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-615" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio1-768x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="987" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio1-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>This is my travel-size earphones case. It clips to my belt and makes me look like a dork, but it does the trick nicely without adding any bulk. I modded a pair of Etymotics earphones with foam pads from Shure in-ears. They don’t use active noise canceling, but the foam makes for great insulation and I can wear them for hours without having to crank up the volume to too high levels.</p><p>I have some mild tinnitus because I didn’t protect my ears for too long.</p><p>The reason I don’t sport a pair of Boses is that they add too much bulk for my taste. Your mileage may vary.</p><h3>Bring an adapter</h3><p>If you ever wanted to hook up your own headphones to an in-flight entertainment system, chances are you ran into strange double-mono plugs. No good if you have a stereo one. Get a cheap stereo to dual-mono adapter.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-613" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio2-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="555" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio2-300x225.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/audio2-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><h3>Batteries</h3><p>Anxiety killer #3: I never travel without a battery case on my smart phone. It recharges my phone at least once and adds another layer of peace-of-mind.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-616" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="740" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/battery-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><h3>Use tripit.com</h3><p>As much as I dislike their user interface, tripit.com has been invaluable for my travels. On the web and on my smart phone. Often its enough to forward travel confirmation emails to their email address and things will magically show up on your travel plan. Hotels, transportation, flights, meetings, .. everything goes in there (including confirmation numbers, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) and it becomes my main anchor during a trip.</p><h3>Apple watch</h3><p>Here’s yet another one that has become another huge peace-of-mind trick for me: I love my Apple watch for when I travel. Especially with the <em>App in the air</em> app. It syncs my flights from tripit.com and gives me the most time-critical information with a quick glance to my wrist.</p><p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-620" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="740" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-768x768.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_5366-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>Of course it doesn’t have to be the Apple Watch, I’m sure this works with other smart watches too. Just the fact that I now always know how much time I’ve got left until boarding, what terminal I’m supposed to go, what gate number the flight is at are and what number the flight is. And I do this with a 1st generation Apple Watch and it works just fine, no need to splurge for the latest mode.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>To make your travel more enjoyable, take care of the worst ambiguities. Both during the preparations and during the actual travel. You’ll be way more relaxed!</p><p>Got anything to add to this list? Let me know on social media (links at the right top of this page)</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🇬🇧 Siberia ahoi</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/25/siberia-ahoi/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 2017 00:12:15 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=581</guid> <description><![CDATA[I took this shot of ice bubbles on Lake Baikal in Siberia last year when we did a photo tour there with a group of great people. Tomorrow I will take off for yet another photo tour to Siberia and during my preparations that feeling of standing on top of the lake for the first […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><figure id="attachment_582" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-582" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-582" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/0bca7ac82d7721d754c38175bf5b5b0f.jpg" alt="Ice Bubbles in Siberia" width="2000" height="1333" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/0bca7ac82d7721d754c38175bf5b5b0f.jpg 2000w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/0bca7ac82d7721d754c38175bf5b5b0f-300x200.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/0bca7ac82d7721d754c38175bf5b5b0f-768x512.jpg 768w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/0bca7ac82d7721d754c38175bf5b5b0f-1024x682.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-582" class="wp-caption-text">Ice bubbles embedded in a 6 ft thick layer of ice on top of Lake Baikal.</figcaption></figure></p><p>I took this shot of ice bubbles on Lake Baikal in Siberia last year when we did a photo tour there with a group of great people. Tomorrow I will take off for yet another <a href="https://discoverthetopfloor.com/">photo tour</a> to Siberia and during my preparations that feeling of standing on top of the lake for the first time came back to me.</p><p>Lake Baikal is the oldest, clearest, deepest and biggest body of liquid fresh water in the world. In fact it holds 20% of the world’s liquid fresh water. TWENTY. EFFIN’. PERCENT.</p><p>It’s 395 miles long, 49 miles wide and at its deepest point it is 5,387 feet deep. That is over one mile of water. And I’ve been told that it’s so clear, that in summer, if you drop a coin from a boat, you can watch it sink for a whole minute. That’s insane.</p><p>Insane and very exciting when walking on top of it or driving over it in cars.</p><p>I took the above photo last year to show how the frozen air bubbles contrast with the deep blue color behind it. The deep blue is the depth. The abyss. The blackness of a mile of clear water. After knowing ice more for its milky and white-ish appearance, standing on ice so clear and with nothing under it cannot really be described by words.</p><p>Tomorrow I’ll take off to go back and find some more exciting pictures.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>3D sensing is coming</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/21/3d-sensing-is-coming/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2017 22:19:01 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=572</guid> <description><![CDATA[Google’s Project Tango was the first to market and others will follow in the consumer space very soon. 3D sensing is a critical component of the future of computing. It will not only allow facial recognition on a completely new level (e.g. you won’t need finger print readers anymore), the spacial awareness of the devices […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-575" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PIP_Events-1024x573.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="414" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PIP_Events-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PIP_Events-300x168.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PIP_Events-768x430.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></p><p>Google’s Project Tango was the <a href="https://get.google.com/tango/">first</a> to market and others will follow in the consumer space very soon. 3D sensing is a critical component of the future of computing. It will not only allow facial recognition on a completely new level (e.g. you won’t need finger print readers anymore), the spacial awareness of the devices will change pretty much anything. Think interaction. Think entertainment. Think mixed reality.</p><p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/scobleizer/the-freaky-future-of-3d"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-577" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/▶_The_freaky_future_of_3D_sensors_from_founder_of_Primesense__at_2013CES_by_scobleizer-1024x356.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="257" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/▶_The_freaky_future_of_3D_sensors_from_founder_of_Primesense__at_2013CES_by_scobleizer-1024x356.jpg 1024w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/▶_The_freaky_future_of_3D_sensors_from_founder_of_Primesense__at_2013CES_by_scobleizer-300x104.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/▶_The_freaky_future_of_3D_sensors_from_founder_of_Primesense__at_2013CES_by_scobleizer-768x267.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></a></p><p>Image recognition won’t have to rely on a 2-dimensional photo, but can use actual depth, which will in turn make recognition reliability almost perfect. Gesture recognition is another piece of the puzzle. The moment your device can tell what your hands are doing, you’ll have a new user interface. Touch that virtual computer screen that’s hovering in front of your face with your hand and move it to the side. Type on a virtual keyboard that’s on your lap. 3D sensors could even be used for eye tracking. The moment your device knows what you are looking at, that is another major step into a completely new paradigm. Eyefluence had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCZLll1l92g">an impressive demo</a> with what you can do in that area.</p><p>Apple bought Primesense, the makers of Microsoft Kinect, in 2013. Their technology must now be generations ahead of what it was back in 2013, but we don’t know yet, because for the last 4 years they have been developing behind closed doors. What we know is that Apple has spent billions on R&D and it’s said that they have 600 engineers working on the 3D sensor alone. Fitting it into a device the size of an iPhone is absolutely believable, so I’m a bit excited about <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/21/upcoming-oled-iphone-camera/">the rumours about Apple’s iPhone 8 that are in circulating right now</a>.</p><p>(Source: <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/21/upcoming-oled-iphone-camera/">Macrumors.com</a>)</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Art. Yes, it’s Art.</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/17/art-yes-its-art/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2017 23:28:31 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=547</guid> <description><![CDATA[When years ago I found the first episode of Cowboy Bebop, I had to watch them all. In Japanese, with English subtitles. I had tried an English dub, but it lost so much authenticity in the voice acting, the original was better. Cowboy Bebop left a profound impression on me. The episodes, the stories, the […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When years ago I found the first episode of Cowboy Bebop, I had to watch them all. In Japanese, with English subtitles. I had tried an English dub, but it lost so much authenticity in the voice acting, the original was better. Cowboy Bebop left a profound impression on me.</p><p>The episodes, the stories, the music, the depth. Here’s a video about Cowboy Bebop that was just released by <a class="g-hovercard yt-uix-sessionlink spf-link " href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5kBJmBUVFLYBDiSiK1VDw" data-sessionlink="itct=CDAQ4TkiEwji0MqIpJjSAhUHtlUKHa0DAB0o-B0" data-ytid="UCL5kBJmBUVFLYBDiSiK1VDw">Channel Criswell</a>.</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Cowboy Bebop - The Meaning of Nothing | The Cinema Cartography" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lkXFBPGZpTM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p> </p><p>Here’s a take by someone else who has also been deeply touched by it:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="You're Gonna Carry That Weight" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ip5CpjXR4CI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>Here’s another take on it:</p><p><iframe loading="lazy" title="The REAL Folk Blues - Where Does Cowboy Bebop Come From?" width="810" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3Z8cDkP86g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p> </p><p>Watch the series if you can.</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Rejiggle all the things</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2017/02/17/rejiggle-all-the-things/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2017 22:27:53 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Tech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/?p=542</guid> <description><![CDATA[Update: making progress, the list now includes tipsfromthetopfloor.com (took a bit longer because I had to make sure there was no interruption or side-effects on the podcast delivery). Once I’m back from Russia, I will get to work on the rest of the sites. It’s about time to revamp my web hosting. So far, it’s all on […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-543" src="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/kxUjRBFs-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/kxUjRBFs-300x300.jpg 300w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/kxUjRBFs-150x150.jpg 150w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/kxUjRBFs-100x100.jpg 100w, https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/kxUjRBFs.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><strong>Update: </strong><em>making progress, </em><em>the list now includes tipsfromthetopfloor.com (took a bit longer because I had to make sure there was no interruption or side-effects on the podcast delivery). Once I’m back from Russia, I will get to work on the rest of the sites.</em></p><p>It’s about time to revamp my web hosting. So far, it’s all on one dedicated server (as in a hardware box with spinning disks, mirrored albeit) and the system has served me well in the past. It’s getting a bit long in the tooth though and the cloud offers everywhere are quite intriguing. Especially as many of them run on really fast hardware, SSDs, quick networking and the flexibility is beyond anything I’ve ever had. Fire up an instance with the click of a mouse. Add a temporary server for a special purpose, delete it later and pay by the minute.</p><p>One hoster that I like is DigitalOcean. I’ve been playing with a test instance for a while and it’s been really good. And fast. The only problem was that they didn’t offer anything in a managed fashion. Bare (virtual) iron isn’t my thing anymore. I need a shell, I need cron jobs, but I definitely don’t need the responsibility of a full-fledged sys admin.. so I’ve been looking around and finally found cloudways.com who seems to combine the best of both worlds.</p><p>They offer a good level of clickable management (like adding a Let’s Encrypt certificate to a website with a click) and they will host your sites on a whole range of hosters. Including DigitalOcean. Perfect. So today I’ve spent a few hours migrating over a couple of minor wordpress instances and sites: <a href="http://viewfindervilla.com">viewfindervilla.com</a>, <a href="http://absolutanalog.de">absolutanalog.de</a>, <a href="http://chrismarquardt.com">chrismarquardt.com</a> and my personal “stuff-that-doesnt-go-anywhere-else” blog <a href="http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com">soapbox.chrismarquardt.com</a>.</p><p>I’ll let those run for a while, and if things work out as I hope, then the big chunks (e.g. several podcasts and <a href="http://glutenfrei-kochen.de">my mom’s cookbook</a>) will follow.</p><p>I’ll need to untangle a few things on that server though. Including my email forwarding. Any hints on a great dedicated service for email management and forwarding?</p>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>I don’t often get political here…</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2016/11/12/i-dont-often-get-political-here/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Nov 2016 15:04:36 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/post/i-dont-often-get-political-here</guid> <description><![CDATA[Jonathan Pie's take on who is to blame for Trump winning. I'll just put this here. It made me think. Strong language, but I think it touches right where it needs to."How do you think, people are going to vote if you talk to them like that?! When has ...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLG9g7BcjKs"><img src="http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/791e9963-b5cf-4f05-8473-c8989a6d74c6-1.jpg" /></a></div><p>Jonathan Pie’s take on who is to blame for Trump winning. I’ll just put this here. It made me think. Strong language, but I think it touches right where it needs to.</p><p><b><i>“How do you think, people are going to vote if you talk to them like that?! When has anyone ever been persuaded by being insulted or labeled.”</i></b></p><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLG9g7BcjKs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLG9g7BcjKs</a></div><div></div>]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Brace Yourselves, A New World</title> <link>https://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/2016/11/09/brace-yourselves-a-new-world/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Marquardt]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2016 09:46:56 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[VR/AR/MR]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/post/brace-yourselves-a-new-world</guid> <description><![CDATA[<div>No, I'm not talking about the US elections, I'm talking about a profound change in technology that lies in our not too distant future. It will impact almost anything in our lives, the same way smartphones do. Just more profoundly.</div><div>Since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, things haven't been the same. Now almost everybody carries one of those devices and they changed everything. Everybody now carries a camera all the time. Communications and social interactions have dramatically changed. Even seemingly disconnected things like film photography see their fair share of influence from smartphones. Physical rolodexes and address books are a thing of the past. I can (and do) produce entire podcast episodes using nothing but the device I carry in my pocket every day. Entire feature-length movies have been made using smart phones only.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://cdn.images.postach.io/0af6a434-69f3-45ad-ad04-b38473320baa/7c70fb96-197b-4c2c-afb7-8e8d5792d712/ee898b38-01d7-41d4-9d6f-bc7d26f5d8d4.jpg"><br></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>What's already here</b></div><div>What I'm talking about will surpass that. The next big thing is what some call Augmented or Mixed Reality (AR/MR) - every major player is invested in one way or another and there are multiple competing technologies being rolled out as we speak. Some of the early public players are Microsoft with their Hololens product (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA">promotional video</a> from Jan 2015) and Meta (an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p049os77zMk">early promo video</a> from Apr 2013 and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cun50vPpg5s">a much more recent video</a> from April 2016).</div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>The progress and technology</b></div><div>None of those devices are in a mass-marketable production state so far. They are bulky. Dev kits are available and applications are being built by developers as we speak. The devices are big and bulky and they all use a similar technology. A display above the eyes projecting downwards and a semitransparent diagonal mirror in front of the eyes that mixes that display with the real world around you. To allow things like attaching virtual objects to real-world things (think sticking a virtual display on a real wall), they also need 3D tracking of the room around you – and motion sensing. To allow interaction with your hands, they need to precisely track those too.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://cdn.images.postach.io/0af6a434-69f3-45ad-ad04-b38473320baa/7c70fb96-197b-4c2c-afb7-8e8d5792d712/e4011a5a-3bc2-473f-aaac-d829dbc7a378.jpg"><br></div><div>(Photo under CC-BY Creative Tools <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/16433891665">https://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/16433891665</a>)</div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>3D Sensing and Tracking</b></div><div>Kinect was one of the first products that would do some of that. Microsoft Kinect is the 3D room tracking bar for your Xbox. It was introduced in 2009 and here's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VtXvj4X0CE">a video from 2013</a> showing how far the technology has come in only four years. And in this <a href="https://soundcloud.com/scobleizer/the-freaky-future-of-3d">interview with the founder of Primesense</a>, the company that made the Kinect, you can hear that by 2013, they had their sensors down to the <b>size of a stick of gum</b> with dramatically better precision. It's 3 years later as I write this and development and further optimization and miniaturization has certainly continued. Google Tango is another 3D sensing technology that has been included <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe10ExwzCqk">in a first prototype smartphone</a> as well as in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGL-NwuL04o">a first production phone from Lenovo</a>. <br></div><div>It's only a small step to imagine those sensors being built into even smaller devices, to allow them to get a three-dimensional sense of the world surrounding them. </div><div>By the way, Primesense has since been acquired by Apple. Apple's CEO Tim Cook has publicly hinted on their strong interest in AR several times.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://cdn.images.postach.io/0af6a434-69f3-45ad-ad04-b38473320baa/7c70fb96-197b-4c2c-afb7-8e8d5792d712/26d02501-baa8-48d6-9ed1-220a611141de.jpg"><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>Enter Magic Leap</b></div><div>This company has been under tight wraps of secrecy for years. Only now are Magic Leap beginning to come out and publicly hint at their tech and their capabilities and I'm very excited about what I see. One of the reasons I'm excited is their state of funding. They don't have a product in the market, they don't talk much about their tech and they received venture capital from virtually all the big players - not just from the VC line of business, but also from the entertainment industry. As of early 2016 they were valued at USD 4.5 billion (yes, with a "b") and the word is that with pretty much all of the funders it went like the following. Magic Leap: "here's what we can do" - big company x: "No way" - Macig Leap: "here, let us give you a demo" - big company x: "shut up and take our money." Magic Leap has just revealed that they've been working with Lucasfilm for a year <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/magic-leap-lucasfilm/">to bring us this demo</a>. This was shot through an actual prototype and it boggles my mind. Think C3PO as a personal assistant, interacting with you at life-size, right where you are. And thanks to 3D sensing, he won't walk through tables, chairs or walls.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Magic Leap's Technology</b></div><div>Their technology seems different from what Microsoft and Meta do. Remember Lytro? The lightfield camera that would let you re-focus photos after they were taken? Magic Leap speaks about lightfield displays, wave-guides, photonics.. from all I've heard and seen and read, they seem to allow much better immersion and a significantly smaller form factor than the competition. They call it "Mixed Reality Lightfield" - and think eye-glasses, not head-mounted display. If you're into the tech, I recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBa-668ByAk">this video</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0b6IeX_x48&t=5s">its follow-up</a> for an analysis based on what we know.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTqF3w2yrZI">Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap in a conversation with WIRED</a>.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Magic Leap says they are in the process of building production right now.<br></div><div><br></div><div><b>The applications</b></div><div>No matter if Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple or Magic Leap, the applications of this are virtually endless and it will take some time until we have developed a new visual interaction language to deal with this. But let me take a stab at some of the most obvious changes that this will bring us.</div><div><i>Screens will turn virtual.</i> Instead of going to a specific place to sit in front of a screen, you just conjure one up in mid-air. Or stick it to a wall, any size you like. Or create five screens. Or turn an entire wall into a screen. Here's your home movie theater. Your window into another world.</div><div><i>Social interaction.</i> You will be able to talk face-to-face to people who are not in the same physical space with you. And not through a screen, but by being in the same virtual 3D space. Have a meeting with your remote business partner while sitting with them at a table. </div><div><i>Learning.</i> Setting up an IKEA shelf will no longer be an exercise to interpret 2-dimensional drawings and make sure the holes are on the right side but more like someone pointing to things with little arrows. Put these screws here, turn this around, attach this part to that part.</div><div><i>Gaming.</i> One enticing example I've read about is Pokemon Go but with the Pokemon hiding behind your couch and turning off your lights to hide from you as it runs away. Hello Internet of Things.</div><div><i>Shared virtual experiences.</i> Remember that virtual home theater? Share the same home theater screen with others. Everyone who is wearing the device will see the same thing.</div><div><br></div><div>And granted, these are the low hanging fruit and the things that we can imagine easily within our current frame of reference. They are a bit like asking for "a faster horse" instead of envisioning the car. I assume the actual reality will at first be a bit more gimmicky than I like and the real applications will be much broader and will emerge over time as the technology becomes available and more wide-spread.</div><div><br></div><div><b>The applications for photography</b></div><div>I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to map this onto the future of photography. Off the top of my mind I can think of a few: Composition overlays over the real world. Framing without a camera. Learning camera operation. Remote photography teaching. Virtual photo classes and tours.</div><div>That's all pretty low-hanging fruit. The reality will probably be a lot weirder and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.</div><div><br></div><div><b>When?</b></div><div>If I had to call on it (and based on what I've heard so far) I'd venture the guess that we will see the first consumer-grade devices hit the market in 2017. And I don't count devices like Lenovo's Google Tango phone into that, as they are not immersive but will show you the world through the small window of a smartphone only. I'm talking real immersion.</div><div>The iPhone took about 5 years to completely change the phone industry and it still had to grow up during that time. If we assume the same for Augmented/Mixed Reality, the next five years will be very exciting. As these developments tend to become exponentially faster, I'm even inclined to think that the timeframe will be shorter.</div><div><br></div>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><strong>Update 2017-02-17: </strong>seems that Magic Leap isn’t quite as far as they made seem. Some current perspective <a href="http://mashable.com/2017/02/15/magic-leap-stop-the-hype-show-the-product/#zBR6yvZmgaqm">here</a>. I’m still 100% in on AR/MR though. We ain’t seen nothing yet…</div><div></div><p>No, I’m not talking about the US elections, I’m talking about a profound change in technology that lies in our not too distant future. It will impact almost anything in our lives, the same way smartphones do. Just more profoundly.</p><p>Since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, things haven’t been the same. Now almost everybody carries one of those devices and they changed everything. Everybody now carries a camera all the time. Communications and social interactions have dramatically changed. Even seemingly disconnected things like film photography see their fair share of influence from smartphones. Physical rolodexes and address books are a thing of the past. I can (and do) produce entire podcast episodes using nothing but the device I carry in my pocket every day. Entire feature-length movies have been made using smart phones only.</p><div></div><div><img src="http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ee898b38-01d7-41d4-9d6f-bc7d26f5d8d4-1.jpg" /></div><div><b> </b></div><div><b>What’s already here</b></div><p>What I’m talking about will surpass that. The next big thing is what some call Augmented or Mixed Reality (AR/MR) – every major player is invested in one way or another and there are multiple competing technologies being rolled out as we speak. Some of the early public players are Microsoft with their Hololens product (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA">promotional video</a> from Jan 2015) and Meta (an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p049os77zMk">early promo video</a> from Apr 2013 and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cun50vPpg5s">a much more recent video</a> from April 2016).</p><div><b> </b></div><div><b>The progress and technology</b></div><p>None of those devices are in a mass-marketable production state so far. They are bulky. Dev kits are available and applications are being built by developers as we speak. The devices are big and bulky and they all use a similar technology. A display above the eyes projecting downwards and a semitransparent diagonal mirror in front of the eyes that mixes that display with the real world around you. To allow things like attaching virtual objects to real-world things (think sticking a virtual display on a real wall), they also need 3D tracking of the room around you – and motion sensing. To allow interaction with your hands, they need to precisely track those too.</p><p> </p><div><img src="http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/e4011a5a-3bc2-473f-aaac-d829dbc7a378.jpg" /></div><div>(Photo under CC-BY Creative Tools <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/16433891665">https://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/16433891665</a>)</div><div><b> </b></div><div><b>3D Sensing and Tracking</b></div><p>Kinect was one of the first products that would do some of that. Microsoft Kinect is the 3D room tracking bar for your Xbox. It was introduced in 2009 and here’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VtXvj4X0CE">a video from 2013</a> showing how far the technology has come in only four years. And in this <a href="https://soundcloud.com/scobleizer/the-freaky-future-of-3d">interview with the founder of Primesense</a>, the company that made the Kinect, you can hear that by 2013, they had their sensors down to the <b>size of a stick of gum</b> with dramatically better precision. It’s 3 years later as I write this and development and further optimization and miniaturization has certainly continued. Google Tango is another 3D sensing technology that has been included <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe10ExwzCqk">in a first prototype smartphone</a> as well as in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGL-NwuL04o">a first production phone from Lenovo</a>.</p><p>It’s only a small step to imagine those sensors being built into even smaller devices, to allow them to get a three-dimensional sense of the world surrounding them.</p><div>By the way, Primesense has since been acquired by Apple. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has publicly hinted on their strong interest in AR several times.</div><div></div><div><img src="http://soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/26d02501-baa8-48d6-9ed1-220a611141de.jpg" /></div><div></div><div><b>Enter Magic Leap</b></div><p>This company has been under tight wraps of secrecy for years. Only now are Magic Leap beginning to come out and publicly hint at their tech and their capabilities and I’m very excited about what I see. One of the reasons I’m excited is their state of funding. They don’t have a product in the market, they don’t talk much about their tech and they received venture capital from virtually all the big players – not just from the VC line of business, but also from the entertainment industry. As of early 2016 they were valued at USD 4.5 billion (yes, with a “b”) and the word is that with pretty much all of the funders it went like the following. Magic Leap: “here’s what we can do” – big company x: “No way” – Macig Leap: “here, let us give you a demo” – big company x: “shut up and take our money.” Magic Leap has just revealed that they’ve been working with Lucasfilm for a year <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/magic-leap-lucasfilm/">to bring us this demo</a>. This was shot through an actual prototype and it boggles my mind. Think C3PO as a personal assistant, interacting with you at life-size, right where you are. And thanks to 3D sensing, he won’t walk through tables, chairs or walls.</p><div></div><div><b>Magic Leap’s Technology</b></div><p>Their technology seems different from what Microsoft and Meta do. Remember Lytro? The lightfield camera that would let you re-focus photos after they were taken? Magic Leap speaks about lightfield displays, wave-guides, photonics.. from all I’ve heard and seen and read, they seem to allow much better immersion and a significantly smaller form factor than the competition. They call it “Mixed Reality Lightfield” – and think eye-glasses, not head-mounted display. If you’re into the tech, I recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBa-668ByAk">this video</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0b6IeX_x48&t=5s">its follow-up</a> for an analysis based on what we know.</p><div></div><div>Here’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTqF3w2yrZI">Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap in a conversation with WIRED</a>.</div><div></div><div>Magic Leap says they are in the process of building production right now.</div><div></div><div><b>The applications</b></div><p>No matter if Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple or Magic Leap, the applications of this are virtually endless and it will take some time until we have developed a new visual interaction language to deal with this. But let me take a stab at some of the most obvious changes that this will bring us.</p><p><i>Screens will turn virtual.</i> Instead of going to a specific place to sit in front of a screen, you just conjure one up in mid-air. Or stick it to a wall, any size you like. Or create five screens. Or turn an entire wall into a screen. Here’s your home movie theater. Your window into another world.</p><p><i>Social interaction.</i> You will be able to talk face-to-face to people who are not in the same physical space with you. And not through a screen, but by being in the same virtual 3D space. Have a meeting with your remote business partner while sitting with them at a table.</p><p><i>Learning.</i> Setting up an IKEA shelf will no longer be an exercise to interpret 2-dimensional drawings and make sure the holes are on the right side but more like someone pointing to things with little arrows. Put these screws here, turn this around, attach this part to that part.</p><p><i>Gaming.</i> One enticing example I’ve read about is Pokemon Go but with the Pokemon hiding behind your couch and turning off your lights to hide from you as it runs away. Hello Internet of Things.</p><div><i>Shared virtual experiences.</i> Remember that virtual home theater? Share the same home theater screen with others. Everyone who is wearing the device will see the same thing.</div><div></div><div>And granted, these are the low hanging fruit and the things that we can imagine easily within our current frame of reference. They are a bit like asking for “a faster horse” instead of envisioning the car. I assume the actual reality will at first be a bit more gimmicky than I like and the real applications will be much broader and will emerge over time as the technology becomes available and more wide-spread.</div><div></div><div><b>The applications for photography</b></div><p>I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t try to map this onto the future of photography. Off the top of my mind I can think of a few: Composition overlays over the real world. Framing without a camera. Learning camera operation. Remote photography teaching. Virtual photo classes and tours.</p><p>That’s all pretty low-hanging fruit. The reality will probably be a lot weirder and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.</p><div></div><div><b>When?</b></div><p>If I had to call on it (and based on what I’ve heard so far) I’d venture the guess that we will see the first consumer-grade devices hit the market in 2017. And I don’t count devices like Lenovo’s Google Tango phone into that, as they are not immersive but will show you the world through the small window of a smartphone only. I’m talking real immersion.</p><p>The iPhone took about 5 years to completely change the phone industry and it still had to grow up during that time. If we assume the same for Augmented/Mixed Reality, the next five years will be very exciting. As these developments tend to become exponentially faster, I’m even inclined to think that the timeframe will be shorter.</p><div></div>]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
Download the "valid RSS" banner.
Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)
Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):
If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:
http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//soapbox.chrismarquardt.com/feed.xml
