This is one of our most popular stories so I am re-running it today for all our new readers.

Sometimes, a little how-to project can break up the day. Other times, it can suck the life out of you and drain hours away. (More on my monolithic MPEG player project later.)

This project luckily is easy to do and allows you to have fun with you cell phone camera - something that got old fast for me after the newness wore off. This came from Digital Photography Hacks.

–Camera phones don’t have sockets that you can attach to tripods to ensure smooth panning. So, this is hand-holding country. To produce the best results, minimize your body movement when you’re photographing each segment. I recommend keeping your feet in a single spot throughout the entire process. Twist your waist, while keeping your back as vertical as possible, for horizontal panorama scenes. When photographing vertical scenes, try to bend your shoulders and waist straight back (when shooting upwards) or forward (when shooting down). These behaviors minimize segment mismatches that create unusable visual areas.

–Bring the photo segments into a photo-stitching (sometimes referred to as photo-merging) application. A number of general-purpose, commercial photo-editing applications include photo-stitching tools, such as Photomerge in Photoshop CS and Elements.

–Standalone photo-stitching tools, such as ArcSoft PanoramaMaker , are also available. For this project, I used the PhotoStitch application that came bundled with my Canon PowerShot G3 digital camera. You can also find open source photo-stitching tools associated with the Panorama Tools project (http://panotools.sourceforge.net/).

–Most applications automate the bulk of the actual photo-stitching process. However, there are usually options to adjust for different ways of producing and merging segmented images. You should experiment with these different methods to learn which ones work best with your photographic technique.

Step By Step Instructions Here

Send us your pic and I’ll post a few!

I’ve been working on my Project Notebook part two on installing a satellite radio. For Part One, click here. Meanwhile, RealTechNews reader Justin pointed out a posting on Engadget of a new Sirius Sportster that boasts TiVo-like time shifting and the ability to record. Very cool.

“So the hot new feature on this Sirius satellite radio receiver is the ability to record and time-shift programs for later listening, courtesy of some built-in memory that will hold up to 44 minutes worth of content. The unit itself has also been redesigned with sleekness in mind, includes an FM transmitter and a new antenna, and will reportedly be available next week.” Source: Engadget via Justin

Alice’s Take: I love it but it took so long for my cheapo base unit to get here, don’t hold your breath on seeing one soon.

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Most readers know that I am not a big fan of the tablet PC. I also have not had much affection for the “Internet Appliance”. I still have the original 3Com “Audrey” and its box with all the documentation as my mini museum of failed web devices. I also used to use a tiny half-laptop from NEC that ran Windows CE and offered crude email and word processing - something I loved to take on the road in place of the ultra heavy laptops of the time period. I have definitely been down this road before.

So why am I intrigued by Nokia’s new 770? For starters, it’s small. Not a tablet, but more like a “pad.” That works well when you are sick to death of burring holes in your lap as you try to use a tablet or laptop while relaxing in front of the TV. Next, it’s cheap. At $350, it’s less than the atrocious $500 price tag of the upcoming Palm LifeDrive PDA. And last, it’s wireless and so are most high tech homes. The poor Audrey was relegated to a kitchen dial up connection or sat by the router back before WiFi made browsing wherever you are a reality.

The downside: no email. I get that Nokia doesn’t want to make this a bloated jack of all trades device and I applaud that, but this means you have to either carry this and a wireless PDA or a laptop, or it really is just meant for replacing the morning paper or offering quick web access while you watch TV. Interesting.

“The device is aimed at consumers looking for an affordable extra Internet screen in the house that they can also carry with them and use at wireless hotspots outside the home or connect to a cell phone through a Bluetooth wireless link. It will be available in the third quarter.

“The product will run entirely on open source software, including a standard Linux operating system also used in desktop computers, marking more unchartered waters for Nokia. “Using standard desktop Linux means innovation is happening faster (than in Linux versions for small devices). We will be very fast in implementing this innovation,” Jormalainen said. Several of the innovations already in the pipeline are upgrades by early 2006 to enable Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calls and instant messaging. Anyone who buys the device now will be able to upgrade the software next year. VoIP phone calls from this portable device may cannibalize cell phone voice revenues from Nokia’s main customers which are all of the world’s biggest mobile operators. ” Source: Reuters via eWeek via Gizmodo

Update: I just found out it will do email and more. This may be a viable product, folks. “The Nokia tablet is designed specifically for Web browsing and personal e-mail, primarily at home, though its Wi-Fi transmitter can also connect with public and commercial hot spots. And while it comes with a slot for removable storage to play music or video, as well as software to play and view such media, the tablet also is not intended as a rival to Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod or other MP3 music players, according to Nokia.” Source: AP via ABC News

Last week I wrote about a new service that lets you receive Amber Alerts on your cell phone. The premise sounded good, but I was also scared that the messages would be going on day and night as parents used the alert system to fight bitter custody battles. I have to say that to date I have not received a single message, and the further research I did on this showed that if you specify one or two zip codes, the number of message will only be about one or two a month. Which is also good to know for the poor kids involved.

Today however there’s a new SMS text service from, SCAN USA that covers sex offenders who move to a new address, and frankly is totally offensive - from the company’s business model to the fact that I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with an “alert.” This info is available online for any one who wants to know more about their neighbors, but why tie it to cell phone messaging, except for the chance to make a buck off the message? The other key problem is that only one quarter of all sex offender register their addresses with the Police, which will not only leave out 75% , it also penalizes the ones who do register, which in turn can make that number drop even further. In a nutshell: The data is bad and the company sending it doesn’t care one bit.

“Critics worry that the alarms may provide a false sense of security, since the databases depend on the willingness of sex offenders to check in with police. About 132,000 offenders — a fourth of all such sex offenders nationwide — fail to follow state registration laws, according to an October 2004 survey by the advocacy group Parents for Megan’s Law. Laura Ahearn, the group’s executive director, said she is outraged that a for-profit company is directing people to information that has been found to be unreliable.

“Why are they doing this? Because they want to benefit financially, not because they want to protect society,” Ahearn said. “You can’t just be injecting yourself without having some level of responsibility for the information you put out there.” Krauss said it’s not his company’s responsibility to verify any of the information, or warn subscribers about what’s missing from the databases. “This is a garbage-in, garbage-out process. All we can do is use the data that’s there,” he said.

“SCAN USA sends the alerts to the public for free. SBC Communications agreed to pay the company $300,000, plus 15 cents a year for each SBC customer who subscribes, beyond the initial two million who sign up, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accountants have expressed concern about the financial state of SCAN USA’s parent company, Sharp Holding Corp., which is deeply in debt, and whose stock trades for less than a dollar on the highly speculative over-the-counter market. Last year, the company lost $2.4 million, with $900,000 of that loss attributed to SCAN USA.

“Other critics said the service will feed people’s paranoia. Source: Yahoo News

Oh no, the Star Wars hype machine is affecting my brain. I think I secretly want the light saber umbrella. Help me Obiwan….

“Japanese manufacturer Happinet has started preorders for a “Rain Lightsaber” which ships next month. A regular lightsaber is normally used to attack someone but put the word “rain” in front of it and you have an umbrella. Just an umbrella. All is not lost however, since sturdy umbrellas may also be used to attack man and beast when the occasion beckons.

“Made of a durable vinyl material which blossoms outwards to 100cm when opened, the umbrella will shield adventurous walkers from wind, rain, and sun. Two types are available for preorder: One features a shadowy Darth Vader who wields a saber and the other one shows a diamond-shaped Vader logo. Pricing is set at Y8000 in Japan or US$85 from NCS. Delivery is expected in mid-late June 2005. “Source: Seamless Tech via Boing Boing

Alice’s Take: The product sounds cheap (vinyl material?) and is definitely overpriced, but why is it not shipping until weeks after the opening? Anyway, the most disturbing Star Wars product is still hands down the Princess Leia Slave Girl Dog Costume. If you missed that one, you have to check it out. Scary!

Now I finally understand why I watch Seinfeld so much. PVR Blog has some interesting statistics on viewing habits in the day of time shifting, TiVo, IPTV and more channels than ever before. Turns out, we can only handle about 15 channels.

“The result may be that when all the time-shifting and space-shifting is accounted for, most people will watch the same stuff by the same creators. In fact, even with today’s relative abundance, most people stick to only a few channels.

“According to Nielsen Media Research, households that receive about 60 channels usually watch only 15. Households whose systems can receive 96 channels (around the national average) actually watch… 15. What’s more, a recent study conducted at the UPenn Annenberg School for Communications showed that when people were offered more programming choices, they stuck to fewer selections—and, alarmingly, watched fewer news shows.” Source: PVR Blog

A new plugnin for WinAmp called Mlipod has been released and proclaimed the software that sets the iPod free. Or more likely, yet another lawsuit for Apple to kick-off.

“The plug-in, called ml_iPod, allows iPod users to bypass iTunes and manage music collections in Winamp instead. The iPod is supposed to work with iTunes only. A new version of the software was released Monday. Justin Frankel, creator of Winamp and the open-source peer-to-peer software Gnutella, initially developed ml_iPod, but programming was taken over by Will Fisher, a computer science student in the U.K.

“Fisher and other developers programmed a slew of features, including the ability to synch multiple iPods with Winamp, create smart playlists and — the most useful option — the ability to copy songs from an iPod onto a hard drive. “A lot of the feedback I get is people thanking me for freeing them from iTunes,” said Fisher. “It shows the dissatisfaction people have with iTunes.” Apple Computer did not respond to several requests for comment.

“To prevent iPod users from easily copying vast libraries of songs from computer to computer, Apple forbids tracks from being moved off the iPod — songs can only be put onto the iPod. In addition, each iPod is associated with a single copy of iTunes. The association can be changed, but only if all songs on the iPod are erased.” Source: Wired Online

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

I’ve been a big fan of RFID technology as a way for retailers to track inventory and understand what merchandise is hot and what isn’t. I like the fact that RFID chips could help stores cut down on shoplifting. I also found the privacy argument mostly a bunch of hoo hah, because it just didn’t seem like a bad idea for a store to know that aisle three was running low on paper towels, and I suppose someone could sit in front of my house and scan in the fact that I like Red Bull energy drink and use Colgate toothpaste, but I guess I just don’t think that’s a big admission to be making. Storm the gates, she bought Velveeta! Supermarkets have been cataloging most purchases anyway with those loyalty cards.

But today we are going to look at the flip-side of RFID - the use of an RFID chip in passports. I travel a lot internationally and have to say that the it’s not th easiest time to be an American, and a chip that could broadcast that to anyone with a cheap RFID scanner is quite worrisome. So let’s kick the issue off with info I found on a slightly hysterical (as in alarmist, not funny) website called, RFID Kills.

“The RFID chip the US State Department wants to put in our passports holds 64KB of information, five and a half times the amount of read-only data the Apollo 11 computer needed to put a man on the moon. This chip will contain all of the information currently on your US passport, including your photograph. None of this information will be encrypted. When an RFID reader says ‘Marco’ to the passport chip, the chip will broadcast the entire contents of your passport in a digital, copy-able format. The more power the reader sends out to the chip, the further away the chip can be read. An RFID reader modified by terrorists to send out a lot of power could be used, for example, to do a drive-by scan of cafes in order to determine which one had the most Americans in it. A few thousand dollars and a little technical know-how is all it takes to buy and modify an RFID reader, a trifling sum for professional kidnappers, organized crime, or terrorist groups. ” Source: RFID Kills

Here’s the other side of the argument:

“Why would we assume that the US Department of State wouldn’t handle the RFID issue similarly to the way SpeedPass handles it? That the information embedded in the passport is simply an identification code, and the identification code ties back to a secure database? And that it’s the secure database which actually contains detailed data about the individual, not the RFID chip itself? Thus, an RFID-chipped passport would simply reveal an identification code that is meaningless unless you also have access to the secure database. Any terrorist or identity thief with an RFID reader would not have access to your name, your date of birth, your address, your digital photo. All they would have is, say, an alpha-numerical code. And as to the claim that kidnappers will be able to pick Americans out of a crowd, well here’s a news flash: any observant person can do that today. ” Source: The RFID Weblog

So I did more research and found this: “To protect privacy, the government assures tags won’t include visitors’ personal or biometric information. Rather, they will contain only serial codes that links to visitors’ information securely stored in databases used by US-Visit. The serial codes would be meaningless to any third party trying to collect that information. The tags also will be tamper-proof and difficult to counterfeit. Information on the tags cannot be changed, and the tags will only be activated once they’re officially issued. These factors will prevent so-called skimming, which is the use of unauthorized reading devices to capture information from RFID tags, the government contends. Also, authorities say, it’ll be impossible to track the whereabouts of someone holding such a passive tag without a corresponding reading device.”

So what do you think? My take is that the chips are not going to be an issue.