Almost two weeks ago I wrote about problems with Nikon NEF format scans and Photoshop CS2. The problem was that the scans wouldn't work in Photoshop or Apple's Preview etc.

Today I found the solution. Downloading and installing Nikon View 6.2.7 enables Photoshop CS2 to open and work with Nikon scanner raw (NEF) images. With Photoshop now able to work with the images it's a short trip to Adobe Bridge and an automatic workflow.

The first night of Spring 2006 brought snow to the desert southwest. At lower elevations the snow took the form of rain more frequently than snow but it was beautiful and refreshing all the same.

A series of accidents on Columbia Pass and the closure of Columbia Pass as well as State Route 160 near Mountain Springs meant a morning spent at home. The sights of the first day of Spring in Sandy Valley are much better than those from my office.

I came across a post looking for ideas on recording in flight. I've recently talked about trying to setup just such a system. Mentioned in the comments on the post above is the Firestore FS-4 which seems like the ideal recorder for this sort of thing. In my case, however, I'd like the camera mounted externally to be essentially disposable - i.e. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars.

The ideal setup would seem to be a method of connecting an iSight camera directly to a Firestore FS-4 without needing to have a computer to attach the iSight to. And I'd like to be able to record audio as well (plug into the intercom or put a small microphone in the ear-cup). The bullet and lipstick cams look interesting but still rely upon relatively expensive equipment (cameras) inside the aircraft that would also need to have tapes changed during flight - not something that is possible in the application I'd like to experiment with.

"NO DRIVR" reads the ontario license plate. "driven by Mac OS X" reads the fender of one Volkswagen Toureg. In comes another dust-covered Toureg with its play on the familiar Volkswagen line "Drivers not needed," the rear fender proclaims. Indeed it is almost correct. The vehicle has just become the first to traverse the 132-mile course with only a computer at the controls. Though it has logged more than a thousand miles in training its artificial intelligence system, the 132 that it logged on Saturday are historic.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 2005 Grand Challenge filled the parking lot behind Buffalo Bills' in Primm, Nevada this weekend. I snapped a few photos of the first vehicles to complete the 132-mile desert course. In contrast to the 2004 Grand Challenge where the top teams managed only seven miles, 22 of the 23 finalists surpassed the seven-mile mark. Five teams finished the entire 132-mile course this year, although only four finished in the alloted 10-hour timeframe. 43 teams went to the National Qualification Event over the last two weeks. The teams competing had bots ranging in size from Blue Team's diminutive Ghostrider Robot a motorcycle based platform to the 16-ton green machine TerraMax.

Stanford's Stanley, a Volkswagen Toureg, completed the course in 6 hours 53 minutes and 58 seconds to win the challenge's $2 million purse.