Introduction to the Maker Community Event

We'll be holding an informal free event at Metrix Createspace on Cap Hill April 9th at 7pm.

Register to attend at our meetup page (linked above, or just click here)

Metrix is an awesome space with an amazing amount of tools to make anything your heart desires (well, almost anything).

More information at www.metrixcreatespace.com and their wiki at wiki.metrixcreatespace.com

Remember, sign up now at our meetup page!

A fusion of ideas to power the future

DIII-D tokamak

Wednesday's Laser news got me thinking. The potential of a laser induced fusion reaction could be of tremendous importance to the goal of fusion technology for the world. But how close are we? What else have scientists hit upon recently that might aim us closer to fusion powered cars and trash compactors as envisioned in the 60s?

An international group called ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is working on a key component of any future fusion firings in France. The "tokamak" is a donut shaped structure that uses magnetic fields to contain the reaction.

The Register has an article from November 2011 covering the findings using the smaller DIII-D tokamak in San Diego: Fusion boffins crack shreddy eddy plasma puzzle

"The problem was that, until work began in San Diego, nobody really understood how and when turbulence ceased as surface flow built up. But Dr Lothar Schmitz and his crew are pleased to report that their method of using microwave radar guns - not dissimilar to police speed guns aimed into the torus using focusing mirrors - has given them a good handle on what's going on."

Related external links
Lawrence Livermore National Labs National Ignition Facility (NIF)
Official NIF press release
General Atomics Fusion Energy Research DIII-D Program
ITER Project website

So the question is will fusion be practical in the next few decades?

As of May 2011 Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku thinks so. The question is does this weeks news move the date up or not?

Ice, Ice... Mercury?

The MESSENGER spacecraft combined with data from the 1990s are leading to some interesting conclusions about the potential for water on the planet closest to the sun.

""All radar-bright features near Mercury's north pole are confined to shadowed areas in MDIS images to date, consistent with the water-ice hypothesis," said Johns Hopkins University planetary scientist Nancy Chabot..."

Read more at Discovery News (news.discover.com)

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Also from Discovery News, it seems that Mercury's ground is swelling from the inside out. Scientists used gravity maps and computer models to discover that the core of the planet supports an extra solid layer of iron-sulfide.

""One of the things this has told us is that there are some unusual dynamics in the interior of Mercury going on that we haven't thought about before and that we don't understand," Zuber said."

Read more at Discovery News (news.discover.com)

PC Magazine Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta review

PCMag.com has a pretty comprehensive review of Photoshop CS6 on it's site. It looks like even with a 20 year old application, Adobe is finding good ways to update its software.

I personally found this tidbit of info amusing. I've used autocorrect tools for years as a starting point on fixing images, but have found that there's a core group of people who don't agree with "cheating" by using the auto features. It seems that what people say, and what they do are different. ;-)

"Adobe found that when it polled users, the vast majority claimed they never used Auto, but telemetry (automated opt-in online program feedback) told another story: about two thirds of users did employ the Auto option."

Also fascinating was the information on the content aware move tools. The article just shows a screenshot of before though, so I will need to try this one out myself.

About the only thing I'm not happy to see in this is the advanced text tools. As a former prepress technician, I know how easy it is to make text look bad. Never set more than a stylistic heading in photoshop (and avoid text in Illustrator as well for Gods sake). InDesign is where you should set your text. Use your tools correctly!

You can download the beta from Adobe's Lab site: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/photoshopcs6.html

Make it so...

From Inkfarm.com: Owning a Hackerspace: An Interview with Matt Westervelt

"Matt Westervelt, owner and founder of Metrix, considers it one part tech shop, one part hackerspace, one part coffee shop but 100% open to the public. As a public workshop with over 10 different “robots” at your disposal, the only limitation here is “What can you make?”"

We're hoping to have a V&W event "Intro to Metrix" in the coming few weeks. I'll post more when we firm up the date. Until then, this is a fantastic interview that shows a lot of the cool things Metrix has going for it!

BioWare's reaction to the Mass Effect 3 ending

It's a good response, and I look forward to seeing how they address the issue of clarity, closure, and reward without changing the actual story. For those of you too busy to read it, I paraphrased the gist of it below.

TO MASS EFFECT 3 PLAYERS, FROM DR. RAY MUZYKA, CO-FOUNDER OF BIOWARE

PARAPHRASED: "We understand some of you didn't like the ending, and because we value the opinions of our fans, we'd like to clarify it for those of you who didn't (since most of you seem to hate it because you think it makes no sense), in addition to making the new content we already had planned. In fact, we're already doing so.

We're always open to constructive criticism of our work, which we appreciate greatly, and we try to address it as best we can. However, many of you have been flaming the shit out of us, and to those of you who can't muster a better response than 'OMFG YOU GUYS SUCK, YOU/[Insert name of Bioware employee] RUINED THE SERIES FOR ME, I HATE YOU PLEASE CHANGE THE ENDING AND/OR DIE!!!', please be aware that we will be ignoring you completely."

-James Sugarbroad

Fricken LASERS!

Two pieces of Laser news today that, though at opposite ends of the spectrum (no pun intended) of power, are no less cool.

America fires the most powerful laser in history

From the article...

"The beams are then redirected, using mirrors, into amplifiers that have been previously pumped by a total of 7,680 Xenon flash lamps. After four bounces, the beams are further split into 192 rays through all the facility—which is the size of three football fields. As they travel through those endless tubes, the beams are amplified again at an exponential rate."

No wonder the Death Star was so big...

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Also, Laser powered sonar from our friends at MIT

MIT's laser-powered camera can detect objects hidden around corners

"To capture an object lurking around a corner, the device aims its laser at a nearby wall, thereby allowing the light to bounce around the room before eventually landing on the concealed object. Once it hits the jackpot, the light will reflect back onto the wall, and eventually return to a detector, which can gauge the exact location of the object based on the distance the laser traveled."