April 27, 2007 Meeting

Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

SESSIONS

SCORCH COMMUNICATIONS (WIRELESS BROADBAND)

Sheryl clarified the availability of wireless Broadband services through Scorch Communications (as noted in the AMUG March minutes): At present their Mt Misery (Cave Hill) transmitter broadcasts wireless Broadband as far north as Orari and sevices much of inland South Canterbury. The new transmitter being built at Mt Shrives (near Waimate, by Mt Studholm), should provide coverage for most of coastal South Canterbury/North Otago, ensuring that most of the area between Timaru and Oamaru and much of the Waitaki Valley will be able to receive wireless Broadband.

Thank you Sheryl for this clarification.

Sessions

We were fortunate to have Paul Rodley, head of E-Learning (ICT Director) at Christ's College (Christchurch) as our guest speaker for the meeting. Paul presented sessions on a variety of topics:

APPLE HQ in CALIFORNIA

Paul has had several visits to the Apple Computer (now just Apple) headquarters in Cupertino, California, USA. He gave an outline of the physical layout of the Apple campus, part of which is shown above. As would be expected, visitors are subjected to a high level of security, as many of the projects under development are very sensitive. The visitors' reception and demonstration facilities are of course very hi-tech, and on his successive visits Paul has noticed how these have developed.

During some visits to USA Paul has been able to attend the Apple Developers' Conference, at which new products and software are announced. He was present at the conference at which the Mac Mini computer made its debut. Being an educationist, his trips to North America have included visits to schools in both the United States and Canada.

Paul also described Apple's facilities for testing new products, many of which are planned with a lead of 2-3 years before production, and are extensively tested during this time. For example, laptops are subjected to high temperatures in ovens to determine how they function under extreme conditions. Components, frames and casings are drop-tested to reveal weaknesses in physical design, and are modifies accordingly. Interesting stuff!

COMPUTING AT CHRIST'S COLLEGE

Paul based his presentation on computing at Christ's College on a series of slides which illustrated the computing facilities at the school, and the varying uses that are made of them. Some of the points he made were:

• The college has some 220 Macs in use, and these are upgraded and/or replaced regularly.
• Fibre-optic loops now available within and between some cities enable schools (and other users) to have high-speed and high-volume connectivity for transfer of information.
• The college has large arrays of servers to maintain stability and accessibility on its network.
• Battery power back-up is available in the event of mains electrical failure.
• Extensive monitoring systems are in place to maintain the integrity of the system and its data.
• Computers are available in both suites (which may be booked for specific instruction) and classrooms for various subjects (eg Music suite).
• The computer suites are open for students to use before and after classroom hours.
• The college has a large collection of examples of each model of Apple computer which has been used since the inception of computing, together with a copy of each software application.
• As well as for educational purposes, the computer suites are available at certain out-of-class times for students to play computer games.

LIVING IN A 3D WORLD

Now for something quite different - and bearable for only a short time (unless you want a headache!). Paul briefly explained a number of aspects of making and using 3D images, including:

• Stereo images (stereographs), which are a pair of images taken a few centimetres apart to present a slightly different perspective for each eye, and placed in a stereo-viewer (eg Viewmaster), which gives a 3-dimensional impression:

• Cameras on sliding frames cam be used to produce images for making into stereographs.
• 3D images and cartoons can be made by manipulating the images so that the red/green colours are shifted slightly in relation to each other - this is done using applications such as Photoshop, which has facilities for filtering colours. The resultant images are viewed through red/green lenses glasses, and a 3D effect is produced:

• Even 3D videos are possible, using two cameras mounted side-by-side, shooting the subject simultaneously. The footage is then manipulated digitally to filter out the red/green colours respectively, and the two tracks combined using video editing software (such as Final Cut Pro). The movie produced is then viewed through red/green glasses, giving a video image which appears to have more depth (though more limited colouration) than a standard video.

More on 3D images on Paul's Blog: http://blog.core-ed.net/paul/

[Paul distributed CDs with 3D-making software and examples. See Tony if you're interested]

CRAZYTALK

In connection with animation production, Paul mentioned the Crazytalk application, which can be used to animate a still image of a person (or animal!) to give the appearance of speech and expression. The user selects reference points on an image of a face, and these are used to produce a small movie giving the illusion of speech-related movement - have a look at this site for examples: http://www.techknowledgey.co.uk/cm/test.html

GOOGLE SKETCHUP

Members who have a Broadband Internet connection and have used the Google Earth may be familiar with the 3D Buildings feature, in which selected constructions are superimposed on the Google Earth images and appear as 3D drawings of the relevant buildings.

These drawings are made using an application called SketchUp, which formerly had to be purchased, but which has now been acquired by Google, who have made it available as a free 44MB download [Go to: http://sketchup.google.com ]

Basically, the application provides tools for drawing, stretching, measuring, moving, painting and moving models. They can then be revolved to be viewed from varying angles and heights, and modified by adding construction and landscape features:

Tutorials are provided, and also a variety of downloadable modules to enhance models. With very little practice models with a number of features can be produced. If desired completed models can be uploaded to Google Earth so that others have access to them.

More on this interesting application when when some of us have had chance to 'play' with it! Have fun!

ANTARCTICA

Paul described his trip to Antarctica, which he made as an educator for the purpose of gathering material to produce on-line teaching resources. He illustrated his talk with some of the many photos he took, and described aspects such as travelling to Antarctica, the physical settings of Scott Base (NZ) and the nearby McMurdo Base (USA), the Dry Valleys, transport, personnel, etc.

An interesting item of equipment which Paul showed and explained was an attachment which fits onto a camera to enable 360-degree panorama images to be taken using only a single image - unlike most panoramas, which require a series of images to be taken by a revolving camera. A special circular reflector captures the entire scene all at once, and the camera is held above the photographer' s head to prevent his/her inclusion in the photo! The resultant image is then manipulated in a computer application to produce a panorama image. Being hand-held and taking a single image makes this system much more convenient than having to set up a tripod and take a series of photos.

APPLE TV

Members were given a demonstration of how the recently-released Apple TV device works: it connects wirelessly to a computer to display photos or movies on a TV. A Broadband Internet connection enables live streaming of movies from the web for TV viewing. The Apple website gives a full description: http://www.apple.com/appletv/

What a great evening! Those of us who were able to attend were most interested Paul's explanations on the various topics which he introduced - there's so much to see and learn. Thank you Paul for taking the time and making the effort to be with us, and for preparing your presentation in such an informative way.