Category Archives: How To

Consume and Display Atom Feeds w/ Coldfusion

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I’ve recently had need to consume and display an ‘rss’ Atom Feed from a blog I’ve set up using Blogger. Blogger more specifically addresses Intellectual Property for your posts, which was mandatory for this use. I need to display the article feed on various sites, all using Coldfusion as the application server. I also have need to pull only specific entries marked with a certain category for the post.

When I started looking at the XML created for the atom feed it was much more complex then RSS, and a bit problematic to process. When I looked for someone who had tackled this in the past, most if not all, of the current working code was try and buy. Bah, no good. So I tackled it myself, and as the communities reward, here is the code. FREE, as in FREE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY, TAKE IT USE IT. The only condition is that I do not guaranty the code, I most likely will not support the code, and it’s commented well enough that you should be able to use it.

That’s not to say I won’t answer questions posted as comments, I will also take comments on how to make the code better, but I may not release updates.

So what’s it do? It expects a full Atom Feed, it reads it into a variable, it finds the entries in the XML, and pulls the ones marked with a specific category that you can set.

There should be nothing remaining hard coded, the user should be able to set what they need at the top. It’s displayed with simple HTML markup.

Download the cfm file. Change the extension to cfm and enjoy.

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Batmobile Assembly Time-Lapse

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While on vacation, I finally had a chance to do a little project I had been planning for a while. A few months ago I got the UCS Lego Batmobile (Set 7784) for about a third of msrp. I had also been playing with Nikon Camera Control for a little while and had been trying to think of a cool time-lapse project. I decided to bring the set with me in the event of a day on vacation that we decided to just take it easy, and sure enough one of those came along. The result is below, though it looks like google video made the images a bit crummy.

For anyone that hasn’t done this type of thing before, it’s pretty simple, at least at this amateur hour level of quality. You’ll need some way of controlling the camera. This could be done manually, or in my case I used Nikon Camera Control Pro Software for Windows and Mac. Camera control Pro allows you to control several aspects of your camera. One of which is a time-lapse feature where you specify how frequently to take the picture, and what to do with it, including download it directly to your computer to avoid filling your memory card.

You’ll also need a tripod. I set mine up so it looked down at the table roughly at a 45 degree angle. This gave me a trapezoidal view of my building area. I marked my boundaries with masking tape, which mostly matched the color of the table. This way I knew what would be captured and what would not. Important for keeping the bottle of beer off screen as you work. ;-) Finally, when the capture process was complete, I batch resized my images (while preserving the originals) with Adobe Fireworks to a size more appropriate for DV video size (720×480) then imported the files to Adobe Premiere as an ordered sequence. Finally export your movie and thats it!

If you don’t have Premiere, you could use either Windows Movie Maker, or iMovie depending on your platform. Sorry Linux Folks, don’t know what you have available, but I bet there’s lots of it.

The process was smooth, and a great proof of concept of doing time lapse. I did find however it is a power consuming process. Over the 2-3 hour process of shooting a frame every 2 minutes I drained a mostly filled battery. Which means, to do a full day project you would need the AC adapter for your camera.

As for the build, it was fun! The Batmobile was very cool. A lot of neat details, the one thing I was upset about was the lack of steering. The front wheels drive the gears that simulate an engine, while the steering wheel raises and lowers the front armor over the turbine intakes. There were also a lot of great parts in the set. Lots of roof pieces and wedges that could be used in castles or other vehicles. For now it’s still one of the few assembled sets in my house. We’ll see how long it stays together. To have lasted this long is a feat for sure.

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Parabolic Mic Pt. I

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Some people call me a space cowboy, some people call me. . . Well no one even calls me Maurice. But hey, what I have been called is, turbo nerd, and geek. Tonight, I elevate it to the next level. I’ve been really into this wildlife photography stuff, if you couldn’t guess. But one thing it’s been missing is the ability to capture a little more then still imagery.

So I started experimenting with with my little camcorder to see what I could get. Video wise it was o.k., as one would expect from a consumer grade miniDV cam. Audio, is where I was really lacking. So I started looking online for technique. What I found was this gentleman’s plans for a parabolic microphone. So of course, I had to give it a try!

With print outs of parts I needed I stopped in at the local Radio Shack on the way home from work, and picked up the electronics I needed to make two of these microphones. Since they are mono, I’ll need two for stereophonic recordings for the camera machine. I’ll only make one paraboloid which will give me very targeted audio. I may use the second when in the field for ambient sound.

It was a fairly simple electronics project requiring reading the previously mentioned gentleman’s wiring diagram. Total cost so far for the parts is $45, which leaves me with 2 condesnser microphones, and a few extra parts for future projects.

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So basically, I followed the wiring diagram above and made a few minor modifications. I housed the mic in a housing of opportunity, otherwise known as an empty pill bottle. I drilled a 3/8″ hole in the cap to hold the mic, and a smaller hole in the back to allow the mono wire through.

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I then cut a small groove down the side of the bottle to allow the 9-volt connector and switch to be outside the bottle. I twisted the wires together and ran a functional test prior to soldering to ensure that everything was working. Then a little electrical tape over the cooled solder to make sure I wouldn’t get any shorts, and I assembled the rig. Some more tape and we were done.

This is purely a functional test, once I get a paraboloid built, we’ll run a test to ensure that I like the results, and I’ll build the second mic a little better to mount on the ‘super ear.’

I’ll have audio samples published tomorrow night. Google video is being a real bugger right now and its time for me to stop futzing with this stuff for the night.

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XBMC (Xbox Media Center) and then some.

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This weekend, could very well be determined as a good geek weekend. A good college buddy came to visit and we started the fun with a trip to Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth where we had lunch and then took a tour of the brewing facility. When we returned safely from testing about two pints of beer, thanks to my wonderful wife and D.D. we continued the geeking by what is called, soft-modding my xbox.

There are many, many great sources out there that explain the process step-by-step in great detail, so I will not do that. Instead I will link to the instructions that Dave used successfully on his xbox, and brought to use on mine.

However, I will tell you the basic steps, and declare this has to be the true meaning of hacking. The process of softmodding is essentially making a small change to the eeprom in the xbox, backing up the original Microsoft dashboard, and installing a new version of the dashboard that will enable ftp access to the machine.

Because you need someway to get a special save game on to the xbox, you may need something to get the game from your pc to the xbox. Once the save game is on your xbox you can use it to exploit certain versions of Mech Assult (original, not platinum hits) by loading the save game. I found a version of the game at Game Stop this weekend for a whopping 2.99 so I picked it up.

By loading the save game, the Xbox reboots or crashes out (don’t know which is the case) to a version of linux, which like a wizard steps you through the process of softmodding the box. What’s great, is this mod can be turned on or off, and by starting up the xbox with a game in the drive, it appears as if it has never been installed at all.

Once the mod is installed, reboot and enjoy a new dashboard. However, just like anything out there there’s more to be done. Once ftp access is on, you can drop on the XBMC which can be used to read network shares to play videos, music and pictures. Download and install (by ftp) the new replacement for the dashboard and enjoy. IT takes a couple of hours for this process. The ftp was slow, I suspect I missed setting something up in the original ftp server that would speed things up. Its a clean tool and fun to use. Since it’s built on linux there are many scripts you can install to enhance the new OS with faster ftp and great customizations. My favorite, beyond the well built media center is the ability to add NES, SNES and N64 emulators if you wish.

EDIT: This was a completely software based hack. No need to open the case, and therefore less chance of bricking your Xbox. If you do, it’s not my fault.

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Cleaning Lego

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UPDATE: Cleaning Lego Updated

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Back in 2004, some might say I got carried away on eBay. Up for auction was 40 pounds of Lego that had some seriously good stuff in it. I say luckily, my wife may differ, won the auction and not long before Christmas 40lbs of Lego arrived on my door step. When I opened the box, I learned very quickly and with out a doubt that these had come from a smoking household, and what follows is my successful attempt at cleaning the foul stench off of them.

Things to remember when cleaning your Lego:

  • This stuff is plastic. Using excessively hot water can and will damage the Lego.
  • Cleaning painted and or sticker parts should be done so carefully. I don’t care for stickers, so I didn’t care if they came off. Any painted pieces were cleaned with care. This method did not result in any damage.
  • Lego suggests luke warm water and a mild soap. My method was to eliminate smoke odor.

DSCN2731The first step was to determine how to wash the Lego without losing any of it down the drain. It just so happened that I had several of the Creator red buckets, and pleasantly, they stack inside of each other. Having just gotten a Dremel for my birthday, it was painfully obvious to me that I could use one of these buckets and cut thin slots in the sides to use it as a strainer. I removed the sticker label from the bucket and cut a series of slots in the sides of the bucket.

Remember, when working with any power tools, use appropriate safety procedures. In the process of cutting these slots, I did break a fiberglass wheel, sending pieces throughout the kitchen. I found the metal wheel to do much better, as it was not adversely impacted by the heat produced in this process.
With my strainer made, I took another bucket and put the strainer in it. I then filled bucket about 2/3 with the dirty Lego and added warm water with a bit of ammonia.

Using a cheap wooden spoon I stirred the Lego a bit to ensure that the ammonia water would be applied to all surfaces. Once this was done, the power of the strainer became evident.

Lifting the inner modified bucket out was similar to using a deep fat fryer basket. The water drained out while retaining the Lego, even the little tiny pieces. This also allowed for much more lego to be cleaned at once then an ordinary kitchen strainer. I then moved the outer bucket to the side and proceeded to rinse the Lego, still in the inner bucket, under the faucet. If you are like me, BE SURE TO RINSE THOROUGHLY. Ammonia is a nasty chemical, and by rinsing well, you ensure that you don’t get any on things, or in your mouth when you build later. . .

DSCN0566Once the water stopped dripping from the bucket I dumped out the Lego onto towels on plastic shelving I had assembled in the kitchen. Here the pieces dried over time. I aided the drying time by placing the shelves beside our register and using a fan to blow over the bricks. This allowed the bricks to dry over a period of a day or two.

Using this method I was able to remove any odor of smoke and reuse the same ammonia water a couple of times before it cooled.

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