Environment Progress: Project Exergy /  by Jared Groneman

I do love when I get to reference old blog posts in regards to new inventions (see Why isn't there a hold in your ceiling).  Take Project Exergy, the fundamentals of computer processing, thermal dynamics, and home design are starting to get a reintroduction to one another.

"Man it's hot in here." - Your Computer
"Hey, you know about heat too? We should do lunch." - Your Home

The focus of energy efficiency and isolated systems will soon give way to the dynamic and fluid exchange of energies to the locations we need them. Project Exergy is a step in the right direction. The main idea is to intelligently make use of the energy sources around us. While Exergy proposes to consolidate your heat generators (processors) into one unit to take advantage of economics of scale (see pendulum effect) my guess is the future of energy design will integrate and take into account all sources beneficial to the system (multiple devices, ground loops, solar heating, etc...)

Submitting... comments to the FCC /  by Jared

The FCC recently stopped accepting public comment on

"Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet".

 I think delivering feedback using technology is a good thing, but as you might expect there were some issues.

Love seeing stack error messages on the webpage!

I know this is a public comment, but if I refresh the page I shouldn't be staring at someone else's form. 

Finally after many tries my comment was accepted.

Nice, now I wonder if anyone will read it.

New Samsung Galaxy S5 with Facebook Privacy Loop /  by Jared

So I got myself a new Samsung Galaxy S5 as my new phone. Moving from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus it didn't seem like a big jump to make (minus the unremovable bloatware it still is very much an android device). One thing that stuck out for me is when I went to install the Facebook App.  Here is where I got annoyed at how Samsung may be programming or configuring their OS in poor taste.

First you get the notification:

Then you get "Allow Access" even though Facebook is working fine. 

Then it prompts from inside FB:

"Galaxy S5 will receive the following info: your public profile, friend list, email address, custom friends lists, News Feed, birthday, notes, status updates, events, photos, videos and personal description and your friends' birthdays, status updates, events, photos and videos."

Although it does say

"This does not let Galaxy S5 post to Facebook. Your public profile is your name, profile picture and other public info."

... phew.

 Then the notification pops up again...

 Which brings you back to the FB authorization page...

 And round and round we go...

... until you clear your notifications bar without clicking the notification itself.

To get out of this click "Clear All" under notifications without clicking on the notification itself.

Three things bother me about this:

  1. This is designed to make sure you give "Samsung Galaxy" access to all of your Facebook content. It has nothing to do with your phone's ability to use the Facebook App!
  2. They make it circular (Notifcation -> App -> Notifcation) so they get as many people as possible to give them this information.
  3. They tell you absolutely nothing about what this information will be used for.

The whole thing just seems skeezy. In an age where we are sharing all of our information online and in the case of Samsung where all communication is done on their devices, do they really need your FB info to get ahead. At least make it optional to be totally at Samsung's mercy. Now I know there are other options on the market and that would give you an out when it comes to personal privacy, but come on guys. You have a good product and a good market share. Don't listen to the bean counters when they say "Hey, we can make a few extra bucks by mining FB data." Respond with, "Yeah, but why? What does that do for our customers?" And if they have a valid answer, let us know (the people who pay you monies).

Headed to NAB Show 2014 /  by Jared

In little over a week I'll be heading out to Las Vegas for this year's

NAB Show

. I had heard about the show for years, but this will be my first time attending and working the show. I'm excited to see all the new gear and services these companies roll out including FreeFly (Movi), Panasonic (GH4), Adobe, Canon, Kessler, etc... The list goes on and on. I'm also looking forward to talking to some people in the industry who are going to be there like Andrew Kramer, Brett Ratner, Wally Pfister (DP of Money Ball, Inception), Cali Lewis (GeekBeat Fame), and David Pogue (Tech Writer for NYT).

Istrico Productions

is a Digital Content Partner with NAB this year and we'll be putting out a daily show called "All-in at NAB Show". Here's a little promo spot we put together for our trip out there.

And here is the "Press Briefing"

See you at the show!

Another Comcast Issue: The Help Button /  by Jared

I recently ran into another issue with Comcast as I moved apartments and decided to keep my service. There was a strange discrepancy between bills when I moved, but I can see something getting messed up in the digital paperwork. I was also amused with the $249 one time installation fee when I used all the same equipment and installed it myself. All those little hiccups were fine, it's when I went online I started laughing out loud.

I saw the incorrect amount on my bill and found this helpful lonesome link on the page.


And wouldn't you know it when clicked this is what I get.


Good one Comcast! [that was sarcasm]

Peak Design Capture Pro v2 Review /  by Jared

A little while back I contributed to a

Kickstarter project

from the innovative team at

Peak Design

.  The project was a complete success and netted them over $800k.  Their product: the

Capture V2

. It's a quick release clip system designed for your belt, backpack, or anything else you clip it to. Here is a review video we did based on my Kickstarter perk.

After we finished the review we sent it over to the team at Peak Design to make sure our facts were right. They were very helpful and they even gave us a discount code for our viewers to save 10%. Just go to

PeakDesign's website

and use the code "

istrico

" at checkout.

I really like their products and they are cool bunch of cats out there is San Francisco. (although I have to say they suffer from the same color scheme issue as every other camera/film gear production company).