Well I Was bored during lunch and I had to write an out of office reply anyway. So I thought why not a limerick.

I am currently taking a break.
So I hope nothing is at stake.
In case of issues gigantic,
Or any uncontainable panic,
A call is not going to ache.

I hope you like it.
Jens

Why?

Everything started with editing an episode of nerddorf radio. We use a SE1000A from sE Electronics that I bought from reddogmusic here in Edinburgh. And it is a great mic, especially now that it is on offer. We have a lot of problems because we are using just one mic to record the four of us. And therefore the mic is picking up everything in the room and in front of the window.

So I decided that it is time to reconsider the setup. More mics mounted on stands, if possible mounted on the table. Instead of one mic mounted on a tripod standing on a ironing board standing in front of the sofa. The problem with that is the costs attached.

• 3x SE1000A -£ 69.99
• 4x Rode shock mounts – £55
• 4x Beyerdynamic stands – £50
• 4x Standard pop shields – £19.99
• 3x 3m XLR cables – £9.99

This comes to £739 and 90 pence. Well that is impossible. Because I haven’t talked about the compressor/limiter, the headphones and the amplifier. Oh and I almost forgot the hardware backup recorder that I wanted for a long time.

There must be a different solution. Did I not just see an epilog laser cutter somewhere around here.

What?

After searching the web I found I should start with the shock mount. I found some nice solutions for shotgun mics but I found nothing satisfying  my requirements.

So I booted windows for the only reason that is still valid, to start up autodesk’s inventor. I based the design loosely on the nested suspended cylinder design that Rode is using but tailored to the SE1000A and suitable for laser cutting. The dimensions of the mic are below.

The design is shown below consists basically of two rings, four inner and four other posts as well as the mount so I can mount it on the stand with a M6 bolt. The last thing you need to know is that I had a lot of 6mm material around. Therefore all the dimensions are set accordingly.

Here is the Corel Draw file that I used to cut the parts. You can see that all you need in addition to the lasered parts is:

• a couple of rubber bands (nothing special)
• 1 M4 bolt, 15mm thread
• 1 M4 washer, and
• 1 M4 hex nut

I added one modification in Corel Draw, the logo plate, but you don’t need that. I recommend using MDF, because PMMA (Acrylic) makes noises if you don’t glue it. Using MDF will not need that, it is more or less self adjusting.

How?

1. Download the Corel Draw file from here (local) or here and open it.

2. Put the material in your cutter. Use the vector grid. Focus!

3 .Laser your parts.

4. Assemble the inner ring. Keep the mic stops on one end.

5. Bolt the mount on the other ring and put the other posts in it.

6. Put the inner ring in the outer.

7. Wrap the rubber bands around the other top posts and stretch it over the inner ones. Use a symmetrical order. And repeat with the bottom.

8. Done!

Final Notes

I removed the build in shock mount from the SE1000A because it is useless and adds a lot of weight. But unscrewing the bolts will loosen the inner securing rings as well. So you have to open the mic on the bottom and take them out. If you don’t take them out they might shorten the circuit on the inside. So be careful.

I hope you like it. And I will design a adjustable table mount too, as soon as I find the time. Feel free to use and/or improve the thing.

If you make any improvements please leave a link in the comments. I am looking forward to it.

J

Now, that I am back on writing my thesis, I need something entertainment for my evenings. And so I decided that I play along with the game club from the RebelFM guys. Splinter Cell – Chaos theory, man is that game weird.

First I was shocked about the way it looks, washed out and quiet blurry. But did not bothered long for long. The fact that I get shot all the time however is something that gets on my nerves. Keep you light level in check, so you cant be seen. Keep you Sound level in check, so nobody hears you. WTF.Well, maybe I should not play a stealth game. And what really kills it is the the controller layout. I have no idea how this could have made sense to anybody.

Other then this the game is pretty good so far. The story is silly. The technology-babble is hilarious and your arsenal on spy gadgets was stolen by future Biff, brought back to the past where the two CIA-Agents stumbled over it, who where actually looking for their convenience store coffee, I guess. All together it’s what you expect from a game based on the Tom Clancy universe.

The few sketches above where made on my phone on the bus with a little tool called sketchbook mobile.
I was thinking about writing about autodesk’s sketchbook pro for a while but never find the time. But the new Sketchbook mobile is so amazing I had to do it.
The software is reduced to the essentials compared to the desktop version. The advantage of the minimalistic approach is that the user interface is just fine. Allow I mis some of the brushes on the the iPhone. And what really is a step back is that you cant change the opacity of the layers and that you are limited to six layers. Also the stroke pressure simulation is a bit awkward but you get used to it.
So there is some room for improvement but for £1.79 it is a tool nobody should mis out on. If you are a designer, an engineer or just somebody who like to sketch, buy it.

A bunch of web-affine journalists and bloggers from Germany are trying to explain to the journalism industry, what its problem is and how it can survive. I took the liberty of a to translate it in English. Because I think that this is not just a German problem. I also have a google docs version of it so if anybody wants to correct my English. Leave a comment and I will invited you to the document.

Cheers

Jens

The Internet manifest

1. The Internet is different.
It creates a different public, different ways of exchange and different cultural techniques. The Media must adjust to the mode of operation to the technological reality, rather then ignore or fight it. It is there duty, to develop the best possible journalism based on the available techniques – that includes new journalistic products and methods.

2. The Internet is a media empire in your pocket.
The web is rearranging the media landscape: it is overcoming the previous boundaries and oligopolies. Publishing and distribution of content do no longer involve high investment costs. Journalism has been deprived of its role as a gatekeeper – fortunately. The journalistic quality remains as last differentiator to a bare publication.

3. The Internet is the society within the Internet.
For the majority within the western world are platforms like Social Networks, Wikipedia or Youtube part of there everyday life. Those platforms gained the same status like the phone and television. If media corporations want to keep existing, they will have to understand the realms there users live in and take on the users forms of communication. This includes the social foundation of communication: listening and responding, also known as dialogue.

4. The freedom of the Internet is inviolable.
The openness of the web is the core value that forms the technological foundation of the digital communicating society and therefore its journalism. This openness cannot be changed for the sake of commercial or political self-interest, often concealed within allegedly public interest. The restriction of access in every form alike endanger the free exchange of information and therefor the right of self-determinant gathering of information.

5. The Internet is the victory of information.
Compelled by insufficient technical capabilities, the world’s information was organized by institutions like media corps research institutes or public institutions. Now everyone sets up his or her personal news filter, while search engines tap into amounts of information of an unacquainted quantity. The single individual is informed to a degree that has not been seen before.

6. The Internet changes, improves journalism.
The web allows journalism to perform its society-forming purpose and a new way. The concept of information as a steadily changing process; losing the unchangeability of print is a benefit. The one that wants to keep existing in this information based world need idealism, new journalistic ideas and embracing the emerging possibilities.

7. The net demands networking.
Links are connections. We connect via links. The ones that do not use them, exclude themselves form the societal discourse. That is also true for the online presence of the old media.

8. Links mean profit, commentary is adornment.
Search engines and aggregators expedite quality journalism: they enhance find-ability of outstanding content and are therefor an inherent part of the new, connected public. Citations, links and references enable the culture of collaborative societal discourse in the fist place. This is also and especially true for doing so without financial or any other arrangements with the originator of the content.

9. The web is a new space for political discourse.
Democracy is based on participation and freedom of information. The transfer of political discussions from the traditional media channels to the web and the opening of the discussion for the public to participate is the new task for journalism.

10. The new name of freedom of the press is freedom of expression.
The German constitution (ger: Grundgesetz) article 5 states no protective right for any occupational group or any traditional business model but the the right of free expression. The web tears down the walls separating amateurs and professionals. Ergo, the privilege of freedom of the press must apply for everybody, who can contribute to the fulfillment of the purpose of journalism. The qualitative difference does not lie in the funding of the creator of content but in its abilities.

11. More is more – too much information is impossible.
Once it was the church that choose power over the information of the individual and so warned of the information flooding, when the print was invented. On the other side pamphlet writer, annalists and journalists proved that more information results in more freedom. And this is true for the individual as well as for society. That has not yet changed.

12. Tradition is not a business model.
It is possible to monetize journalistic content in the Web. Even today their are many examples. But adjustment of existing business models to the advertisement heavy web are necessary. Nobody should try to detract from the inevitable change by trying to conserve the status quo. Journalism need the open competition for the best concept of funding in the web. And it need the courage to invest in multiple implementations.

13. In the web copy right civil duty.
Copy right is a cornerstone of the order of information within the web. Also in the Internet the right of the creator to decide about distribution of his content, the ways and extent applies. Thereby, copy right must not be abused to safeguard superseded supply mechanisms or to avoid new distribution and licensing concepts. In ownership lies obligation.

14. The Internet uses many currencies.
Advertisement funded content trades information for attention to advertising message. Time of readers, listeners and viewers has a price. This principal was always the fundamental way of funding in journalism. Sustainable and different ways must be explored to fund journalism

15. What enters the web never leaves .
In the Internet frees journalism of prior boundaries. Online, texts, sound and images do not need to be volatile. Keeping everything online creates an archive of contemporary history. Journalism must respect the change in information, the change in its interpretation and so admit and transparently correct mistakes.

16. Quality stays the most important characteristic
The Internet unmasks low-labor, off-the-shelf products. Credibility, excellence and recognizability will win a audience over. The expectations of users have risen. The journalism must comply to them while not neglecting its often formulated principals.

17. Everybody for everyone.
The web is a infrastructures for societal exchange that transcends the mass media of the 20th century. In case of doubt, the “generation wikipedia” is able rate sources, research the origin of news, verify and asses them, alone or as part of the group. Journalist exercising the pride of place by disrespecting the users media competences will not be considered reasonable. Rightly so. The Internet allows to directly communicate with those previously called readers, listeners and viewers, to use there knowledge. Not know-all journalist is needed but the one that communicates and investigates.

Internet, 07.09.2009
Markus Beckedahl http://www.netzpolitik.org/
Mercedes Bunz http://www.mercedes-bunz.de/
Julius Endert http://www.blinkenlichten.com/
Johnny Haeusler http://www.spreeblick.com
Thomas Knüwer http://blog.handelsblatt.com/indiskretion/
Sascha Lobo http://www.saschalobo.com/
Robin Meyer-Lucht http://www.berlin-institute.de/
Wolfgang Michal http://www.autoren-reporter.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=66
Stefan Niggemeier http://www.stefan-niggemeier.de
Kathrin Passig http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathrin_Passig
Janko Röttgers http://www.lowpass.cc/
Peter Schink http://www.peter-schink.de/
Mario Sixtus http://www.elektrischer-reporter.de/
Peter Stawowy http://www.xing.com/profile/Peter_Stawowy
Fiete Stegers http://www.netzjournalismus.de/

translated by Jens Kaufmann http://www.jens-kaufmann.net/blog/

This text is under Creative Commons (CC-BY)

The master was watching his apprentice for almost a hour now. The master was smiling.

“What are you doing?”
“I am trying to remove this stone.”
“What is holding you back then.”
“It is very heavy, master”
“Maybe, it belongs on this spot, than”
“No, I didn’t put it there. Somebody must have left it here last night.”
“So you don’t like the stone, here.”
“I was told to plant some flowers here, today.”
“I see. So your problem is not that someone left a stone in your garden. The problem is that you had different plans.”
“Yes, you could say that.”
“So what will you do now.”
“Well, I could plant the flowers on the south side of the rock. The blossoms would contrast with the texture of it. Or I could plant them here in the corner to make a counter spot.”
“So you think there is a place for that stone in your garden?”
“I guess”
“And for the flowers too?”
“Certainly”

The master, still smiling, walked away.

Well I always through that the whole techno babble in podcasts are bullshit. But I understand it now.
I was thinking about starting my own Podcast project for while. And the first recording trial with my macbook have been promising. But as you can imagine after five minutes my inner geek arose. You can here the fan and even the hard disk. That is a no go. So I need a new mic.
No problem, your not evil friend will help you. And he tells me that I want to buy a Snowball from Blue. So and now I need reviews. Well a couple of blog entries and youtube convince me that it is what I was looking for. USB, three different recording modes and it nice looking as well.

An impulse trigger by a Pavlov reflex build up during the ancient days of the dot com era I fire up ebay. £100, fuck, I am not going to pay that. So what are the alternatives? My unimaginable creativity assures me that amazon will come to my rescue. And £79 that’s fair. Rethink, no that is not helpful in this stage.

Fuck, what normal shop has four weeks delivering time. Whatever!

And as I am asking after the four weeks where my mic is. I get the reply that “the dog eat my mic”(almost).

The whole thing with the single mic was a poor idea anyways. So get yourself a mixer. Ah there is my inner geek again. Ok, you might want to buy a condenser mic so you need 48V-phantom voltage. But at least four.

Oh I think four is too much. At least the £300 just for the mixer are. But after another 20 min I found what I need, a belkin (BELKIN! was always known for brilliant audio equipment ) mixer. Ipod dock, USB, 2 channel phantom power compressor sounds pretty nice. And the £129 also.

So I hop into the local maplin and orbit the audio department. There it is. Ok, I am buying it but what’s with the mic. Hm, this is £100, to much. I am willing to spend the money for one of those at the moment. I am not going to need that anyway. So this is £40 there is one for £20 and there, yes , £10, perfect. I am taking two. They are dynamic, not that every second blog post I read said don’t dynamic mic they are noisy and too quiet. Again they are perfect.

So of corse the noise level of the mic was so high that I did not get anything usable out of it. So I was stuck

Now after about a month I decided to get an proper mic. I bought myself a proper mic, a condenser mic from a small chinese company called sE electronics for about £90. And I have to say the sE100 is well worth the money. It is crisp, it is not noisy, it is just a good mic.

If you want to do some audio recordings, do yourself a favor and don’t try saving on the mics.

J

(Youtube Direktgondry, via Nerdcore, via Polkarobot)

Music is and has always been the best way of expressing love and Michel Gondry  proofs this with „Carol Brown“ once again.

Well I was hopping that the google talk patch would work but It does not look like it.

So use my twitter.

http://www.twitter.com/jensemann

Today I got to play with a 310 from zCorp. Nice tool I have to say. This is a powder binder system based monochrome 3D printer. That means that powder is filled in a hole layer by layer and a inkjet nozzle basically paints the appropriate cross section on it and therefore the powder is glued together. So you can form almost any object. But there are some problems with the thing, one It takes ages to dry. I have some rather small part about 30 x 50 x 5 mm but even after an hour drying the first part I touched crumbled directly. Second a resolution of 300 dpi, yeah you wish I might make so validation parts to see what it can do depending on the feature ( I am going to post them later). And last but not least the whole powder thing is a bloody mess. It takes ages to free your parts form the excessive powder masses while avoiding damaging your part on one hand and not letting the used powder fall back in the feeder.

Well I am going to test some of the other systems. Because I will need flexible parts at the end anyway. I am also going to try shapeways a dutch 3D printing social thing.

I keep you posted