See the project log here:

Yes, I have finally posted some pictures taken with my Nikon D40! In my 5 weeks of ownership, I’ve taken over 1300 photos…a pretty ridiculous number by my standards. See the updates on the Photography page. Updated albums are from Carnegie Mellon, People, and Misc. There are also two new albums: Home and “Lindsay“. The newest photos are added to the bottom; you can tell them apart by the frameless thumbnails.

With my Sigma 30mm lens, I wanted to practice portrait shots, but I guess lots of people are camera-shy. Fortunately, I remembered a former classmate, Lindsay, who models. Although I’m a huge amateur, Lindsay was very easy to work with. I’ve also gotten better (and quicker) at post-processing. Overall, I’m pleased with the results!

By the way, once I have more photo shoots up, I’ll make a separate album of photo shoots so they aren’t so creepy =P

Happy New Years! 2007 was definitely one of my best years so far (and hopefully this trend will continue)…high school graduation, Prom, Disney class trip, Greece Concert Tour, then college…the countless people who I met, the multitude of new things I’ve done; it’s rather overwhelming when I look back.

So, New Years Resolutions. Hmm, I still need to write up my list.

Also of note, I finally got my Nikon D40 with the kit lens a few weeks ago and have already logged well over a thousand shots. I also purchased the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens from Amazon. It’s an amazing lens! I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great indoors and night-time lens. It can also take very good portraits, although sometimes I feel like I have to get right up to their face to get a shot. Maybe I’ll invest in a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens later. Hah, when I find the money to. I’m looking to do some senior portraits this summer to help pay for my rather expensive hobby. If anyone wants to practice portrait shots, or just go on a photo day, drop me a note.

I’ve been busy processing some of the other pictures I’ve taken, but I finished them today. I’ll be putting up some sweet photos very soon.

It’s a new year and opportunities are abound! I’m looking forward to what 2008 will bring.

The PDF version of my report has been posted under Projects.

This report will show that a purely electric automobile can be a competitive product in today’s market. The report will cover the early electric cars through those of today, addressing the strengths of each and identifying the areas of improvement in order for electric cars to become a successful product. Battery technologies, the heart of an electric vehicle, will also be covered. The principle behind an electric vehicle is simple: a battery is connected to a controller, which regulates the amount of electricity sent to a motor. The motor then drives the wheels. Compared to the more complex internal combustion engine, with its precise timings and delicate components, the simplicity of the electric motor also allows it to be much more efficient and therefore more environmentally friendly. Finally, the ability to widely distribute electricity already exists, so new infrastructure does not have to be installed for an electric car to become a viable option.

Read the full report here.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tartan Racing Team has won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge!

While it’s cool that CMU did so well, watching the live webcast of the event was absolutely mindblowing. Several teams were knocked out during the first mission (out of three), showing just how challenging it is to program a robotic car to obey the rules of the road while avoiding static and dynamic objects. Sure, this technology is probably not going to be commercialized for quite a while, but it is nevertheless an amazing step forward in robotics.

Oh and…
Go CMU!

The photos currently there load rather slowly, and I think it’s because 1) my server is cheap and therefore slow and 2) the file sizes are too big (300kb+). I may have to resort to decreasing the quality and/or size and putting the real deal somewhere else.

Most of these pictures are taken with my trusty Canon SD600 (Review). While it’s convenient to carry around is overall a very good point-and-shoot, it does have limitations in picture quality. So when my Nikon D40 Digital SLR (Review) arrives, you can be sure that I’ll be running around taking some sweet pictures.

Please leave any comments and suggestions about the Photography section here!

I, along with many college freshmen across the US, recently had to take this extremely pointless online course called AlcoholEdu. Although it provides information about how alcohol affects the body, I highly doubt that this course would actually turn someone away from drinking at a party.

According to the website, it takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete - 2-3 hours that could be spent doing other more exciting things (like homework). But have no fear, javascript is here! We found a way to skip all of the videos. Whenever you come to a page with a video, just input:

javascript:videoFormSubmit()

into the address bar and hit enter. It will call the method that the button that appears after the video finishes usually calls. It cut our total AlcoholEdu time down to about an hour (with many, many distractions)

Unlike the alternative-energy focused Ferrium, dottob is a place where I post whatever I happen to be interested in. Yup, it’s a personal page. But hopefully I can offer something useful for others (project worklogs, tutorials, insights into daily life, my random creations…).

I am hoping for the site to at least pay for itself within 12 months, so some Google AdSense bars will appear over the next few days. I’ll make them discreet enough so that they aren’t distracting, but if you’re reading this, please help me out? <=) You know what to do.

-Mike

Science Daily is reporting that scientists have developed a new method for cost-effectively producing four-armed quantum dots that have previously been shown to be particularly effective at converting sunlight into electrical energy. The discovery could clear the way for better, cheaper solar energy panels.

Cheaper and better are always good, right?