Kerime B. Toksü's 2literal.com

My birthday was this weekend, which happened to coincide with Vermont’s tax-free holiday, so I did something I’ve never done before: I bought myself a birthday present — the brand-new Fuji FinePix HS10.

In fact, the Fuji HS10 is so new, it’s not even in stores yet. So I did several things I’ve never done before: I bought a product sight-unseen, I bought a product I hadn’t researched on the web first, and I bought a Fuji instead of a Canon, which has been my camera of choice for 20+ years.

What possessed me? Was I in a crazy birthday haze, my faculties soaked with purply serotonin short-circuiting the über-cautious consumerism that is my trademark?

I can’t deny I was in a good mood, but the fact is I’ve been researching Canons for the past six months. Before the advent of digital photography, I used to shoot with a 35mm Canon so I was looking to finally buy an SLR. I’ve been limping along with a Powershot for years and it was time to pony up the cash for a camera with more manual control and better output overall.

So then how the heck did I end up with a camera that’s not only not a Canon and but also not technically an SLR? Because of the video, of course.

After the TEI conference where I was switching madly between photo cam and video cam — and ultimately not shooting enough with either one — I decided that my camera wish list needed to include video, and not just any video but HD. If I was going to spend $500 on a camera, I wanted it all.

So on my birthday/VT tax-free day, I went to an excellent local store, LeZot Camera (crappy-looking website but great store). I told the guy I wanted to see a Canon SLR and that the icing on the cake would be that it shot HD video. Well, the Canon that does all this — the Rebel T1i — is a couple hundred dollars out of my price range at about $750. I was hoping that maybe I’d missed something in my intrepid yet uninformed research, but unfortunately I hadn’t: the Canon landscape looked exactly as I’d seen online.

Oh well, I told myself, I’ll wait a couple more years until the price comes down. I must have looked disappointed or, more likely, absolutely unwilling to buy the T1i when the LeZoti told me about the Fuji HS10 — he’d just seen it in a tradeshow and not only did it include all the shooting features I wanted, plus the HD video, but it also had a manual 30x optical zoom.

If your jaw isn’t on the ground at this last spec, don’t feel bad. Mine wasn’t either but it should have been. Until now, this level/type of zoom has been found only in detachable lenses; Fuji’s fixed lens twists like one of these to give you the control without the bulk. Which was another of my requirements: I wanted the smallest, lightest camera with the most functionality.

Of course I won’t know for certain how fantastic the Fuji is until I have the camera in my hands, shoot some pics and video, then download it all to my computer. Two weeks until the unboxing. Can’t wait!

Sometimes the concept is driven home to me: a great idea is not enough.

I couldn’t help but consider this as I was reading the March issue of Inc. magazine’s “Cool College Start-ups 2010” — how many of these startups will still be in business a year from now? Two years? In last year’s roundup, the story of Michael Dell (founder of Dell Computers) was used as an example of a successful college entrepreneur. But there aren’t too many Michael Dells out there; in fact many of the 2009 college start-upers have already changed course. Does it matter?

I often highlight innovation on this blog because the output of creative minds is so exciting. And the commercialization of such innovation isn’t really the point, is it? If you don’t care whether or not your clever idea pays the bills, then you can simply post it on Instructables and move on to the next.

For example, my current favorite project at Instructables is the solar-powered trike. I can easily picture myself riding up and down the hills of Burlington on this electric trike (maybe I would make it a bike).

I’m assuming the creator (a student) is not planning to commercialize this particular build because he or she has posted it on the web. But a version of this idea could certainly dig a foothold into the marketplace. No special license or gas required for a stable, albeit slow-moving, vehicle. Sounds good to me.

But does the creator have the desire to be working on this one idea for the next five years, ten years? Does he or she have that single-mindedness of purpose?

Successful entrepreneurs are like researchers in this respect: they are happy to hammer away at the same problem, day after day, year after year. This may sound dull, but remember that this idea is certainly multifaceted and holds the promise of great reward: money and status for the entrepreneur; status and money for the researcher.

Yet you might have a great idea, single-mindedness of purpose, a healthy dollop of business savvy and still not wind up with a company like Facebook (which is still trying to monetize, by the way). Oh that’s right, we forgot about timing and luck, often one and the same.

If you tried to get your idea off the ground right before the recession, you might have run through all your capital and come out the other side battered and broke. Or maybe your idea is ahead of the marketplace. I owned a Compaq laptop in the late 1990s that worked like a tablet — not a hit at the time.

It’s pretty daunting, isn’t it. Hopeless almost. And yet…

What drives a creator to create is the process of the making itself, the ineffable thrill of sitting back and knowing you’ve made something unique. So in the end, maybe a great idea is enough. It just might not pay the rent.

If you’re editing video, you’re probably using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. It’s used by everyone who’s serious about video editing, from Francis Ford Coppola to my friend Julie’s son. (And me — a serious beginner on the software.) But what if you don’t already own a Mac? Over the past few months, I’ve been doing my video editing at the local community media and technology center. I can book four-hour blocks of time, for free, two times a week. A fantastic resource, but hardly an ideal situation. Especially when I need to make a tiny edit and can’t without waiting days.

So if you’re doing a fair amount of video editing, does it make sense to switch from PC to Mac?

Not for me. I refuse to pay $2500 for a desktop — the starting price of a quad-core Mac Pro. This entry Mac Pro includes a paltry 3GB of RAM, a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB video card and no monitor, of course. Hardly any hardware for a $2500 layout.

Instead I decided to build a Hackintosh — a Mac clone that can run the Apple operating system, which means it can then run Final Cut Pro. I planned to build this new box over my week off between Christmas and New Years, so I checked out the build at LifeHacker (How to Build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, Start to Finish [09-03-09]) and another at Videoguys (DIY7.7: Intel Core i7 8-core [03-24-09]). I combined the ideas of both then priced out the components and came up with an i7 box that would cost about $1100. A lot better than $2500, right?

That’s what I thought until I ran across iBuyPower while jumping between Tiger Direct and Newegg.

I priced out the same build for about $50 less than building the system myself, plus it came with Windows 7.

Wow! I’ve had the box for about a month now and I can report that it has zero problems. I must admit I was looking forward to building my new box, but I must also admit that I was very happy to just plug in the computer and get down to the business of finding out which of my software programs would actually work with Windows 7 (all of them except Adobe CS2, the most expensive, but it was time to upgrade anyway).

I haven’t installed Snow Leopard on the box yet; I’m so pleased with it as is that I’m a little afraid to Applify it. However, the build meets all Mac specs, so I don’t expect any problems (famous last words, right?). I’ll be following these instrux at LifeHacker — Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required.

Stay tuned for part 2: Installing Snow Leopard.

I’m on my way to Boston today for the TEI Conference, so here are a few videos to show you the sort of thing they do at the MIT Media Lab, which is hosting the conference.

The first video is about Scratch, a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

Next, this CRAFT Video shows e-textiles pioneer Leah Buechley and students from her research group called “High-Low Tech,” which blends technology with traditional crafts to make new toolkits for creativity and learning.

And last, but not least, in June of 2009, the Center for Future Civic Medias Future of News and Civic Media conference showcased some of the work done as a part of the Knight News Challenge, focusing on creative ways to provide people with the news and information needed to engage their communities effectively.

And, of course, there’s much much MUCH more happening at the lab. As for the conference, I’ll report back on it next week, and will probably be tweeting on it while I’m there.

I’m going to the TEI Conference at MIT in a week so I’ve got conf-head right now. Which is why I was so thrilled to come across ScienceOnline2010.

This is an annual conference on science communication — the Woodstock of science blogging, according to Cocktail Party Physics. Or, in more mundane terms, the conference on science literacy, the popularization of science, science in classrooms and homes, the debunking of pseudoscience, and using blogs as tools for presenting research. Important and interesting stuff, whether you’re a science writer, a scientist, or a parent with a kid in science class.

It was held this past week (January 14-17) in Research Triangle Park (RTP) as it is every year, and the web coverage is so wonderful, it’s almost as good as being there. Not only is there a nice, loooong list of links to blog and media coverage, but several sessions were streamed live and will soon be available on YouTube.

So what, you say? Well I’ve been following O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) conference since 2007 and I’ve done this by downloading PDFs or PowerPoint presentations. Only my avid interest in the burgeoning role of technology in publishing has kept my eyes on the screen. Okay, they’ve also put a few sessions on blip.tv, more every year. But there’s no handy list of media coverage.

In contrast, I can click through the list of blog/media coverage at ScienceOnline2010 and easily follow a blog post about a workshop or session. It’s like sitting and talking about it with a friend, and I didn’t have to Google or Bing and sort, sort, sort.

I’m lucky that my boss/university is sending me to MIT, but I don’t expect them to be shelling out for any additional conferences this year. So I’m hoping that more conferences will be as open and collaborative as ScienceOnline2010. Since the reason people go to conferences is to make connections (in person), offering the information presented online won’t decrease attendance.

And is it too much work to put up a list of coverage? Isn’t that what interns are for?

The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took over Vegas this past week and unveiled some mouthwatering tech, most of which will be available by the late spring or early summer. This is the technology directed at you, the average consumer, although much of it may be farther in your future than manufacturers would like due to price and already existing options.

If you want to see a sampling of tech from the show, check out the “best of” lists by CNET and PC World, while the Huffington Post has a nice roundup of eReaders. The most interesting of the bunch is the so-called “Kindle Killer,” the enTourage eDGge. It has a 9.7″ eReader/eInk screen on one side and a 10″ color screen on the other. Can’t wait to see it.

Of all the exciting technology at CES this year, however, my favorite soon-to-come devices are:

Lenovo Ideapad U1 Hybrid: Netbook + Tablet

The Lenovo Ideapad U1 Hybrid combines a netbook with a detachable tablet. This is possible because each piece has its own processor and battery; the LED screen works for both devices. To use the computer as a tablet, you simply undock the screen from the chassis and start writing on it or using it as an eReader or watching a movie on it.

I think I’m in love.

I’ve been using (IBM) Lenovo ThinkPads as my mobile computer for about ten years now and have always been satisfied. This time, I’m expecting to be bowled over. At the very least, this device ups the ante for all netbooks. Accordingly its price is expected to be a bit richer ($999) than the average netbook.

Zomm: Never Lose Your Cellphone Again

Zomm is a gadget the size of a chubby poker chip that you hang from your keychain –- a wireless “leash” for your cellphone.

Whenever your keychain (ostensibly you) with its Zomm is more than 30 feet away from the cellphone you’ve synced it to, the Zomm sounds an alarm. You’ll never leave your cellphone in a hotel room again! The Zomm can also be used as a speakerphone. And lastly, it can be used as a personal security device — if you hold the button down for 9 seconds, it will automatically dial 9-1-1.

Best of all, the Zomm was invented by a mom who kept hearing people complain about losing their cellphones. What did she do? She came up with a solution. (Got to nip that whining in the bud.)

Keep an key out for the Zomm this coming summer at a price of $79.99.

MacDonalds isn’t on my radar unless I’m roadtripping because a small vanilla milkshake is almost always necessary for the driver.

But now I might stop and sit a while.

As of this January, MacDonalds is providing wireless service for free in 11,000 of their 13,000 U.S. locations. Before now, it cost $2.95 for everyone except AT&T customers. To see if it’s available where you want it, check here. Hey Starbucks, pay attention! You’re way behind the curve on this.

The second reason I’ve been thinking MacDonalds lately is the fabulous blog post “SF Goes MacDonald’s: Less Taste, More Gristle” by Athena Andreadis. I found out about it through a reposting on the Huffington Post and I have to thank the HuffPo for familiarizing me with Andreadis, whose discussion of American’s “disdain for all expertise” brought on by our political/cultural shift to the right mirrors my own concerns. One of the consequences of this attitude shift is the increasing dearth of real science in science fiction.

Why does it matter? Because, as Andreadis says, “if science disappears altogether from SF or survives only as the gimmick that allows ‘magic’ plot outcomes, SF will lose its greatest and unique asset: acting as midwife and mentor to future scientists. ”

Like Andreadis, I was one of those kids who read science fiction and it certainly “shaped my life and personality” in ways I’m probably not even aware of. I imagined hopping a space ship to another planet, traveling back and forth in time, MacGyvering my way out of sticky alien planets with eco- and political systems both uncannily alike and stubbornly unlike our own. Putting science in such a context frees it from the research bench and opens young minds to the thrills of discovery, altruism (putting society before oneself) and resourcefulness. Science has provided and will continue to provide a better life for humans and our planet.

Which makes it all the more depressing to be part of a culture that distrusts science so. Another recent example of this is the December 24th New York Times review of a book on Darpa. The reviewer, William Saletan, sees such technology as that enabling limb replacement not as revolutionary or emotionally miraculous, but as a frightening scenario with “humans being reconfigured for the machine.” What?! I wonder if his attitude would change if he suddenly lost an arm. Would he prefer a carved wooden replica to a “computerized arm that reads the body’s electrical signals”? I doubt it.

Are fears such as those voiced by Saletan the chicken or the egg? I don’t know. But as a result of the political policies of the past decade and as Andreadis notes in her blog post, “the US is no longer the uncontested forerunner in science and technology and its standard of living is dropping accordingly.” Bill Gates has been harping on this problem for the past several years: we’re turning out fewer and fewer engineers/scientists every year. This is not just an intellectual but an economic issue.

But I refuse to believe that Americans will continue in this downward spiral. As our political situation has turned in a new direction with Americans electing a person considered an intellectual, maybe so will our attitude toward science. And if, as Andreadis says, “science fiction is really a mirror and weathervane of its era,” maybe we’ll see this first on our literal or virtual bookshelves.