opensource

Hacking Additional Camera Features for your Canon

Submitted by Andy Gavin on Fri, 2008-11-14 17:57

There is a community that has been taking apart canon firmware and adding extra features to cameras. So far they are mainly doing this on point and shoot cameras. So if you have an old IXUS you might want to try it: although it's probably not for the faint of heart. Loading the new firmware gives a number of features to your point and shoot that weren't there before such as:

  • Greater control over the shutter and ISO
  • Providing RAW if it wasn't there before.
  • Live histogram, visual indication of over/underexposed areas (Zebra mode)
BlogTag: 
software
opensource
photography

Stupid internet laws and copyright

Submitted by Andy Gavin on Mon, 2008-03-10 19:09

What is it with some politicians?  They see a problem, often a small one, and think up a broad law without sparing a thought for judges or the police.  Creating laws that are difficult, costly or even impossible to enforce.  One area which seems to be attracting these mad bureaucrats is the internet.  What on earth makes lawmakers think that they  can stop music downloading by threatening ISPs or bill website owners for anon

BlogTag: 
music
opensource
internet
buisness

Cube Cola

Submitted by Andy Gavin on Mon, 2007-08-20 12:43

I like the idea of communities having their own take on something. The Cube Cinema in Bristol for the past four years has been perfecting their own brand of cola. Well, I call it a brand: they have open-sourced the recipe. Here are their adventures. They plan to celebrate on the 25th August with a non-brand promotional party. Brings back memories of the Brewhouse which was just round the corner which brewed its beer in the basement.

BlogTag: 
food
opensource

Distributed Source Control popularity

Submitted by Andy Gavin on Sun, 2007-05-20 19:00

The change-over to distributed Source-code control seems to be only a matter of time. Dispite the hype subversion makes many jobs harder, it might help with renaming files but it doesn't. The battle has really already been won my distributed systems in many organisations. There are a few factors that have prevented wholesale takup of distributed source-code control:

  • Maturity of tools. Many of the existing systems exist as extended research projects. They are scripts on top of other systems written in perl or python. Where they might work very well they are slow.
BlogTag: 
tools
software
opensource

DRM and the Open Rights Group

Submitted by Andy Gavin on Fri, 2006-04-21 20:07

The internet has had a long history of digital rights. Organisations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have helped keep digital freedom over the years, helping to make the internet what it is today. The latest fight in the digital frontier is Digital-Rights management. It is worth listening to Cory Doctorow's speech from OSCON Europe 2005. Anyone who is interested in music, home-cinema or other products of the entertainment industry: beware!

He also mentions a relatively new UK group: The Open Rights Group that aims to raise awareness of digital rights issues.

BlogTag: 
opensource
internet
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