Matthew’s Workbench

Robert Scoble wrote an thought-provoking article titled Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you. It addressed an idea I have been considering for a while: are technology weblogs just not as interesting and relevant as they used to be? Have they become too focused on the business of ideas and not the ideas themselves?

There are so many weblogs out there that no one person could possibly follow them all. You have to narrow it down, and I have some definite ideas of what I am looking for. I want to read weblogs by people who are doing interesting things, or at least people who are talking about people who are doing interesting things. I want to read weblogs by people who express creative ideas that challenge the status quo. I want a weblog to be different, not just the same as what I can find from a dozen other sources.

A Seemingly Unrelated Story

Many excellent early computer magazines were produced by people who had little or no magazine experience. You might say that they were too ignorant of the accepted wisdom of the magazine business to realize that what they were attempting couldn’t work. So sometimes they went ahead in their ignorance and created a great magazine anyway.

One way they did this was by actively soliciting reader contributions and building up a community around their magazine.  The end result was a magazine that catered to their readers better than any other could. This was a brilliant approach, but it’s not the way you’re supposed to run a “professional” magazine.

Once the magazines lost sight of that approach and tried to imitate their peers, they lost their focus. They started to use more staff writers, switched to printing only in-house reviews, and reduced the amount of reader-created content. They turned their backs on their community of readers, which was the very thing that made their magazine special in the first place.

The Moral

So what is the moral of this story? The crucial mistake they made was changing their focus to try to impress their peers rather than serve their readers. I frequently see the criticism of weblogs that they need to “grow-up” and become more like magazines or newspapers. But this is completely wrong. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it doesn’t make for very interesting reading. It would be a grave mistake for weblogs to give up the very qualities that make them unique in an ill-fated attempt to mimic their more “professional” brethren.

Judging from the number of emails I have received on the subject, there seems to be quite a lot of interest in building your own UHF antenna for HDTV reception. I’ve discussed this topic a few times in the past, but here are some resources for prospective antenna builders.

Simple Antennas

These two UHF antenna projects are fairly simple and suited for stronger signals and suburban reception:

• Make Your Own Antenna for Free (and legal) HDTV
• How to build a UHF HDTV Antenna….CHEAP!

More Powerful Antenna

If you’re looking for an antenna a bit more advanced and better suited for weaker signals, check out the Gray-Hoverman antenna:

• The Gray-Hoverman Antenna for UHF Television Reception

Construction Forums

For some detailed discussions and tips about antenna construction, check out these forums:

• OTA Build-It-Yourself Antennas & Gear
• Lumenlab DIY HDTV Antenna Forum

The Lumenlab forum does require registration to view. Both forums contain good information and posts by some knowledgeable people.

Rolling Your Own

What if you catch the antenna bug and want to create your own designs? That requires quite a bit more time and knowledge, but it can be done. You’ll find some discussion of antenna design on the Lumenlab forum. One tool you will need is some kind of antenna modeling software to test your designs. Here is one of the best free programs:

• 4nec2 Antenna Modeler and Optimizer

I always wear a wristwatch. But I notice that wristwatches are far less common today, now that cell phones have become ubiquitous.

Wired ran an article reviewing four atomic watches. The “atomic” part of the name means that the watches set their time using the atomic clock at the WWVB time station in Colorado. Some of them can also use time stations in England, Germany, Japan, and China. The watches are filled with unusual features, but with prices to match.

Of the watches they featured in the article, I liked the Casio Pathfinder, which perhaps not coincidentally is the only one I have ever seen in person. According to the Casio Pathfinder site, the watch has these features:

• Atomic timekeeping
• Tough solar power
• Digital compass
• Altimeter
• Barometer
• Thermometer
• Tide graph
• Depth gauge
• Diving log
• Auto EL backlight

I notice that they don’t mention a stopwatch, countdown timer, or alarms, even though the Pathfinder does have all three. The Casio Pathfinder is a pretty impressive watch and it really should be, when you consider the retail price of $350.

There were persistent rumors before the DTVPal digital converter box was released on June 26 that DISH Network had already signed up Sears and Radio Shack as national distributors. But neither chain sold the DTVPal after the introduction. The DTVPal remained available only through the official DTVPal website and through some smaller, local retailers.

But SkyReport noticed, judging from a FCC filing, that DISH Network did have a DTVPal distribution deal with Sears. On July 17, Sears made an official announcement confirming the deal. Presumably we should start to see the DTVPal in their stores in the coming months, or possibly coming weeks. According to these posts on the Satelliteguys forum, some Sears stores are already offering them for sale. There is still no word about Radio Shack, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a similar deal.

Although some have suggested that the DTVPal has already become one of the best selling converter boxes nationally, I find that claim hard to believe. Several other converter boxes (including the Insignia NS-DXA1 which I bought) have long been sold through national chains. Those boxes, with national distribution, must be selling far better than the DTVPal, with its limited distribution. This deal with Sears might help DISH Network to correct some of that imbalance.

Regular readers of these pages may remember my earlier attempt to build a UHF antenna for HDTV reception. It worked surprisingly well, especially considering that it was a crude prototype. My subsequent attempts at antenna building were less successful, for a variety of reasons I may go into later.

I think that the copper wire I used in my original antenna was too thin for good results. I intend to build another antenna, so I’ve been looking ever since for some better materials. The other day when I was at Home Depot, I took a closer look at the wire they had for sale. The 8 and 10 gauge copper wire looked good to me, but I still would like a material a bit more resistant to damage.

I told the associate in that section what I was after, and asked him if they had any aluminum wire or rods. He acted as puzzled as if I had asked him if they carried gold bars. The only aluminum material he could think of was electric fence wire (which turned out to be galvanized steel) and rods used for arc welding. Neither seemed like a good choice.

I’m left confused by the lack of aluminum material. Is there an aluminum shortage I’m not aware of, or was this Home Depot just a bit lacking in aluminum?

I remain intrigued by the concept of iPhone program development. I think that the iPhone has the potential to make a real impact in the portable gaming market (Touch Arcade is a good source for information about iPhone gaming). Plus, I think that the iPhone is a neat little device and the only cell phone that has ever appealed to me.

Apple has a page devoted to their iPhone Developer Program, but you still need to sign up before they will tell you much. Some are complaining about the restrictions Apple has put on native programs written for the iPhone, but they seem fairly reasonable to me. I imagine that the more severe ones, such as restrictions on private API’s and open source software, will be eased over time.

I had read before that Apple intended to ban emulators on the iPhone, but I can’t find any official confirmation of that. Apparently there’s no blanket ban, at least according to this: StyleTap officially bringing Palm emulator to the iPhone / iPod touch.