Admin: Apologies and "make up" for light posting

Hi, All.
It has been a very hectic summer for me (again), but I'm back to blogging (finally).

I offer the following website and comic as a sort of "make up" for my delinquency.

Enjoy!
Keith

(Hat tip to EE Life)

Science Education: Summer Science Programs in Forensics

The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (USA) runs its Summer Science Programs (SSP) every summer. SSP is a residential summer camp for rising 8th, 9th and 10th graders. Both in-state and out-of-state students are accepted.


I'll be teaching two, one-week runnings of my course, A Mathematical Tour of Forensic Science, again this year.  In addition, Dr. Sid Parrish will be teaching his ever popular CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) course.  For those who, for some unimaginable reason, might want to take courses in subjects unrelated to forensics, there are a large number of offerings (Lego Robotics, Great Experiments in Physics, and more).  If you are interested, you can find out more on their website. I hope to see you there!

Admin: Word verification requirement for comments

Due to an overly burdensome and increasing amount of spam comments, I have turned on word verification for all submitted comments. I hope that this has not inconvenienced anyone.

Kind Regards,

Keith

Admin: Posting will be light

Due to a continuing heavy travel schedule, posting will be light for a while.

Admin: Summer Science Program in Forensics

The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (USA) runs its popular Summer Science Programs (SSP) every summer. SSP is a residential summer camp for rising 8th, 9th and 10th graders. I'll be teaching two, one-week runnings of my course, A Mathematical Tour of Forensic Science, again this year. If you are interested, you can find out more on their website. I hope to see you there.

Admin: Posting will be light

Due to a continuing, heavy travel schedule, posting will be light for a bit longer.

Admin: Posting will be light

Posting will be light for another week or so while I am on summer holidays. Back soon, when I will be "tan, rested, and ready" for more blogging.

Admin: National NATIA conference

I haven't missed many national NATIA conferences over the past twelve years or so, but this year I will unless I can exploit some quantum mechanical effect on a macro scale - I can't be in two places at once. So, I'm off to points south instead of west. Enjoy the conference, you who can attend, and I look forward to hearing about any interesting a/v forensic happenings. Cheers!

Admin: Teaching

As mentioned on a previous posting, I am teaching for two weeks - hence the light posting during the last week and, most likely, the rest of this one. I am, however, still moderating comments, so keep them coming!
Best Regards,
Keith

Computer: MacBook update

In case you are interested in the experiences of a recent convert to the "Cult of Apple", my impressions of the Apple MacBook are still very positive. At this point, I have had far fewer issues with this laptop than with any previous laptop that was 'designed and built for Windows'.  I phrased it that way because, as you might recall, I am running Mac OS-X and Windows XP Pro on this machine.  I've had no significant problems with either one.

As far as tested software packages, I've extended the list of applications I've installed and tested on the Mac OS to include Matlab (a signal processing software environment useful for filtering and plotting data, including audio and video), Octave (a freeware alternative to Matlab), Remote Desktop (for connecting to a networked Windows desktop in the office), QuickSilver (a desktop search application to beat all desktop search applications), and Gimpshop (a freeware alternative to Adobe Photoshop).  I haven't fully tested all of them, but I can say that they all install and run correctly.  Octave did give a bit of trouble during installation, but once I got it to launch the first time, it seems to be behaving properly now.

Admin: MacBook replaces lemon Windows notebook

I won't bore everyone with details about the last rites on my old notebook, but suffice it to say that the manufacturer agreed to fully refund the purchase price of the notebook and I am back to blogging again.

What may not be so boring is that I replaced that Windows notebook with a MacBook.  The MacBook has a dual core Intel processor and is running both Apple's OS-X and Microsoft's Windows XP Pro.  The Windows operating system is running in virtualization mode using a program called Parallels (note: I had to purchase a copy of Windows and Parallels separately, but they were fairly inexpensive).

As far as audio and video processing goes, I have been able to load and run Acoustica, Audacity, Audition, Clarifying Technologies, and Signalscape on the MacBook and all have worked in real-time for the types of files I tested with.  Due to work commitments, I have not been able to take enough time to "make friends" with the native Mac sound and video applications, but hope to do that slowly over the next few months. I'll report back my on observations.  If anyone has a preference as to a specific application for audio or video forensics they would like me to give priority to, just let me know in the comments or off-line.

In the meantime, Brian Dipert (Senior Technical Editor over at EDN) has also been transitioning over to a MacBook and has blogged about his experiences in several posts, this one being the latest as of this writing.

Admin - Posting will be light

Due to many pressing work commitments, posting will be light during the next few weeks.  I'm saving up lots of material, so as soon as things slow down a bit (or I end up in an airport with a decent free or T-Mobile WiFi connection and some time to kill), I'll be back to posting in earnest.

Kind Regards,

Keith

Admin: Three strikes and you're out

This is just an administrative post to say that the reason my blogging has been lighter than usual is that my computer died, again. This is the third major malfunction in the ten or so months since I bought it. I have contacted Toshiba customer service and it appears that I will be allowed to return it without any hassles.

Admin: Limited posting

Posting will continue to be light due to heavy travel and work commitments. I am saving up material, though, so once I can get some free time, I'll be putting up several posts.
Kind Regards,
Keith

Admin: New layout completed

It is done (finally). Enjoy!

Admin: New layout to blog

I am in the middle of upgrading to Blogger's new Layouts feature so that I can add widgets to the blog. Please bear with me. The customizations I've made (such as the links list) have all been cleared away and will take some time to add back in. Regardless, the blog is functional and new posts and comments are still going up.

One widget that I've already added is the one for subscribing to feeds (found at the top right). It is also now easier to browse the archives (found at the lower right).

Kind Regards,
Keith

Back to blogging

I would not recommend the particular Toshiba Satellite notebook that I have - two major warranty repairs in nine months, one to replace a bad display and a motherboard replacement. I do have many good things to say about the repair shop that I used for the motherboard replacement (Topaz Support). I am keen on them not just out of relief to have my notebook back, but because they were all the things that the last shop wasn't - helpful, efficient, communicative (they called me to give me status updates, not the other way around), and professional.

On the technical side, I was surprised to find that it seemed to work significantly faster than before. I haven't investigated why, but I wonder if it is because they updated the BIOS to the most recent version.

Admin: Cause and Effect

Cause - a dead computer (no signs of life at all...)

Effect - limited posting.

This particular computer (a Toshiba Satellite) is now on its second warranty repair in the nine months since I bought it. I hope to be back blogging soon.

Kind Regards,
Keith