Rants And Ramblings About Mobile Technology
Anders Borg writing about the fun and crazy world of mobile and Internet service technologies.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009
MIDI nostalgia
Continuing on the MIDI theme…
During 1989-1990 I developed a board and a code library for MIDI, and numerous applications that together formed a suite for all things MIDI, including a detailed MIDI analyzer, MIDI echo, sequencer control, rhythm tapper, MIDI event mapper, MIDI file player and analyzer, sysex sender and recorder, Korg M1 sysex analyzer, control change cycler (think of it as many extra LFOs), random note generator etc.
I’ve ported the library in full to the Arduino/Miduino SDK and I’m also porting some of the more interesting applications, for a quick development turn-around.
Not meaning to brag, but I surprised myself by the quality, completeness and re-usability of the code, especially considering it was a hobby project and nothing else. It’s also interesting to note how useful C code still is, as long as the applications don’t use much UI. Of course I had to strip out all UI code, as the Miduino board doesn’t have any UI to speak of, yet I’m considering adding an LCD (via I2C), so I can for instance use the board as a complete “bring it just in case” MIDI analyzer.
The first MIDI specification was published 1983, and MIDI shows signs of age when it comes to connectors, performance etc, but it’s still so easy to use, and generally complete from a protocol point-of-view, that most keyboards still ship with the original MIDI ports, 26 years later. Not many technologies have survived such a long time. Of course USB is taking over for communication with PCs, but for device-to-device communications original MIDI still rules, which indicates what I do now might not be a complete waste of time after all.
In any case I learn how to use microcontrollers, which is not a bad thing in this age of electronics in anything and everything, machine-to-machine communication (not the least mobile), continued miniaturization and decreasing of power consumption.
Christmas party pooping
Update: Just read that USA intends to gather those 30k troops from European countries. Good luck with that. This war has now been going on longer than the 1st and 2nd World Wars combined. Yes, 9/11 was a disaster, but get on with it people! It’s soon 10 years ago, and if was utter “luck” that the buildings fell apart and killed so many people. Al Qaida clearly couldn’t know that the buildings were so weakly built. And Osama bin Laden still lives. How is that possible?
This can’t be right: Senate passes defense spending bill
“In a rare early Saturday morning vote, the Senate passed a massive Pentagon spending bill that includes nearly $130 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
“On an 88-10 vote, the Senate sent the defense appropriations bill to the White House for Obama's signature”
“…does not include what likely will be $30 billion to $40 billion in additional money for the 30,000 more troops Obama plans to send into Afghanistan next year”
Due to that, this is very ironic: U.S. Companies Shut Out as Iraq Auctions Its Oil Fields
Similar to the McDonalds “hamburgers sold” counter, yet slightly more scary: Total Cost of (U.S.) Wars Since 2001
When will this lunacy end?
Better cancel the wars (or at least perform them more efficiently: 30k more to Afghanistan? Why?) and move the money to more productive things like:
- Healthcare
- Environmental efforts
Considering China is fast becoming the major force in the world, USA can’t afford to spend money on things that give nothing back.
Motimate is out and about
To better accommodate the mobile individual Motimate has the following mobile functionality:
- Each day up to 2 SMSs are sent out to all paying members with advice about training ad health
- Parts of the Motimate functionality can be accessed via a mobile site that automatically detects and adapts to phone capabilities, showing daily schedule, training information, maps of favorite running tracks etc
- An iPhone application provides additional functionality, focusing on offline access to training information
For the future we consider location via GPS (measuring distance, speed etc and guiding the runner), step and pulse counting uploaded to Motimate etc.
Rapidus recently wrote a short note about Motimate (and Twitizer).
Motimate was displayed at “Fitnessfestivalen” in Gothenburg December 5-6. Here are a few pictures from the event:
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
It’s alive!…
Using a distance sensor from Sharp (GP2D120XJ00F; 3-40 cm), a few linear potentiometers and switches I can now control a number of performance aspects via MIDI, all via the custom software running on the ATmega168. As of now it’s for training and prototyping purposes only, even though I have use for it myself as well. The distance sensor is currently set up to control modulation, so it’s an alternative to the modulation wheel, but that’s just one possible use for it.
For more on this project, see Hard on the outside, soft at the core.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Motimate: T-0-ish…
We are demonstrating Motimate at “Fitnessfestivalen” in Gothenburg right now, where prominent people within the fitness world show their wares (a double entendre?).
We now allow users to see the site and to sign up for a test account. We are not fully live yet, as we are still in polishing phase, but it should be fully live before Christmas at least.
