The first Maker Faire in Taipei (well, in Taiwan really) happened at Huashan park this past weekend, May 18-19. Entry was free for all-comers and it was awesome. As one would expect, there were plenty of robots wandering around. There were even robot-boxing events. Also in force were demonstrations of Rasberry Pi and Arduino-based projects (along with a number of Arduino clones, my favorite being Motoduino which was apparently created by a maker fan of those Hello Moto mobile phone commercials).

When I commented to a vendor selling Rasberry Pi kits (board, case, SD card with Android, and a projects book) on how I found it interesting that the Rasberry Pi was a Taiwanese creation that became popular with hacker/maker culture in the US last year, but maker culture is just now becoming popular in Taiwan this year he replied Taiwanese made it for the US market where the maker culture is established. When Taiwanese saw that it had become so 'fashionable' in the US, they started wanting it here and that helped mainstream the maker culture here.

The hacker circle of life.

If you have 3 minutes to spare, here's a quick video I threw together to summarize most of what was there. You can view the video in HD on YouTube.

As you can tell from the video, one of the biggest themes at the show was 3D printing. It wasn't just the too-large-and-complicated-to-be-practical sort of 3D printers on display either, but a noticeable few microwave printers.

No, not the high-frequency, water-exciting radiation. I mean the appliance. I mean, 3D printers in small and pleasantly-designed packages that will fit on a printer stand or desk with an easy-to-use interface. Check out Real Fun's Bone One printer as an example of what I mean. Those look almost mainstream consumer-ready, don't they? Soon we'll all be printing our own action figures.

Another thing thing that struck me was the amount of things dedicated to grabbing the interest of children and the encouragement that they were given, from basic motorized building blocks to RC creations left in the open for kids to play with and model rocketry clubs with craft areas. Getting them experimenting and making now will lead to them innovating new inventions and driving whole new economies in the future.

*Insert cheezy, overplayed Whitney Houston song about children and the future here*

The Taipei Maker Faire was a great experience, both for my children and I. And it didn't end with the fair. The best takeaway this weekend was that Taipei has hakerspaces.

Odd man out…

Up next, another Streets Saturday…then maybe a trip to a local soda factory?

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So, photos were taken and here they are:

In-flight…

LAX…

Around LA

This is all I have and most were taken between where I was staying and where I needed to go. I'm hoping that my next trip home will be both less forced and less brief.

Next up on the blog? Well, I hit the Maker Faire in Taipei yesterday…

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So here you go.

Most of the street photos next time will probably be aircraft-related. Probably a few Angelino-related, too. In fact, I've already started. Expect those in a couple of days.

Until then.

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Fair enough?

Let's start with one from the mobile phone (my Samsug Galaxy 2 camera review) that's sort of Easter-related. As related to Easter as a street photo can be, anyway.

Happy Easter.

Now on to the rest, all from Taipei.

That was a lot, wasn't it? Comments are always…well, usually…appreciated. Until next time, true-believers. Excelsior!

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The Hardware

When it comes to mobile phones, the hardware isn't really that important. The limited form factor of the device severely limits what you can stuff in there and thus every mobile phone camera is essentially a pinky nail-sized sensor, a few lens elements (usually made from plastic as at the thiness required plastic is more durable, easier to produce, and won't effect final image quality), and an LED flash. The focal length is fixed and typically so is the aperture.

Because the hardware paramaters are so fixed we can make a few assumptions straight away, such as the small sensor size will mean generally poor low light performance. This is the result of increasing the sensitivity of photosites crammed closely together on a small sensor and why modern mobile cameras of lower resolution (a lower photosite density) such as the new HTC One will render better low light images. The closer the photosites are to each other and the more sensitive they are the more that they interfere with each other, resulting in a noisy image.

This assumtion holds true with the Note 2 camera. It doesn't render the best images in dimly-lit rooms or at night. In fact, I would term it inadequate for low-light photography.

Another assumtion that one could make about mobile phone cameras in general is poor dynamic range, again due to such a small sensor size. In this case, the Galaxy Note 2 camera beat my expectations and actually delivers images with a broad exposure range well. Take a look at the photo below. There's detail all the way through, even in the shopkeeper's face shaded under a baseball cap.

Here are the hard hardware numbers for those that are interested along with a few of the basic specs:

• Sensor: Fujitsu-made CMOS 8MP (3264×2448) BSI (back-illuminated) Imaging, Full HD (1920×1080) video
• Focal Length: approx. 35mm (35mm equiv.).
• Aperture: f2.6, fixed
• Flash: LED
• ISO: 100-800EI
• Image Signal Processor (ISP): M5MO (5th generation Fujitsu Milbeaut)
• Metering: Matrix, CW, Spot

The Software

Because the available hardware for smartphones is so limited, software becomes the primary selling point and differentiator in the phonecam space. In fact, much of what we see as just basic image quality differences in an image has more to do with the software behind the sensor than the optics in front of it.

In the modern smartphone camera, software is more important than hardware and here is where the Samsung Note 2 really shines. While it's true that there are many gimmicky elements to smartphone cameras (and yes, the Note 2 is full of gimmiky software filters and such) and some software value-added features are common and expected (i.e. a landscape mode and a portraiture mode and so on…) the Note 2 has a few software features that are either unique or implimented in such a way that it's an improvement over the standard fare. Here are the cool bits that make me smile:

• HDR Mode: Yes, every smartphone has an HDR mode and yes, HDR can be cheezy if used improperly (as most people seem to do). What excites me about the HDR mode in the Note 2 is that it actually uses multiple exposures to create the image rather than a software filter applied to a single exposure (a.k.a. faux HDR). With the most recent update there are actually 2 HDR modes with provide a narrow or broad exposure range between the images.
• Burst Mode: Again, a common feature with phonecams. But again, a feature made better by the software. In this case, rather than have to explicitely select Burst Mode from a menu option (which you can do if you want), you need only long-press the shutter button. Tap the shutter button and take a photo. Hold the shutter button and take a bunch in a row. This is kind of a no-brainer and leaves me wondering why other phonecames don't operate the same way.
• Best Faces: This is one of those Galaxy-unique features that sounds gimmiky, but really isn't. It's especially useful with group shots when you can't control people's blinks, itches, and sneezes. Basically, it takes then presents you with a quick sucession of images. You go through the images and select the best face of each person in the group. The camera software will then create a final image with the faces you selected.
• Share Shot: This is another unique feature to current Galaxy cameras and one that makes me wish more of my friends had an S3 or a Note 2. It creates a WiFi direct connection between selected cameras and automatically shares taken photos between all the connected cameras. This really comes in handy at social events such as parties or weddings.
• Photo Note: This is a feature that is unique to the Note 2 and is another no-brainer. It has a stylus, why not write notes on pictures? You can write a note on the back of an image (only visible in the phone's gallery) or the front (exportable as a JPEG). This is especially useful in taking a quick photo to establish location or get a subject's name for later reference.
• File Naming and Metadata: I'm not sure how common this is among smartphones, but the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has the option to autoname files with information besides just an autoincrimented value or timecode such as a street address and photo mode (such as HDR). In addition, weather data is stored in the image metadata.

Summary

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 camera still suffers from many of the same issues that past smartphone cameras have had, but that has more to do with limits of the physical universe than anything else and there are some improvements. Where it really matters (again, within the context of it being a mobile phone), the software, the Note 2 does an excellent job. After seeing the surrealy sexist Broadway reveal of the Galaxy S4 and it's camera software, I'm even happier as Samsung has confirmed that all the non-hardware related features in the S4 (such as the camera software) will come to both the Note 2 and S3 as well as the next version of Android (5.0 a.k.a. Key Lime Pie), so obsolecense is at least a year off.

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