My latest electronic toy, a HP-12C

What is it with me and electronic gizmos this year, first the iPad then the Kindle and then the ...er... calculator but this is no normal calculator. This calculator is a Hewlett Packard HP-12C, an icon of calculator design. A calculator that first went on sale in 1981 and continues in production to the present day, to put that in context i was about half-way through my time at primary school the year HP began making this.

Looks wise its just... fantastic. Classic tech retroism i'd call it and i love it. Its not cheap though but i don't mind because i needed a decent calculator anyway (can't stand using software calculators on the computer, its all wrong keying in numbers with a mouse, like making coffee in a microwave). It looks and feels... quality. It has that old skool solidity about it (i hope it doesn't break tomorrow now i've said that!)

Although the HP-12C looks the same as it always has internally it has changed completely and now has an ARM microprocessor. It uses Reverse Polish Notation which i've never used before but i've done some basic calculations with it and all seems fine. The keys are lovely and clicky by the way. I wonder what i'll get next, i did plan to get an iPhone but i think i'll just wait to see what happens with that as a new version is apparently due soon...

BBC Micros used in retro programming class

From the BBC (article includes video)

"Computer history is cruel. It is a story of the old constantly being pushed aside for the newer, the faster, the smaller, the shinier.

Those old machines are rarely allowed a graceful retirement. Cast aside, they end their days in the dark ,fit only to be homes for spiders in lofts and cupboards.

But one lucky flock of BBC Micros is getting another lease of life by helping to educate students in the art of rigorous programming."

Tanks dumped in Gulf of Thailand

From the Telegraph

"The unusual move is designed to boost the ecosystem in the Gulf of Thailand.

The rusting collection of trucks and 25 disused Army tanks are intended to form an artificial underwater structure to provide shelter for marine life and boost local fish stocks..."

Aston Manor Road Transport Museum

The museum, which is opposite the Villa ground, has been under threat of closure for some time though its still there at the moment! I haven't been for awhile so i went along this morning to take some photos and sign their petition. Intriguingly there was a canal boat outside... on dry land of course (though the Tame Valley Canal isn't that far away actually). More interesting even than that was the presence of a Metrobus in Tracline 65 livery, that being the failed experiment in guided bus ways they tried in Erdington in the 1980s. I hope the museum can survive.

Camera software lets you see into the past

From Wired

"Computational rephotography is a fancy name for photos taken from the exact same viewpoint as an old photograph. Actually, that’s just rephotography. The “computational” part is when software helps out.

I’m a sucker for photos of old street scenes. Seeing familiar parts of your city as they were many decades ago is fascinating, and if people are good enough to snap a new version, you can enjoy the differences of places you have never seen. At Flickr and a site called Historypin, you can see the old shots lined up over the new, like a window into the past..."

The chipophone

"The Chipophone is a homemade 8-bit synthesizer, especially suited for live chiptune playing. It has been built inside an old electronic organ..."

Last Kodachrome roll processed in Parsons

From the Wichita Eagle

"PARSONS — Freelance photojournalist Steve McCurry, whose work has graced the pages of National Geographic, laid 36 slides representing the last frames of Kodachrome film on the light board sitting on a counter in Dwayne's Photo Service in Parsons.

He placed a lupe - a magnifier that makes it easier to view film - over one frame and took a closer look at the film.

McCurry told Dwayne's vice president Grant Steinle how he had chosen to shoot the last roll of Kodachrome produced by Eastman Kodak by capturing images around New York..."

110 film is also fading away, i do have a few rolls of (now expired) film in stock. I might dust off my Instamatic soon and see what i can capture.