Category: Technology

It’s a live! It’s a live, it’s a live … it’s a live!

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments

Fans of Charles Pelkey’s live updates from top-shelf bike racing as seen at VeloNews.com will be pleased to learn that he hopes to continue providing them via his own website, LiveUpdateGuy.com, during the Vuelta a España, which commences mañana.

Unlike consigliere Pelkey, I am not an attorney. Nevertheless, I don’t consider that I am violating my contract with Competitor Group Inc. by noting that VN.com will not be providing live updates from the Vuelta, by Charles or anybody else, though you may expect the usual post-stage journalistic virtuosity from Andrew Hood, Graham Watson and a cast of … a cast of  … well, it ain’t gonna be Cecil B. DeMille, but just pop round the site for a look-see anyway. Hoody and Graham are always worth a good, long glance.

Meanwhile, the occasional high-powered guest may appear at LiveUpdateGuy.com during the Vuelta to provide keen insight, cogent analysis and witty repartee. I may drop in, too.

Smart — or stupid?

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 2 Comments

The Smart car folks have been branching out a bit, from four wheels to two — first with an e-scooter, and now with an e-bike.

The story from the LA Auto Show hadn’t been posted for more than a few seconds before some wisenheimer (not me) pissed all over the e-bike’s tires in comments:

“Sweet look, but impractical for commuters. There is no rack on the back to accept panniers. There does not appear to be any way to attach fenders/splashguards. The cellphone/lock idea is nice, but not practical for anyone who rides in the rain. It does not appear to be securely held in place, from viewing videos of the bike from Smart (available on YouTube), and may be subject to ejection when striking bumps, curbs, or holes in the road/path. I hope they do more than produce this pretty looking thing and make something much more practical in the future.”

Frankly, the e-scooter does look a tad more practical for anyone not living in San Diego, though its top speed of 28 mph ain’t gonna cut the mustard in a hilly place like Bibleburg, which also happens to be full of lead-footed libertards who think speed limits are the thin edge of the socialist wedge.

Here’s a gallery from Gizmag.

Don’t touch that dial … unless

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 1 Comment

OK, boys and girls, we’re gonna try a software update bright and early tomorrow morning, see if we can flush a few of the gremlins out of this here WordPress blog, which lately seems to demand optimization and/or repair of its tables on a disturbingly regular basis.

If worse comes to worst, you can get a terminal dose of profanity sometime tomorrow at the backup DogS(h)ite, maddogmedia.wordpress.com. The original site, maddogmedia.com, will be unaffected as well. Bookmark both those bad boys. My faith in the upgrade process is matched only by my respect for the Democratic Party.

Videocy

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 8 Comments

http://player.vimeo.com/video/16549877

Quiznos Pro Challenge: One prologue possibility from Patrick O'Grady on Vimeo.

More fun with technology. This time it’s an old Flip Video camera that spits out .avi files, one of which I converted using Evom and then fiddled with in iMovie 9. The video sucks, and my editing is worse (first time out of the chute with iMovie 9), but it’ll give you a blurry, jittery peek at one proposed course for the prologue to the 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge (my bike for this shoot was a Vespa, and the Flip rode along in a jacket pocket).