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The ISEF08 winners have been announced, and the recipients of the grand prize scholarships are these fine young ladies (left to right, below): Natalie Omattage of Cleveland, MS; Yi-Han Su of Taipei, Taiwan (I’m politically incorrect like that); and Sana Raoof of Muttontown, NY. While they were being put through the wringer for publicity photos, I asked them to do one more silly pose. Eat this, “Math is Hard” Barbie!

Oh, to be eighteen again!

Some mobile video from the N95:

MP4 format

So um, someday your laptop computer won’t roast the tops of your thighs, and it has something to do with nano light waveguide things. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go light my master’s degree on fire and hide under my desk while I try to process all that I heard in my brief visit to the Intel science & engineering fair today.

Next time you think of stereotyping teenage girls as omg lol txt American Idol w my bff, just say the phrase “quantum computing” to yourself and then realize that this girl will totally drink your milkshake.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is underway in our fair city of Atlanta. Today and tomorrow the kids are being judged — judged I tell you! Scrutinized, interrogated, and judged, and lucky for them (and not for us), this part of the fair is not open to the public. So much for my Project Runway spoofery.

But I did drop in Sunday and Monday to check out the setup and meet some of the contestants, of whom there are thousands, it seems. I think the PR agency told me something in the neighborhood of 1,500 exhibits, many of which are partner or team efforts. They’re from all over the flippin’ globe; yesterday I watched some Minnesotans exchange pins with some Saudis.

It’s open to the public on Thursday, the 15th, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in building B of the Georgia World Congress Center and it’s free, so you really have no excuse. Well, maybe you do, but if you aren’t doing anything, I highly recommend you satisfy your inner nerd and check it out. (The students will be on hand to explain their stuff from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) Here’s a preview:

Other versions: High quality (VGA); QVGA streaming Quicktime; mobile QCIF

Stay tuned for the next episode: meet some of the contestants in the final hours of setup.

A couple weeks ago I saw @waynesutton tweet about ordering an Invisible Shield™ cover for his new N95. That reminded me that I had seen the rather impressive video demonstrating this polymer film’s toughness on YouTube. Developed originally to protect the leading edge of military helicopter blades, they say, the stuff has ridiculous tensile strength and is lifetime guaranteed against scratching.

It’s just a thin film like those other, cheaper PDA screen protectors, so it’s not exactly drop-on-the-sidewalk protection — although apparently it provides an increase in friction coefficient that makes it less likely you’re going to drop it, even if you just stick it to the bathroom mirror. But for something like the iPhone or the N95, where watching content on a shiny, scratch-free screen is paramount, I figured it might be worth the $30 or so.

My Invisible Shield got here last Friday and I rushed to the coffee table to tear into the package and protect my N95 lickity-split, because I’ve already noticed some very fine, short little scratches despite the lengths I go to to keep it away from anything harder than my fingers.

Not so fast. Invisible Shield comes with a spray that is supposed to facilitate adherence (which I presume is temporary) to your device and prevent fingerprints from getting trapped in the interface. You’re supposed to spray the film, not the gadget, and it’s not exactly going to saturate your electronics or cause damage. Nonetheless, the instructions call for turning the device off, removing the battery, and upon application of the sprayed protective film, leaving it alone, unused, for 12 to 24 hours.

Uh huh, yeah. Needless to say, I have not applied my shield, nor do I have a clue when I might.

So, if you plan on being in a short coma or spending the night in prison sometime soon and you want to keep your iPhone or other beloved toy scratch-free, order your Invisible Shield now!

And then try to quit breathing.

This is just one of those things I need to put out there for the Google-bots to find and index for posterity. Despite there being one YouTube video out there that comes really close to getting this right, and despite the immense collection of geekery within the N95 user base, there still arises the constant question from users: how can I hook up an external mic like the Reuters MoJo tookit has? When even a cellphone guru like the author of MobileJones — whose Twittered quest for a decent mic alternative got me to record my first bluetooth trial (see end of this post) — could not reach a satisfactory solution based on what Google had laying around for us, I decided it was time for a weekend trip to Radio Shack. Because this is what my life has become.

The adapter is not something you can buy directly; the resident scientist from Reuters told us at the Journalism3G conference that they had to cobble up their own makeshift connection. But if journalists can do it, hell, anyone can do it! [Correction: According to @mojosd it was Nokia Labs who cobbled it up for Reuters.]

Like I said, there’s already one serious video about this out there, but Bloggerguy leaves out a couple details and gets one critical (but easily correctable, for the persistent) point wrong. Still, we knew it had to be possible, as vlogger Steve Garfield showed that the N95 video recording was definitely taking the audio from the headset mic, but that only gets you so far. N95 user Bitflung also demonstrated the bluetooth connection as a viable alternative, though the quality of bluetooth audio is pretty low.

So, once and for all, here’s your recipe, as I did it:

• The 1/8″ jack A/V cable that came with your N95
• Female-to-female phono plug connector
  
• 1/8″ phone plug to phono jack adapter (note that the “S” on either side of the jack indicates it’s looking for a stereo input)
  
• A self-powered — this is vital — external mic that terminates in a 1/8″ stereo plug. If your mic doesn’t have its own AA, AAA, or button-cell battery, the N95 isn’t going to hear it. **

The last item is the important part, because trying to connect a mono mic with a mono plug (note that some mono shotgun mics still have stereo plugs) won’t work. It has to look like this:

If you’ve got a lavalier or shotgun mic that terminates in a mono plug like this (note the single black band instead of two),

then you’re going to need an additional adapter to convert your mono jack into a stereo jack like this one, or you can replace the 1/8″ stereo jack to phono male plug adapter with this one which goes directly from 1/8″ mono female to phono male. Better yet, you could grab this dual 1/8″ mono female jack to 1/8″ male stereo plug and connect two mono lav mics to your getup. Go nuts.

You should end up with a layout like this:

Note that you use the yellow plug on the A/V cable, not the red one that Bloggerguy said in his video. If your phone asks you what you just plugged into it, select “Headset;” if that’s not an option, you screwed something up. In headset mode, the red & white cables represent the stereo output sound that normally goes to your earbuds, and the phone uses the yellow channel, normally for video output, as the microphone input.

I put it all together and demo several different microphones (stereo cardioid, mono shotgun, and lavalier) in this stunning Pulitzer-worthy video, which I’ll embed using Viddler so you can add your own comments:

Here’s the Quicktime file for podcast purposes.

For those of you inclined to interview serial entrepreneurs at loud VC cocktail receptions, you’ll want to skip to the comment I added at the 6:15 mark, where I demo the noise-cutting advantage of all this claptrap.

And if you’re in a real pinch to cut through the noise but you haven’t brought all this A/V gear, I’ve got another video for you that shows that obnoxious bluetooth headset is good for something after all.

**Update: MojoSD raised a point in her post that I hadn’t thought to test: a dynamic mic, like my cheapo AudioTechnica ATR20, ought to work as well even without battery power because it doesn’t require any power from the port (which the N95 doesn’t provide). I just tested that theory, and there’s a catch: if you plug a dynamic mic into the cable, and then plug the cable into the N95, you get “Accessory not supported.” I don’t know why. But, if you plug the cable into the phone first without the microphone attached, you will get the choice to select “Headset” and then you can plug the dynamic mic into the cord/adapters and record successfully from then on. However, the audio has a bit of a buzz to it, so I’d still highly recommend going with a powered mic of some kind.

It’s been one of those weeks around here, have you noticed? Grading final projects and owing a report to NASA totally killed my plan to bore you all with several look-what-my-phone-can-do tech posts this week, so maybe that’s a good thing.

And more frustrating is that I didn’t get to weigh in on just how full of crap the Clinton campaign is again. As if being on the same side as John McCain isn’t enough of a clue, Hillary Clinton is still doing and saying anything she can to win for the sake of winning. (Meanwhile, some sociopathic Clinton worshippers are pledging to light candles for Hillary and “pray that Obama supporters will be less evil.” If evil means having the discipline not to expect a cookie right before dinner, so be it.)

This gas tax holiday is nothing but that pre-dinner cookie. It looks good to a child, but it only means you’re not going to eat your vegetables. Congratulations, Hillfans, you are children, and congrats to you too, Hillary, because you’re peddling the most ridiculous and counterproductive placebo in the energy market. You might as well start handing out crack on urban street corners.

I already went into great detail about gas tax holidays two years ago when Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor was swinging the idea around in his unsuccessful bid to be more appealing than Sonny Perdue. If you need to see the math about price elasticity and consumption feedback again, go there. Here’s the end result:

Assuming the gas tax that we’re asking Sonny to suspend is $0.177/gallon (a number I can’t determine at all from the data the DPG cites, so I’m trusting their very unsupported and under-labeled chart no matter how many rules of technical writing it violates), Joe Taxpayer stands to save $106 — but in reality, since this is surely a temporary suspension that would last at best through the election, we’re really trying to bribe this poor dumb taxpayer with $8.85/month. In return for this relief, we’ll be encouraging drivers in the greater Atlanta area alone to drive an additional 2.7 million vehicle miles daily — or 106,000 gallons of gas a day, emitting 929 more tons of CO2 a day. To suck that back out of the atmosphere, we just need TreesAtlanta to plant about 13 million more saplings.**

Do you really want your $8.85 now?

Since everyone’s whining about gas prices on the MSM, I figured showing fit and attractive young cyclists out enjoying the fresh air would be a better way to report on the “crisis” than just a bunch of predictable stock footage at the gas station. You want biofuels? We gotcher biofuels: PBR in a can, man!

Personally, I think it’s about time we started paying what gas is worth — or more accurately, what gas costs us in the long run. We’ve got a pollution problem, an energy problem, a war-in-sucky-deserts-for-crap-reasons problem, and a national obesity problem. How hard is it to put two and two together to make get-on-a-bike-ya-softy?

Click for video.

For the record, filming while biking is not a simple task. Thanks to Rachael of SoPo Bike Collective for giving me a sound bite, so it looks like I actually did my job.

Digg the video.

At this point I think it’s safe to say, if not for the N95 I’d have no reason to live.

Now Nokia’s giving us geeks another thing to distract us from our day jobs, and Spike Lee is part of the problem. Partnering with Jumpcut — the online audio-visual mashup tool that Mitt Romney used in an ad-making contest for his campaign — Nokia is soliciting user-generated content around a theme, from which Spike Lee will weave a movie after viewers vote on their favorites. (I assume they want us to create this media on our Nokia handsets.)

Music means different things to different people. A soothing escape during rush-hour traffic. The remedy for a broken heart. A fire under some dancing feet. With Spike’s Lee’s help, we’re co-creating a film about music and the shared human experience.

Here are the details in case you missed them:

Theme is Humanity and how music plays a role.

Three Acts for you to explore through music, text, photos or video.

Act 1 is Birth.

Birth, huh? Way to narrow it down.

Last week, two new players announced their intention to enter the mainstream-ized political citizen journalism arena a la Choose or Lose. First up, Rock the Vote:

Rock the Vote in partnership with WireTap magazine is searching for aspiring or established reporters for Rock the Trail. Sponsored by AT&T, Rock the Trail will capture today’s politics through the eyes and in the words of young voters. Rock the Trail reporters will deliver insightful and compelling blogs, articles and videos from the communities they live in, reporting on young people’s top issues such as jobs, the economy and college affordability. Content will be posted on http://www.rockthevote.com, http://www.wiretapmag.org , http://www.BET.com, and will also be available for viewing on AT&T mobile phones.
…
Rock the Trail reporters will be paid a monthly stipend and supplied with a laptop, cell phone and video camera to rock the 2008 campaign trail. Reporters will interview candidates, elected officials, campaigners, young voters and Rock the Vote artists discussing everything from the Presidential race to mayoral elections and anything in between.

That one will be interesting to field questions on at bloggergeek cocktail parties, because in my limited experience thus far I’ve found that a lot of people tended to conflate Choose or Lose with Rock the Vote. Whatever the collaboration in the past, I guess we’ll be “competitors” now. We’ll see whose guns are bigger: while their blog is “only” powered by Blogger, it at least has an RSS feed, so you’d presumably be able to subscribe to the videos produced with iTunes or the like. Our Flux-powered Think site still lacks this most basic and vital functionality, three and a half months after Professor Jay Rosen went slack-jawed at such an oversight. They’re only hiring five reporters who will only be paid a $500 monthly stipend, but (I may be over-speculating here) the suggestion that they’re getting cellphones makes me wonder if they’ll have a stronger focus on lower quality but more mobile content produced on, say, a Nokia N series phone. And if mobility and speed are of the essence, we’ll have to see what their editorial cycle and turnaround time looks like, once their selectees go through training and find out about the procedural roadblocks to funded journalism.

I also wonder how much actual music will appear in Rock the Vote news packages. Have you started to notice repeats in ours?

Next up, a much shorter-term collaborative effort between Voto Latino, Sí TV and CNN at CrashtheParties08.com. From a press release:

“Crash the Parties” kicks off with a nationwide search for two young Latinos to cover the Democratic and Republican National Conventions as reporters for Sí TV.
…
Contestants upload their videos at www.crashtheparties08.com, discussing why they should represent young
Latinos at the conventions. The videos will also be viewable on V CAST from Verizon Wireless. Public voting begins on May 7, and a panel of judges, including actress and Voto Latino co-founder Rosario Dawson, former U.S. Representative from Texas Henry Bonilla, the Latino Democratic Institution’s Ramona Martinez, CNN’s Rick Sanchez, YouTube’s Steve Grove, Craigslist’s Craig Newmark, and MySpace’s Lee Brennan, will evaluate the top five candidates from each of the party submissions to select the winners. Rosario Dawson and actor Nicholas Gonzalez have recorded public service
announcements to help promote the project.

Sanchez will also mentor the young reporters, providing media tips and expert advice on interviewing the party nominees and others. They will report from the Conventions, live and online, offering their perspectives on the candidates, election, and issues.

The Choose are Lose plans for Convention coverage are still TBD.

I went for short and sweet this week. After a while, one delegate candidate speech starts to look like any other, and like I observed this weekend, the speeches were relatively unremarkable in their uniform goodness.

Plus, I forgot my damn guest releases, and didn’t want to go chasing down any interviewees after the fact. Laziness trumps journalistic integrity. So here, you get Emily, John Lewis, canned music, and lots of b-roll:

Click to the video.