hack » Absurd Intellectual

Spammer scammers

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 15 October 2010 Modern Life

Oct 152010

As you may have noticed, we’ve had to revert the blog back to an old look, and that’s because some of the php in the new look was infiltrated by hackers who inserted spam links into everything.

I hope to have it cleaned out and robustly restored in a couple of days. If you ever notice anything odd about the blog, please feel free to let me know, via email at grant@absurdintellectual.com. It was thanks to a reader that we were quickly alerted of this attack (thanks Juel!).

Focus fast — the hardware store way

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 23 January 2010 Photography

Jan 232010

This is a cool little non-destructive hack for your DSLR, if you have a need to follow subjects in motion, and it probably costs less than $10 at a hardware store. Clamp a hose clamp around your focus ring, and drill a hole through it for a drawer pull or some such.

Now, if you’re shooting fast action — or perhaps video — and you know you need to go from, say, 2 o’clock to 5 o’clock focus, you can do so much more quickly and smoothly than fiddling around with the stock focus wheel.

I presume this would also work for the zoom.

It’s like a suicide knob for your camera!

(From lonelysandwich’s Flickr stream, via Gizmodo)

Gadget hack turns a lighter into a laser

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 13 August 2009 Modern Life

Aug 132009

This would have been cooler if you didn’t have to go out and buy a bunch of laser parts, but it’s still kind of nifty.