Good Silicon Valley Machinist.

This isn't an advertisement and I don't often recommend people.
But finding a good Machinist in Silicon Valley can be difficult.


I am posting a recommendation for

Ramon Zamora of https://www.ldmmachiningca.com/
650-207-5090
His shop is located in Newark.

We had a decent conversation and he showed me his work.

My post from 1995 - Internet office space in Venice for rent

Internet office space in Venice for rent 
Author: Jesus Monroy Jr<jmonroy@netcom.com>
Date: 1995/09/09 
Forums: la.general, la.wanted, la.forsale 
Posted on: 1995/09/09
followup-to: sokol@reyes.stanford.edu 
keywords: LA intnet office rent beach venice T1 
organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700) 
sender: jmonroy@netcom.netcom.com

INTERNET ACCESS INTERNET ACCESS INTERNET ACCESS INTERNET ACCESS INTERNET
OFFICE         SPACE      FOR             RENT             IN VENICE
                                                           IN VENICE
OFFICE        SPACE     FOR                 RENT           IN VENICE
                                                           IN VENICE
OFFICE        SPACE       FOR                       RENT   IN VENICE
                            Starting at $200-300
ABBOT KINNEY ABBOT KINNEY ABBOT KINNEY ABBOT KINNEY ABBOT KINNEY ABBOT KINNEY
   You have always imagined working with other  COMPUTER
   professionals
   The SYNERGY, the energy, the excitement of CREATING
   something new.
   You also want to remain independent.  NOW there this is
   space where this is happening.
Where?  In VENICE, on Abbot Kinney  in a FUNKY old building
with  lots of character resides a professional office space.
It is nestled in a complex with restaurants, cafes and a
sculpture garden with pond.  The office is connected with
the CYBER-JAVA Cafe.  The first commerical electronic cafe
in L.A. Imagine enjoying a cappuccino or taking your
CUSTOMERS down to the back patio for iced lattes.  If that
isn't tempting enough let me describe the space.
After entering a LIGHT SANDSTONE fascade you go up to the
first floor. A light open beamed room welcomes you with lots
of northern light. The space is divided into 5 rigid wall
CUBICLES. There is a kitchen, shared PRINTER, bathroom and
backroom.
The cubicles are GENEROUSLY sized at 1: 68.5" X 68.5" facing N
                                     2: 134'' X 99"          N
                                     3: 48.5" X 99"          W
                                     4: 86"   X 65"          S
                                     5: 134"  X 86":         N
   Security it available and adjoining cubicles or blocks are
   POSSIBLE for partners. Isn't is time you THOUGHT about
   taking the NEXT STEP in you companies growth?
The BIGGEST benefit might be your access to a high speed
internet connection.  We share a T1 line with the Cafe next
door. You could be racing  on the Net, surfing for
customers, or downloading files. It could definitely be THE
reason to move out of the home office and rent here.
So meet your fellow professionals on A.K. (Abbot Kinney).
    We are just off Main between Rose and Washington in Venice and
    mere blocks from the beach. Three in fact and the
    boardwalk. Nothing like a little sun to tide you over
    till the weekend.
    Security it available and adjoining cubicles or blocks are
    POSSIBLE for partners. Isn't is time you THOUGHT about
    taking the NEXT STEP in you companies growth?

RENT $200-300  FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL ANN OR JOHN AT (310)452-2046 For
Further info send E-mail to sokol@reyes.stanford.edu and check out
http://www.cyberjava.com for the Cafe next door.

Luminar Lidar team photos

From my time there in 2017

Sent from my iPad

Cool! Chinese Youth Summer Silicon Valley

I show up around 3:58 in.

Commercials are really aggressive,
https://v.qq.com/x/page/g0779w903f9.html

In the news again. Chinese-language Internet portal (www.tom.com)

http://news.tom.com/201808/4055489485.html  (translated using Google)

51Talk Stars small player American study "radish too spicy" technology company personally assembled robot super excited

2018-08-09 10:55TOM

After feeling the free and inclusive academic atmosphere of Berkeley University and visiting the technology Google and Apple, the second season 51Talk Star National English Small Talent Show broke out and the small players started a new study tour. This station they came to the robot education company RoboTerra (Chinese name: radish too spicy) founded in Silicon Valley, USA, co-founded by Columbia University and Stanford University alumni. In addition to a comprehensive understanding of this new technology company, the small players also had in-depth communication with computer experts, and under their guidance, assembled a personalized robot. Seeing the robots that I made by myself, the little players shouted "Crazy!" excitedly.

The small players Dongye Yiyi, Qi Guanyi and Wang Yuanyi discuss robot knowledge with computer expert John Sokol

51Talk Star and technology rookie hit a different spark

RoboTerra is a STEAM education company based on professional programming learning and robot manufacturing in C language. In addition to having a very international entrepreneurial team background, there is also a special Chinese name called radish too spicy. Although less than five years old, RoboTerra is well known in the technology education industry. The radish is too spicy to provide a global robot education platform for students, teachers and educational institutions to stimulate their creative potential and enhance their overall quality. At the same time, it also provides robot education including teacher training, laboratory construction programs and events. solution.

In the radish is too spicy, the small players are attracted by a variety of novel elements. "I didn't expect to see robots in TV movies, I can do it myself!" Wang Xiaoyi, a small group champion, Xiao Guan, a small group runner, Xiao Gao The runner-up Dongye was in a good position. The three children and the experts communicated in English all the time. From time to time, they were amused by the humorous John Sokol. Under the explanation and guidance of John Sokol, the children started, built and debugged their own "freestyle" robot.

The small players are interested in robots.

Interest-oriented + learning to use = maximizing learning outcomes

"RoboTerra has many similarities with 51Talk. For example, the service targets are mainly young people, and the educational concepts have similarities. They are actively using technology to improve education. On the other hand, they hope that small players can appreciate the beauty of technology through communication with foreign teachers. I will learn the changes that I will bring to my own English.” The head of the 51Talk Study Tour talked about the reasons for choosing RoboTerra as an important stop for the study tour. He believes that the study tour should focus on diversity, with top-ranking universities, established large-scale technology companies, and of course should include technology rookies, and strive to make children worthwhile.

The little contestant Wang Yuanyi’s father lamented, “From Google to Apple, while experiencing the latest technology in Silicon Valley, I also appreciate the spirit of Silicon Valley, which returns to the essence of life, maintains a normal heart, and exerts creativity. Today, in the radish and spicy company, Computer scientists introduced to children that the evolution of robots reflects the progress of human civilization. The creativity and wisdom of various robots make us all amazed! 51Talk's study tour has benefited children." The radish is too spicy, and it is also a stage test of the English learning effect of the small players. In the process of communicating with foreign experts, the fluent oral expression of the small players is very gratifying to the parents and staff present.

51Talk Vice President Dai Yun (first from left) and the small players and parents in the radish too spicy

It is understood that the unique low cost advantage of 51Talk Philippine foreign teachers allows many ordinary users to enjoy high frequency and high quality English courses. In order to meet the law of adolescents' cognitive development, 51Talk also provides rich and interesting interactive forms and instant reward feedback for the classroom through AI technology, which fully motivates children's classroom learning enthusiasm and allows children to speak English. In fact, many practitioners dedicated to adolescent education have seen the importance of interest and application for their children's learning. The educational institutions represented by radish and spicy, 51Talk have already begun to run on the road of practicing quality education. With effective and interesting keywords, we will create a better education platform for children and strive to open a dialogue world and beautiful for children. The door to the future.

Micro:bit getting more resolution on led array

Microbit Gaussian LED bounce



# Add your Python code here. E.g.

from microbit import *
import math
image = Image("90009:"
              "12345:"
              "56790:"
              "02468:"
              "90009")

wid = 1.2

#for ctx in range(0, 50):
# for cty in range(0, 50):

xv = 3.3
yv = 4.1
xlim = 5
ylim = 5
ctx = xlim
cty = ylim

while True:
    ctx += xv
    cty += yv
    if ctx > (50-xlim):
        xv = -xv
    if ctx < xlim :
        xv = -xv
    if cty > (50-ylim) :
        yv = -yv
    if cty < ylim :
        yv = -yv

    tx = ctx / 10     ty = cty / 10    str1 = ""
    for x in range(0, 5):
        for y in range(0, 5):
            pix = int(math.exp( -pow(x-tx,2)/wid )* math.exp( -pow(y-ty,2)/wid ) * 9)
# str1 += str(x+y)

            str1 += str(pix)        if x < 4:
            str1 += ":"
    image = Image(str1)    display.show(image, delay=0, wait=True, loop=False, clear=False)

#print (str1)

Home Brew Robotics Club Meeting - Mar 2018 - Show & Tell Part 2

OpenSecret - Unforgeable proof of document authenticity. Digital Fingerprints

John L. Sokol  &  Aryeh Friedman  May 3, 2008

(OpenSecret is only a temporary working name)


SUMMARY:
   Unforgeable proof of document authenticity.  Digital Fingerprints of a electronic documents.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT8zx2H6On175JXI3Y1szdiTDWKs803QrEoAYNx6mMR4ErRs8mpws3_IQF6_rlBdIH9xUVSHuBy18sN/pub?embedded=false

VR/AR system - Product Proposal from Jan 2011

VR/AR system.  - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRgoDtwTT6TZrJRVk_oJ6I7y8vUk-xnhu67rI9kywZV2jRMA5Siz0cG9HdhFPk7grP_IKvuywg1VYn1/pub

3D VR / AR system.

John Sokol  Jan 2011

I am just planning to keep this one really really simple.  Either they fund it or they don't.  But just take what's off the shelf and bridge it to what already exists in the software world.

As they say "Flip it" meaning just do one thing, make money and sell it off, go on to the next. Not get too emotionally involved.  

Yes some passion, it's very cool stuff.  I think a low cost 3D display device that's cheaper than buying a home 3D setup and more flexible in its capabilities.  But this is just a small stepping stone to where I want to get.

The unit consists of 2 Micro LCD display with 3D graphics, and can be embedded into a pair of video glasses.  Specifically the display would be the:  http://www.kopin.com/bdm-922k/  driven by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip.

The device should be able to play 3D movies and render 3D graphics for games and other applications located on people PC’s or Phone as well as be able to run applications stand alone.

Back in the late 80’s Virtual Reality was the next big thing.  Companies like VPL were able to partner with Sun and SGI in making commercial Virtual Reality systems. Some companies even tried to bring this technology to consumers with 3D VR gaming systems that people would pay $20 just to try for 10 minutes.

It’s has also been the centerpiece of many TV shows from the Star Trek Holodeck to the more recent Battlestar Galactica spin off Caprica and for movies like Lawnmower man, Tron and Avatar.

Since then Augmented reality has also come into popularity. This is where the virtual world and the real world are mixed also known as Mixed reality.  This allow you to see the real world with computer graphics superimposed over it, like showing in Terminator, Robocop and the binoculars used in Star wars. Today this is primarily in the form of smartphone apps that display animated characters over QR codes.

We are starting to see some of the first signed of this technology begin to reach the market with the Wii Mote and the XBox Kinect and other gesture recognition systems that have yet to reach the market.

Here we are today in 2011, and with Moore’s law, the prices of technology have dropped while the capabilities have soared to new heights since  1990’s.

• Low cost head worn video displays are readily available from China to watch video from your iPod with.
• Cell phone have low cost Dual core 1 Ghz CPU’s and graphics accelerators.
• 3D Content is starting to gain market traction and 3D TV’s are available in stores.
• 3D BlueRay, 3D Netflix, 3D Youtube and a bunch of new 3D cameras and Cell phones are making 3D a permanent part of the market.

Today there is not one consumer level 3D headsets, although 3D Glasses are common that work in conjunction with special displays and TV’s.

Not  one company makes a mass consumer VR or AR products.

What I propose is to make a $300 to $500 retail price, portable, mobile VR / AR / 3D Video headset.

• 3D movies can be viewed in private.
• Virtual reality multiplayer 3D games can be played.
• The device can wirelessly communicate with laptops and mobile phones to take advantage of the phones communication , storage and processing power.
• Augmented reality application and games will change the world, there are many developers and some amazing applications for phones but no hardware is available to do the full 3D immersion versions of it.
• The device can be interfaced to exercise equipment so a run on the treadmill can turn in to a run on the beach in Maui.  And stationary bike can be the tour de france. The applications for game in this area can be huge.,
• Remote control of AUV’s and other telepresence application that allow the viewer to see in 3D and respond to the wearers head movement.

Using off the shelf optics assembly and doing a custom PCB with CPU’s it is possible to take one of these video goggles to a whole new level.

With such a device 3D immersion into existing PC based games can be done.

Support for 3D graphics in HTML5 on the display, allowing for a 3D web experience.

Support for existing VR/AR applications.

To define a standard for the next generation of these applications to run on.

SPECS

Hardware

2x  720x480 full color displays.    http://www.kopin.com/bdm-922k/ 

Nvidia Tegra 2 or Tegra 3 GPU. Multi Core Arm Processor with Graphic Acceleration.

Stereo Audio & Video

Support of WiFi and BlueTooth.

2 Camera Modules  (option to provide Stereo Video Input for AR applications, improved tracking etc.)

3 Axis motion and gyro

ADXL330 3-axis accelerometer

MPU-6000/6050: World’s First Integrated 3-Axis Gyro, 3-Axis Accel and 9-Axis MotionFusion http://invensense.com/mems/gyro/mpu6000.html

Lithium Ion Batteries.

* Possible inclusion of separate external 3D spatial Controller, like Wii Mote or similar. with BlueTooth Interface.

Initial prototype could be build with off the shelf Tegra 2 dev board:

http://www.toradex.com/files/media/modules/Colibri-T20-Datasheet-Preliminary.pdf

Software

Webkit

HTML5

OpenGL, WebGL

Arm Linux

LLVM

Video Streaming in and out of Stereo Video in MPEG2 and MPEG4 AVC, H.264

The main software is designed to run stand along to the web using WiFi or act as a slave device to a cell phone or PC that is doing graphics rendering.

Surfing a 3D web experience with 3D icons is already possible with current 3D setups on PC, this will all work on this device also and could make for a much richer 3D web experience.

Letsrobot.tv with rc car and robocore as the controller

Goto: https://letsrobot.tv/robocaster/sokol/robot/99387873  to see if it's online and live right now.