Well, we got some of the parts in earlier this week. Got the new web cam, which I can use for work and for this project. I was playing with some VB.NET code and I looks like I can control the camera pretty easily in code, which is cool. Now I have to figure out how to save the video stream. Shouldn’t be too horrible, since plenty of people have written cam software.

More interestingly, I got the RFID stuff from Parallax on Friday.

On the left you see a bag of keychain RFID “fobs”. They cost about $1.20 and are the perfect size for this application (one of them is on the right). Pretty sturdy plastic and their unique number is also printed on the outside.

The square board with a hole is the RFID reader. The brains on on the left. Most of the board size is just  a PCB trace running in loops. It acts like an antenna, transmitting low power RF. The RF hits the RFID tag and it uses the energy to power its chip (there is no battery, it’s all RF powered). The chip then uses this tiny bit of power to transmit it’s unique ID back to the RFID reader. Because the power levels are so low, the reading range is about 2 to 4 inches.

As an aside, this is why you probably shouldn’t worry about your RFID information (in some credit cards and passports, for example) being read. The distances are usually really short and something that was emitting enough RF to read at a long distance would probably cook you in the process, so I think you’d notice. RF can be extremely dangerous at high power, as Ham operators are well aware of.

Unfortunately, I got shipped the wrong RFID reader. The one you see is the serial version, which would be fine if I was using embedded stuff, but I wanted the USB version. The USB version plugs right into a computer, like the web cam, and so I wouldn’t need any other parts or interfaces. So, I haven’t been able to play with the stuff this weekend. On the bright side, Parallax is sending me the right part and told me to keep this one (worth $35).

What’s that little white globe thing above the reader? That’s a PIR sensor. PIR stands for Passive InfraRed and is often used for motion detectors. Objects emit black body radiation, which is a fancy way of saying they emit energy invisible to the human eye (for example, the heat we give off). The white globe part is a little Fresnel lens which focuses the radiation for detection by the sensor inside. All it needs is power and it outputs high/low on a data pin for reading by whatever downstream application you have. In this project, I’m going to use the PIR to detect if someone entered the “photo booth”. (I could use the camera for this, but it’s far simpler to use the $10 sensor–I avoid writing a lot of motion detection camera code.)

While taking a walk the other day we stopped into our local Randalls. (For those of you in Chicago, Randalls is like Dominick’s. HEB is like Jewel. We shop at HEB, but there is a cash machine in Randalls, and it’s on a walk route.) Anyhow, as we were getting cash, I looked over and saw this shopping cart full of packaged stuff. 

At first glance, I thought it was one of those “closesouts / sales” carts filled with stuff the store wanted to give away. Then I thought, oh, it’s just the employees restocking. But then I realized that there was a purse in the cart and a college girl attached to it.

Here we were right next to the bakery and the fresh food aisle, looking into a cart filled with Lean Cuisine and other colorfully packaged diet foods. I felt a little bit sad.

I felt sad for a couple of reasons. First, because this young lady thought that she needed to diet. (We’re in Austin, folks. Land of the slim UT student and hippies that eat tree bark.) Second, that her food options consisted of nothing but pre-processed “diet” crap — most of which I believe does you more harm than good. Third, because I knew that she was likely choosing this stuff because she didn’t know how to cook.

Damnit! There are so many good foods out there. So many delicious options. So much healthy stuff. We live in a land of plenty, where we can get a fresh-whatever-whenever, and yet people were choosing packaged junk.

And don’t give me that “it’s convenient” bullshit. I can make a fresh — from scratch — skillet pizza in the time it takes you to unbox and cook that frozen monstrosity. I know I’m being harsh, but you can make from-scratch meals without a lot of hassle.

The key is organization and a depth of cooking knowledge, and that’s where people have problems. They roam around grocery stores without lists, let along the uber-anal lists I use. They don’t plan meals (though, truth be told, nor do I, much). They don’t know how raw ingredients can be used in multiple meals. They end up, like many of us, buying that stupid vegetable that’s only useful in one meal (I’m talking to you, okra).

And cookbooks are no help at all. Here, look through 1000 different things with a 100 different ingredients! Go to the store and buy stuff you might use once, or that will go bad within two days. It’s a nightmare, I know. Trying to plan a cuban stew on one night and coq au vin the next becomes a logistical disaster.

In fact, I’ve found that I’m going back to my cookbooks less and less. They just aren’t efficient. Instead, I either print out (thank goodness for Cook’s Illustrated On-Line) or copy-down my favorites and put them in a three ring binder in the kitchen. 

What I have ended up with is a binder full of stuff that Evelyn and I like. Kinda a “best of” divided by category (ground meats, roasts, soups/stews, sides, pastas, chicken, etc). When I try something new out I see if (a) we like it, (b) it’s not a pain in the ass to make, and (c) if it uses my standard pantry items. If so, it goes in the book. If not, it becomes a special treat that I do once in a blue moon.

Because, honestly, you don’t need to cook a thousand different things during the year (yes, there are that many meals in a year). You need about 7 different breakfasts, 7 different lunches, and 7 different dinners. Twenty one meals. I think that’s the minimum, otherwise you’d get too bored with what you’re eating.

And so I have a project for the cooks and entrepreneurs out there: Twenty-One Meals

The idea is this: Create a single week menu, for all three meals, a total of twenty one meals. Simple enough, right? Here’s where I become a ball buster:

+ You must re-use key ingredients throughout the meals. Limit those one-off items!

+ All meals should be able to scale up or down. Singles/seniors, couples, and families.

+ A comprehensive single-shot shopping list. Organized by area in the store, easy to understand, carefully documented. 

+ A person with no shopping experience should be able to walk into the store, buy everything they need for the week, and nothing must be left to rot in the fridge by week-end. That means using the most perishable stuff first.

+ A focus on quick-to-table stuff, though pre-prep and slow-cooker stuff is good too.

+ Think about re-use of processes. For example, chop up a whole onion, use half now, half for a later meal. Stuff like that.

+ Remember, these are meals, not recipes. You have to think about the main dish and the sides.

+ Once you’ve slaved over and perfected this Perfect Week Of Food, repeat for two more weeks.

Now I know that there are some meal-planner type sites that do some of the above. However, I didn’t see much of a “natural flow” between meals. Meaning that the onions (for example) used in the chicken pot pie could also be used in the tacos and could also be used in the couscous. That sort of stuff. I guess it’s the concept that a well stocked pantry can be a godsend, allowing you to make a bunch of different meals. Once you have a good set of “tools” (raw ingredients) it’s a LOT easier to make stuff from scratch.

And let’s take this one step further, once you have the Twenty-One Meals you can make some money with them. How? By teaching them. Imagine having a class for college students, or seniors, or anybody. In that class you go through each and every one of the meals, showing people how to prepare them.

Show them how the stuff used for one meal goes into another. Take them on road-trips and show them how to shop. There are a lot of possibilities. Heck, you could even record yourself and put the stuff on YouTube. That college co-ed could have their laptop in the kitchen, the recipe on the screen, the instructional video playing.

The key is focus, focus, focus. Don’t try to teach everything. Don’t try to teach a million recipes. Don’t veer off of those twenty-one meals. Make them dead-simple to cook. You are trying to make people comfortable with meal planning and eating better and cooking for themselves. Cookbooks can intimidate–don’t let this be.

The other day I ordered some parts for the development process. Got another high-quality web cam and decided on the authentication mechanism: RFID. The reader hardware is cheap ($40) and the fobs are even cheaper — about a buck. Perfect for this application. Plus, you can get them in little keychains; they look very sturdy. I went with RFID because they aren’t as fussy as laser read barcodes. Here’s what one of the fobs looks like:

RFID Keychain Fob

They work like this: each keychain has a unique identifier, like a serial number. It’s a passive device, with no battery or any moving parts. All the user has to do is wave it in front of the reader for it to be read. The reading distance, using lower power, is about 3 inches.

Once the user waves their unique fob in front of the reader, I’ll know who they are. (“You are user 123456; which maps to person Jane Doe using e-mail address 123456@example.com.”) Think of it as a unique key.

Also, we’ve decided on an initial form-factor for the working prototype. We’re going to try and fit it into a large briefcase. Something big enough to squeeze a ~20″ LCD display into. The top half will hold the display, the bottom half the computer and other stuff.

It’s actually not all that hardware-challenging, since there are so many tiny form factor computers available these days. Dell just came out with the Inspiron Mini 9 and Asus has their Eee PC. Both would work fine for this project (as long as they have USB and VGA/DVI out and wireless). The beauty, too, about those machines is that they use solid state drives (SSDs) so no moving parts.

The briefcase form-factor was chosen because it can be easily moved around, placed on a table, etc. Plus, we don’t have room for a full-sized photobooth in our apartment.

A couple of weeks ago the grandson of a neighbor of ours got married. Due to the distances involved, our neighbor couldn’t make it to the wedding. It was a bit stressful for her, as the family wanted her to play a part in the ceremony. But, at 92, flying to New York doesn’t have much of an appeal. (It doesn’t appeal to me either.)

Evelyn, as usual, came up with a great idea. She’d video record a message of our neighbor giving her well wishes and advice. So, one morning, they did just that. Evelyn broke out the HD recorder, got the message, re-encoded, and e-mailed it off.

The response? Fantastic. The couple got the greeting right on their wedding day, our neighbor was able to be part of the wedding (as it were), and now she’s the talk of the town–for not only sending an e-mail, but a video e-mail! Ninety two and her first e-mail. Pretty cool.

This got me thinking again about seniors and the internet, and how it’s pretty much inaccessible to them. It also reminded me of an article about photobooths I’d read. Ah, ha! There is the product: An internet kiosk, set up in the style of a photobooth, which would allow seniors (or anyone, really) to send messages. All the technology is there (wireless, computers, cameras, internet, etc) — it’s making the dead-simple software that’s the challenge.

Photo Booth

I really like the booth idea because it promotes privacy. Someone can record a message without being stared at. Plus, all the technology is hidden “behind the curtain” as it were. No need for keyboards, computers, web cams, e-mail addresses, dial-up, or any of that other nonsense.

Thinking through it, the biggest user interface challenge is addressing the video note, and then getting messages back. Sure, you could type in an e-mail address, but that introduces an unnecessary level of complexity. “Sure grandma, just type in hello194 at hotmail dot com.” That would be silly for somone to have to do. 

Instead, I was thinking of putting that work onto the “youngsters”, who are more likely to be technically adept. For example, the grandkids would set up an account for grandma. She would then receive some sort of keychain thing, like those “preferred customer” tags you get from the grocery store. She’d then go to the kiosk and the machine would scan her card. The recipient list would be pre-loaded by the grandkids; grandma would only see an avatar photo of them and their name. No need to type anything, just press “Jimmy’s” photo to send him a message. Having this sort of simple to use identification would allow the user to send and receive messages.

And, since these devices would be always connected to the internet, and have video capabilities, you can do a lot of warm-and-fuzzy things. For example, a real-life video support person on the other end, to help guide first-time users through the process. Not text, not a voice, but real-time two-way video, allowing the support person to better guide the senior.

While these devices could be used by anyone, my focus is on the senior community, since they get the most benefit out of it. Plus, thanks to advertising revenue, you wouldn’t need to charge the customer directly for the service. How many companies would love to get in front of the eyeballs of seniors? “This message from your grandkids brought to you by Medical Company Inc.” Pretty persuasive, I think.

We have a problem in our little apartment: dirty carpets. You see, our stove is about 4 feet away from our “dining room”. This makes it effortless to unknowngly track cooking oil residue all of the place. Since I do the cooking, you can see a nice trail from the kitchen to my desk in the living room.

Now we’ve had the carpet steam cleaned a while back, but that didn’t do too much, and recently we were getting really annoyed by the carpet. Especially since we don’t wear our outside shoes in the apartment, so don’t track much outside dirt into the place.

In the past, we’ve scrubbed a bit and that seemed to help, but it was always a horrible workout on the arms, and you could only do a small spot without feeling exhausted. That’s when I came up with my Cunning Plan.

I would attach scrub brushes to my shoes.

Evelyn was instantly and completely skeptical of my plan. I heard comments about “breaking ankles” and “you won’t be able to stand”. “They scoffed at the Wright Brothers” I said. After all, the hard part of scrubbing is on the arms. Why not use your body weight, and the strength of your legs, to do the work?

And so we went to the dollar store today and I got two foot-sized floor brushes. Originally, I was going to bolt them to a pair of old shoes, but I realized that I’d recently put all my old shoes in storage. Evelyn, with some disbelief, recommended a pair of sandals. Perfect! I could use some heavy-duty zip ties to attach them.

Here’s the result:

The Amazing Carpet Cleaning Floor Brush

After securing the brushes with the zip ties (a process that worked surprising well), I strapped them to my feet and stood up. Contrary to Evelyn’s concerns, I did not fall over nor break an ankle. In fact, they are quite easy to walk in. Very much like walking in sand. If you want to relive memories of visiting the beach, I recommend strapping brushes to the bottom of your shoes.

Such an Exciting and Revolutionary invention needs a video to properly comprehend the Cutting Edge Greatness of this device. So here I am, in all my glory, scrubbing down the dining room carpet:

(Thanks to Evelyn for creating the video.)

And how do they scrub? Really well. I probably wouldn’t try them on tile, but they are safe on carpet. A bit of scrubbing, using some Method dishwashing liquid, and then sucking it up with a Bissell vac worked wonders. (The Bissell we have doesn’t have rotating brushes, so it’s no good at getting deep in the carpet.)

I think we’re getting to the point where we need Google Walk and Google Bike. You know how Google (and MapQuest, etc) have driving directions? Well, I think driving directions are so 1990′s. Anybody can get in their car, put in $200 worth of gas, and drive two blocks to the grocery store. But getting around on foot, or bike, that’s another matter.

I know that Google started their Public Transit directions, which is pretty helpful, but that only goes so far. What about the walkers out there? In the Chicago area (excluding some suburbs) you have sidewalks everywhere. Every street. Everywhere. You really don’t have to think about whether you can get somewhere on foot, because you can. The downside, of course, is the car traffic, the crappy weather, and so on.

I didn’t realize how much I took sidewalks for granted until we lived in Puerto Rico, and now Austin. In PR, you only had sidewalks in the main town areas. In Austin, it’s pretty hit-or-miss. There are bunches of areas without sidewalks, which makes taking walks a challenge. We’ve spent a good deal of time just finding safe places to cross, quieter roads, etc. Sure, we have the wonderful “greenbelt” walks (ex. Shoal Creek, near us), but you have to get there first.

I’d love it if I could pull up a Google Map and say, “I want to get to this bookstore” and have the Directions tell me where there are sidewalks, where it’s safer to cross the busier streets (a bonus), and estimated time.

Obviously, it would be a pretty big undertaking, but they already have the data, either in overhead satellite images or the notorious “Street View”. (I’ve actually used Street View to determine if there were sidewalks in an area. It’s not perfect, but it helps.)

Perhaps easier would be Google Bike, which would cover the bike lanes in a city. This should be considerably easier to do, as many cities already have Bike Routes marked (though often neglected). The data are somewhere, and dedicated bike lanes can be seen in satellite images. In fact, it would probably be very similar to what they had to do to get Public Transit Directions working.

So, there’s another project for a budding entrepreneur out there. It sounds like the perfect “mashup” between Google Maps and personal knowledge.

He’s a project for the up-and-coming filmmakers out there. Make a movie of nothing but stock footage. I’ll allow voice-overs, but the visuals should all be stock.