Hosted by David L. Jones
And presented in Dave's unique non-scripted overly enthusiastic style!
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EEVblog #62 – The Drivetime Experiment
Posted on February 17th, 2010 74 commentsWarning, no electronics content, just a 30 minute filler experiment of Dave ranting about the blog.
74 responses to “EEVblog #62 – The Drivetime Experiment”
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I think you live in the same street as my friend!
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I think 30 mins was a bit too long unless you have a prepared set of topics you want to cover.
Tape a list to the steering wheel.Have you considered a clip on microphone. Or an unobtrusive headset arrangement. I don’t think you should need a really fancy shotgun mic.
I don’t think you need to drift to far towards a pro look and feel presentation wise. Acoustic tiles definitely sounds like you’re going to far.
As for the fluoro light white balance. You might like to try manipulating the white balance. Most people set the white balance from a white surface, but just like the colour filters film photographers used to warm their pictures, you can take the white balance from a light blue surface to achieve the warming effect you desire.
See this link
http://www.webvideozone.com/public/135.cfm
or this one to see that there are even standardised cards made for just this purpose.http://www.warmcards.com/WC1.html
A reflector or two should even out the light for a more pleasant look.
You don’t need to lose the ambiance of the lab though in my opinion.
The other thing that would improve the blog would be to introduce a wipe or some fancy cut to avoid the jarring effect of the jump edits you use.
Regards
Wilfred -
If Mr. Bean has changed clothes and brushed his teeth while driving, it should not be so difficult to review a multimeter and drive at the same time. You just need some practice. :p
Now for serious, I think it
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FreddyK February 17th, 2010 at 23:00
I liked it, Dave. I think it works great as a filler once in a while for us who enjoy your blog and can’t get enough.
As you said, those who don’t like it can just skip it…
I had no problem with the length. Seems like a perfect time recording while you travel to work. No time wasted, for you at least.
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Newton February 18th, 2010 at 00:10
Nice experiment.
I suggest you keep your car drive blogs short.
You don -
Andrew February 18th, 2010 at 00:23
Use a handsfree mobile phone and take talkback phone calls and answer questions?
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badscr February 18th, 2010 at 01:45
Foam Mattress Pads, could be used as acoustic panels.
OR fiberglass insulation wrapped in fabric.Back in the 8-track days, styrofoam cups and egg cartons, were used in the recording studios for the acoustics.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-accoustic-panels-for-your-recording-studio-or/
http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/04/how-to-theater-or-studio-acoustic-treatments/
http://www.kindohm.com/archive/2008/08/27/do-it-yourself-acoustic-panels.aspx
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charlie February 18th, 2010 at 02:05
funny when i saw it was 30 minutes, i thought this is going to be hard to watch, but there go 30 minutes, just like that..
eggboxes?
i can see a drinking game from ride along with dave blogs, everytime ‘off the cuff’.
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badscr February 18th, 2010 at 02:28
Yap, They would glue styrofoam cups and egg carton all-over the walls and ceilings.
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Jeremy February 18th, 2010 at 03:12
Dave!
General:
What I like:
- Spontaneous style
- Variety of topics
- Good for off topic rants, etcWhat I don’t like:
- Length
- Lack of focusSpecific:
I loved hearing about your blog experience. Ads, readership, production, etcWhat I’d love to hear:
- Industry stories
- Useful components you’ve found
- Interesting people you’ve met
- Life lessons you’ve learned, work related or not
- More along those lines
- Dave’s philosophy of lifeThanks Dave, this was a lot of fun. A great idea.
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one more thing, just put a logo http://www.eevblog.com link on the bottom right or left like a television channel logo would be on or something like that
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Hi Dave,
I really enjoy your electronics blogs. However, your driving blog concerns me.
I’m not one of those wonks that believe everything (short of driving) in a car should be outlawed, but blogging while driving looks to be about 3 or 4 times more difficult than talking on your cell. I noticed several times when you had to pause your thoughts to take a driving action. Now, imagine just the opposite happening.
This was truly “distracted driving” and could readily turn into a serious fender bender. Do you really believe that you could respond to some guy coming into your path (at 90 kmh) while trying to concentrate on the next thing to say. The spot on your freeway (expressway, autobahn, whatever) was particularly dangerous.
I apologize for being a wet blanket, but your regular blogs are much too enjoyable to have you end up in a wheelchair (or worse). Please make this your last driving blog.
Thanks for listening.
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webkraller February 18th, 2010 at 04:21
“I’m on the motorway now so this should be smooth ride for – BA BOOM BA BOOM”
I literally laughed for a good minute at that!
The drive was a nice change of pace, I do feel it went on a bit too long however.
I feel like the driving blogs could be a good backdrop for your industry stories and rants.
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I hate … youtube, it’s no … fun watching the video being … interrupted all the … time.
Sometimes you can’t even ……… -
Laurent Coustet February 18th, 2010 at 04:50
I like it too !
But i think 30 minutes is a bit long, perhaps between 10 and 20 minutes would be better. Anyway that was fun to watch
For the microphone, why don’t you use a dedicated microphone attached to your tee shirt, like those one used on TV shows ?
Regards,
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charlie February 18th, 2010 at 04:55
Adding another note, I think you’re a bit like the Aussie Adam Savage, its the blithe, goofy passion about stuff that makes it interesting to watch.
I’m interested to see where you go with it though.
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Dave,
I loved the drive to work with you, we would have probably talked about the same topics, if I had actually been there.
I say “bull-s**t” to those that may want you to change your style or content!
Keep up the “off the cuff” stuff.
Eldon
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Lucky you, here in central Europe is much too cold right now (maybe not to much, but the winter takes too much time:])
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Andrew February 18th, 2010 at 05:22
(that other Andrew above is another Andrew
Dave, stop locking at the damn camera, lock at the fucking road while driving, for crying out loud fucking’s sake.
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Hi Dave,
for me, the usual car-talking includes the outside view, especially the road. So lets take a look outside of the window.
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It is interesting from a perspective of getting a right hand tour of suburban Sydney.
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Daniel February 18th, 2010 at 07:25
I don’t use RSS or YouTube. You should get your website set up with Google Analytics for statistics.
If you get so many individual emails, just forward them to the forums.
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An interesting experiment although I must confess I did tune-out a bit sometimes.
Had no idea about the forum and i’ve been watching your blog from the start. No idea how I missed that.
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Oh, I forgot. I wouldn’t read too much into rss + youtube subscription numbers. I use both although I don’t know why I use the youtube one.
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Hi Dave,
I like your Drivetime Experiment! It’s perfect entertainmaint during dinner
. But please, be careful and keep your focus on the traffic!I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous about the weather in your country. Snowy, rainy, filthy weather here in Germay. Can’t stand it anymore. Almost forgot what sunsine looks like!
Since I was really close to buying an Agilent U1241A multimeter, I’m looking forward to your review on this gear!
Best regards
Ondre -
Brian Hoskins February 18th, 2010 at 08:18
I have to say that I keep up with your blog pretty much exclusively for the electronics content, but that said you do come across very well on a more general level – you’re an interesting person to listen to. That’s quite a talent actually, and certainly one that I admire because if I were to try the same thing I’m sure that people would be losing interest in my attempt within sheer minutes! Yet you seem to be capable of holding people’s interest for quite some time – even when talking about general stuff. I’ve to date never found myself the least bit bored in your blogs, and I would actually promote your longer blogs as a good thing.
I think I like the “filler” blogs. I don’t think I’d be in favour of the filler blogs taking a share of your electronics blogging time, but if you’re going to keep them as a literal filler between your regular blogs then I reckon that’s a real good idea. I often find myself checking the RSS feed only to find that there’s no new blog quite yet, and I’m sure that a lot of other people find themselves doing that too, so in that respect I guess you could say there’s an actual demand for these filler blogs.
IDEA FOR FILLER BLOG:
While watching your filler blog I had an idea about a general subject you could maybe talk about which also has a bit of an Engineering interest and I think would be worth your opinion.
I was wondering what you think about the general usage of the term “Engineer” these days. I’m not sure how it works down in your part of the world but certainly over here the term Engineer has become extremely generalised, and I think that has reflected quite negatively on the trade – particularly the professionalism of the trade. If you go into medicine or something like that, and manage to qualify as a Doctor, then the title gives you an immediate reputation that reflects the professional trade you’re in, but over here the Engineering trade has failed to work quite the same way. There’s a definite difference, for example, between a Design Engineer who designs electronics and/or writes firmware and someone who comes to repair your washing machine (White Goods Engineer). I don’t mean to cause offense to anyone who works in those trades or anything but… I dunno I just think there’s something not right there.
What do you think? Could be a good subject for the filler blog!
In any case, whatever you decide to talk about in the filler blog, best of luck with it
Brian
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I have to agree with Brian there, that it seems like the term “Engineer” is way overused, and in so many different iterations, right down to “Sanitation Engineer”…
But that did get me thinking, and where I’m currently an engineering student I’ve noticed one big thing, I say Electronics Engineering and people seem to hear “Electrical Engineering”. Up here in Canada, the term has gone viral for any form of engineering to do with electricity, from Power to Industrial Control, to Computer, Electronics, etc. and I think it’s driving me nuts.
Anyway, your thoughts on this?
And btw, your blog is great, simply because you provide easy access to discussions and displays about how engineering and electronics work in the real world, which is hard to come by these days. Keep us the blog and I’ll guarantee I’ll be watching for as long as it’s around.
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Ross Moffett February 18th, 2010 at 15:25
The origin of the term “engineer” is mostly in people who had little or no formal education and designed steam engines.
Now, I can see that you would like to have a title that reflects the prestige of your education and knowledge, but realize that the “white goods” fellows repairing your appliances and air conditioning systems are working on increasingly complicated systems, certainly breeching the complexity of a steam engine. Many (or maybe most) of them have at least a two-year degree too. It falls under the scope of what is mostly referred to as a field engineer.
It’s not all parts-changing and plumbing work, sometimes some pretty obscure faults happen in engineered systems and it’s the field engineer’s job to find those and retrofit as changing conditions develop.
Still, I think the people who matter understand the difference.
I don’t like that there is a lot of contention between field and design engineers. When I went to design engineering school, people looked down on the guys that were “just changing out boards.” When I went to a technical university, people looked down on guys that “never got their hands dirty.” There’s little truth in either of those views.
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Brian Hoskins February 19th, 2010 at 02:12
Hi Ross,
Yeah I was cringing when comparing Design ‘Engineering’ to a White Goods ‘Engineer’ to be honest, and I think I did say that I really didn’t want to offend people in the white goods trade – which I don’t. I used to do field Engineering myself actually, that’s how I started in the electronics trade and it taught me a LOT. But, to be honest, I would suggest that the repair trade – whilst requiring expert skill (no doubt about that) – is probably more of a Technician level. I’m not saying it’s not a professional job, because I understand there’s a significant skill involved in diagnosis/repair, but… I don’t think I can agree about it being an Engineering role. For it to be an Engineering role, my view is you have to be designing/creating something.
I guess it’s a topic worthy of much debate!
Brian
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Ross Moffett February 19th, 2010 at 15:18
I think Wikipedia says it best:
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Engineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints . The term is derived from the Latin root “ingenium,” meaning “cleverness”
—I think technicians just fit that definition in small scales. Often though, the people with the title of technician are designing and building whole new automation lines in factories or in an oil field. I think they’re not getting the credit due to them, rather than being given too much credit.
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As a motorcyclist during most days of the year that don’t involve snow or ice, I find the idea of someone video-blogging while driving a car on the public roadway quite frightening.
I think it fortunate that I’m in the States and you’re not. This renders my chances of being accidentally killed by some Australian bloke worrying about the camera angle rather low.
Perhaps you could use this as an opportunity to do some engineering and automate a few of the tasks surrounding the filming of the blog.
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Alex Van February 18th, 2010 at 09:08
You do realize you’ve told everyone your home address this way, right? It was easy enough to find a local landmark; tracing back to your house would be trivial.
–Alex -
Here are some “replies” as a passenger
* You’re sitting on the “wrong” side of a car
* While driving, men can not be focused on more things on the same time and you repeat the same thought about 5 times.
* 2.500 regular viewers – do you know why? Bacause there are quite a few smart people who share their knowledge this way.
* “Smooth ride” and here comes a bump haha
* You should add HPF on audio (cut the rumble).
* I hope your “fun of making blog” will last for quite some time.
* Video blog is just a step forward over text-blog. Who knows what will be next?
* 10k of subscribers could be amazing, but then you must really take care of every word. It becomes quite a load. And then you stop posting…
* Don’t rant, Google Ads pay for your motorway charges
* Government sux in most of countries, so… non’t rant. It does not change nothing.
* “on site” test of multimeter can be good.
* Of course, if you say the meter is good, for me this counts more than 10 written rewiews (also because you have similar profile of work).
* Sound of all videos .. yeah, you could add a compression and add 3-6 dB.
* Try T-5 “daylight” tubes + electronic ballast. Works great for me.
* Manual white balance is always a must in fixed conditions.
* Such offtopic video is good from time to time. To cut the electronics-only stream.
* Keep the seatbelt fastened till stop.
* Thanks for the ride -
Tinker February 18th, 2010 at 10:16
Dave,
This was a very enjoyable half hour. The perfect sort of thing to watch (or mostly just listen to…) in the lab while working on salvaging some surplus parts.
I’d say it’s time to build or buy a vehicle mount for your camera.
With a permanent mount in the car, you’ll be inclined to stick the camera in there every day. You don’t have to post every video, but it’ll be there on the day you’re driving along and suddenly have a brilliant idea for a segment. At this point, you just start talking. Edit it down to the relevant parts later. (Don’t forget to erase the part where your nose needs attention…) You may be surprised at what you end up posting when you don’t have to set up before you can record.
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Dave,
I liked this blog but I really don’t want to see you get hurt or to injure another poor person just trying to get to work. I love your blogs but their not worth the risk to you and others! Until today I thought you had more sense than this. Stay in the lab thank you very much. (longtime fan).
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Michael February 18th, 2010 at 11:12
Thumbs up on the video. I was surprised that you thought the quality needed improvement. My general feeling is that the quality is acceptable, it’s the content that draws me to your blog.
About beginners asking questions: Is there a blog or video series that you could recommend for beginners? Or, have you ever thought about doing a series EEV Blog University? Where you can do lectures about beginning electronics.
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Anthony February 18th, 2010 at 12:19
Like the posting Dave and congrats on the 2.5k+ viewers. Rants are a good idea, it definitely does help to get to know you a bit better and I agree they should be repeated in the future… occasionally, just to switch things up a bit. It was a little repetitive but then again who isn’t while thinking out loud, it reminded me a lot of what I do myself while driving. I’m impressed Fluke and the other manufacturers are concerned with the verdict on your reviews. They’re great, please keep ‘em up and thanks again
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LMAO that was soo cool.
In respect of acoustic tiles, there is a cheap option for you, find a local gyprock supplier, as they sell all the range of plasterboard and acoustic tiles for office ceilings (ie push up tiles).
I have used these tiles to cover walls ceilings and doors in community radio stations
(cheap to find, look for a building that is doing an office fit out and you can pick up damaged tiles (usually holes cut in for old walls (20 -25mm holes for electrical and comms cables)Regards,
Kat.
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I thought it was very entertaining. Thanks for all the time you put into these blogs. I’m a student, and I check for updates daily.
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Dan AKA Microman171 February 18th, 2010 at 18:15
Hey Dave,
I love you blog, I wait eagerly for the next episode.
I love hearing industry stories, weird components / exotic components, tips for hobby design (like your PCB guide), your opinion on people / places / politics.
Would also be good to hear about where you buy parts from. I am starting up a business, and find it hard to find sources.
Cheers,
Dan
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i like it, was long. but this was not the problem.
its hard to do one logical 30 min sentence while you driving
there was some moments where you didnt had a clue what to say
you could delete those moments. and it would keep people interested.
even for an hour.i dont think you should worry about sound, to me its perfect.
lighting? cmon, you are not trying to build a tv studio in your garage ?? i think so you should keep it personal. its more private, not corporate. i dont want to see you just like in CNN. where every second its used. perfect and bullshit like that.
i like that idea. but please could you do that not in the car? i was kinda stressed watching you trying to concentrate on blog and driving.
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Hi Dave,
I liked this one. It new and original.
The quality was quite good for a camera on the dash. These new camera’s are amazing compared to a few years back. Can you switch on a hi-pass filter on the microphone?Some off the cuff ideas from me.
Why not open a chat session on Skype or so every ones in a while for a meet and greet.
Make some video’s about actually using the equipment in a real project. How does it fit on the bench while there is a box with stuff beside it. Can you still read the display when it is in the corner of the bench and you are upside down in a project.
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Skype could be a great idea, but during chat session 1/3 of the world would be at work and second 1/3 will be sleeping. Not only Australians watch this great EEV blog.
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Ray Jones February 18th, 2010 at 19:37
Hey Dave, looks to me your workplace is just across the road from where I spent a few weeks last year, getting the Sydney Doppler radar going, (the big golf ball on a tee across the road from Bunnings)
Am I right?
The last tunnel looks like the bit where you veer of Mona Vale Rd….
And street view doesn’t quite go to your door…. -
Hey Dave,
As others have mentioned egg cartons work good if you can get them cheap those heavy blue shipping blankets also do a great job and can be put up and taken down with ease.
You have much better multi-tasking skills than me. I remember one time I was trouble shooting a problem at a customers site on the phone while driving to work, all went well except I found myself parked behind our old location that we had moved from 2 weeks prior.
I might suggest having some type of submission system for general conversational questions. Nothing like how can I make a circuit to do X but questions similar to your video on how to get a job in electronics. That way you can just talk about the topic just like there was someone sitting in the seat beside you and not having to think hard or prep to answer the questions.
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Ken Young February 19th, 2010 at 09:32
I found it interesting to see what one my favorite bloggers is like when talking off the cuff. Also, it makes for a nice background audio to listen to as they were several snippets of interesting topic that help generate some germ thoughts on my end (the kind of things that you hear and then actually form and continue to grow into other full blown ideas).
As for this clip, i found it intriguing to see what the background scenery was like since I’ve never been to Australia (I’m located in the U.S.A.)
Well, keep up the great work.
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Loved it! Don’t worry about the nannies ranting about you talking while driving… you’re obviously quite capable of doing both.
I really enjoyed the whole un-edited, “live” aspect of it, and I thought it was great that you talked about whatever topic you wanted. Just because I know someone from work doesn’t mean I always want to talk about work with them, and it’s the same with the bloggers/podcasters I follow.
I don’t mind the length of the episodes either. It plainly says the playing time below the video; if you don’t want to devote 30 minutes to watching it, then don’t! I can certainly skip any episode that I don’t care to see, as can anyone else.
Rock on, Dave! Loved it! Hope to see another one soon.
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Hey, I found your house:
At the second crossing you passed the sign for “The Charles McLaughlin …”, and that was easy enough to find:
http://www.google.com/#q=the+charles+mclaughlin+sydney+australiaFrom there it was just a matter of comparing the image of the last house at both crossings to the images in StreetView, and voila.
Maybe this answers your question if this driving blog was a good idea.
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Ray Jones February 20th, 2010 at 10:17
LOL, I had a gut feeling about where the office was, went to google earth then street view and was truly amazed yes it was where I thought it was.
I haven’t spent much time in Sydney, but it really looked like the Terrey Hills area where we commissioned the new weather radar last year, and we did go across the road to Bunnings a few times, and it just looked like the area.
Bunnings is right next door, albeit on a “gentle” incline.
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@BOFH
You’re kind of slow. You could have found his house a year ago if you knew how to search for a domain registry, and I’m not going to tell you how. His address has been posted all along. Finding where he works could have been harder but who cares. If somebody wanted to find his house they could have done it a long time ago.
I don’t think Dave is too concerned.
He is not that big of a celebrity and he looks like he can take care of himself, his a big boy.
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I know how Whois works, I was just bored and started analysing the background through the car window to see if I could find out the start and end locations with no other information.
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Philbx1 February 20th, 2010 at 18:22
Great video Dave. Nice to hear someone gifted at talking and actually being interesting.
So, you sleuths out there just had to locate Dave’s place. Guess that was inevitable given human curiosity. Maybe you all could expand on that and send Dave & his missus some gifts. No, not your ticking/beeping joke project which would rightfully get you arrested, just something useful. Wish list Dave?
Instead of Skype etc. maybe live video on blogtv? I shouldn’t really mention this because you’d spend hours in front of a camera watching countless lines of our text scrolling past rather than doing quality videos. Bad idea…
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John R February 17th, 2010 at 22:22