Learning to be a geek(ish)

In recent time I have been learnign a lot of stuff from iTunes University. If you aren't aware of it, and I wasn't, it is a place where many of the top line universities from around the globe have posted entire semesters of seminars and courses.

In the past few months I have learned quite a bit about programming in Java, Cocoa (For iPhone Apps) and electronics. As a lifetime devotee to the asset management cause, I find this to be a fantastic way to spread into other areas.

You cannot (I believe) work in physical asset management today without appreciating software, the array of hardware gadgets we work with, and the technology behind it all.

Which brings me to my point... I was wondering for a while if you could use an iPhone as an infrared camera.

Well, after finding some fake IR apps and asking around a lot, it turns out that you cannot. The camera needs to be modified electronically in order to produce an effective IR camera. WHich is where the Geek element comes in...

One of the projects I work on when I get time at home these days, is to create my own Thermographic camera, and hopefully design it dow to a point where it becomes an ultra portable device.

From what I have seen so far I think this means I am going to have to sacrifice some accuracy, but the extremely high end devices ($15,000+) would only be truly necessary in only a handful of cases. (Aside from the ego/gadget thing that maintenance people tend to have)

This is not a commercial project. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Rather it is a great hobby thing to do and something that hopefully will enable me and my son to have some fun while we work on it. And who knows, we may find a way to put other gadgets into here also...

Not easy finding a microbolometer in Perth Australia however...