Archives for the 'Technology' Category
High-Dynamic-Range Photography: A Guide
Previously, shccinc.com featured an example of HDR photography that documented the Tokyo skyline. There is a whole group or pool on Flickr comprised of HDR imagery. This article from Popular Science goes one step further and explains a DIY method for producing beautiful HDR images using a digital camera and off-the-shelf commercial software or even [...]
13 May 2007 | General, Photography, Technology | Comments Off
RSS in Plain English from Common Craft
RSS is an abbreviation of Really Simple Syndication, but for not technical users, there isn’t anything simple about it at all. Finally, however, someone has come up with a truly magnificent way of explaining how it works and how to use it. Why is that relevant? Well for one, this website/blog uses RSS so that [...]
25 April 2007 | General, Technology | Comments Off
Are old houses really built to last?
While it’s often said that consumer products—from electronic devices to Ikea furniture—are “made to break,” a little over a year ago I started wondering about buildings. Do real estate interests, I wondered, plan for obsolescence in the same way product designers do?
Carrie McLaren, at Stay Free!, posted a fascinating interview recently with Robert Zagaroli III, [...]
24 April 2007 | Construction, General, Green Building, Technology | Comments Off
Apple Small Business: What Happens In Vegas Stays On Her Mac
As many of our clients are aware, SHCC, Inc. is an all-Mac company. Everything from processing photos, to analyzing data, to preparing defect lists and reports, to the cost estimate, to snazzy on-screen presentations is managed by a MacBook Pro running OS X. There are more Macs laying around that are employed, but the only [...]
20 March 2007 | Business, Construction Defect, Litigation, Technology | Comments Off
Bacteria could steady buildings against earthquakes
Soil bacteria could be used to help steady buildings against earthquakes, according to researchers at UC Davis. The microbes can literally convert loose, sandy soil into rock.
When a major earthquake strikes, deep, sandy soils can turn to liquid, with disastrous consequences for buildings sitting on them. Currently, civil engineers can inject chemicals into the soil [...]
22 February 2007 | Construction, Green Building, Technology | Comments Off
Good for Many Things, but NOT for Ducts
“Duct tape (fabric-based tape with rubber adhesive) is good for many things. People use it as a bandage, to tape up broken plates, to repair their cars. There are thousands of uses. Some folks have even have websites and written books about duct tape. Apollo 13 astronauts used it to repair some equipment to get [...]
22 February 2007 | Construction, Consulting, General, Technology | Comments Off
A Few Green Building Links (2.21.07)
Going through the news today, a number of stories on the topic of green building showed up:
“Does your office environment get you down? Then you might want to consider working with Tom Hicks. In buildings that receive USGBC’s “platinum” certification, its highest rating, natural light permeates the entire floor. Sometimes, cubicles have their own thermostats, [...]
21 February 2007 | Green Building, Technology | Comments Off
Floors Made Out of Mud Are Hot
To crudely paraphrase the former U.S. Ambassador of Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Hot can be Cool, and Cool can be Hot, and Each can be Both, but Hot or Cool man, Mud is Mud.
“Early one Saturday morning in January, Kevin Rowell dumped a bucket of dark mud on the floor of his big south-facing bedroom. It [...]
8 February 2007 | Construction, Green Building, Technology | Comments Off
San Diego Community a Model for Green Building
Del Sur, a new development of 2,500 homes, represents the next era of responsible community planning: an amenities-rich community built with environmental accountability.
Planned over nearly 20 years by Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Del Sur faced multiple obstacles and opposition, leading Fred Maas, BMR president, to forge innovative alliances with community and civic groups to pursue [...]
8 February 2007 | Construction, Green Building, Technology | Comments Off
Humanitarian Architecture
That may sound like a stretch, but humanitarian architecture is precisely what Cameron Sinclair hopes to accomplish through his organization, Architecture for Humanity. The basic idea is that with a skyrocketing global population that is becoming increasingly urbanized in developing nations, the formal architecture profession is not equipped meet the design needs of the masses. [...]
2 February 2007 | Construction, Technology | Comments Off
