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User Friendly
Podcasting
You might have read my raves about the Zoom digital microphones and recorders from Samson, which record impeccable sound in and out of the home office and studio.
Of course, when you are recording outdoors, the mic will only be as good as the sock you put over it.
That’s something a Hawaiian photographer, Kalani Prince, discovered when he broke out his Zoom H4n mic on the windswept north shore of Maui.
Rather than buying a windscreen directly from Samson, Prince has crafted his own windscreens, whose reds, grays, and blacks reflect the colors of Hawaii’s volcanic rock and sunsets.
Prince’s wooly, “Redhead,’’ windscreens make the H4n look like a Troll doll. If you want to see and hear how well they work, Prince has posted demos at his Redhead Windscreens website (www.redheadwindscreens.com).
Each Redhead cost $35, including shipping, which is less than you will pay for a foam or wool windscreen, with less personality, at a camera store.
Prince is also working on a windscreen for the Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder. (Alas, the video you will get with the Q3 - 640 x 480 - will pale in comparison to the “HD quality’’ sound you can expect from the Q3.)
Tracking
A hard-to-shake device for wanderers
Last week, when an older fellow with Alzheimer’s disease asked my neighbor, Christine, for help finding home, she sat him down on her porch, got him a bottle of water, and phoned Milton police.Had that poor soul meandered into the Blue Hills - where nighttime temperatures last week dipped below 40 - he might never have gotten the help he needed.
That’s why caregivers to folks with cognitive impairments are drawn to tracking devices. With a bracelet that constantly signals its wearer’s GPS coordinates - and sounds an alarm when the perimeter of a designated “safe zone’’ is breached - a person can continue living safely at home, for a longer time.
One of the challenges for caregivers, however, is keeping those tracking devices attached to their patients. My kids often return home from school and daycare without their sweaters and hats.
And I imagine that autistic kids (who are also prone to wandering) are as likely to part with their personal items in the playground maelstrom.
The latest version of one wrist-worn tracking device, from Frisco, Tex.-based EmFinders, Inc. (www.emfinders.com), has a double clasp - a safety feature that requires two hands to remove the gadget.
The EmFinders device, called EmSeeQ, is tracked through the national cellular phone network, using the same technology police departments use to track mobile phones, according to EmFinders.
The EmSeeQ with the two-handed clasp ($225) will be available next month. You’ll also need a service plan from EmFinders, which costs an additional $25 per month.
The service, currently available only to folks in Texas and a handful of other, southern states, will be nationwide by the end of the year.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
