Just updated my list of recommended restaurants to check out in Paris, would love feedback.

Filmed in the South End in Boston, at the Metro PCS on Washington, next to the new Church of Scientology building. How fitting.

• “Your spit sample has arrived at the lab”. Best email subject ever. #
• Got a photo published in the Bostonist: http://tinyurl.com/chyvrc #

Got an opportunity to finish a few books during the break. Just before going on vacation, I read the Twilight Watch which I thought was actually the best of the series so far (It follows The Night Watch and The Day Watch ); I was surprised and I don’t know if all will agree, I’ll be interested to see.

After that, I read Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things, a collection of short stories and poems.
Now, I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman but mostly for his Sandman, an amazing series of graphic novels (must-read). Other than Neverwhere I had never really loved any of his full length novels. I think that Gaiman always comes up with really interesting ideas which I get really excited about but I don’t think he ever takes them all the way to awesome, stopping instead at good enough. Case in point with American Gods. I loved the idea of personified and weak shadows of old world deities from all pantheons walking around in modern America but I think the novel came short of my expectation

Now, “Fragile Things” though, I thought was a great collection of short stories, much darker or at least more perverted and pernicious than his usual fare. I especially liked Monarch of the Glen in it, with an encore from the two very dark characters, Mr Alice and Mr Smith. A great read.

I also finished Diving into Darkness which just came out in the US (it was called Raising the dead in the UK). Now this scuba diving / cave diving novel doesn’t focus too much on the actual sport but pays attention to the people, the relationship and their motives for doing what their done. It reads really quickly and I would recommend it as well.

Neal Stephenson’s novels (of Snow Crash fame, an incredible book) are getting longer and harder to read which each new book. I have tried to start Anathem
and will try again. In the mean time, I started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which I am enjoying immensely thus far.

Hopefully this will give you a few ideas if you’re looking for a good book in 2009. Happy new year to all !

I haven’t updated this blog much recently. That’s because I have been working on a new endeavor which has taken my time a bit. Today, my dive buddy Sam and I launched a new web site about diving. Check it out ! Plug it if you like it !

In the mean time and for a little while, I won’t be updating Frenchguys.com too much. And when I will, it’ll go through a site redesign.

It’s finally here, Tomboy on Mac OS X and Windows !

• God I hate airlines. $170 in excess luggage. I should have shipped prior. #

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Sparkfun & Arduino announced today the new Arduino Pro ($20) and Arduino Pro Mini ($19), two 3.3V “low-cost, low-profile boards intended for advanced users and for convenient embedding in long-term projects”.

The Arduino Pro is shield compatible (but 3.3v, beware) and includes a connector for lithium ion batteries. The Arduino Pro Mini is well….mini at .73″x1.3″ (while the Arduino Nano is 0.73” x 1.70”, with a mini USB port and 5V operating voltage but costs $50).

Both are great candidates for permanent projects, I’ll evaluate them when I get back from my September liveaboard trip.

In a previous post I reviewed the Arduino Diecimilla and some of its shields. The Diecimilla and its proto-shield provide us with a great sandbox for experimenting with basic circuits on a mini-breadboard. If you can leverage some of its shields to provide additional functionality you don’t want to have to implement yourself (GPS, SD card logging, Motor control, LCD, …) the Diecimilla ecosystem is a great set of building blocks for complex circuits.

But let’s back up for a second and explore what different use cases are:

• Assemble existing components with some prototyping
• Prototype using breadboards
• Build semi permanent circuits
• Build permanent circuits using perfboards
• Build permanent circuits with custom PCB for small runs

Any others you can suggest ? Feel free to comment !

Arduino Diecimilla

Pros:

• Multitude of shields available
• ProtoShield for semi-permanent circuits (perfboard) or prototyping (breadboard)
• Very well finished product
• Diecimilla can be powered via USB or DC power (9V battery, wall wart, …)
• Direct support in Arduino IDE

Cons:

• Bigger than Boarduino, Stamp, Stickduino and Nano Arduino.
• Multiple shields rarely stack up physically and are often incompatible as they use the same pins
• Price: $35 (assembled)
• Harder to embed than some into permanent projects