It is the second honor is as many weeks for WorthPoint. Last Thursday, WorthPoint CEO Will Seippel was one of five finalists in the “Technology Entrepreneur” category of the AeA Southeast Council’s “2008 Spirit of Endeavor Awards.”

AeA is the nation’s largest technology trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry. The awards recognize outstanding individuals and companies in the region’s high-tech community.

“WorthPoint is proud to be a part of Georgia’s high-tech business community,” said Seippel. “Joining the Advanced Technology Development Center [ATDC] continues to pay dividends as we offer new services and grow our membership.”

About WorthPoint Corporation
WorthPoint Corporation is an Internet-based data-and-media company that offers a vast database of sales records on art, antiques and collectibles. Founded in 2007, WorthPoint has quickly become the world’s largest social network for researching the worth of antiques and collectibles. WorthPoint helps collectors understand the worth of their items, and provides expert advice from its team of Worthologists on how to preserve or sell antiques and collectibles. WorthPoint recently announced plans to acquire Dublin, Ohio-based GoAntiques, the oldest antiques-and-collectibles site on the Web.

Contact:
Dan Greenfield
WorthPoint
Dan.greenfield@worthpoint.com
(404) 549-6979 x9029
(404) 310-0023 cell

I collect scrimshawed whale teeth, and needed a repeatable method of a making high-resolution images of an entire tooth [Image #1], as well as sharp, close-up images of minute detail, such as an artist’s signature [Image #2]. The same requirements are needed for pocket watches, broaches, coins, necklaces, rings, silverware, pocket knives, small art objects, etc.

Using a digital camera would involve a macro lens, shadowless lighting, a tripod, a background, etc., and even then, repeating or improving an image is difficult. But using a standard, glass-topped flatbed scanner allows me to capture exactly what I want, with “preview” to make small adjustments, and high Dots-Per-Inch (DPI) close-up JPGs.

Most of my scanner images are captured with the lid completely removed. This provides a jet-black background, which contrasts nicely with my ivory [Image #1] or jewelry [Image #3] subjects. For very dark objects, a light-colored cloth may be draped across the object for outline contrast.

I am currently using PaperPort 11 software, and a Visioneer One Touch 9220 USB scanner. I purchased both via online auction sites. Any good scanner and any good software program should work.

The key to good scans is high resolution. The (side-to-side) width of an object makes no difference in scanning time, but the (start-to-end) length will effect scanning time. The larger the object, the smaller DPI needed; and the smaller the object, the higher DPI needed to make a decent-sized, detailed image.

I always lay a narrow, 6-inch steel ruler along bottom (start) edge of glass [Image #4], then place my items parallel to, and 1/8th-inch from ruler. For an item 2-inches to 3-inches deep (from ruler), I use 300-dpi; 3- to 6-inches = 150-dpi [Image #5]; >6-inches = 75-dpi. For smaller objects of 1-inch to 2-inches, I use 600-dpi [Image #6], and for items less than 1-inch (such as signatures, hallmarks, etc), I use 1200-dpi [Image #2, which is on backside of scrimshaw in Image #1].

Sometimes I use transparent tape to hold a round-bottom item in exactly the right position & attitude to capture the desired image. I use the preview to make adjustments until I am happy with position, then use the PaperPort software to crop tightly, and make a scan at correct DPI.

Once an image is captured, I again use the PaperPort software to zoom-in to a very high magnification. Now I use the black “pencil” function to erase dust spots & tape images in background. Once it is clean, I save the edited image. If needed, I rotate the image to proper orientation for viewing.

Letha Berry (LovesAntiqueDolls) has recently attempted scanning, and has shared a scan of her 13-inch tall, French Fashion Doll by Barrois, circa 1865 [Image #7]. She is quite pleased with the detail captured by scanning.

Good luck, and good scanning!

Douglass Moody

Please visit our site at www.microtagit.com
Email us at: Rneglia@negliaservices.com

Yet the G3 – G4 series do represent a sort of a turn-around
in Apple’s history.

I wonder if someone has a solution for that ?

Last night I had the pleasure of emceeing a tech forum where Jeff Whatcott, VP of Marketing at Acquia, Inc. gave a very informative presentation of his views on overall trends in the content management market, specifically in Drupal as a social publishing system and how his company is forging the future for Drupal into commercial marketplaces.  His presentation can be found here.

From Jeff’s Twitter feed:

“Completed a webcast to a Drupal meetup in virginia. Seemed to go well. Good questions.”

Frank Febrarro of Phase2 Technology then demonstrated a module they have recently released for Calais.  The Calais web service allows you to automatically annotate your content with rich semantic metadata, including Entities like People and Companies and Events & Facts like Acquisitions and Management Changes.  Phase 2 has integrated this service as a module for Drupal 5 and 6.  You can watch a short screencast Frank recorded to demo main features of the module.

Toward the end we as a group decided to keep this meeting rolling as the Drupal Northern Virginia Users Group.  We are targeting the second Tuesday of the month.  This forum will be very much dependent on audience participation for suggestions of topics and also utilizing a rotating emcee.  If you’re interested in Drupal we would love to have you join us.

I’d like to thank Teqcorner for providing the space for us along with Andy Forbes and Arman Anwar of WorthPoint for their invaluable assistance in coordinating this event.

For more information on future meetings, to suggest topics, volunteer to host or make a presentation please contact me at marc [dot] benton [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

I am now in a situation where I am hoping that there were documentations made.

Advance cache modules comes wtih lots of patches to be applied to the core modules. Wondering why the patches don’t apply cleanly, I investigated the modules and found out that these modules were edited sometime in the past.

I am now doing a task that takes a lot of time, a task that could have been avoided if only there were proper documentation, a task to sweep and search the whole core modules and see what changes have been done. And after finding the changes, investigate how those changes affect the system.

I’m writing this blog not to brag about what I’m doing nor to announce how I’m studying the drupal core, but to emphasize and remind every developer to make proper documentation in every code. In this way, it will be a lot easier for other other programmers to finish/continue/edit/modify previous programs.

WorthPoint Founder and CEO Will Seippel said that the company will continue to base its technology product and operations staff in Northern Virginia. The company has personnel in cities across the United States, as well as in China, Argentina, the Netherlands and the Philippines.

Founded in April 2007, WorthPoint’s web site catalogues and tracks the sales history and current value of antiques and collectibles from around the world and makes this information available to everyone.

“ATDC welcomes WorthPoint to Atlanta’s community of innovative, early-stage technology companies,” said Charles Ross, acting general manager of the ATDC. “We look forward to working with WorthPoint as the company continues to grow its unique business.”

“We’re excited to be accepted as members of the Georgia Tech community,” said WorthPoint’s Seippel. “The Advanced Technology Development Center is recognized as one of the nation’s top business incubators and it is extremely difficult to be accepted and speaks to the progress we have made. We’ll be joining more than 30 exciting technology companies at the ATDC.”

“Georgia Tech has helped make Atlanta the technology capital of the Southeast,” Seippel said. “The metropolitan area is progressive, affluent, home to a young, educated, tech-savvy workforce and is an active player the global economy, with growing to ties to Europe, South America and Asia. One sign of Atlanta’s increasing importance as a New Media and global technology center is the move by India’s Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Ltd., to open its new global software development center in Atlanta. Another is the financial incentives provided to New Media companies.

“These were all factors in moving our headquarters and media content and sales to Atlanta from Northern Virginia. WorthPoint will continue to grow rapidly, adding professional staff in Atlanta, building traffic to our Web site and adding new and exciting features, and securing our position as the top Web site for collectors the world over,” Seippel said.

About WorthPoint Corporation:

WorthPoint Corporation, founded in 2007, is a database and media company for the $150 billion global collectibles industry. WorthPoint catalogues and tracks the sales history and current value of antiques and collectibles from around the world, and makes this information available to everyone. The site features a library of information called the “Worthopedia”; a team of experts in a wide range of antiques and collectibles called “Worthologists”; online communities, and news of upcoming auctions and events. WorthPoint has forged business partnerships with the School of Management at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. www.worthpoint.com

About the ATDC:

The Advanced Technology Development Center is a nationally-recognized science and technology incubator that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. ATDC provides strategic business advice and connects its member companies to the people and resources they need to succeed. More than 110 companies have emerged from the ATDC. Headquartered at Technology Square on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, ATDC is part of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. ATDC companies have attracted more than a billion dollars in venture capital funding.
www.atdc.org

Contacts
WorthPoint Corporation
Stephen Johnson, 703-547-6754
E-mail: steve.johnson@worthpoint.com
or
Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
John Toon, 404-894-6986
E-mail: john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu

Musical toys are some of the most sought-after audio equipment in avant garde music genres. This phenomenon has made primitive, electronic instruments into collectibles. In addition to the sheer novelty of collecting poor quality, low-fi objects, the idea of toy keyboards from the eighties as collectibles speaks to the high-speed rate of progress in audio. It also highlights an increasingly popular fun-loving approach to collectibles. What was a child’s toy twenty years ago is now a novel relic from the past; even though that past might be a part of the collector’s own recollection. Because audio technology has grown eons since the first electronic keyboards, a working toy Casio (or one of its knock-offs) can be quite collectible.

Casio was a Japanese electronics company and put out professional synthesizers from 1980 to 1992. They also made toy pianos that ran on batteries and were the stripped-down-versions of their adult counterparts. Toy Casios had synthesized drum beats – accessible at the push of a button and with tempo changes. The pianos also had limited recording capability and horn and guitar synth’ sounds. They had playback and “pitch bending” capabilities.

Toy keyboards are a popular, new collectible that can be used for recordings as well as for show. They speak to a time when mobile electronic audio was in its nascent stage; when playing a synthesizer was great fun for children and adults alike. Now those same children who gained in musical aptitude from playing with their toy casios have grown up and enjoy collecting!

Here’s a video of a music duo that combines a classical musical instrument, the harp, with the stylings of the retro piano:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HVMOHJXYI8I

WorthPoint can now be present in individual user home/web pages through widgets. Any visitor will have a great preview of random items that are on auction. For now the category remains the same for the widget but additional options such as category selection, widget skins and more are already on the works!

To see a preview of the widget in action, I pasted the embed code right on this blog. You should see it below: