The mystery behind FCC License # 1215095 in Michael Lewis's Flash Boys

According to the registration from the public website, Converge Towers LLC emerges into the surface. However, if you dig deeper, a HFT (High Frequency Trading) firm Tradeworx Inc apparently is the actual beneficial of the technology.

FCC registration:
PA-011A (1215095), Potter Township (Lat: 40.849278 Lon: -77.710778), Type: Tower, Structure height: 60 m, Overall height: 60.6 m, Call Sign: WQPR883
Assigned Frequencies: 6256.54 MHz, 10995.0 MHz
Grant Date: 07/31/2012, Expiration Date: 07/31/2022, Certifier: Arzhang Kamarei
Registrant: Converge Towers, LLC, 770 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10003, Phone: (646) 495-6356, Email: akamarei@epsilonnetworks.net

The Wall Street Journal also provides some insight about the Mystery on this particular topic. goo.gl/8V9MfM

To learn more of High Frequency Trading and Wall Street Dark Pools, you can read Michael Lewis's Book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt

Swivi External Swivel HDMI LCD Field Monitor

This is certainly not SmallHD quality of any kind, but with its very attractive price tag, the Swivi External Swivel LCD Monitor is by far the best overall HDMI field monitor under $400. It is definitely better than Ruige, Lilliput, and some low end Marshall Electronics and ikan monitors.

The most appearing feature of the Swivi External Swivel LCD Monitor is the integrated articulating display. Being able to monitor footage from any angle is a big plus for videographers and photographers.

A good LCD field monitor is more than just reviewing recorded or live footages, it is a decision assistant. In order to help film crews making better adjustment on exposure, focus, position, high end LCD field monitor typically loaded with lots of features such as Peaking, Focus Assistance, False Color, Pixel-to-Pixel Zoom, Guidelines and Safe Marks, and etc. Of course, all of the features are developed on top of the dead accurate color display – what you see is what you get.

The Swivi External Swivel LCD Monitor has some of the high end features: Peaking and Safe Zoom. It also auto scales between 1080i and 480p to maximize the effective pixels on the 5.6 inch screen. Below is a good but long video review. Auto Scale is at 5:08~5:30 marker, and Peaking is at 5:30~6:28 marker.

Get Swivi External Swivel LCD Monitor from Amazon.com

Get Swivi External Swivel LCD Monitor from eBay

The ultimate tablet showdown: iPad 2 vs. Asus Transformer Prime

Being the first ever Quad-Core processor tablet, Asus Transformer Prime stormed the holiday season gadget market and sold out instantly everywhere. While most online retailers not taking any preorders nowadays, Amazon has the red hot Asus Transformer Prime available for very limited quantity.

As of today, iPad 2 is still the king of tablet with its elegant design and user friendly interface. However, until Apple releases iPad 3 with its long anticipated A6 processor, Asus Transformer Prime, powered by nVidia Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor, will temporarily take the hardware supremacy from Apple. Not to mention Asus Transformer Prime offers 1 GB DDR2 memory, twice as much as iPad 2, that allows you to do more with multi-tasking.

Like most Android tablet, Asus Transformer Prime has 1280 x 800 (16:10) super IPS screen with Gorilla Glass. As the whole world shifts to the wide screen format, it seems Apple's iPad 2 (1024 x 768, 4:3) is the last wall standing between the old 4:3 and new 16:9 format. Why does it matter? When you watch any HD video, you will see wider black bars on top and bottom of the iPad screen. This leads to less effective pixels for the actual video contents.

Asus Transformer Prime is .1 inch thinner and 16 grams lighter than iPad 2. At same price, Asus Transformer Prime also offers twice as much built-in storage as iPad 2. You can expand your Asus Transformer Prime local storage with the on-board microSD slot as well. On top of that, Asus unlimited cloud storage is at your finger tip.

As far as operating system goes, Android has closed the gap to Apple's iOS 5. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich might not be as good as iOS 5 yet, but it is definitely better than iOS 4.3.2. Android 4 is more like an iOS 4.8 relatively speaking. Any current pace, it will be a very tight race between iOS 6 vs. Android 5.

What makes iPad 2 and other iOS devices so special is the APPS. There are more apps for iOS than Android. Because of the popularity of iOS, vendors will always develop apps for iOS first before they port it to Android and other platform.

Altogether, Asus Transformer Prime will most likely emerge as the best Android tablet on the market for awhile. It will not dethrone iPad 2; instead it will just take a small chuck of market share away from Apple until iPad 3.

Get Asus Transformer Prime from Amazon.com

Control DSLR camera Live View on Android and Kindle devices

Most modern DSLR cameras allow you to remotely control focus, exposure, time lapse and other settings on computer via USB connection. With increasing popularity of the smartphones and tablets, you can remotely control your camera without computers.

For travelers and on location shooting, Android and iOS devices have clearly advantages over traditional PC/MAC:

• Longer battery life
• Space and weight saver. Regardless of how slim and light your laptops and netbooks are, they are still relatively bulkier and heavier than smartphones and tablets

You can get the DSLR Controller app from Android market

The $199 Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the smallest Android tablets with powerful CPU inside that can matches up against any $400+ Android tablets today. The 7" IPS display with 1024x600 resolution and 16 million color is better than majority of the HDMI/SDI DSLR LCD field monitors except the SmallHD DP6. With proper apps running on it, Kindle Fire would easily become an alternative solution for budget indie filmmakers to replace those low end to middle range field monitors. Remember, Kindle Fire is future proof, most field monitors are not.

To run the DSLR controller app, all you need to follow the simple instructions to root the Kindle Fire

Get the Kindle Fire from Amazon.com

Matte box recommendation

The primary functions for a matte box is:

• Attach French flag and/or side flag(s) to block glare and unwanted lights to the lens
• Be able to swap filters (rectangular or square) quickly
• Extra protection for your lens's front element

Lens hood can also block glare and protect the lens, so why should I spent a lot more money to get a matte box?

• In terms of blockage, matte box is more flexible because you can adjust the angles of the French flag and/or side flag(s). This allows pros to better control lighting depending on the ambient conditions and their needs. Lens hood's coverage is constant.
• In terms of protection, matte box is better and more convenient as well. If you are not shooting, you can fold down the flags to cover your lens. With lens hood attached putting the lens cap on/off is not very easy if the lens' filter size is smaller than 72mm in diameter. The metal flags and matte box housing is more sturdy than the plastic lens hood, too.
• The biggest advantage of a matte box is the ability of swapping filters quickly. Circular screw-in filters perhaps would get job done, but it requires a quite bit time to change the filters. In real production environment, shooters never have this kind of time. Pros swap filters from a matte box in seconds.

You probably would think why I should spend big dollar on the glass filters when the advanced post production software can do the job.

• Optical excellence vs. Digital artificial (ex. optical zoom vs. digital zoom, 50mm f/1.2L vs. 50mm f/1.8)
• You always need to get the footage done right at first while shooting and then use post production software to improve it. This also indeed saves your time in post.

Any limitation of a matte box?
If the matte box is physically attached to the rig, the distance between the matte box and your camera's lens mount will be fixed. This means you cannot zoom unless your lens support internal zoom (ex. 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II). If your lens does not support internal focus (lens front elements stay constant while focusing), it will be pointless to buy matte box. Instead, invest on a high quality lens first (most lens over $800 has internal focus). Why Zeiss CP2 are so expensive besides their optical quality? Because every lens has the exact same physical dimensions. This is ideal for using with matte box in the cinematography world. People can swap lenses as quickly as they swap filters.

Which matte box should I choose?
It depends on your budget (Price here reflects TCO, Total Cost of Ownership, not MSRP, Manufacture Suggested Retail Price).

Anything below $250: AVOID. They call it "affordable," "entry level," and etc. In reality, those so called matte box are *functionally incomplete.* You better off just save the money and use a lens hood instead.

$250-500
At this price range, you have to buy it offshore.
Proaim MB 700
This is my second matte box. At less than half the cost, it is actually better than my first matte box, Genus GL GMKBAS. Proaim can attach side flags, Genus cannot. Neither has the build quality of Redrock micro.

$500-1000
Redrock Micro microMatteBox
Superior build quality
The 4" x 5.65" filter tray supports wide angle lens up to 16mm focal length.

$1000+
Chrosziel MB 450W