This is an unfair review of the "Gigapan" motorized panoramic mount. It's unfair because the unit I received did not work properly, and I returned it. But I learned enough to know I did not want it so I did not ask for an exchange. The other thing that's unfair is that this unit is still listed as a "beta" model by the vendor.

I've been wanting something like the Gigapan for a long time. It's got computerized servos, and thus is able to shoot a panorama, in particular a multi-row panorama, automatically. You specify the corners of the panorama and it moves the camera through all the needed shots, clicking the shutter, in this case with a manual servo that mounts over the shutter release and physically presses it.

I shoot a lot of panos, as readers know, and so I seek a motorized mount for these reasons:

• I want to shoot panos faster. Press a button and have it do the work as quickly as possible
• I want to shoot them more reliably. With manual shooting, I may miss a shot or overshoot the angle, ruining a whole pano
• For multi-row, there's a lot of shooting and it can be tiresome.
• With the right shutter release, there can be lower vibration. You can also raise the mirror just once for the whole pano, with no need to see through the viewfinder.

Earlier, I wrote in the post All you need is love of a philosophy of A.I. design, which I will call "Lennonism," where we seek to make our A.I. progeny love their creators.

I now have a gallery up of the panoramas from Stockholm, Sweden. While this was not the best time of year to be photographing that far north (except for the availability of fall colour) I generated a lot of panoramas of various sorts. The main reason was I am trying some new panorama software, known as AutoPano Pro. This software is one of the licencees of the interesting SIFT algorithm, which is able to take a giant pile of pictures, and figure out which ones overlap and setting up the blend.

I've written before about microphones and asking questions at conferences. Having watched another crazy person drone on and on with a long polemic and no question, this time on a wireless mic, I imagined a wireless microphone with a timer in it. The audio staff could start the timer, or the speaker could activate the microphone and start the timer. A few LED would show the time decreasing, and then music would rise up to end the question, like at the academy awards.