Improv Everywhere, known across the Internet for seemingly-random outbursts of public hilarity, has taken up the cause of helping the New York Public Library stay afloat by making a Ghostbusters-inspired appearance that was completely unexpected by those in the library trying to get some reading done:

From improveverywhere.com:

For our latest mission, we brought the movie Ghostbusters to life in the reading room of The New York Public Library at 42 Street. The 1984 movie begins with a scene in the very same room, so we figured it was time for the Ghostbusters to make an encore appearance.

Only a handful of library workers (along with those who shot the event on their DSLR cameras) were in on it. Everyone else in the library was completely surprised by the team of Ghostbusters chasing white-sheeted ghosts through the famous movie location.

Their behind-the-scenes write-up tells the whole story of how it all came together and includes a great photo series depicting smiles on almost all of the onlookers’ faces. I only wish I could have been there because bustin’ like this certainly makes me feel good.

Background

I recently found myself in desperate need of additional hard drive space - and a lot of it. I had been using a 250GB Buffalo LinkStation for a few years, but have had to regularly delete files from it to make room for new ones. Plus, since the LinkStation is a single-drive unit, none of the videos, photos, music, or other data files I was storing on it were ever being backed up. I was one power surge away from losing it all.

Finding myself in the market for a new network-attached storage (NAS) device, I turned my attention to the brand name I had been hearing so much buzz about: Drobo, by Data Robotics. I first heard of the Drobo line of consumer-level RAID storage systems some time last year, but never committed to buying one as none had built-in network sharing capabilities. At the time, the only option was an add-on device called the DroboShare, which had received poor reviews due to slow transfer speeds.

But on April 6, 2010, Data Robotics unveiled the Drobo FS. The “FS” stands for “file sharing,” which is exactly what I was looking for in a data storage system. The notion of combining the much-acclaimed Drobo “BeyondRAID” no-configuration-necessary technology with fast, built-in network sharing was too much for me to pass up.

Purchase and Price

After researching a number of different NAS solutions, I did ultimately decide to purchase the Drobo FS. But it’s easy for critics to call the entire Drobo line overpriced. At $699, the Drobo FS comes with no storage space of its own. You supply the hard drives.

If you hunt around you may be able to find a better price. I got lucky and was given a $150-off coupon code: ENGADGETPLUS. The code was good for purchase directly from Data Robotics, but I’m not sure how long it will last. It may already be expired by the time you read this.

What you are paying for with the high price is the sleek hard drive enclosure, no-nonsense installation (supposedly - keep reading…), the BeyondRAID technology, and the overall aesthetic experience. Check out the Drobo packaging and unboxing and tell me if this doesn’t remind you of a certain Cupertino-based computer company:

But clever packaging and a nice-looking product isn’t worth anything if the machine doesn’t perform well. Fortunately, the Drobo pulls its weight and delivers on most of what’s promised about it.

Setup and Configuration

One of the biggest selling points of any Drobo is that you should be able to simply insert any SATA internal hard drives into the unit’s slots and it handles the rest. You don’t do any formatting or configuration. The Drobo recognizes the drives and sets them up as necessary.

All of this worked exactly as described. In my case, I inserted 1.5TB drives into three of the available five slots. (I bought them separately for around $99 each.) They easily slid right into the slots and the connections felt very solid. According to the Drobo Capacity Calculator, the total available space for these three drives should be 2.72TB after the unit prepares them for data redundancy. I kept the Drobo’s default option of protecting against a single drive failure. Had I chosen dual disk redundancy, the available space would drop to 1.36TB, but I’m not worried about the unlikely event of two drives failing simultaneously.

The Drobo comes with software called the Drobo Dashboard which allows you to check the available drive space, set up network shares, and create users and access levels. Once the Drobo is connected to your home network via the built-in ethernet port on the back and Drobo Dashboard is installed and launched on your computer, the two should automagically find each other. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for me.

When I launched the Dashboard software, I saw these two messages:

I was running the software on my iMac G5 desktop machine, connected to the same LAN as the Drobo. Two hours of Drobo phone technical support couldn’t solve this problem. We tried reinstalling the Dashboard software and unplugging and replugging in the Drobo several times, as well as rebooting my computer numerous times. In the end, I suggested to the support rep that I try connecting using a different computer (a MacBook laptop) and the Dashboard software immediately connected via the local wireless connection.

(I blurred out my username, as I don’t need anyone trying to connect to my LAN and access my files.)

I still don’t know why I am unable to use the software on my desktop but, more importantly, it doesn’t matter. What the tech failed to tell me was that the Dashboard software isn’t actually necessary to use the Drobo. Sure, if you need to set up multiple users or other more advanced tasks you’ll need it, but for the most basic task of sharing files over the network, the Drobo is ready for prime time as soon as you insert the hard drives and connect it to the network.

By default a “Public” folder is created and shared via both SMB and AFP. From there, you can easily access it from anywhere on the local network and even create other folders to be shared as well. Simple as that. So in all reality, the painful setup process that took me 2-3 hours could and should have only taken around 5 minutes, which is the amount of time you can expect to spend setting up a Drobo FS.

Moreover, if you’re replacing an existing network share as I was, you can easily assign the Drobo FS the same IP as your old drive, mirror the folder structure, and avoid having to reconfigure any computers or devices you already have set up. My AppleTV didn’t blink an eye after the switch. It continued to access all of the media files on the Drobo just as it had with my LinkStation with no reconfiguration necessary. Likewise, my Drobo FS now serves my entire MP3 music library to iTunes, which is notoriously picky about where its files are stored. But the switch went smoothly and iTunes had no problems finding the songs. Again, the key for a storage device switch like this is to retain the same IP on your local network. The Drobo FS uses DHCP to obtain an IP by default so be sure to manually assign one in your router’s configuration if you’re in this particular situation.

Usage and Speed

This may be the section of this review that you’re most interested in. How well does the Drobo FS actually perform? The good news is that the Drobo FS works very well for everyday use.

I ran some extremely unscientific tests to get a feel for the Drobo’s transfer speeds and overall performance. To see how fast the Drobo FS could copy files, I picked out an 89.2MB video file and copied it back and forth between two computers, one wirelessly connected to the network and one wired. To time the transfers, I used Mac OS X’s built-in clock, just watching the seconds tick off. My measurements aren’t intended to be perfect but do give a feel for the unit’s transfer speeds.

On the wired network, the Drobo FS connected via SMB to my iMac G5 gave me a speed of 5.9MB/sec when copying from it and 8.1MB/sec when copying to it. Via AFP, the up and down speed was faster at 9.9MB/sec. Of course, AFP is Apple’s filing protocol I was expecting it to do better than SMB on this machine. I don’t have Windows computer to use for tests, but I imagine SMB would perform a bit better on one. Wirelessly, AFP speeds dropped to 2.8MB/sec down and 2.3MB/sec up.

For regular use, these speeds are sufficient for accessing and moving files to and from the Drobo FS. But I definitely wouldn’t use it to copy large data files often. In initially copying around 230GB of data to it from my old LinkStation, it took more than 13 hours for the transfer to complete. So if you’re accessing large amounts of video or photos, you’re better off buying a different Drobo and connecting it directly to your computer via FireWire (the Drobo FS does not have a FireWire connection - only ethernet).

I also tested Drobo FS performance by playing several video files off of it simultaneously. The point of this test was to see if multiple computers in a household could all enjoy videos shared on the Drobo FS at the same time without running into transfer issues. The video files are all encoded at bitrates of roughly 1,800kbit/sec. I was able to successfully play four video files at the same time without any choppiness, stuttering, or loss of frames. Two were playing via the wired network connection to my iMac G5 and the other two wirelessly on my MacBook. I would have tried more, but neither of the computers can handle smooth playback of more than two simultaneous videos even if they’re stored locally.

In day-to-day use, I access the Drobo FS on average once every 15-30 minutes. Each time, file retrieval is quite speedy. The only time I have to wait is if the hard drives need time to spin up. Through the Drobo Dashboard software, you can set the hard drive spin down time in increments of 15 minutes. I left it at the default of 15 minutes and very rarely have to wait.

Other Features

Data Robotics touts a feature called DroboApps that allows you to install software onto the machine that will run in the background. Don’t think that just because they’re called “apps” that you’ll find the variety of unique and fun applications that are available for the iPhone. There are only a handful of DroboApps available but they can add some important functionality to the unit such as turning it into an FTP server, Apache web server, or even serve up media files for iTunes. If you need to access files stored on a Drobo on the go, installing a few of these DroboApps should let you do so easily. But I can’t tell you for sure as I haven’t actually tried any of them. My primary use for the Drobo is on the local network.

I haven’t experienced this yet, and I hope I never do, but the Drobo features a column of lights that tells you at a glance the status of your hard drives. If there’s a failure or they’re simply filling up, it’ll let you know through color codes.

In addition, the case itself has a couple of external features that are nice touches. Four large rubber feet on the bottom dampen vibration and potentially reduce shock to the drives from nearby bangs. The glossy front panel is magnetically attached to the Drobo allowing for quick and easy access to the hard drive bays. The hard drives are also hot swappable, which enables you to switch them out at any time, even while the Drobo is running. So if you were to replace a single 1TB with a 2TB drive, the Drobo would then automatically work to reorganize its file structure and ensure that no data is lost and that the most space is made available. (Another feature I haven’t tried yet, nor will I need to any time soon.)

The Drobo FS is also fairly silent. In a completely quiet room, you will hear its faint hum, but it’s not annoying. In fact, when the air conditioning is running, it’s hardly even noticeable. I tried to measure the dB rating using a sound meter, but I had to hold the meter within 2-3 inches of the unit to even get a reading. Beyond that, it’s negligible. I wouldn’t use it inside a home theater or any other environment where you need total silence, but it won’t bother you for regular household or office use.

Summary

Overall, other than an unusual setup hiccup, the Drobo FS has worked like a charm. It easily shares files across a local network to any SMB or AFP compatible computer/device, which is exactly what I bought it for. Its “BeyondRAID” data redundancy system makes me feel safe about my data even if a drive fails. Data transfer speeds are slow for very large transfers but fast enough to never think about them during normal usage.

I would recommend the Drobo FS for any user, novice to advanced, who is looking to almost infinitely expand data storage without ever having to think about what you’re doing. With the necessary setup only requiring you to insert the hard drives, connect an ethernet cable, and plug in the power cable, it really doesn’t get any simpler.

Here are all the photos I took of the Drobo FS while unboxing and setting it up:

If you didn’t know that already, consider this the announcement. :) Go check it out!

InsideTheMagic.net is now going to be home to all of my Disney and theme park related posts, thoughts, and coverage. That includes podcasts, videos, photos, news, articles, and more.

So where does that leave the distant creations blog?

This blog began as my own personal place to post my thoughts about whatever it is I’m doing at the time. Then it evolved into a place to post lots of news and links to random things around the Internet. Then it became somewhere for me to post videos, photos, and articles from the many theme park events I attend. Now… I’d like to bring it back to where it began.

“Distant Creations” was originally created as nothing more than a portfolio for me to show off my works. But since I rarely (read: never) updated it, it quickly became outdated. That’s when I added the blog with the hopes of posting more often. That notion has come and gone… and come and gone… and come and gone.

But now, while I keep regular business hours at my day job at Lanyard Lab, I need something to occupy my time during slower periods between assisting our customers. So my intention is to post any Disney and theme park-related items to InsideTheMagic.net and anything else I like here.

That means the distant creations blog is once again returning to being my own personal blog. I’ll be writing here and there about the usual topics that interest me, mainly music, movies, collectibles, and technology. But I doubt I’ll post here every day (not that I have ever really done that anyway).

So that’s where I’m going with this blog. I hope you continue to enjoy it. And (one more plug) be sure to head over to InsideTheMagic.net for the most interesting Disney and theme park topics.

Following on the footsteps of Disneyland Resort’s Downtown Disney in Anaheim, Calif., today Ridemakerz opened a store at Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney here in Orlando.

Ridemakerz allows you to create and customize your own model car, choosing the body, undercarriage, tires, wheels, decals and other accessories (each with their own price tag). In addition, you can add radio control ability, which in my opinion is a must. The average sale, with radio control added, will range from $50-$75 depending on how many add-ons you choose.

Here’s a video from today’s Ridemakerz grand opening including a complete walkthrough of the process of customizing your own car as well as interviews with Downtown Disney vice president Keith Bradford, Ridemakerz CEO Larry Andreini, and Hollywood custom car design legend Fireball Tim:

I had the chance to build my own Ridemakerz car today (for free, as part of the opening). My design would have cost around $75, including remote control ability and two sets of add-on accessories.

It took me around 10-15 minutes to go through the process of choosing all the parts and while I felt somewhat overwhelmed by it, I did enjoy it. The options are endless and result in literally millions of combinations you could come out with.

I nicknamed the style of my car “gothic sci-fi” as I chose an all-black body with “pirate” skull wheels, purple/black tires, and a “jet pack” accessory kit. Here’s a look at it:

Upon driving it around my house for a while, I found that the top speed of around 14mph is far too fast to be driving around inside a house, but perfect for moving around speedily outside. Apparently I frightened my cat indoors as well - another reason to take it out.

I also found that turning does not work as well as I would have liked. It seems that if I am telling the car to move forward or reverse, it doesn’t want to turn until I let up on the forward/back joystick and then press the left/right stick before proceeding. It’s a bit of an annoyance but not terrible.

In the end the quality of the build is solid and I came away with a much more personalized car than I would have if I had spent $75 to get an off-the-shelf RC car at a toy store. If you’re a fan of cars or remote control toys, I’d definitely recommend a trip to Ridemakerz, but be prepared to not leave under $50.

One note: Don’t expect to walk out of the store and start driving your new RC car around Downtown Disney. It isn’t permitted. You can drive it around the store after you’ve purchased it but you’ll have to put away the controls before heading out into the Downtown Disney streets.

The new store occupies most of the first floor that was formerly the home of the Virgin Megastore. The second floor remains closed off for now.

Ridemakerz is a temporary “pop-up” store, currently scheduled to remain open throughout the summer. Afterward, if business does well, the store may move to a permanent location elsewhere at Downtown Disney, just as it is currently doing following a successful test run in California’s version of the popular shopping area.

More photos inside Ridemakerz and from today’s grand opening:

Sesame Street fans will want to head to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay this coming weekend as the all-new, Sesame Street-themed “Safari of Fun” opens on March 27.

This kids’ play land features Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Burt, Ernie, and other Sesame Street characters, available for meet-and-greets and photo ops. Also in the new area are kid-size rides, water fun, shows and other adventures.

Highlights include “Air Grover,” which looks to be a fun-filled a kid’s coaster. “Oscar’s Swamp Stomp” and “Bert & Ernie’s Watering Hole” are sure to cool you off in the upcoming hot months.

“Lights, Camera, Imagination!” is Busch Gardens’ new 4-D film, located in their Timbuktu area. The movie features Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and other Sesame Street characters trying to save the Sesame Street Film Festival.

“Only at Busch Gardens can you meet versions of the Sesame Street characters in unique African-inspired costumes and have experiences with them you can’t find anywhere else,” says Jim Dean, Busch Gardens’ executive vice president and general manager. “With this new addition to our park, Busch Gardens really does have something for everyone. We expect to see many more families come to enjoy all that our park has to offer.”

Families can also share breakfast or lunch with Elmo and friends on select days at an outdoor dining facility in Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Find out more about the “Sesame Street Safari of Fun” at SesameStreetSafariOfFun.com.

Here’s a video released by Universal Orlando today detailing many aspects of the attraction, with a sneak peek inside:

The photo below has now been released from within Universal’s enormous recreation of Hogwarts Castle, home to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. The photo depicts what appear to be hundreds of floating candles and will be featured in the Room of Requirement.

If you look carefully at the photo (click to enlarge), you’ll notice that well-placed mirrors on the left side (and in the distance) create the illusion that the room is much larger than it actually is - and that there are hundreds more candles than there really are.

This screen shot from the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride shows Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) riding a broom through a Quidditch game.

Seen here is a hall of moving portraits, some of which will interact with guests.

More details from and locations found within Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction:

You may also catch a glimpse of Fred and George Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom

And here is a CG fly-through of Hogsmeade Village that is also part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will hold its grand opening at Universal Orlando Resort’s Islands of Adventure theme park on June 18, 2010.

(Photo credit: Kevin Kolczynski, Universal Orlando Resort.)

]]> http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/25/first-look-inside-the-harry-potter-and-the-forbidden-journey-attraction-at-universal-orlando/feed/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-to-grand-open-on-june-18-2010/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-to-grand-open-on-june-18-2010/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:36:06 +0000 Ricky http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/?p=6470

(Photo: KEVIN KOLCZYNSKI, UNIVERSAL ORLANDO / March 25, 2010)

Now it’s official.

Universal Orlando Resort will announce today that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition to their Islands of Adventure theme park will indeed open on June 18.

We were asked to keep quiet on this date after we posted it early yesterday, but now that the Orlando Sentinel has posted it in an embargoed-until-midnight article, I assume the word may officially be spread.

The Sentinel’s fantastic article on their web site revealing new details about the Wizarding World. It includes the above image of Dumbledore’s office, faithfully recreated from the films.

More details surrounding the land’s main attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, have emerged from the Sentinel’s article:

“In some of it you’re touring the castle; in some of it you’re flying around the world of Harry Potter”

Be sure to read the whole Orlando Sentinel article here for more details.

As for the grand opening date of June 18… some Wizarding World-related vacation packages currently being offered hint at an earlier soft opening date of May 28.

It is common for major attractions and expansions to open weeks (sometimes months) before the official grand opening to allow time to work out the bugs. When the Islands of Adventure theme park was first ready for the public, it soft opened in March 1999 but did not grand open until May 1999. Not everything within Islands of Adventure was ready for the soft opening, so it’s possible that only the Hogsmeade Village area of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be ready in time for a soft opening in May.

]]> http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-to-grand-open-on-june-18-2010/feed/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-opening-date-is-not-revealed-yet/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-opening-date-is-not-revealed-yet/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:04:14 +0000 Ricky http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/?p=6452

UPDATE: Within minutes of posting this message, a rep from Universal Orlando contacted me to ask that I remove all references to the grand opening date of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Apparently the released image and date were accidentally put up on their media site today - one day earlier than they had planned. Their big reveal will be tomorrow, 3/25, at 12pm EST.

Obviously, anyone who read this post (or my messages on Twitter and Facebook) already has the information, so it’s out there. But for now, I will remove references to the specific opening date until the official announcement is made tomorrow. Here’s the remainder original, but edited, post:

Today the Universal Orlando Resort [briefly] released an image [captioned as] the boarding area for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction, which will be part of the new addition to their Islands of Adventure theme park. The [now-removed release] reveals that the “Room of Requirement” from the book and film series will act as the loading area for the ride.

But more importantly, buried embedded in the image is the following caption:

[removed caption]

Universal Orlando had previously announced that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opening date would be revealed tomorrow, March 25, at 12pm EST, but it looks like the cat’s out of the bag now.

Here’s a look at the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey’s “Room of Requirement” loading area:

[photo removed]

The official announcement will still take place tomorrow at www.UniversalOrlando.com/HarryPotter.

]]> http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/24/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-opening-date-is-not-revealed-yet/feed/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/19/video-photos-tronorail-debuts-on-walt-disney-worlds-monorail-tracks/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/19/video-photos-tronorail-debuts-on-walt-disney-worlds-monorail-tracks/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:02:24 +0000 Ricky http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/?p=6450

This morning marked the debut on the “Tronorail,” one of Walt Disney World’s monorails wrapped in artwork promoting the upcoming Disney film, “Tron: Legacy.” The artwork features the iconic light cycles from the film (and the original “Tron”), leaving painted light trails behind.

The repainted monorail is making its way around the Epcot monorail track, which runs back and forth between Epcot and the Transportation and Ticket Center.

Here is a video of the Tronorail approaching Epcot, making its way through the theme park, pulling into the monorail station, and exiting to head back to the TTC:

And a photo gallery of Tronorail photos I snapped today:

If you want to catch a glimpse of the Tronorail in action, be prepared to wait. The Epcot line was running 3 monorails today, so the above 3-minute video took me nearly 2 hours to shoot, waiting 15-20 minutesbetween each appearance of the Tron monorail. But it was totally worth it.

]]> http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/19/video-photos-tronorail-debuts-on-walt-disney-worlds-monorail-tracks/feed/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/18/universal-orlando-calls-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-the-most-incredible-theme-park-experience-ever/ http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/18/universal-orlando-calls-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-the-most-incredible-theme-park-experience-ever/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:57:04 +0000 Ricky http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/?p=6447 Universal Orlando has set the bar very high with its latest claim surrounding the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, due to open at the Islands of Adventure theme park within a couple of months.

In its latest promo video for the Harry Potter-themed theme park land, Universal calls the area “‘the most incredible theme park experience ever.” That’s a big statement to live up to.

The claim was made in the newest promo video released by Universal Orlando showing “Potter” actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint (among others) filming for the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” ride that will be part of the Wizarding World:

So what do you think? Will the Wizarding World of Harry Potter be more “incredible” than anything Disney has ever created in its worldwide theme parks?

More here.

]]> http://www.distantcreations.com/blog/2010/03/18/universal-orlando-calls-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-the-most-incredible-theme-park-experience-ever/feed/