New York Herman Yung New York Herman Yung

A history of the AT&T Long Lines Building in NYC

The secret communication building located in Lower Manhattan.

Tribeca is home to at least 2 incredible feats of communication engineering, one of which lives at 33 Thomas Street. This monolith is known as the AT&T Long Lines Building and it was purpose-built for long distance communication. In recent years, the building was center to alleged mass-surveillance of Americans by the NSA via the TITANPOINTE program.

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Photography Herman Yung Photography Herman Yung

A grip head with a fixed baby pin

First grip head I’ve ever seen with an attached baby pin.

Every once in a while, I come across something that I’ve never seen before and I think Man, where was this thing when I needed it last week?!

This is the Kupo Grip Head with fixed baby pin. As far as I know, it’s the only grip head from a major manufacturer to feature this attached baby pin design which makes for mounting a light and a modifier a single-stand ordeal. The modifier can rest on the boom arm while the whole setup can be moved easily up and down. I kind of love it.

Available for $50.

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Design Herman Yung Design Herman Yung

Censored videos can now be reverse engineered to reveal what’s hidden

Censored videos are no longer safe.

This is pretty wild and yet, I’m not surprised that this is how it all works. Computers can’t really generate randomization so the mosaic patterns often seen covering videos for censorship or sensitive areas are just algorithmic patterns.

Apparently, the best way to censor is actually by putting a black mask over the area/object.

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Design Herman Yung Design Herman Yung

How to prove you are not AI

AI audio is getting really good.

This is the first time I’m hearing of NotebookLM from Google and it is kind of mindblowing. Somehow I had completely missed this announcement from Google about a research tool that can literally generate a very convincing “podcast” about the topic you are researching. Set aside for a second that NotebookLM seems to be a great way to organize ideas and sources, the really crazy thing here is how it can “read” and utilize those sources to create wholly new content that is audibly on par with an actual human.

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New York, Books Herman Yung New York, Books Herman Yung

Remembering Brazenhead Books

One of NYC’s best truly hidden book stores.

Wow. This just really brought me back to the mid 2010s era of exploring NYC.

I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Brazenhead Books a long time ago. The pseudo-bookstore, illegally run from inside an apartment owned by Michael Seidenberg on East 84th St. You would go to an unassuming normal NYC apartment building, take the elevator up, and enter a slightly cracked door in a hallway to the sights of books stacked at every turn. It was just wonderful.

Michael was often there co-leading a talk or a discussion, but also acting as the sole employee and cashier. Books had prices, but they were never set in stone. His apartment was one of the most unique book stores I’ve ever been to. It was eventually shut down and Michael “retired” elsewhere and eventually passed away in 2019.

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