Tag Archives: Awesome

Droid 2 Must Have Apps

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One week into my tenure as a happy Droid user, I have some insight into what an Android user must toss on his or her unit. This is a running list, of course, but solid enough for a post. Post and a pic…

also pictured: thug dood

also pictured: thug dood

I’ll keep it simple at this point. Top five apps I have encountered, as far as usefulness and coolness are concerned.

1) Advanced Task Killer. No questions asked…get this app first and foremost. The battery life on these suckers is awful at best. Multitasking is great, but murder on batteries. Nuke your background crap, and nuke it often.

Nuke it from orbit, if in orbit.

2) Google Sky Map. So awesome it hurts. Bonus: your non-Android-having buddies will bow to your phone’s awesomeness.

3) Google Translate. Como se dice ‘awesome’ en Espanol? Un momento…Impresionante. Get this app, amigos.

4) Robo Defence. Awesome game; good graphics. Perfect for meetings; free version for those non-committal types.

5) Google Goggles. Take pictures of junk, see search results. This is another deal-breaker when it comes to the new tech that you can pull out on these phones. Maybe I’ll post a few result sets of this guy in action…sort of like looking into the future with this guy.

As the forewarning stated, this is far from a static list…merely a snapshot of the stuff I am currently digging with a spoon. I’ll try to keep some updates on the site, when my knowledge and tastes mature.

FWIW, get one of these bad boys. You will most surely not regret it in the least. To the max.

Soldering Station

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Since I’m really dragging my feet in regards to posting anything of substance, take a quick look at my new Aoyue soldering station.

soldering station

also pictured: clutter

It works like a champ…pretty pumped that I heeded Lady Ada’s advice on this one.

I still need to post my Motor Shield assembly pics. I also really need to post some stuff about the Droid 2…which is constantly blowing my mind. Stick around…it’ll happen.

Servo Schmervo… Arduino Sweep

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In preparation for the impending shit-storm that will consist of me, a soldering iron, and dozens of small, fragile components, I decided to see if I can actually get my Arduino to talk to a servo. Well, it turns out that the code is not the issue.

The built in servo library is pretty easy to tackle. A little bit of analogue, a little bit of digital, a little bit of shameless self promotion…

sweep

shameless plug

sweep

messy

Step one…check. I can sweep through 180 degrees. Can I solder to save my ass (and semi-valuable electrical components)…time will tell.

Also, I’m post dating this post. Happy B-Day Betsy.

Binary Red/Green Snippet

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One step closer…

Switch open yields a killer red LED…

red

stop


Switch closed yields an uber-sexy green LED…

green

go

I even tossed in some 1K resistors to keep my LEDs healthy, in addition to my 100 ohm / 10000 ohm pull-down setup.

+4 resistor

I even managed to comment my code, for a bonus win:

/*
* binary red/green led setup
* by Joseph Swanson
* http://swantron.com
*/

int led1 = 11; // green LED (pin 11)
int led2 = 12; // red LED (pin 12)
int swit= 5; // switch (pin 5)
int varr; // to read pin on/off (pin 5)

void setup() {
pinMode(led1, OUTPUT); // output green
pinMode(led2, OUTPUT); // output red
pinMode(swit, INPUT); // switch input
}

void loop(){
varr = digitalRead(swit); // store swit to varr
if (varr == LOW) { // button = pressed
digitalWrite(led1, HIGH); // trigger green
digitalWrite(led2, LOW); // ground red
}
if (varr == HIGH) { // button != pressed
digitalWrite(led1, LOW); // ground green
digitalWrite(led2, HIGH); // trigger red
}
}


+1 Snippet

I’m getting closer to having this thing behave the way I intend. Stay tuned for a while longer. I’ll have a robot up and rolling in no time whatsoever.

How To Stretch a Wedding Band

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1) Get this stuff

cool

stuck-os

2) Put it like this

yep

framing hammer ftw

3) Smash the crap out of the metal thing with the framing hammer, until stuck

huuray

vice grip ftw

4) Remove metal thing and ring with vice grips, awl, 2×4, and framing hammer…throw thumbs up.

neat

clapclapclapclap

Computer Forensics

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It would be pretty unlikely, given my history blogging and working in the software development field, that I would not be a computer guy. Quite unlikely, and utterly false, for the record. I too am a huge fan of forensics. Kate and I have nearly worn out our old CRT TV upstairs in the bedroom watching Forensic Files on TrueTV. Can’t get enough of crime fighting science nerds. Saving the day with technology…pretty much my dream job. Combine those observations, and it is a natural assumption that I would be all about Computer Forensics, and that would also be a valid inference.

Maybe someday, I can use my mad skills to serve the purpose of expert witness in a sweet cyber crime…until then, I’ll be cranking out oddly-filtered images using the Gimp:

investigator

-1 weird investigatorobot

Remember the story from a month or so ago about the data exposure linked to printer hard drives shipped to China? Case in point…e-discovery is a huge concern currently. I’ll admit it, I had never thought twice about ‘what happens when you send a document to print’ until that hit the media. Even though the print jobs are not visible after a time on the printer itself, anyone with half a brain would think that said info could be retrieved. This is the realm of computer forensics professionals…yank that drive and get to work…all completely retrievable, until the drive is juiced and files need to be overwritten. Case in point, make no assumptions regarding what is assumed to be secure.

I stumbled upon Elluma Discovery while checking into the field a bit. They are computer forensics specialists…providing expert witnesses in e-discovery all over the place. How all over the place? The examiners in question have testified in State and Federal Courts, at arbitrations, mediations, and depositions. I’m jealous. I just use my skills to make sure lenders give credit where appropriate. If I end up in court in my current position, I have done something grossly wrong. Grossly.

Maybe Elluma is hiring…I could mix my computer skills with my firearms skills. Concealed carrying forensics tech? FOR THE WIN, SON.