Tag: Tech

Posted on

iM tiRed of lazy tech journaliSm

Tech writers are the best. I most certainly don’t read the stuff that hits news aggregates because of informative banter and notable content, I read it for comic value.

Well… comic value and insight into human nature. Most notably: laziness

It seems to me that the easiest way to get published is to talk about a i* killer. Replace the wildcard with either “pod”

pod
(expensive media player)

“pad”

pad
(expensive tablet)

or “phone”…

iphone
(sort of like an Android, but worse, except for battery life, which doesn't matter)

…and write a half-assed article about a new product. Guaranteed Google, MSN, Yahoo, Drudge, or whoever else will have that bad boy on the front page.

Protip: Next time you are charged with the task of covering a new Samsung product’s press release, save some time and just go with “End of Apple???” and be done with it. The whole killer angle was spent several years ago…when we nerds were buying Sandisk players, loading Ubuntu on netbooks, and making wild guesses on forums what RIM was going to do with the next generation of BB phones. Oh….the good old days.

FWIW, I’ll put a Droid X up against all three of those products. For the price point, nothing can touch that machine…my Droid 2 included.

Posted on

Remote Desktop Musings

I am a fan of remote computer access. Huge fan, in fact. I use the crap out of it at work on our Windows XP boxes to access the Load and Performance boxes. I too fire upremote access software at home on my Linux machines…primarily to help D-Rock troubleshoot his Ubuntu set-up. Both scenarios have proven to be quite important, and almost a necessity any more.

dude
+1 Full House

Whereas my scenarios are quite secure and specific, there exists a need for more secure, wide ranging remote access solutions. How about some 256-bit encryption? Like industry leading [link removed]

With a secure system like that, you can troubleshoot other people’s computers remotely, with confidence for both the client and operator. Same is true for work collaboration. The flow of ideas is far easier to channel via a remote connection, be it a single user driving the discussion, or even with multiple users rolling simultaneously. Another use is a little less conventional. You can utilize the remote desktop set-up to act as a file share system. Multiple users, remotely rolling files in and out of a ‘server’ machine remotely via the interwebs. Not too bad of an idea at all, if you ask me.

Hit one of those links to read more. I’m going to attempt to remotely access Katie’s notebook, through a remote connection from my netbook, from a remote connection to my notebook.

+1 bonus degree of separation

Posted on

Found: My Dream Robotics Project

+1 Android
+1 Arduino
+1 Voice Recognition

I found this guy over at engadget…called truckbot, it packs the aforementioned awesome things I love.

cellbot
I want to build this so badly

Truckbot is autonomous…the little sucker won’t drive off the edge of a table, even if user prompts it to. This may be a violation of one of Assimov’s robot rules…go look it up.

No time to blog…must continue drooling over this.

Posted on

32×32 Arduino Awesome-ness

I wish I had done this…unfortunately, I have my hands full with a handfull of LEDs. 1024 LEDs…give me a break.

Osgeld (a man amongst boys) over at the arduino forums showed off his 32×32 dot matrix panel proof of concept.

awesome
front

Take a peak at his wiring:

back
rear

How he managed to get that sucker up and running without smoking the shit out of his components is beyond me. Prost, sir. Well played.

Posted on

Maui Cameras (and space science)

I grew up approximately 920 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The border between Low-Earth-Orbit and Mid-Earth-Orbit is right around 1240 miles. It is safe to say that I was closer to the ISS or MIR than I was to an Ocean. This might help to explain my eerie attraction to anything oceanic…Oceanic 815 included. Lost, FTW!

Needless to say, I jumped on the opportunity to shed some light about Hawaii Photo Rental’s newly launched Maui Camera Store. Why not? Make a few bucks for some camera research…sign me up. Plus, it gives me the opportunity to superimpose the creepy sexy robot-lady in a beautiful aquatic setting…

hang 10
hang 01010 (binary rules)

First, a bit of geography…Maui is the Valley Island…the second largest of the bunch. As the nickname alludes, there are some serious valleys in Maui…puts the valley shots from Lost (on Oahu) to shame. Volcanos? Check. Mountains? You bet. Waterfalls? Better believe it. Space Science? Oddly enough, yes. The Haleakala Observatory is over 10,000 feet above the sea on a dormant volcano…awesome. Check the view…

Haleakala
Haleakala. breathtaking.

Obviously, Maui Camera is the place to go for all photography supplies above sea level. What about said supplies below and equally at sea level? They have you covered there, too. In order to take photos like the one above, you will need to pick up a Camera Water Housing, unless you wish to render your camera useless. Observe:

solid
water (maybe hurricane) proof

Maui cameras, Maui lenses, lighting, light meters…you name it, Maui Camera is your spot. For something that will be used once, why buy if you can rent? They offer reservations…hit a link to find out more.

I’m pretty pumped after putting that together. Maybe we can save up some loot and honeymoon to Maui…space science and snorkeling…my kind of trip.

Posted on

O-Scope

Not sure how many physicists troll around craigslist, but if they do…

0-scope

Hands down, the best description on a craigslist item EVER

FWIW, An oscilloscope measures two things: voltage and time. A charged beam of electrons “sweeps” the screen in a given time in the x-axis, and is deflected by a signal in the y-axis. The deflection from the standard signal in the trace can gauge the input signal’s voltage and duration/frequency.

And yes, the poster was correct. O-scopes are great.