Even spiky-haired sidekicks need spiky-haired sidekicks… +1 meta.

I spidered my D2 a handful of weeks ago. The replacement phone I received shipped with Gingerbread…which with my previous version of CyanogenMod was built on top of. I rooted the new device immediately, and dumped all of the garbage apps. My thought was to keep the stock ROM on the device, in order to have a stock testing device once I moved on to a new device. Well, even stock Gingerbread is borderline useless by comparison. The most annoying tic that developed was with the camera…the flash stopped syncing with the camera shutter, rendering the flash useless. Change of plans…dev device will run CyanogenMod 7.1. I falsely assumed that flashing a ROM would work the same on Gingerbread as it did on Froyo for the Droid 2. Way wrong…I honestly thought I had bricked the phone. I ended up having to get creative with ADB and flashing an older firmware version, and standing Froyo back up on my device. From that point, it was the same old song and dance…testing ROMs, pulling batteries, hanging out on the recovery screen. I wound up settling on an old nightly build of CG7.1. I am due for a phone upgrade right now…my wait for ICS is way more tolerable with a usable phone.

My sidekick doesn’t seem to care that the Cubs are going to be lousy again this year. Season starts in eleven days…we are tied for first place until then.

I have to admit that I’m pretty impressed by the Foscam’s IR capabilities. I snapped a screenshot on my Droid last while we were getting the princess ready for her bath… The lab was light-free, and I was connected to the camera’s web server via my 3G connection. Controls are fairly snappy, and the image looks good even when pushed via cellular. Response time is very quick on the network itself…but remoting in to the router does the trick nicely. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a second cam…set designated choppable. We’ll see…I’m growing attached to this guy, but really want to get into its guts.

New toy alert… The price of IP webcams has dropped to a pretty ridiculous level. My cheap little Foscam can handle audio and has eleven sweet little IR LEDs for nighttime footage…should have taken this route over the Samsung baby monitors, hindsight being what it is. I configured my router and have this cam connected to my home network wirelessly, so I can access via my router’s URL, the local network, or via free apps on my Droid or Katie’s iPhone. Sort of ridiculous. Full pan and tilt controls and the works. The further beauty of this IP dude is full hackable controls. In addition to the IR LEDs (eleven indicating a decent amount of juice) on this unit, there is a light meter, speaker, microphone, and two servos. All triggerable with this thing’s API over WiFi. I just need to find some time…this thing is sweet.

Not-so vernal-y…

Recently, I found myself in a bind at work. I had chips, but no salsa…a true doozy of a predicament! Being a daft culinary whiz, I improvised a work-around:

QUICK SALSA

How to make Quick Salsa:

1. Find a flat (or nearly flat) surface
2. Arrange chips in a single layer upon the flat (or nearly flat) surface
3. Nail those bitches with sriracha
4. Enjoy!

One step closer… This thing screams with wall wart power. Watch… Now comes the hard part…choosing a decent battery and mounting the circuit board savely on the chasis. I have found a few good candidates, but they are a little bulky for my application. Still looking… The UI should be fairly straight forward. Just need a few more garage sessions, and I’ll be good to go. The cordless Dremel was a super purchase FWIW. One of the best tools I’ve used.

A whole bunch of Dremel work and some hot glue… The Clocky conversion to servo motor control is mostly done. I still need to make the servo mounts more secure, but the initial test runs look promising: Getting close. I determined that the IOIO board will not fit inside the casing, so I will have to come up with an external mount. Which will change the balance, so I might end up having to add some counterweights for balance. It should shape up, mechanically, in another garage session or two. The UI work will be another session, thereafter, but look for a finished product within the next week or so.

Same title; different managment; same cube; different name on the virtual paystub. The M&A is complete…I’m officially working for Oracle. Excitedly working, in fact. I find it amuzing that my employer is holding the reigns of Java. I initially started doing Android dev half-ly out of curiosity, and half-ly for career protection / growth. Now I am testing dot netty stuff for the guys who win most enterprise contracts and prevent dot nettiness from occurring in the first place. Sort of crazy, in a good way. Cheers to new things…