Possible pen name…

My new amigos at Ytai’s Google Groups IOIO page and I are still spit-balling my project details. I am providing a circuit diagram to help the discussion. For the fuller project in detail, check the original post. Cheers.

Nerd cred is nerd cred, right? Not necessarily. Take, for instance, gaining nerd cred via unboxing a Woot BOC…pretty nerdy. That is contrasted by more nerdy nerd cred, like trading messages with the IOIO designer on his Google Groups page. Huge nerd cred. Another level of nerd cred comes via gadgets. Gadgetry is the best…on of my favorite things in the world. There are overt ways to geek out…like a screaming fast notebook running an obscure, maybe stable version of Linux. Bonus points for sure. Blogging is sort of credulous, but blogging the crap out of stuff and posting apps…gigantic nerd cred. Then comes watches. Nerd cred on the down-low. I’ll go on record saying that Invicta Men Watches are a source of geek cred. Take a look: You can nerd out by the design, or nerd out by the specs. I choose both, as that watch is crazy functional and crazy cool looking. Not slide rule and pocket protector cool, but pretty solid. The best deal, is the prices you can find on Invicta watches on BlueDial: That doesn’t even make sense. How they can chop the price that much is crazy. Blogging about watches crazy. Hit the link and check one out. It is a pretty sweet site, and you really won’t beat that price anywhere.

Q: What is worse than a dial-up internet connection? crickets chirping… crickets chirping… crickets chirping… A: Very little? I don’t know. Dial up is unacceptable. So unacceptable that I would, without a doubt, rather be without a connection than have to poke around with dial up. Some remote places are without the option of a cable connection. Some places even more remote cannot even access DSL. I weep for the poor souls. Fortunately, there is an option. Look to the stars, my dialing up friends. Chins up…there is always satellite internet, my friends. Some day, our mobile connections may be able to handle all of our data needs. Until that idea becomes reality, our best bet for remote connections is, by all means, satellite connections. You are likely familiar with Direct TV and Dish Network receivers…this is the same principle. No grid…just power the receiver, and you get your connections from Low-Earth Orbit. LEO and the interwebs; let me sum that up. Yep, just as I suspected: win / win. Hit that link to find out more. Believe me, dial up internet is barely internet at all. This route is really the only way to go in a pinch. Plus, your friends and family will be amazed by your forward-thinking, futuristic internet connection. Space cadet stuff.

I can finally report a conclusion of sorts on the IOIO / PowerSwitch Tail project. The ‘of sorts’ disclaimer is in regards to my Android App, which is pretty much a working beta. I have some issues with my onResume code, and want to put some polish on the UI. That said, I have released the code to the interwebs, so had better provide a write-up. The setup is the same as I have been posting. Dual open drain pins with a 10K pull to 5V do the lifting…triggering of pins is handled via my IOIO board…Android app providing a UI to do the switching. I went ahead and published my app on the Android Market. It will pop for sure by searching for IOIO. Price: free ninety nine. Can’t beat that. I also tossed this code up on GitHub. Go nuts. Video time: see this in action. Basically, between all of the shaky camera work, I download my app from the Android Market, connect via USB, and control the 120V relay via my Droid 2. I will shoot a better video once I clean up my code a bit. Stay tuned. The README on GitHub and the app details section should have all of the connection information. I can provide any further details via email / comments / @swantron. Have fun with this one… Link to android marketLink to project code at GitHub

Making progress on the IOIO marathon project. GitHub has been chosen as the initial hosting deal. Configured with a little hello world this evening. Click on that for some CLI awesome junk. If not, tune back in for the larger effort soon. Android app may follow.

Q. Am I dragging my feet with the whole IOIO code cleanup deal? A. Take a look at this little pictorial dealio regarding soldering headers to my IOIO Exhb 1: Exhb 2: Exhb 3: I’ll get on that; you have my word. I am toying around with the idea of tossing the open drain app on both github and the Android Market, in order to throw some chum out to the crew of IOIO owners. We’ll see.

Black Sox, for the win… 2011 Gallatin Valley Men’s Adult Baseball League champions. You can’t tell due to the backlighting, but there are four games worth or infield on that uni. Red Bull, ibuprofen, celebratory OMLs, Skoal, and infield. And grass from a couple of cans of corn put-outs. Happy and tired.

I had three great years at Zoot Enterprises. Time for a change, however. Thanks for it all.

It was worth the wait…I now control 120V via my Android. I had a mostly sleepless night, again. I managed to figure out what I had been botching while trying to provide enough juice to my PowerSwitch Tail. Transistors and alligator clamps are out; extra pins are in. Take a look at the (awful quality) video…on the main page, as the picture quality won’t grind loading to a halt. I still need to toss some headers on the IOIO, and take some clips out of the picture for a better picture of what I did here. Look for that shortly, along with a snippet. Pretty straight forward, but we’ll have to see where this one ends up.