Yesterday I was poking around over on echozoe.com when the site suddenly went down. First, I got a “database connection error.” Then there was just NOTHING. That site, this one, and several others I own are all hosted on the…
Bitten by the Home Automation Bug
Not quite two years ago, I wrote about a little timer I made using an Arduino microcontroller and a simple relay. The purpose was to turn a couple lamps on in my living room automatically at sunset, and off around…
Securing Asterisk with IPTables
I’ve been running my phone system through Asterisk on Debian (Linux) for a number of years. I’d consider myself a novice to intermediate user of Linux, even though I’ve been tinkering with it for over a decade. I also don’t…
HTPC: Revisited
Almost two years ago, I posted of my transition away from cable/satellite TV to using only internet & over-the-air and a Home Theater PC. Since it has been almost two years, I thought it a good time to update how…
Programming the ChronoDot DS3231 Real Time Clock
In my last post, I introduced my new hobby tinkering with the Arduino microcontroller. I also mentioned a timer that I’m building to power some lamps in my living room. Since the Arduino doesn’t have a clock built into it,…
Learning Programming with the Arduino Microcontroller
A few weeks ago, I got my hands on an Arduino starter kit. The Arduino is a microcontroller that is capable of doing a lot of really cool things. The starter kit included the Arduino board, a collection of electronic…
My Twitter Philosophy
I’ve been on twitter for a while, two years as a regular user, almost six since I first created my account. I think I tend to be a typical user as far as who I follow and what I tweet.…
My Evolution of Media Consumption
I’m a media junkie. Whether it’s music, TV shows, or movies, I like it. I’m especially fond of podcasting. Not only do I produce a podcast, I love listening to them. Several years ago, I bought an Apple TV. I…
HTPC: The Software
Just a few days ago, I published a post about my family’s new Home Theater PC. That post focussed on the hardware I used to put together the machine. Today I’ll discuss the software. First and foremost is Windows 7.…
Raspberry Pi
I’m very excited about the Raspberry Pi, a small computer, about the size of a credit card, that sells for just $35 and has a lot of power. It has an ARM processor running at 700MHz, 256MB RAM, runs off…
HTPC: The Build
I’m currently in the latter stages of transitioning my family away from cable/satellite for our TV service toward just using over-the-air, along with the internet. I’ve been a DirecTV customer since the summer of 2001, and the service, along with…
Simple Shell Script to Log Your Public IP Address
I’ve been using Linux for over a decade. In fact, the original blog that this one forked off from was hosted on a linux machine in my bedroom. However, I am still, after a decade, a bit of a novice.…
iPad 2: My latest gadget
Preface The following is going to bore 99% of the population. These are my personal thoughts on a new device, along with the background of how I got to where I am today in regard to my views on the…
Portable Apps
Taking Ron Shank’s recommendation, I tried out KeePass. This is a pretty cool application that I’d recommend already, even though I haven’t really used it much yet. It will keep all your passwords in an encrypted database, so you only…