Monthly Archives: April 2014

Want a nice search of the Snowden Papers?

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Apparently the ACLU has converted and formatted a bunch of the leaked documents to make it easier to search through them. http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/03/nsa-documents-database/?ncid=rss_truncated https://www.aclu.org/nsa-documents-search

Posted in Security | Comments Off on Want a nice search of the Snowden Papers?

Convert a drill press into a bobin/spindle sander

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

I like this idea, the author basically built a box to put the drum sander in for sanding objects (I have done this the hard way in the past.  I also like Hackaday’s suggestion of adding a base bolt or … Continue reading →

Posted in Cheap, Tinkering, Tools | Comments Off on Convert a drill press into a bobin/spindle sander

Article on getting info from your car

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Good article that basically covers adding an OBD-II reader to your car (that has bluetooth) and some of the apps you can connect to it to get stats from you car.  I personally like Dash app (Free) vs some of … Continue reading →

Posted in android, Cheap, Tinkering | Comments Off on Article on getting info from your car

What to print on wood?

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Love this idea, the author used some glossy paper to print the image via an inkjet printer, then quickly transferred it to the wood before it dries.  I believe you could use transparencies too for this. http://hackaday.com/2014/04/16/inkjet-transfers-to-wood/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29

Posted in Cheap, Tinkering | Comments Off on What to print on wood?

Need to debug an instance? Look at sysdig

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

So you are a system admin with a bunch of instances in AWS and can’t figure out some of the problems on the systems.  Try out this tool sysdig, seems to be a combo of other system tools to help … Continue reading →

Posted in Cloud | Comments Off on Need to debug an instance? Look at sysdig

Good article on the basics of rooting your Android Phone

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Nice article on rooting (and why you want to do this) your android phone.  Also can apply to tablets. http://lifehacker.com/5789397/the-always-up-to-date-guide-to-rooting-any-android-phone?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29

Posted in android | Comments Off on Good article on the basics of rooting your Android Phone

Cool 3D printed eggbot design

Posted on April 17, 2014 by robertwilkie

Its got a bit of a ways to go, but this is much more promising that some of the other spherebot/eggbot designs I have seen that involve printing out the parts on a 3D printer.  Since its all one part, … Continue reading →

Posted in CNC/3D-printing, robots, Tinkering | Comments Off on Cool 3D printed eggbot design

123D Web based Circuit Design

Posted on April 16, 2014 by robertwilkie

  Interesting PCB/ circuit design tool, its somewhat free on the Web, actually you design your circuits on a Web interface.  It looks pretty neat but I haven’t tried it myself.  However it does have allot of arduino stuff built … Continue reading →

Posted in Cheap, Teaching and Learning, Tinkering, Tools | Comments Off on 123D Web based Circuit Design

How to build your own Police Scanner

Posted on April 16, 2014 by robertwilkie

Nice write-up on how to build your own police scanner that runs on a computer.  My 2 cents, I’ll just buy one at $100.  This is way too much work.  Unless you need alot of other detailed info from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Tinkering | Comments Off on How to build your own Police Scanner

Choosing an Opensource License

Posted on April 16, 2014 by robertwilkie

So you are going to opensource your source code, have you put any thought behind which of the many licenses to use?  The article is more for open hardware groups, but its applies to software as well. http://www.open-electronics.org/how-to-choose-your-open-source-hardware-license/

Posted in Software Development | Comments Off on Choosing an Opensource License