Is it possible to have too many books? » geek

iPhone-itis

Sarah — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:46:02 +0000

Wow, it’s been ages since I posted. I fully attribute it to iPhone-itis. Apparently, my brain can only manage so much personal technology. Since I’ve been totally obsessed with my iPhone 3G, there’s been nothing left for the blog. But all of a sudden I have things to say and the obsession is tapering to some degree. So back to our regular erratic programming.

Guitar Hero for the Classical Set

Sarah — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:38:26 +0000

http://philharmoniker.web-feedback.de/index.asp

This is just great. You have to bow the cello to Camille Saint-Saëns’s “The Swan”. If you miss, the screeching of the cello is quite authentic. I could see a Nintendo Wii version of this…

Who’d'a thunk?

Sarah — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:05:16 +0000

It actually worked. I need more exercise. I like to muck around on the laptop. Can these be combined? As it turns out, yes.

1) Take extra melamine shelf.
2) Put on arms of treadmill.
3) Put laptop on shelf.
4) Set treadmill to 1.2 mph (much faster and I’m sure I could still type – more experimenting to be done).
5) Walk and use laptop at same time.

I’m amused and I’ve actually hit 7000 steps today on the pedometer and that’s a new record.

Expanding Battery

Sarah — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:06:28 +0000

So a few days ago, I mentioned that I had the battery in my MacBook Pro replaced (for free!). I think the following pics should explain why this was necessary.

How high can I hear?

Sarah — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:22:58 +0000

You are the typical teenager

You can hear the frequency of the mosquito teen repellent – but probably not for much longer!

The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 17.7kHz

Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear!

Guess all that folk music hasn’t damaged my hearing too much.

—————-
Now playing: CASA – I Wish — Cadence
via FoxyTunes

GPS Update

Sarah — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:45:44 +0000

So the new GPS is very cool. I’ve got the basics figured out. It’s such a great size. I think it will be no problem to have attached to whatever daypack I’m using or even around the neck on the included lanyard. It acquires a lock in a minute or 2 and so far has had no problem maintaining that lock in a car, even when it’s through lots of trees (although there are no leaves yet to interfere).

I found a few free maps for Massachusetts that I put on the Vista and that gave me roads for most of the state but I can’t get turn by turn directions from that. So I’ve bitten the bullet and ordered Garmin’s North America City Navigator map DVD. Not cheap (~$125) but it’s all the US and most of Canada. One can howver order it from REI in order to get the member dividend (or use a REI coupon for 20% off). Since the coupon made up for the 2 day shipping, it will be here on Monday. That should be enough time to work out how to get the maps I want for the upcoming trip to Utah and Nevadaon the 14th.

New toy :)

Sarah — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:35:14 +0000

My new GPS unit just arrived this afternoon. It’s a Garmin Vista Cx. Even though I knew its dimensions, it’s a lot smaller than I though it would be. So far, all I’ve done is take it outside at break and get a satellite lock. I hope to manage to geotag my photos with this (and get lost less that I currently do). More on this as I figure out how to use it.

The Reactable

Sarah — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:48:01 +0000

This is absolutely amazing. I really want one. For more info, see their website at http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Two more videos if you liked this one.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1179567625633117422
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6097905637135414804

iTunes must-have

Sarah — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:00:10 +0000

If you use iTunes for your music and like going to see those musicians, then you have to install this killer ITunes add-on. It’s called iConcertCal. In their own words:

iConcertCal is a free iTunes plug-in that monitors your music library and generates a personalized calendar of upcoming concerts in your city. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

What this means is you install this little piece of brilliance and it creates a calendar within iTunes (under Visualization) of upcoming concerts in your area by the musicians in your music library. Freaking awesome! And free!

Kill-a-Watt Project

Sarah — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:50:39 +0000

So I borrowed this spiffy little device called the Kill-a-Watt from a coworker. As they say:

Connect your appliances into the Kill A WattÃ¢â€žÂ¢, and assess how efficient they are. A large LCD display counts consumption by the Kilowatt-hour just like utility companies. You can figure out your electrical expenses by the hour, day, week, month, even an entire year. Monitor the quality of your power by displaying Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor.

In other words, be a geek and plug in all your electronics one at a time and see how much juice they use. Very interesting and has the side benefit of making you clean up all your power cords because you have unplug and rearrange everything anyways to fit the Kill-a-Watt in. The ongoing number collection can be found at here at Google Spreadsheets. FYI, you’ll need a Google account to view it. Sorry about that but the Docs & Spreadsheets are to useful to not use.