Ikea Laptop Workstation
We just love the look of this thing the Unclutterer turned us onto. It is available in white or red and is perfect for places like a guest room or a kitchen. Current list price at IKEA is $59.99. Link to Product Page.
We haven’t had much to say in a while…something we intend to rectify soon. But we saw this recently, and thought it might be of some help. Venturebeat reports that Retrevo, a search engine for gadgets, is attempting to simplify the information overload that comes when you try to make a gadget purchase.
When you make a search, each resulting device/gadget is ranked by a combination of “value” (the number of desirable features at the price point) and community sentiment (the combined wisdom of experts and consumers). The results pages offer the product’s model number, a picture of the product, its price range and two cartoon thumbs. One thumb represents value, the other represents community sentiment. They can point up, sideways, or down. The top ten results contain a reasonable mix of high value, low cost products with good buzz around them and medium and high-cost products that deliver what you would hope to get at those price points.
The site lets you choose between the expert and consumer opinions.
The company says its product index doesn’t contain out-of-date products or those that aren’t widely available in stores. This compares favorably with CNET, where I often find myself reading positive reviews for last year’s technology. It’s also more simple and elegant than Buzzillions, which requires more input to find devices you might like.
So check out Retrevo at www.retrevo.com. We did some random searches, and intend to try this product a bit more.
We use Fedora Core Linux for many of our systems…especially the servers. Today, Fedora(which has dropped the Core from their distributions), released Fedora 7, codenamed Moonshine. We are downloading it for upgrade of our systems as we speak.
OS Upgrade time is always a happy time in our household. We use it as an excuse to dust our system interiors(you should do this regularly) and review our systems for possible hardware upgrades. This year, we’re gutting the interior of our main server. The old pieces will be reallocated to other functions.
For those of you considering jumping on the Linux bandwagon, Fedora 7 incorporates some exciting new features. You can take your Fedora installation disc(usually a full DVD) and customize it…adding or removing packages and software to install…thus you could create a distribution that only installs what you need it to…or that substitutes packages not included in the standard distribution…You can also create a LiveCD that will boot Fedora without needing a hard drive, and customize this as well.
Here are the release notes…Wait a few days to download it…it is going to be overloaded for a bit. We’re hoping it will improve some of the weaker areas of previous distributions…the release notes seem to indicate they’ve worked on those areas.
Our colleagues at Flight Wisdom have switched to a mostly roundup-based format in order to report on more news that isn’t worthy of a full article…so we decided to give it a try over here.
We recently started experimenting with QEMU. QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer.
As an emulator, it can run operating systems and programs made for one machine on another. It currently can emulate the ARM processor(used in routers and other embedded network hardware), SPARC, PowerPC, MIPS, and more are coming.
As a virtualizer, it can create a virtual computer than can run a complete operating system on it. There is an optional drive available to enhance speed.
QEMU runs on the command-line under Windows and Linux-based computers, but pops up a window or a full-screen display for the operating system it is virtualizing. We have used QEMU to experiment and test bootable CDs. These CDs boot a complete operating system and are often used for diagnostic testing on computers.
You can find the latest version of QEMU for Windows here.
To try QEMU out, get a CD image of a bootable CD in iso format, and run the following command:
qemu -cdrom [iso filename] -boot d
That will boot whatever iso you want in a virtualized window.
We’ll have more on QEMU in the future, but it is a great way to experiment with Linux and other operating systems, if you want to try them without major alterations to your system. For more information, try the QEMU on Windows wiki.
We recently pulled out the Linksys Network Storage Link USB 2.0, aka the NSLU2, affectionately nicknamed the SLUG by enthusiasts. The NSLU2 is actually a Linux-based device, which runs SAMBA, a version of Windows file sharing and has been hacked to run other things.
The NSLU2 is not your only choice for hacking in this manner. You can use the Synology DS101, the Iomega NAS100D, the D-Link DSMG600, or any device that uses the ixp4xxx chipset with attached storage. However, the NSLU2 has the most following, having had an established community for a long time.
There are several options for replacement firmware for the NSLU2. There is Unslung, which allows you to expand the ffunctionality of the NSLU2 without using the original product functionality and compatibility with the original Linksys firmware. However, unlike the stock firmware, Unslung contains support for NTFS(The formatting used for Windows drives), card readers, USB hubs to add extra devices, and other enhancements. Other packages can be installed to a drive hooked into the Slug as it has limited memory and run, for example, a streaming media server.
Alternatives to Unslung include OpenSlug and Debian for the NSLU2, which remove the Linksys functionality in favor of a complete Linux system, and thus are not for the neophyte.
For more information on the various aspects of the NSLU2, visit its unofficial homepage/wiki. We just set one up as a file server at a remote location. It will, as soon as we finish setting up the software, not only backup files from the main server, but allow users at the second site to access local copies of their documents.
You may notice our Smarthome button available on all pages. We have not spent much time talking about them. Smarthome is a computer that specializes in home technology…including surveillance, lighting and appliance control, and so on.
They come to our mind today because we called in an electrician to fix the lighting system we’d failed to succeed in installing ourselves. The system uses X1o-based technology.
X10 is a standard that uses signals sent along the power lines. One can also use radio transmissions to trigger the powerline signals. X10 devices include dimmable lamp modules, appliance modules, outlets, and light switches…as well as a variety of control mechanisms.
One of X10’s problems is that is prone to interference from other devices. However, it remains popular despite this. The most common X10 switches are the inexpensive ones sold by X10 Technology, Radio Shack, and even Smarthome itself. These switches are easy to install, but are prone to failure. They are however a good starting point if you just want to experiment.
For reliability, try Leviton or Smarthome constructed X10 switches. They are a bit more expensive, but come at varying levels of quality…all of which are more reliably. Smarthome itself has been promoting its Insteon line of products. Insteon products are backwards compatible with X10, so you don’t have to rip out your existing wiring, should you have it. But they also send radio signals which are repeated by every Insteon device.
However, setting up Insteon is a bit more expensive than their X10 offerings, and their older X10 only lines are being discounted now…so it is a good time to click the link above and buy.
Thus, we come to the reason why we called an electrician. We have no trouble installing single switches, however, three-way and four-way switches(where two or more switches control a single light) continue to elude us. That and the fact that whoever wired our home originally did it in an…as the electrician put it…”unconventional way.” We hope to master the skill someday. Fortunately, with the diagnostic assistance of the electrician, everything is working perfectly.
We take a targeted approach to home automation. It is set for certain lights. The lights on our exterior porch are set on a motion sensor that trigger the inside hall lights. In one room, remote switching is used to avoid installing a second switch in the room. When combined with a security system, we could extend this even more.
Give it a look. Feel free to comment with your home automation stories or questions. We may feature them in future posts.
The Powersquid is an outlet multiplier…an alternative to the conventional power strip. Conventional powerstrips often find their outlets blocked by oversized cables and transformers. The Powersquid, which is available in models with and without surge suppression. Phillips Electronics also makes a version of the product found in stores.
Check it out. We have one and it avoids us having to use outlet extenders and other tricks to fill a power strip.
Any organization that we sign with as an affiliate is usually an organization we believe in, or at least patronize. We’ve signed up as an affiliate for Soda Club because we own their product and we like it…it is as simple as that.
Soda Club offers a kit for complete soda making. It consists of two components. One is a CO2 injector which turns regular water into carbonated water, and the other is the variety of syrups they offer.
They sell three different soda makers. The Fountainjet, the Edition 1, and the Penguin. The Fountainjet and the Edition 1 are very similar. The major difference is that the Fountainjet is white and the Edition 1 and black and silver. They both use the same heavy-duty plastic bottles. The more expensive Penguin uses 620ml glass carafes. All three offer a three year warranty.
We bought the basic model…the Fountainjet.
Flavor-wise…all of the regular flavors are sweetened with a mix of sugar and Splenda. The diet flavors use Splenda. Compared to commercial brands, they have less sodium and caffeine than their counterparts. They are also kosher, for those of you who are Jewish. Regular flavors include: Apple Peach, Cola, Cranberry Raspberry, Cream, Fountain Mist(Mountain Dew), Ginger Ale, Grape, Lemon Line(Sprite), Orange, Orange Mango, Pete’s Choice(Dr. Pepper), Pink Grapefruit, Root Beer, Tonic, and Vanilla Cola. It also offers an energy drink and a variety of diet flavors including: Diet Caffeine-Free Cola, Diet Cola, Diet Cream, Diet Fountain Mist(Mountain Dew), Diet Ginger Ale, Diet Lemon Lime(Sprite), Diet Orange, Diet Pete’s Choice(Dr. Pepper), Diet Pink Grapefruit(Fresca), Diet Root Beer, Diet Tonic, and Diet Vanilla Cola.
If you don’t like their flavors, you can always make your own. Their offerings are at least as good as generic soda brands. And our favorite advantage…no lugging soda bottles from the store then having to lug a bag of empties to the curb on recycling day.
Just so you don’t think we are being biased, we offer this review by Gizmodo. Essentially, the system is easy, supplies are inexpensive to mail order, and it is so cool to say you make your own soda. The idea is catching on.
Crunchgear reports that the video iPod line will transition completly from hard drive based storage to flash memory. Flash memory is more commonly used in some media players, including the iPod Nano line, due to its decreased power requirements and higher durability.
With increased features and functionality being in demand, and the decreasing cost and storage space of flash memory, the move can be a good one. But 32GB of flash memory is only as good as the lowest standard iPod storage space count…although the availability of larger flash memory modules is no doubt around the corner. Flash memory does have a shorter possible lifespan than hard drive storage, but the estimated lifespan is not that far off the warranty period of a standard hard drive.
We tend to prefer flash memory systems over hard drive ones. Mostly because we can’t foresee needing our entire music collection in our pocket at all times. With video…there is a need for more space to store each hour…but for those who need it…technology marches on.
