August 27. 19:19 -  Bingo - A professional game for old people.

NorCalChallengers @ Blackhawk Auto Museum

November 28, 2009 22:36 by docbliny

"MX" records for Google Wave?

November 11, 2009 08:29 by docbliny

Does Wave (the Wave protocol really) have any notion of DNS records similar to MX records for email? As a user, I find it confusing that I have to add people to my contacts as "user@googlewave.com" when their real account is "user@gmail.com" for example. As far as I have bothered to look into it, this is because the user's identity is tied to the Wave server directly (for federation). This in itself is a step backwards. There's a reason OpenID was created, namely to associate identity with a user and not a system. Though how you'd really implement that type of disassociation with Wave Federation isn't something I could say.


Silverlight 3 WriteableBitmap requires call to Invalidate() after Render()

September 6, 2009 18:20 by docbliny

All of the samples I cam across using WriteableBitmap seemed to be from a prerelease version. They call the constructor with an additional parameter and don't call Invalidate() which is required for the anything to actually show up in the bitmap.

private void UpdatePreview()
{
WriteableBitmap bitmap = new WriteableBitmap((int)imageSource.Width, (int)imageSource.Height);
bitmap.Render(imageSource, new TranslateTransform());
bitmap.Invalidate();
imgPreview.Source = bitmap;
}


Vista ICM update available

August 31, 2009 18:12 by docbliny

Just noticed that there's been an update available for the Honeywell / In2Networks Vista ICM. The latest version is in2 fusion image_2.8.0 - Tue Dec 30 09:55:28 MST 2008. The old root password still works and I haven’t seen any adverse side effects yet.

The change log is as follows (http://inunicn.com/honeywell_ecp/version.htm):

2.8.0
  • Improved device management, time management, and setup.
  • Vizia ICM - New ICM controls Leviton ViziaRF lighting systems.
  • Energy ICM - Added humidity alerts and improved EnviraCom error handling.
2.7.2
  • Added trouble-free remote access support and event logging through www.in2myhome.com
  • Improved support for corporate networks and static IP addressing.
  • Reset button handling works more reliably.
  • Email reliability is improved with a trusted email server.
  • Local web page improvements reduce Java errors.

Apple's 9/9/09 event: The Beatles on iTunes

August 31, 2009 13:56 by docbliny

That would be my guess. Rock Band: The Beatles Edition will be out that day, so why not on iTunes as well?

 


Replacing the Samsung Q1 UMPC internal fan

May 23, 2009 17:49 by docbliny

The fan on my old Samsung Q1 gave out and I had to find a replacement. After a lot of digging, I had to hit eBay and get something close.

The sticker on the original fan states MCF-4008AM05-S, DC5V 120mA, Toshiba Home Technology Corporation. If you peel that off you’ll see MCF-TS4009M05, DC5V 200mA CODE GDM610000156". Several searches on Yahoo! later I ended up with a result stating that this is close to a Toshiba Portege M200/M205 small fan.

I haven’t measured whether there truly is a difference between the two fans (120mA vs. 200mA), but I did have to change to connector on the fan since that was different.

samsung q1 fan

 

Time to hook up some stuff to an Arduino Mega, plug it into the Q1 and install that as a CarPC.


(Tripplite) Keyspan Front Row Remote Control

May 22, 2009 16:06 by docbliny

The Keyspan ER-RF1 USB remote is designed to work with Macs, but I just plugged it into my Vista machine and it showed up as a standard HID compliant device just fine. The keys, as far as I’ve had time to figure them out, are:

 

+ Up Arrow
- Down Arrow
<< Left Arrow
>> Right Arrow
Play/Pause Space
Menu Command-Esc (Mac)
Mute Mute
Eject Eject (Mac)
Sleep Command-Option-Eject (Mac)

 

Now all I have to do is get some steering wheel bezels and suitable buttons to hook that up to the CarPC.


FlexCover Startup Problem

April 30, 2009 16:09 by docbliny

If you get the error “Another program has already opened a LocalConnection with id ‘_flexcover’. No coverage data will be recorded.”, do the following:

  1. Open Task Manager and kill any instances of CoverageViewer.exe (or your Mac equivalent).
  2. Close all browsers.
  3. Close FlexBuilder.
  4. Close Yahoo! Messenger (or other client that hosts the Flash Player).

#3 did it for me.

I was using FlexCover 0.81.


P90X Tip of the Day: Switch sides

April 30, 2009 13:46 by docbliny

If you’ve done P90X for some time, you’ve probably noticed that the timings (or counts) for exercises aren’t exactly the same for the right side versus the left side (Yoga knee to forehead, anyone?). This is understandable as Tony Horton usually explains the move/stretch the first time around.

The bad thing about this is that you might be favoring one side more than the other, usually the right. The easy fix for this is to do the movements in the opposite order every other time. This will balance things out for you in the long run.


P90X Tip of the Day: Relax when recovering

April 28, 2009 13:13 by docbliny

Tuesday being Plyo-day, I thought I’d drop a short tip: When you’re recovering between moves, make sure you relax, especially when breathing out.

Make a mental note and check next time. I bet you you’re constricting your throat somewhat. You’ll notice it when breathing out. Relax and you’ll recover faster.

Obviously this applies to other exercises, too.