The 45 watt Kenwood KA-400 integrated amp purchased in the early 1980’s for junior-high DJ’ing still works and sits in a kitchen to the stylish grimaces of its occupants. It almost went to be recycled due to the absence of a digital input needed by the AppleTV. A cheap replacement amp with digital input […]
Objective Move 3 WordPress blogs from Godaddy to Hostgator due to Godaddy slowness and business practices. Keep Hover.com as DNS registrar. Method Order baby hosting service from Hostgator 1 week before Godaddy host service ends. Disable “automatic renewal” on Godaddy account. Go into each blog in WordPress and Export the site to a local […]
Purpose Make DVD’s available to any TV in the house without the need for a DVD player on each TV. Background Don’t use this technique to steal content. Use this to backup DVD’s you own or for one-time viewing of rental DVD’s. Tools MacMini with external DVD player Handbrake – $0 VLC – $0 […]
Requirement Charge USB devices by the sun Capture energy during the day even if target device is not plugged in Materials Switching Regulator $4 Solar panel $70 (1/3 of $200) – had these laying around – could have gone smaller USB hub ~$2 USB battery pack ~$10 wire to solar panel (included in panel) USB cable to […]
Background About a year ago I posted a article on reducing cable costs by replacing a landline phone service with GoogleVoice and replacing a DVR rental with a cable card. The voice system has worked well but the TV system never had a working DVR. This lead to more use of our 3 […]
Problem Digital photographs can easily be lost while traveling due to theft, memory failure, or inadvertent erasure of a memory card. There are many devices designed specifically to make copies but don’t want to carry an additional device. Solution 1 – Local copy on iPad Simply copy the photos on a daily basis […]
Problem The Nikon D7000 internal microphone has insufficient quality for anything beyond casual use. Requirements Easy to setup and use Semi-pro to pro-level audio quality Record to the camera to simplify post-production editing Nice to be portable to possibly use on vacations <$1000 Option 1 Boom mic A boom mic would have the highest quality […]
Overview of a home surveillance solution Requirements No monthly fees Be able to see from iOS from phone/internet Inexpensive Record to disk based on rules Wireless Mac compatible Solution Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision – about $75 each – quantity 2 dynamic DNS service included with Foscam cameras LiveCams […]
Objectives Reduce monthly payments to phone, cable, and internet provider Provide more flexibility of where to watch TV Background Landline phone + non-HD (1 TV with DVR rental) + 15/5 MB Internet on Verizon FIOS costs is $156 month breakdown as follows (Triple Play Package) TV – $48 + $20 DVR rental Phone – $33 Internet […]
Requirements 1. Weather station should be reasonably priced but of acceptable precision – met 2. Data wiring to weather station – prefer wireless – met 3. Power wiring to weather station – prefer none – met 4. Weather station should not be unsightly (like placed in middle of the yard) – well 5. Preference is […]