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 […]
Doing Laundry
Requirements Minimize effort Minimize number of times to do laundry Reduce dark color fading Whites as white as possible No ironing Materials All fragrant free liquid detergent Oxiclean powder Oxiclean spot spray Woolrich Dark detergent generic bleach top-loading washer front-loading dryer Storing Dirty Clothes in 4 baskets Basket 1 – dress clothes – pants & […]
Custom t-shirts
Custom t-shirts Requirements small to large number of shirts be able to provide artwork color shirts color artwork reasonable cost Solution Upload artwork to Customink.com and order shirts. Assessment The website for selecting shirt, uploading the designs, and putting on text is intuitive, flexible, and easy to see what you are going to get. Once […]
Home video surveillance solution
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 […]
Reducing Home phone, cable, and inter...
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 […]
Home Weather station to send data to ...
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 […]
Creating picture books
Purpose Create a picture book after a trip OR for a special event like milestone birthdayService – Blurb.com Experience – Created ~ 5 books with Blurb. Quality of book – Is very good. Tools to build – Free software is flexible but very slow (example, inserting a photo) Cost – Good – $40-$100 Delivery time – […]
DIY Passport and VISA photos
Most in-store photo processors (CVS, Walmart, etc.) will take a photo of you and give you 2 passport photos. If you don’t need extra photos, this way is the safest way of getting photos that meet government requirements. When traveling internationally, it is always a good idea to have extra passport photos. […]
Moving a WordPress blog
Problem Had trouble updating the underlying GoDaddy MySQL to version 5.0 required by WordPress 3. Solution Create a new WordPress site on same hosting server and migrate the data Steps 1. Export content to XML in WordPress admin console 2. Create a new WordPress blog (which also creates a new MySQL instance) 3. Import the […]