When a geek gets bored, he usually dives into home automation. And when there’s nothing more left to automate, he blogs about it.
When leaving my house I usually check the weather forecast for today and if there are any train disruptions. The thing is, it takes precious time and I’m usually in a hurry. Therefore the idea of having all the useful information on a single display was in the air for quite a while. Recently I’ve finally got to implement it. Please meet InfoPi.
Moore's law teamed up with the Chinese electronic device industry are inserting new steps into the Lansink’s Ladder. Next to the sections for used fluorescent bulbs and batteries, which are classified as klein chemisch afval (household hazardous waste), Albert Heijn grocery stores have now added a separate opening for used mobile phones!
There was a moment when my smoke detector, which is as old as the house it’s in, had to be replaced.
And I did that with pleasure, because at that moment it started chirping regularly in a very annoying way. First once every five minutes, a bit later once a minute. And that would not be a big issue had this not been happening at 5:00 AM. And, of course, the chirping was so loud that no human being could ignore it. Just like in that scene from “Friends”.
It’s been a while since I posted about replacing an iMac’s HDD with a solid-state drive (SSD) Samsung 840 EVO, and also about tuning your Ubuntu for it. Once done, you can enjoy the awesome overall responsiveness of your system and instantaneous application startup. And all that at an affordable price.
I managed to upgrade the best-selling Koss PortaPro headphones using a couple of items I’ve bought on eBay. The headphones are some ten years old now, yet sturdy and rocking, and now have become even better:
Out of curiosity I’ve ordered a couple of USB voltage testers from eBay (there’s plenty of them there).
For your information, a USB voltage and current tester is a device for measuring voltage and current coming from a USB output into a gadget (usually being charged).
This TV can be either attached to the stand or mounted on the wall.
The first option seems arguable to me: because of its huge size (and the related windage), the panel will sway at any breath. And it won’t survive its falling down (neither will its owner).
The built-in video player features an impressive list of codecs and containers. It includes modern formats such as FLV and MKV, and even the recently introduced H.265 and VP8 (WebM):
This TV has an interactive mode, the so-called Smart Hub, which offers the following four panels.
You can install free and paid application, for which a Samsung account is required. Out-of-the-box the TV has YouTube, NetFlix, Spotify and a bunch of others. Applications can be installed on an external USB drive. And, of course, you can update and uninstall them.
Even though this TV is a pricey, it doesn’t stop Samsung from trying to earn even more on their customers. Selling accessories with a five hundred percent margin is a popular way to make money among vendors.
An HDMI cable isn’t the only thing Samsung saved on. The TV is also lacking a camera out-of-the-box, which I definitely don’t appreciate, considering numerous functions it’s required for, like Skype or Motion Control.