One of our Tivos (Tivoes? Tivii?) went out last night, right in the middle of an episode of iZombie on Netflix. One second we were watching Liv feast on a delectable dish of brains au gratin, and the next we saw that ridiculous Tivo emoji-guy and the dreaded “One moment while Tivo restarts” message. We… Continue reading Tivo Problemo
Category: Technology
Shooting an iPad: It’s what we do.
My mom’s iPad recently cratered. It wasn’t a huge deal, since it was a hand-me-down of my 1st generation model, and I replaced it with another hand-me-down of my 2nd gen tablet. I was able to coax it to life just long enough to wipe it clean and destroy the SIM chip, and I planned… Continue reading Shooting an iPad: It’s what we do.
New Toy: USB Turntable for Digitizing Albums
This arrived from Amazon yesterday afternoon…my first new turntable in, oh, about three decades. It’s an Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB direct drive model, and it’s pretty awesome, considering my rather modest needs and expectations. We have a turntable but it has a few shortcomings. First, it doesn’t play 78 rpm records; more about why that’s important in… Continue reading New Toy: USB Turntable for Digitizing Albums
Hands on with the Nest Cam
I purchased and installed a Nest Cam wifi security camera yesterday and so far I’m finding it to be exactly as advertised: easy to install and configure, and impressively useful. The device itself is small and elegantly designed. We already have Nest smart thermostats in our home, and the camera integrates seamlessly into the account… Continue reading Hands on with the Nest Cam
Miss-App
Final Update (2022): I’m leaving this post up purely as a quirky episode in the life of this blog. The app in question no longer exists, nor does the company that created it, having discovered that there’s no business reason to continue to make a product that no one wants. Good thing I don’t operate… Continue reading Miss-App
There’s an App for This
Update (2022): I’m leaving this post up purely as a quirky episode in the life of this blog. The app in question no longer exists, nor does the company that created it, having discovered that there’s no business reason to continue to make a product that no one wants. Good thing I don’t operate this… Continue reading There’s an App for This
Kicking into Kickstarter? Be prepared to kick yourself.
A Facebook friend posted a link to this New York Times article. It’s a long but entertaining look at a failed* Kickstarter campaign to fund a PID-controlled espresso machine. The article is a cautionary tale about what happens when a good idea is poorly executed, and project backers feel they have been treated unfairly, if… Continue reading Kicking into Kickstarter? Be prepared to kick yourself.
LEDing the way
I’ve finally decided to bite the bullet and switch over to LED light bulbs throughout the house, although I may have to set up an Indiegogo account to get it funded. Those things are seriously expensive. I’m not sure I can justify this plan on purely economic terms. I counted more than a hundred bulbs… Continue reading LEDing the way
Adventures in TV mounting
I bought an LED TV as a Christmas present for MLB as a replacement for the remaining CRT set in the house. That TV was installed inside the built-in cabinets in our workout room, mounted on a sliding metal platform that has a few degrees of rotation so that we theoretically could view it from… Continue reading Adventures in TV mounting
“Code 7 – Dinosaur on Aisle 9”
You’ve been there. You’ve done your grocery shopping – which is stressful enough by itself – and waited at the end of an interminably long checkout queue, and you finally – finally! – get your groceries loaded onto the conveyor belt, ready for the checkout process to begin so you can move on to the… Continue reading “Code 7 – Dinosaur on Aisle 9”