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Category Archives: Reviews

Sparkzy’s future, potential, maybe, Smart fortwo?

I received an email from SmartUSA at the end of March. It had a link to their Delivery Date Estimator. Cool. When would I be driving a Smart this summer? I entered the needed information and was gobsmacked by the results:
Estimated ETA Date: June 2009 to August 2009
It is important to note that the DDE […]

Google MyMaps + Picasa photos + YouTube video = hypermedia travelog

I’ve always wanted to take my photos, video, audio, and research, and write a book on traveling in the High Desert. Not the kind of book you would buy at your local bookstore or Amazon.com, but a PDF of suggested sites and routes. I’ve thought about creating web pages that combine all that media — […]

Learning the history of electricity and radio

Joe and I stopped at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity on our way to a weekend vacation in Vancouver, BC. The museum is located in Bellingham, WA and has an amazing collection of scientific instruments from the early days of electricity, more radios than you can imagine, a working radio station (internet stream […]

A laptop bag for the Asus Eee PC

The REI Boarding Bag is the perfect size for carrying the Asus Eee PC. The power adapter fits in the front pocket. A mouse, pens, pencils, flashdrive, cellphone, and a Moleskein Cahier notebook fit in the middle compartment. The final (largest) compartment holds the laptop and a Kensington security cable. What else do you need?
01/28/08 […]

7.10 Rocks!

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu 7.10 (project name “Gutsy Gibbon”) were all released this week (10/18). Fluxbuntu will be released next week (10/23). [Update: The release date was for the new Fluxbuntu web site. The new Fluxbuntu distribution will be released in the near future. I’m looking forward to it.]
At the core, they are all the […]

Burning Man (quick) tip 15 - Pop-up shade shelter review

I bought a quick setup 10 ft. X 10 ft. canopy for the playa this year. My observations:
Good:
Easy
Inexpensive? ($79)
Canopy is green (not blue or white)
Metalized coating on inside of canopy blocks UV and creates dark shade
Bad:
Might be a two-person job to get the frame to fully extend and everything to lock into place
Will it blend? […]

Burning Man (quick) tip 13 - Coleman stove review

A very quick review of the Coleman 5469 series propane camp stove…
Cons:
The latch will be the first thing to break. It’s cheap
The propane regulator/tube connection will be the second part to break
It’s going to be a rattle trap that will drive you crazy on long drives (unless you pad it with a dishtowel)
Pros:
Inexpensive? ($59)
Electric start […]

Buring Man (quick) tip 12 - Flavor crystals

This summer I’ve been drinking my iced tea and water with flavor in it. I add a packet of True Lemon crystallized lemon substitute. The stuff is all natural and easy to use. I’ve found that I need two packets for my 32 ounce water bottle (they suggest one packet for each 10 to 16 […]

Burning Man tip 11 - Solar-powered LED light strings

If you’d like to add some solar-powered blinking to your camp or project, and you’re not afraid of future maintenance or the need to do some hacking, you might want to buy these lights from geeks.com. Just be aware of a few things:

The case and LED string aren’t waterproof
The connectors won’t stand up to any […]

Testing Jott: a mobile voice to email gateway

Jott is a free web service that will email a transcribed voice message to someone in your Jott contact list. You call the toll-free number, speak the name of the contact, then speak your message (up to 30 seconds).
As a test, I sent a Jott message to the address that allows me to post to […]