• Category Archives Computers

  • Imagine a life with no computers……ahhhh……bliss…..

  • Kickwhat?

    Posted on by beno Comment

    Kickstarter.
    I’m not addicted, really I’m not. Its interesting, it keeps me up to date, it keeps me broke, but I’m not addicted.

    If you have never heard of it, its an online ‘marketplace’ where people can propose ideas and people can back those ideas (or not) with money.
    Thats about as simple as it gets.

    The main thing that attracts me is that you can get your hands on stuff that just does not make the mainstream or is too neitch for a big company to make, or breaks new ground.

    So hows it work? Lets say I come up with a cool idea for something for the Smart Car.
    I make a few prototypes, get something close, then decide that I want to offer it to other people, or I need a little money to make it possible to manufacture in quality.
    Or I really need to make said thing in volume to make it cheap enough for other people to consider buying. Where do you get both people (ie, orders) and money?
    Kickstarter.
    I put the item (called a project) up on Kickstarter and get to see if it makes the numbers (you get to put how many you need to sell – or more typically, how long the project runs for), then the money comes in and you make it and ship it.
    If I need 100 people and 99 sign up, then no one pays anything and its all bad luck, it did not fly.
    If I need 100 and 1,000,000 people sign up, then I’m in a world of hurt. Yeah, I have the money, but a million smart car widgets is probably beyond me and Freddy to arrange manufacturing and shipping, so what happens then?
    Well, the guy (girl, group) behind the project usually start to slip on their ‘deliver by’ timeframe.

    Welcome to my life.

    Most of the projects I back end up either being more technical than they first thought, or, they are really popular and the shear numbers overwhelm the author…. As a result, I don’t get it when they say they expect to ship.

    Lets take a look first at Kickstarter.

    1.15 billion dollars. Thats a lot of money in anyones launguage.
    Kickstarter get a slice of that, so they are sitting pretty pretty. ‘All’s’ they have to do is run a web site. They can not be held liable for any success or failure of any project, so its pretty sweet idea for them.
    It will be down to time to see if their tweaking with the way projects are managed and backed help or hinder.

    My backed projects.

    Pebble. I have always loved watches, so it should come as no surprise that I backed this one.
    It shipped late due to the numbers. Its the most successful project to date.
    The quality control of the watch is not good. Hard to say if they tried to keep the manufacturing too cheap to keep the money for themselves or the sheer numbers meant they ended up cutting corners.
    I love the idea of a smart watch, this one is a toy. Im looking forward to getting my next (non Kickstarter) one, the Moto360.

    Atlas. I’m still really enjoying my running and pushups, so want something (a health band) to track my runs and such.
    As you can see, this one is not on Kickstarter, but another crowdsource website called Indigogo. With the success of Kickstarter, of course it was not long for others to jump on the money bandwagon and say ‘me too’.
    From a backer point of view, there is no difference. I’m still the one taking all the risk and handing my money over….
    And yes, when I get this in December, I will be wearing two bands, one on each wrist. Yes, I’m a dork.

    uArm. I love robots. This one shipped on time and is sitting (assembled) on my dining table. Just need some time to add the Opto code to get it working on groov and you will be able to play with it via the web pretty soon.

    Almond + Router. This one is way late. They hit some performance issues and had to go back and totally redesign the whole thing. Then they hit some approval issues on the RF (radio) side of it, then they hit some manufacturing issues. Its supposed to ship this month. I’m not holding my breath.
    Keeping your backers up to date with progress is an important part of the process. You have to be pretty up front and clear about what’s going on and why I am not seeing anything for my money.
    Im excited about this one given its open nature (Linux based), its feature set and the radios built in (lots of home automation ones).

    Camera tether. Backed this one when I was really into photography. It lets me see the shots just after I take them on a laptop or tablet via WiFi. Its pretty cool.

    Mu Thermal Camera. This one is way way way late.
    I was to bring it out with me to Australia last October and show Dad, Dan and Gary, but alas, it was not to be.
    Now, due to Terrys little opps and my Smart CV joint issues, I am not sure we will be able to make it out this October… Even so, I am not sure I will have this camera by then. I hope so, its sounding like I might, but I am still not holding my breath.

    Portable Oscilloscope. This is pretty cute / cool. I don’t use a scope often, but when I do its usually not at my workbench so a small portable scope is pretty handy.

    So, there you have it. As you can see, I’m clearly not addicted.

    Just check out their tech category.. .Go on, I will be right here…
    Right, exactly! See how much other cool stuff there is that I could back, if I was addicted… but haven’t, because I’m not.
    Addicted. To Kickstarer.
    I’m not.


    Computers Life in the USA

  • Flying in 2014

    Posted on by beno Comment

    We had a work trip to Milwaukee this past week. Its one of the main reasons why I have been a little quiet on here.
    Had to prepare the bosses demo hardware for his trip to Europe and get my demo software (the groov graphics of my house) ready for my trip.
    Once that was done and the boss was on his way, I then had to put together my presentation that I was giving at the trade show we were attending in Milwaukee.

    Trip over went very smooth, flew out of Ontario airport, just an hours drive north of home.
    Flew to Las Vegas to change planes, then flew to Milwaukee. Probably about 6-7 hours of travel all up.

    For some reason the Hyatt hotel had closed their dining room, so finding food was a bit of a challenge for the duration of the entire stay.

    The trade show was the first IoT show for this organizer, so it was a little small, but we were the only ones there with a graphic / web based product, so had lots of really good conversations and interest in using groov in future projects.
    The house graphics really paid off big time as they got a lot of attention (I will be sharing it with you guys pretty soon).

    Come time for my presentation and I could not run the dual monitor setup I had practiced with, so had to do it with no notes, so was really glad that I had practiced!
    The way I practiced was a little different from the way I normally do it…. Our new video guy, Paul, got me in Opto’s conference room, we got a few people in there, and he got me to present it to them while he videoed it.

    So, for your viewing pleasure. Here it is.

    Yeah, its a bit long, but I was requested to give a half hour presentation, and at 27 minutes, its close enough.
    Long story short, I spoke about how IoT is hard to understand from a distance, but when you live with it, it becomes personal.
    Since its personal, you will need to visualize it the way you want.
    The web browser is the perfect tool to use for viewing it, since you have one on every device you own that access the Internet.

    The guy that MC’ed this part of the show told me that I gave the best presentation of the show, and one of the best presentations he has heard for years.

    We packed up the show booth and headed off to the airport around 4pm, plenty of time for my 6pm flight.
    While sitting in the waiting area, I get an email from SouthWest (the airline) saying the flight is delayed to 7pm.
    Blah, but no big deal.
    Cue up some trance and settle back.
    About 20 minutes later we get another email, flight is delayed till 8pm.
    Ok, now I am annoyed, this means I am going to miss my connection out of Phoenix.
    As I am packing up my gear, an announcement comes over the speakers that the flight is delayed even more and if we are going to have issues with our connections, please come to the counter.
    I am about the 6th or 7th person in line.

    By the time I get there, the lady tells me I have two choices, stay the night in a motel (at their expense) or fly to Phoenix and stay a few hours in a motel there and then fly out first thing in the morning.
    Since I have a 10am meeting with a customer that is heavily booked, I take the latter option. (Keep this choice in mind).
    She tells me I get the last seat for the late flight…. Looking back at the long line of people behind me that now no longer have a choice, I am suddenly very grateful for my Pebble smartwatch and being able to read emails on my wrist…..It gave me that 1-2 minute head start on the rush to the counter!

    Back to the waiting area.
    I get another email. Flight is now 9pm.
    Im done sitting, off we go to wander the lounge.
    The food joints are closing and the restaurant that the airline gave me a dinner ticket for is now shut.
    Blah.
    I buy a bag of peanuts.
    Another email. 10pm.
    Another bag of nuts.
    Another email. 11pm.
    Cue up a 2 hour trance mix. Eat more nuts.

    We get out of Milwaukee at 11.
    We arrive at Phoenix at 2am body clock time, but thankfully we lost 2 hours, so its only midnight.
    Need to catch the 4:30am shuttle bus to the airport, so get a few hour sleep.
    The AC is broken, its flat out (making a racket) and a lot colder than it needs to be. I consider going to look for the electrical breaker board, but give it a miss at 1am.
    The flight out is smooth. We drive home, shower, change, ingest way too much coffee and make it with an hour to spare for my meeting (which goes really well).
    By 1pm ish, I really start to fade.
    Headed home at 3pm and here we are at 6pm Sunday and I am still not quite right.
    The whole trip (and a lack of solid food I suspect) really knocked me around. Must be getting old.

    Flying in 2014, so very romantic and reliable.

    Oh, and all those people that had to stay the night in Milwaukee?
    Yep, mini blizzard the next morning, all flights out were delayed for hours.


    Computers

  • Wearable tech

    Posted on by beno Comment

    Ok Ok, I admit it, Im a gadget nut.
    If its small and needs batteries, I’m interested.
    There, I said it out loud. (Actually, I didn’t say it, I blogged it, so its not the first step at all!)

    One of these blogs I will get around to talking about my Pebble Smart Watch. (Which I totally love and has removed (completely) my lust for a Rolex).

    This blog, is not that blog.

    This blog is about this amazing page I found (via Twitter) on the mind boggling range of wearable tech that is out there and that is coming….

    https://www.pinterest.com/caroltpin/wearable-tech/

    (Not a fan of Pintrest, thankfully you can see the page without signing up).

    I have backed a heart rate monitor/activity tracker / sleep analyzer wearable that will (hopefully) arrive in December on Kickstarter (my other non addiction).

    Anyway, even if you’re not interested in any of this stuff, please take a look at just so that you can be blown away by the huge range of stuff that you can wear and get data from.
    Like it or not, 2014 will be the start of the year of bodymetrics.


    Computers

  • New desgin.

    Posted on by beno 3 Comments

    I have lost count what number rebuild this is….. Have learned a great deal along the way, so does it really matter?

    Anyway, long story short, somethings are still a little broken, but the core is working.
    Yes, Uranquinty weather is not working, yes, we know, its been about a year…. major issues with the weather station, but Matt and I are working on it.
    Buninyong weather uploading has been a bit hit and miss, Tom is working on it, seems to be an ISP issue, so its a little out of all our hands on that one.
    Temecula and Smythes Creek are ticking over most of the time. Im still running mine on XP, so take that with a grain of salt.

    Ok, point is, the site should now work much much much better on tablets and smartphones.
    (Actually, it should just now work, unlike the last version which was just broken on those devices).

    So, excuse the dust, its a work in progress. Im still learning, and the rebuild should open some doors for cool stuff down the track.

    Cheers.


    Computers

  • IoT = Basket full of apps.

    Posted on by beno Comment

    IoT at the moment is missing the point.

    IoT is huge and is projected to get huger. Like massively huge.
    We are talking billions of smart devices. This growth, for the most part is driven by the fact that something 65-70% of the worlds population is expected to have some sort of smart (or connected) mobile device by around 2017.

    In a vain and shallow attempt to be the first to make lots of money, most tech companies are trying to rush to market their smart device.
    I have dipped my toe in the water and have invested in a few domestic ones to get a sense of what’s on offer today.

    Philips Hue. Its three wireless light globes. Each globe can be set to any of a rainbow of colors. (You might like this one Sue)
    Belkin Wemo Insight Switch. Its a switch that I can plug stuff into and turn on/off and look at how much power said thing uses from my phone. (Gary and Dan, this one is very much you guys).
    SparkCore. Its the most unfinished and techy thing on the list. In a nutshell it is a small wifi programmable computer. I can add my own sensors and output devices and program them to my liking. (Nick, warning, the firmware is bug city, but its cool).
    (I could, and if there is interest, do a blog for each of these devices).

    I will get straight to the point.
    Each of these three devices has their own app on my phone.
    To turn my lights on off or change their color, I have to use the Hue app.
    To turn my switch on or off or to see how much power its used, I have to run the Wemo app.
    To see the status of my wifi sensors, I have to use its app.

    None of them know about each other!

    So I have all these cool devices in my home, I have a phone full of apps.
    Is my life better? No. After the fun and novelty of each device wares off, its about done. There it sits.

    This guy put it beautifully. At the moment, the Internet of Things is like the basket of remotes that most of us have at home.
    One for the TV, one for the DVD, one for the stereo and so on.
    Sure, some of us have tried the whole universal remote, with varying degrees of success (And some frustration in setting it up and a chunk of money to buy the thing in the first place).

    What we have at the moment is a whole lot of smart devices, and no connected devices.
    All these ‘things’ connect to the Internet, but they don’t know about each other. Not only don’t they know about each other, but in some cases they don’t play nice with others.
    By that I mean that some of these manufactures don’t open up their communication protocols and they don’t share how to talk or listen to their devices.
    Its like they have a secret hidden language. Sure. Some talk and listen in English, but not all of them.

    Where does this leave me?

    Frustrated.


    Computers