Going all-in with Nest cameras

I seem to go through technology re-orgs every four years or so. To start off 2019 I decided to re-do my security camera setup. My first cameras were installed in 2010 (Foscam outside, TRENDnet inside). In 2014 I switched my indoor cameras to Dropcams but since Dropcam (now Nest) didn’t have an outdoor solution at the time …

Continue reading ‘Going all-in with Nest cameras’ »

“Ralph Wrecks VR” at The VOID

Yesterday we spent the day over at Disney and after finishing up early at Animal Kingdom we headed over to Disney Springs for lunch. After eating at Terralina we went over to The VOID and played “Ralph Wrecks VR” … WOW! The VOID bills itself as a “hyper-reality … whole-body, fully immersive VR experience” and it …

Continue reading ‘“Ralph Wrecks VR” at The VOID’ »

Nest Protect smoke/CO2 detector

When I installed the ADT Pulse system in 2011, it came with monitored smoke/heat and CO2 detectors. Since then I’ve been paying the monthly monitoring fee to ADT and have had to deal with inexplicable false alarms (usually in the middle of the night and ADT’s answer was always “just change the battery”). This was …

Continue reading ‘Nest Protect smoke/CO2 detector’ »

Kwikset SmartCode 916 Touchscreen Electronic Deadbolt

We’re finishing up hurricane-proofing this summer by finally replacing all the exterior entries with impact-rated doors. We had our impact windows installed back in 2008, and replaced the overhead garage door in 2015, but last year’s close call with Hurricane Irma reminded us we still needed to replace the doors. Since we’re getting new doors, we also …

Continue reading ‘Kwikset SmartCode 916 Touchscreen Electronic Deadbolt’ »

Ubiquiti Unifi Switch 8 POE-150W

About two weeks ago I started experiencing some strange network issues: Nagios kept reporting devices dropping off the network and reconnecting, the TiVo Minis would lose their connection to the Bolt, etc. I eventually traced it to one of my TRENDnet TPE-TG44g switches (specifically the one in the closet that most of the home network …

Continue reading ‘Ubiquiti Unifi Switch 8 POE-150W’ »

A New Orleans Tricentennial Celebration with Harry Connick, Jr.

My wife and I last saw Harry Connick, Jr. when he came through Clearwater on his “Your Songs” tour back in 2010. Back in March he announced a short tour in June to celebrate the New Orleans Tricentennial. Clearwater was lucky to have two dates on the tour so I of course got us tickets to …

Continue reading ‘A New Orleans Tricentennial Celebration with Harry Connick, Jr.’ »

hp Pavilion 24-r014 All-in-One PC

For the past few months our family PC (the Dell XPS 18 all-in-one) had been giving my daughter fits. It was time for a change. I looked at the latest Dell all-in-ones but wasn’t able to find one that acted like a tablet like the XPS 18. It was pretty convenient for my daughter to …

Continue reading ‘hp Pavilion 24-r014 All-in-One PC’ »