Mountain hiking and baseball … another perfect day in the valley of the sun.
Spring Training 2012: Day One
It’s (almost the end of) March, which means it’s time for my annual trip out west to Arizona. My brother and I are going a little later in the season this year and also bringing some other people along: his wife, our sister, and my daughter.
The tech arsenal for this trip is pretty much the same as past years: my iPhone (the new 4S instead of the old 3GS), iPad (no Bluetooth keyboard this time), Garmin nüvi (loaded with pertinent waypoints), and new camera. I also ditched the iPad camera connection kit since I now have the Eye-Fi card to wirelessly offload photos from my camera to the iPad.
Anyway, it’s time to see some Cactus League baseball!
Apple iPhone 4S
I got a brand new iOS device this week, but it wasn’t the one everyone else was getting. I couldn’t hold out any longer: after getting my first iPhone 3GS back in 2009, I finally upgraded to the 4S. There was nothing physically wrong with my old iPhone, but after upgrading and jailbreaking iOS 5.01 back in January my old phone continued to get slower and slower and more frustrating to use.
Windows 8 Consumer Preview
When Microsoft released the Developer Preview of Windows 8 last fall, I played around with it a briefly in a virtual machine but tired of it quickly. Well, now that the Consumer Preview is available for download I decided to give it a serious shot and get a jump on learning my way around Microsoft’s upcoming OS. For the past week I’ve been using it as my main OS at work and here are some of my observations.
Sunspot 1429
March has been a good telescope month so far. The past few evenings have seen Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the moon all gracing the night sky. And during the day, sunspot 1429 has been visible on the surface of the sun. I took my telescope out in the back yard this afternoon and got a decent shot of the latest sunspot.
I know it looks like dust on the lens, but those dark splotches on the lower left side of the sun are actually an active sunspot. Check out Phil Plait’s version that puts the size of the sunspot into perspective!
WIJFR: In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks
In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks is Adam’s comedic gospel of modern America. He rips into the absurdity of the culture that demonized the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, turned the nation’s bathrooms into a lawless free-for-all of urine and fecal matter, and put its citizens at the mercy of a bunch of minimum wagers with axes to grind.
Continuing my break from fiction, after finishing Chris Hardwick I moved on to Adam Carolla and his first book, “In 50 Years We’ll All Be Chicks … and Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy.”
If, like me, you listen to the Adam Carolla podcast (I’ve done so since the first episode), you’ve probably already heard a lot of the ideas, stories, and rants Adam writes about in the book. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining though (if anything it was funnier since as I read, I could hear Adam’s voice in my head).
If you’ve never heard his podcast, or listened to Loveline (back in the day), or seen Adam on “The Man Show,” “Dancing with the Stars,” or, currently, on “The Celebrity Apprentice” (I’m rooting for him to win!) you might still enjoy the book. It’s a humorous look at today’s society that you just might find yourself agreeing with.
Mahalo!
A quick weekend in Miami
My wife had business in Miami this past weekend so my daughter and I tagged along for a quick weekend getaway.
WIJFR: The Nerdist Way
As a lifelong member of “The Nerd Herd,” as he calls it, Chris Hardwick has learned all there is to know about Nerds. Developing a system, blog, and podcasts, Hardwick shares hard-earned wisdom about turning seeming weakness into world-dominating strengths in the hilarious self-help book, The Nerdist Way.
From keeping their heart rate below hummingbird levels to managing the avalanche of sadness that is their in-boxes; from becoming evil geniuses to attracting wealth by turning down work, Hardwick reveals the secrets that can help readers achieve their goals by tapping into their true nerdtastic selves.
Chris Hardwick’s self-help book for nerds, “The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)” was my latest read.
Meh. I like Hardwick’s comedy and enjoy his Nerdist podcast (and TV show) and while the book is a funny (and relatively quick) read, I guess the self-help theme of it didn’t really appeal (or apply) to me.
Security vulnerability in TRENDnet cameras – update now!
If you have a TRENDnet webcam that is accessible over the internet, a serious security vulnerability has been discovered that allows anyone to access the video stream without having to login/authenticate! I got an e-mail from TRENDnet about this earlier in the week, but not everyone registers their products so not everyone may be aware of the problem. Be sure to download the latest firmware update for your camera and apply it ASAP!
Continue reading ‘Security vulnerability in TRENDnet cameras – update now!’ »
Eye-Fi Mobile X2
Since my new Canon PowerShot Elph 300HS required a Class 6 SDHC card to record 1080p HD video and also included native support for the Eye-Fi series of wireless-enabled SD cards, I decided to pick up a new Eye-Fi Mobile|X2 SDHC memory card.
Let’s be up-front about this: you pay a premium for the convenience of built-in WiFi. A regular 8gb Class 6 SDHC card runs about $10 on Amazon whereas the 8gb Mobile|X2 is 8 times that (although keep an eye out for price drops, I got mine for $60). On top of the higher price, you’ll get poorer battery life in your camera (unless your camera supports Eye-Fi cards in their menu system which lets you turn off the wireless sync to save battery life).