I try to keep up with technology (emphasis on the try). Here are two that I personally think are worth exploring: 1. ARKit and ARCore Apple’s ARKit is what Project Tango should have been from day one. I’m genuinely impressed at Apple’s implementation of AR and the fluidity of the user experience. ARCore will likely catch up in the next year or two and I expect AR to open new opportunities in the interaction of 3D worlds and objects. Keep an […]
Today I bricked this little drone by flashing the wrong firmware (whoops)! Turns out that the correct board to choose when flashing a new firmware is “OMNIBUS“. Oh well, good opportunity to learn how to take this thing apart. Unplug the camera plug from the side by gently pulling the cable out. Optionally also remove the props (I didn’t) to have more maneuvering space later on. 2. Set the drone on its back, and remove the 8 screws circled below […]
It is indeed possible to mount a GoPro on a Syma X5C. It is however, not ideal, since the Syma X5C is a toy and its payload capacity is limited. But if you’re like me and you like to push the limits of your hardware, this is not going to stop you from trying, is it? 🙂 I used a GoPro Hero3+, but the process should be similar for other models. 1. Reduce the Weight The Syma can’t pull much weight. […]
You can share a terminal session using your Kindle, which means you can use it as an external monitor for text-only applications. You won’t be able to do much web browsing or design work beside ASCII art, but if you’re a coder or a sysadmin, I’m sure this is not really going to bother you. Here’s a brief list of steps required to get this hack working. Jailbreak your Kindle. Install a Terminal application on it so that you can open […]
Have you ever searched for directions on your phone while driving? You probably know how tricky it gets to drive with one hand on the phone. Here’s my hack for the day. It’s a little ugly and it obscures part of the audio player LCD, but I don’t usually read what’s on the LCD anyway. Make sure to check your state/country laws before doing it, as it might not be allowed. Also make sure you place the soft side of […]
If you are a T-Mobile customer and tether your internet connection from your phone, you might have encountered this annoying screen: Now this is a ridiculous effort by T-Mobile to charge you twice for using the data plan that you already paid for. I call it a ridiculous effort because they have no sure way of detecting whether an internet request comes from your phone or from a device connected to it, and this is clearly a way to milk […]
So you have setup your own mail server on Digital Ocean. Everything works great, but for some reason all of your outgoing mail to Gmail’s addresses ends up in the Spam folder. What to do? 1. Check your SPF record SPF is a validation system to detect spoofing and needs to be setup in your DNS records. Fire up the DNS console of your droplet and make sure that you have it setup properly by adding a “TXT” record with the following […]
Today I was shopping for an inexpensive virtual private server. After a little bit of research I ended up finding Digital Ocean. They offer several VPS packages, with the cheapest one priced at $5/month. I was quite surprised to see that $5 would have bought me a month of : 512MB Memory 1 Core Processor 20 GB SSD Disk 1 TB Transfer Pretty neat! On D.O. you can deploy instances (they call them “droplets”) of Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian and CentOS in four different regions (New York, Amsterdam, […]
I recently decided to purchase a Mac Mini to do some mobile app development, after a few years of being away from the mobile app industry. Not surprisingly, it is still costly to purchase Apple hardware. So here are a few things that I discovered while hunting for good deals on used/refurbished Apple products. It’s unlikely that you will find a used bargain on websites like eBay or Amazon. Most Apple products seem to retain their perceived value even after […]
I decided to go for a walk today around the Bagley nature area here in Duluth, MN. It seems as spring is trying to come out, but winter struggles to keep her under. Photos taken with an Android phone and small adjustments done in GIMP.