I’ve done enough hiking, mountain biking, and bicycle touring to be able to get a GPS signal on my iPhone 3G (OS 3.1.2), but no map showing my position due to a lack of a cellular connection. While an iPhone is no substitute for a “real” GPS, it would still be nice to have the [...]
Posts under ‘Tech’
Using Two Routers with One Internet Connection
This new project all started when I bought an internet capable Blu-ray player for the downstairs TV. Rather than get a player with a wireless internet connection, I saved money by getting one with a wired connection. So how to get the ethernet cable to the player? My DSL modem is in the garage, and [...]
New TV, Blu-ray Player(s), and Netflix!
Regular readers of this space know I’m not a big TV watcher. In fact, when I was home alone for a week, the TV didn’t even get turned on once! So I’ve been able to keep my TV/landline/internet monthly payments to a minimum. At home the network channels come in crystal clear with a digital [...]
VW Tail/Brake Light Replacement Fiasco
Not too long ago I noticed that the two left tail/brake light bulbs on the Volkswagen Passat were burned out. I went to the auto parts store and popped out the burned out bulb to look for some identifying markings. They were Phillips bulbs, but the auto parts store had only Sylvania bulbs. So after [...]
Quick Review of Various iPhone External Batteries
I love my iPhone, but it can really suck down battery juice with heavy use. Most of the time I’m close enough to a computer during the day for me to use a USB cable to keep the battery topped off. But I decided to get a few external batteries for those other times. The first [...]
Setting up Yet Another Webcam
Well, not exactly. Remember my older post about installing a new webcam for the cabin backyard because the old webcam overheated, resulting in blurry optics? Today I found a use for the old webcam – placing it above the garage door to check for snow in the driveway and street. It’s pretty helpful to know in advance how [...]
Review of BikeBrain (Archived from 2001)
Bike Brain – for Palm handheld PDAs – product review (no longer available – review archived from 2001) I just received BikeBrain as a gift last week, and I thought I’d give some first impressions. BikeBrain is program that is run on a Palm-series handheld organizer that provides basic cyclocomputer functions and ride routing. It [...]
How I Blogged Bicycling Across the USA in 2001
(This page was originally written in 2001 to describe the setup I used on my cross-USA bicycle tour. The content on this page is now hopelessly out of date, but archived for historical interest. My modern day version of this setup is described in an another blog post.) When I travel, or go on multi-day [...]
Alternative to Evite: Facebook or Socializr?
I recently had occasion to invite coworkers and other friends to an event, enough for me to want to use a site like Evite. But I’ve always been annoyed when receiving Evite invitations at work. That is not because the link in the message from Evite is blocked by my employer – I can’t blame [...]
The Cabin Webcam – Reloaded
In a previous blog entry from December 2008, I described how I made an outdoor enclosure for an indoor Panasonic webcam at my mountain cabin. Since the camera was rated for operation down to 40F and exposure down to 32F, I added insulation inside the enclosure to keep the camera warm. This worked well in [...]