Amazon is selling their new Dash Wand for $20 to Prime members. When you register it, you get $20 off your next purchase, so essentially it’s free! It’s out of stock, but was when I ordered mine last week as well. Eight days later it arrived in the mail. Since I left town for vacation I didn’t even get a chance to open the box.
The last couple of times I went to use my multimeter, it wouldn’t read voltages or do a continuity test. I didn’t really need it at those times, so I set it aside. Well, I needed it tonight to diagnose something causing problems in a circuit, so it was time to figure out what was wrong.
After unscrewing the back of the multimeter and looking inside, I noticed there were contacts where each of the cables plug in. I got out some alligator clips to use as test leads and the device worked fine. Then I did continuity tests on the cables and the red one failed.
It was time for some surgery so I hacked the ends off. The wire inside was so small and fragile that it had pulled apart from the probe’s end. I cut a new cable using some silicon wire I bought last week since it’s really flexible compared to the wire I use to build circuits. Soldered the ends back on, put some heat shrink tubing over the connections, and I’m back in business!
Today is the iPhone’s 10th birthday!
I waited in line at the local AT&T store on launch day, but they only received 5 or 10 phones, so I had to place an order. I had been in the audience at MacWorld that January and got to witness Steve Jobs reveal the iPhone to the world.
I can still picture him repeating “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device” as if it were yesterday. The device and watching Jobs on stage were magical in many ways. I got chills from watching the video again.
As a class, programmers are easily bored, love novelty, and are obsessed with various forms of productivity enhancement. God help you if you’re ever caught in the middle of a conversation about nutrition; standing desks; the best keyboards; the optimal screen position and distance; whether to use a plain text editor or a large, complex development environment; chair placement; the best music to code to; the best headphones; whether headphone amplifiers actually enhance listening; whether open-plan offices are better than individual or shared offices; the best bug-tracking software; the best programming methodology; the right way to indent code and the proper placement of semicolons; or, of course, which language is better. And whatever you do, never, ever ask a developer about productivity software.
His hands are swapped on the golf club. There is no way someone can swing like this; human anatomy will not allow it to work. I have to believe it was a poor Photoshop job.
Update: Apparently this is a real thing!
I received the latest Adafruit AdaBox last Thursday and made this unboxing video.
As you may have guessed, AdaBox004 has a music theme. I’m excited because I’ll be using several of these parts in my current project. I need to finish it before the weekend so I guess I better get my ass in gear.
When you lay it out, this one seemed a light compared to the first 3 AdaBoxes, so I added up prices from the Adafruit store. It came to $73 without factoring in the empty white box for making a custom project enclosure, collectible “Boomy” pin, SD card, Make volume 57 signed by LadyAda, and free shipping. Probably about a $90 value for $60 as a subscriber, which is worth it. The $25 Music Maker FeatherWing with the $20 Feather HUZZAH really drove up the price, limiting what else could be included.
If you enjoyed the music in the video, it was released by Adafruit’s in-house musician to go along with this box. Check out “ADABOX004” on SoundCloud. BartleBeats also has a full album I’ve been listening to a lot while working at my hobby desk. “Frequency” is available on SoundCloud or via iTunes.
Next up… this morning I received the tracking info for HackerBox #0020. Note that AdaBox uses a 3 digit identification system, while the HackerBox uses 4 digits. The difference between a quarterly and a monthly subscription I guess.
I don’t remember the last time I bought new golf balls. I’ve written about the topic several times over the years because golf can be an expensive sport. Losing balls on the course can add up really fast if you’re paying retail, especially for the best balls on the market. I’ve played plenty of rounds where I lost 5 or more Titleist Pro V1s, which go for about $4/ball new if you buy a dozen.
All of the tests I’ve seen find very small differences in the performance between new and used golf balls. As a golfer with a 12-15 handicap over the last few years, I doubt I or most of the guys I golf with would be able to tell the difference between new and used balls. After all, a golf ball is only new until you hit it. 😉
My supply was running low, so this time around I decided to try some refinished balls from Foundgolfballs.com. After a 20% off special (which most of these golf ball places seem to constantly run), I picked up 10 dozen Titleist Pro V1x 2014 Mint Factory Refinished No Logos Golf Balls for $144.80 plus free shipping. That’s less that $1.21 per ball for a 70% savings over new balls.
Are you looking for a golf ball that looks and plays just like new, but at half the price of new? With Mint quality refinished golf balls from Foundgolfballs.com, you get a ball with no player or pen marks or other cosmetic damage, no corporate or sports team logos and balls, which play almost like new. Our extensive testing has proven that new balls and factory refinished mint balls have less than 1 yard difference.
The stamping on these isn’t perfect but nobody would ever look close enough to notice unless I said something.
When I bought a new Apple TV (quite awhile ago), I moved the 3rd Generation model to my office where I had a small TV not connected to anything. I’ve rarely used it since, but turned it on a couple of times in the last week to play something from YouTube. After using the new remote with the touchpad for so long, it’s quite a shock to pick up this ancient model. Having to navigate by clicking buttons seems so foreign. Don’t even try to fast forward or rewind to a specific point in a video.
