Raspberry Pi Lego Box

So, this is nothing new. I was looking for some kind of a case for my Raspberry Pi, and came across one that was made from Lego’s. And since Lego’s are the shit, I decided to get mine from my parents place, and build one. Only to find out that after years of never moving, they've disappeared. Luckily, I have an awesome wife that found a generic Lego kit online.

So now, I’m ready to begin...

In my need to organize everything, I put all the blocks together to make it easier to find them. What I had forgotten as a kid, is that new Lego’s don’t come apart easily once they’re put together. If you were anal retentive, like I am, you may need to get a razor blade to separate them again. Just be careful not to scratch them. Or cut yourself. (This is my only public service announcement, so listen up!)

The kit I have came with a base for building on. It’s a little big for the Pi, but I was planning on adding random stuff to the box anyway. I started by getting an outline of the Pi, to see where openings are required for the cables. The cables seem to come out of every end on the Raspberry Pi. Something I wish they would have thought of when they designed it. (Maybe I’ll see about moving them on my next mod.) Once I had an outline of the Pi, I found that it does not sit flat. To fix this, I added a couple of supports. (The flat red Lego’s in the picture.) In order to not crush the solder points, I set these supports in very specific places.

Once this was done, I just built up the walls around the Pi. Even with 405 pieces, this is harder than it sounds. (Unless you don’t care if it fits nicely.) Again, all the cables are jutting out of every end. Even though I’m not using the lower quality connections, I chose to not cover them up. I also decided to add a window where the USB ports are, so I can easily get to them if I ever need to. This was a good way to keep them accessible, without leaving a huge hole in one end. It’s bad enough the Ethernet connection requires such a large hole. I also decided I wanted access to the SD chip for swapping. (I like the idea of booting whatever I want, just by changing out SD cards.) I also added a couple of pieces to hold the Pi down. Once the walls were tall enough to allow for it, I added pieces that just barely went over pieces of the Pi that would not break if rattled around. Just be sure not to squish it together too tight. You don’t want to crush any capacitors or solder points.

Once the walls were tall enough, I just added a roof. After the roof, I was able to add some other random pieces for looks. The best part about using Lego’s for this project? I can rebuild it over and over again. =)

As a side note, my Raspberry Pi is running RASPbmc. It streams media from MediaTomb off my Ubuntu server in the office. I'm thinking of setting up another SD card to boot into a gaming console. Any suggestions?

Social Media isn't making me money!

I was reading this article on VentureBeat about how much a tweet is worth compared to Yelp, (and by reading I mean I saw the pretty infographic), when I got the urge to spew my views on Social Media and how it's misconstrued. Here are my random thoughts on Social Media being profitable.

Social media, like all products, must be directed/adopted to fit what the demographic wants. Not what the founder/Creator thinks it should be. Twitter can't be a tool for selling a service/product like yelp can, if users don't use it in that way. I use Twitter for nothing more than a news aggregate, and to feed my Facebook posts. So for someone like me, the only profit you'll make is if your tweet is good enough to get me to click the link to your page. Then, your page still has to have the standard sales/marketing items to catch my attention and get that ever elusive click. (This is greatly simplified, but I'm not writing a how-to for people.)

Facebook on the other hand is much easier, because people trust input from friends and family more than an ad online. Or a tweet from a random site/company. (Even a relevant one). Once one person hits that like button, it grows exponentially as their friends see it in their feed and also hit the like button, or comments. Of course, you've still got to get that "Like" in the first place.

I have no experience with Pinterest yet, but can see great potential here for brand recognition. As users pin items, it goes through their Facebook feed, and thus grabs the power behind Facebook as well.

I know, none of this explains how to make money on these site. The answer is, to go hire someone that knows what they are doing to train you on it. (Not to do it for you.) As I said before, this isn't a how-to article. (Those will be on http://geekhome101.com if I ever get it going.)

Foursquare however, can be highly annoying and should be used only to tell your friends what bar you're at, so they can join you. No one cares if you're at the bank or seeing your Dentist... /rant
I understand the benefits of Foursquare. I just don't care for them.

The Squad that Plays together...

...stays together

Double Agent 323, Special Agent 1953, and COA of Precinct 120.
I felt something more than just a simple picture with my badge was in order. The Geek Squad was more than just a job for me. It gave me some of my best friends.
I am Sleeper Agent 323. (Left) Looking back, the Geek Squad and Robert Stephens gave me much more than I ever imagined possible. At first it was just a job that some manager at Best Buy offered me. It quickly became a lifestyle. Robert Stephens taught me that there's no reason to settle. Dream it, then make it happen. A state of mind that I try to stay true to, every day of my life.

Bug in bug

The friendships forged from my years with the Geek Squad were very rewarding for me. I recently married @jenpwns, our COA at the time, this last year. (Pictured top right) My best man, Special Agent @rcudia. Literally, "the best man" as he says. (OK, I'll give you this one Ryan. Live on teh interwebs.)

Busted

Each of us have excelled since we were all with the Geek Squad. Special Agent Ryan Cudia has moved up the ladder from a simple CIA position into the best Agent Sonoma County has ever seen. His new wedding DJ business has already become the #1 choice in their area. (OK, I don't know the stats, but so what. Hire them. http://alongmusic.net ) Jen and I have our own projects in the pipes as well. With the success of http://baconbag.com and the soon to be released http://tapthatbeerapp.com , as well as other endeavors, we're well on our way to our own form of World Domination!

Could we have reached the same place we are today, without Geek Squad? Perhaps, but then we would not be together. And that is a way of life I would not want to be part of.
Thank you Robert Stephens, for all you have taught us. We will never forget it. And while some may be sad to hear of your departure from Geek Squad, I for one can't wait to see what you do next.

Save the Soap!

This may seem like an out of place article for me, but I have this habit of analyzing things around me and attempting to find a way to improve them. Optimize, if you will. I do this all day at work, with computer issues and office policy. I also tend to do the same with things and even people in my life. (I have yet to break the "social interactions of people" code, but I will.) Like most of you out there, I hate wasting money. I'd much rather spend my money on what I want, not on what I deem as waste.

 

I noticed that the soap always has that little left over piece that always ends up going down the drain, or accumulating in the soap dish, making a mess. Nothing new here, many of you may have already noticed this, and dealt with it in your own way, but here's what I do.

Once the soap gets to be a smaller size, you can "glue" it to a new soap bar. To do this, I've noticed it works better when the old soap piece is still a useable size and not wait until it's a bunch of little chunks.

Fit the two together as closely as possible. Obviously, this works best for curved bars, but play around with it until you find the best fit. Now suds up the two pieces with them in place. (The more suds lathered up, the better.)

This will dry and the two pieces will be glued in place, so you never waste a piece of soap again. Now, there are a few more tactics to this trick. Once you have the two pieces suds up, use your finger to rub the suds on the edge of the smaller piece of soap until it smooth’s against the larger. If your old soap breaks before you get to combine it, or while attempting to combine it, just “glue” these two pieces in the same way.

A little excessive maybe, but then I hate inefficacy and waste. As I said before, many of you may have your own ideas on this. If so, or on any related topics, I’d love to hear them. Please leave your feedback in the comments below. 

Where's my on-demand XM radio?

Earlier this week, I was stuck listening to FM in one of our work vans, while commuting to a job. There is nothing on FM worth listening to. Once in a great while a song that I like might come on, but most of the time I’m scanning the airwaves for something that doesn’t annoy me. Most of what I heard, was commercials and “light” music, because all the stations are too “PC” to play good music.

Usually, I’ll listen to a specific CD or XM in the car. But even these are limited. A CD only holds so much, and I still have no control over what XM plays. (But at least XM isn’t afraid to play real music.)

So here I was, listening to some light rock station in the Bay Area wishing I could listen to my personal collection of music. Of course, I could listen to last.fm or the music I have on my cell phone, but that would have killed my battery. I found myself wishing XM offered a monthly fee to listen to my music through their services and devices.

So how about it XM? Offer a service that allows me to sync my collection of MP3’s with your service. Then, the XM radios could be setup to brows these MP3’s like I would on my MP3 player or cell phone. So I would have on-demand music that I liked. Not a station that plays what it wants, not a streaming service of random music like Pandora or Last.fm, but my music on-demand anytime I’m in my car or have my XM radio with me.

With more and more car stereo’s coming out with things like Pandora on them that stream music for free, XM has got to step up to the plate and give me a reason to pay for their service. Just think about it. All the benefits of having your MP3 player in the car, without having to cart around extra cables/adapters or getting crappy sound out of your cell phone.

Preparing for Tahoe Tech Talk – Complete with PDF Checklist

The Tahoe Tech Talk Conference is less than a month away now and I want to make sure I’m prepared to get the most out of it. Thanks to @JenPwns for turning me onto the article “Things to Pack for a Conference” by Shawn Collins. The article was written back on August 5, 2009 and was a checklist for organizing and getting packed for the Affiliate Summit East 2009. A good read with most everything you would need for that conference, but we’re not going to that conference.

Together, we added some other things you may want to prep beforehand, as well as some questions we still had. Hopefully, this will help others, and if you have anything to add, please add it to the comments below as others may find it useful. This may seem a little over the top, but we wanted to get the most out of this experience. A simplified version of the checklist can be found here in PDF format.

Prepare today.

If you haven’t already, these are the things you may want to do right away. Even though the conference isn’t for a couple of weeks, these items can be done now, so you do not have to worry about them last minute.

Research the Speakers

The first thing we did was to follow the speakers on Twitter. I only know about half of them, so I wanted to learn about who I was going to be listening to. I also browsed over their sites and read a few of the articles they have posted.

Make Preparations to put your Day to Day on Hold

Shawn Collins recommended making preparations to put your day-to-day on hold. (Auto reply emails, voicemail, etc.) As this is only a short conference, I will just deal with emails/etc. after the conference and before the casino.

Verify Websites have Updated Information

We also decided that we didn’t want to pitch one thing, just to have something else live on our sites. I recommend going through and updating all your personal sites, Facebook, Twitter, or anything else you can think of with current, professional information. Try and Google your name/product/idea to make sure you haven’t missed something. (I completely forgot I had a LinkedIn account, for example.) Update avatars, designs, contact information, etc. Especially on your site that you are pitching if it exists. Have your 15 second elevator pitch ready to go. Don’t leave this until the last minute. You may even want to have some business cards made up, if you don’t already have some.

Don’t forget to grab.

These are a few items you will want to grab before you leave. Many of these may seem obvious, but they can easily be forgotten.

Pack Any and All Necessary Chargers

In Shawn’s article, he recommends your camera, phone, and their chargers. My phone is my camera, so I’m good there. I did confirm with the hotel that they do not have a charging station, so it is very important you have some way to charge these items. (Maybe someone that has stayed here before can confirm this, or has another option.)

Laptop and Accessories

You may also want to bring a laptop for use in the room, an external hard drive for storage, and some way to take notes in the conference. (I’d recommend Dropbox for backup and a notebook like in this Lifehacker article.)Remember an Ethernet cable, cable to transfer pictures from camera/phone, and maybe even a power strip. The hotel only has wireless available in the rooms, and that goes for $10.95 for 24 hours, so bring an air card if you have one.

Important Paper Documents

You will also want to grab all your important ID’s, credit cards, and documents such as your hotel/flight confirmations. Many of you will have access to these on your phone, but this is Tahoe, not Vegas. Don’t be surprised if they require a hard copy. Shawn also recommends in his article, to remember extra paper and pens for notes. Even though I have not stayed in this hotel before I’ve found all hotels to be rather generous with these items, as long as you don’t mind the hotel logo on them. If you wait, it’s less you will have to pack with you.

Once you arrive.

When you first arrive and check in, you may want to prep your room a bit before hitting up registration and the cocktail reception. Cash for drinks, snacks for the room, water, and your hangover cure of choice are a good idea. Pain killers, mints, and maybe even energy drinks. I like to confirm there is coffee in the room, as well as a nearby Starbucks or something.

You will also want to get the conference agenda, which will be available at the registration I’m sure or you can view it at http://tahoetechtalkconf.com. At the registration, you will want to remember any new people you meet. Speakers or otherwise. Lifehacker posted a good article on this. Shawn’s article also talks about planning out your goals, who you want to meet, and where you want to go. I’m not sure how this is accomplished, as I know who I would like to meet, but I don’t know the conference protocol for such things. He also talks of bringing courage. That’s what the cocktails are for, right?

After hours.

Remember, you’re in Tahoe at a casino. No need to wall off yourself in your room. Have fun and relax. Even if I don’t get anything out of this conference, I intend to make the best of it and have a good time. You will want to check into the night life around the area. If nothing else, a good place to eat dinner afterwards. The obvious choice is the casino, but that may not be for everyone. The hotel also offers the Vex night club and the Cliché bar and grill. What will you be doing?

Questions?

Some questions I personally still have, that some of you may be able to answer.

• What if you have multiple projects/startup ideas? Should you concentrate on just one, or put together a 15 second pitch for each?
• What expectations should you have going into this? Should you expect to get a chance to present your idea, or just gather information on how to take your next steps?

Hotel Contact Info

Harrah's Lake Tahoe

15 Hwy 50, Stateline, NV

Phone Number: 775-588-6611 (Direct to hotel.)

See through trucks.

Ever get stuck behind one of those big trucks that you can never see around? You try inching over to see around it, only to almost take out a motorcycle with your mirror. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just see though them?

I had this idea. What if you could look through these large trucks? They have rear view cameras on large motor homes. Why not reverse that camera? Put it on the front of the truck and pull the monitor from the dash, to the rear of the truck?

Maybe mount a fair sized display inside the rear door. Just above eye sight? The camera would be mounted on the front in such a way, that when traffic begins to stop in front of the truck, you’ll know in advance.

Of course, you would have to figure out how to keep it from being stolen, or someone spraying graffiti all over it. But I just come up with the ideas. I usually give it to Ryan or Jen to implement.

Poor Economy and the Service Industry.

This economy has hit many sectors pretty hard. I'm constantly hearing about friends getting laid off from their jobs, friends of friends that got fired, significant others out of work, and employees getting no hours at an hourly job.

Today, we had to let a coworker go in my department. Not just a coworker, but a friend. Now, I know times are tough and this recession is making it difficult for most companies to get by, but in the service industry, "service" is key. If you don't offer the "service" to the client that they expect, you don't have a client.

The company I work for, and more specifically the department, offers IT technical support both on-site and remotely. Our client's are far from computer literate and take a great deal of hand holding to get through the simplest of tasks.

Today, the company had no choice in letting this coworker go. We are feeling the economical crunch, this employee was a recent hire, and the availability was not there. I understand these reasons, and agree that there was no other choice as of today. Having said that, I believe this could have been avoided if it was addressed before today.

As I said before, we offer on-site and remote tech support. When we are not on-site or billing for remote support, we are in the red. We have been slow the last few months, but we've kept our head above the water longer than most. This means we had time to better asess the situation and prepare for this. We knew it could happen, because it was happening all around us. I believe management completely dropped the ball. Rather than being proactive and calling clients to see how everything was going and if there was any service we might provide, they hoped for business to pick up. Hope is good, but it doesn't pay the bills.

Now, you may think that management would let the worst employee or the over paid employee go. Not in this case. This employee was neither of those and was in fact willing to work after hours, weekends, and showed a level of dedication that even management lacks. This employee could show the utmost level of patience with the clients, while completing other tasks. You never had to ask twice when you needed a task done, the clients never felt talked down to, and this individual also came up with ideas to improve and organize the company; thus saving money in a more substantial way than laying off a part time employee.

I guess I'm just ranting here, but I was hired at this company to turn things around. And now that we finally have most of the holes filled, like building a compitent staff, management turns around and starts doing things the old way. How can you fix something when the "powers that be" wont let you?

In the IT service industry, you have to keep on top of things. Otherwise, you get left behind. An IT company cannot run like it did 5 years ago (it can't even run like it did 2 years ago). If management doesn't get on the ball, we will be left behind.

Multiplayer Console Gaming

There's no better way to game, than to game with friends. I remember my friends and I playing the first Halo for days on Xbox. Sadly, however, those days seem to be coming to an end.


Multiplayer games seem to be moving away from the split screen and moving to online game play. All new games, on Xbox 360 or Sony PS3, are being released with a max of two players per console. This means, I have to gather multiple TV's and consoles in order to play with 3 of my friends.And while, we can always play online together, it's not quite the same as hanging out with them in person.


Don't get me wrong. The advancement of these games have come so far so fast, that the consoles can't really support 4 players at a time. I love the new graphics, physics engines, and huge online multiplayer experiance. But at the cost of that personal interaction?


With the local multiplayer match, I get to see my buddies face when I pwn him with the butt of my rifle. And him accusing me of screen cheating. (Excusses... Excusses...)


You would think that game developers would be able to find a happy medium someplace. I mean, do they think gamers don't have friends IRL? I'd gladly give up some of the graphics to be able to see my friends frustration when I lob a grenade at his feet.


I guess I just have to buy another Xbox and a second Gears of War....

Microsoft TechNet Newsfeed Widget

Mac vs. PC

I'm sure we all have our own opinions on this subject. Some prefer PC... some prefer Mac...
I get client's asking me this question all the time, so I figured I would put my answer online for all to see.

...and maybe even throw a few facts out there. =)

My official answer is, to get what is right for you. What do You need your machine to do for You?

• Do you need to game like there's no tomorrow? Then you probably need a PC.
• Do you use Photoshop and do web development? Most podcasts I see, they're on a Mac.

My current job uses Mac Pro's for their servers. This means I have recently had to get used to the Apple environment. I can honestly say that if you have been using one environment and then move to the other, it will be frustrating at times. I can't tell you how many times the Ctrl-C keyboard combo still gets me.

"But there's no viruses on Apple." People who say this, scare me. There are infections for Mac. These are not as prevalent because Mac is only a small percentage of the platforms out there. If Mac was the juggernaut out there, then it would have all the infections.

As you have probably guessed, I use a PC. (No, I did NOT say "I'm a PC." =/ ) I can't justify almost $1k for a refurbished Mac notebook. (And that wouldn't help my Microsoft stock anyway.)

/rant

...and that's all I have to say about that!
Oh wait, it's been 2 years since I've posted to this.
I guess I'm not one to talk about myself. (Online at least.)

OK. So I'm watching Tekzilla...
And the subject of formatting your Windows box comes up. These people that format Windows once a year, know just enough to get themselves into trouble. There is rarely a reason to format your Windows machine. The best thing about Microsoft, is the fact that you can fix ANY issue that arises. My rule of thumb, if you have to format your box, you gave up. (I give up from time to time out of pure laziness.)
I know, I know. There are always exceptions to the rule... I have client's with machines that they use for 2 to 3 apps tops and no local data. When something goes wrong, formatting and installing these apps are often the best solution. (Time is money.)
The fact of the matter is, I find the Apple OS requires it more often. Maybe I just need to try harder and not give up. =)

...and so it begins...

So this is my first blog post. I hope the spell check works on this thing....