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So I was bored today and I know how much Matt has enjoyed his Arduino board, so I decided I’d give it a go.  The first project is just a little blinking LED.  Well that got me thinking about all the fun possibilities you can use a blinking LED for, and I thought it would be cool to make it say SOS…everyone knows the Morse Code for SOS, a simple dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot, so it’s easily recognizable.  Well then once I figured out how to code that, I thought “How fun would it be to be able to say ANYTHING with my lovely little blinking LED?”  And this fun little project was born!

I coded every letter and number in Morse code so that all you have to do is change the letters in the loop function to make it say whatever you want!  This is the first thing I’ve ever coded, and if i do say so myself, I think it’s pretty awesome!

Feel free to download the code to use for yourself, and check out my YouTube video saying “Hello World”!

Recently todayshottrends.com posted an article about “Things killed by the Internet.” I found some of the things listed pretty interesting. However I do not think all of these things are completely gone. I just think the internet may have changed the way most people do things. It has played a role in changing the way we operate in general. I propose that most of these things, are not dead. There are things the internet has changed or had an effect on. One example, a lot of people will argue that the world is going paperless. Personally I think it’s a great thing. However it’s not going to happen overnight. What about the way we send information?

STAMPS

In the article, item number one is stamps. Stamps will always be around. There will always be a need for hand delivered hard copies or documents. Especially documents of a sensitive nature (legal documents). Someone out there is always sending something anonymously (not just in acts of terrorism or illegal activity). However I will agree that emailing and buying postage online is very popular. Not to mention how easy and waste-less digital imagery is. Which brings us to number two, faxing.

FAXING

Faxing still happens on a daily bases. We may change how we receive or send our faxes. Emailing may be more efficient for sending images/documents. But there are people in this world, that faxing is still their main form of electronic delivery. Whom will more than likely will send faxes to someone, who will receive it as an email. But it’s not going away anytime soon. A fax is just a phone call away, without a trip to the internet. What about looking up phone numbers?

TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES

The article also listed telephone directories. I would almost agree with this one. However, what if you’re power goes out and you need to call the power company? Unless you have an emergency contact list or the number saved in your cell phone. How are you going to know who to call? I ran into this issue not long ago when my cable/internet went out. I had to find a neighbor with a phone book. When everything is perfect in the world of utilities, I think there is evidence of change in how some people look-up phone numbers. Moving on, next is picture albums.

PHOTO ALBUM

Online picture albums are excellent way to share photos. I just started using Flickr myself. There are also some great photo picture frames that can connect via WiFi to your online photo sharing account. However even with high resolution photo technology, it’s still not a replacement for holding a real photo album. There’s something warm about being able to handle and touch photos. Do you get the same feeling passing a photo frame or iPhone around the coffee table? The internet may have changed how we share photos with people that we’re not geographically close too. But the photo album is not going to go away anytime soon. Too many scrap-bookers out there that agree with me. Speaking of sitting around the coffee table.

WATCHING TELEVISION TOGETHER

The article also suggest that watching television together is non-longer popular. I think the internet may have played a part in why families and friends don’t watch together. But I still think, it hasn’t killed it. It may have enabled more people to watch shows on their own. However it would be very hard to believe that sports fans, not sharing the big game with their friends at the local pub. However the internet combined with the changing family lifestyle, it’s a possible recipe for defeat. But the internet isn’t killing the idea of sharing time in front of the tube altogether. It’s changing the way we get our television programming. At our house, we no longer have cable. Most of what we watch comes from Hulu and we watch it together.

THE MYSTERY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Foreign languages are mysterious, I do agree. I can use online tools to help translate some languages for better understanding. However I’m not comfortable saying, I could use these tools to master these languages. But never the less, even after using translation tools. I still find the meanings of strange words mysterious. I don’t know, it may just be me. Even with years of study, foreign languages are hard to understand. So languages are still mysterious.

NEWSPAPERS

Newspapers are losing their market share to internet media. It’s not new news. However they’re still around. People still want to be able to touch their news. It’s like a book. There is something special about the look and the feel of news print. Not to mention, how easy it is to read pages of news print verses pages of content on screen. As I said earlier with phone books, what are you going to read when the power goes out? Do you want to know something going on in your small town? Your best bet, is to pickup a newspaper. Not a lot of small community news outlets, maintain online editions. It’s not dead yet.

LIBRARY

I can honestly say, I can count how many times I’ve been to a library in the last year on one hand. However I can’t say I wouldn’t go if, I had more time. I’m not much of a reader. But when I do have time. My choices are simple, I can either go online and find an ebook. I could buy a book from an online or offline retailer. My last option would be to go to the library. Which of these three options are free? Well legally and technically only one, the library. Yes, I know there are online libraries. But let’s not go there. The best place to find books and media free is your local library. Librarians, don’t worry about your job being replaced by the net.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

Encyclopedias, I can agree with being nearly dead. I haven’t used an encyclopedia since I was in grade school. You don’t see many sales people for encyclopedias anymore. As much free content available for online. Why would you want to pay for an expensive multiple-volume set of static information? The only response I have is, if you’re wanting a record of a time period. Most internet encyclopedias are dynamic. They’re always changing, as the world changes. But I can only see this for historical reference. My cousin CJ, who is a history buff, he collects encyclopedias. However, I’m not completely sure, why he does. For most people, I would say they’re dead.

PRIVACY

I think this one is a given. There is no room for privacy online. Some information is leaked out. But a lot of private information is given knowingly. One can not be too careful. Before you sign up for something, tweet something, Facebook something or etc, ask yourself “What am I giving out about myself? Am I giving out information that could harm me or my family?” Just some thoughts to ponder. Everything you do and everything you say is indexed. I don’t mean to scare anyone. But it’s the truth. Check your social networking privacy settings and watch what you say or give out.

Final thoughts. The internet is a great tool and force. However it hasn’t completely replaced all of these things. Some people will be late adopters of technology. That’s part of why some of these things still exists. I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this post. I just wanted to state my opinion on this article. Again, the internet has changed the way we do things, not killed old means. Feel free to comment your thoughts.

This morning I sat down to check my email messages. After wading through the near endless sea of WordPress comment spams, I found a email from the Google Team. The email was entitled “Happy Holidays from the Google Team.” I opened it up and it contained a short note thanking us for our commitment to Google during the last year. It also contained a link to this year’s holiday greeting.

Their holiday greeting featured a large rotating globe. The text around globe talks about how the economic downturn has impacted charity organizations. Google has given over $20 million dollars this year to help offset the loss of normal contributions. They also list the charities they’ve helped out.

I am very excited to see such a large company taking the time to help out charities. It’s true, normal contributions are drastically down. Communities and businesses, who were once able to contribute are struggling to stay a float. I commend Google in their efforts to help these charities out. I encourage other large companies like Google to follow in their foot steps as well.

I challenge you, my reader as well. Take a moment to review some of the following charities (some links provided). If there is a charity that you or someone you know can contribute too, please do. I am not asking you to give out of your pocket when you are unable to. Only give if you can. I know my wife and I are not at a point where, we’re able to give. However, I feel I’m helping out by sharing this post. Feel free to pass this message along.

Google’s Holiday Greeting 2009

Here are a list of links to some of the charities mentioned by Google, that we are familiar with.

Feeding America
Boys and Girls Clubs
World Wildlife Fund
Smile Train
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Harlem Children’s Zone
Save the Children
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
The Mango Tree

I just installed Windows 7 64 Bit on my work laptop yesterday. Everything has been working great. However when I pulled up my system information (right click on Computer from the start menu, the left click on Properties). I noticed some funny stuff. You can see in my screenshot above that the number for Dell support is “1-800-Call-India”. I hate to burst your bubble, but it isn’t. How did that get there? Hah! I found a registry hack to change this info. Very easy to do.

In Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft made it very easy for OEM system builders to display support information and logos. Deep in the Windows system registry there are some settings for this information. You don’t have to retain the current OEM logo. You can change the information to whatever you might like. In my case I thought a little humor was in order. Where is this info?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation

If your install is a retail version, you may need to add some keys to OEMInformation. Logo (path of logo file), Manufacturer, Model, SupportURL, SupportHours and SupportPhone are the keys that you can use. All keys are strings. Note on the logo, you are limited to 120 x 120 pixel size imagine and it must be in 24bit bitmap format (bmp). Edit the registry at your own risk!

Listen up cheap gamers!  Intel Core i5′s are out today! The Core i7 may be out of reach for most of us. But even a budget builder can afford a Core i5. The difference? How about a hundred bucks and no hyper-threading?

The Core i5 750 debuts today at the street price of  $209. So what’s in the blue box for a little over 200 bucks? Well first of all. It’s a quad core processor running at 2.66 ghz. Integrated memory controller for dual channel DDR 3 ram. This processor also features a built in PCI Express controller. Top it all off with 8 mb L3 cache. Wow, I just geeked a little bit. But there’s a lot to be excited about.

What? Matt I thought you were a AMD guy.

Well although I have loyalty to the AMD processors, this is the first time in a long time that Intel has released a decent cheap processor. Especialy one that doesn’t end in ‘ron’. However I would gladly throw money down on another AMD product. I’m all about the cheap horsepower.

What would it take to switch? Unless you’re already running a Core i7 you’re gonna have to buy a new motherboard. The Core i5 uses the LGA 1156 socket and the P55 chipset. But I don’t see any Core i7 owners downgrading. However if you’re using an older chip you can take advantage of the new technology.

One last con is the lack of full bandwidth to the PCI-Express controller while using multiple video cards. However while using a single card you have access to the full bandwidth to the chip. This may be a issue for some of you out there. But I’m a big fan of the one card wonder gaming rig.

It may be a little early to tell what gamers make of the chip. I haven’t seen any official benchmarks. But I’m sure its going to give AMD a run for its money. Below is a link to Tiger Direct’s listing for the Core i5.  You can check out more details and retail info about this new exciting cheap chip!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=5210397&sku=I69-1750

I’ve noticed a trend with Youtube with unboxing videos. Videos that feature people unboxing new products or toys. Sounds boring. But I’ve found a few interesting points to why these videos are gold.

Point one. Level of detail. Have you ever been excited about a product and could not find enough detail about it online? Unboxing videos may show detail that you can’t see otherwise. You get the opportunity to see a “real” person display the product in a non-advertising environment. The product may be shown without all the visual effects and non-glorified light.

Point two. All packaging contents exposed. If you have a question as to whats included in the contents, check out an unboxing video. Generally most people feature everything they pull out of the box. You can get a sense for the level of packaging and durability for shipping. If a product wasn’t packed well or didn’t include something. Then this is a good way to find out before you buy.

Point three. Non-biased opinion optional. If the video is not featured by a vendor or sponsoring organization you may get a good idea for the product. Keep in mind there is still room for biased opinion. As the person may be a super fanboy  or promoter of the product. But still its a real video of the real product. Never the less, you will get their comments and feedback.

The example below is a person unpacking a Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet. Don’t forget to checkout other unboxing videos for more information about your favorite products.

Tonight I went to check out whats hot on Twitter. “#songincode” is what I found. Apparently what started as a few guys messing around at work, has sprang into popularity on Twitter. Geeks and non-geeks alike are sharing verses from their favorite songs through computer programming code. Any language is accepted. I did a few of them earlyer. You can check out some of my work on the Twitter feed (right sidebar). You can also checkout some of the current #songsincode tweets with the live feed embedded below.

#songsincode – Twitter Search:

• @codepo8 http://t.co/i9lRceW5Ht Just saw this so knocked this up #songsincode

• mylizard.addEventListener(‘squeeze’, function(ev){ if (ev.target === you) { mysnake.put({location: getlocation(you)})}}); #songsincode

• if(music == love.food()) { while(!(this.filled_with_joy())) { std::cout lt;lt; “Sing on!” lt;lt; std::endl; } } #songsincode

• vectorlt;stringgt;Diamonds; vectorlt;stringgt;::iterator it; for(it = Diamonds.begin(); it != Diamonds.end(); ++it) (*it) = “forever”; #songsincode

Live Twitter Feed – mattkendrick.com is not responsible for content.

Oleophobic is a new word for me. How about you? What does it mean? Well apparently it describes type of coating they put on the new iPhone 3GS. The oleophobic coating helps make the iPhone’s touch surface finger-print resistant. The oils from your fingers and has tend to leave residue on the phone’s surface. Which can cause the coating to wear off. You can help prevent this by cleaning the surface regularly with a soft cloth. Apple recommends to keep the phone out of extreme temperature environments. Other words, don’t leave it in your car during the summer or winter.

Free Dictionary:

Adj. 1. oleophobic – lacking affinity for oils
oleophilic – having a strong affinity for oils rather than water

Look it up! http://www.thefreedictionary.com/oleophobic

Well there’s your new word for today. Impress your friends.

We’re all looking for ways to save money. My wife and I have decided it’s time to reduce our entertainment expenses at home. Looking at what we spend on home entertainment (books,movies,tv, etc) there didn’t seem to be much we could live without. However after looking at our cable bill it seemed to be apparent that we’re spending $50 bucks a month for extended basic cable.

With as much video content available on the web today, why pay for cable? Most of the major networks (ABC,CBS,etc) are putting their shows online. Shows aired the previous evening are online for viewing the next day. Simply shift your viewing schedule a night ahead and you’re still keeping track of your favorite shows. The best part is you’re in control of when you watch.

Services such as Hulu and Joost have made it extremely easy to find content. Hulu just recently launched a desktop application for Windows and Mac. Hulu Desktop gives you the look and feel of using a DVR. You can find, watch, pause, rewind and fast forward through content. Boxee is another option we’re testing. Boxee allows you to access content on Hulu and other sites as well. Boxee can also play media files stored on your machine. Both pieces of software are sleek and easy to use. Best of all, “Free!”

Our final step was to decide how to get the content on our tv. Luckily our home computer is right next to our tv. With a video card with TV-OUT you can easily pipe video into your tv. You can also channel the audio from your sound card to complete the audio/video experience. What about a remote control? Well you could go out and buy a Media Center remote and use that. However we’re on a budget. We already own a Wii. As you may not know, the Wii Remote uses Bluetooth technology.

Using a Bluetooth adapter on my PC we were able to get the Wii Remote to communicate with it. An application called GlovePIE allowed us to map the buttons however we pleased. Now we can control Hulu Desktop and Boxee with the Wii Remote from the confort of my couch. We can even play emulated games using our Wii peripherals.

Now you have it. We’ve found a sound alternative to paying for cable tv. A total yearly savings of $600 without missing out on our favorite shows. Are you ready to cut the cord?

Buffalo TeraStation Pro™ II

Data storage is a mission critical part of any business. I’ve found a data storage device that has severed my clients needs very well. Allow me to share with you the benefits of the Buffalo TeraStation Pro II. This unit is a small network attached storage unit. It holds four drives that can be configured for RAID 0,1,5,10 and JOBD. These units are available  in various sizes from 1TB to 6TB of storage space. Setup and configuration is a snap. You can manage the device via a built web interface. This unit is very quiet, you’ll never even know it’s there.

My experience with this NAS has been very positive. I first came in contact with this unit when one of the departments at work needed a file server of their own. Rather looking at building/configuring a full file server, I turned to looking at a NAS. I surfed the net and read a few reviews. I’ve used some of Buffalo’s products before and had good results. So I decided to try it out.

The unit came with an ethernet cable, manual and software. I connected it to the network and ran the software on a remote PC. Within minutes I was able to connect to the device and configure the RAID. I chose RAID 5 for speed and redundancy. Then setup shares for the users to connect and store files on. I transferred what files they needed onto the box and the rest was history. The unit is now over a year old and haven’t had any issues. The environment is a mixed with PCs and MACs without any issues. I have also setup remote FTP on the box as well. All has been flawless.

Since installing this box, I’ve recommended this NAS to other clients. There has been one failure, out of the units I’ve setup. The device reported a failed drive and operated in degraded mode. A quick call to Buffalo and a new replacement drive was sent under warranty. However, thanks to the redundancy of RAID, no data loss or downtime was experienced. There are a few features I haven’t mentioned, but I wanted to share my experience with this device. You can read more about it at http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/terastation/terastation-pro-ii/.