Sean's projects, musings and general information
I’ll admit it – I’m addicted to google and their services. I use Android, which saves my location history (which helps with my travel reports for work – months later I can see when and where I was), provides me with voice searches and contact management. I am a gmail user since they first announced… Continue Reading When the cloud goes wrong
A quick little thing I did as a weekend project was to connect our washing machine to the Internet. The washing machine is in the basement, three flights below our apartment. On laundry day, we occasionally try to rotate loads too early and end up going downstairs before the previous load is done. The washing… Continue Reading ESP8266 Internet Enabled Washing Machine
November 11 is the beginning of the Karneval Season, and on November 11 I was out with my wife enjoying the partying. I noticed a number of costumes with lights on them, but I was very disappointed in them. They were usually nothing more than a string of Christmas lights wrapped around a body or… Continue Reading Costume
I just got a new Rigol DS2072A Oscilloscope. Â The reason I bought it was because of the ability to unlock it and get the extra features There is a great forum at the eevblog, which is very long and detailed. Â Many people are having trouble with figuring out which way works to generate the keys… Continue Reading Rigol DS2072A Unlock
This is a gripe I had written back in July 2007, but a recent case in 2014 has reminded me of this, and it’s interesting to see things haven’t really changed in 7 years. At work we have a very expensive contract with a vendor, to support their product. Every incident I have opened with… Continue Reading Open Source vs Vendor Support
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/experts-warn-about-security-flaws-in-airline-boarding-passes/2012/10/23/ed408c80-1d3c-11e2-b647-bb1668e64058_story.html The last time we flew home, I got the “random selection” to be extra screened which was very annoying. It started when I went through the security theatre, the agent pointed out that I had a “DDD” printed on my boarding card, which means that I was subjected to additional security checks. This required… Continue Reading Airport Security hole
My local radio station has a web stream, that you can play from their website (www.radiokoeln.de). Their site, in addition to having annoying ads that delay the start of the music, only runs on Adobe Flashplayer. I wanted to be able to play it on my Raspberry Pi from XBMC, which is running an arm… Continue Reading Breaking into your local radio station
A few years ago I had my first sticky toffee pudding. A rich, moist cake drowned in a sea of toffee liquid goodness. How can that be anything but awesome for a sugar junky? This past week, I have been craving this toffee goodness, and decided to Google for a recipe to try. Of course… Continue Reading Baking delights
Ok, so this is my official start to writing in a “public†setting. I enjoy writing a great deal but have never really attempted to put any of my thoughts out there for others to read, other than maybe for a few family members. I’m very good at procrastinating and writing can be a long… Continue Reading Post, the first
Mis-addressed emails is a common occurrence, particularly with one of my first accounts. On any given day I receive two or three emails intended for someone else. Most commonly, I receive welcome emails from mailing lists. But once in a while I get something more interesting. This one, at first glance, seemed like all the… Continue Reading Why you should always know your email address