Sep 15 2015

Big Sale On These Ear Buds

There’s a big sale on these ear buds. How big? 85%. Amazon Lightning Deal, meaning it’ll end soon.
Price: $119.99
**With Deal: $17.50 Free Shipping for Prime Members**
You Save: $102.49 (85%)
Caveat Buyor: I have NO IDEA if these ear buds are any good. They are, however, inexpensive, at least until the deal ends.

Amazon.com: iQualTech Earphones For Iphone – Ceramic Sculpted Earphones With Microphone For Handsfree Calling And Remote Earphones Black: Electronics

Source: Amazon.com: iQualTech Earphones For Iphone – Ceramic Sculpted Earphones With Microphone For Handsfree Calling And Remote Earphones Black: Electronics


Jun 04 2015

Avengers Age of Ultron Science Fact?

There’s a bit in Avengers Age of Ultron that involves a machine that prints skin. (I’m simplifying.) This technology even leads to the creation of a really cool character. (I won’t say which one in case you haven’t seen the movie yet. Although if not, what exactly have you been doing with your time? I mean, sheesh.) It would appear that what I thought was mere science-fiction is becoming science fact.

(The photo below has nothing to do with this post. But it could one day! 3-D Eyeball Printers!)

Deutsch: Zentrale Heterochromie: Grüne Iris, u...

Deutsch: Zentrale Heterochromie: Grüne Iris, um die Pupille herum jedoch ein braun-gelber Ring (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

L’Oreal is working on a 3-D printer that can print human skin.

“Print” should probably be in quotes. Basically they’re using a machine to create skin cells to replace human skin that’s burned or otherwise damaged. Read the Wired article for more.

Eventually, of course, this same technology could be used to create an entire body. For now that’s science-fiction instead of science fact. But who knows what the future holds.

h/t Top Tech Blog (via Scott Adams. Yes, the Dilbert guy. He blogs about interesting stuff and has other folks blogging about interesting stuff on his behalf.)

Source: Inside L’Oreal’s Plan to 3-D Print Human Skin | WIRED


Jul 31 2014

How To Rotate Video in OSX (Tips)

We’re putting together our post about this year’s Crown Royal Your Hero’s Name Here 400, and needed to know how to rotate video in OSX. It’s not that difficult, but it’s also not as easy as it should be, so we thought we’d share this lil’ tech tip in case you need it.

DaddyTips Tip

Basically, the default free Quicktime player in current versions of OSX does not offer a Rotate Video option. For that you need to use Quicktime 7 Pro, which is not free. I bought a license years ago back when I used Windows. (Before the dark times… Before the Empire… Actually, I prefer Macs, but what the hell. Any excuse to use a quote from the late great Sir Alex Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Geek Gold Card.)

Apple’s online store lists Quicktime 7 Pro in both Mac and Windows flavors.

There are probably free ways to rotate a video in OSX — iMovie perhaps, or some open-source/freeware option. There are generally more free options available for Windows users than for iHoles such as myself. Using QT7 Pro is simply a very, very easy way to do it.

Bonus tip: if you bought a license to Quicktime 7 Pro back in the Jurassic era like I did and still have the code, you may be able to use it to unlock the software on your newer Mac. No guarantees, your mileage may vary, caveat code-enterer. But it’s worth a try.

If anyone reading this has a tip for rotating video on any operating system — OSX, Windows, Linux, BeOS, OS2/Warp, something even more obscure — please share it in the comments. It takes a village, folks.

How do I rotate video? | Apple Support Communities.


Jul 17 2014

Texas Instruments “Little Professor” Math Game Calculator (I Had This)

Futzing around on eBay I stumbled into the Vintage Calculators category. (Don’t ask.) I found something that I used to have – the Texas Instruments Little Professor Math Game Calculator.

Texas Instruments

This thing was totally fun. It played little math games, and worked as a calculator, which meant you could do stuff like spell out words with numbers. Keep in mind that we’re talking about 1976; technology didn’t have to do as much to seem impressive.

If you’re interested in buying one of these, maybe to show your kids what used to pass for an iPad Mini, this particular calc is listed on eBay for $18.00 plus shipping.

Working Vintage 1976 Texas Instruments “Little Professor” Math Game Calculator | eBay.


May 11 2014

Smaller Raspberry Pi Has Us All Excited About Kids And Computers Again

I’ve said before that the tiny little computer called Raspberry Pi could create a generation of tinkerers. Now there’s an even SMALLER version of the Raspberry Pi.

(Note: this photo below is of the original Raspberry Pi, not the new one. But isn’t it cool looking?)

Lovely single-board computer running Linux and...

Lovely single-board computer running Linux and capable of HD video with a price-point making it very disruptive. Seen here at TransferSummit 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So how small is the new Raspberry Pi? It fits in a DIMM slot. In other words, it’s the size of a stick of RAM. Which is very much not big. It’s quite small. Read more »


Apr 01 2014

Neil Armstrong Says The World Needs Nerdy Engineers

In our ongoing effort to get more excited about space travel and all things space science-y, here is a video from Universe Today in which Neil Armstrong says the world needs more nerdy engineers.

Universe Today (UT… actually, I don’t want to use that abbreviation, people might think I’m talking about the University of Texas, or the state of Utah) is a very cool web site that I was recently turned on to by Lucas Gonze. It is something that I should read daily. I’m saying this publicly in order to shame myself into following through on that plan.

Also, this pic from the Universe Today twitter feed is all sorts of awesome.

Neil Armstrong: Why The World Needs ‘Nerdy Engineers’ (In Animated Form).

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Mar 08 2013

Another Macbook Pro No Sound Problem Tip

Macbook Pro sound problem solvedBack in July of 2012, I had a computer problem — no sound on my Macbook Pro. After I fixed the issue, I posted a tip titled Fixing Sound on Macbook Pro.

Guess what? The no sound problem just happened to me again. (I hope you were sitting down when you read that. If not, we apologize but accept no responsibility.)

Because I’m getting older (again, hope you were sitting down) I didn’t remember what I did to fix the sound problem on my Macbook the last time. However, I still came up with almost the exact same solution.

Googling “mac no sound” got me to a page at Apple.com that essentially treats you like a moron. It doesn’t say “are you sure you turned your computer on?” But it comes pretty darn close.

A couple of links down I found another page on Apple.com filled with suggestions such as “resetting the PRAM”, which I’ve done before and is not physically painful despite the phrasing. Further down in the same discussion thread was a much simpler solution:

Hi.  I had the same problem this morning, and guessed that it might have something to do with the mechanical switch that’s built into the headphone socket.  I just gently plugged and unplugged a pair of headphones into the socket a couple of time and voila, it worked again.

I did this. It worked immediately.

I refer to Internet/World Wide Web comments as “The Hive”. In this case, The Hive was very helpful. Thank you. Live long and prosper.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu1qa8N2ID0]

via No sound from MacBook Pro: Apple Support Communities.