Crazy HawtTechnology. Travel. 100% Original Content

If you have read some of my recent posts about setting up a Thin Client or Sheevaplug to act as home server, capable of distributing music across the house with Squeezebox Server, acting as a NAS, or running cool apps like Tonido (here are my first impressions!), then perhaps you have wondered about the best way to get your personal music collection on that server. Or once it is on the server, what happens if you want to add more? How do you keep music on the server in sync with your laptop? I hope this article will give you a great solution to that answer! I’m very happy with how it has been working for me. All you need is RSYNC, SSH, and CRON! Read the rest of this entry »

Before I dig into the guide, it’s best to briefly explain what the Sheevaplug is. As computers have gotten faster and faster and cheaper and cheaper over the years, the focus has shifted from being “the fastest” to being “good enough.” Take a look at the Intel Atom chip. It has flooded the market, and it seems like airports are now more filled with netbooks than they are with traditional laptops. The atom is fast enough for most people, and it uses very little power, enabling the devices to be much smaller and use way less battery. This low power technology translates extremely well into the home server or electronic appliance world. More and more of the devices in our household are becoming connected, and we need low power chips to help connect that world. What if you could have a server so small that it was only slightly bigger than a traditional wall wart plug? Marvell had this idea, and they came up with the concept of Plug Computing. Plug Computing means taking a a barebones PC with a low powered Marvell ARM CPU and sticking it inside of a “plug” and then letting companies / users explore the possibilities. There have been a few pre-packaged offerings like TonidoPlug (or you can set up Tonido on your Sheevaplug!), PogoPlug, and a few others. The Sheevaplug is a development unit that people can buy, and it’s great fun to play around with! I’ve been able to turn it into a NAS, a music server, and a few other things, all at the same time! Read on to find out how to get this thing set up for the first time. Read the rest of this entry »

Call me a sucker. If people are going to sell “Prada” but have the logo actually say “Praba” up close, that’s fine. I really get pissed when I buy something that I am told is genuine by a reputable seller on eBay, only to have a total piece of crap show up. My MacBook Pro battery only lasts for about 30 minutes, and OS X is telling me to replace it. Apple charges way too much for their batteries so I didn’t want to buy from them. Fastmac makes a battery that I have heard decent things about, and it sells for $80. But I found the GENUINE battery on eBay for only $60 so I went with that one. I wish I would have gone with the Fastmac. First off, it’s a knockoff. Take a look at the fonts in the picture above. The fake is on the right. You can really tell in the word “Mercury” that it’s not an original Apple battery. On top of that, it doesn’t even fit right! Take a look at the pic below.

Notice how the battery doesn’t even fit right in the slot! What a waste of $60… At least say the product is “similar to a real apple battery” or “pretty much sorta will fit in your laptop.” Marketing it as GENUINE really is a screw. I actually paid more for this battery over similar batteries on eBay that were not claiming to be authentic. In my case, the seller was plugplayers. Avoid at all costs.

Today Google announced Public DNS. The aim is to speed up your connection speeds and security. Lifehacker reported on it earlier today. The idea is to replace the DNS server your router uses (typically provided by default from your ISP) with a “Google Public DNS.” I decided to put their speed tests to work. Read on to see my results. Read the rest of this entry »

I run a WDS network at home, instead of using Apple’s default “Extend a Wireless Network” options. The reason for this is because I can very specifically define which relays connect to which base stations. If I use Apple’s default options, I often have the case where the third router in a hop tries to connect to the first, bypassing the second, and giving poor throughput. WDS solves this by letting me use MAC Addresses to specifically say which device connects to which. I purchased one of the newer Airport Extremes this week, hoping to extend the range of one of the devices, but to my surprise, the option for participating in a WDS network is no longer there! This is pretty obnoxious… Can someone please tell me I’m totally missing something? If so, it would be worth looking a bit stupid in order to get my network back up and running! Otherwise, I’ll have to take this thing back to the Apple store and buy a Netgear router or something like that.

When was the last time you bought a CD? For me, it was back in college. I bought the Chris Brown CD, and it is still in my car CD player today. And no… i’m not addicted. Rather, my car’s stereo hasn’t been set to CD mode since then. I use my iPod through the auxiliary port input on the head unit. It can often times be difficult to get digital music anywhere besides a PC and an iPod, and many companies have stepped up to the plate to solve this solution. Getting music to play around the house is an issue. For a dorm room, you only need a single computer. For a household, you need multiple speakers in multiple rooms. Sonos, Logitech, Apple, and many others have been battling it out to come up with the perfect solution. After careful research, I decided to go with Logitech’s Squeezebox line of products. Like most “digital living room” products, you need a server of some sort to power it all. This is where things start to get expensive. So I set out to create a Squeezebox Server for under $100, and I was successful! Read on to find out how I did it. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday Sony released version 3.10 of the PS3 software. I’ve downloaded, updated, and here are the results! It’s very simple to add your facebook account to the PS3. You go to the Account Information page, and you enter your username and password, and you’re good to go. Screenshots of the PS3 and of the facebook status updates after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

My friend had a pretty amazing idea… to dress up as iPhone apps on Halloween! We bought cardboard boxes and spraypainted them black. We then bought foam board and cut it into squares. We painted, as best we could, some of our favorite apps on the foam board. Then we rounded the foam board’s corners, super glued them onto the black boxes, and used paint markers to write the app name. We picked a variety of apps. Personally, I decided to do one of my favorite games, Doodle Jump! On the back of my box, I had to go with the jailbroken GV Mobile. Take a look at some of the pics below!

I have always been intrigued with getting some sort of networked music playing system in my house. Sonos looked great, but it was always too pricey. I really liked the open source DIY nature of Squeezebox Players and Squeezebox Server, but I figured that building a server in addition to buying all of the players would be too pricey. The Logitech Squeezebox Radio was recently announced, however, and I REALLY wanted it. So… I ordered it. . I am on a mission to build a Squeezebox Server for $100 or less. I’m going to be doing a few posts about the parts I chose, how I’m configuring everything, and whether or not I’m successful or not. I think there’s a chance I may have to buy more expensive hardware, but I’m doing my best to get this done for less than $100! Read on to see my parts list and how I’m thinking i can configure this thing up…

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As both a fan of music and a frequent traveler, I have been in constant search for the best pair of headphones. Like many, I started first with the included iPod / iPhone earbuds. To be honest, I actually find them to be pretty good, especially when walking around the city. The added convenience of the speaker for talking on the phone makes them a great default pair of headphones. But my love for these default headphones ends immediately when i step on a plane. Once the engine noise fires up, the only way to hear music is to blast the volume. Quality suffers, and because your headphones are competing with the engine noise, your ears are stressed and could possibly become damaged. Read on to find more about my slow progression to find my favorite headphones for the frequent flier!

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