Posts about hardware, software, or the tech industry itself
I have owned several electric power washers over my life, all of which were more or less suitable to my limited needs. I use them to clean my deck, wash my car, and wash my motorcycle: nothing heavy. And every single power washer I’ve owned has failed me in some way or another. This post is an overview of my power washer history and an introduction to my latest ‘pending failure’: the Sun Joe SPX3001
You will have undoubtedly noticed that my blog here has been down over the past several days if you’ve been trying to visit. Have no fear!
I completed a hardware upgrade of the server behind kgadams.net. While I was at it, I upgraded the OS (Fedora) to the latest version, and did some initial ‘tweaking’ to improve WordPress performance. Details follow below if you are interested….
I am not a cook. But on the rare occasions when I do make food, the barbecue is one of my primary implements. I suspect it appeals to something primal in me that a stove in the house does not: either that, or it is just easier to clean up.
I decided I wanted to get a griddle when we replaced our 20 year old barbecue this year. In my imagination I was cooking bacon, pancakes, sausage, and eggs on that griddle- my imaginary cooking is pretty awesome. So I wanted an awesome griddle, and seem to have found one: the Little Griddle stainless steel ‘professional’ series griddle.
Apparently this is the year of VR or virtual reality. The Oculus Rift can now actually be purchased by normal (non-developer) user. The Valve/HTC Vive is available as well, and Sony’s ‘Morpheus’ PlayStation VR product is supposedly coming very soon.
This isn’t a review of any of these products, but rather my opinion regarding the current state and potential of VR…
Apple has done some amazing work in recent years refining the definition of ‘small’ and ‘thin’ computers. The Macbook 2015, which I previously reviewed/compared to my Macbook Pro , is definitely the poster child for minimalist full-capability computing.
Unfortunately, I broke one of the keys on my Macbook when I accidentally dropped the laptop on our hardwood floor. My attempt to repair this demonstrated the dark side of all that miniaturization- the Macbook 2015 is very hard to fix.
The first recommendation I found was to replace the entire top of the Macbook: keyboard, touchpad, and case assembly. In addition to this being rather costly (several hundred dollars), it just didn’t seem right. The other keys were fine, and as far as I could tell the electronic ‘bubble’ key mechanism was still working. Just the hinge and the key were broken.
In the end, I was proven right- it is possible to fix a single key without replacing the entire keyboard. Here is my experience of that process.
It is the end times… the robot apocalypse has begun. My home has been invaded by a horrifying machine that (shudder)… cleans my floors!
I recently upgraded (side graded?) from a circa 2011 MacBook Pro to a 2015 MacBook. This change isn’t for everyone, but I’m pretty happy with the differences. In this post I explore what changed, and why I made the leap.
Two weeks ago I purchased and started using a Fitbit Flex. It is basically a set of accelerometers, some computing, and a Bluetooth wireless connection bundled into something you can wear on your wrist. This little gadget won’t turn me into an athlete, but I’m hoping it might make me a little more aware of my astounding lack of activity. And in the process, possibly shame me into moving a bit.
I’ve had a couple of tiring and rather stressful weeks at work in a row, so I decided to take Friday afternoon off. Since it was cold (and getting colder) I couldn’t really go for a ride on my motorbike. Instead, I decided to practice some retail therapy and “upgrade” my BlackBerry Bold to an iPhone.
My BlackBerry is on Rogers, so off I went to my local Rogers Plus store…
I received my iPad directly from Apple in early June and have been living with it since. I mean that phrase more completely than is usual with something of a technical nature: this device really has become part of my life, far more quickly and completely than I expected. The iPad is more than the sum of its parts: not exactly “magical”, but truly something new that goes beyond the mere technical details that describe it. And yet not all is well in this wondrous future into which this little booklet-sized computer has ushered me.
