Archive for the ‘Neat stuff’ Category

Sitting on my ball (chair)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

OK, just for the sake of argument let’s just say I’ve heard every single ball joke between juggling and this balance ball chair experiment. Got that out of your system? Good. :)

I decided as part of my “get my flabby butt into a shape other then pear” resolution to try out a Balance Ball Chair for my office chair. As part of this I enlisted the help of Rick, as he previously tried the ball chair experiment, and had a giant (yes, giant) ball he let me borrow for a week to try it out. The ball is a Valeo Burst Resistant Body Ball (65cm) and it is pretty much what it says on the tin: a giant green ball that one uses either to sit, stretch, or Lord-knows-what-else on. Rick brought it to Royal Oak Coffee House Coders inflated, and I had a heck of a time getting it in my car. I think this might have caused some problems because when I got it home it wasn’t nearly as difficult to get it out of the car, and I constantly had problems with it losing air pressure. But while I used it I learned a few things about using a ball for a chair:

  1. You can’t swivel on a ball like you can an office chair. Forget turning to the side to get a file folder from your file cabinet, and forget using the side desk with your laptop. You’ll have to get up and re-position yourself.
  2. Balls do not sit still. If you get up, expect the ball to roll.
  3. Your back will not be terribly happy with you in the morning. At least my back was really unhappy with me trying to exercise it. Over time this has subsided.
  4. You will bounce on the chair. Especially if you put on some really funky music.
  5. Men: You will need to work on keeping your junk happy. Otherwise you won’t have good time.
  6. The ball is huge. You’ll need to have space in order to use it. Think of a point half-way between you and the floor where you’re sitting now, then extend it out to your sides. That’s how big the ball will be at a minimum.
  7. You are best served building yourself up to extended periods of sitting. Trying to do an 8 hour workday will make you extremely uncomfortable.
  8. Your spouse will comment that you look like you’re hatching an egg.

Armed with this knowledge, I decided to pull the trigger and purchase the Gaiam Balance Ball Chair. This has several advantages including an easy-rolling coaster base and a smaller ball. It also includes a back which is supposed to be used for the included exercise book, but I have a feeling it’s to keep you from completely falling backwards should you lose your balance.

Balance Ball Chair and manual

The Gaiam Balance Ball Chair and manual. (Not pictured: hand pump.)

The advantages of the Gaiam Balance Ball Chair are:

  1. Smaller ball, which makes it a little easier to fit under a desk.
  2. A base which makes the ball more stable and less likely to roll away (more on this later).
  3. Coasters on the base, so you can swivel. They can also lock for the exercises.
  4. A booklet with exercises and hints on how to use the ball chair.
  5. A nice hand-pump that inflates on both the up and down strokes.

Downsides:

  1. The ball is more steady, so you can easily slouch and not use your core muscles.
  2. The back makes a seductive resting place during the day
  3. It’s more expensive than just purchasing a ball separately.
  4. Replacement balls are $20, and aren’t a standard size (52cm)
  5. I still look like I’m laying an egg, but now I have a rolling nest.

Overall I’m happy with this little experiment. The jury is still out on the health benefits or detriments of ball chairs, so please do your own research to see if they may be something to consider. I’ve found my core muscles have felt stronger, and my spine feels lengthened, but I’ve also noticed my lower back is not terribly happy with me in the morning (though this has subsided some).

I’ll post more about my Balance Ball Chair as the weeks progress. So far I’m not in any hurry to go back to my normal office chair. Not that I could anyway, as a certain cat has managed to take it over. But that’s another post for another time.

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Posted in A day in the life, Neat stuff, Reviews | 1 Comment »

I love my phone company (or why Ting.com is awesome)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I love my phone company.

I thought I’d never ever say that, ever, but it’s true. I really love my mobile phone company. Granted, it’s only been a month since I’ve used them, and the honeymoon is still in full swing, but I can’t imagine myself being this happy with a phone company, ever.

Mobile phone companies, as a rule suck. They make a show of selling you a phone at a reduced rate, but then jack up the price of every single transaction with the phone. Got a smart phone? Well, that’s a separate data charge. Went over your allotted minutes / messages / megabytes this month? Well, speedy, it’s gonna cost you at an inflated rate, so make sure you don’t do it again, pal. Oh, and if you want to use your phone for a remote network connection (tethering / wireless hot spot), well, prepare to pony up, assuming they let you do it at all. And if you don’t use it, they’ll still gladly charge you as though you did.

It’s a load of rubbish.

Bits are bits, whether you use them via tethering, mobile WIFI access point, or whatever. You’re paying for them, and you should be able to use them. And you shouldn’t get charged extra for not using your phone (or worse, for using your phone more than you thought you might).

And that’s why I love Ting.com.

Ting charges you per tier for the services you use. Say you plan each month on using 1GB of data. Ting charges for data in tiers. Let’s say that I choose the Large plan, which is 1,000MB of data (1GB = $24). But, last month, I only used 494MB. Instead of telling me “tough, you should have used it”, Ting.com issued me a credit for the difference to the Medium tier (which is $13). So, I got a credit on my next bill of $11 for my unused data.

My first bill was $39.24. My second bill was $27.05 because of the credits for unused service.

There are some caveats:

  • You will need to purchase the phone without the normal subsidies of the phone company. However, that also means if you decide you no longer want Ting, you’re not bound to a contract to pay for a subsidized phone. You just cancel your account, and walk away, simple as that.
  • Ting uses Sprint as it’s carrier., so if Sprint sucks where you are, it’ll continue to suck if you switch to Ting. Luckily, Sprint has a decent presence in this area, although there are dead zones for networking. Also, 4G hasn’t made it out this way yet.
  • The phone selection is pretty limited. They’re working on getting more phones.
  • You can’t bring another CDMA device (you’ll have to purchase a phone in order to use Ting). That said, they’re extremely liberal about people discussing how to get around this. Frankly, if someone could figure out how to make it work, they’d much rather you bring your own device.

Where Ting.com really shines, though, is with multiple devices. Say I have three relatives that all want mobile phones. Relative A uses few phone minutes, little data, but text messages like a fiend. Relative B uses their phone for emergencies only. Relative C is a salesperson, and uses their phone constantly. They rarely text, and only use their phone for Facebook when it isn’t jammed against their ear. If they’re all on the same plan, you can pool their usage together. Each phone costs $6 to connect, and whatever they use gets billed against the pool. So if you have a relative that rarely uses their mobile phone, you can pay $6 to keep it active, and pay for whatever tier of minutes they use whenever they use it. However, you can probably pile that in with the relative who is a blabbermouth, so the cost is essentially $6, even if they use the phone.

Ting.com is also exceptionally helpful, and their support staff is great.Questions are usually answered in 24 hours on their forums.

I can’t say enough about how much I love Ting.com right now. I would encourage you to check out their plans, and see how well they’ll fit for you and your mobile needs.

Rarely have I ever been happy with a mobile phone company, but I couldn’t be happier with Ting.com. Check them out, and let me know if you love them too.

Use my URL (https://z6oc11q87.ting.com/) and save yourself  $25 off the price of your device order. I’ll also get $25 credit, so we both win. :)

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Posted in Neat stuff, News and notes, Reviews | 1 Comment »

Penguicon fast approaches

Monday, April 23, 2012

Wow, who the heck let it be near the end of the month already? Well, with the impeding end of the month it means we’re that much closer to Penguicon 2012, and I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to be able to participate this year. And the beauty part is you can participate too. Here’s how:

  1. Come to my talks! I’ll be hosting several talks at Penguicon, including the Ubuntu Release Party (along with the rest of the Ubuntu US MI loco and the good folks at Penguicon, lest I get too full of myself there), as well as a talk on Podcasting for fun and possibly profit, and what’s new for Precise Pangolin (aka 12.04, and once again with those fine folks in the Ubuntu US MI :o co). We’re still looking for folks to help out with the “what’s new” panel discussion for 12.04, so there’s your easy opportunity to participate. See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?
  2. Come to other people’s talks! Ryan Kather will be talking about making Juju Charms (no, not the ones that turn burlap dolls into voodoo weapons, these help you deploy programs on servers with just a few commands). Also, Rick Harding will be talking about the differences between JQuery and YUI (and more importantly, convincing developers to think more about their framework choices). And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my lovely wife JoDee will be talking about Citizen Science programs, and how you can help scientific pursuits in your spare time.
  3. TONS MORE! Seriously, head to http://penguicon.org and click on the schedule link. IF you can’t find something to plop your patookas in front of, you’re not trying hard enough.

Plus, I’ll be putting together an episode of Open Metalcast at my podcasting talk, and giving out some DVDs with a selection of previous Open Metalcast Episodes. (Unfortunately, my DVD burner isn’t working properly, so this isn’t going to happen. Sorry!) Also, it has been rumored that I might have ribbons to give out.

Hope to see you there!

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Posted in A day in the life, Neat stuff, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Michigan Loco | Comments Off

HD Radio = Hidden Doubloons

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

(OK, sorry for the lame title, but you come up with something for HD other than High Definition. :) )

One of the local NPR radio stations has a HD2 channel that they use to put music on. Now, considering there’s probably a handful of HD receivers out there, and none of them in my house, I’m not able to get these treasures via terrestrial radio means.Which is kind of a bummer, because WDET2′s music program manager puts together a three-hour show called “In The Flat Field” that has industrial and goth metal music. So, one of my biggest complaints about radio not catering to extreme tastes (and instead catering to the pablum that passes for contemporary music) is sated, and I can’t get to it.

Enter Internet Radio and podcasts.

WDET, like most radio stations, has an Internet Radio stream. So, during the day, I can stream WDETHD2 using Rhythmbox or Banshee. So, I can get local music via the internet. That’s a plus.

But what’s even better is the show is also available as a podcast. So when I forget to tune in when the show is broadcast, I can listen to it via podcast from the In the Flat Field site. That my friends, is awesome.

Yeah, I know it’s nothing for some stations to rebroadcast their shows as a podcast, but it’s nice to know that there’s still stations out there that broadcast great music. And for that, WDET2 needs to be commended.

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Posted in Music, Neat stuff | 3 Comments »

DRM – 2K Games gets it

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Near the beginning of the 2010 I finally broke down and sent back the copy of Civilization IV that I’d bought. Yes, yes, I know, I know, it’s a Windows game, but I couldn’t help it. I was bound and determined to play it under Wine, and the results that I had with the demo version were playable, so I took the chance and purchased it. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize at the time that it had some DRM which Wine couldn’t cope with, so I couldn’t play the game at all.

Eliminate DRM stickers on a CIV 4 "Game of the Year" boxA sane person would have just loaded it up on a convenient Windows machine, but nobody has ever claimed I was the sane one, which is why I decided to take a Civ-4 sized loss and send it back to the publisher. I threw some “Eliminate DRM” stickers onto the box, and typed up the following letter:

To whom it may concern,

I am sending back a copy of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV to you that I purchased. I have not been able to play this game as I had intended (under Linux, with Wine) because your copy protection scheme is not supported by Wine. Since I can’t play the game, I’d like to return it to you. I am not asking for a refund, rather I’d like to ask you to reconsider how a potential customer would see your actions. I regard this purchase as a mistake. Shame on me. I understand that Civilization V is coming out soon, and if it too has DRM, I will not make the same mistake in purchasing it. That would be foolish.

I have taken the liberty of “decorating” the box as a potential customer like myself would see your attempts at protecting your software. Perhaps this would help your decision regarding preventing customers from using the software as they might see fit, rather than imposing some arbitrary will upon them

Thank you for your consideration.

Craig Maloney

Now, frankly, I’m not a fan of these sorts of tactics. At best I figured that I would just make some poor mail-person have to throw away a game that was sent to them, along with the message. At worst, I figured they would pass around the box and criticize those freedom loving wonks, and proceed as normal.

Months pass, and 2K Games releases the Civilization 4 Complete Collection. I’m not sure how exactly I found this information, but I found out that the Complete Collection makes a clear point to say that there is no DRM at all. Here’s the quote from the box:

DRM Free: The Complete Civ IV experience with no Digital Rights Management limitations

I was stunned. Finally, I would have my own technical limitations to prevent me from playing this game, instead of some DRM nonsense preventing me. I picked up the game, and showed it to JoDee, who was also familiar with what I had done. She was also astonished.

2K Games made a sale that day.

I won’t go so far as to say that I was completely responsible for 2K Games removing the DRM from Civ 4, but I’d like to think I had a hand in making it so they would consider it. Even more, that they put a notice of it’s removal on the outside of the box.

Again, I’m not advocating folks purchase DRM games and return them after decorating them; that’s not the point of this post. I’m saying that we should praise those companies that do take a stand and actively remove DRM from their products. We should laud companies that regard their customer relationships as more important than locking down their products.

Well done, 2K Games, and thank you.

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Posted in Computers, Neat stuff, Rants | Comments Off

Show Notes

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Rick and I released the latest episode of Lococast.net. I’m pretty happy with this episode overall because it’s the first time that Rick has asked me “what were you smoking” regarding the music. I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it’s because I’m a tad tired, and slap-happy, but to me the music selections make some sense. Or maybe they’re random. Who knows? I’m not telling. ;)

Also got a great interview with Jono Bacon about the latest iteration of his band “Severed Fifth”. Really good stuff in there about the band, touring, and the Creative Commons license. And if that weren’t enough, there’s two tracks from the new album showing up there in their entirety.

Planning out the next few Open Metalcasts, as we’re in the process of moving, and I’m not sure if my computer, et. al will be set up at the new place. Plus, I’m thinking about putting together an instrumental-only show for Open Metalcast. It may be a special, one-off show, or it may be something that I keep around. I’ll post it to the site once it shows up, and will solicit feedback when it hits.

That’s about all for the podcasting-side of things. Lots of goodies to check out. Hope you enjoy!

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Posted in A day in the life, Music, Neat stuff | Comments Off

Why laser printers are awesome

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Printer: Samsung SCX-4725FN

Total Impressions: 37183 Page(s)
Replaced Toner Count:9 time(s)

Cost per toner cartridge: Around $70 – $90, depending on the sale.

Cost per page: Around $0.02 – $0.03

Chance of me ever going back to inkjet for this type of workload: 0%

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Ohio Linuxfest: Rocking in 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

This past weekend, JoDee and I went to Ohio Linuxfest 2010. This is the 4th Ohio Linuxfest that I’ve attended, and I’m grateful that I had the chance this time to make it to Ohio Linuxfest. The reason was because I thought I wasn’t going to make it this year.

When I was working at Geeknet, I was pretty sure that I was  going to be on-call the weekend of Ohio Linuxfest. So, I didn’t hold much hope out for being able to attend. When I was laid off, the on-call situation changed, but now it was a question of allocation of funds for Ohio Linuxfest. Fortunately, JoDee convinced my parents that Ohio Linuxfst was important to me, and she got them to graciously kick in some cash to help me attend. This was part one of my birthday present.

Every year, I get the supporter package for Ohio Linuxfest. I get the supporter package because I want Ohio Linuxfest to continue to be there year after year. Unfortunately, since I was laid off, I didn’t get the supporter package.

But, my wonderful wife, JoDee, knew that this was important to me, and upgraded to the supporter package.

So, a weekend that might not have been became an awesome weekend, where I got to participate with the community that I love. Rick and I got to do some awesome interviews for Lococast.net, so we’ll have those up this week. Plus, I got inspired to play with some Arduino boards.

And JoDee is so amazingly awesome. Thank you, sweetheart!

I’m a very happy man.

(Here’s some pictures of the event.)

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Posted in Linux, Neat stuff, Ubuntu | Comments Off

New Metal Podcast

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

For those of you of the metal music persuasion, might I direct your attention to my new podcast over at Open MetalCast. This is a short (30-40 minute) show dedicated to Creative Commons licensed metal music. Check it out, and let me know if you have any feedback!

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Robotic Rock Band

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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