I needed some wire and and alligator clips for prototyping some electronics for work and headed down to Radio Equipment Corp because I hate Radio Shack as much as @zobar #39063 does.
The place really could afford to look more open and embrace modern home hobbyist electronics. You would think someplace like this would have arduinos and all kinds of sensors etc with so many people showing interest in open source hardware.
Although I ended up getting a lot of wire, I actually ended up at Radio Shack.
I built this arduino based WiFi swipe card reader for work. The goal is to let surgeons swipe in and out of the operating room and have it set their pages to auto forward to the phone in the OR or back to their cell phone so that they don't need to consult their cell phones when scrubbed in.
Reading the I class HID cards was kind of tricky because these ones were 64 bit and I couldn't find any example description of the format the data was in. Now I need to get a chip programmer and try and transfer it to an even smaller format so that I can mass produce em.
We stopped at Office Depot today looking for a gift for my mother's birthday and I noticed this artwork on the wall in the furniture section. It really dates the place but I kind of love it in a retro way. I wonder if they would sell it.
Bring your electronics to 1120 Seneca St, Buffalo, NY 14210, Monday - Friday 8:00am - 3:00pm. To bad I didn't know about this the other day when I had that tv.
This thing seems like it has a lot of potenital for $99. I would totally replace paper with something like this - especially if it lives up to its 180 hour battery life.
NoteSlate is low cost tablet device with true one colour display, real paper look design, long life battery (180h !), together with very handy usage and very simple and helpful interface for pen and paper. This easy, compact and portable gadget is used anywhere you want to make any notes, drafts, sketches, any ideas for future reference. Paper for everyone! Write a note and check it later, save it, or delete it. Maybe send it after. Just one colour is enough to express the basics. Keep your life simple. You will love it. For $99.
One of my coworkers sent an email about this wireless extension cord . @terry and I had talked about this being a possible reality for a while. It sounds mega dangerous to me.
Here is the description from their site.
Just plug the Wireless Extension Cord (WEC) base unit into a standard wall outlet, and plug whatever you need into the satellite unit. The WEC uses microwaves in the 7.2GHz range, so it won't interfere with wireless networks, Bluetooth components, etc. Now, all you need to do is adjust the antennae on the two units so they are aimed at each other. Turn everything on and you have the power! The distance the WEC units can broadcast differs from situation to situation (due to interference of such things as walls, power lines, and microwave ovens), but we've beamed power over 300 feet! The future is wireless - and the WEC's are your ticket to the future.
Warning: Even though these microwaves are about as harmful as the leakage from an ordinary microwave oven (not much), do not put computers, televisions, other sensitive electrical equipment, food, liquids, paper, glass, flammable substances, magnets, or living things in between the base and satellite units. Just in case.
When I said I learned nothing useful at UB I lied. I learned to solder in my electronics class and tonight I needed to recharge batteries so that I can test the GPS for the web tracekr project I am working on. Unfortunately, the battery charger was broken. So I opened it up with the new found courage I developed in electronics class and soldered the power supply back onto the circuit board where it was severed. It worked and my batteries are recharging happily ever after.
Of course, I did this in a totally unventialted area and inhaled a bunch of chemical that are known to cause cancer in the state of california. I am so glad I don't live there. It seems like everything is so much more dangerous on that side of the country. Here I can safely inhale spray paint, right? I wonder what about the california environment makes everything so much more toxic to use there. lol.
