AlternaGeek is a technology podcast & blog hosted by Linuxchic and TechMonkey for the tech power user and enthusiast. AlternaGeek podcasts cover topics including Linux, Mac, Windows, internet tech, blogging, web2.0, gadgets, software, tech news, howtos, and reviews.
March
25

Alternageek Episode 33: Twitter Recommends Topics

Category: AlternaGeek Podcast, Podcasts
icon for podpress  Alternageek 33: Twitter Recommends Topics [55:47m]: Download

In this week’s episode, we took a little different approach and put out a tweet on Twitter asking for suggestions on show topics. We took the topics that were suggested and went right into recording. We talk about insects, the Twitter Color War, SideKick 3 issues, getting yourself a virtual Chumby, CommonCraft - Explainations in Plain English, criminalizing wifi leeching, Quotably - Follow Twitter Conversations and we also touch on Ubuntu 8.04 beta, crockpots and the George Foreman iGrill.Links:

Click here to download this episode in OGG formatAlternaGeek.com Podcast, Episode 33 for the week of March 24th, 2008Featuring Linuxchic & TechMonkey

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Comments 6 Post Comment

6 Comments for

Alternageek Episode 33: Twitter Recommends Topics

  • OpenIDhttp://russell.gordon.pip.verisignlabs.com/ | March 26th, 2008 at 4:54 am

    Another great episode! I have to admit I have never used X10 with a crock pot. If I were to try to automate a crock pot, I would also need a way to automate putting the food in it, as I would not be too eager to eat anything sitting out for days waiting for that final X10 “on” command. Maybe and idea for a small refrigerator/crock pot combo, stops cooling and starts cooking on command. I have used X10 with a coffee pot but have since done away with it as it didn’t rank too high on the wife acceptance factor scale because it made a rigid “must get up and get coffee now” time. I have learned a lot about automating things in the house, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

    The best thing I have done with X10 was my garage door/cat trap. We don’t have cats, and our neighbors’ cat comes over and pees on my 1997 Cobra Mustang convertible if I forget to close the garage door. So I automated the garage door with two magnetic proximity switches (one for up and down positions) wired to X10 Powerflash modules. I took apart the local garage door opener and soldered in a X10 universal module in parallel with the local pushbutton to open and close the door. I leave the garage door open about 1 foot (which the cat can’t resist) I have a motion detector pointed right over the car and as soon as the cat jumps up on the car, the garage door closes trapping him in the garage. I enjoy waking up and see the garage door closed because I know I am going to have some fun. I usually chase the cat around until he freaks out and jumps up in the eaves of the unfinished roof area. Then I get the water hose out and give him a shower. The last time I did this, the cat would not leave the little cubby hole in the eaves for 2 days. Bad thing is, he still pees on the car… I have to admit that cat impresses me sometimes, because he has, on occasion, been fast enough to jump off the car and run through the fastly diminishing opening and trips the safely light at the bottom of the door, which stops the door from closing.

  • techmonkey | March 26th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    Russell, that is an awesome application of X10 goodness! The closest I have to come to a setup like that is when I used an X10 Hawkeye motion sensor in my computer room to catch my son getting into a closet he was supposed to stay out of. When my program got the X10 event from the motion sensor, it started taking 1 second snaps from a webcam. The snapshots were automatically zipped and FTP’d to one of my Internet accounts and then my program paged me. I was able to view the pics as he was doing what he was told not to. I called home immediately and had a “discussion” with him. He was definitely freaked out. Bad thing was that the wife freaked out too. She was worried that I had other video setups around the house that maybe she didn’t know about, lol.

  • OpenIDhttp://russell.gordon.pip.verisignlabs.com/ | March 28th, 2008 at 6:33 am

    Techmonkey, I bet he doesn’t do anything around the house any more anywhere because of the fear of a rogue camera somewhere! It has a lingering affect.

  • techmonkey | March 28th, 2008 at 9:12 am

    It’s always good to set expectations early!

  • OpenIDEol | April 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    Nice job folks. *Sigh* I want a Chumby too :(
    The folks at Chumby sended me the info that they will send me info when its available, but well…

    BTW:
    ad techmonkey - you still owe me an answer:
    Is the GPS usable on the Nokia Tablet ?

  • techmonkey | April 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Eol, thanks for the comments. If you look back at the episode 25 post, you’ll see that I answered your N810 GPS questions to the best of my knowledge.
    Here is Episode 25 where I talk about the N810 in detail.