Travel Planning
On the process of planning for a trip to eliminate anxiety
Synchronizing time on Windows XP from Command Line
How to synchronize an internal time server with an external source
T-Mobile Prepaid Refill Website Sucks!
I’m currently using a T-Mobile prepaid phone which gives me 1500 minutes of talk time for $30 a month. The price is not the best you can get in the market, but is definitely pretty good. I settled for the plan because I already have an unlocked GSM phone.
Allowing Non-administrator users to change Power Options in Windows XP
The default security policies of Windows XP don’t allow users to change power configuration options, even though power options can be user specific. I’ve had to work around it a lot of times, so I’m documenting the process mainly for my own reference.
Infinite Virtual Worlds in Finite Real Spaces (MS Thesis)
As part of my MS program at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, I researched a certain way of building immersive virtual worlds. The system involved translating motion within a 1 meter diameter ring into an infinite virtual world. This required some trickery with converting foot steps into virtual motion and simulating motion with optic flow
Controlling MAX7456 OSD using Bus Pirate
MAX7456 is a nifty chip that lets you insert fixed-width characters and sprites into a TV signal. Sparkfun has a very useful breakout board for $40, which ends up being much cheaper than the MAX7456 eval board from Maxim priced around $100. You can find Youtube examples of DIY projects that have used the MAX7456,
Bus Pirate Interfacing using pyBusPirateLite – A Tutorial
Bus Pirate is an incredible piece of hardware for digital electronics tinkerers. It was designed as an interactive sniffer/communication bridge, but has evolved over time to become a Swiss Army Knife for hardware/firmware developers. Besides the original text-based command prompt interface, the newer versions of Bus Pirate firmware have a Binary Mode interface that makes
On Shoes and Walking
I am a runner. I’ve run 4 marathons. I haven’t been running the last 2 years due to an inflamed Ilio-tibial band. And in that time, I’ve been consciously seeking out information about running form and shoes. You see, I have a low arch, which made it extremely painful for me to run any distance
Transferring URLs from Firefox to a Smartphone
Today, my friend Alex was trying to type in the URL for a webpage I had open on my PC into his Android phone. And I thought out loud that it would be a weekend project to write up a Firefox app to generate the QR Code of the URL for the current tab. Alex
Useful Linux Commands
Set of frequently needed but often forgotten commands.