April 8th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink
I finally got around to uploading most of the files for my past project Personal Travel Emission Analysis Map (pteam). I collected GPS data from my phone using Google Latitude and used it to calculate my CO2 footprint during my travels over a week. Check out the project page for a longer description on what this project did.
Here is the project page: Project Page
Here is a link to the working example: Example
And the Github repo is here: pteam Repo
February 24th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink
Created a repo on Github for the work on a small side project of mine. I am coding a twitter scraper to mine tweets using regular expression filters. Going to use it to collect disaster related tweets for my eventual capstone analysis. So far its a functioning proof of concept, doing a lot of work on it to bring it to a functional open source tool. Below is a small screenshot of the application concept thus far.
Adding a graph in the lower right to provide visualization of datainput over time.
Link:
February 8th, 2013 § 0 comments § permalink
The instructions I followed are about the same as the Wiki’s instructions; however the instructions are written a long time ago, and there is a much easier way to install DF on a 64 ubuntu system. After you extract the game folder, and are about to run ./df you can just install ia32-libs from the common repositories instead of downloading the .deb, extracting shared libraries and creating symlink to it.
As DwarfFortresss is compiled for 32-bit systems you will need to install the 32-bit version of the shared libraries.
Just install the ia32-lib as such:
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
also
sudo apt-get install libsdl-image1.2
sudo apt-get install libsdl-sound1.2
sudo apt-get install libsdl-ttf2.0-0
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
and poof… things should work 
October 28th, 2012 § 4 comments § permalink
Recently my girlfriend’s new mac book had an “Netflix digital rights management error n8156-6013″ when using chrome, latest version of both chrome and silver light.
The solution took less time than how long I looked for an answer (figures right?) so I decided to make a post to help other people having the same problem.
I also read that it helps to uninstall and re-install silver light, although there is an easier fix if that still does not work.
Basically you need to navigate to
/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/PlayReady
once you are there you will should see a file called “mspr.hds”, delete it and restart the browser. Netflix should run just as it was before.
Navigate to
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\PlayReady
once you are there you will should see a file called “mspr.hds”, delete it and restart the browser. Netflix should run just as it was before.
September 30th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Previously when I was initially hearing about apple’s new Map they will be releasing with iOS 6 I made a post about how hard it would be to compete with existing maps such as Google/Bing maps. The post is mostly comparing Microsoft’s Bing map with Google, however now that the iOs 6 map app is released I just wanted to make a short post highlighting some of initial problems many Apple users are pointing out.
One of the most noticeable problems is actually the one I forgive the most, the imagery for the Apple Maps. Good satellite imagery as well as generation of basemaps is both difficult in the aspect of logistics as it is problematically. It took Microsoft/Bing a little while to get its game together, and back in June they acquired 165 TB of new imagery, the largest acquisition of satellite imagery to date, pushed the map service to a new level of quality. Just check out some of the initial problems users are uncovering while trying to view various locations with the iOS6 map app:
A Denver Blogger commented on the iOS 6 map app’s way of searching for something and compares it with Google map. Here is a short quote:
“Previously, you could type the word “burrito” into the search bar and any local burrito business would show up on the map. RMMR is a Denver company; we have hundreds of restaurants that serve burritos. With iOS 6, that term shows you just a couple places. That’s it.”
The methodology of some one searching map has changed a lot since the old Garmin GPS days where business names and addresses were always known before using the product; now users expect to be able to search for locations with the same inputs as a conventional search engine. I criticized Bing previously for ranking large businesses higher than smaller local business in their search priority, however at least those smaller business eventually showed up albeit just more toward the end of the list. The iOS 6 Map app is worse in the aspect that it does not have many local business even listed, or if they there is even the chance the location is off.
Another common problem with the Apple’s iOS 6 Map app is the locations of many address and land marks do not match up with their real world location. Although many of these locations are problems for European and UK users, it provides a glimpse as to how hard it can be to provide a mapping service to an international audience.
Currently Apple is scrambling to hire developers to fix a lot of the issued with their map.
Update: Google has released information stating they have not released a version of google maps for the iOS 6. Possibly because the fallout of the people using apple’s map app could cause people to switch from iPhones to an android phone.
September 16th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Flightradar24.com is, like the title said a live flight tracker. But its a little bit more, you can actively view all the flights in its DB in real time, but also connect to them and view a cockpit cam. You can see if the flight is diverted and even the outlined expected flight path. Next time you are waiting for a loved on, take a look and put your worries at ease.
Check out the site here: http://www.flightradar24.com/
September 12th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Yields 5-6 servings
Trail-head Chicken Salad Yields 5-6 servings This chicken salad has always been a go to favorite recipe for chicken salad. After making a few different versions from recipes I finally made one I love. The perfect mix of sweet, savory, and crunchy in every bite.
Heat 1 tbs olive oil in pan to medium heat and when hot add onions/garlic. Lower heat and simmer till onions start to brown and become tender. Either butterfly and cook your chicken in the pan (or prepare separately by steaming, which is what I did to reduce fat ) and shred or cube.
In a large mixing bowl toss together chicken, celery, pecans, dried cranberries and Parmesan cheese, set aside. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together all ingredients listed for the dressing until well blended. Pour dressing mixture over chicken mixture and toss to evenly coat. Serve over sliced bread, croissants or rolls. Store in refrigerator.
Recipe is a modified from Sonoma Chicken Salad from Cooking classy
September 4th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
A brilliant visualization of cell network coverage of crowdsourced data harvested from the userbase of their android app. The map sorts by carrier and types of network G3, G4. Check it out at here at their site opensignalmaps.com
September 3rd, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
“Apple has patented a technology which allows government and police to block transmission of data, including video and photographs, from any public gathering or venue they deem ‘sensitive’” quoted from rogerology out of a discussion on reddit.com, the patent does allow a backdoor for law enforcement officers to prevent the transmission of data.
Quoting from the patent document located here [patent #8,254,902] “For example, a wireless camera hidden in an area or brought in by another individual (e.g., a cellular phone camera) where privacy is normally reasonably expected such as a department store changing room, bathroom or locker room is one example of a significant threat to such privacy. “ there are reasonable and practical applications for such a technology to exist, however there is much debate about how this technology could be misused.
Check out the article about it at RT’s site here
August 29th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Once when I was working at a previous very small company I was tasked to create a small helpdesk intranet page for posting helpdesk tickets to. I designed the layout, and made some quick decisions about the color scheme. I used different web safe colors, most of them off teal and blue like theme matching the company logo. When it came time to show my boss/MIS-head he said he didn’t care for the colors I picked. We talked about it for a little bit, and I said I could change it and show him some alternatives the next day.
The next day when the MIS head came back in, he told me he had his eyes checked and just discovered he was color blind. It was a little humorous because I had never thought about what any of my designs would have looked like to a color blind individual. He explained apparently greens are dulled as he was Protanomaly color blind which happens to 1 in 100 males in the US, causing my brilliantly teal color scheme to looks brown. We had a chuckle about it, although with that lesson being learned I often think back to those events when i now test most of my pages for the colorblind now.
Modern web developers can now easily test their sites on ChromaNope, a website specially designed to show how your page would look to different types of color blind people. My current theme is mostly monochromatic, although a lot of pages on the internet look completely off through a different set of eyes.
