Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Sparkfun Bench Top Power Board Kit [Review]


If you’re anything like me, you’ve got more than a couple desktop computer power supplies laying around. Sparkfun has a kit that's tailor made for the frugal tech scavenger tempted to use one of those old power supplies for something other than a PC. Sparkfun’s Bench Top Power Board Kit turns your old PC power supply unit (PSU) into a bench power supply. Let’s check it out.

Trojan Horse: A Novel and Kill Decision



While searching for new books from some of my favorite authors last night, I stumbled across the new Mark Russinovich book, Trojan Horse: A Novel. I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing when it comes out. That goes for the upcoming Daniel Suarez novel, Kill Decision, as well.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Exoplanets


A brief study of history shows us that the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," is a bit silly. They're all interesting times. A more apt curse might be, "May you live in times when science and exploration are highly funded." We need to keep funding stuff like this.

Link: xkcd


Monday, June 18, 2012

Adafruit Internet of Things Printer [Review]



What’s more fun than reading tweets on a smartphone, tablet, or computer screen? Reading them on an Arduino controlled, Ethernet connected, thermal receipt printer like the Adafruit Internet of Things Printer. This little printer kit might be the answer to all your Twitter ticker tape dreams and more. Let’s check it out!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Dell XPS 13 [Review]


Last but not least. Dell has taken its sweet time bringing an Ultrabook to market and it’s taken a while for real users to get their hands on the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. I’ve set aside my 13” MacBook Air and spent a few weeks using the XPS 13 as my portable computer. Was it worth the wait? How does it stack up against the MacBook Air? Let’s check it out.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Elenco Power Supply Kit XP-720K [Review]




The Elenco XP-720K is the only complete bench power supply kit I could find. I wish there was broader selection, but I’m glad there is at least one manufacture still making this kind of thing. Let’s take a look at the kit and see if it lives up to the hype of being the world’s only complete power supply kit.

Adafruit Lady Ada's Bento Box [Review]



Do you need to work on your Arduino based prototype circuits on the go? I know what you’re thinking, who doesn’t? Whether you want to tinker while on the couch, at Starbucks, or on the train across town, the Adafruit Lady Ada’s Bento Box promises a crush-proof, drop-proof, and water-proof solution for the hardware hacker on the go. Let’s check it out.

Friday, June 1, 2012

How to Install the Windows 8 Release Preview in a Virtual Machine


The Windows 8 Release Preview is out and everyone wants to check it out. Not everyone has an extra computer to install beta versions of Windows on and not everyone wants to install unproven software on their main machine. That's all completely understandable but it doesn't get Microsoft's latest operating system into your hands.

Virtualization is one way to get Windows 8 running on your machine with little effort and zero expense. While virtual machines can get complected, very little or none of that is necessary to get Windows 8 set up. Follow the guide below and you'll be fumbling with the Windows 8 Metro interface before you know it.

How to Install Windows 8 from a USB Flash Drive




Installing Windows 8 from an USB stick is about as easy and convenient as it gets. Here's how to set it up.