Experiments with Ubuntu software RAID0
Ubuntu Linux uses the Mdadm utility to manage software raid devices. This isn’t as fast as having a hardware raid controller, but it’s certainly cheaper (free!) and more convenient. I had a few identical drives laying around, and I’m in the middle of building an HTPC so I figured this would be a good opportunity […]
JVC HA-RX700 Circumaural Headphone review
After finishing this most recent summer semester and acing my classes, I decided I deserved a treat for myself. I love listening to music and gaming with headphones, and my home-made ghetto-rigged speaker set has some notable flaws that can be a bit irritating. I wanted some really nice headphones. They had to be durable, […]
Stealth Shieldz screen protector review
I needed a screen protector, but didn’t feel like shelling out the ridiculous prices for a transparent piece of plastic that most retail establishments charge. So I hopped on Ebay and sure enough was able to find some cheap screen protectors for my Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, Stealth Shieldz. I got 2 of them for $2.99 […]
Simple diy LED light bulb
I’ve been wanting to get my hands on an LED light bulb for some time now. They’re still rather expensive though, so for most people they don’t seem “worth it” when CFL’s are much cheaper and still pretty low on the power consumption scale. So rather than going out and buying a commercial LED lightbulb, […]
Hex string to binary bytes conversion function
I’ve been working on an assembler for the byte-code to a virtual machine for a few days. During this process, I encountered the need to convert hex strings such as “AFEE5C” to their binary equivalent, each 8-bit hex value (eg. “FF”) being single bytes equivalent to a single char in C. So I wrote a […]
Review of the LG 620G from Straight Talk
It was close to two years ago that I decided to switch my cell provider to Straight Talk. They offered cheap service, cheap phones, and I was working for Walmart (parent company of Straight Talk) at the time, so it seemed like a logical choice. I’ve had a great experience with their service and the […]
Samsung Galaxy Proclaim from Straight Talk review
I was recently in the market for a no-contract Android phone. I’ve been on Straight Talk for several years now, but their dumbphones just weren’t doing it for me anymore. It was time to upgrade. Straight Talk has had several Android phones available for some time now, but none of them had what I wanted. […]
$1.29: Chinese billiard ball earbuds on Ebay
I’m almost always in the market for earbuds, because no matter where they come from they never seem to last long. So one day I was browsing around on Ebay, looking for the cheapest earbuds that might be even slightly worth owning. I came across these billiard ball earbuds going for $1.29, and available as […]
My experience with AmtrakConnect free WiFi
Prior to this most recent trip, it had been about a year since I last traveled aboard an Amtrak train. I recently went home to visit family, which consisted of a ride from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia (PHL) to Harrisburg (HAR). Upon reaching the platform, I was excited to see that there was now […]