Cool…hack comcast now!

I found an article at http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1885, which suggested moving the router away from the modem, and that line noise can cause significant slowdowns. I didn’t really believe this would work, but I decided to try it.

So I moved everything apart from each other. I moved my router up to the highest level I could, tucked away between some floorboards on the level above. I then moved my cable modem 2-levels down, also tucked between 2 wall joints. I then moved my VOIP box away from all the rest. I went and tested the speakeasy.net connection on Broadband Reports. What do you know? All the sudden I was showing 6.6 Mb/s down with 360 Mb/s up! I now officially get more than I’m paying for!

via jessestay

Here’s a cool server status board you can make using Triklits, which are color changing LED strings.

In September, I read a post on one of my favorite blogs about these Triklits programmable LED light strings and I instantly fell in love with them. I ordered two strands as well as the USB interface card and had a ball making these things come to life. After fiddling with them for a couple of weeks, I began to build this automated statusboard to help me monitor systems for me and my clients. The board updates every 60 seconds and displays information from several different sources including my Nagios installation, my source code repository, a bug tracking database, and a soon-to-be-implemented build server. I’m still working on the Perl scripts that I use to query the different sources, but when I’m done, I’ll post the source code here.  This was a fun one to hack at last weekend!

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Here’s a cool Christmas tree that can be controlled using a web server over the internet!

A few students at The University of Advancing Technology got into the Christmas hacking spirit this weekend and surprised the campus attendants on Monday morning with a TCP/IP enabled Christmas tree. The tree has been the centerpiece of holiday decorations at the university for the past few years, casting a static white glow across the commons late into the night. Static no more, the tree now hosts a web page from an embedded PINK Ethernet module. The page allows access to a Basic Stamp microcontroller preprogrammed with switching patterns for a set of solid state relays connected to the lights. The sectional nature of artificial trees made controlling the lights as simple as plugging in each level of the tree to a relay.

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Help us find James Kim by watching the video on ipod and more! Every click will help the video get on top of YouTube.

We’ve received word that a respected member of our tech community, James Kim (whom many of you may know as CNET’s senior editor of digital audio), and his family have gone missing. As we understand it, last weekend James, his wife Kati (above right), and his very young girls Penelope (left) and Sabine (baby), drove from their home in the SF Bay Area to Seattle. They were expected back some time Sunday, but were last seen by a hotel clerk at 5:45 PM on Saturday in or between Gold Beach or Portland, Oregon. We sincerely do hope they are all safe, and our hearts go out to the Kim family.

We’ll have more information as we get it. If you have any information as to the Kim family’s whereabouts, please contact the SFPD at 415-558-5508 during normal business hours, and 415-553-1071 after hours.

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Here’s a look back at some of our cool and idiotic DIYs. Maybe you can digg up some ideas for the winter holidays:

OR you can goto this link to view in pictures:

(Come to think of it, we could probably hack some of our DIYs together and make a Nintendo Wii wireless controller)

• Garrett’s DIY - Upcoming Boe-Bot Hacks - Remote Controlled Insect
• Garrett’s DIY - Home Automation Project - Part One: Real-Time Clock and Calendar
• DIY - Use the golf POV for your next Ad, here’s a Nike Swoosh
• Zedomax DIY118 - HOWTO Make a Golf Club POV training aid!
• Garrett’s DIY #1 - Persistence of Vision Device
• Zedomax DIY117 - HOWTO Make a Digital Drawing Board with an old joystick in 5 minutes!
• Zedomax DIY 116- Halloween HOWTO make a talking pumpkin basket!
• Halloween Pitchfork Program Update - Flaming Trident
• DIY Circuit - Wireless Microphone transmits to FM frequency
• Zedomax DIY 115- HOWTO establish serial connection with PCs bluetooth 2.0 with ACODE-300
• Zedomax DIY 114- Halloween HOWTO make a Pitchfork LED!
• Zedomax DIY 113 - Build a bluetooth controlled Holloween Hovercraft party light!
• Zedomax DIY 112 - Zedomax Hovercraft version 2 - Asteroid!
• Zedomax DIY - Hoverboard tried??
• DIY - Make User Interface in 5 Minutes!
• DIY - Make a Ethernet Temperature Monitor
• DIY - Build a digital thermometer in 1 minute!
• DIY - Make an alarm system in 3 minutes! (Part II - Add a motion sensor)
• DIY - Make a wall clock from scratch!
• DIY - Make a computer controlled party light in 90 seconds!
• DIY - Make a touch screen sprinkler system for your lawn and garden
• DIY - Make a G-Meter for your car in 1 minute!
• Make a Touch screen Slotmachine and Blackjack in your car
• Add a NEMA17 Stepper Motor to ur App
• Add a Bar-code Scanner to ur App
• Digital Compass using CMPS03
• G Meter for your car
• Wireless Graphic LCD

I just got my new make magazine volume 8, cool cover aey?