Ron Guest

Those who follow me on Twitter or FaceBook know I decided to dive into the world of Arduino recently. After a bit of studying, ordering parts, and making a few runs to RadioShack I’ve completed the prototype build of my first project. The goal is to create a multi-purpose motion detector. The key components of this build are the Arduino microcontroller, a Parallax passive infrared sensor, and a Adafruit Audio (WAV) shield with a SD card for audio storage. Arduino processors have very little memory so the SD card is essential to play sounds of any complexity or duration.

My current software manages the Infrared sensor, lights a LED when motion is detected and also plays a tone on a piezo device. The Audio shield has pretty low level hardware so the software to manipulate it is relatively complex and will take a little time to integrate. I built the Audio shield last night and tonight I integrated it with the PIR, LED and piezo and tweaked the software that senses motion and manipulates the LED and piezo. My next step will be to add the code needed to play audio from the SD card through a speaker. I suspect once I have that software mod working I will have to design more amplification than the Audio shield provides.

As far as applications for this project: well, you’ll have to wait a bit to hear about that. I’m planning to create a few postings on the Arduino resources I’ve found most useful. The photo below shows the current build with the Audio shield stacked on top of the Arduino Duo with a small breadboard for the misc parts.

…and I’m not OK with it. While I don’t think there is any huge Apple or Government conspiracy involved it is not acceptable to record this kind of information without informing the customer. Apple should be ashamed.

But do keep in mind that there are many other ways Apple or law enforcement can track your movement aside from this file and that don’t rely on any capabilities within the phone (i.e. are network side tracking mechanisms). Which also means you are trackable regardless of your phone’s brand or OS platform. If you really don’t want anyone knowing where you are you need to turn your phone off. It is the only real solution at this time. You can partly thank or blame the move to support 911 from cell phones for this situation.

Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is recording your moves - O’Reilly Radar.

RockMelt showed some real potential when it launched last year. I managed to use it full time on both Mac and Windows before some of its limitations became too troublesome (mainly performance issues). A number of my friends followed the same path of adoption for a month or 2 (or 3) followed by disenchantment. RockMelt recently pushed out a major update which I had not gotten around to testing. With the release of an iPhone version I’ll probably put this pretty high on my “new toys to play with” list. Note: no more invitations required so feel free to grab it for a test drive.

RockMelt adds iPhone app for social browsing

Not surprisingly attacks are increasing but it continues to surprise me that industry is ignoring the threats putting our infrastructure at risk. Stuxnet opened Pandora’s box and gave those who like attacking the US a blueprint for how to create a highly effective attack. One thing I know for sure - when the attack occurs government and utilities will be “shocked” and “surprised”.

Cyber attacks rise at critical infrastructure firms

Creekside

Nice write up from RW on the Forrester report regarding best practices for Mobile App design. Well worth a read. And keep in mind today’s Mobile app best practices will migrate pretty quickly to desktop apps. Yeah, despite what you may read desktops aren’t going away any time soon.

How to Create Lovable Mobile Apps

This is serious beer…

Rick creek - because that’s what the kids throw in

Showing that hope is a very powerful driver, companies that are unprofitable at IPO outperform those that generate a profit for the first two years. Then reality comes calling and the unprofitable “dogs” head for purgatory while the profitable companies keep trucking higher.

CHART OF THE DAY: What Happens When An Unprofitable Company IPOs?

My kind of cookbook - an Arduino cookbook :)

Nice write-up at Nat Geo on using the iPad 2 for travel. The advice on battery life etc is pretty standard but the list of useful apps contains some gems that were new to me.

Adventure Travel - National Geographic Adventure Blog.

Not really a surprise Internet advertising rebounded from the slump or that it hit a new record but there are some standout points in the report. The most striking to me is that Email marketing revenues not only fell off a cliff but that it represents just 1% of the market. That’s good news and I’m sure we all hope it falls further :)

The biggest growth surprise was Sponsorships which were up 88%. IAB didn’t start tracking mobile advertising until last year (umm, a bit slow on that one) so there is no YoY comparison. But in 2010 it is estimated to account for about $600 Million (plus or minus a few 10s of millions).

Visit Mashable for the full story and a link to the detailed report.

Internet Ad Revenue Rebounded, Hit Record High in 2010.

Sun dappled trail ride

Only in Texas?

Clowning around

DARPA released a anti-submarine warfare simulator and is asking for the public to ….. try to track (simulated) enemy submarines. Their goal is to collect data from as many players as possible in order to see which tactics work best (and worst). Very interesting use of crowdsourcing by a normally very closed industry.

You’re free to download and use the game even if you don’t want to submit your results. I.e. you are in control over whether or not any usage info is posted back to DARPA.

DARPA | DARPA ACTUV.

We often hear how terrible the education system is in the US and certainly see the benefits of many highly intelligent and motivated immigrants from India. Hence I’m really surprised to read this rather dismal assessment of general education in India…

India Graduates Millions, but Too Few Are Fit to Hire - WSJ.com.

I can’t completely agree with this review for one simple reason: my Airport Extreme does not run hot. In fact it is quite cool even though it is installed in a small equipment cabinet.

More seriously I think the review sums up my pre-purchase thinking and after-purchase result. The Extreme has been rock solid since I installed it while providing very good performance to a mixed network of Macs, Wintels, AppleTVs, DirecTVs, iPhones etc. connected using different speeds of WiFi and Ethernet (via various hubs). It is not the most feature-rich but does everything I need and more. Administratively the main complaint I have is it isn't easy to get a list of active devices. Since that's not something I need to do often it's a feature I can easily live without.

Being a techie there are times I love to tinker and reconfigure devices but now that I have a whole family, and family of devices, constantly on the internet I simply want a router that "works" and the Extreme fits the bill perfectly.

Is the AirPort Extreme worth the price?.

Private bowling lanes for the party!

Bee you ti ful 7th Birthday cake

For Pho

Sidewalk Hottie

I’ve been closely following the investigation into Stuxnet and this video is a great introduction. I spent a big chunk of my career creating control systems followed by another chunk creating security products. I can assure you the control system industry, and hence it’s customers, are very poorly prepared to deal with any serious attack. Most users, even your average developer, think that addressing a security issue just means putting out a software patch. But those more heavily involved know that in many cases a true fix can require an architectural overhaul - sometimes on a massive scale. Vendors don’t undertake this kind of change without massive pressure from their customers and this is completely lacking in this industry. The only way I can see of forcing the needed changes (in implementation and in mentality of the industry) prior to a disaster would be government regulation along the lines of Sarbanes-Oxley. In other words forcing CxOs to sign off they instituted mandated changes and that their security statements are correct. Those who know me know I generally don’t favor creation of more regulation. However in this case I think it is the only solution short of letting a disaster occur.

Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon | Video on TED.com.

Looks like the Canadian ISPs have forced Netflix to cut streaming quality due to bandwidth caps. I have to think the US will soon "enjoy" the same "enhancement". The current quality is OK for smaller devices but not so great on our large TVs. Reduced quality would really suck... Note to you luddite movie and TV content owners: I'm willing to pay for convenient access to shows I want to watch. 

Data caps claim a victim: Netflix cuts streaming video quality.

There's been a lot of focus on rumors of Apple introducing Cloud storage for music and movies as part of a revised MobileMe offering. I still expect this to happen but Amazon has seized first mover advantage. Lack of iPhone support means I'm not too interested though.

Amazon officially introduces ‘Cloud Drive’ music service