March 2016

Alexa, IFTTT and Homeseer

Just a quick and dirty demo of what I can do using the power of the Amazon Echo, IFTTT and Homeseer. There are several ways to control it. Alexa is limited to single statements and using IFTTT “triggers” and is also limited to whether IFTTT is being laggy or not. It’s usually pretty stable but…Read more

The Perfect Smart Home: What I’m Using…Part II

So in Part I  I touched on most of the hardware I’m using and some of my software. I keep coming across stuff I missed and I’ll mention some of that here. So on to how all this works together. Down among the creepy crawlies that inhabit my garage and basement along with my son’s…Read more

The Perfect Smart Home: What I’m Using…Part I

SO I’m a big gadget geek. As far as phones, while there is nothing wrong with Apple products my personal preference is for Android. The platform is much more extensible and I can do 1,000 more things with my Nexus than I ever would be able to with Apple. But…this isn’t about that. I came…Read more

Buyer Beware

I love coupons and deals. Hey, if I can save a buck or two that’s usually a good thing particularly if I’m in a situation where I can see the goods beforehand. Groupons, not so much. Now, for services they seems to be ok. I’ve purchase meals ahead of time and concert tickets once. Goods…Read more

Android Remote Control

Seems like such a simple thing. I’ve been trying to find an app that would let me remote control my Nexus 6 and my Nexus wall-mounted tablet from my PC. Not as easy as you might thing. I checked out VNC first simply because I’ve used it before. No go unless you are rooted. Then…Read more

New Gadget

So my thermostat crapped out yesterday after 16 years. Luckily it’s the time of year where it’s not a humongous deal. Picked up a Zwave thermostat on sale at Home Depot, which is awesome. Putting the damned thing in proved to be a trick. Only four wires in the thermostat but the one I got…Read more

WordPress Help Needed…

I could really use some help with WP from an “expert” Currently shadowscope is installed in it’s own subdirectory off of my main site but I have it resolve to shadowscope.com In order to do that I had to make sure that my .htaccess pointed in the correct direction. Everything seems to work OK. You…Read more

Primary Day

So today is the primary elections here in Georgia. I had completely forgotten until a friend mentioned it in Hangouts just a little while ago. Hadn’t planned on leaving the house until later but I guess I will go out pretty shortly. Have to go to the grocery store and get some fixings for a…Read more

InterBBS Games

Planning on adding several InterBBS games to the BBS pretty shortly. Rather than using my mailer and all the extra configuration I’m doing it the easy way and planning on using BBSlink.net as they already have a boatload of games set up and working properly. Planning on adding LORD, LORD 2, Lunatix, DoorMud, and Tradewars….Read more