Android Wemmert Blog

HowTo: Create a Chromebook Development Environment

2014-02-06T14:31:00.001-05:00

There aren't too many places that include all of these steps in one place, seeing as I've very recently done this I feel that it is time to pass it along. Enjoy!

So you've decided to get your hands on one of those nifty little (and I do mean little, unless it's an HP) Chromebooks, and you also want to develop Android Applications on it. It's pretty easy, and I was able to get a development environment going in about a day.

1.	What you'll Need You'll need: 1. Chromebook 2. Internet Connection 3. Crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton 4. Time 5. Patience
2.	Enter the Developer The first thing you'll need to do is put your Chromebook into developer mode. For mine, the HP Chromebook, the process involved pressing: ESC + Refresh + Power button; in order to access the recovery mode. Once there you press CTRL + D and let it reformat the hard drive...don't get too attached to any setup you performed earlier it will be gone. Once you've done this you can hop in the internet and access the next steps.
3.	Gather your Strength You need to download Crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton. in order to get the next part of the process running. It's a small little file but it make all the difference in the world. Once downloaded you need to open the terminal by pressing CTRL + ATL + T and enter the command shell. Once the Shell is open type "sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t xfce" (without the quote marks of course) and let it ride.
4.	Refresh yourself At this point you can get coffee and let it do its work.
5.	Begin the Journey After it installs you have to type: "sudo startxfce4" (without quotes) to enter the Ubuntu installation. BAM! Now it's pretty bare bones, but you should be able to download any of your development programs like Android Studio and Java's JDK and get them warmed up for development work. Those next parts should be self explanatory, but if you run into any trouble there is literally an entire internet available for you to ask questions on.
6.	You're Almost Home After you install the development environment and Java's JDK you should probably spend some time making yourself comfortable within the new environment, setting it up, getting it rolling and learning how to switch back and forth between the two. In order to switch between the two, press SHIFT + CTRL + BACK ARROW ON KEYBOARD (not the arrow key, there should be a separate button). While jumping back and forth you can let processes run between the two without any issue. During all of this time it is most certainly necessary to move non-vital programs and files to your Google Drive because the installation programs for Android Development and the JDK are rather large and tend to take up room on the hard drive, but once they are installed you can delete them to get the space back.
7.	Sage's Advice NOTE at this time it's probably beneficial to set everything to save to Google Drive from now on unless it is vitally needed, in order to save what little space they have on them. NOTEShutting down the ubuntu installation is the same as any other Ubuntu installation. Just remember to start it back up at the terminal the next time you want to use it. NOTE Developer mode on Chromebooks is a wee-bit of a security concern, play it safe. If you aren't smart you can open yourself up to bad things and broken dreams. Read All Instructions. Email me if you have questions: wemmert2@gmail.com or wemmert@tilsonhr.com There you have it, you can now develop anything you want, just adjust the directions as necessary depending on what you want to develop. Have fun!

Instantly Freezing Water in the Air Experiment

2014-01-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

I was a little bored this morning and I decided to take advantage of the sub zero temperature to make water freeze in the air. Please be kind with the video, it was self videoed and the auto focus failed in the cold at the end. I think I'll try again later with someone videoing from the inside. Enjoy.

Temp: -15°F / -30°+F wind chill

Freezing water: take 2

This is my second try at the freezing water trick, I left the camera inside to avoid the frozen auto focus (and shakey camera). I think this is my best one yet... Pay no attention to the silly running at the end... It was cold.

The Day of the Doctor Theory

2013-11-13T16:47:00.001-05:00

I'm a pretty big DoctorWho fan...REALLY BIG

Anyways, I was checking out the trailer for Day of the Doctor and thought of something. What is that fun blade / flower thing the "unknown doctor" is standing near? Also, right before they show this scene, Rose says, "The moment is coming."

The moment is, for those who are unaware, what the doctor used to stop the time war somewhere around the 8th - 9th Doctor to stop the time war. The symbol on the pedestal is hard to see, but bears a striking resemblance to the "Key of Rassilon" which was used to power up "The Moment" (Modified DeMat Gun) to be used.

Could this be the actual Key of Rassilon? (I don't ever remember it being shown)

I've marked out lines that point to the fuzzy areas of the seal that seem to match up to the Seal of Rassilon.

Please forgive the messy picture, I made it in literally, a hurry.

Time War? Anyone?

[EDIT 1656 11 13 2013] Sorry, Where I said Key of Rassilon above, I meant Seal of Rassilon. The rest is the same, I think you get it. Seal of Rassilon, Key of Rassilon.

[EDIT 1332 11 14 2013] I supposed it should also be mentioned that I am talking about the "great key of rassilon" rather than simply the "key of rassilon" as my co-worker pointed out to me this morning. Other than comics I cannot remember if the Great Key was ever shown. Ir there is an episode where it is shown please let me know, I'd like to catch back up.

Basis of my Obamacare Chart Calculations

2013-10-21T17:20:00.001-04:00

Please be nice, I will fix stuff when I have more time to adjust the numbers (or the whitehouse releases the numbers)

Keep in mind these are rough numbers, run through quickly, and utilizing the fact that Google Docs (and MS Excell) allows you to quickly duplicate calculations across an entire screen. SOME NUMBERS MAY BE WRONG. it is a work in progress

Link to my graph and numbers chart: [SOURCE]

--assumed total based on media sources--
48460 -- actually paying enrollment as of october 16th 2013 [SOURCE]

3029 (rnd up) -- people per day(PEpd) starting on october 1st 2013 (total divided by time)

494,620 -- Target for 10/31/2013 -- http://finance.yahoo.com/news/glance-state-goals-

health-plan-194353263.html

446,160 -- difference of currently enrolled against goal (494,620 - 48,460 = 446,160)

32,975 -- PEpd that need to sign up to meet end of October Goal (446,160 / 15days = 32,975)

-- 17th through the 31st)

16,000 -- PEpd generous approximation from day 1 to day 31 to meet end of October Goal

(494,620 / 31days = 15,955)

o at an assumed PEpd approximation of 3029 per day fixed over the enrollment period

of October to March of 182 days (3029 * 182 = 551,278)
Per cent of Total Goal (7,066,000) if above assumed to be true -- 7.8% of Goal

o end of October Goal aside, PEpd over entire enrollment period to meet goal

(7,066,000/182 = 38,824 PEpd)

o current PEpd as a perentage of theoretical PEpd is (3029 / 38824 = 7.8%)

42274 -- Amount of people per day starting October 16th to end of enrollment period to meet

Ultimate Goal (7017540 / 166 days from october 16th)

My daughter, the future rock star drummer

2013-08-14T19:45:00.000-04:00

My daughter, Lily, showing off her skills at drumming. She's the best.

enjoy :)

Quick build...GO!

2013-06-27T16:01:00.000-04:00

I was busy looking at server and network stats, since that is boring I looked to my small "desk-sized" container - 'o - Legos for inspiration. I gave myself 2 minutes to build something recognizable.

18 Lego pieces later and I have a pretty neat office building with a front façade and a "light-tower" at the top.

Here are the Lego's I used and how I put them together.

Picture Directions

1. base plate and 1st two blocks

2. 2nd tier of blocks

3. 3rd tier of blocks

4. Cap it with a penthouse suite

5. add the first circle clear piece

6. top if with two green clear pieces

7. facade first layer

8. last layer with pizzazzzzzzzzz

what do you think?

I think I'll call it the 2 minute challenge. Grab a handful of Legos and a timer, and build.

What happened exactly?

2013-06-22T09:53:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week I was angry I ranted and posted and had several words exchanged between myself and Project Glass regarding my invitation status and all of the issues that surrounded the process as it pertained to me, and undoubtedly many others (at this moment I'm working to confirm this).

Let me just start by saying that this is undoubtedly a "first world problem" in the way that no one really needs Google Glass to survive. I should also mention that, in my desire to stay on top of the latest technology trends, and my desire to extend my knowledge, I felt that I should get the Google Glass if only to feel that I was contributing to technological progress. It was because of these factors that I felt, not that I was being left out of the fun, but in large part that I was extremely inconvenienced through the process. That even though Google and Project Glass "wanted" my help, and the help of hundreds and thousands of others to test their devices, they sure didn't make me feel like they wanted my input (as small as it would have been)...at first.

First hint that we wanted answers

When the process first started, I had given them a call and talked with an adviser and explained just how inconvenienced I felt, and how I felt like Google didn't care. I also felt that, rather than have the unfortunate 14 day process run out and hang over my head and feel "down" that I wasn't being part of the process, I had them take me off of the list so I could put it out of my mind. The rest of the conversation blew my mind, not only because of the fact that they are part of Google, but also because it had the distinct ring to me that they had no clue of what they were doing...at first.

The adviser and I spoke about how none of my private posts on Google Plus had been answered, or the fact that I had received zero information after the word "GO" in terms of how I would be able to plan this excursion...you know...up until I got word that it was available. He informed me that they answer all emails and all private messages almost as fast as they can. He also informed me that they push out as much information as fast as possible. I, however, did not see any of this, and from my point of view the exact opposite was happening. To my relief he informed me that he was going to go to Social Media Right away.

WHAT I FELT THE PROBLEM WAS

Flash back a few months, to get a small idea of the mounting confusion that many people like myself were having. Their post on May 22nd indicated that many people wanted answers to a whole slew of questions: how, when, and why. With nothing to go on, many people began, it seems, to get a bit closer to the angry side, such as myself. As a matter of fact, if you go back through their stream there does not seem to be any information about the program itself, the mysterious program obviously had been given life somewhere, but hidden behind the "already haves" and the "really wants" were absolutely nothing, especially no "private" messages depicting: who, what, where, when, or why, or even what to expect in the coming months...or even how the process works up to the point that your link is generated.

seriously

April 2nd -- End of program, April 17th -- Hype, May 3rd -- User Story, May 14th -- User Story, May 17th -- Hype, May 22nd -- Interview, May 31st -- Facial Recognition, June 4th -- Hype, June 10th -- Team Member Story, June 13th -- Tear Down, June 17th -- Project Loon, June 18th -- Academic Users

June 19th -- My link, Not one single bit of literal information depicting the Who, What, Where, When or Why, or How, either publicly (which is not what I expected anyways) or Privately (which is what I would expect from such a large project.) depicting a timeline of the process, what's involved, and when I can expect to go through the process. Not necessarily when I was certain to get them...big difference.

Literally almost everything in the world has lead-time: package tracking, vacation planning / planners, wedding planning / planners, corporate retreats, church retreats...etc. There is always something sent to the participants WELL in advance to give them a welcome heads-up. With Glass I got none of that.

I know that I can't be the only one, but right now I feel like I'm the only one being vocal.

THE CONVERSATION

After social media was attached to my situation it didn't take long for someone, Sarah Price, on the team to get in touch with me. In fact, it was mere minutes. Speedy service let me tell you, but I'll tell you, the person they decided to attach to the situation was probably the best suited to attempt to speak in response to my letter to the team admonishing their process for the program for the deficiencies I felt were in directly opposed the normal openness of Google. Sarah immediately went to work at first asking me why I wanted

to leave the program, and attempting to figure out the thought process behind my complaints.

At first it was obviously inconceivable as to why someone would go ahead and turn down what is quite possibly the coolest most sought after piece of technology in the wild today. So I explained once again that the inconvenience of suddenly dropping the invitation on me at the last minute. In what seemed like an incredible turn of events they offered to extend my window for purchase and pickup through August, but could not confirm any later dates. While the offer of extension made me feel better about the program, it still was outside of anything that I was able to concede to because of the National Guard.

I continued to declare my disdain for their process, and my regret for having to drop out, and offered the only advice that I could offer as a citizen of the internet, "The only thing I would change about the whole program would have been an increased lead-time (even if it was a general time frame many months out, with more specific information aimed at the participants as time went on)." If there was anything that I had hoped would change, it would have been to offer more convenience to the future participants. If anything my discomfort with the situation would lead to a better result to others.

THE PROCESS

After I thought that the conversation had ended, Sarah came back with a little bit more than I had hoped for, the essential process that they go through when getting the devices into the public. Sarah had explained that the process of lead time was difficult because they wanted to make sure invitations were sent out as the devices rolled off of the assembly line and into their hands. Sarah explained that while they could have kept the devices on hand and waited for a larger deployment before sending them out, they wanted the results as soon as possible and decided that a rolling approach was the best way to get the devices into the hands and
on the heads of the users.

CONCLUSION

I feel that I now understand the process better, I still feel that the process can be improved in terms of distribution and customer communication. Perhaps they could delay some units to afford some buffer room, in order to communicate with the next few groups of explorers. Perhaps they could give more private messages and alerts to the potential explorers. Perhaps they could allow for potential explorers to push back their date for pickup (up to three or so months before the end of the program) and allow for a much, much larger window (5 or 6 months) depending on the program length. Whatever, if anything, they decide to do in order to improve the process I feel that more people will benefit ultimately.

Finally, I'd like to thank Sarah Price for easing and explaining the situation, as bummed as I still am about the whole thing, I do hope she gets recognized for her work, and she could probably stand to get a promotion (*nudge nudge* Google?).

What's in the News?

2013-06-20T17:07:00.000-04:00

U.S. News

TSA Flight 800: Coverup Investigation

Obesity Declared a Disease: Huge Medical Debate

World News

Taliban Seeks to Increase their credibility: Explosive International Talks

World human trafficking report singles out China and Russia: Worldwide anger

Space News

NASA releases billion pixel panorama of Mars: Aliens Ahoy (Maybe)

Tech News

Microsoft goes back on its DRM policies for the Xbox One: Definitely not a 360

Google Plus set to out-share the competition in the coming years: Huge Plus for the platform

FUN

Home improvement materials on the cheap: Material girls (and guys) ought to check out.

Father's Day Project: Part 2

2013-06-20T16:47:00.002-04:00

For the Part one go HERE and read about my original plans for the Think Geek Build-On Brick Mug.

PART 2

Well, Unfortunately when I went to the Lego store near where I live, I searched long and hard on the parts wall for enough green, white, and black pieces to make the 1-up mushroom that I had hoped to make. I was unable to find, in fact, anything in solid green...only transparent green. There was, however, a lot of Blue and White bricks available on the wall so I made the next best thing...Well, let's call it THE BEST THING.

BAM!!

THE BEST THING

It says #1

It says Dad

I even added a blue light for the top, because, TARDIS

Let's face it, the fact that there were no green Legos and all blue and white Legos was pretty much the sign for me to take the design of this thing to the next level.

I call it the T.A.R.C.O.D. (Time and Relative Coffee On Desk), and I think I get more attention from people wanting to look at the Mug than actually asking me to fix network issues.

Awesome!

So, while you decide how you are going to design your Coffee Mug, I'll leave you with This.

Cause nothing says awesome like: Thumbs-up, TARDIS, and animated GIF

Enjoy the New Look

2013-06-20T11:06:00.002-04:00

WOAH!! All of a sudden stuff changed...it's okay...It's a new look

I like it, minimal, and accentuates the posts.

Don't like it? Let me know.

What time will I update?

2013-06-20T10:24:00.000-04:00

MORE UPDATES SOON

As mentioned this morning, in reference to my original Blog Post: Why I'm Angry with Google Glass I'll have another post up as soon as possible with more information pertaining to my conversation with them.

I'll also be updating my Father's Day project: First read Part 1 and I'll pass along other New Stories I'm reading, and more stuff that I like later on in the day.

Stay tuned for more information from my corner.

In the mean-time Here's a picture of the first thing that popped up in my Google Image Search after searching the first word I saw on my desk: "AMX" (name of a software package for where I work)

ooooooo Pretty

Why I'm angry with Google Glass

2013-06-19T17:24:00.000-04:00

Now don't judge me. Ok, fine, judge me. It was a feeling of accomplishment to be chosen by Google to be a member of the Google Glass Explorers. I haven't been chosen for much in my life, and I frankly don't get the offered opportunity to do anything nearly as cool as this. What follows is what I felt to be a poorly planned operation built off of more publicity than they'd hoped for, and more people than they knew what to do with.

Credit: Google.com

What's Google Glass?

That should be an easy one. Google Glass is the head-mounted wearable device that is aimed at integrating wearable electronics with phones and mobile electronics. I've often told people that if someone came out with a way to feasibly integrate an actual computer to my brain I'd do it no questions asked, Google Glass is that dream come true (to a lesser extent of course).

How to get one?

Months ago Google held a social media contest of sorts, people would post on their Google Plus wall on what they would do #ifihadglass and Google would judge the entries and decide who would be the chosen elite to be able to wield the un-wieldable (is that a word?) and post their experiences on the web. My post, to me reflected that.

Pick me!

Why I'm angry.

Finally, right? The whole point of this post. It's not that I won't get one, and it's not that I couldn't afford one, it's not even about how I won't get to parade around the great state of Indiana and the United States and wow onlookers. No. This is purely based on: lack of communication, lack of information, and lack of concern for other's time and schedule. I never expected Google Glass to cater to me, I just expected that I'd be able to know several months out what the process was and plan my time accordingly.

At first nothing
Then
Even more nothing
No posts, no mentions, no info

and no replies to my requests

for information.

When all of a sudden, when I'd figured that due to the lack of information and the lack of communication that I'd simply been marked off of the list (wouldn't have surprised me in the least), when I had almost forgotten about Google Glass and began to focus on other things...

BAM I GET MY CHANCE

FINALLY!

BUT NOT SO FAST

In order to get one you must fulfill a few requirements, all of which I was aware of, and figured I'd make a vacation out of. 1.) Be Chosen 2.) Lay down 1500 dollars for it 3.) Go out to one of their locations to pick it up. I was excited!!! Giddy really. I clicked the link I was given and scrolled to the bottom of the page to rush to complete the process. I chose my color, agreed to the terms and conditions, and clicked next to schedule some time.

Oh, middle of June acceptance, and look, all filled up.

Oh you're all full in July too!

The same picture might as well have all 4 locations on it, because they all tell the same story.

Oh, that's just crazy, all that I had to choose from is June and July? Well, that's all well and good except I received my message from Project Glass in the MIDDLE OF FREAKIN JUNE!! Gee, Project Glass / Google, how on earth am I supposed to go to my employer and request some short notice leave, and buy a ticket to California (for example) on this short of notice and at an economical fare without rushing?

Above: Last minute purchase

Above: Well planned purchase months in advance

Obviously Project Glass doesn't really get the concept of having to plan ahead, and obviously they don't get the concept of proper notice, and seriously does not get the fact that normal people have lives they can't just drop at a moments notice.

Sure, if I lived in California, I wouldn't give a rat's ass, but in little 'ol Indiana this kind of short notice just doesn't work for me.

What am I going to do after posting this? Probably put my 1500 dollars somewhere else and just wait for the standard release.

Recap

I'm mad because after months of not answering my questions and giving zero information, I get served up a nice large slice of "Screw You and your Time Management" we like to live life at the speed of "Let's inconvenience our fan-base and do everything last Minute"

Come on Project Glass, Get with the program.

Father's Day Gift Project Part 1

2013-06-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

So, on Father's Day I received what can only be described as the coolest present ever, a "lego compatible" Coffee Mug from Think Geek. Not only does it look like the coolest 8-bit representation of a Coffee Mug, but it can fit Legos and multiple other types of building blocks.

I also received the Vader's Little Princess book, which is a whole other story in itself. Perhaps I'll talk about it later, but it's definitely sufficient enough to say that this book is a definite must-have for any Dad who is a fan of Star Wars. Not only does it portray the Darth Vader / Princess Leia story in a different tone, but it almost brings you to tears with both comedy and the realization that, even though you may not have an intergalactic princess, she will grow up much faster than you will want her to.

Any ways, the mug. Since it attached to Legos, and there just "happens" to be a Lego store within a 5-minute drive of where I work, I decided to personalize the Mug with Legos to make it as Geeky as possible. I thought Star Wars, but that much of the Star Wars designs and emblems just won't fit too well onto a rectangle mug, I thought I would go with an 8-bit character from Nintendo. The mushroom (1-up, of course) will do nicely.

Now I can't very well just go buy a bunch of Legos and go to town on this thing, especially since: A.) I suck at 8-bit pictures, and B.) the Mug front is just a "little" too small for representation of the mushrooms. Sure I could cut out a few pixels, but then it might just look silly. then I came to the realization that the mug fits Legos all the way around it. This led me to the realization that I could attempt to design a 3D mushroom by implementing colored Lego blocks all the way around it (fixing the pixel size issue) and adding to the cool-factor.

But first I have to design it.

This should work for me to be able to design it. Drawn representations of the Coffee Mug front (and back) and the Left (and Right) sides and the handle. They're all identical to each other in the fact that the Front and Back and the Left and Right are the same number of "pixels" each. This allows for me to wrap the mushroom around the mug for the full effect. The only issue remains what to do with the unfilled pixels, which I will probably keep as the base color (gray) until the last minute when I can decide what color to fill in around the mushroom.

Pictured here is a better view of the mug representation that I will be using to design the mushroom around the mug.

As of right now, this idea has only started, and since I have a lot of actual work to do at this moment I will have to work on this off and on until I get the design right and then it's off to the Lego store to get the required supplies.

Stay tuned to the progress of my "Mushroom Mug" and we'll see just how awesome this turns out.

Oh yeah, and a happy (late) fathers day to all of the Fathers out there.

What would you get YOUR Father for Father's Day?

2013-06-12T08:58:00.000-04:00

My Family is weird...That is all that I have to say.

Below is an actual conversation that I had with my family about what we were going to do for my Father for Father's Day. Needless to say things got out of hand...and hilarious.

color coded so you can enjoy the conversation: Red - sister 1, Blue - sister 2, Orange - Brother 1, Green - Brother 2

Limeade Blast Review

2013-06-11T13:05:00.000-04:00

If you haven't read my initial first look review you should take a look at it HERE and see what I thought of it when I first opened the package. It's been a continuous little trial as I've become more and more intrigued with my little battery as more and more people become apparently hostile at the Kickstarter Page.

I thought, in addition to my little first look review, why not run it through some paces and see how I think of the Limeade when I use only the Limeade in simulated situations.

Here is what I've got:

So, as you can see, my continued review is just as positive (maybe more) than the first look. Now as you could see from the video I've simulated several days of use through continued HARD usage in order to charge it back up and get a feel for what it does.

Let's just say that it doesn't disappoint. Furthermore, you should buy one HERE if you haven't already.

peek - a - boo I see you

2013-06-10T20:06:00.000-04:00

more Lily cuteness, as she plays peek - a - boo with me. I love her so much.

Limeade Blast Awesomeness

2013-06-10T12:49:00.000-04:00

So, after having to wait FOREVER for the Limeade Blast to finish its Kickstarter campaign and what seemed like an eternity for the Shipping information to go out, and an entire weekend where it was sitting in my mailbox (I was at National Guard drill); I finally got to check out my Limeade Blast battery.

First, a little background about the company.

---from the Kickstarter page

Limeade was cofounded by Paul Lin and Melissa Lau in November 2012 and officially incorporated March 2013 in Boulder, CO. The company produces cutting-edge external batteries for smartphones, tablets and other devices, maximizing battery capacity within the smallest possible form factors by pushing the boundaries of what current technology will allow. In the past year, the most talented team of individuals ranging from product manager to graphic designer have been assembled to work on Limeade products. The goal is to bring the coolest gadgets to the market. After months of preparation, Limeade is ready to launch the first set of products on Kickstarter.

Pretty solid intro and the idea behind the product and project just seemed too good of an idea not to back up...besides, I'd also get a battery out of the deal. Seemed like a great trade off, improve the mobile device world with an external battery option, and get a battery myself. Que the waiting, and the watching of the project.

A week later I got my brown envelope with my magical battery, that's when the fear set-in.

Wet, packaging was wet, condensation was everywhere, the cardboard of the packaging was just so soaked that it stuck to the outside of the battery (which has a rubberized "feel" to it so it was difficult to get off). The instructions were unreadable, I was truly afraid. I opened the package carefully just in case I would have to send it back, and pushed the button on the side and got the 50% status light. When I got that I decided that I could take the chance and see if this will work...or fail.

Fortunately for myself, it seems that the battery itself is a bit more resilient than I had thought and charged nicely. All 4 LED's came on, the light on the top works (took me a few to figure out how shut it off because the instructions were no good to me). Once all of the soggy cardboard was cleaned off of the device I held it in my hand and judged the weight and feel.

The weight of the device was beautiful, sturdy enough for me to feel confident in dropping it (I didn't, however) and yet light enough for me to not even really care about carrying it. The rubberized "feel" (it isn't actually rubberized) definitely feels good in my hands, smooth and comfortable and yet it isn't going to go anywhere. At this point the only thing keeping from sending it back is the fact that all of the LED's are lit. So I decided to actually charge something. The included cable is pretty cool, they definitely make sure that the included user base of EVERYONE can use this guy. The cable includes a two part plug that has the Apple 30-pin connector, which comes off into a micro USB connector, I think that it's a pretty snazzy looking item to include with the device.

I took the cable that came with it, plugged it in to my Galaxy Nexus and BAM! the little guy turned on and started charging. It took me nearly 5 MINUTES to charge 10% of the battery. Pretty speedy for simple charging. The auto shut-off feature worked when it reached the full battery power (which gives me a good feeling about leaving it go overnight). Lastly, neither the battery, nor the phone got too hot during the process, so big plus to me.

After all of this I felt great about it, and plan on keeping it. Trust me when I say I exhaled a great sigh of relief when I confirmed for myself that the wetness of the packaging and the condensation did not affect the battery operation. The Limeade Blast works JUST AS ADVERTISED!

Downsides

There has always got to be a downside to everything, fortunately this device didn't have many at all (I mean it's a friggin battery, how hard could it be to use). One of the for me, it is the included cable, it fits in the ports properly enough. I had some issues where simply having the battery on the seat of my car and the phone next to it where over time the cable would slip out of the USB port of the phone, where I don't normally have that issue with my other phone charger cable. Though, you could just as easily use your own cable (as could I).

My other downside, The reliability of their shipping operation. Either their warehouse people had a freak indoor rainstorm, some sort of water leakage problem, or an incredibly high humidity issue caused the condensation (and possibly more problems). Checking on their Kickstarter comments page, I've seen a few other people with wet packaging and batteries, and more than a few more people APPEAR TO HAVE either bad batteries or other issues that render the batteries in capable of working properly.

Like this guy

Fortunately, the company appears to be very much on top of trying to figure out where the issue lies, so at the very least their customer service is top-notch.

Above: top notch

My final thoughts? Seeing as it would appear that the majority of people who got one did not have wet batteries, I would say go ahead and buy one when you get the chance. Unfortunately full purchasing is still not available on the main site, but with the success of their Kickstarter, and the fact that backers have a product, I would say it won't be long at all.

4 Out of 5!!!!

****UPDATE**** According to an Email that was sent to all backers, the Limeade Blast is not for General sale at Amazon: HERE for the Kickstarter prices (for a limited time that is). Get this wonderful device while it's hot!!

More of my Amazing daughter.

2013-06-01T15:36:00.001-04:00

Watch "Lily helps me count to 9" on YouTube
Watch my little girl flex her brain muscle and help me count to nine. I got lucky this time, usually she only does stuff like this whenever she feels like it, I actually had to pretend that I wasn't videoing her.

Think that's amazing? You should see it when I catch her singing the Alphabet.

Shelving upgrade / days 8 and 9 no smoking.

2013-05-18T14:47:00.001-04:00

So, today, I went ahead and implemented (with much difficulty) my improved shelving upgrade. Quite simply I went from old, nasty, wal-mart stand alone shelving; Straight into some inexpensive solid shelving from Lowes. Then I jazzed it up with canvas lined cubes for storage.

Took me a grand total of 40 mins of measuring, drilling, hanging, and arranging.

Awesome!!

The things you feel like doing when you've quit smoking.

7 days smoke free.

2013-05-16T14:11:00.001-04:00

One week
Seven days
Smoke free
Hell yeah

(Found an empty pack under my seat and crushed it for dramatic effect)

Totally nailed it!

Day 6 of no smoking

2013-05-15T17:30:00.001-04:00

Made it out of Bloomington, Indiana alive. With a college campus whose per-capita smoking population appears to outnumber the students, stopping myself from smoking was hard.

Day 5 of no smoking

2013-05-14T17:13:00.001-04:00

Just when I thought things were going great, office life makes me want to smoke even more.

Day 4 of not smoking

2013-05-13T17:40:00.001-04:00

So, today is day 4 of my journey. I'm sure that many of you are wondering why someone like me would post self shots on the Internet , on a blog, and think in any way that people would follow anything I had to say. The true explanation is far simpler than that.

I don't look to start a new fad, I don't expect to become the next sensation, I do this so that anyone who decides to read my blog or read my posts knows that a real person with a very real goal personally to better himself.

More often than not when I post these to my blog I will do nothing but post a picture in a few observations perhaps my feelings at that current point in time. The only thing that I expect out of anyone read my posts is nothing. All that I want is the reach at least one other person with the same problem I am having so that they too know it is entirely possible for someone started the journey and too hope to finish it.

on that note, I wish myself and anyone else to join me on a journey the best luck.

Day 4 has gone off without a hitch

Day 3 of no smoking

2013-05-12T14:25:00.001-04:00

Three days down, plenty to go, doing yard work with my wife and I'm feeling great!

Still would love to smoke, though

Day 2 of no smoking

2013-05-11T16:58:00.001-04:00

Mothers day shopping at Lowes for flowers and flowerbed supplies...and no cigarettes.