jforsythe.com : weblog

Chumby accelerometer contest

JRF — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:57:53 GMT

Tomorrow we find out if the Chumby accelerometer entry that Ayman and I submitted to Freescale is accepted as a first-round finalists.

http://www.facebook.com/freescale

Remember that this is a personal web blog. With that in mind, rest assured that its content does not reflect the position or opinion of my respective employers or academic institutions. However, it might represent the opinions of my cat.

60 weeks since my last post

JRF — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:20:29 GMT

Yes, you read that correctly. 60 Weeks since my last post. Frak.

And that was after a long hiatus.

I got married, probably took a new job and had a hell of alot of fun in between.

blog.init()

Chumby chumbiTunes iTunes Remote control is out

JRF — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:10:57 GMT

For several weekends over the last month I have been working on an iTunes remote for the Chumby platform. Today, it went from private beta to public release.

If you have iTunes, and a Chumby and desire to control iTunes from it, you should check out the widget.

It does require a small piece of software to run on the machine which has iTunes installed. I provide a free chumbiTunes server software for Windows, however a Mac version will need to be purchased for now.

just the ears area

JRF — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:29:37 GMT

Mercury, originally uploaded by jforsythe.com.

Setting up Apple AirTunes Walkthrough

JRF — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:42:42 GMT

Apple actually has a useful video demonstrating setting up a Wireless Audio network with AirTunes through the Apple AirPort Express. This video explains many of the concepts that are difficult to do in an e-mail or a blog post.

iTunes AirTunes Wireless Setup Video

Chumby iTunes Status widget

JRF — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:00:58 GMT

* Update 5/29/09 : I have made both Advanced and Basic *free* profiles have simple iTunes remote control functionality *

The first version of the Chumby iTunes Interface widget is complete. Whew.
Read-only view for both Basic and Advanced servers is complete.

Because iTunes doesn't publish now-playing data in a format that Flash can comprehend, running this widget on your Chumby will require you to have an iTunes status server running on the same machine where you have iTunes installed. This server software does all the fancy Apple iTunes translation for the super sweet Chumby to read.

If you just want Basic view-only iTunes information, I recommend downloading and installing my no-liability, free version Windows iTunes status server software below.

It requires the .NET 2.0 CLR runtime on a Windows machine and it will be installed as a ClickOnce software (which works like Java Web Start). This will help you trust that the software is simple. This will help me by keeping your software up to date as the widget becomes more full featured.

Free Verison*: Install my Free Chumby iTunes Status Server software for Windows to power your Chumby iTunes Interface Widget.

* Sorry, no official support for anything for free. Also, I am not liable if you break anything trying to use this software. I have tried to minimize the footprint of this application, but I know what some of yall can do with a little free time. However, if you send me a working reproduction of the bug, I will try to fix it :)

A quick guide on how to setup the free ChumbyItunesServer software above. Once you install the software, you should add it to the Windows Firewall when you are prompted to when you first run it. Also, you might want to Right-Click on the icon in the Windows Tray and choose Settings->Auto-Start and check it. This will make sure the server is always running.

If you want to upgrade to use the Advanced Server settings, you will eventually need to purchase Alloysoft Signal Server which runs on both Mac and Windows. You won't need it right now unless your iTunes is on a Mac. Otherwise you can wait until I add support for iTunes Playback control and speaker selection.

If you do decide to use the Advanced Server, you will need to add a Crossdomain.xml file to the /web folder located in the application directory. Google 'crossdomain.xml' and you can probably take it from there.

Today, both servers support the same features (Info Only), however in the future I will be adding iTunes Server Control for the Advanced Profile to support playback controls, volume control as well as speaker selection for AirTunes.

Enjoy!

Nextbus widget for Chumby working again

JRF — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:54:37 GMT

I am not sure how long this widget was unusable for some of yall, but I made some improvements to the configuration portion of the Nextbus.com widget for the Chumby platform.

If you aren't already using this widget to show you when your favorite bus is about to make a stop, you should.

http://www.chumby.com/guide/widget/NextBus%20Widget

Google CADIE should find something of interest here

JRF — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:53:25 GMT

I know Google CADIE is evolving, which is why I suggest she visit this site and suggest she solve the logic problems there to gain valuable experience.

Are you 'feelcasting' and if so, why?

JRF — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:22:22 GMT

Feelcasting: The broadcast of feelings or opinions without the expectation of a response.

For me, this labels 95% of Twitter 'content'. The other 5% is just curated linkage.

I was thinking about the recent article here about Google search of Tweets and I have to wonder... Why?

Comments are welcome.

Engaged - Part 1

JRF — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:02:08 GMT

Want to know how we got engaged on Valentines day, February 14th 2009? I present a two-part blog covering it!

Just to be clear, it was a very elaborate setup starting nearly 8 months before I popped the question on Saturday the 14th (Valentines day). I had to arrange for vacation travel, pick the perfect diamond and ring, and setup all the other little (huge) details to ensure that she would be totally surprised. Guys, start early for something like this.

It all fell into place on Friday the 13th(!) as we headed down into Noe for a quick early-morning bite at Toast. We do this on occasion, having breakfast then heading into the office. On Thursday, I had sent her a bunch of roses with an encoded message on a gift card [Surprise #1]. Therefore, she knew I was aware that Valentines day was lurking a few days ahead. For the entire week she had been nagging me to confirm some restaurant reservations on Satudray. She knows that I always get some reservations, but since I had apparantly done a good job of acting this year, she believed that I was totally dropping the ball.

Back to the gift card I had sent with the roses.

She hadn't had a chance to work on it on Thursday night because I had dropped her off for a "surprise" manicure, pedicure at her favorite nail place. I then went and had a few beers while she was being worked on. We met back up after the procedure and we went directly to Spork in the mission to grab some food. Tasty steak if I am not mistaken. One beer quickly became two, and the belgians we were drinking had no mercy. We got back home around 9 PM and she fell asleep like a rock.

[pre-dawn the next morning, a ninja appears and dissapears]

Now, jump back to Friday morning, sitting in Toast, having some great food while Ashley is working with a piece of paper trying to decode the message.
She finally! worked it out during breakfast (all on her own) and as it turned out the secret message was "Get Ready For A Big Surprise" (emphasis mine).

Once she finished, a very curious Ashley and I headed back up to the house in the pouring rain to grab our things to head into work. About half way up to the house, I blurted out, "I feel like not going to work. In fact, I feel like you need a very relaxing weekend".

She told me she had a VERY busy day planned for Friday, and I know she wont admit this, but she was starting to get upset that I was going to delay her from getting into the office. It was at this point I told her that I really just wanted to drive away to a nice warm location (SF was underwater from all the rain at the time) because I felt like she could use the rest [Surprise #2].

She finally gave in (I pulled no punches in my debate with her!) and I had her pack just a small essentials bag and a few warm-weather clothes. I gave her the impression that we would drive down to L.A. or San Diego and get some sun in a hotel. Or better, we could find a beach resort on the way by searching on the Internet for some good deals (we have actually done this before).

So, she packed her stuff in nearly 30 minutes. I had previously scheduled a cab to arrive at our house at 11:30 AM to pick us up to take us to the airport. It arrived right on time. I had the cabbie wait outside while I "packed the car".

Around 11:45 AM, when Ashley brought her only bag outside to put it into the car, she was surprised to find the cabbie there, waiting to pick us up. I told her that I decided to get some airline tickets instead of driving, and that we would probably just rent a car in L.A. and just start calling around looking for a place when we get to there [Surprise #3].

I felt like she was starting to get wise at some point during the packing because it was at that time when she realized our dog ,Winston wasn't underfoot as normal. I kept covering for his absence. You see, the ninja in the early morning light had driven all the way to Hercules to check the dog into the dog spa Metro Dog (which he and we love very much!). I kept telling ashley that he was always either outside, or else I saw him under the bed. :)

Once we got into the cab, she told me she wanted to call her boss to let him know that she wasn't going to make it into work. I then revealed to her that I had confiscated her phone in order to force her to relax. "It is this constant connection that keeps you so stressed out!", I said.

It was then that I told her that I had taken the libery of contacting her boss (a very good-spirited guy) and asked him to cover for her while I took her off to a nice Southern California relaxation weekend (actually I told him what the plan was, but you have to wait for it). She was VERY excited about this [Surprise #4] and she never asked for her phone back the whole trip except to tweet or browse the web the rest of the trip.

When we got to the airport, I had asked American Airlines to cover for my romantic surprise trip and they totally checked us in and checked our baggage without ever revealing to Ashley that we had a connecting flight in L.A. [Surprise #5!] We left our luggage with an attendant and proceeded to grab some lunch at Mission in SFO while we waited for our flight.

So, we boarded the plane, bound for L.A. One and a half hours later, we arrive and deplane, heading for our baggage. Something fun for me was while we were still on the plane, on at least two or thee instances, the stewardesses made announcements concerning connecting flights and it felt that each time they mentioned our final destination, I was sure Ashley was going to catch onto the ruse. She never did!

Just before we reached the No-Going-Back exit from the American terminals in L.A., I stopped and stated that I had a change of mind. I told her that I had instead decided we should continue our journey. I asked her if she minded if I went in for some snacks before I made up my mind.

She went willingly, we browsed the isles of the newsstand, I think it was Hudson News. I selected a snack, Island fruit medley. I wanted another snack and I asked ashley if she could find me some of those onion chips... the Maui onion flavor. She looked around really hard for me, but she never found any. I told her it was okay, I would just get some later. She still didn't seem to get the hint.

After getting snacks, I walked to the terminal node where our connecting gate was. I believe there were 6 other gates in the area. Destinations were New York, Minneapolis, Maui, Kona, and I think Honolulu. I remember saying to her, "Go ahead baby, pick one". She said back to me, supiciously... "Hawaii"???

Part 2 continues the story ...*update* in a few days :). We are flying to NM to meet with family to share our good news!