Information During a Power Outage....

Continuing on from the last post. One of the areas that I wanted to work out was the ability to gather news from the local media in the general area. Specifically the media would be local television. The goal is to pursue DC power and the DC power source had to be common. My location makes 12 VDC the easiest to work out and get batteries easily.
My laptop is a dual-boot machine. I run Linux & Win 7, while the better half uses Win 7. The laptops will run for one to three hours depending on how they are configured. Purchased 12 VDC adapters for laptops that could have them. To use the battery power more efficiently the WiFi gets turned off. No need for the laptop to keep looking for a network to connect to. Not to mention that my internet connection went through a revamp. I will share that as well, nothing earth shattering, but the new config lets the UPS last much longer. Back to getting local TV...
I picked up a couple of the USB digital TV tuners. A Monoprice Digital TV Anywhere USB device, the other happened to be a Hauppauge HVR 950Q. Both tuners come with the ever important disc to load the software and drivers for MS Windows OS', expandable whip antennas, and remote control. These two devices are separated by price, but function is the same. Both work very well on Windows while the Hauppauge works on Linux as well. The Monoprice device did not work or rather I have not worked out a way to make it work on Linux. The Hauppauge gave me a bit of trouble. Had to poke around on the internet to get an updated firmware patch.

One way a fellow got it to work on Linux can be found here: Hauppauge HVR 950Q Updated Firmware. Linux is funny. It never loads the same. Each machine is different and will give different results.
The top device is the Monprice and the bottom is the Hauppauge. The cable came with the Hauppauge and should be used. It will take stress off of your laptop USB port. I tried a couple of generic USB extension cables; a big No GO.

Put up a small digital TV antenna picked up from Amazon.

With this antenna we get twelve to fourteen channels. Not to bad for being mounted approx. fifteen feet up off the ground. A little more elevation and I may be able to get another 5 or so. On Linux Kaffeine seems to be the choice of most folks from what I have read. No complaints from me as it seems to work well.

Linux and the apps on Linux are FREE. Awesome. So now we can attempt to receive the local news in the area during disasters, power outages, etc. Pretty cool stuff. More to follow in internet equipment and configuration.





Enjoy,

Or Wanted a Tablet...

When tablets first came out I thought that I would like one. Along came the Kindles, Nooks and iPad, etc. These tablets are cool, what would I use one for?

Here is what I came up with:
1. Check email without having to crank up the desktop or laptop.
2. Read my Kindle books.
3. Maybe watch a Youtube video that I received a note about.

As you can see the list is not very big. Tablets are nice and light for these tasks. Anything else will really tax the tablet and for what I wanted to initially accomplish these tasks can easily be handle by the tablet.

Recently I came across this interesting article: They Can Hear You Now: Verizon Patent Could Listen In On Customers and this one All Americans’ Emails Are Collected By The FBI, Says NSA Whistleblower or Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History

Talk about Soviet Russia or even 1984... Wow! Not impressed with the encroachment of my personal correspondence and liberties. What a mess!

Now one question that I asked of myself was what kind of tablet should I get? Which one will allow me to control most of the tablets activities? Is there a way to maintain my privacy? I continued to review my wants and needs...

The tablet I ended up ordering was a Flytouch III. Not as flashy as the iPad or Samsung Galaxy. The Flytouch has Android OS Froyo 2.3.3, 16GB at the time I received it. I have had the tablet for about a year now. The Flytouch does what I need it to do and a little more.

So, what does this table have?
Android Froyo 2.3.3
2 x USB ports
1 RJ54 network jack
1 micro SD slot
1 HDMI
10.2" screen
1 GPS antenna connection w/ antenna

Pros
Let's see what the likes are and see if I reached my initial goals of getting a tablet.
1. Checks emails, fine, easy configuration. Check.
2. Kindle e-books, loaded, works great. Check.
3. Youtube access, works. Check.
4. Price was right at the time of purchase.

Bonus'
Attach the GPS antenna and drive around to test. Pretty accurate and a nice extra. Wi-Fi can be manually switched off. Don't need a network connection to use navigation feature. Just need the GPS antenna to utilize.

Cons
1. You get what you pay for. Construction is good to fairly good. Some folks have issues with the tablet. Check the internet for reviews and comments. But, for me some of the cons were not enough to prevent me from getting one.
2. The audio and WiFi ckt has an isolation issue. I get a bit of noise over the audio channel. But, not bad enough or happening often enough that I cannot understand the audio.
3. Battery life when the WiFi is on will let you go for a few hours.

Summary
I have had the Flytouch III for about a year now. Happy with it and it does what I wanted to do. The GPS feature is nice and I have the power adapter for the auto. I can control the internet access with a switch and not worry about the software controlling network access from a remote source. This does not mean that when I finally connect to the internet a log of my activity is not sent anywhere. But, at least the log is not real time.
I clear the cache often and will have to research further to see if that also clears any log data that gets collected. At some point I will root the device to see about cleaning out some of the un-needed utilities.
This tablet may not be for you, but for some it may be just the ticket. Android can be configured to the users needs. Check it out and see if the Flytouch works. I have read the newer generation is much better all around.

Enjoy,

To Read The News...

I don't like to watch the news on TV or much of anything. What was informative and objective is now just government propaganda. I suppose that since the advent of modern communications this is the natural course every society takes.

As mentioned in one of my other posts I primarily use Linux and Mac. I get most of my news using an RSS reader. I have "attached" to feeds from Marketwatch, Zerohedge, France 24, etc. The list is endless and more than one source is recommended so that the user can verify the story. But, sometimes I find information that seems to start from one source and then picked up and carried by others. This can be a pain for sure.

For Linux I use Liferea. Most of the RSS readers have the same type of GUI. Down the left side you will see you sources. The middle top is where the article title is presented. When the user selects the article the bottom portion of the GUI displays the article or article brief. A simple click will open the full article for consumption. On the Mac I have NewsNetWire. These RSS readers can be set to update by minutes or hours. Plenty of options. Up to the user.

Exercise your brain. Read the news and more right from your PC.

Enjoy