Beep Beep revealed

After three maybe four years of beeping going off in our office which you could only hear during quiet times, I have found the source of the noise.  Closed up inside a box of odd electronic bits and pieces was a smoke detection alarm that had been removed from the kitchen due to its sensitivity and repeated bleeting during cooking.  The battery had been left inside and was sounding off once per minute for the last three years.

At least it still works

Nutri Bullet Breakfast

We have tried two goes at the Bullet breakfast. The first one turned out very green. I think it was the Spinach.  There were also green apples as well. The next day we had less green and more red as in strawberries. Also we did not hold the gizmo long enough to completely chew the ingredients so there were a lot of lumps. This morning was more drinkable rather than spoonable.

Spinach, 2 apples, banana and blueberries

Drone Rises

Yes we got the drone outside this time but the wind was a bit tricky. It seemed to want to fly in one direction only so the flying skills need a bit more work. The best idea is to be close to a power source but also have some open space. The controller is complex and is best worked using multiple fingers. I wouldn't start this type of flying with an expensive drone.



Airborne Photo 

Airborne

Low Profile Boxing Day

Yes a quiet day is in order, except for the soaking rainy jog I did this morning.  Yesterdays wrapping paper is today's rubbish which has been cleaned up. I also got the quad copter drone to work after much reading of the Korean? translations.  The main trick not in the instructions,  is to turn on the mobile controller with the power joy stick in the down position (not centred). This enables connection between the controller and the drone.  Now I might go and do some colouring. it must be at least 50 yar since I had a colouring book.

The Comfy Pillow

1st ever Drone photo

Offline maps for travelling

My windows phone has an app called Here Maps from Nokia. This is now available on Windows 8.1 and has an offline option allowing you to download any country's map in the world.  I still use the TomTom for in car navigation while travelling but this is a good backup and maybe handy if you are walking the back streets of Rome and you have the tablet in the backpack. It is a freebie app from the windows store. For subsequent map downloads you need to search for the location first and add it to a collection then a button allows for downloading.

Tablet Tales

I have been playing around with an Android JellyBean Tablet. These marketing guys really need to have another think about some of this labelling.  This one is a cheapie from Bauhn but my main use was to display photos, slideshows and home videos.  There isn't much control over the slide show timing. The DayDream mode seems to work the best where a continuous display can be started while the unit is recharging. Even then a message pops up from time to time saying DayDream has stopped working. 

Working with Micro SD cards is also tricky. I have seen the miniaturisation of components over the years but these really are small. I bought two and as I was swapping one out of its slot I wasn't paying particular attention. This is the tip! Pay attention. I used a thumb nail to depress the card but turned the ejection into a slingshot mode without really watching. At first I wasn't sure if I had pushed the card deep into the unit. But two days later I found the card where it had been flung to.  Now how to store these wafer like media.

the Mobile

Years ago a mobile was something you hung over the baby's bed to keep her amused. Up until the retirement day last week, I never gave mobile phones a second thought.  I always carried it mid-week and put it away most weekends.  It's only been a week into it but already there is less distinction between weekday and weekend, they are all just days.  I am tempted at not having a mobile phone at all however have been reminded that there will be no hiding from the new boss.

It is a bewildering choice of plans, phones and platforms, the three P's.  I was just getting used to the Nokia Lumia 520 windows phone before I had to give it back.  Too bad about having to learn a new phone number.  The "a may sim" seems to be cheap enough.  $20 per mth shouldn't break the Trust.