The Bored Geek

Winterboard and SBSettings

Since I didn’t jailbreak right away when I got my iPhone 3Gs – I was out in the cold when I decided I wanted to… but the dev-team have finally released the new PwnageTool 3.1.4 which finally busts down the doors of a 3Gs that has been updated to 3.1.  Jailbreaking is a funny thing to me.  I do it more on principle than practicality.  I don’t like not having access to software on any hardware I own – a mentality derived from all of my linux experiences.  Honestly, there aren’t many “killer” jailbreak apps out now.  At first there were a lot, but many of those can be found in the app store now.  The two that I really do use though, are very strong pulls towards jailbreaking.  Winterboard for themes (and I normally can car less for themes on devices) and SBSettings for quick access to turning on/off 3G/Wireless and brightness control without having to go through the settings app.

If you have an iPhone – Jailbreak it!  If not for the apps, at least for taking control over the hardware that you own and to not allow apple to dictate your user experience in all aspects.

Lamy Safari Pens

For some odd reason I decided that I should get a fountain pen.  Actually, I know the reason.  I watched inglorious basterds and in the beginning scene the “Jew Hunter” was using one to write with and it made me want to check them out.  Combining my desire to use one with my love of contemporary style and absolute lack of experience with fountain pens I decided to try a Lamy Safari.  I liked it enough to get another.  So I have 2 now – and will probably get another.  My next one may be another Safari (aluminum looks nice), or a more traditional pen.  The quality of the two I have are great – much higher than I expected from a 25 dollar pen.  Either way, the next pen will use well ink, not cartridges.  There is something regal about using a fountain pen, and the comfort is amazing.  I never realized just how hard you have to press down on even a good ball point pen to get it to write – these pens almost write with no more pressure than their own weight against the paper.  Couple one of these pens with a moleskine notebook and you have a great writing experience – and this is coming from someone who, until now, has really disliked writing thanks to the computer age.

Made a point of getting out to see Zombieland last night… well worth it.  I hate spending $10 to see a movie, but this one fell into the category of not being a complete waste of time so it was totally worth it.

So we’re down one potentiometer (and we only had one).  Judging by the smell, it died a fast and honorable death.  I may have (did) switched the hot/ground around on accident.  It got a little warm and I appear to have let some of the blue smoke escape.  Lesson learned.  Luckily, the arduino seems to have pretty good protection against bonehead moves like that…

For the second time, I’ve bought an arduino board.

Ricky and I are messing around – stumbling through learning the basics of electronics.  Like what happens when the RGB LED you got was a shared Anode led vs a shared Cathode led.  That was a few hours of fun trying to figure out what the heck was wrong.  It works now though!

Expect more soon. Arduino experiments will just be the beginning here.