Recent Posts

Asynchronous Database Operations with PHP and jQuery

March 26, 2013 - Categories: Utilities And Other Useful Things

8 minute read

Be advised This post is quite old (26 Mar 2013) and any code may be out of date. Proceed with caution.

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New Site Launch + 6 WordPress.com Migration Tips

March 10, 2013 - Categories: How-to Guides

4 minute read

Like all good things, my time on WordPress.com's hosting has come to an end. Don't get me wrong - anyone toying with the idea for a blog should strongly consider it, as it's well-managed and does 90% of what any user needs it to do. It's a powerful tool for the uninitiated...

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Arduino Project 5: Internet Control without Ethernet Shield

February 18, 2013 - Categories: IT/Software Projects,How-to Guides,Utilities And Other Useful Things

3 minute read

I'm getting ready to start an Arduino home automation project, so I started looking at ways to interface with an Arduino across the internet. That way I'll be able to control all of the lights, locks, etc. anywhere I have internet access.

Now, the obvious answer was to buy an Ethernet shield, but I already run a home web server so that seemed unnecessary. I saw a few solutions using Processing or Python scripts, but that seemed unnecessarily complicated. It took a fair amount of digging and brainstorming, but I've found an ultra-easy, ultra-flexible, and ultra-fast solution. Ultra.

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Arduino Project 4: Tilt To Unlock

February 7, 2013 - Categories: Electronics Projects,How-to Guides

7 minute read

This is my favorite Arduino project to date. After some basic experimenting with an accelerometer, I had an idea. What if you used the accelerometer to look for a combination of movements? Instead of using a combination lock or a traditional key lock, you could just tilt the object in a set pattern to unlock it. Here's what I ended up with:

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WordPress: Twenty Eleven Child Theme with Galleria Slider

January 28, 2013 - Categories: IT/Software Projects,Utilities And Other Useful Things

less than 1 minute read

OK - I've been spending the last few hours getting acquainted with the WordPress backend (that sounds more risque than I had intended) and making my first custom 'child' theme.

If you have an interest in making custom themes and you're just getting started, I've got a few very generic tips:

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