technology

A collection of 13 posts

Playtime with Sphero's Star Wars BB-8 Droid

toys 1 min read

There's a new Star Wars movie coming soon. Today, #ForceFriday, Disney released a ridiculous number of new toys. While I'm not as desirous of such things as I once was, I still couldn't resist Sphero's smartphone-controlled BB-8 droid. I like it so much, I made a little video.

This was not an unpleasant way to pass the time. We should all play with toys more often.

Introducing Dander (Update: Deprecated)

business 1 min read Introducing Dander (Update: Deprecated)

For those who don’t know, I’ve got a new side project. It’s a mobile app dedicated to creating awareness and raising money (via microdonations) for animal shelters.

We call it Dander. You know, like Tinder, but Dander, except for pets, not humans. Actually, our original concept really was a Tinder for Pet adoptions (swipe right if you want to talk to the pet shelter), but the app doesn’t look or work like Tinder any more.

In any case, if you love pets, want to support animal rescue shelters, or maybe just want to support a few

Fun with my new DJI Phantom 3

drones 2 min read

This past Christmas, I bought a decent sub-$100 drone for my brother-in-law. We’ve enjoyed the progress small RC vehicles have made over the past decade, and our excitement bubbles over in December. Christmases are filled with battery hunts, impatient charging, and destructive crashes. This drone stepped up our excitement. 3-axis controls, 30 meter range, and a 720p video camera. I won’t bore you with our giggly first flight adventures, but the day ended with a fishing pole and some fishing line tied to a glove, which we cast onto a neighbors roof to gently retrieve an inverted,

Hello, Facebook's Updated Android Dialer

technology 3 min read Hello, Facebook's Updated Android Dialer

So here’s my first app review. I use and study so many applications, I might as well think about them a bit more vocally, if only to get my own thoughts in order. Yes, this first one might be rough, but they’ll get better. Perhaps.

This week, Facebook updated their Hello app, and I’ve switched to it as my full-time dialer. Overall, it has promise, but there are, expectedly, a few drawbacks. Let’s see how this goes.

What is it?

Facebook Hello is basically a replacement for your phone’s dialer, call log, and incoming call

My First Week with the Moto 360

technology 4 min read My First Week with the Moto 360

In the interest of upping my weekly word count and changing things up a bit, I thought I’d scribble a few thoughts on the technology I use daily (for both work and pleasure). To start things off, let’s talk Moto360 and Android Wear.

I’ve been a Pebble owner for well over a year. I started with the original pebble, upgraded to the pebble steel, then reverted to the original pebble. Sure, the Steel was constructed of better materials and had a nifty black metal band, but it was also blockier and didn’t sit as well on