tekArtist » hardware

More New Toys

Stephane Daury — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:43:26 +0000

New 5.1 sound system, as part of my home-office renovation project, and a new 2TB drive for the household media server. Fun stuff!

MacBook Air Is In Da House!

Stephane Daury — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:37:17 +0000

There worse things than coming back from a week in California, only to find this on your desk when you get in. :p

Now, to put those 3 hours time difference to good use: Migration Assistant, here I come!

Double Apple Flashback

Stephane Daury — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:16:13 +0000

It sure had been a while since I worked on an Apple PowerMac G4. Tonight, I did so on two at once. The blue one is from April 1999, is a G4 450 Mhz and was bought the same month my 1st son was born. The grey one is, I think, from 2001, is a G4 887 Mhz and was once a web server running Yellow Dog Linux. Both are fully functional and my mom is still using the newer one.

Satarii Star Motion Activated Tripod

Stephane Daury — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:07:33 +0000

The Satarii Star promises to be a pretty sweet iPhone accessory. The pitch is simple: “a product that makes your mobile camera follow your every move. You can video yourself doing anything without the awkwardness of asking friends or complicated setups”. Add the twist that the device is entirely crowd funded through IndieGoGo, and you’ve got yourself all the bits for a potential success story.

In the same vein, the Glif is also pretty neat, and funded in the same fashion.

SynthStation49 Keyboard Controller for iPad

Stephane Daury — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:40:48 +0000

SynthStation49 is the most advanced, intuitive music controller designed specifically for use with the iPad and the first true iPad performance tool for musicians. Working seamlessly with Akai Professional’s heralded SynthStation software, SynthStation49 provides unparalleled music creation capabilities, including direct in-app MIDI recording from its velocity-sensitive keyboard, nine MPC-style drum pads and array of transport controls. In addition to its integration with the SynthStation app, SynthStation49 is also completely iOS CoreMIDI compatible, making it instantly compatible with dozens of music apps already in the App Store and hundreds more on the way.

Don’t own an iPad? Never fear, there’s also the SynthStation25 for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Found via TUAW.

Arduino: The Documentary

Stephane Daury — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:00:41 +0000

A documentary on the birth and rise of the Arduino project.

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Giant Robot Famicom Scion XB

Stephane Daury — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:20:26 +0000

Brilliant Nintendo-inspired concept car. Designed by Eric Nakamura, editor and publisher of Giant Robot Magazine. You can see the car at the Zen Garage in LA, until February 13th.

Sharing 3G Internet Via Mesh Networking

Stephane Daury — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:29:45 +0000

As you probably know, my family and I are in Mexico for a few weeks. Because we’re here for close to a month, I’m working full-time for part of our trip while my wife and kids enjoy the goodness that is the all-inclusive Sandos Playacar (we’ll be moving in a villa for the last 2 weeks on the 24th). This lead me to acquire a TelCel Amigo 3G USB stick (comes with 3GB of monthly bandwidth).

Since this is the only constant internet connection we’ll have throughout our stay, I wanted to be able to share the connection so that I can also connect via wifi for our iPhones (unlocked, also set with simple pay-as-you-go local SIMs, but no data) and my son’s netbook.

If you happen to be on OSX, doing so is absolutely dead-easy.

Connect to the internet via your 3G connection
Make sure Airport (wifi) is on
Go to Systems Preferences → Sharing
Select Internet Sharing
Select your USB stick’s hardware from the list of ports in the “Share your connection from” section (see screenshot below)
Check the “Airport” checkbox
Set a network name and WEP password using the “Airport Options…” button

Tada! You should be all set and now be able to see your mac-as-an-access-point from any wifi-compatible devices. Enjoy! :)

Update: Had forgotten to attach the screenshot I mentioned. See below.

Momentus XT Disappointment

Stephane Daury — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:20:38 +0000

Momentus XT HD I got was defective. No new drive for my trip. Need to RMA, @Newegg won't ship replacement to different country… #totalfail—
Stephane Daury (@stephdau) December 11, 2010

Had to RMA the drive back for a refund, since I’m leaving Montreal for a trip tomorrow and NewEgg wouldn’t ship a replacement to Mexico… Quite disappointed, but nothing critical since I was upgrading for a speed boost, rather than replacing a dead drive. Shame though.

Air Hogs are Fun!

Stephane Daury — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 18:06:23 +0000

Teagan (11) received an Air Hogs helicopter at my wife’s corporate Xmas party. Those things are fun!

Now, of course, if you’re into really cool flying gizmos, you owe it to yourself to head over and drool on the iOS-controlled Parrot A.R. Drones, with their augmented-reality video game et alii. See video embedded after the break.

Wowwee also has quite a few fun flying toys.