Radian Pro Setup & Flight Videos
Was given this Radian Pro by my family for my birthday, decided to give it a try (not having flown a plane with ailerons before) after I destroyed my highly modified trusty Super Cub LP (perfect plane for beginners!) earlier this week.
Supermicro SC846TQ-R900B Photos
I just received my Supermicro SC846TQ-R900B server chassis, which I'm going to use to build a 72TB file server (or maybe more, I'll only load in 8x 3TB drives at first, then add more as needed). The chassis has 24 hot-swap drive bays, easily swappable fans, and a hot-swap redundant power supply unit. I won't be using any sort of RAID as my own very simple file storage system duplicates data on multiple drives/servers. You can rent a 72TB server with 100mbit - 4gigabit dedicated bandwidth from Incero.
24 Hot-Swap Drive Bays In 4U
Dummy Drives Pre-Installed To Keep Trays From Bending
SATA Backplane
Easily Swappable Fans
Air Flow Control
Hot-Swap Redundant Power Supply
Back Of Chassis
UploadScreenshot.com Growth, 4x
Further to my last post regarding UploadScreenshot.com usage, the site has continued to grow. The number of people viewing the images, number of image loads, and number of websites displaying screenshots have all quadrupled.
8/16/2010
~60,000 image loads per day, ~38,000 unique people per day, ~1,129 unique websites per day
4/20/2010
~15,000 image loads per day, ~9,000 unique people per day, ~220 unique websites per day
Below is a screenshot of the latest data (8/16/2010) click on it to view the full sized version!
UploadScreenshot.com Stats
I implemented a custom stats tracking feature on UploadScreenshot.com a couple of months which allows me to track image load data, even without pageviews. The system works by loading each image dynamically and updating a database with the relevant information.
Below is a screenshot of the current site stats, click on it to enlarge it. It shows approximately 15,000 image loads per day, viewed by ~9,000 unique people, across ~220 unique websites.
The site also received a bit of love in the design department in the last couple of weeks, with some CSS clean up and a new logo.
Update April 23rd, 2010:
Google Fiber, Hoping It Comes To Austin
I'm really hoping that Google Fiber will come to Austin, TX. It looks like we certainly had a lot of people contact Google to express their interest.
Bandwidth in Austin is disproportionately more expensive than Dallas and Houston which have some of the cheapest bandwidth in the country because they are very well connected cities.
I'd love to setup a new build office block here in Austin which offered bandwidth to small businesses at affordable prices. Lots of small companies like mine need to upload and download the occasional 5 gig file and it takes hours on the overpriced cable connection.
Multi WAN Balancing Made Simple With ClearOS
I've been looking for a way to balance multiple WAN links easily for a while now and believe I've found the solution; ClearOS.
The recently released OS based on the works by ClarkConnect, appears to make WAN balancing a snap: http://www.clearfoundation.com/docs/user_guide/clearos_enterprise_5.1/multi-wan.
Obviously WAN balancing two connections will not double the download speed for a single file transfer through a single connection, but by using a download manager which makes multiple connections, or by using P2P, you can effectively download a single file at 2*XYZmbit/sec by balancing two XYZmbit WAN connections.
I'll test it out and report back.
Dell PowerConnect 5424 Photos, PDF Manual
Our Dell PowerConnect 5424 switch arrived at the office today, we're going to be testing the throughput capabilities for possible data center use. Below are some photos of the switch.
You can download the PowerConnect 5424 user manual here: 54xx_ug-dell-switch.pdf
70-300mm Lens for Nikon D60
I just received my Nikkor AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G IF-ED lens which I purchased from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HJPK2C/ref=ox_ya_oh_product ). "Nikkor" is the brand name for lenses made by Nikon.
The lens has the motorized auto focus and the vibration reduction features which make it far superior to some of the other lenses available. It fits on my Nikon D60 without the use of any adaptor rings or other equipment needed.
Below are the pictures of the new lens compared to the 18-55mm lens that came with the D60 camera. As you can see the 70-300mm lens is extremely large, but I don't find it to be too heavy.
HDR-CX11E Unboxing
Below is a video of me unboxing the new HDR-CX11E, the European (PAL) version of the HDR-CX12. It is Sony's latest full HD record to memory stick camcorder. The unit is also capable of taking 10.2 megapixel photos.
The camera comes with standard component cables, HD component cables, a USB 2.0 connection and charging dock, battery, power brick, software, and remote. No HDMI cable is included, but the camera does have a mini HDMI output.
There is a £50 rebate available for UK purchases until the 28th of August: http://media.sony-europe.com/uk/leaflets/209513SonyHandycamA5_4ppleaflet.pdf
I've uploaded some photos taken with the camera here: http://www.putpic.com/gallery/2144/6883142
Roomba 560 Robot Vacuum Cleaner
After seeing an Engadget article about a Roomba Pacman hack I was fascinated by the idea of a robot vacuum.Being skeptical; I searched for reviews and the Wikipedia page for the Roomba for more information about how well these things actually clean. I found lots of praising videos on youtube , which combined with the information on Wikipedia that the 560 is the fifth generation of Roomba convinced me to order one.
A few things to note about the Roomba 560:
- has IR sensors in the front bumper which allow it to slow down before bumping into any furniture.
- carefully navigates around the top of stairs without falling down them (not shown in the video).
- has an on-board scheduler and auto docking system so that it can clean and then recharge itself on a programmed basis without any interaction.
- will clean for about 60 minutes each cleaning cycle.
- using the included lighthouses you can block it from entering a certain room, or set it to clean one room fully before automatically going to clean the next room.
My Roomba arrived this morning. Below is a video of a quick run around my living room and entrance hall, at the end of the video I cut the cleaning cycle short to demonstrate the auto docking system.
You may also download a high quality .wmv version of the video here (147MB).