The Geek Group is being Taxed out of existence?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Non-profit hackerspace The Geek Group has been hit with a hefty tax bill despite their tax-exempt status. It is the goal of The Geek Group to fulfill the thirst to explore and create by providing facilities, peer group, and camaraderie that make knowledge and learning not only acceptable, but desirable. In the video after the break you can hear a bit about the organization’s role in servicing donated computers and putting them out into the community, as well as its role in education through groups like the Boy Scouts of America.

This is the full story of the Geek Group\’s war with the Kalamazoo Township Assessor\’s offices. The clip is from the video of our First Quarterly Geek Group Board of Directors Meeting of 2010. It was shot on Saturday the 13th of March, 2010.

‘Mythbusters’ Returns With All-New Episodes!!!

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The Emmy® nominated series Mythbusters begins a run of eleven all-new episodes starting Wednesday, March 24th at 9:00 PM on Discovery. One of the highlights of this new run will be the return of Kari Byron on the March 31st episode. Named Sexiest Geek in Wired Magazine and included as one of FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women, Kari has been on maternity leave testing some birthing and baby myths, even if not in a job-related capacity. Kari’s highly anticipated return will of course be tempered by the departure of Jessi Combs on March 24th. Jessi has done a phenomenal job filling the geek girl shoes of Kari and hopefully she’ll assist with future myths down the road.

via Pop Culture Zoo – Building Better Geeks! | ‘Mythbusters’ Returns With All-New Episodes.
What\’s the news?  New Mythbusters episodes….

“Soda Cup Killer” – March 24th
“Dive to Survive” – March 31st
“Spy Car Escape” – April 7th
“Bottle Bash” – April 14th
“Mythssion Control” – April 28th

iStumbler 99

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Well, there\’s now a new version of iStumbler…  iStumbler 99.
If your not aware of iStumbler, it is a wireless discovery tool, allowing you easy access to the signal strength, noise ratio, active channel, frequency, and other wireless information from one useful tool.
iStumbler 99 Requires Mac OS 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard) or later.
AirPort Plugin Requires AirPort or AirPort Extreme Adapter.
Bluetooth Plugin Requires Bluetooth Adapter.
Previous versions of iStumbler are available for other Mac OSes…

LampLinc Dimmer Dual Band (2457D2) Review

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Folks,
\"Dualband
Have you actually seen the LampLinc Dual Band Dimmer (2457D2) yet? If not, take a look at it…
As with the rest of the Dual Band products, its fast, it\’s compact, but more importantly, the SmartHome web site\’s images make it look huge! And you know what, it\’s not their fault. It\’s significantly smaller than a standard Insteon LampLinc… Take a look…
The weight has been reduced too…
Now for the whiz-bang features…  As with the rest of the dual band products, the LampLinc version is fast, really fast.  Almost stop-watch needed fast.  To relink our master bedroom which is 3 keypadlincs and a lamplinc, only took about 30 seconds or so.  Previously with the Dual Band , it would take at least a minute or so…
Smarthome is also happy to tell you more \”new\” features…  Including the integrated Dimming controls, multicolored led for better feedback, etc.
All very useful features…
But what disadvantages are their?  What features didn\’t make the grade…?\"\"

  • Pass through outlet (I occasionally still use them…)
  • 3 prong support, the current version is just a 2 prong…  So there is no ground…
  • It\’s $20 ($49 vs $29) more expensive than the 3 prong lamplinc, but you do not need Access points if you use these modules

While the iHealth report didn\’t significantly change, I certainly see faster response with the Dual Band lamplinc\’s in the house, as well as less variation in \”ping\” results.

Pros:

  • Significantly faster transmission than earlier version of the LampLinc
  • A drop-in replacement for the older LampLinc
  • Insteon Extended Message Support
  • RF Band integration allows a faster transmission time and reduces the hop count.
  • Less sensitivity to powerline noise, due to the RF Band integration, but I can’t prove this.

Cons:

  • The faster transmission speed may need some minor tweaking of AppleScript
  • About $20 more than the older LampLinc
  • Only two prong at this time….
  • No pass through outlet

Executive Summary:

Overall, I do recommend the new Dual Band LampLinc\’s, especially if you have a lack of Access Points in your environment. These are much faster than the previous generation of LampLinc\’s, and will be even better as the Dual-Band technology is migrated across the entire line of products.

DreamHost…

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Folks,
DreamHost has been pretty darn good to me with their web hosting…  They seem to be pretty darn reliable, informative when there has been an issue, and not stingy on their resources…
Please take a look at Dreamhost, and see if they would be useful to you…  And at the sametime, you\’ll be aiding the funding of the Matrix Data Bank…