Author Archives: brian

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Posted by on March 1, 2012 No comments

Hello world!

Shit… wrong post. Right, Windows 8 Consumer Preview. You must be tired of hearing about this by now, right? No fucking way. It’s my turn to talk. So I started my day downloading this puppy, hoping to get a glance at the future of computing, where the robots take over and machines are dumbed down enough for those of us shitting and watching a guy getting hit in the balls can really understand them well. Alas, it’s pretty and the install process could be completed by a monkey. Granted, a smart monkey, but still a monkey. It’s the same song and dance that you Windows lovers seem to love with a touch of class. Same steps as previous versions, but it looks less like crap and more like something a dignified human being would use – not just something some old bastard working in a computer shop out of his mom’s basement would enjoy. Once you get past the install, things start to look pretty nice though. I like the neutral colors they chose for the setup screens, the fonts they use, the overall layouts. They are very customer friendly. Being able to change color schemes, look, layout (a la windows phone 7), the start screen is kind of nifty. Being able to jump straight into a desktop if you need to is kinda neat as well, since it’s not your same old boring option (think of the kids!).

I’m rocking this bad boy through VMWare Fusion, with 2gb RAM/1 processor core. It’s running OK and I’d like to see it in full action, but being that my dev machine (11″ Macbook Air) is running OS X 10.8, I can’t seem to make it do what I want to. The machine can’t seem to find drivers for boot camp and the Boot Camp Assistant was giving me a headache because it refuses to just partition without having to beat it with a stick. So I decided virtualization was what I was gonna do to try this out. I also have my gaming rig that I can throw it on, but I’d rather not mess up my beast….

You know, I’m kind of tired of writing about this now…. I’ll maybe pick it up later or maybe I’ll just leave this unfinished – like this consumer preview I’ve been playing with for a couple hours.

Maybe it’s time to look into linux.

Nest

Posted by on February 23, 2012 No comments

So I’ve had a Nest Learning Thermostat for a couple weeks and wanted to write a bit about it. This device is something I never thought I needed but I thought it was so cool, I decided to grab one and check it out.

First off, the install wasn’t bad. If you’ve ever replaced a thermostat, it’s easy. If not, it’s easy. The install took me about 30 minutes give or take and it was done very carefully, mainly because the way my condo is setup, there is no findable breaker for the HVAC system. So I had to do it with live wires (not that the wires are strong enough to hurt you, but I was worried about shorting my HVAC). Shortly after the install, it was alive.

So I get it up and running, connect it to my wifi and there’s a software update… then another software update… then another software update…. then! a software update. Each taking about 10 minutes. Combining these updates could’ve made my day a lot better as I was excited to play with my new toy, yet couldn’t due to software updates. It did do a good job of heightening anticipation however.

Fast forward a week. I’ve been teaching my thermostat (really just changing it when I’m hot/cold or when the temperature outside changed) and it was just starting to be amazing. Recently upon returning home, I get a notification on my thermostat that says it was set to away to conserve electricity automatically. Awesome. With the motion sensors, it can tell when I’m home and when I’m away. I can’t wait to compare my electricity bill to my old, 1950′s thermostat era bills.

In short, this is one of the coolest devices I’ve bought in a long time. It brought a web-connected utility device into reality, single-handedly defining the future of this market. Being able to wirelessly change the thermostat from bed or on the way home from my iPhone, iPad, or Galaxy Nexus has been amazing. There is also a web interface where schedules can be edited (as they can from the app as well), as well as toggling cool/heat/off and fan on/off.

The one downfall I have seen (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?), is that me and my girlfriend tend to fight over the temperature. I like it to be an igloo, she looks more for a sauna. I guess one remedy would be to just change the password and lock her out.

As one of the most used things in my home, I’m glad there is finally a beautifully and elegantly designed option for people like me. Using this thing is a pleasure and everyone who comes over wants to see my thermostat.