LED Keyboards: Aug 18, 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Android Lost Controls Your Stolen Phone, Even After You've Lost It

Android: Most phone recovery apps require you install the app before you lose the phone or it gets stolen. Android Lost, however, can be remotely installed and it comes with a slew of useful features beyond just locating your phone.

Android Lost is similar to previously mentioned Plan B, but Plan B only works for Android 2.0 to 2.3 and is dedicated to simply locating your missing phone. Android Lost, as the video above shows, not only locates by GPS (or network), but can also remotely wipe or lock your phone, take pictures, send message popups, get call lists, erase the SD card, record sound from the microphone, start an alarm, and much more—making it a great security app.

You can install the app from the Google Play site, and then send an SMS to register your device with the Android Lost website where you control the phone. If you have tablet without SMS, you can still remotely register the phone with the Jumpstart app.

Aviel Livay's story of how he used Android Lost to track his daughter's stolen phone showcases some of the best uses of the app and how useful it can be.

You can also use the app for non-recovery purposes—to disable the lockcode if you've forgotten it, for example, or remotely control your Android device from afar.

Pick up the free app at the Google Play store.

Android Lost | Google Play

Office Warfare (2013)

It's war!!
If you've spent any time in a cubicle, you know that there are times when you might need to fashion some kind of weapon out of office supplies. Maybe you're waging war on your cubicle neighbor, or simply defending your domain from the devious IT department; whatever your office turmoil, Office Weapons has got you covered. This collection of weaponry are made from easy to find supplies, and can be found in many offices. And, in the spirit of DIY, you can easily substitute some materials for other items you may have on hand instead of the ones listed. Better yet, use the ones here as inspiration and make your own bigger, better version!
Inside, you'll find grappling hooks, trebuchets, darts and more - all made out of office supplies! We've even included some fun non-warfare projects at the end to keep you entertained in times of peace.

All the projects in this book are from Instructables.com. Instructables is the most popular project-sharing community on the Internet, and part of the Autodesk family of creative communities. Since August 2005, Instructables has provided easy publishing tools to enable passionate, creative people to share their most innovative projects and ideas.

January 6, 2013 - now with more projects!

View the original article here

What's the Worst Mistake You've Made in a Job Interview?

When you interview for a job, you have a limited amount of time to come across as an amazing worker with a charming, stellar personality. On top of that, you have to seem like a fit for a particular company's culture. With all that pressure, mistakes often happen. What's the worst error you've made in a job interview and what did you learn from it?

Don't Be This Kind of Interviewee | US News

View the original article here

Building a low pressure, humane, animal trap

I had a problem, I had a whole family of squirrels in my garage, I like squirrels- they are cute, and generally friendly. I don't like them in my garage.

I don't blame them for wanting to be in my garage, it is pretty awesome in there, but it is a problem; they chew on electrical wires, poop, and there is also no food sources in the garage. So they had to go.

I can borrow a commercial metal animal trap, but the issue is that I encountered right away was that the pressure plate in one of those requires a bit more force then a small squirrel. So I was quickly able to catch mommy squirrel, but none of her children. This is bad, now I have a bunch of baby squirrels in my garage, no food, and no way for them to get out.

I needed an animal trap that could be triggered by the minuscule weight of a baby squirrel, and hold them securely until I can release them.

View the original article here

Brushless Gimbal for Aerial Photography Drones

Every self-respecting drone used for aerial photography needs a gimbal. Good gimbals are very expensive, cheap ones are not smooth. Brussless Gimbals (BLG) to the rescue! In there recent months there has been a flurry of activity around this new way of building camera gimbals. Instead of servo motors, a BLG uses re-wound Brushless RC motors in a direct drive configuration.

The cheapest of all BLGs on the market today (and readily available) is the GoPro BLG and Controller (Martinez v1) from RcTimer. Unfortunately that gimbal comes zero, zilch, nada instructions. Also there were some incorrectly machined parts. Hence building it can be quite a challenge. This Instrucable is meant to fill this gap. Also it might give you enough pointers to design and build your own gimbal from scratch.

Testing of finished gimbal:

Timelapse video of the build:

View the original article here

Reward Boost Finds the Best Rewards Credit Cards Based on Your Spending

Rewards credit cards are a great way to earn hundreds of dollars back on everyday spending. However, with so many different cards available and spending categories, finding the right ones to use can be tricky. Enter Reward Boost.

Simply enter the name of the cards you own—you don't have to provide login or account details—and your monthly spending by category and card to get a report of your annual rewards amount and percent back. Reward Boost will suggest alternative cards for you to consider if you want to maximize your cash back or rewards amount.

The site, currently in beta, isn't perfect. For example, it didn't have my grandfathered Amex Blue Cash card, so the percentages are off, and it can't account for rotating card categories. Also, special rewards categories, like Amazon purchases with the Chase Amazon card, aren't available.

Still, the webapp is useful for gauging if you're using the best cards for your spending. Daniel Packer, the developer of the site, writes on Sweating the Big Stuff that he created the site as an alternative to Mint, which may overestimate the amount you could get back from recommended cards.

(By the way, if you're looking for a travel credit card instead, which often gives you a better bang for your rewards buck, the similar MileCards calculator is your friend.)

Reward Boost | via Sweating the Big Stuff