TechnologyIQ

Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help them survive and do less work for more gain.  Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas Historical Technology Books - 37 in a series - Catalogue and price list of Edison electric light appliances and apparatus (1892) Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more ENDORSEMENT.  THE EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY do not  WE manufacture any Electrical Appliances, their only requirements from the manufacturers b

If you hang around Hackaday long enough, pretty soon you’ll start to see some patterns emerging. As the nexus of all things awesome in the hacking world, our front page offers a unique vantage point by which you can see what’s getting folks excited this particular month, year, or decade. Right now we can tell you hackers love the Raspberry Pi, 3D printing, and perhaps above all, they can’t get enough mechanical keyboards. So that makes the Jazzberry by [Mattis Folkestad] something of a perfect storm in the hacker world. The project uses a 3D printed enclosure to combine a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and an Ajazz AK33 mechanical keyboard into a single unit like the home computers of old. Honestly, we’re just glad he didn’t sneak an ESP8266 in there; as the resulting combination might have been enough to crash the site. Read Jazzberry Bakes The Pi Into A Mechanical Keyboard via hack a day An interesting link found among my daily reading

As somebody who loves technology and wildlife and also needs to develop an old farmhouse, going down the bat detector rabbit hole was a journey hard to resist. Bats are ideal animals for hackers to monitor as they emit ultrasonic frequencies from their mouths and noses to communicate with each other, detect their prey and navigate their way around obstacles such as trees — all done in pitch black darkness. On a slight downside, many species just love to make their homes in derelict buildings and, being protected here in the EU, developers need to make a rigorous survey to ensure as best as possible that there are no bats roosting in the site. Read Worried About Bats In Your Belfry? A Tale Of Two Bat Detectors via Hackaday * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my daily reading

Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help them survive and do less work for more gain.  Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas Historical Technology Books - 36 in a series - Family Computing Magazine Issue 01 (1983) Another of the many computing magazines that used to exist pre-Internet. I remember reading this each month along with many others. There is a near-complete archive of past issues available, too. — Douglas Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more * A p

An analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2018 National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database suggests that roughly 9 percent of all U.S. bridges are considered “structurally deficient.” That's more than 54,000 potentially unsafe bridges. Even worse, the rate of repair is lower now than it was five years ago. Think about that the next time you cross a bridge. (I do.) The good news is that the growth of low-power smart sensors, the Internet of Things, solar power, and battery technology could help engineers detect significant problems before they become catastrophic. One researcher working to make that happen is Dr. Jennifer Bridge, professor of civil engineering at the University of Florida. Read Solar-Powered IoT Sensors Could Improve Nation's Infrastructure via Engineering * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my

I was tired of not hearing Uber Eats and Amazon, so I made a haptic "knocker" doorbell powered by Arduino and RF433 transmitters/receivers. Watch I made a Doorbell that Knocks Under my Computer Desk | Arduino via Ty Palowski * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my daily reading

Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help them survive and do less work for more gain.  Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas Historical Technology Books - 35 in a series - Kilobaud 1977 01 Kilobaud Microcomputing was originally conceived as KiloByte Microcomputing but that name went unused as the publishers didn't feel like advertising their goals. The Kilobaud prefix was eventually removed as well and Microcomputing lived on. Microcomputing was a typical general purpose

My Chromebook showed this update a few days ago and it installed easily. Whenever the Chromebook is awake you can say “Ok, Google” and access all the commands of a Google Home hand-free. This includes smart home commands, too. — Douglas Google has started rolling out Chrome OS 77, and it makes Assistant widely available to the devices the platform powers. The voice AI used to be a Pixel exclusive, though adventurous users have been able to switch it on as a hidden feature for a while if they're in one of Chrome OS' beta channels. The platform's latest version makes Assistant available "on most Chromebooks," and all users need to do to summon it is to say Hey Google" or click the Assistant logo from the Launcher. Read Google Assistant is now available for most Chromebooks via Engadget An interesting link found among my daily reading

I am a Plex user myself, but Emby certainly sounds interesting and a great way of building out a media server for a very inexpensive price. — Douglas Emby is a media server. While it isn’t as well-known as other solutions (e.g. Plex, or Kodi), open source Emby has client and server software. This means that you can install the server module on the computer with your media on it, then share to other devices using client apps. Various plugins can extend the features of Emby. You’ll find IPTV plugins for internet TV, for example. Emby also offers built-in parental controls, to help protect your family from sensitive content. While Emby is less well-known than its competitors, the userbase is growing. For more information, here’s why you should forget Plex and Kodi, and try Emby instead. Read Turn Your Raspberry Pi Into a Media Server With Emby via MakeUseOf * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your loca

I’ve added a few routines to my own home automation. Here are a few ideas for your own smart home. — Douglas     Automate your whole smart home using Alexa! It’s easy to set up routines to turn on your lights in the morning, lock the door when you leave, announce when it’s time for chores, and more. We cover 12 awesome Alexa routines ideas in this tutorial, including funny routines, ones with music, and morning/bedtime automation. I was surprised at how much this took my smart home to the next level. Watch Alexa: 12 Cool Alexa Routines: Automating My Smart Home with Alexa from Smart Home Solver * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my daily reading

Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help them survive and do less work for more gain.  Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas Historical Technology Books - 34 in a series - The gasoline engine (1912) by Harry Goodrich Diefendorf Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more   INTRODUCTORY THIS book is intended to give briefly the general principles of construction and operation and instructions pertaining to the installation, care and use of internal combustion engin

Curious about coding? Want to build your programming skills? Or perhaps you just love a good problem-solving challenge? We’re thrilled to announce our new 10-episode series: Think Like A Coder. The series, in partnership with YouTube Learning Playlists, will challenge viewers with programming puzzles as the main characters— a girl and her robot companion— attempt to save a world that has been plunged into turmoil.   Read Learn to “Think Like A Coder” with our new series | via TED-Ed Blog * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my daily reading

A remote controlled boat using Arduino and a host of other add-ons and software tools. There is also a great video with lots of details and testing information. — Douglas Every experienced maker knows that it’s best to test new software and hardware on a small, low-cost scale. Before pouring money and time into a professional-quality build, you should first run some cheap and dirty experiments. That often means you have projects built from balsa wood and hot glue that you really don’t want other people to see. That’s the case with YouTube channel Rctestflight’s Autonomous Tupperware Boat, but it turned out to be quite the attention getter anyway. Read The Autonomous Tupperware Boat Is an ArduRover Test Platform via Hackster Blog * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! An interesting link found among my daily reading