OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup
It's safe to say that General Motors is struggling for relevancy these days and, while the Chevy Volt could be a huge step into the modern era for the company, that still leaves every other car looking a bit -- traditional, technology-wise. OnStar is going to help, expanding its Volt-specific controls to the entire 2011 lineup of GM cars. When we saw OnStar's Volt app earlier this year we loved how it not only let you control recharging but also unlock the doors and monitor system specs from anywhere. While monitoring recharging status obviously won't be much good if you're rocking a good 'ol ICE vehicle, you will still be able to start the car remotely, unlock doors, and also monitor stats like tire pressure and oil level from your iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android handset, as demonstrated in a video after the break. Yes, you'll need to be an OnStar subscriber to use the app, with rates currently starting at a somewhat steep $18.95 per month. Now, if only there were an app that could help us to afford a new ZR1.
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OnStar expands smartphone control over entire 2011 GM lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
China Commits to Firm Control Over the Internet
After Google defiantly withdrew from its territory, and even after facing a barrage of international criticism due to its iron-fisted censorship policies, the People's Republic of China insists it will not ease its governmental grip on the Internet. In a 31-page government paper issued today, the Chinese government poetically described the Internet as "a crystallization of human wisdom," and fully acknowledged the integral role it has played in "transforming the pattern of economic development." But officials still vowed to retain firm control over what its citizens read and consume online, for the sake of the nation's security and stability.
"Effectively protecting Internet security is an important part of China's Internet administration, and an indispensable requirement for protecting state security and the public interest," the paper argues. Citing the risk that Chinese Web surfers could be exposed to material that incites violence, spreads hatred, or advocates "heresy," the government asserted its sovereign right to filter any media that may threaten security. The only way to do that, authorities claim, is with non-stop practice.
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China Commits to Firm Control Over the Internet originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Logitech’s Harmony 300 Universal Remote Swings In At Under $50 [Universal Remotes]
No longer will you be forced to pay out $100 for a quality universal remote. Reign control over your lounge room with your very own remote—without it costing an arm and a leg. More
HP MediaSmart Server EX495 Review
Although home servers can be very convenient for managing files and backups, they are still not ubiquitous in homes and small businesses. The main reasons for that: home servers can sometimes be a pain to setup and manage. They have also been PC-centric, which is a turn off for a growing number of Mac users. For the past couple of years, HP has been working really hard to make things easier, and the MediaSmart Server EX485 is a good example of that. But with the MediaSmart Server EX495, HP has improved quite a few things, including better Mac support, faster processing and better control over media collection. Let's take a quick tour...
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HP MediaSmart Server EX495 Review
Building a spot welder from a battery charger
Josh at imsolidstate came across an extra battery charger, so he decided to turn it into a spot welder. We've seen spot welder projects in the past, however his goes the extra mile, adding a digital control circuit and current monitoring capabilities, to give precise control over the welding operation. Schematic and source code are available on his site.
More:
- World's smallest spot-welding device
- Homemade Spot Welder
- Homemade Spot Welder
- Do-it-Yourself Spot Welder
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Building a spot welder from a battery charger
Bill Gurstelle’s article on DIY in The Atlantic
MAKE contributor Bill Gurstelle has an awesome article in the latest issue of The Atlantic about DIY, Arduino and art:
For a few dollars, creative and motivated individuals--rather than just corporations or institutions--can make highly intelligent tools, perfectly customized for a particular need.
...large artistic installations used to require multiple programmers and engineers. But now "artists and designers have the ability to do 100 percent of these projects by themselves and have total control over everything," [artist Dan] Rozin says. "The expertise isn't that specialized anymore."
[Thanks, Leah Buechley!]
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Nerds Win: Nexus One Rooted Before It’s Even Officially Unveiled [Nexus One]
Even more impressive than the Droid's quick rooting, the Nexus One has been conquered from the inside before Google has even officially announced it.
The guy behind the rooting, a Modaco forum-goer named Paul, successfully rooted the coveted Nexus One and made a custom ROM called Superboot to ease the method for everyone else—not that all that many people can take advantage of it, seeing as how we're still a week away from the phone even being unveiled. This could be good for the Nexus One, given that some signs have been pointing to tighter Google control over the device—but we'll have to wait to try it out until its release. [RedmondPie]
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Nerds Win: Nexus One Rooted Before It's Even Officially Unveiled [Nexus One]
Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude
Sick of Motorola meting out Android firmware updates when it chooses? Trust in The Dude -- TheDudesAndroid, to be specific, a user over at ModMyMoto who has posted The Dudes Root for Cliq (following up an earlier and similarly unkempt version for the G1). The install process looks about as complicated as you might expect, so make sure you keep Walter away while you're re-flashing lest your handset go all nihilistic on ya. At this point it's just another 1.5 ROM being installed, but the hope is for a 2.1 port coming in the not too distant future. Unless you're really pining to get full control over your handset we'd go ahead and wait for that version of the Dude to abide.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
USB hub with switches
What you see here is but a standard USB hub, although it comes with the added advantage of letting you know which USB cable is connected at a glance thanks to a LED which lights up. Each connection will be equipped with a switch, allowing you to have full control over connecting it or otherwise. Looks a wee bit too bulky for our liking though, but at least you have hardware-side control over your devices with this $88 purchase.
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USB hub with switches
XBee Wireless Temperature Sensor
This wireless temperature sensor project uses an XBee, breakout board, and simple power supply to transmit temperature data to an Arduino base station. This looks like it could be easily expanded into a whole house monitoring system. [via Arduino.cc]
I decided to explore the more advanced features of XBee radios by building a remote temperature sensor. You can get quite a bit of control over an XBee radio without a microcontroller at all. You can configure the radio to send sensor readings at particular intervals when it detects changes on certain input pins.
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XBee Wireless Temperature Sensor