It seems like every day, I get to learn about some new technology that has the possibility to reshape how I see the world, work with data, or get something done much more easily. As a web developer, I’m very familiar with geofences and have applied them in working applications, but I wanted to introduce the concept to those of you who are unfamiliar with it.
What Is A Geofence?
Wikipedia has this to say about geofences:
A Geofence is a virtual perimeter on a geographic area using a location-based service, so that when the geofencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. The notification can contain information about the location of the device and might be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account.
Although I think they’re pretty close, I’d like to add that a geofence is really just the area that is defined for a notification trigger (or other event) and the notification isn’t exactly part of the geofence. As an example, you might have a device in your car that is linked to a service and that service has a geofence (that you defined) around your neighborhood. On your way to work the service detects that you’ve exited the geofence (your neighborhood), and shuts off specific devices in your home through a home automation system. When you re-enter the geofence after work, it sends a text message to your wife that reads, “Honey, I’m (almost) home!” or turns on your laptop.
Practical Uses For Geofences
I know the above example may seem a little Jetsons-like, but the technology is actually here today and already in use.
One real-world example is the annual Iron Dog® snowmobile race in Alaska. It wasn’t long after the race began that the first team entered a checkpoint and like many other people, I received a text message on my phone letting me know about it. Making this happen was software developed by Ontec Technologies, the company that has provided real-time tracking and mapping of each racer for the past few years. In the software, every checkpoint was defined as a geofence and each racer was outfitted with hardware from Applied Satellite Engineering that sent data over the Iridium satellite network to Ontec where it gets mapped and triggers alerts for geofences. In this example, friends, families, and fans were able to know very rapidly as their racer hit each checkpoint.
The article, Searching for Real Estate Made Easy: Geo-Fences Plus Mobile Phones from SoftwareAdvice.com describes, in detail, a scenario in which a young couple on a leisurely stroll is alerted that they’re near a home for sale that they may like. It seems the couple’s tech-savvy realtor entered their search criteria and cell phone number into a system that has geofences around properties and when their phone’s GPS location entered the geofence, it triggered an alert. The story is just a made-up scenario, but the reality of such a service is just over the horizon. We already have the technology in the phones and all it will take is for someone to build an app for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile 7 and the web service to pair it with.
The practical uses for geofences are numerous and I’m certain we’ll see them in use more and more. Imagine an alert on your phone when your young child wanders off your property, or a friend is near the coffee house you’re sitting at. A system that turns on a couple lights when I get within 50 yards of my house is entirely possible right now with a little hardware and some programming.
Possible problems
Any really good technology that makes use of your personal location information brings with it concerns about misuse of that information. However, if used with consent and in the proper applications with these concerns in mind, the advantages far outweigh the unlikely possibilities of misuse.
If you could geofences for anything, what would it be?
Although this is a tech blog and I normally write about tech stuff, I’m also an affiliate and recently came across something I felt worthwhile to take part in. Affiliate.com, known for their stylish branded shirts they give away at the affiliate conferences, is holding a contest. They gave away some pretty cool shirts this year (just like last year), and they asked bloggers to write a creative post about the shirt for a chance at some money. They’re giving $1,000 to the winning blogger, but more importantly, they are going to donate another $1,000 to the Red Cross for Haiti in the winning blogger’s name. Win or lose, I’m pretty happy to see the donation that will take place, but I wanted to give it a shot, too. Affiliate.com mailed me out a t-shirt and I decided to run with the poker theme, playing against, well, myself.
As you can see above, I was doing pretty well with four Aces. Those other Joe Techs never knew what hit ‘em. In all seriousness, I’m definitely wearing this shirt to my next poker game.
About The Affiliate.com Shirt
The shirt they sent out this year is really comfortable (100% cotton), but what stands out is the design. I have a lot of conference and affiliate company shirts and I like most of them a lot, but this one is my new favorite. The edges are frayed slightly for that popular worn-in look. The front design looks like a King of Diamonds and the back is branded, but in a very tasteful way. I will be wearing this shirt out a lot. For a better view, take a look at my little fashion shoot below (and feel free to poke fun at me in the comments).
I can’t say enough how awesome it is that they’re donating the money for Haiti and even if I don’t win, I’ve gotten a really nice t-shirt out of the experience. However, I’d also love to win. If you think I should win the contest let me know in the comments by telling me what you think I should do with the $1,000 prize.
Last summer, I reviewed the Tonium Pacemaker, which is a great little tool for a new DJ or hobbyist. Recently, I got my hands on some more serious hardware, the EKS Otus.
What Is EKS Otus?
The Otus is a way to get more hands on with your digital DJing. I see a lot of DJs with software and many with traditional decks, but how many mix the two? I don’t know, but that’s just what the Otus does. For DJs comfortable with their craft and who have good software to mix their music, the Otus gives them hands on control. For people like me, it makes DJing easier.
What It Does And How To Us It
EKS has some pretty user-friendly instructions on their web site to get everything set up, but I still had some problems getting it going, even after I realized that I needed to map all the channels per the instructions. Eventually, I found that I just needed to make sure I started the EKS Midi Agent first, then Deckadance, then plugged in the Otus via USB. The USB is also the power source, so my testing consisted of just my laptop with it’s power cable, headphones, USB to the Otus, and the Otus, itself. For such a device, it’s really portable for a DJ who travels. The Otus should fit nicely in a backpack with a laptop.
Some of it’s capabilities, it seems, are going to depend on the software you pair it up with. As long as you have the right software, however, it does just about anything I could imagine a DJ needing to do with music. The most prominent feature is the 7.5 inch jog wheel that lets you adjust pitch by touching on the outside or scratch by touching the surface while spinning. To the left of the jog wheel I found the master volume and cross-fade control knobs. Above those were the left track control knobs for bass, mid, treble, and headphone volume. The top right of this device has the same four knobs for the right track. Below the right track control knobs are seven loop control buttons to trap or release a loop and control how long or short it is. Below these knobs is a pitch ribbon with a button to adjust the scale. On the bottom left, opposite the pitch ribbon is a set of general playback control buttons, including three to remix on the spot. Dead center at the bottom is the layer control button and directly above it at bottom center is a touch pad with two mouse buttons and a set of six programmable action buttons. On the back is the USB connection, headphone jack, analog RCA outputs for both virtual decks, and S/PDIF outputs for both virtual decks, as well. The whole thing rests on four pointed rubber feet to minimize vibration interference.
For this review, I downloaded and installed something called Deckadance (per instruction from the EKS web site), which was only a time-limited demo. I’m not sure if it’s the Club or House version, but either way, the purchase price of $99 or $179, respectively, seemed worth it. It would be nice to see some basic free software packaged with the Otus, but I imagine this device’s target customer will already have something like Deckadance in use. A professional DJ might also have been able to do a lot more than I did with the Otus, but I still got plenty of action out of it.
Of course, there’s the basics, like messing with the EQ controls, cross-fade and cue points, but there’s also some pretty cool controls like the three buttons to the left of the play/pause button that accessed randomly configured reloopers which could also be mapped out very specifically if needed via the software. I was able to program each differently for varying effects. With Deckadance, I was able to have six different reloopers set up, three for each deck. The loop control buttons also made it very easy to set up a loop, and adjust the length as it loops. Between the reloopers, the jog wheel, and the loop controls, I was able to create some familiar effects that actually sounded decent, if I do say so myself.
Everything is lit up green or red, depending on what track you’re controlling, and looks pretty cool. It would also be very helpful in a dark club, especially since some of the control buttons are pretty small and close together. One of the more unique features of the Otus is the four control wheels placed handily at its corners. They can be programmed to meet your own needs such as rapid movement through a track, file and folder selection, pitch and volume. While I didn’t use these a lot in my testing, they came in handy when I did use them with one exception. I found myself turning to the track pad to mouse through my track lists rather than use one of these control wheels because it was faster and felt more natural.
Also programmable, as mentioned previously were the six action buttons. I used these for recalling cue points, but they had far more possibilities, many I didn’t even have time to touch on. These were actually touch pads rather than buttons, so you had to either hear what you expected or watch for it on your laptop. Similarly, the pitch ribbon was a touch sensitive pad, which made precision a little tricky.
Final Thoughts
Although I was able to keep the EKS Otus for a lot longer than expected, holidays and other circumstances prevented me from giving it the time it really deserved and after using it, I really wanted to hold on to it longer. What I did experience was nothing short of magical, even if it could use a couple minor adjustments like the placement of the headphone jack or the tiny loop control buttons. For the price, it’s worth it, but only if you’re going to put it to good use as a pro or just have the money to spend. Portable, powerful, and good looking, I’d say any professional DJ should add this to his or her arsenal.
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few months, you’ve seen the commercials. “DROID does,” they say. So I asked Verizon for a DROID. I wanted to see how it would stand up to the iPhone. They let me spend a month with the latest would-be iPhone killer.
A Robotic Kind of Pretty
I had seen the DROID in photos and commercials but not really up close. What shocked me was that several times, I saw people referring to blog posts claiming this was an ugly phone. It’s not curvy like the iPhone and it’s not quite as shiny as the LG Chocolate Touch, but it’s definitely better looking than the G1. DROID pulled off just the look you would expect from a personal assistant robot phone. It’s hard, cold metal. It’s not a warm elegant aesthetic. It’s a robotic kind of pretty. While I prefer the soft roundness of the iPhone, I don’t dislike the DROID at all.
One of the notable features of this phone is the built-in keyboard. It’s something that many iPhone owners have complained about the lack of, so it’s welcomed with DROID. In addition to the slider keyboard is a slick little navigation pad. Both the face and the back of the phone are completely flat. There isn’t one button sticking out. There are four buttons on the face of the DROID, Back, Menu, Home, and Search. Under the battery cover is the SIM card, the microSD card and, of course, the battery, another “does feature”. I would rather have the microSD slot more easily accessible, but at least it’s tucked away safely. The sides of the phone include the standard volume buttons, micro USB connection and a dedicated camera start/shutter button. The power button is located at the top, where I like it, but I found it harder to use than other phones. I really had to try to get it to turn on or off. I don’t want a phone that will turn off or on unexpectedly through an accidental brush of the power button, but it shouldn’t be too hard to do, either.
The touch screen was very slick and easy, unlike most touchscreen phones, and it surprisingly seemed brighter than my iPhone’s screen (which I keep at full brightness). The screen and its response to human touch is very important in a phone of this caliber and DROID really impressed here.
A Good Smart Phone Makes You Forget It’s A Phone
Smart phones aren’t for everyone. All the features would probably be more in the way for my mom, for example, because she’d never use them. For everyone else a smart phone is an extension of their online or work life. It allows us to continue to check email, tweet, update facebook and browse the web while on the go. A smart phone is really just a super-portable computer that makes phone calls, so it should feel a little like one. The DROID does a pretty good job of this. With the built-in slider keyboard, software keyboard, GPS, 5 MP camera, WiFi, integrated turn-by-turn (which I loved, by the way), and everything else, it really lives up to the claims in the commercials that it will help you with just about everything.
One of the things I noticed as well was the notifications for new emails, tweets, etc were tucked up out of the way in the status bar at the top. We iPhone owners were happy to finally get push notifications, but they’re still often in the way. When I get a text, it jumps up in front of whatever I’m doing on my iPhone. If I’m sniping an eBay auction, too bad. With DROID, any new text messages, emails, or tweet notifications are placed visibly at the top where I can see them and deal with them on my own terms. Well done, there.
Because the DROID marketing campaign was centered around the idea that it “does” what (presumably) the iPhone doesn’t, I tried to do things on it that I couldn’t with the iPhone. One such example (and the only one that failed me, really) was Adobe Flash elements in web browsing. I hate that I can’t view/use Flash in my iPhone browser and really had my hopes up for DROID, but Flash was not available at the time of my review. At least there’s a planned date for it. I also was a little disappointed to find no “pipe” (|) key on the keyboard. For those of us who work on unix/linux servers, it’s sorely missed. The other 99.9% of you will never even notice it.
The web browsing experience was very smooth. Not only was the scrolling seamless, but it also pops up a sneak peek of the complete page shrunk way down so you can see where you are in the page and if you need to scroll up or down to get to what you’re looking for. I need that on my desktop, too! The browser offers up all the typical options like bookmarking emailing a page, etc. The zooming was not all I’d hoped for. It worked, but just wasn’t as intuitive as on the iPhone’s pinch-zoom. The screen is a good size, and pretty clear, so zoom isn’t that much of a concern, though.
An original concern I had with the Android platform and the phones that run it was the selection of applications. While there’s still room for growth, the Android application marketplace is now full of all kinds of apps for most needs. There’s a few missing gems still, but all the basics are covered, including a few I’ve never seen on the iPhone. I loved the bar code scanner (an early Android app) and one that acts as a metal detector. I’m not sure how it did it, but it could detect metal objects I placed over the phone. I was showing that off to several people. Needless to say, my original fears about the app marketplace are no more. The ones that don’t yet exist soon will and the open platform development opens the door to all kinds of possibilities.
Should I Buy A DROID?
I already have an iPhone (and the contract that comes with it), so I won’t be shelling out the money to move just yet. However, DROID has me thinking about my options. I moved to the iPhone after years with Verizon and definitely noticed a drop in coverage. DROID is on a great network, for sure and is a great buy for anyone looking for a hot smart phone on a reliable network. A friend of mine wanted to buy the review phone I had and eventually ended up buying a DROID in the store to replace his iPhone. Verdict : If I didn’t have a phone right now, I’d probably be in the Verizon store buying a DROID.
In September, I posted an article about Secrets, Hints, Tips, and Tricks to Succeed in FarmVille on Facebook. Having only played the now amazingly popular Facebook farming game for less than two weeks, I had already gathered lots of helpful tips. I’ve been asked so many times for more tips that I thought it was time for Part 2.
Get More Eggs And Other Special Items
Even if you’ve never used Twitter before, I’m sure you’re aware of what it is by now. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you should grab a Twitter client because it’s very useful in helping you snatch up those coveted lost animals and chicken eggs. Chicken eggs go especially fast because they hatch to reveal gold, brown, black, and white chickens as well as other cool stuff like hot tubs, pink flamingos, or even fuel. The problem is that people grab lost animals and eggs so fast you almost have to be on Facebook all day for a chance at one. I have to work all day, but I have a secret weapon. I use a program called TweetDeck for my Twitter accounts, but I also added Facebook, and that includes all those freebies that go by. I keep it minimized while I work or browse the web and when updates are found, it pops up a little notification with a preview. If I see an egg, I just click on it and it opens in a new tab in FireFox while I continue to work. More often than not, if eggs are made available by one of my FarmVille friends, I’ll get one, and I barely have to be on Facebook at all during the day.
This works almost as well with another program called Seesmic, which I use at home. As you can see in the image above, I have Seesmic in single-column mode, just showing Facebook. This way, it takes up a small portion of the screen, leaving the rest for what I’m working on. You may notice that while I was starting this very article, I snagged an egg and some free coins.
Get More Out Of Your Chicken Coops
Generally, you’ll wait a day for a chicken to lay an egg. This means you’ll wait about a day for a coop to be ready to harvest. You can, however, speed up the process. Drop in a chicken that is already ready to harvest. Make sure the coop is then ready to harvest. Now drop in 19 more chickens that are not ready to harvest and then harvest the coop. Empty your coop and do it again and again. It’s a lot of work, but your friends will love all the eggs produced.
Get Multiple Chicken Coops
So many FarmVille players have been asking, “How do I get multiple chicken coops in FarmVille?” and the answer is pretty simple, actually. First, if you have a chicken coop, move all your chickens out of it and then sell it. Now, with no coops on your farm, take advantage of one of the tools mentioned above to snatch up eggs. You’ll get a chicken coop every time because FarmVille doesn’t see one on your farm. Don’t hit OK on the page that gives you the coop. Just keep collecting them until your gift box is full. I got 14 of them before I decided to stop (not enough room on my farm). When you’ve decided you have enough coops, just start placing them on your farm from the gift box and filling them with chickens to hatch eggs.
Level Up Faster
Sometimes the only thing holding you back from the next crop in the marketplace is your Level. Often, I would harvest my whole farm of crops and be wishing I could buy the next crop, but not having the XP to level up and not wanting to wait a day for the next harvest to get those needed XP. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait. I noticed all the XP floating around for sale in the marketplace.
While you can’t just buy XP, you can buy items that give you a lot of XP. Take a look at the image above. My favorite is the windmill, because it gives me 1,000 XP and takes up hardly any room on my farm. It’s not cheap, but if you don’t want to wait, this is a good way to level up past your friends while they wonder how you did it.
Make More Money
Now that I’ve just told you a sure-fire way to blow through a lot of your coins, I’m sure you’d love to find out how to get more of those coins back faster. The fastest way to get coins is typically by just farming the more expensive crops. Pay attention to the harvest times and plant according to your ability to later harvest before anything withers. Remember, every crop that withers is just money (and time) down the drain, so don’t plant strawberries (4 hours) and then go out all night.
You can also make more money with gifts. The more friends you have that play FarmVille, the more gifts you end up with. I get easily 100 gifts a day and have no room for all of them, but I certainly won’t turn them down. Now that FarmVille has the “Sell All” feature in your gift box, you can just pick the items you want and put them on your farm and then just “Sell All” the rest. A lot of times, it’s an easy 6,000+ coins per day.
Finally, celebrate the achievements of friends and use TweetDeck or Seesmic to celebrate every achievement. You’ll get 50 to 500 coins each time and that adds up. The achievements of others often leave me with an extra 10,000 or so coins a day.
Get The Real Deal
You may have noticed a lot of pictures of eggs or gifts popping up on your wall, in friends’ updates, or with your regular FarmVille gift request notifications. Unfortunately, many of these are worthless in as much as they can’t be used in the game at all. While they may be fun to pass back and forth, they won’t contribute to your FarmVille play at all. Personally, I ignore all of them.
Take A Break Once In A While
Hi. My name is Joe and I’m an addict. No, really. This game is a lot of fun, but you can get burned out on it if you play too much. Once in a while, plant a three+ day crop and then just don’t log in for a couple days. And even more important to note is the opportunities for a break that are all but forced on you. Like many fast-growing games, FarmVille has its bugs. When you see people complaining that it wiped out their friends or you try to get the game to come up and it won’t, just find something else to do for a while. When you come back, you’ll be far less frustrated than others and will have more fun.
Experiment
FarmVille is software and software is prone to glitches. The methods to get multiple coops or generate eggs faster are based on glitches that someone found through experimentation. Drag a cow to a neighbor’s farm. Pet your horse every day for a week. Just try doing something in a different way and see if something new happens. If you find out a new tip, be sure to come back and post it here.
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Get Higher Ranking in Google
