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April 9, 2015

The S.Pot is now available for Crowdfunding at Indiegogo

Filed under: Crowdfunding — Tyler @ 4:29 pm
The S.Pot - Automatic Watering System

The S.Pot – Automatic Watering System

Have you ever wanted to water your plants but you didn’t have the time? Did your plants die?

The answer to that very question is the motivation behind the development of the S.Pot – Smart Automatic Monitoring And Watering Pot.

If you watch the video which is embedded below, you’ll see that the S. Pot has the function of properly watering houseplants without needing daily attention.

The device has an LED light that changes color when the pot needs water and/or electricity. The S.Pot only uses water when the plant needs it. The unused water is kept in a reservoir.

One thing that makes the S.Pot stand out is how the designers target the roots for the watering of the houseplant. On the indiegogo.com website where the S.Pot is seeking crowdfunding, the designers discuss how plants are often watered on their leaves, which wastes water and can also lead to less-than-optimal plant health.

After doing some research, I found that indiegogo.com is similar to kickstarter.com, the main difference is that the project will still receive funding even if it doesn’t acquire its entire “flexible funding goal.” But both indiegogo.com and kickstarter.com are large crowdfunding websites that fuel lots of projects.

Although I don’t personally like plants in my room, I still think this is a very cool idea. I know of several friends of mine that had their plants die that would love this self-watering system.

It looks like the minimum contribution required to get an S.Pot is $95. It is called the “Simple Pack” and you get a rectangular S.Pot as well as a huge “thank you” message from the development team. According to their webpage, the estimated delivery for the S.Pot would be June 2016.

Unlike lots of crowdfunding projects on the internet, the S.Pot team has already completed the research and development for the electronic circuit and also the monitoring system. So it seems the support that backers give are going to primarily help with the commercial-level manufacturing of the product.

Here’s a link to the official S.Pot webpage at indiegogo.com … and check out their video that explains their project below!

-Tyler

 

 

January 27, 2015

CORBA programming book review with C++

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 4:48 pm
Great Book on Corba

Great Book on Corba

First and foremost, let’s be 100% honest here. I bought this book for $1 because it was about programming and I thought the book was related to Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe.

Even though I was mistaken of the title, (it’s actually COR-BA – not COB-ra) I still learned a lot from the 1,000 page book and had a great time doing it.

The book is focused on C++ and IDL programming libraries. Although I’m primarily a Java / XML programmer now, the syntax is close enough to still learn a thing or two.

After reading the first few pages I could tell Michi Henning and Steve Vinoski put a tremendous amount of work into this book.

It’s full title is: Advanced Corba Programming with C++ and the ISBN is: 0-201-37927-9 you can look that up on Amazon if you want to buy the book yourself.

One thing that I loved about the book is that it is primarily code snippets with commentary. The authors deep dive into everything from programming structure for complex systems like Thermostats and Federated Server systems to client control. It is easy to just six back and relax with the flow of knowledge as they jam across important subject matter such as memory allocation for very real-world applications. The kind of things I picked up in here I’m sure will carry over with me throughout the most up-to-date operating systems such as Android OS and it will pay massive dividends if I ever end up working on Legacy systems as well.

You already know about my subconscious reading techniques. So its not surprise that scanning parts of the book was part of the process. When I say, “scanning” I don’t mean actually using a scanner and copying the book. What I mean is looking at each word and letting it be soaked into my mind. I don’t have to understand or even remember it, just seeing each word at a leisurely yet steady pace is enough to jam a big book like this into one’s mind.

I’ve already reaped major benefits from this book in my Android programming adventures. For example: This book helped me with my overall “programming book endurance.” That’s kind of my way of saying after reading big chunks of this book, reading XML and JAVA tutorials from other sources and areas of the internet was very easy. It’s similar to how King Arthur and his knights would use lead sword to practice. The heavy sword of CORBA made light and comfortable swords of Java very easy for me to read. Another analogy would be how a baseball player might practice with his weaker side for batting in order to strengthen cross-neural pathway connections. It’s all about the meridians in this economy, lemme tell ya.

Check out my pups also:

 

-Tyler

January 6, 2015

overidonTV is finally on TWITCH.tv

Filed under: Overidon News — Tyler @ 3:16 pm
Art Tutorials for game designers and gaming playthroughs (Let's Plays) will be the focus of the twitch.tv/overidontv channel

Art Tutorials for game designers and gaming playthroughs (Let’s Plays) will be the focus of the twitch.tv/overidontv channel

[FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE]:

It is a big day today for overidon.com. We’re standing at a threshold really…this threshold isn’t to extreme wealth or fame, but it is a threshold to productivity.

After a major development with one of our sponsors, a new machine has enabled Tyler to now do TWITCH.tv streaming. Our channel for streaming is http://www.twitch.tv/overidontv and this is very exciting.

The new machine allows this website to focus on production on multiple fronts at the same time. So now there is currently a Hexen II video being uploaded while Tyler is simultaneously working on an Android App project.

The Twitch.tv channel is important because it is a great way for users to tune-in to the gaming and art process of overidonTV. Followers to the http://www.twitch.tv/overidontv channel will also get a little notification if they wish whenever a live broadcast by overidonTV is in progress.

Also, in terms of video production, this new Twitch machine has enabled overidon.com to make more professional intro videos and endcards. An example of the new intro title video is at the beginning of the Previously Recorded live Twitch broadcast which is embedded below.

-Tyler

December 7, 2014

List of Games that are cool with Lets Play

Filed under: Gaming — Tyler @ 11:18 pm
Link to list of Friendly Let's Play games and developers

Link to list of Friendly Let’s Play games and developers

Let’s clarify one thing real quick. Let’s Play’s and the whole genre of TWITCH and the watch people game thing…it’s still in its infancy.

Yes, it is becoming more main stream.Yes, it is very fun to see your friends game.

Yes, there are many entertaining people out there who are probably more entertaining than many main-line celebrities.

But also….

YES, not being careful can probably cause problems for people who are either: A. On YouTube and want to maintain a proper copyright standing. (no copyright infringement marks) or B…

YES, stepping into the light of Let’s Play could potentially adversely affect a website or a website monetization scheme if they abuse copyrighted content that is not friendly to Let’s Players.

So what’s the solution? Are you just going to not follow your dream of Sharing your gaming experiences with the world? OF COURSE NOT!

Thanks to my YouTube and real life homeboy of “Ducknuck84” we got a list of games and game companies that are friendly to Let’s Players.

Check out the link to letsplaylist.wikia.com by clicking HERE.

Be forewarned. Just because there is a list on the internet with a bunch of games on it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your own research.
Remember, these game companies can change their Terms of Service at any time. So my recommendation is that you choose a “Green” company that is friendly to Let’s Players and then check out their Terms of Service links related to Let’s Play gamers. If the site seems legit and the game is interesting to you…it might be a good match.

Overidon.com does not give legal advice so use any content you find from your research at your own risk. I’m just trying to get the word out, because as a webmaster and someone whose YouTube Channel is doing decently (not massive but I seem to still be in good standing) I’ve been personally a little apprehensive about putting any content that I’m not 100% sure isn’t going to trip up my copyright standing.

For example, I always wanted to make Let’s Plays of Half Life 2. But I always ASSUMED that Valve wouldn’t let me monetize the content. To my surprise, Valve seems to be Let’s Play friendly after I searched around that Wiki that I mentioned earlier. I found a link to their respective information at the link which you can see by clicking HERE. So it seems that after reading their YouTube agreement that Valve would actually be OK with a Half Life 2 Let’s Play…I had no idea. That goes to show that proper research trumps assumption every time.

Another thing that I want to mention before you go bust out your Fraps and your Webcam (O.x) is that this is definitely uncharted territory for digital media content creators. Some people are having their Twitch feeds, “muted” because certain streams are playing copyrighted music in the background. That’s a tricky situation due to sonic tagging. As a general rule of thumb, it seems that people who listen to original music or copyright free music during their feeds tend to have an easier time. Turning on Pandora isn’t necessarily going to get a Twitch feed muted…but it could. This is especially true if any of that music is audible during the feed or the YouTube video. Remember, even small levels of audio can trigger a copyright violation so be careful and have fun!

Happy gaming!

-Tyler

PS: Thanks again to Ducknuck84 who is a pro at this indie/Let’s play gaming community information. This article wouldn’t be possible without his input.

 

 

http://letsplaylist.wikia.com/wiki/%22Let%27s_Play%22-friendly_developers_Wiki#Master_List

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