Blog-Shmog

One of the "gotcha's" that comes with any database-driven website such as Drupal (or wordpress or moveabletype) is that you essentially have TWO content sources to backup: your database and your webroot. Lose either and be prepared to spend lots of late nights doing emergency repairs!

Learn how NOT to backup your Drupal site and save yourself the headache!

I was recently given the opportunity to be one of the first GPS-bloggers to get my hands on the Columbus v900 Bluetooth Datalogger. (thanks to my friends at buyGPSnow.com) I spent the last month with the v900, evaluating its build quality, battery performance, usability, functionality and data accuracy. The v900 is a very cool little unit, featuring a 51 channel MTK chipset, an internal 1000mAh Li-Poly battery, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot and even a built in microphone for recording and geo-tagging voice memos. It's all housed in a very tiny, very sleek stainless steel & polycarbonate shell.

It had been a long while since I'd given any thought to browser trending or user stats, but a recent gander into the google analytics' visitor trends for blog-shmog.com tells me that A. 54% of you are using Firefox and B. less than 5% of you are using IE 6. (woohoo?)

Recently, despite my best efforts in ninja coilery, my Apple 65W Powerbook Power Adapter bit the dust- a cable short in the pull relief, right where the cable exits the brick. Tragic!

With nothing to lose, I cracked, smashed and pried 'er open and managed to hack together a pretty decent repair job. A few hours and a few screwdriver-induced injuries later, she's uuuuh-gly but working again!

I've recently had the opportunity to test-drive the AMOD AGL3080 GPS Logger. For the past three weeks I've been within 15 feet of the AGL3080 at all times. It's sat in my pocket, on my car dash, in my backpack and I've even carried it around the house in my hand- Just to get a feel for it.

And... I'm impressed.
My DG-100 has a serious contender for pocket-space in my future photowalks.
Here's why:

A few months ago, Cathy & I bought a Globalsat DG-100 Data Logger straight from the local distributor in Taiwan. I was pretty thrilled with it until I tried hooking it up to my powerbook and learned that Globalsat only wrote their lousy, buggy software for PC.

Let's get creative.

Born today, the Shmog is soon to become the creative playground for Kevin Jaako. Thoughts of photography, interaction design, user interface theory, web technologies, social networking, the internet, software development, hardware schematics, japan and happiness.