I am not sure how many of you follow Google’s research, acquisitions, and partnerships but wife of Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, is a cofounder of 23andMe a software start-up dealing in genetics and personalized medicine. Google also has financial investments in the company. (Davies, 2007)
Davies, K. (2007, June). 23andMe: The Google Genome Connection. Bio-IT World, 6(5), 6.
I finally sat down the other day and programmed my first microcontroller (MCU) since my college days back in the ’90s. I had purchased the Olimex PIC-PG1 ICSP Microchip PIC programmer and the Olimex PG1B Atmel AVR ICSP programmer a little over two years ago but had never gotten either to work successfully so both of them have sat on the shelf collecting dust.
Enter Sparkfun’s nifty PIC programming tutorial and a lazy Saturday afternoon and I finally had success programming the PIC16F628. Next up, I’ll be attempting the same process with an Atmel AVR MCU. Watch here for future MCU projects!
As some of you may remember, I gave up World of Warcraft around two months ago. This week, I decided to go back and check on how the game has progressed since the expansion was released. I can stop playing anytime I want….right? Yes, I’ve fallen off the wagon.
Found over on the LED Thowies now present us with an even great project!
What does one get when a projecter, laser pointer, and computer are crossed? A light-based graffiti system to tag buildings. Watch the following video to get a better idea of what exactly this system does, then go download the how-to and source code for the project!
How-to page and source code link
As some of you may know, I’ve been playing Blizzard’s famous MMO called World of Warcraft since November, 2004, when it first hit the shelves. During the few months before Blizzard finally released the first expansion, named The Burning Crusade, I became burnt out on the game. I had done everything I wanted to in the game, I had played both casually and as a raider, I had several level 60 characters and now I was just limping along until the expansion came out in the hopes that it would add that spark back into the game.
Fast forward to January 16th, the expansion is released by Blizzard. People, including me, wait in line at midnight for it and rush home to see the new content, new races, etc. I play the game whenever I have a moment so that I can experience all of the new stuff that came with the expansion. Unfortunately, after three weeks of playing the expansion, I come to the conclusion that besides the new races, jewel crafting profession, and continent, there really isn’t anything new and original about the game. Flying mounts aren’t really that exciting. The quests are still the same, go gather some items, kill some mobs, deliver an item, escort an NPC, and the list goes on.
After much thought, discussion with the guild I ran, and reviewing my budget I decided to shutdown my account. Due to lack of originality and no new groundbreaking features or advancements, I feel like my money can be better spent elsewhere.