fmajowich

I’m always looking for way to improve my Home Brewing. The idea occurred to me the other day that I should collect as much data while brewing as possible.How else will I know what happened during a brew session without data to reference? Since I hate doing things manually (Paper/Pencil) I figured the data collection could be done with my computer. While scouring the internet I came across people using the Arduino platform for all sorts of cool things. One of the first items I came across was using it as a PH meter. Which this gave me hope as PH is something we are interested in home brewing. Then my mind was blown when I found the Brew Troller. Not only can it operate as a monitoring device but can be a complete brewing automation system! Needless to say I’m going to ordering one of these rather soon. This will be  great side project that will lead to better beer.

fmajowich Beer, Homebrewing, Tech

Since getting my Ipod touch in christmas of 2007 I have wanted an Iphone. The only hold up for me getting an Iphone was my employer pays my cell phone bill. Then recently my company switched us over to the Blackberry Curve off of the Windows Mobile platform. My initial experience on the Blackberry has been good. I really like the Google apps for the Blackberry along with the Twitter and Facebook apps. However, I was still yearning for all of the “Cool” apps that the Iphone had. Granted I still have my Ipod touch, however, not everywhere you go has WiFi. My car being one of those places where I spend a considerable amount of time. Which brings be to the BlackBerry App World that was released at the beginning of the month. Granted the Blackberry App World is no where near the scale of the Apple App Store. However, it has alot of the applications that so far have given me the “Cool” feeling that the Iphone apps do. So my Iphone Envy has subsided for now, at least for a little while.

fmajowich Saving Money, Tech

So here I am. One month without having cable. The truth is…I don’t miss it. ESPN, The channel I thought I would miss the most has not even been on my radar. That may have something to do with football not being in season but time will tell. My Tivo is jammed packed with shows to watch. I have found myself needing Tivo days to catch up with all of my recordings and yes, I actually do enjoy watching the shows I’m recording/downloading. I wasn’t blogging when I decided to cancel my cable so I’ll give you a run down of my current setup.

TivoHD x 2 OTA turners for local channels
TivoHD for netflix streaming
TivoHD for video podcast
Netflix 2 at a time for blue ray movies
Xbox 360 streaming from my media center PC
Vista Media Center PC with 2 OTA tuners
Playon on Media Center PC for Hulu streaming
DB4 HDTV Antenna
VHF Antenna
Jointenna

Yes, all of those devices/subscriptions cost money but I already owned/paying for them. What I watch the most of OTA channels ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, next is Netflix Blueray movies, then videopodcasts, finally all of the streaming. Granted I have spent more time with my hobby of home brewing lately but I can honestly say I don’t miss cable at all. I have to thank my friend Ben Drawbaugh for inspiring me to drop cable.

fmajowich Saving Money, Tech