Automated hallway Skirtingboard Lighting

Here's a slightly more involved project of mine, finished today (almost) using a second box of the LED decking lights I bought for my kitchen plinth lighting project.

When I fitted my new kitchen I put new flooring in though the hall into the kitchen, and at the same time removed all the skirting to be replaced.

When I fitted the flooring I laid some connecting wiring under the floor, just for this reason.

So, skirting board bought, box of LED lights, and a day off, here we go again!

Kitchen Window Etching the techie way!

Now here is my next problem to solve, our house faces a road with nothing but the driveway between whats happening in the kitchen and the passing pedestrians and cars! This became more apparent when I re-fitted the kitchen as I took down the old blind etc.

I looked into electric blinds, however I found they are either huge money, or not really suitable for what I need.

So my solution was to put my vinyl cutter to good use.

Android Collectables coming to stickface later in the year

Coming sometime towards the end of the year to http://shop.stickface.co.uk the fullrange of Android Collectables!!

I will be ordering direct from the distributor in the USA, email me if you want to pre-order the 16 piece box sets

New phone in the house!!!!

I have finally got my hands on a Dell Streak, I have been after one for a while and a deal came up on xda-developers that invloved me swapping my HD2 for a streak. I have to say I have been missing out for a while by not having a streak, it is pretty much the perfect phone for me.

I have 2 contracts meaning that my iphone is used for the majority of my actual phone calls, and the second line that is in my streak is mainly used for text, email and web browsing. The large screen makes this perfect for this, although its a bit tricky to carry around everywhere.

Currently the streak is running dj_steve's 1.9 streakdroid rom, which is very good, superfast and everything works as it should, I will be however cooking my own in the very near future.

Due to the fact that I am a bit funny about my phones and the rear battery cover had a few scratches on it, I used some Carbon Effect Wrapping Vinyl (post to come about this stuff, its awesome) to cover the rear door, as seen below.

All I need now is to find some jeans that have 3 front pockets! 1 for my streak, 1 for my iphone, and 1 for my change/keys unless I incorporate my NFC cash card into the rear cover and find a way to drive the car and lock the house without keys!!!!

*Useful Gadget No.1*

From time to time I will try and post about gadgets etc that I have picked up along the way and what I think of them.

My first in this series is the freeloader solar charger.

I picked this up at the Bristol BestBuy opening weekend, it was a special opening offer deal half price at £15, I don't think I would have paid the full £30 though.

Anyway, it basically consists of a load of adaptors including a basic usb(female) and the main body itself which splits into 3 parts, the 2 solar panels separate and clip into either side of the main battery (1500ma) body to charge and clip together and then into battery unit for transporting.

All in all the unit itself seems pretty well made and its a clever design, my only criticism would be that the aluminium body scratches very easily.

I have had this for a few months now, and have got myself into the routine of chucking it onto the dash of the car (solar panels out) whenever I park up, this trickle charges the internal battery enough to keep my phone topped up during days when usage has been heavy. Its also possible to charge the freeloader from usb from a pc or wall adaptor to ensure the battery is full, or if time is an issue.

Overall for the £15 I paid for it, this has been worth the money, I have fallen back and used it a number of times to boost the battery in my handsets, and has been particularly useful recently as I have been away a bit and hotels never have enough plug sockets in the rooms!

Mobile blog updated

For anyone viewing on a mobile device, you should now see a mobile specific version of my blog.

Drop me an email if it works or doesn't work for you!