I got a great deal on a used MacBook Pro a while back, and it's a great computer and I love it, but the problem is it doesn't have any built in hardware acceleration for video. So if you are watching a long movie or doing FaceTime or watching a youtube live stream, or whatever, it *really* heats up.

This is a problem when you don't have air conditioning, because it REALLY starts heating up!

I love this iPad rendition of Thunderstruck, mainly because it gives a different view on how complex (and melodic) the guitar part is:

(via The Loop)

ryugreen put up an awesome post-build (with pictures!) on the Stella Amp forum, go check it out!

Where the amp really shined for me was when I plugged in my korg synth. It's a batter poweredc portable synth, and combining the two gives me a great portability for an electronic instrument. It has plenty of volume and with the 6.5" two way i used, lots of bass and mids to help out with the range of the synth. Very impressed.

Getty Images completely redesigned their watermark, and the new design is amazing. It gives credit to the photographer, in the image itself, and it has a link where you can find out more about the image at any time.

Now, compare this to the old Getty Images watermark:

A few months ago when I was stuck in traffic, I noticed the car in front of me had a license plate that said LM4250.

"Huh," I said to myself. "That guy really likes his National chips. What's an LM4250?"

I looked it up when I got home, and the LM4250 is a low power precision op-amp. "Maybe he's the guy that designed it, or he did some important work on it. That's pretty cool!"

Then we moved to the new house, and I started seeing a LOT of LM license plates. LM4105, LM4216, etc. What the heck was going on?

One thing I like about hand drills is that I can pause the action whenever I need to in order to take a picture:

This is one of the amps that I took with me to the Maker Faire.

Wow! I'm still amazed, and I'm not sure how to write about it. But it's been two weeks since the Minne Maker Faire and this post is getting long overdue!

Instagram for Android is out, and I've got it.

I didn't think I would, but I like the square cropping. I've always found square cropping to be hard, its not easy to strike a balance between compositional solidity and fluidity. There is no horizontal space to traverse so its hard to set up tension. Mindlessly putting everything in the rule of thirds spot creates an effect that is simultaneously cramped and boring.

I've been working so hard getting ready for the Minne Maker Faire that I forgot to post an update! Everything is back to normal and I'm taking international orders again. In fact, i just shipped a package to Switzerland last week.