www.justblair.co.uk

I reviewed the DSO Nano from SeeedStudio a while back and was very happy with what was a prototype.  It is fair to say that Seeedstudio have enjoyed success with the later production model of the DSO nano.  However they have not rested upon their laurels.  As well as improving upon the hardware itself since my original review, Seeedstudio has been improving upon the devices firmware.

Today (16/8/10) Seeedstudio announced a major firmware update to version 2.4.  This new version I thought was worth mentioning because it brings some major bug fixes and additional function to the DSO Nano:

I have been following a new blog recently and I would thoroughly recommend a visit to check out this podcast.  Featuring Dave Jones, the electronics world’s answer to Barry Scott, this podcast educates on how to calculate the correct sized heatsink for your electronics project.  I have always played a guessing game in my projects but after a few minutes tuition from the effervescent Mr Jones I am amazed at how simple the math is. 

Most importantly I think Dave demonstrates which shortcuts can be taken through the calculations, which to those familiar with Ohms Law will not find challenging.

I have recently purchased an interesting new toy via E-bay that I am having a lot of fun with… an O2 Joggler

O2, the communications company released the Joggler onto the market place in 2009.  The Joggler is a low powered Linux powered box that O2 marketed to potential customers as a lifestyle communications device.  The basic premise from O2’s marketing team was that the Joggler was an ideal device for your kitchen. 

I have no intention of using my Joggler as a kitchen based device, read on to find out more on what I expect to do with this funky little device.

I was sad to see an announcement on World Designs website to say that they have ceased trading today.  World Designs supplied DIY Audio Kits and Parts to hobbyists in the United Kingdom.  In their catalogue were Speakers, Tube Amps and Turntables.

This statement is currently posted on their site:

“Unfortunately, due to the lack of interest in DIY projects in the UK, World Designs has ceased trading as of July 21st 2010.

Support for World Designs products will still be continued on the World Designs Forum by its members and through independent engineers.

If you require repairs or help with World Designs kits please contact John Caswell at 0118 973 2059.”

I wish all involved with World Designs all the best in the future!

Sometimes a job that seems at first glance to be quite easy, can end up being frustrating and time consuming. 

This little adjustment to 3guk’s Squeezeplay template for the Joggler was one of those tasks.  I had previously fixed a couple of graphics glitches on the 3guk’s excellent skin and this had not been too difficult.  Although written in lua, a programming language I have no experience of, I had not had too many problems.  All of the adjustments had been little more than edits to graphics files.

The keyboard is used within the Squeezeplay user interface for inputting search terms or for setting the name of the squeezeplayer etc.  Adjusting the interface turned out to be more complex than adjusting the graphics.  Several lua files had to be edited. 

Ok it’s been quiet round here recently… Life has been more than a little busy for me recently. But I have had time to acquire an O2 Joggler and have a play with it. Using Squeezeplay, the Joggler makes a great little music player.

3guk made a great Squeezeplayer skin to suit the O2 Joggler, almost perfect in fact, but it had a little issue with the top buttons of the interface. Not a difficult thing to sort out as it happens, and so I did.

I am hoping that in time this can be included in 3guk’s download, but in the short term the files can be downloaded from www.justblair.co.uk

This weekend I have been playing with a Foobar Plug-in called Foo_HttpControl. Essentially what the plug-in does is set up a small web server on your machine, allowing you to control Foobar remotely through any web enabled device.

My HTC HD2 Smartphone is an ideal device to use as a remote control. It sports a large (very large in fact) 800x480px resolution touch screen.

The Foobar plug-in allows for users to add their own themes, created in JavaScript. There are already some themes available, most designed for I-phones. However the due to the increased screen resolution, the HTC HD2 displays the i-phone themes with obvious pixilation.

I have always found the care and attention that PC Case modders take over their creations fascinating.  It is not unusual to see hours lavished upon themed PC Cases.

Well “Mr Chey” has posted his 6L6 / 5881 Single-Ended (SE) DIY Tube Amplifier over at www.diyaudioprojects.com.  And this amplifier is a little different as he has gone for a Transformers theme to the build, much in the same way that PC modders frequently theme their creations.

Transformer covers have logos and other Transformer’s inspired detailing has been hewn from aluminium to create this smart looking device.