HowTo: Create a Chromebook Development Environment

There aren't too many places that include all of these steps in one place, seeing as I've very recently done this I feel that it is time to pass it along. Enjoy!

So you've decided to get your hands on one of those nifty little (and I do mean little, unless it's an HP) Chromebooks, and you also want to develop Android Applications on it. It's pretty easy, and I was able to get a development environment going in about a day.

1.	What you'll Need You'll need: 1. Chromebook 2. Internet Connection 3. Crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton 4. Time 5. Patience
2.	Enter the Developer The first thing you'll need to do is put your Chromebook into developer mode. For mine, the HP Chromebook, the process involved pressing: ESC + Refresh + Power button; in order to access the recovery mode. Once there you press CTRL + D and let it reformat the hard drive...don't get too attached to any setup you performed earlier it will be gone. Once you've done this you can hop in the internet and access the next steps.
3.	Gather your Strength You need to download Crouton: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton. in order to get the next part of the process running. It's a small little file but it make all the difference in the world. Once downloaded you need to open the terminal by pressing CTRL + ATL + T and enter the command shell. Once the Shell is open type "sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t xfce" (without the quote marks of course) and let it ride.
4.	Refresh yourself At this point you can get coffee and let it do its work.
5.	Begin the Journey After it installs you have to type: "sudo startxfce4" (without quotes) to enter the Ubuntu installation. BAM! Now it's pretty bare bones, but you should be able to download any of your development programs like Android Studio and Java's JDK and get them warmed up for development work. Those next parts should be self explanatory, but if you run into any trouble there is literally an entire internet available for you to ask questions on.
6.	You're Almost Home After you install the development environment and Java's JDK you should probably spend some time making yourself comfortable within the new environment, setting it up, getting it rolling and learning how to switch back and forth between the two. In order to switch between the two, press SHIFT + CTRL + BACK ARROW ON KEYBOARD (not the arrow key, there should be a separate button). While jumping back and forth you can let processes run between the two without any issue. During all of this time it is most certainly necessary to move non-vital programs and files to your Google Drive because the installation programs for Android Development and the JDK are rather large and tend to take up room on the hard drive, but once they are installed you can delete them to get the space back.
7.	Sage's Advice **NOTE** at this time it's probably beneficial to set everything to save to Google Drive from now on unless it is vitally needed, in order to save what little space they have on them. **NOTE**Shutting down the ubuntu installation is the same as any other Ubuntu installation. Just remember to start it back up at the terminal the next time you want to use it. **NOTE** Developer mode on Chromebooks is a wee-bit of a security concern, play it safe. If you aren't smart you can open yourself up to bad things and broken dreams. Read All Instructions. Email me if you have questions: wemmert2@gmail.com or wemmert@tilsonhr.com There you have it, you can now develop anything you want, just adjust the directions as necessary depending on what you want to develop. Have fun!

Quick build...GO!

I was busy looking at server and network stats, since that is boring I looked to my small "desk-sized" container - 'o - Legos for inspiration. I gave myself 2 minutes to build something recognizable.

18 Lego pieces later and I have a pretty neat office building with a front façade and a "light-tower" at the top.

Here are the Lego's I used and how I put them together. 

Picture Directions

1.  base plate and 1st two blocks	2.  2nd tier of blocks	3.  3rd tier of blocks
4.  Cap it with a penthouse suite	5.  add the first circle clear piece	6.  top if with two green clear pieces
7.  facade first layer	8.  last layer with pizzazzzzzzzzz

what do you think?

I think I'll call it the 2 minute challenge. Grab a handful of Legos and a timer, and build.

Father's Day Project: Part 2

For the Part one go HERE and read about my original plans for the Think Geek Build-On Brick Mug.

PART 2

Well, Unfortunately when I went to the Lego store near where I live, I searched long and hard on the parts wall for enough green, white, and black pieces to make the 1-up mushroom that I had hoped to make. I was unable to find, in fact, anything in solid green...only transparent green. There was, however, a lot of Blue and White bricks available on the wall so I made the next best thing...Well, let's call it THE BEST THING.


BAM!!

THE BEST THING

It says #1

It says Dad

I even added a blue light for the top, because, TARDIS

Let's face it, the fact that there were no green Legos and all blue and white Legos was pretty much the sign for me to take the design of this thing to the next level.

I call it the T.A.R.C.O.D. (Time and Relative Coffee On Desk), and I think I get more attention from people wanting to look at the Mug than actually asking me to fix network issues.

Awesome!

So, while you decide how you are going to design your Coffee Mug, I'll leave you with This.

Cause nothing says awesome like: Thumbs-up, TARDIS, and animated GIF

Why I'm angry with Google Glass

Now don't judge me. Ok, fine, judge me. It was a feeling of accomplishment to be chosen by Google to be a member of the Google Glass Explorers. I haven't been chosen for much in my life, and I frankly don't get the offered opportunity to do anything nearly as cool as this. What follows is what I felt to be a poorly planned operation built off of more publicity than they'd hoped for, and more people than they knew what to do with.

Credit:  Google.com

What's Google Glass?

That should be an easy one. Google Glass is the head-mounted wearable device that is aimed at integrating wearable electronics with phones and mobile electronics. I've often told people that if someone came out with a way to feasibly integrate an actual computer to my brain I'd do it no questions asked, Google Glass is that dream come true (to a lesser extent of course).

How to get one?

Months ago Google held a social media contest of sorts, people would post on their Google Plus wall on what they would do #ifihadglass and Google would judge the entries and decide who would be the chosen elite to be able to wield the un-wieldable (is that a word?) and post their experiences on the web. My post, to me reflected that.

Pick me!

Why I'm angry.

Finally, right? The whole point of this post. It's not that I won't get one, and it's not that I couldn't afford one, it's not even about how I won't get to parade around the great state of Indiana and the United States and wow onlookers. No. This is purely based on:  lack of communication, lack of information, and lack of concern for other's time and schedule. I never expected Google Glass to cater to me, I just expected that I'd be able to know several months out what the process was and plan my time accordingly.

At first nothing
                                 Then
                                                      Even more nothing
                                                                                          No posts, no mentions, no info

                                                                                                                                             and no replies to my requests

for information.

When all of a sudden, when I'd figured that due to the lack of information and the lack of communication that I'd simply been marked off of the list (wouldn't have surprised me in the least), when I had almost forgotten about Google Glass and began to focus on other things...

BAM I GET MY CHANCE

FINALLY!

BUT NOT SO FAST

In order to get one you must fulfill a few requirements, all of which I was aware of, and figured I'd make a vacation out of. 1.) Be Chosen  2.) Lay down 1500 dollars for it  3.) Go out to one of their locations to pick it up. I was excited!!! Giddy really. I clicked the link I was given and scrolled to the bottom of the page to rush to complete the process. I chose my color, agreed to the terms and conditions, and clicked next to schedule some time.

Oh, middle of June acceptance, and look, all filled up.

Oh you're all full in July too!

The same picture might as well have all 4 locations on it, because they all tell the same story.

Oh, that's just crazy, all that I had to choose from is June and July? Well, that's all well and good except I received my message from Project Glass in the MIDDLE OF FREAKIN JUNE!! Gee, Project Glass / Google, how on earth am I supposed to go to my employer and request some short notice leave, and buy a ticket to California (for example) on this short of notice and at an economical fare without rushing? 

Above:  Last minute purchase

Above:  Well planned purchase months in advance

Obviously Project Glass doesn't really get the concept of having to plan ahead, and obviously they don't get the concept of proper notice, and seriously does not get the fact that normal people have lives they can't just drop at a moments notice.

Sure, if I lived in California, I wouldn't give a rat's ass, but in little 'ol Indiana this kind of short notice just doesn't work for me.

What am I going to do after posting this? Probably put my 1500 dollars somewhere else and just wait for the standard release.

Recap

I'm mad because after months of not answering my questions and giving zero information, I get served up a nice large slice of "Screw You and your Time Management" we like to live life at the speed of "Let's inconvenience our fan-base and do everything last Minute"

Come on Project Glass, Get with the program.

Father's Day Gift Project Part 1

So, on Father's Day I received what can only be described as the coolest present ever, a "lego compatible" Coffee Mug from Think Geek. Not only does it look like the coolest 8-bit representation of a Coffee Mug, but it can fit Legos and multiple other types of building blocks.

I also received the Vader's Little Princess book, which is a whole other story in itself. Perhaps I'll talk about it later, but it's definitely sufficient enough to say that this book is a definite must-have for any Dad who is a fan of Star Wars. Not only does it portray the Darth Vader / Princess Leia story in a different tone, but it almost brings you to tears with both comedy and the realization that, even though you may not have an intergalactic princess, she will grow up much faster than you will want her to.

Any ways, the mug. Since it attached to Legos, and there just "happens" to be a Lego store within a 5-minute drive of where I work, I decided to personalize the Mug with Legos to make it as Geeky as possible. I thought Star Wars, but that much of the Star Wars designs and emblems just won't fit too well onto a rectangle mug, I thought I would go with an 8-bit character from Nintendo. The mushroom (1-up, of course) will do nicely.

Now I can't very well just go buy a bunch of Legos and go to town on this thing, especially since: A.) I suck at 8-bit pictures, and B.) the Mug front is just a "little" too small for representation of the mushrooms. Sure I could cut out a few pixels, but then it might just look silly. then I came to the realization that the mug fits Legos all the way around it. This led me to the realization that I could attempt to design a 3D mushroom by implementing colored Lego blocks all the way around it (fixing the pixel size issue) and adding to the cool-factor.

But first I have to design it.

This should work for me to be able to design it. Drawn representations of the Coffee Mug front (and back) and the Left (and Right) sides and the handle. They're all identical to each other in the fact that the Front and Back and the Left and Right are the same number of "pixels" each. This allows for me to wrap the mushroom around the mug  for the full effect. The only issue remains what to do with the unfilled pixels, which I will probably keep as the base color (gray) until the last minute when I can decide what color to fill in around the mushroom.

Pictured here is a better view of the mug representation that I will be using to design the mushroom around the mug.

As of right now, this idea has only started, and since I have a lot of actual work to do at this moment I will have to work on this off and on until I get the design right and then it's off to the Lego store to get the required supplies.

Stay tuned to the progress of my "Mushroom Mug" and we'll see just how awesome this turns out.

Oh  yeah, and a happy (late) fathers day to all of the Fathers out there.

Limeade Blast Awesomeness

So, after having to wait FOREVER for the Limeade Blast to finish its Kickstarter campaign and what seemed like an eternity for the Shipping information to go out, and an entire weekend where it was sitting in my mailbox (I was at National Guard drill); I finally got to check out my Limeade Blast battery.

First, a little background about the company.

---from the Kickstarter page

Limeade was cofounded by Paul Lin and Melissa Lau in November 2012 and officially incorporated March 2013 in Boulder, CO. The company produces cutting-edge external batteries for smartphones, tablets and other devices, maximizing battery capacity within the smallest possible form factors by pushing the boundaries of what current technology will allow. In the past year, the most talented team of individuals ranging from product manager to graphic designer have been assembled to work on Limeade products. The goal is to bring the coolest gadgets to the market. After months of preparation, Limeade is ready to launch the first set of products on Kickstarter.

Pretty solid intro and the idea behind the product and project just seemed too good of an idea not to back up...besides, I'd also get a battery out of the deal. Seemed like a great trade off, improve the mobile device world with an external battery option, and get a battery myself. Que the waiting, and the watching of the project.

A week later I got my brown envelope with my magical battery, that's when the fear set-in.

Wet, packaging was wet, condensation was everywhere, the cardboard of the packaging was just so soaked that it stuck to the outside of the battery (which has a rubberized "feel" to it so it was difficult to get off). The instructions were unreadable, I was truly afraid. I opened the package carefully just in case I would have to send it back, and pushed the button on the side and got the 50% status light. When I got that I decided that I could take the chance and see if this will work...or fail.

Fortunately for myself, it seems that the battery itself is a bit more resilient than I had thought and charged nicely. All 4 LED's came on, the light on the top works (took me a few to figure out how shut it off because the instructions were no good to me). Once all of the soggy cardboard was cleaned off of the device I held it in my hand and judged the weight and feel.

The weight of the device was beautiful, sturdy enough for me to feel confident in dropping it (I didn't, however) and yet light enough for me to not even really care about carrying it. The rubberized "feel" (it isn't actually rubberized) definitely feels good in my hands, smooth and comfortable and yet it isn't going to go anywhere. At this point the only thing keeping from sending it back is the fact that all of the LED's are lit. So I decided to actually charge something. The included cable is pretty cool, they definitely make sure that the included user base of  EVERYONE can use this guy. The cable includes a two part plug that has the Apple 30-pin connector, which comes off into a micro USB connector, I think that it's a pretty snazzy looking item to include with the device.

I took the cable that came with it, plugged it in to my Galaxy Nexus and BAM! the little guy turned on and started charging. It took me nearly 5 MINUTES to charge 10% of the battery. Pretty speedy for simple charging. The auto shut-off feature worked when it reached the full battery power (which gives me a good feeling about leaving it go overnight). Lastly, neither the battery, nor the phone got too hot during the process, so big plus to me.

After all of this I felt great about it, and plan on keeping it. Trust me when I say I exhaled a great sigh of relief when I confirmed for myself that the wetness of the packaging and the condensation did not affect the battery operation. The Limeade Blast works JUST AS ADVERTISED!

Downsides

There has always got to be a downside to everything, fortunately this device didn't have many at all (I mean it's a friggin battery, how hard could it be to use). One of the for me, it is the included cable, it fits in the ports properly enough. I had some issues where simply having the battery on the seat of my car and the phone next to it where over time the cable would slip out of the USB port of the phone, where I don't normally have that issue with my other phone charger cable. Though, you could just as easily use your own cable (as could I).

My other downside, The reliability of their shipping operation. Either their warehouse people had a freak indoor rainstorm, some sort of water leakage problem, or an incredibly high humidity issue caused the condensation (and possibly more problems). Checking on their Kickstarter comments page, I've seen a few other people with wet packaging and batteries, and more than a few more people APPEAR TO HAVE either bad batteries or other issues that render the batteries in capable of working properly.

Like this guy

Fortunately, the company appears to be very much on top of trying to figure out where the issue lies, so at the very least their customer service is top-notch.

Above:  top notch

 My final thoughts? Seeing as it would appear that the majority of people who got one did not have wet batteries, I would say go ahead and buy one when you get the chance. Unfortunately full purchasing is still not available on the main site, but with the success of their Kickstarter, and the fact that backers have a product, I would say it won't be long at all.

4 Out of 5!!!!


****UPDATE**** According to an Email that was sent to all backers, the Limeade Blast is not for General sale at Amazon: HERE for the Kickstarter prices (for a limited time that is). Get this wonderful device while it's hot!!

What DOES my Traffic Say About Me?

sure I cut off Internet Explorer, no one
likes them anyways.

     Now, I wouldn't call myself a particularly vain person, but I am actually curious as to where the traffic that views my site comes from. Not that it really matters, or that it is a popularity contest, or that it makes me feel better about myself based on the traffic arriving at my site; it's just plain curiosity.

     So, when I looked at the traffic that my site received over its [two] lifetimes, I've come to slowly realize that apparently: 1.  while biased as I am against Apple, quite a bit of traffic appears to come from them. 2.  The operating system section looks like a peace-sign. I'm not quite sure what to make of that second one, but it has to be good...right?

SO WHAT DOES IT SAY?

I prefer to think about these graphs as a, "Thanksgiving dinner at a dysfunctional family's house." Where big brother Windows  and Macintosh (who have a long standing grudge against each other) are at the table keeping the little siblings:  Android, iPhone, and Linux; away from the adult-table. All of this while cousin Firefox is being eyed suspiciously because he's waving a lighter at the frilly lace table runner by his brothers: IE, Chrome, and Safari crack their knuckles and try to surround him.

In all, I am starting to think that I have an over-active imagination, but that I have a well-rounded supply of viewers even though I'm a little heavy on the big-boys. All I have to say is "Thank you readers" for making my information gathering more fun.

So now the question is:

WHAT DOES YOUR TRAFFIC SAY ABOUT YOU?

Feel free to take a look at your traffic and make your own stories and send them to your friends, or to me. I'm sure we can all have fun with it.

Bar-B-Que Pepperoni Pizza

**update** Go ahead and use this idea for the Superbowl, I'm sure everyone will love the idea! Chances are that you won't be able to keep these tasty single serving pizzas around long enough to last the whole game. **update**


Don't be alarmed, this food is not going to be "Instagrammed" in any way, it is, blogged (of course) so quit judging me. This is just what everyone needs to make when they are 1.  in the mood for pizza, and 2.  not wanting to order pizza, 3. Lazy, but not too lazy.

It's sooooo good that even a toddler will love it. No, seriously, I'll show you a picture later.


You'll Need:

1.  A Package of Tortillas (1 or 2 for the pizza)

2.  Bar-B-Que Sauce (any brand)

3.  Cheese

4.  Optional:  Pepperoni

5.  Oven

6.  Hunger

Step 1:  preheat to 350 degrees

Step 2:  Add Bar-B-Que to the Tortilla

Step 3:  Add cheese

Step 4:  Add Toppings

Optional:  Add more cheese

Optional:  Add another Tortilla

Step 5:  set timer for 5 mins, believe me this is more than enough time...tortillas are thin.

Step 6:  Check to make sure cheese is melted and tortillas are not burned. Ready to eat.

My daughter wondering why I'm taking pictures of her eating our pizza.







There you have it folks, in about 10 minutes you could have a tasty single serving pizza for about a dollar worth of ingredients. Enjoy.

This tech guy hates... (rant)

It's not mine, I'm holding it for a friend.

*WARNING RANT LOCATED*

Apple, That's right, Apple. No, it's not just a hatred of their business practices, their closed attitude, or the fact that everyone who uses an Apple can be grouped into the stereotype of being a: "hipster", or a "graphic artist", or a "smug bastard"; although those reasons are the easiest ones to pull from a hat when someone asks me why.

No, the real reason that I hate Apple is because of the fact that they insist on printing EVERYTHING in a "post script" mode by sheer default. If I asked you to look at your printers right now, right this very moment, you would probably think I am a crazy person (If you didn't already). Your printer drivers for your machines, assuming all of the current readers aren't on a Mac, are most likely of the PCL5 or 6 variety. Why does that matter at all?

Technically the type of printer driver doesn't really matter, except for the fact that nearly everyone in the world uses Printer Control Language (PCL), in fact it is so widely used that most people do not know that there is anything else. I work for Sharp in one of their buildings that sells: copiers, printers, and other such. Since I live and work within the world of printers, I come across printers and MFPs from almost every company imaginable and it is very hard to find a printer driver in a production environment that does not use PCL6. Post script is so rare in this line of work that special add-on software and firmware packages have to be enabled in order to allow the printers to function in that mode for almost every device.

Normally I would not care, except for the fact that when I have to help a customer (being both a network admin and a copier connection specialist) who wants to print on a Mac. A whole 99% of the time the users who purchased a Mac expecting that they will "just work" like the ad in the paper said. Most of them have heard fabled stories of people coming back from the "Great-Apple-Store-in-the-Fashion-Mall" and all of their devices magically work for them. These stories, usually involve someone and their iPhone and their Music collection . . . not the usual office production environment. So it comes to them as a surprise that they must not, not only download a whole new set of printer drivers, but also purchase an add-on (which aren't cheap) to get the Post Script option to work.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Gee, Wes, if this happens so often then it isn't a rarity!" And I would say, "shut your mouth" and you would probably get angry with me. Most of these users are the one-off worker in an environment of Microsoft machines that now needs to be catered to, costing me my sanity as a Copier connection specialist, and causing friction between my new IT contact in the building (who now hates me because I have ensured that he will now cater to the unusual needs of the Mac).

Why do I hate Apple? BECAUSE They're different enough to cause problems. I don't care that they want to be different, I don't care that they insist on being different (look at me), I just wish that they would allow for backwards compatibility, to relieve me of my headaches, and ease the transition of others.

*END OF RANT*

Juggling "disaster" amuses my daughter.

What is this? Two posts in a day? well, unless it's a weekend, this situation may or may not come up a lot. The point is, you never know what I'll have to share.

Like today, when my daughter thought my little juggling routine was incredibly hilarious, I thought I'd video it and share it with the world.

Enjoy!

A techie gives you coffee advice

Look at that sexy man

Technical nerds like myself and business types alike, heck even the normal everyday homebody sure enjoy their coffee. There is one thing I dislike when it comes to the coffee situation, it's when I make a pot and leave 1 cup alone all day long and it gets cold.
Coffee lovers like myself are probably the first ones to yell out Sinner! when the concept of leaving perfectly good coffee out to be wasted. well now, fret no more while I spin you my simple tale of how I solved such a problem not 10 minutes ago.

THE PROBLEM

Personally, for me the thought of drinking cold coffee is disgusting, and equally as disgusting as going to a coffee shop and ordering their Wacky, crazy drinks, worst of all is pouring what would have been perfectly good coffee down the drain. Now I like to drink coffee all hours of the day, sometimes it's great to have in the afternoon so when I reached for my pot in order to make myself more coffee I realized that I had entire cup that I hadn't drank yet. I solved this problem in a less overly sugary fashion and more palatable concoction that I wouldn't mind having again in the future.

THE PREP

all of the ingredients (minus a few sips of the final result)

What do I have in the house? A glass, yes, I have a glass. Some flavoring, yes, I have some Hershey's syrup that I use for ice cream. Milk, yes, I eat cereal so I have milk. Cold coffee, why yes, that is why I am writing this. So: Glass, Milk, Hershey's syrup, Cold coffee; I have everything I need, time to get started.

THE RECIPE

Taking the cup I filled it with about 1/4 cup of milk, I figured that 1/4 cup was all that I needed since it wouldn't be more than any amount of milk than I or anyone else would add to any amount of coffee anyways. Seeing as I don't normally add milk to coffee I had to wager a guess. Secondly, I added my cold coffee to the milk and filled it to the top.

By this time the taste was still too, cold coffee-ish. Which is when I slowly added some Hershey's syrup to the mixture in order to bring it to a taste I could tolerate:  a touch of milk and just enough coffee flavor to enjoy it (your results may vary).

THE RESULT

What I ended up with was a coffee drink that allowed me to not have to throw out my cold coffee, and still enjoy it without having to resort to having to avoid "Hipsters" at a coffee shop. Since it had very little sugar (aside from what naturally was in any of the ingredients, Hershey's syrup not withstanding) it didn't taste like sugar milk with coffee.

So think about that next time, when you end up with cold coffee that would be normally undrinkable. Don't pour it out, you might just like what you make.