Ever since I first saw the MintyBoost, I wanted to build one. It was a very simple design, used AA’s rather than a 9V (on account of higher mili-amp hours), and all this fit in a tiny Altoids gum tin.
So, for Christmas, I bought a kit from Thinkgeek.com and put it together. Total soldering time was about 10-15 minutes. The instructions were a bit difficult to find online (the kit only comes in a static bag, with a URL to the site), but they were well done, and had the thing together very quickly. The harder part was finding the Altoids tin I had set aside for this project years ago. =)
All together, the unit works great, and fit in the tin very well (though, it did take some creativity to deal with the long leads coming off the battery holder). It properly reports it’s output capability to my iPhone, and charges quite well. I haven’t hooked up any system to monitor actual drawn amperage, but I hope to do that soon (and will report back).
All and all, very happy with the device, and it now has a permanent spot in my EDC bag, incase my battery in my phone, or any other device, dies. =)
[xrr rating=5/5]
Back in July 2011 one of the stock Western Digital HD’s in my 2009 Mac Mini Server went out, so I bit the bullet and purchased two new Western Digital Scopio Blacks (both 500GB), and RAID1’d them together. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, and my RAID goes offline. I run several days of block checking, and find that the upper drive has gone out (which, I’ll get replaced by WD, but at this point, I’m looking to replace both drives… and I generally don’t trust refurbished drives). Anyway, figuring two new 500GB drives would cost about $100, I started looking at alternatives, and quickly found the Crucial M500 240GB SSD for $140 through Amazon. I then wouldn’t RAID drives together, I would just put OS/Services on the SSD, then use the still functional 500GB Western Digital drive as storage for larger files (downloads, backups, etc).
Two years ago, I purchased an Oregon Scientific Pedometer off REI Outlet as a “trial” for whether I would actually use a Fitbit, and therefore justify the price of a Fitbit (which I had seen and heard about from a colleague for years). Initially I only planned on using the cheap one for a couple months, then upgrading, but a couple months turned into two years. So, I purchased a FitBit One for my “christmas” present, and just started using it. The review will be rather short, since it’s a pedometer, but all and all, I’m extremely happy. The unit is half the size of the Oregon Scientific, so it still fits in my coin pocket. It’s rechargeable, and while the specs say it should last about 10 days on a charge, mine seems to last about 2-3 weeks between charges. The screen is OLED, and shows steps, distance, floors (the unit has an altimeter), time, and some flower I haven’t yet figured out.