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One of the more quirky vendors in the Mac world that I keep track of is WiebeTech. Based out of Wichita, they got their start making unique FireWire (IEEE 1394) devices and have wandered in interesting ways ever since. Their latest product has engendered feedback leading to this quote on the page for the Mouse Jiggler:
Thanks for the interesting emails - no, this was not an April Fools joke.
Our cases are in and they're beginning to ship. They look great, and the feedback so far has been fantastic.
So what does this 'Jiggler' do? Apparently, you attach it to a USB connection and it periodically moves the mouse. That's it. Goofy and brilliant in the same beat. Here's the description from the promotional email they sent:
Need to download a big file, run an install, or perform a back-up without wondering if your computer will fall asleep and interrupt it? Want to stop worrying about having to type your password into your computer every time you walk away from your desk for a few minutes? Whatever your reason may be for not wanting a computer to go idle, WiebeTech has the answer.
A lot of people are going to think this is the most idiotic thing they've ever heard of, but some are going to want it. WiebeTech seems to have built it for the forensics investigators they've always catered to, but it may serve a purpose for lots of mainstream customers, especially laptop owners. Security won't be something users are thinking about.
I'm constantly fiddling with the Energy Saver settings on my laptop. I might start a long lived process in a screen session or I'm doing something like video transcoding. I don't want the system going to sleep until the process finishes. It's not a problem with my desktop since it never goes to sleep without me putting it there and has a pretty long delay to the screen saver.
While I haven't bothered to really look into it, creating a small application to handle generating spurious 'user events' should be possible. However, lacking the equivalent of a safe Monkey Lives or in the case of the forensics community where changing the system by adding a new application is frowned upon, a cheap USB device is marketable. I'm not ready to buy one at $30, but many will. Enough to support itself? Probably.
Twenty years ago, a standard approach would have used an easily licensed USB transceiver and minimal ASIC glue to generate mouse movement events. This type of approach has obviously become a lot easier and cheaper over the years. Today I'd guess that this kind of part costs less then $10 to fabricate (even in relatively small quantities). It's got to be even cheaper for a company with a lot of USB experience. Two versions (slow and fast) might drive that cost up a bit, but apparently not enough that they decided to create a driver (or so it appears).
Have we arrived at a point in time where even small applications by small vendors can economically transition to custom hardware? Not quite I think, but we're getting ever closer.
It's been a while, but I've finally got an update worth mentioning. With book averages being recorded on tax day, I'm going to book 209 for the second season in a row. At beginning of February it stood at 204 (November was brutal: 192!) and things didn't look encouraging. In the end, it just took adding few extra pins every week. The 36 pin surplus tonight gave me just enough. By itself, repeating last year wouldn't be remarkable were it not for an amazing night in March.
I like having goals, although they've become more and more difficult to reach over time. First it was a 500 series (3 games), then a 200 game, 550 series, 600 series, 650 series and finally a 700 series. All finished in the first four years (by April 1998). The next set of goals were obvious: a clean series (no opens), a perfect game and a 750 series.
I got obsessed with a clean series for a while and came ever so close, so many times. 30 frames without a major error doesn't sound all that hard but it proved difficult to achieve. The worst circumstance I recall was chopping a 6-10 in the 30th frame. That goal was retired in July of 2001. I've only done it once since.
As for the perfect game, I think I need to reset that goal to an honor game. I'm becoming Mr. 10 in a row and I can't say why exactly. I've done 15 in a row a couple times and 17 in a row once, but an honor score requires 11 in one game and a perfect game is 12. I wish I could just stop thinking about it. On the other hand, Mel Mikkelson (who I think is going to be 78 this summer) waited until he was 71 or so until he got his.
And then my elusive quest for a 750 series. The general idea for hitting 750 is simple; string lots of strikes together and cover all the holes (make spares). Average 250. Just the basics, right? I've been dancing around it for years and the little things will absolutely kill you. An open at an inopportune time, one weak game and so many, many other things. I was reminded of it yet again tonight when a friend finished with 748.
The first week of March, I finally put it all together.
226 - 279 - 269 = 771
The scores don't really reflect it, but I bowled better over the first two games than in the third (it's not entirely uncommon for my bowling and scores to be somewhat out of whack).
The pattern that week was a lot longer than we'd played recently. It was quite a bit narrower and I really had to focus on playing one line. The week before had been bumper ball, stick it in the chute and smack the pocket. My shadow bowling had been a bit erratic but I did start getting it together near the end.
226 I opened by going high and leaving a 4 pin, which I just whiffed on. I strung strikes until the middle of the game when I had a complete brain fart. For some reason I eased off on the delivery speed, it went high and left a 6-7 split. I got the 6 and then strung a few more strikes until the 10th when I bobbled somehow and left the 6-10. Barely picked that up and (I think) left a 10 on the next ball.
279 I started out by second guessing myself. For whatever reason, I was wondering if I'd lost the line and tightened up a bit, leaving a solid 10; nailed it. The spare got me back on track, I'd been right where I wanted to be and the rotation was right (just enough to move my plastic spare ball a bit at the end). Strung 9 in a row and left another solid 10, making it to finish things up.
269 All I can say is that this game is all about karmic payback (and this was an unexpected surprise). The first three balls weren't awful, but were all a bit light, resulting in mushy mix it up strikes. The next ball was a disaster (so bad it's good) going Brooklyn (too far) and resulted in another ugly looking strike. I was laughing at that point and told my teammates that everything else was gravy. The line had changed and adjustments were in order, keep the revs but pick up the speed, get back to what worked (playing the puddle). I rolled along that way until the 9th when I left a 4 (I think I drifted a bit too high). Good first ball in the 10th and then the second sailed high again leaving the 6-10 which I finished off.
An 800 series has always been on the list. The likelihood for a once a week bowler is pretty low, but you never know. And of course, an honor score. Perhaps I should think about qualifying for a regional seniors event in a couple years. I'd get slaughtered but it might be fun.
I've forgotten and had to re-find the technique for easy zooming in OmniGraffle using the scroll wheel several times now.
This is a personal note so I don't need to play games again (and perhaps by writing it down I won't forget this time — like that'll work).
Use the command key and zoom with the scroll wheel.
Scroll fast and it zooms with very large increments. Scroll slow and it zooms in very tiny increments.
It's great the the Conejo Valley Days parade is going to continue this year (after some early jockeying about the prohibitive costs), but adding $3,000 in cost to the city isn't going to help much in the long run.
Cutting the parade about two-tenths of a mile means it will stop at The Lakes, 2200 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., instead of continuing to Erbes Road as it has in the past. By making this change, Dallas Drive will be left open for paradegoers who would like to park at the Civic Arts Plaza parking structure.
The City Council voted 5-0 at their meeting last week to pay $3,050 to buy out the parking structure so parade watchers can park there for free beginning at 7:30 a.m. Sat., May 5. The parade is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
"We changed the parade route so viewers will have easy access into and out of the structure," said Don Hegarty, CVD parade chairman and Kiwanis president-elect. "We believe more people will attend the parade with more parking available close to the parade route."
Back in October, the parade was pronounced dead because it would cost $15,000 (it was eventually raised). Not only do I have no idea how a parade full of volunteers could cost $15,000 but the city has now upped the ante for future parades.
The parking structure belongs to the city, which should result in zero cost unless they're going to staff it. If this was like most events, that would mean having someone collecting money at the entrance (a real salary is involved there). Then again, if you've ever been to an event at the Civic Arts Plaza, you know that the likelihood of encountering an employee anywhere after you have paid to gain entrance is as close to zero as one can get. All I can think of at this point is that it will cost an additional $3,000 in insurance to leave the entrance gate open all morning (with a $50 service charge).
Last year I was really slothful about getting out of the house to see Sarah and Jon do their thing. I left right about 9 AM (when the parade begins at Duesenberg / Auto Mall Drive) and wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to find somewhere to park. Instead of heading to the Elks Lodge (as I've done before), I figured I'd try the south side. I used the freeway to Willow Lane and back to the south side of Conejo School Road. The parking lot by Rhineland Deli and Café Provençal was predictably full, but the lot at the Lakes was wide open (at about 9:10 there were hundreds of open spaces) and I was able to quickly find an open spot. I didn't need to walk very far east of Conejo School Road on Thousand Oaks Boulevard (only a hundred yards or so) to find a place to plop myself down.
The music festival at The Lakes as the parade winds down sounds interesting, but it does seem like someone else (such as the merchants most likely to profit from a lingering crowd) should be picking up the tab for generating the foot traffic. Not the city.
There was a short piece on NPR this afternoon about Aaron Hillegass which reminded me of something I wanted to learn about Big Nerd Ranch.
I remembered looking them up a while ago and noting that their offices were in mid-town Atlanta, which didn't square with the ranch theme. I was busy last time around and didn't take the time to dig a little deeper. Looking again, the contact page puts their offices just south of Piedmont Park; I'm pretty sure I've walked right past them on walks I've taken around the area in the past.
Antebellum mansions are plentiful in the area but woods and an area one could call a ranch? Not much of that there. So where does the ranch connection come in?
They hold their classes at Serenbe Inn (which they don't say much else about). A little digging revealed a couple other names (Serenbe Southern Country Inn but mostly the Inn at Serenbe) which is located a few miles outside Palmetto, GA:
The Inn at Serenbe
10950 Hutcheson Ferry Rd
Palmetto, GA 30268
From what I've seen of that area (I've been to confabs held in Peachtree City a couple times in the last few years), it's quite beautiful. Like a lot of Georgia, once you get a few miles off the beaten track you'll often find yourself in the middle of farm land at worst and dense woods most of the time. For more information on what to expect, this review of the Farmhouse at Serenbe may be useful.
I'm not sure I understand the desire to keep the final destination of Nerd Ranch customers so vague, but I can certainly see how the setting can be quite conducive to focused learning.
