Global Nerdy

This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.

Photo courtesy of Rich Leighton. Click to see the source.

Did a little bit of iOS programming today that was the software equivalent of this. It wasn’t pretty, but it does work.

This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.

Akamai’s Real-Time Web Monitor, as of this writing, is reporting that internet traffic is at 112% above normal. It more than likely has something to do with all those iOS users downloading iOS 7, which came out today. I expect it’ll shoot up even higher once the North American workday ends.

Here’s what network traffic looked like in Europe on Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 at 4:05 p.m. Eastern (GMT-4):

And here’s what it looked like in North America at about the same time:

If you’re planning on upgrading your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch tonight, hop on a wifi network and either:

• Do it straight on your iDevice by going to Settings, selecting General, and then selecting Software Update.
• Do it by downloading and installing iTunes 11.1, and then connecting your iDevice to your iTunes 11.1-equipped computer.

With the Toronto Mini Maker Faire coming up, I thought I’d show you this simple little “recipe” for making the sort of simple-but-cool techie things that you’ll see (and hopefully, learn how to make) at the Toronto Mini Maker Faire coming up this Saturday and Sunday.

Check out these instructions for making an LED “throwie” or “blinkie”, a little light with a magnet that you can stick to all sorts of metal surfaces, to make the world (or at least the ferromagnetic parts of it) your very of “Lite-Brite” set!

And don’t forget to check out the Toronto Mini Maker Faire!

Click any of these photos to see the full set of instructions for making a “throwie”.

For those of you who prefer video instructions, I’ve got you covered, too:

This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

Here’s another example of William Gibson’s quote in action: “The street finds its own uses for things”. According to Irish Times foreign correspondent Mary Fitzgerald, this is a shot of Syrian rebels using an iPad to assist them in aiming a homemade mortar.

My guess is that he’s using Clinometer HD, which has a pretty good interface, and more importantly, is free.

iOS 7 is due to be released tomorrow, Wednesday, September 18th, and among the new features in this latest version of the iDevice operating system are new ringtones and alert/text tones, which I’ve recorded and posted below. For those of you who’ve become attached to the original iOS ringtones and alert/text tones, they’re also still there, in a submenu marked “Classic”.

And now, the tones…

Alert/Text Tones

Aurora

Bamboo

Chord

Circles

Complete

Hello

Input

Keys

Note

Popcorn

Pulse

Synth

Ringtones

Apex

Beacon

Bulletin

By the Seaside

Chimes

Circuit

Constellation

Cosmic

Hillside

Illuminate

Night Owl

Opening

Playtime

Radar

Radiate

Ripples

Sencha

Signal

Silk

Slow Rise

Stargaze

Summit

Twinkle

Uplift

Waves

The Toronto Mini Maker Faire takes place this Saturday, September 21st, and Sunday, September 22nd! Billing itself as “a family-friendly showcase of inventions, creativity and resourcefulness,” it’s a place where you can see cool stuff that you can build, tinker and experiment with, and learn from. It’s about the spirit of the “do-it-yourself” or DIY culture and its pursuits both traditional, such as woodworking, metalworking, carpentry, and clothesmaking, and technical, such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and computer programming. It’s 21st century “shop” meets “arts and crafts”!

As I said, it’s family-friendly, so if you’ve got kids — or just play doting uncle, aunt, or big brother or sister to some — take them on a fun trip where they’ll see cool stuff, learn how to make their own, and maybe even take up an interesting new hobby that will make them makers rather than just mere consumers.

Toronto Mini Maker Faire 2013 takes place on:

• Saturday, September 21st, from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Sunday, September 22nd, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

It takes place at Wychwood Barns (76 Wychwood Avenue, a short walk southwest of Bathurst and St. Clair).

Tickets are pretty cheap, as they’re being offered at a discount right now:

• For adults: $12.50 for Saturday, $12.50 for Sunday (down from $25.00 for each)
• For kids: $4.00 for Saturday, $4.00 for Sunday (down from $8.00 for each)
• For students, seniors, and unwaged: $7.50 for Saturday, $7.50 for Sunday (down from $15.00 for each)

This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.