Homemade RC Hovercraft

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:55:39 -0500

Check out my new RC hovercraft! I went through two versions over two nights ending in this bad boy. It is made only out of cardboard and basic RC electronics. The electronics include a DC motor, a speed controller, a servo an RC receiver, and a 350mAh LiPo battery. Features include three rear control surfaces, a trap door along the back for the battery, and another trap door for the receiver. Check out the two videos below to see it in action.

YouTube clips: Quick Test on Desk & Driving Around the Kitchen

BeoHawk Takes Flight!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:31:35 -0500

BeoHawk, a new quad-rotor helicopter that is being developed at USC's iLab, has taken its first flight. This flight was a major milestone for Aerial Robotics Team's goal of competing in the AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition. This year's competition focuses on retrieving a USB flash drive in high security office building. The robot will have to avoid security guards, security cameras, laser trip wires, and weight-sensitive floors while stealing the flash drive. The competition will be held at the University of Puerto Rico this coming August. Visit USC Robotics Society's website to learn more about this project.

Another view of the BeoHawk: USC ART Quad-Rotor Helicopter

YouTube clips: First RC Flight & Blowing Flash Drive Test

New Host for JAV Concepts

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:22:33 -0500

There comes a time in each man's life where he must grow up, and become a man. Often times, in modern society, this means moving out of his parent's house and finding a place of his own.

While I haven't found a place of my own yet, it has come time for me to move out of my parent's house. Besides packing up essential belongings and moving them to my home at USC, this means that I have had to turn off my pride and joy - the server that lived in the closet of my old bedroom. The websites that were hosted on this once-formidable server have been moved to a new account at Dreamhost. Besides javconcepts.com, this includes teamshad.org and a few other projects. They will live at Dreamhost until I have a place of my own in which I can set up the server again. Long live my old closet server. And here's too 100% up-time, issue-free hosting on my new Dreamhost account!

Top 25 Most Used iPhone Apps

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:47:06 -0500

This November marks one year since I've switched to the iPhone. Besides being an amazing phone, the iPhone has an App Store that offers thousands of new programs. With such a wide selection, many of the apps can be hit or miss. The following is a list of apps that have stood the test of time on my phone and find themselves frequently used.

Built-in Apps

5. Maps - Thanks to Google's Maps, I always know where I am in the world. Even though Maps doesn't have turn-by-turn directions (yet), it has helped me find my way back home many times.
4. iPod - 32GB of music, always in your pocket? Yes, please! And this iPod has Genius playlists, unlike my old 30GB iPod.
3. Calendar - With professors canceling class and so many random personal events, I would be a mess without Calendar. Syncing with my Mac makes it easy to keep this calendar up to date.
2. Phone - Did you know the iPhone can make phone calls too? I forget sometimes too. Amazing contact management and Visual Voicemail help to remind me why the iPhone is, at its a core, a solid phone.
1. Messages - During the school year, there is a good chance that either I am in class or the person I am trying to contact is in class. Phone calls do not work in these situations, which is why text messaging can be so much more effective. Plus, the inline chat-style display of messages makes using this app a breeze.

Social Apps

5. Wikipanion (free) - You can never go wrong with an encyclopedia in your pocket. I most often use this app to find a quick definition of something or to learn more about a topic that a professor has mentioned in class.
4. AP Mobile (free) - As my only link to real news, the Associated Press has an important job. AP Mobile pulls through with a customizable homepage and decent images to complement the articles.
3. Twitterrific (free) - Although I secretly despise Twitter and hope that it disappears in the near future, the service is still an entertaining alternative to a boring lecture. Twitterrific is one of the most beautiful apps on the iPhone and can follow links, pictures, and YouTube videos all from within the app.
2. Facebook (free) - The iPhone Facebook app is finally useful now that version 3 has been released. With most of the Facebook's basic features showing up in the app, I find myself needing to run to the real Facebook less often.
1. Google Reader (free) - Although Google Reader is only a web app with a link on my springboard, it is by far my most used social app. Google Reader provides an excellent RSS reading experience. Being able to star items and then view them on my laptop later makes using Reader a real pleasure.

Utility Apps

5. RemoteTap - This gem is a recent find. RemoteTap is a remote desktop client for Macs. Although there are cross-platform remote desktop clients available for the iPhone, RemoteTap boasts unique Mac-only features such as easy application management, Mac-style two-finger scroll, audio, and much more.
4. HP iPrint - HP iPrint Photo easily prints photos to a networked HP printer. My normal flow: take picture with iPhone 3GS, edit picture with Photogene, print picture on 4x3 paper with HP iPrint.
3. Remote (free) - Remote is product direct from Apple that enables control of a remote iTunes instance over the network. This app is great when I'm feeling super lazy and need to skip a song. Geek points for the built in iTunes DJ voting system that will probably never get used.
2. MotionX GPS Sport Lite (free) - MotionX GPS Sport Lite fills in where Maps leaves off. The feature list includes altitude, accuracy, latitude and longitude, speed, a compass, waypoints, and more! The best feature of MotionX GPS Sport Lite is that it's free! The consistent, feature-packed updates from the developer don't hurt either.
1. Photogene - The developers of Photogene won't win any style points for their UI, but Photogene is a hardy photo editor none the less. I only ever use this app to crop and to adjust the levels and exposure of a picture, but I'm sure it has other cool features too.

Casual Games

5. Dots Free (free) - This casual game is a rendition of the classic dots and lines game normally played on a piece of paper. Dots Free provides an easy way for you and a friend to kill some time.
4. Toobz-Free (free) - Tubez-Free requires skill and speed reach the next level. While I generally stray away from games that you have to restart from the beginning every time you loose, something keeps me coming back to this game.
3. Solebon Solitaire - Solebon, and its free counterpart Sol Free Solitaire, are each a great collection of solitaire games. If you're the person who likes to kill time with card games, then this is the app for you.
2. Sudoku (Free) (free) - In case you haven't heard of the game, Sudoku is a number-based puzzle game in which one tries to get the numbers 1-9 to appear only once in each column and row. There are numerous renditions of Sudoku in the App Store - this one works well, and is free.
1. Strategery - Strategery is a watered-down version of Risk. While definitely fun playing against computers, Strategery has proven to be a very fun game to play with peers.

In-depth Games

5. StarDefense - StarDefense is a 3D tower defense game. The goal of tower defense games is simple: stop the bad guys from reaching your stronghold by placing defense towers in their path. StarDefense executes this premise well with beautiful, 3D graphics.
4. Rolando 2 - Rolando was one of the first games high-quality games built solely for the iPhone. Building on its success is Rolando 2. And, thanks to a new pricing model, you can play the first chapter for free, and only pay for each additional chapter once you've completed the previous ones.
3. Rock Band - Straight from EA comes this console classic, complete with all four instruments available to play. The songs are good, and the timing system is pretty forgiving (which is a good thing on an iPhone.) Unfortunately you don't actually sing for the singing portion of the game...
2. Alive 4-ever - Alive 4-ever is a top-down, mission-based shooter. With tons of replay value and great graphics, I can easily recommend this game to anyone.
1. DanceDanceRevolution S - Just like Rock Band, but with better music and more challenging game play. It is a good thing the gameplay itself is solid, because there are a number of annoying bugs I'd like to point out, such as no pause button, no practice mode (like console versions), over-picky grading, and laggy gameplay (primarily on the iPhone 3G, not the 3GS.) But other than that, DDR S is my number one in-depth game choice.

Michael Jackson Memorial on Hulu

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:34:26 -0500

If you're at a computer right now, check out Hulu's live coverage of the Michael Jackson Memorial. The memorial service, taking place just down the road from USC at the Staples Center, will provide a public farewell for the King of Pop, with performances from Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey and appearances by Martin Luther King, Jr's children and Brooke Shields. The memorial is following a private funeral that was held this morning for friends and family at the Forest Lawn cemetery.

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