LazyAutomation.com

You may have read my previous post on my whole house audio system.

I have been very happy with it over the years, but lately, the ability to EASILY choose which music I wanted to listen to AND be able to listen to it anywhere I want has been a struggling cause. My system has been built around my home server (that runs Homeseer for home automation) with a Delta M410 audio card that provides me with 5 sets of RCA stereo plugs. Four of these are currently in use and the connect to amplifiers that proved sound for each zone in my house (Living Room / Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Family Room and Backyard). JRiver Media Center is a great app for supporting multiple sound cards (which is a HUGE issue for Windows Media Player, for purposes of multi-zone playback). What that basically means is that the Delta M410 looks like 5 independent sound cards inside your computer. JRiver can then output whatever you are playing to any one of these outputs (independently as well).

So this setup sounds really cool, except you need a front-end to control it. What’s so great about this if every time you want play music you have to walk up to a computer and start using a mouse? The front-end gives you the ability to control everything remotely with a clean interface. I was using NetRemote, but I never seemed to get it to easily do what I wanted. Admittedly, I never had the focus to really learn how to program within NetRemote, but I think if the interface was more intuitive and there were more out of the box templates included, I might have done more with it.

Which leads me to this past weekend’s find. I will say that I browse a lot of the “Gadget” blogs and hadn’t run across it (looks like its been around since August, 2010) . Gizmo installs on your Android device (phone or tablet) and syncs with Jriver. Once connected, your Android has access to your entire media collection (this also includes photos and videos). Open Gizmo, select where you want to listen to music (including “here” which streams it right to your handheld device – plug in your headphones and head out) and hit play. You have access to your playlists and tagging is supported.

A friend came over the house this weekend, and I handed him the tablet and opened Gizmo and handed it to him. Within 5 minutes he was browsing my collection and playing music in the house. The ability to have someone pick up the device and easily understand how to work it rates very high for me.

Although I have wiring throughout my house (I’m constantly pulling wires through my house) with multiple amplifiers, I could easily see someone taking an old laptop, installing JRiver on it and then connecting it to their living room receiver. That would be your first zone. As your system grew, you could add USB audio cards (note that if you add more than one of these, you may not be able to fit them side by side in your laptop) and connect them to additional amplifiers (either by running and hiding a wire) or wirelessly.

Project Cost (one zone)

Old laptop – $0
Jriver Media Center – $50
Android Phone – $0
1/8″ to stereo cable – $2.5
Gizmo App – free, available in Android Market
Home Entertainment System – $0

Additional zones

USB Sound Card – $10
plus wiring – $depends (this can be tough if you don’t know how to pull wires through your house)
-or-
Wireless Sender/Receiver – $100 (easier solution)
Some audio device to play the music (this could be an old receiver with speakers, or maybe you have another receiver in your family room) – $0

***

What’s great is that you can download JRiver for free and try it out for 30 days to decide whether or not you like it. You could have it up and running in your living room on a Sunday afternoon. By attaching your laptop to your receiver’s auxiliary input (or a CD input, since you will never need that CD player again – your media collection is stored on your laptop’s hard drive) the music on the laptop will play through speakers in your room. The most current version of JRiver gives you the ability to control the volume as well.

Try it out. It’s pretty easy. And it’s real cool.

Links:

• JRiver Media Center
• Gizmo
• Homeseer

For those of you that struggle from time to time like I do, trying to figure out the band or singer on the radio, you need to have SoundHound installed on your Android Phone (I believe there are iPhone versions as well). I used to use Shazam to identify bands (I was in the beta phase), but when I changed phones, I was unable to move the license. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled with that, and it made me stop using the app as much as I previously was (the free version only allows a minimum number of lookups per month). Shazam is essentially the same program as SoundHound, but you need to pay for it (I’m sure someone out there would argue that they’re different). Let’s face it, free is good, especially when it is a great little program.

Simply open the app, hold the phone somewhat near a phone (I say somewhat because I was clothes shopping one day and wanted to know who was playing through their PA system. I opened SoundHound and walked near a ceiling speaker. A few seconds later, I knew the singer and song.

It’s a pretty cool app, and it’s free. Check it out – you can find in the Android Market Place.

So I learned a week ago that dropping your HTC Evo on the pavement from about three feet will undoubtedly result in a cracked screen. Fortunately, I have insurance on the phone and within 24 hours a new one was waiting for me on my doorstep. I was also lucky in the sense that the cracked phone was still (somewhat) operational.

After taking an inventory of all my Android apps, I realized that by migrating all my data to the new phone, I would be losing all my text messages. You may or may not care about this, but I have many messages with phone numbers and notes that I simply do not want to lose.

I found SMS Backup & Restore (http://android.riteshsahu.com/apps/sms-backup-restore) – works like a charm. Be sure to read their Related Downloads section (http://tinyurl.com/27dyj2k), as you will need a css sheet to place in the folder with the XML file that is created. Once you do, you can open all the messages in your browser and easily read them.

Great program to fix what may or may not be an issue when transferring to a new phone.

Ok, I’m on to my latest “hobby”.

Smoking Food

I have been reading about (and enjoying) smoked foods throughout my life. I’ve even tried smoking in my Weber grill.

How do I do this with as little effort possible and achieve a decent to better than decent piece of smoked meat?

It began with a Google search of Food Smoking Forums. There are actually a lot of forums on the web of people that have a passion for smoked foods and love bestowing their knowledge upon newbie’s such as myself. The forum I found that seemed to be very active with a good community of “food smokers” was Smoking Meat Forums (SMF).

Browsing SMF led me to find a 5 day Food Smoking “eCourse”. Jeff Phillips (aka @tulsajeff) Jeff will send you a 5 day course that really gives you the basics. You receive this course in the form of daily chapters that are e-mailed to you. Of course, with each chapter comes a bunch of links to things offered by Jeff, such as his rubs, but overall the chapters are well written with an emphasis on providing you with the basics. You can sign up for his course here (I have no affiliation with this site, by the way).

http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse.html

*** Of course you will use your subscription e-mail address and not your personal e-mail addy when signing up. ***

I was able to stop at my local Lowes and pick up the new smoker. I decided to go with the Master Forge Double Door Liquid Propane Gas Smoker for $150. It seemed to have some pretty good reviews both on Lowes’ website as well as on SMF.

Between what I learned from the eCourse and some quick browsing on the Smoking Meat Forums I was able to knock out an unbelievable rack of ribs on my first time out.

A couple of things I learned:

• Yellow mustard is your friend – Use yellow mustard to help bond your spice rub to your meat. Apparently it will burn off during cooking, leaving just the flavor of the spice. I did it and it worked for me.
• Search for “dry rub” on AllRecipes - You will find tons of recipes to choose from. Pick anyone. If you have a recipe that you recommend please post it in the comments section.
• Salt in your rub can be bad - Too much salt can cause excessive drying. Think of this when you are searching for a rub.
• Go for the chunk wood –  When buying wood to smoke, get chunks and not chips. You should see both at the store when buying it. When I used chips I wound up with flames pretty quickly. The chunk smoked longer and never caught fire. If I were going to use chips I would probably soak them first.
• Use the 2-2-1 method – it is discussed in the eCourse for baby back ribs (which should be your first smoke, in my opinion). Basically means smoke for 2 hours, cover with tin foil and cook for 2 hours more, and then remove from foil and cook for 1 hour. An idiot can follow this.
• Keep the temperature consistent – this is why I liked the propane smoker as opposed to a charcoal smoker. It seems like the charcoal/wood smoker is more work. I need the lazy approach, hence the propane. I recognize that the purist will may argue that I am not authentically smoking meat. So be it. At the end of the day I have something that tastes pretty damn good. Perhaps if I continue to delve deeper into this “hobby” I shall “graduate” to a more traditional smoker, but I am happy with this for now.
• Smoking times – You only really need to provide smoke for the first hour or so. After that it is just slow cooking.

I recognize that I have A LOT more to learn, but I have gotten some of the basics down. I think I’ve given you a good starting point if you are looking to jump into this “sport”. There are some “mods” you can do to this smoker (as with most smokers), such as installing an oven gasket around the door to help prevent smoke from escaping from anywhere but the smoke stack (smoke DOES leak).

Here is a picture of my first rack of ribs. The picture was taken with my Evo – unfortunately, it didn’t come out as clear as I would have liked it. The ribs were gone in 10 minutes. They were fantastic.

This is specific to NYC; depending on your city, you may or may not have this option.

So I got an e-mail the other day from the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority, NYC’s transit division) offering their new EasyPay MetroCard. It doesn’t get any easier than this. If you have to commute regularly (or even not that often, as is the case with me) I can not understand why anyone would not want one of these cards. I generally do not commute in NYC, so when I do, I am always wondering if I have enough money on my MetroCard. The EasyPay card will allow you to view your balance online and add money if you need to. Better yet, if you lose it, you don’t lose the remaining money on the card.

http://www.mta.info/metrocard/EasyPayXpress.htm

Tell me why you wouldn’t want one? Unless, of course, you are one of those people that don’t use EZ-Pass. If you are lazy like me, having a commuter card that can be re-filled online is lazy 101.

Does your city offer something like this? Do you take advantage of it?

I have an HTC Aria phone on AT&T. It’s a good little device. Its running Android 2.2 which I downloaded from HTC, it originally came with Android 2.1. I have some complaints about the crap-ware and bloat-ware that AT&T puts on the device but overall I like it, AT&T made an attempt to make the device better by recently pushing an Over the Air update that would allow non-market apps (sideloading). Most non-AT&T Android devices already allow this feature. This update would allow me to install Amazon app store as well as other non android market apps.
After a month I tried to find out why I still hadn’t received this update. Looking online some people had received it.

I hate to call customer service because the representative are usually ignorant. So I used the web chat feature on the AT&T website. The rep was understanding and seemed to look into my problem and eventually that my device wasn’t listed in the system they use to push the updates and that I would have to call customer service to have them add it.

CS Rep#1
Attempted to explain my situation to the CS rep. He got hung-up on the previous web chat and I had to tell them no less than 15 times that I wasn’t having a problem with web chat on my device and that my problem was that I still haven’t received the OTA update from at&t to enable sideloading of non market apps. I might as well have been speaking German to this guy. I got frustrated and hung up while he had me on hold.

CS Rep#2
Explained my situation to this rep I did not mention my web chat or previous call so I wouldn’t have the problem I had before… lol. Well this one told me it was a device problem directed me to the htc support site to download the update. I attempted to reason with her to no avail. I asked for a supervisor and was told they will say the same thing. I was given the url to the htc website and a hardware replacement phone number and the kiss-off.

So in conclusion I would never buy another device from AT&T STAY AWAY! The CSRs are retarded!

Remember Everything.

Pretty bold slogan, right?

Head to Evernote, and that’s what you will see. Evernote offers its users the ability to save anything that they want. If you can type it, scan it, say it or photograph it you can store it in Evernote note. Even better, once it’s in there, you can able to file it in a notebook, categorize it and tag it and ultimately search for it. You can then access that information from anywhere with an internet connection. PC’s, Blackberrys, Android phones, iPhones… it doesn’t matter.

Capture Anything – Organize It – Find Anything Fast

Throughout the year, receipts for donations, whether they are physical receipts or confirmation e-mails are bound to get lost. We put them on our dresser, they sit there for months, and then we toss them in an envelope, never to be found again. Not with Evernote. If it is a physical receipt, I scan it into Evernote and then shred it. I then file it in my “Taxes” notebook and tag it with “2011″. When it’s time to do my taxes, I open the Taxes folder and search for “2011″ and everything is there. Oh, and if it’s an e-mail confirmation for a donation, I simply forward it to Evernote using the e-mail address they provide me. Add @taxes #2011 (notebooks and tags) to the subject, and it’s filed accordingly.

Another great feature is optical character recognition (“OCR”). If you scan a document into Evernote, you will be able to search the document itself (provided the type is legible to begin with). Perfect example – when I originally set up Evernote I had a ton of printed recipes that I had accumulated over the years. They were in various unorganized manila folders. Appetizers, Thanksgiving, Italian – I think you get the point. After scanning them into Evernote, I was able to easily search them. Better yet, the notes that I may have made in the margins of the original recipes are still there to view as well. And get this – I installed the Evernote app on the Android g Tablet that I picked up a few weeks ago. I can now search for the recipe and then sit it on the counter in the kitchen. It may not be the most manly example, but I think you get the point *grin*.

Here are some other notebooks I have set up on my Evernote to give you an idea of what you can do:

• Health - all health related stuff that comes in the mail that I haven’t been able to convert to electronic delivery
• Home Inventory - take pictures of big ticket items in your house and store it on Evernote. You can take the pictures with your smartphone and immediately upload them
• Automobile - receipts from car repairs and maintenance
• Home Improvement - receipts and manuals for appliances, etc. Find the manual online and send it to Evernote. You’ll never have to search a manufacturers website again, and you’ll always have the correct manual at hand
• Wedding - when my wife and I were planning our wedding, I used Evernote to store menus and estimates from the different restaurants that we spoke with
• Bills - this is a big one, but whenever a bill comes in that I can’t convert to paperless delivery, I immediately scan it into Evernote and shred it. It helps to keep the paper intake low in the house. Trust me, things still get out of hand with paper laying around the house, but it’s better than it was before.

Well, that’s my story and I am sticking to it. Evernote has a free and a premium version. The free version limits your data transfer rate per month, and doesn’t allow for snaring of notebooks (a very cool feature). $45 gets you a year’s worth of their Premium version, which allow you to upload anyfile, up to 1 gigabyte per month (the free version only allows 60GB). Try the free version. I think you’ll like it. It took me about a month to realize I needed to upgrade.

Do you have Evernote? What are you storing with it? Or, what application do you use for archiving?

UPDATE: I fount a neat little 60 second elevator pitch for Evernote – You can check it out >here<.

So I have had an Android phone before… I originally owned the Samsung Moment which, although it was a cool phone, it wasn’t all that spectacular in my opinion.

A few weeks ago I renewed my contract and chose the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint.

This thing is a beast. I guess it doesn’t hurt that when I ugraded, my wife also upgraded on Verizon from a Blackberry to an Android.  She has been wanting to move to the Android platform for some time. Since she is with Verizon, it was the Droid Incredible for her. The two of us have gone nuts with the phones. In addition to the games (apparently one cannot own an Android phone without a copy of Angry Birds installed), we are trying to incorporate the phones more into our daily lives.

Our Groceries

I keep lists. Lots of lists. So does my wife. Generally, I find myself e-mailing my wife things like “can you add eggs to the list?”. Makes no sense and wastes time. Even more useless is having to call, text or e-mail your significant other to find out what you need more of when you are stopping at the grocery store. I did some searching and found “Our Groceries“. The problem I was finding was that many of the apps that people use are share-able, but only through e-mail (drawback – I e-mail you my list when I am done, but what if you now add more items to it?) . I’m sure you see that trying to keep an updated list between two people could become very cumbersome. With “Our Groceries“, we can maintain a common list that is maintained literally on the fly. After installing and setting up on both my phone and my wife’s, we were in business. As I would add items on my phone they would update on hers within seconds. If I delete them, they disappear off of hers nearly immediately.

Voila!

This program does it. Very cool indeed. And verrrry pro-Lazy…

Suggestion for the developer: add a bar code reader to the app. When I use a can of something I can just scan the barcode before I throw it in the recycling bin to let me know I need more – now THAT would be extremely pro-Lazy!

One last note – you don’t have to both have Android phones to enjoy this app – it also works on iPhone and Blackberry. I am assuming the functionality will be the same on the iPhone – not sure about the Blackberry.

Enjoy!

What apps do you use to maintain your lists?

So my weight loss is coming along. I am really not paying too much attention to it – I would say I am paying more attention my workouts more than anything.

In the spirit of being lazy, incorporating running can be tough. But you do need exercise regardless, and for me – well running does it. 30 minutes on a treadmill burns about 430 calories, which is crucial (again, for me) to weight loss. I also feel for the time invested, you get the best results. The problem is still trying to keep your mind wrapped around doing something that can be extremely boring.

So what are my gadgets?

iPod – Mandatory. Music makes the time fly. Think about it – 30 minutes is about 7 songs.

Garmin 205 GPS Watch – Forget trying to map out where you would like to run on Google. Turn it on, wait for it to find satellites, and start running. The 205 keeps track of the time, distance and speed for you. It also keeps your runs extremely efficient. When you return home, connect it to your laptop using a USB plug and you can download the data from your run. I was able to pick up the 205 through Amazon for less than $100 during a gold box sale. It is a bit bulky compared to the newer models but does the job just fine.

DailyBurn – This is a website that is great for tracking workouts and current body weight. If you want to get crazy, it will also track your diet for you. I suggest you track your calorie intake for a week – you will be surprised at what you will learn.

BodyMedia Fit – This little device is awesome. You place it on your left or right tricep and it begins collecting crazy amounts of data regarding your activities. In the end, it is able to (with a margin of error of about 10%) provide you with great data that is crucial to weight loss. I can see total calories burned, total hours slept, steps taken throughout the day and a graph of my calories burned on a minute to minute basis. Compare the data to your calories consumed, and you will know for certain whether or not you are achieving your goals. It provides a fun way to track everything as well.

What gadgets help you exercise?

So they say that to truly commit to something, one should announce it to the world, in order to be held accountable.

I want (make that I need) to weigh 190 pounds.

I also need to accomplish this in the laziest way possible…

Follow my progress at DailyBurn by clicking here or by clicking on the big button to the right. —->

You can also track my running there as I train for the New York City Marathon.