Interesting things on Kickstarter.

I don’t normally support things on Kickstarter as I’m scared that the project will fail and I’ll loose my money ( I have seen it happen,) however I friend on mine told me about the project and for the first time I jumped on board.

The project in question is the Robotics Construction Kit by Geeekclub https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geeekclub/geeek-club-diy-robotics-kit?ref=user_menu

The project was successfully funded, but there was an issue with the email (i had the wrong email in my kickstarter account.) With the help of my friend acting as middleman we managed to get the email sorted out and now I am 1220th inline to get my kit.

Complete early bird kit images borrowed from the kickstarter page.

I didn’t really need all the tools but, for once I had some spare pennies and decided to invest in the kit.

Feeling good about my investment (and board because this is written in the middle of the 2020 Covid19 Global Pandemic) I started to explore kickstarter to see what else is there.

Currently I have invested in the M5Stack range of products which includes 1515 aluminium extrusion https://m5stack.com/collections/m5-aluminium and the Totem Makers system of plastic extrusion https://totemmaker.net which are interesting and cross compatible due to the use of M3 Fittings used by both.

A selection of M5Stack and Totemmaker Products.

Work in progress turntable using Totem maker, M5Stack and 3D printed parts.

Going back onto the Kickstarter site I went looking for other project of interest. While searching I came across another successfully funded project called NanoBeam. https://www.nanobeam.us NanoBeam is a system of tiny aluminium extrusion items with a profile of only 5mm X 5mm

NanoBeam components (image borrowed from website.

Unlike Totemmaker and M5Stack, the parts are too small to use M3 fittings and instead use M1 size fittings. I can’t wait until I have some money to invest in a kit to see what I can do with the kit.

What else can I find?

Next is the Makeblock Platform

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397854503/makeblock-next-generation-of-construct-platform/description It is another construction system but I cant tell if the kickstarter was successful or not.

Anything Else?

Next up is MOSS https://www.modrobotics.com/moss/
MOSS is a magnetic screw less construction kit but looking at the prices’ is out of my budget range.

Multiplo https://www.modrobotics.com/moss/ Another Robot construction system

I am sure there are loads of others worth mentioning but this post has already taken me nearly an hour to write and my own products that need finishing.

If you found this post useful, please drop me a message to say thanks.

Buying a house Part 1

I am now in a position where I can afford to buy a house and so far my brain is already burn’t out!

We are buying the house from the local council under the “Right to buy” scheme. The council surveyor came out and did his survey and we got the price from them.

We then when grovelling to the mortgage adviser who has given us the green light on the mortgage and hired a solicitor to get things rolling.

Just need to wait for them to do their thing before we can go to the next step.

Buying a house in nothing like popping in the shops to pick up a bottle of drink. There are so many unknown cost that it is amazing that anyone is able to buy a house. You have

Bank charges,
Solicitor Charges,
Land Charges,
Mortgage charges (yup you have to pay for the house and the land it sits on separately!)
Tax’s,
Registration Charges,
Surveyor charges,
And more tax’s

So much for making it simple.

Kyosho Pureten Alpha (aka the one on the mag)

Years ago, a magazine came out with parts to build a nitro racer RC car. After all these years I finally got mine running. Still adjusting it to run properly but at least got the thing runing around the local park, and, unlike the electric seburo (also given on a mag) this thing runs on grass!

Enjoy a little video of it’s first startup since being assembled and dumped in the loft.

Flux 4 for web design?

What a piece of crap!

I installed Flux 4 because it was recommended as the best web designer and so far I am not impressed.

It has the most unintuitive interface I have ever came across ever since the early (98) version of MS frontpage !

You can’t just open an existing HTML page, you can’t just create a single html page, and when creating a new project, nothing happens.

What a pile of crap and what a waste of money. If you have any idea how to do web design don’t expect flux 4 to be easy.

Free Ultraviolet copy!!

Free Ultraviolet copy!!
This is a joke Sony, you say just to register for free account with UV then you go installing crap I don’t need or want this you decide that you want me use use faulty software to download the movie.

Again your a joke why don’t you piss off and stop pulling shit like this on your users!

I want a refund on all these (so called) free UV digital movie copies I brought!

Finished and converted my first short story.

Finished and converted my first short story.

I finished and converted my first short story to ebook format and it came in at about 2074 words and so far (only 2 people have commented so far but) its positive.

oooooooo, very good! Very creepy twist

well done, I’ve just sat and read this whilst enjoying a much needed cup of tea!! – clever you it made for a very good read..

Thank you, give me some satisfaction to know people do like it.

I have another short story on the go (target this time is 2200) and 8 more novel ideas (so far it looks more like they will end up as a novella ) to write. I hope all these ideas turn into stuff people will enjoy.

To end this post I will add a quote.

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. Somerset Maugham

Prometheus Bluray+Powerdvd=FAIL

 

Prometheus Bluray+Powerdvd=FAIL

Being a fan of Alien, I nabbed a copy of this on Bluray and boy am I unhappy with it due to having to rely of shitty stores like PC World I’m using Power DVD 11 (the latest available in there store a few months back).

I popped the disk into the tray and closed it. PDVD pops up a message to say I need an update so I click OK

“Download interrupted “

What the must be this crappy IE playing up I though to my self but no nether firefox or Chrome is able to get the update and they both report the same issue.

I hope my stand alone player doesn’t have this issue or else its make the disk worthless and will be returned to the shop.

Well there go my joy for tonight!

 

Ebay Enemy

Ebay Enemy

I have just added two members of Ebay to my grudge list!
The same 2 have been snapping up every faulty item of the same time even auto bidding and it’s getting to me.
Bunch of selfish twats that 3 you have taken why can’t you be satisfied and let someone else get one!

All I wan’t is one to play with!

R cannot be resolved to a variable

I have been trying to get into this android hardware development and like many I have been suffering from the
R cannot be resolved to a variable

After finding no luck with the solutions on the web I started pooking around the web.
In the end I found it was the following that caused the issue

All I did was delete
android:theme=”@android:style/Theme.Holo”

Run Project>Clean followed by refresh and that got rid of the R cannot be resolved to a variable issue.
Now I just need to solve the
The import android.text.SpannableStringBuilder is never used
Issue’s.

SYMA S032 FIERY DRAGON

While wondering around the Nottingham branch of Model zone I came across a repaired SYMA S032 Fiery Dragon. This three channel helicopter was on offer at £19.99 (instead of its full £39.99). I had always wanted a helicopter so I thought I would give it a go.

Mine was the 140mm rotor blade length and the controller ran on 4 AA’s instead of the 6 posted online.

Flight time is about 15 minutes after a 40 minutes charge and I found it far easier to fly outside in an open space.
Construction is based around a sturdy frame with a rigid front but with flexible blades and has so far survived about 30 crashes. Should the unfortunate happen and something gets broken, spare parts are easily available online but i’m yet to work out the difference between real and fake parts.
Being a repaired item I didn’t have any instructions and had to resort to using the internet for help.

Overall I’m having fun with this little Helicopter and recommend it.