Hey, look! another newbie!

[theGleep]

Hi, all. My name's Earl. Twenty-ish years as a computer programmer, and finding a shift of interest to a more solid form of creativity.

I have interests in music (an okay bass player), programming (of course), free energy and the world of what could be.

Unfortunately, I have nasty project ADD. I've come to grips with it, and my wife is patient about all of the things I'm gonna do "one of these days"

So I cope with it now by throwing my ideas out there and see if anyone runs with them. And bragging about how "I had that idea...glad someone else did, too"

So, keep an eye on the projects forum for (what I hope are) interesting ideas.

[aarobc]

Wellcome fellow ADD person man!
What are the current projects you're working on? How did you get into the hacker/maker scene?

[theGleep]

I've sort of always been there...but as a computer programmer (even my programming technique is more of a trial-and-error than a plan-it-out approach

A few years ago, I drove a VW Beetle and enjoyed working on it. Had fantasies of installing a heads-up-display against the windshield (I think I could actually do that now that *duino is available!)

Then about a month ago, a friend asked to help with an arduino project (which is turning into something I hope to make some money from, so I'm keeping it a bit close to the chest)...and I've got about 50 different ideas for it!

For example, I want to get a bluetooth module, pair it to my phone and put it in my car (not necessarily in that order...but I'll need the bluetooth first). Then whenever I get close to my car it will unlock itself. (I only have a lock in the drivers door - so to open the door for my wife, I have to walk around the car. It's annoying (hmmmm...while I'm at it, maybe I'll install an actuator so that I can open the trunk remotely, too. No external lock for the trunk...). Oh, and when I get too far away, it will lock the car and if it's hot enough outside, it will crack the windows for me.

I don't think that's one that would go anywhere on the market.

One day 10-ish years ago, I got tired of hearing peoples car alarms going off and had the idea to wire a cell phone to the alarm so it would call the owner instead of just blaring away and annoying the neighbors. I think that's an idea that's starting to get implemented. One of those that I knew I'd never get around to, so I blabbed it to everybody.

Here's another one - you know how AC works, right? (In case some random reader doesn't...AC - not swamp coolers - is a 'heat pump'. A semi-fluid gets circulated in a "warm" environment, where it gathers heat. Once it's gotten warm, it ends up at a compressor, where the heat gets "squeezed" out of it.) The wattage required to circulate and compress the ac fluid (whatever it's called) is generally more than 1/3 the wattage in heat that is compressed out. So, if someone can find/build a heat-to-electricity (or heat-to-compression, even) device that's 30% efficient, we have invented a perpetual-motion device. Add another 10% efficiency and you're powering your toaster from your air-conditioner.

Feel free to let your imaginations run wild with that. It's hot in Cali, right? Rolling blackouts, right? But what if everybody has these new super-efficiency ac units installed? The neighborhoods that have power can pick up the slack for those that don't. And the power source is localized to the house.

Then there's this extension to the idea: put a stainless steel cooking surface on the "heat" side, and radiator fins on the "cold" side...make both food grade. No fire it up in Darfor...suddenly villagers have something to cook on, which is sucking water out of the air (condensation on the cooling fins) and generating electricity.

I've got a bazillion others - I'm always looking for solutions to things. Even when they're not problems.

Whew...hey, thanks for reading all that!

(10-09-2012 06:40 PM)aarobc Wrote:  Wellcome fellow ADD person man!
What are the current projects you're working on? How did you get into the hacker/maker scene?