plip blog http://plip.com/blog A blog on plip! Sun, 13 May 2012 21:25:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 More Bee Pictures http://plip.com/blog/more-bee-pictures/ http://plip.com/blog/more-bee-pictures/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 21:25:58 +0000 mrjones http://plip.com/blog/?p=1032 I'm not up on my bees, but this was a big bee! He was very docile (…dying?) and in my in-laws yard. Easy target for the camera! Same yard as the baby spiders from way back when! Just two pics:

SONY DSC SONY DSC ]]> http://plip.com/blog/more-bee-pictures/feed/ 0 How I Make Coffee http://plip.com/blog/how-i-make-coffee/ http://plip.com/blog/how-i-make-coffee/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:54:01 +0000 mrjones http://plip.com/blog/?p=1010 Steps:

  1. Start kettle on the stove
  2. Measure 24 grams of beans
  3. Grind beans in bur grinder
  4. Wet Chemex filter
  5. Put grinds in Chemex filter
  6. Pour 30-60 grams by weight of water to bloom grinds
  7. Wait
  8. Poor a total of 240 grams by weight of water
  9. Enjoy

Notes:

  • I use a scale
  • My target is 10 to 1, water to grinds. For 24 grams, I would use 240 grams of water, by weight.
  • My grinder is Kitchen Aid KPCG100OB Bur Grinder
  • I use a small Chemex
  • I get my beans from the wonderful Bica Coffee House
  • The grind is set to be as course or fine as Bica grinds their poor overs
  • I drink my coffee black
  • I try to use beans that were roasted less than 3 weeks ago
  • I store my beans in a hermetically sealed, light proof jar
  • 8oz fluid ounces of coffee per serving is just right for me!
SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC ]]> http://plip.com/blog/how-i-make-coffee/feed/ 1 7" Android Tablet Spec Comparison http://plip.com/blog/7-android-tablet-spec-comparison/ http://plip.com/blog/7-android-tablet-spec-comparison/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:16:58 +0000 mrjones http://plip.com/blog/?p=949 For a long time I've always thought that tablets are not of much use until you reach the 3rd or 4th use case. You know, you have a laptop on which you can have 20 tabs of browsers open, have a full blown IDE to code in or even run a local instance of your dev environment. The second use case is your smart phone for when you're on the go, don't want any bulk or weight but still want to surf and check emails and listen to music. It's not until you've got all those covered that you'll consider spending hundreds of dollars on a 3rd device (or 4th if you have a desktop).

The wife is considering having a bigger screen than her Incredible to watch Netflix and read blog posts, news and library books on. This will likely spill over into reading kids books for our kids Emmett and Violet as well. Below are the tablets we're considering. Each item has a product, review and purchase link in the first row. The second row is the presence or lack of a camera. While researching this piece I found Lisa G's 7" Tablet Smackdown on Mobile Tech and John P. Falcone's Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad on CNET reviews quite helpful. Also, those that wanna blow past the 7" screen (to 7.7") and $400 price should consider waiting for the Samsung Tab 7.7 ($600-$800 at this writing). Of course that depends on where you fall in regards to my and Moore's law. Finally, if you're looking for cellular connectivity, consider the T-Mobile Springboard .


Samsung Tab 7+ $399
HTC Flyer $299
IdeaPad A1 $229
Kindle Fire $199
Nook Tablet $249
Product – Review – $ Product – Review – $ Product – Review – $ Product – Review – $ Product – Review – $
Front and Back Front and Back Front None None
1024 x 600 1024 x 600 1024 x 600 1024 x 600 1024 x 600
7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45" 7.7" x 4.8" x 0.52" 7.68" x 0.46" x 4.90" 7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45" 8.1" x 5" x 0.48"
12.1 oz 14.82 oz 14.08 oz 14.56 oz 14.08 oz
dual-core 1.2GHz 1.5GHz 1.0GHz dual-core 1.0GHz dual-core 1.0GHz
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS WiFi WiFi
16GB Int & MicroSD 16GB Int & MicroSD 16GB Int & MicroSD 8GB Internal 8GB Int & MicroSD
Android 3.2 Android 2.3.3 Android 2.3 Android 2.3 Android 2.3

Update: I've added lil' thumbnails for each tablet.