Jim Becher - Surfing the Web

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Blog posts and ramblings to chronicle my adventures in life. This may contain technology, family, business or products that I enjoy.

About

Hi, I’m Jim. A father, husband, business owner, entrepreneur, and a person who loves technology. I semi-often update this blog.

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me with questions, contact, business ideas, projects or just a random Hello. Located in the Mitten state.

Recent Posts


Packable and portable coffee

UPDATE: I was able to purchase Tea Fillers from Teavana in our local mall My current employer does not provide coffee. So I find myself bringing coffee to work. This is not a bad thing, only that I tend to forget my Thermos at work.  They do offer coffee to…

Phone “phantom ringing”–changing pockets

UPDATE A recent story on LifeHacker discusses the medical term for this issue http://lifehacker.com/5913334/phantom-cell-phone-vibration-is-a-sign-you-need-a-tech-break I noticed a few months ago an interesting phenomenon.  I would feel my iPhone vibrate when I was not carrying it.  This strange sensation has happened a few time in the past, but last month it…

QR codes

I found a great site for creating custom QR codes.  I had a project a few years back where I had to generate QR codes, so I wrote my own engine.  Then I used the .net framework to impose images on top of QR codes using GDI+.  The qrhacker.com site…

Ghost in the Wires–Kevin Mitnick

This has been a great book so far.  Not only is Kevin a very sociable person but he is a very entertaining writer.  His stories are amazing.  To think that he left some out. http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/dp/0316037702 Watch is interview with Snubs on Hak5. “23 Questions with Kevin Mitnick” http://hak5.org/episodes/hak5-1017

Indoor Cycling–Bar Racing

I saw this article from a group that I am a member of.  What a great idea.  Some old roller equipment and a low-tech speedometer.   What a great event to go to, I would love to watch this in a local GR environment. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/nyregion/cyclists-race-in-bars-going-nowhere-fast-spokes.html?_r=3 Here is a video of one…

New Gadget

I was watching some CES news and ran across a new gadget that I would like to purchase. It looks like I’ll have to wait till March for this one.  Only $50 dollars.   It is called feedair. http://www.feedair.com I have tried in the past to use the Ambient orb to…

Pfsense – SARG (squid reports) setup

UPDATE – Since writing this pfsense has added a package install of SARG.   I recommend an updated tutorial of this post –  SARG and Pfsense V2. Here is a tutorial on how to setup SARG (http://sarg.sourceforge.net/) – Squid Analysis Report Generator on Pfsense.   If you don’t know what any of…

Zoneminder and video camera

I recently purchased an ip camera for the house.  I have wanted one for a long time and finally made a purchase.   The reason for the camera was to monitor the kids and also the garage.  The camera I purchased was a dlink DCS-930L.   It was on sale at Best…

New home firewall / router

I have been having some performance issues with my home firewall.  Last year I upgraded my networking to use a Cisco e3000 running tomato firmware.  This configuration worked well when I paired it with an airport extreme to be the dedicated wireless access point.   I had moved to a dedicated…