The future of computers

Since my old laptop started digging its own grave last month (it’s already 6 years old) I decided it was time to start looking for a new computer. My prerequisites are the typical: the best performance, the best design and the lowest price, just like any other rational person in this world. Obviously I got disappointed pretty fast. One day I had an introspective time and started to ask myself questions like “What do I exactly need?”. That train of thoughts led me to the following conclusion: I need the power of a desktop PC and the portability of a laptop. How could this work?

After some research, I came up with the solution: A light, nice and cheap laptop, thin like a phone, wich has almost no hardware inside. It is only an interface. A screen, keyboard and mouse all mounted on an aluminium case, and a small board wich powers it up. The computation would be done somewhere else: hard drives, microprocessor, memory… all of it is in another place. Maybe you have realised till now that I am talking about a client-server system.

Cloud Computing

There are several ways to implement a client-server system. One idea could be, for example, pay a monthly fee and get a “virtual computer” service from a company. Other option could be to have the server home, just the typical desktop PC, and connect to it via Internet. The client would have a lot of advantages in comparison with a normal laptop: longer battery life, lighter, no heat, the performance would be better than any other laptop in the market, it would be easily expandable… and it would be cheap.

All of this sounds too good to be true. It would work perfectly if you have your server home and you connect to it directly. What about when you are away? Weeell… that’s why I called this post “the future of computers”. Reading some articles about it (here and here) made me realise that Internet is just not fast enough, at least not everywhere. But still, maybe it’s worth trying.

 

Video streaming dongles, are they worth it?

I recently took advantage of a good deal I found in Kaufland (some sort of Wal-Mart) and I bought a TV. At home we have only our laptops and the size of the screen is not the best when you want to watch your series or films while you are having dinner. At the beginning I was plugging the laptop using a cable, having to leave the laptop next to the TV and standing up every time I wanted to use the laptop. Of course I got tired of it, and I started to look for a better way to do it, stumbling upon the wireless HDMI dongles. These are the ones I found:

 

Google Chromecast: Of course, google sticking the nose everywhere they can.

Pros: Works fluid, good price (35€ in Amazon Europe)

Cons: It doesn’t stream your desktop, only some applications through google Chrome… disappointing

 

Ezcast aka Chinese bullshit: There are several Chinese-quality dongles that use the Ezcast technology. (Tronsmart, Ezchrome,…)

Pros: Very cheap (less than 30€), supports screen mirroring.

Cons: It works slow. You cannot watch videos when you are mirroring your screen, they work really bad. It has some delay while you mirror the screen, what makes it not suitable for things like gaming. The configuration is a bit complicated (install Ez app, connect to it, configure it etc.)

 

Miracast dongle: Miracast technology uses WiFi in a similar way like Bluetooth. There are TVs that use this technology, so you wouldn’t need to buy any dongle.

Pros: Easy to connect to, good image quality, supports screen mirroring.

Cons: Your laptop/phone must support Miracast technology. The delay makes it unsuitable to play. Price over 50 euros.

 

There are others like Airplay (only for Apple users, group in wich I don’t include myself), but the truth is: the perfect system does not exist yet. There are some encouraging projects like Airtame (over 1oo euros), wich will start to be delivered in January 2015. Take a look at the comparison they have made:

Will the Airtame bring light into the world of video streaming? I’m afraid we have to wait.

Upgrading my home with Arduino

Remember those movies where they clap their hands to turn on and off the light? Automation has always awaken my curiosity, and Home automation is not an exception. Most people could think that it implies rebuilding your home and spending a lot of money, but with some programming knowledge it is possible to make nice things ourselves!

Talking about hardware: I got myself an Arduino Uno board to experiment. Arduino is a pretty cool open source project that provides you with everything you could need to automate your home: microcontroller, sensors, actuators,.. and a friendly programming interface. You can check out their homepage and search in google or YouTube projects other people have already done. One of my favourites is the mixing robot, an automaton that prepares cocktails 😀 Take a look at the video.

For my first project I want to build an alarm (security is important, Germany is not a safe place 😀 😀 joking). It must work as following: a switch will trigger when someone opens the door. After that, a hidden button must be pushed to deactivate the alarm. If the button is not pushed then a buzzer will be activated (as a deterrent) and a message will be sent to my phone via Internet (the Arduino has an ethernet connection). For the task I bought the following hardware:

– Arduino Uno Rev3 with an ethernet Shield

– End Switch

– Button

– Buzzer

Here a pic of everything:

The next step will be to connect everything and programme it. What else could I do with it? Share your ideas!

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello everyone! I hope you have as much fun reading this blog as I have making it 🙂

In my first post I would like to introduce myself. My name is Alex, I was born in 1988 in Alicante, an East coast city in Spain. Living 50 meters away from the sea made me establish a strong relationship with it; the smell of the sea breeze, salty and fresh, will always remind me of home.

Since I was little I have a passion for video games. I have had several video game consoles, starting with a Sega Master System. I can still remember those afternoons coming back from the school and playing games like Alex Kidd or Sonic the Hedgehog. When I had my first PC I was already in secondary school and that was the time when my curiosity for technology started.

Time passed and I graduated as industrial engineer. Actually I never wanted to be an engineer. I didn’t like maths in high school. I wanted to study something related with people, like nutrition. Well, let’s say that neither my teachers nor my father had the same point of view I had, so I ended up studying engineering. Looking back at that time, I must say it was the right decision. It was my thing.

Buuut, how we say in Spanish, Alicante is not the Mecca of engineering. Actually is preetty far from that. So, the time arrived to take the backpack and find my own path. I moved to Germany in 2011 and I started a new life here. I married a wonderful woman and found a job as a PLC programmer.

Living abroad gives you the opportunity to meet a lot of people. You get out of your bubble and discover that many things are not how you think they are. It enlarges your horizon, enriches you as a person. In my case it gave me the push I needed to start my own projects.

And now I want to share those ideas and interests I have. I don’t want this to be “my blog”, I want it to be open, to be discussed, to let everyone give their own view and also express their own ideas, and we could use all of this as an inspiration for us all!