Category Archives: Personal

The cost of keeping your cool

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Andrew

As the UK basks in record temperatures (“Scorched Britain”, “Havoc on hottest day for a DECADE”, “ travel disruptions and health fears as temperatures soar”, “Record-Baker”, “Heatwave UK”), I’ve been running the air conditioner at home rather more frequently in a … Continue reading →

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Super markets

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Andrew

I’ve been using our local Lidl recently, because their policy of regularly baking throughout the day means I can pick up fresh croissants and pains au chocolat whenever I go, whereas the local Tesco, Sainsburys, and Waitrose have usually run … Continue reading →

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Netflix versus Blu-Ray

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Andrew

Which is better … streaming content or buying shiny plastic discs? It’s surely an unfair comparison because the constraints of a service like Netflix (delivering uninterrupted video over a range of network qualities) are very different to delivering content on physical … Continue reading →

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Home Automation: buttons on the desktop

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Andrew

I want a button on my Mac’s desktop to turn on or turn off the lights I have controlled by the Raspberry Pi. Here’s what I’ve got so far. First, I wrote a script on the Pi to turn the … Continue reading →

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Multi media

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Andrew

My movie collection is a bit of a mishmash, a bunch of different file formats all sat on a Drobo. In the early days I would create AVI, MKV or MP4 rips of my DVDs depending on how and where … Continue reading →

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Pi three ways

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Andrew

My name’s Andrew and I have a Raspberry Pi addiction. I’ve played with a lot of IT kit over the years, and set up a number of servers for a variety of reasons. File servers, media servers, web servers; from … Continue reading →

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Fitbug

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Andrew

I was encouraged to purchase a Fitbug as part of the healthcare scheme I’m a member of. The more I walk around, the more benefits I get from the scheme. Of course this makes sense – a fitter, healthier, more … Continue reading →

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Books 8

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Andrew

A year and a month since the last list. I need to update this more often. Here’s what I’ve been reading. Disclosure: links are affiliate, so if you buy through them I in theory get some money (although I haven’t … Continue reading →

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Amazon, Kindle, reading lists

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Andrew

I’m preparing a blog post with a list of the latest books I’ve read, and in the process, I’ve been reminded of the awful Amazon experience. For starters, I’d like to have better integration between my Kindle, goodreads, calibre, and this blog, … Continue reading →

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Your mileage may vary

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Andrew

Whilst going over my MOT certificates last night, I noticed they include odometer readings. Time for some chart pr0n! I acquired this car at the start of 2007. It seems my average mileage per year has been pretty constant, even … Continue reading →

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