Review of HexBug Inchworm by Micro Robotic Creatures

My daughter lost a baby tooth this weekend.  I don’t like lying to my kids, do I don’t lie and tell them there is a tooth fairy.  Instead, I tell my daughter that every time she loses a baby tooth, I will take her out to get a treat.  So after she lost a tooth, I took her to buy a small robot, which she wanted.  I also took her to Wendy’s to get a chocolate Frosty.  She seems to like it much better to have special time with her daddy instead of lying about a tooth fairy leaving Federal Reserve notes under her pillow.  Who came up with that idea, anyway?  Telling the truth is more fun for my daughter and me.

Review

In the video below, my daughter and I check out a small robot we bought from Walmart:  HexBug Inchworm.  The cat watches from her elevated seat.

The HexBug robot is battery powered with AG13/LR44 batteries, included.  It will be a pain when the batteries die and need to be replaced, since they are an odd size battery and kind of expensive.  I think they are $3 per pack for replacement batteries.

My daughter really likes the remote control, which also uses AG13/LR44 batteries.

The package says this robot is for people ages 8+, but my daughter is 6 and likes it just fine.

VIDEO

Is it a robot?  Of course, because it has a remote!  (According to Hannah, that is.)  It does not have free will, does it?  We have free will, therefor we are not robots.  It’s the way we were designed.

Conclusion

There is no tooth fairy.  Satan probably laughs at us because of the tooth fairy lie, because when we parents lie to our kids, it makes it harder for kids to trust us when we are telling the truth.  If you believed in the tooth fairy when you were a kid, then you might not believe me when I tell you that Jesus is coming back.  But I don’t lie about the tooth fairy, so I hope you trust me.  I encourage you to stay faithful to his ways.  Jesus taught us how to live with love, peace, and truth.  The world did not listen.  Regardless of what the world thinks, he is keeping his promise and he is coming back for the grand finale.  I encourage you to pray to him and be on the winning team.

Oh, about the robot… my daughter likes it.  So I guess I would recommend it if you have a spare $20 to spend on a robot.

Peace to all.

Our media is getting pumped with hate, fear, lies, and filth.  In an effort to combat that, I thought I would share with you a website that my family and I have been enjoying.  I think this website is family-friendly and I freely recommend it:

funnycatvideos.net

They also have an RSS feed:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/FunnyCatVideos

I subscribed using GreatNews.

Jesus is king over our house, and I believe that the website above would be mostly acceptable to him.  God did create cats, right?  And cats sure are funny.  To me, cats prove that God has a sense of humor.  Why else would he have made cats?  I think he made cats to entertain us, to love us, and to give us companions to love, sometimes when other people are unwilling to fill that void.  Cats are great.  Thanks, God!

(Please beware of the occasional video there that has music with words in the background.  Many songs with words can lull you to “sleep”.  When I noticed words in the background music, I closed the video.)

We don’t watch broadcast TV any more.  I have two small children and a wife and it is a struggle to find good content to keep them satisfied when they are wanting to relax.  When I have time, I’ll try to pass on more family-friendly media as I find them.  I would be happy for you to give me some suggestions, too.

More Than Dreams

For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women–without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contacts with Christians–have been profoundly affected after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Here are five such stories of former Muslims who now follow Jesus as their Savior, recreated in docudrama format. Produced in original languages with English subtitles.

The first story was too depressing for me and kind of freaked me out.  But that’s probably because I am really sensitive and my faith was weak that night.  I had to stop watching that one.

I came back to the DVD the next day and watched a couple of the other stories.

The rest of the stories on the DVD… Wow!  Great stuff!  Professional re-enactments.

Even if you did not believe in God, you might enjoy the stories, because you get to see how other people live in the muslim cultures.  The people speak in their native languages, but there are English subtitles.

The other four stories were very encouraging to me, personally.  My eyes teared up on each one.

I am so happy that Jesus shows people visions and dreams to help them when no one else will.  I have to fight the sin of envy, because I also want to see Jesus like these people did.  But I can’t be greedy… he has given me other sights, dreams, and blessings.  So, I am truly happy for these people and the gift that Jesus gave them.  I can wait to see Jesus when it’s the right time for me.  Since watching this video, I have been praying to Jesus to show himself to more people. To fight my envy, I asked him to take my opportunity to see his vision and give it to someone else that does not already believe.

Conclusion

I highly recommend More Than Dreams.

I bought my filter at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I don’t really like shopping at this store because of their inflated prices.  I was originally looking for a water distiller.  None of my local stores have one!  What’s up with that?  Clean water is the most important substance for keeping us alive and yet none of my local stores sell machines that purify water.  This is crazy to me.

ZeroWater is not a distiller, but it seems to do a good job cleaning water.

Anyway, since I want my family to have clean water, I went ahead and purchased this Zero Water Filter.  It has been performing well for me so far.

VIDEO

I paid $37 plus taxes for the pitcher, electronic tester, and a single filter cartridge.  I paid $30 plus taxes for (2) extra filter cartridges.  Not cheap.  Looks like they have the same price on their website:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/search/search.aspx/water/?sstr=water

They also carry the Brita brand, but I would never buy that brand because their packages say the Brita filters do not filter out  Fluoride!  Last I checked, Fluoride was a poison and I don’t want to be drinking it.  (By the way, I do not use toothpaste with added Fluoride and have never had a cavity.  I  make my own toothpaste.)

Electronic Meter

I tested the electronic meter that came with the Zero Water Filter.  They call it a TDS Tester.  TDS = Total Dissolved Solids.  A higher number means there are more solids floating around in the water.  The lower the number, the more pure the water.  It measures the PPM or parts per million of dissolved solids in the water.  Here are my measurements:

Green tea:  measured a high number, around 170.  This made me happy that the tester detected that the liquid was not pure water.  Of course, this says nothing about the healthiness of the liquid, but does let you know that it is not pure water.

Tap water from Hot Springs, Arkansas:  49.  How does this compare with other locations?  Looks like we have cleaner than average water.  The average seems to fall between 100~200.  testyourtap.com

Filtered water from our conventional filter system built-in to our frig:  39.

And the water coming out of the Zero Water Filter:  0!  Looks good so far.

Experiment Idea

I would like to add some contaminants, like Sodium Fluoride, to some water and see what value the TDS tester shows.  Where can I find some pure Sodium Fluoride?

Lately I've been brewing with Walmart's Organic Coffee.

Check out the oil sheen on the top of my mug of coffee…

Walmart coffee

This stuff tastes alright to me.  I believe the crystal-looking liquid floating on top is just natural oil from the coffee beans.  Coffee beans are seeds and all seeds contain some oil.  The slick on top is probably just natural oil found in the coffee bean.

Bluetooth wireless transmitter connected to a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Looking for a bluetooth transmitter?  This one might be good for you.

I enjoy listening to podcasts using my N810 Internet Tablet and my bluetooth headphones (Creative CB2530 wireless headphones).  To use bluetooth headphones, you will need a bluetooth transmitter connected to the source, in my case connected to the N810 tablet. This post is a review of the bluetooth transmitter and some tips on how to repair one of its failure modes.

Jensen WBT420 Universal Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter

I  have been really happy with the Jensen transmitter.

Repair

Today for the first time, the transmitter had trouble.  The sound went from stereo to mono.  I could hear sound only from one side of the headphones.  Sound was going to just one ear.  If I wiggle the jack, the stereo sound comes back, but only if I keep pressure on the jack.

Loose connection

If I push down on the jack, the sound is in stereo.  As soon as I let go, the sound goes back to mono.  This failure mode happens on all kinds of electronics, so I thought I would share my tips on how to fix it while also giving a review of this Jensen trasmitter.

This is a simple fix and just requires a new solder joint.

First open the plastic case.  No screws.  Just use a small screwdriver to gently pry it open.

Again, there are no screws, so just lift the circuit board out of the case.  There is some tape sticking the battery to the case.  I gave it a slight tug and the tape released itself from the black case.

In the next photo, you can see how the headphone jack is connected to the circuit board.

One of the solder joints was broken, probably from 3 years of stress.

I hit the solder pad with a soldering iron and a tiny bit of new solder.

I put solder on the soldering iton tip, then touched the tip to the circuit board pad.

The sound came back in stereo!  Good as new!  Pretty easy repair.

It’s easy to put it back together, too.  One last tip:  Make sure the on/off button on the circuit board gets inserted into the case’s switch before you close it up.

Price and Source

Bought through eBay for $17 total to have it shipped to my house.

Purchase date:  November 2007.  Here it is now March 2011 and it worked flawlessly until today.  That’s over 3 years of almost daily use and sometimes rough handling.  I’ve dropped it on the floor many times and moved it around with me, getting placed on counters and tables, getting rattled many times.

Battery Life

The battery is good quality and appears to be Lithium ion.  The transmitter always lasts as long as the N810 tablet, so I recharge both devices at the same time.  The transmitter has pretty good battery life for such a tiny battery.

Range

I wish the range were a little better, but can’t blame Jensen as they have to comply with FCC rules.  The FCC limits the range of radio transmission and bluetooth is simply a specific kind of radio transmission.  I can leave the Jensen bluetooth transmitter in one room of the house and walk to another room and still pick up the audio.  If I leave the transmitter in the kitchen and go into the garage with the doors closed and walls separating me from the transmitter, I can still pick up the audio but depending on where I stand in the garage I get some amount of static.  This transmitter will easily allow you to remain wireless with your headphones especially if you plan on staying in the same room as the transmitter.

Similar Models

This specific item appears to have been discontinued, so I’m glad I was able to fix this since it might be hard to buy a replacement just like it.  You might find this model used or as old stock.  Looks like Jensen got bought by another company. Don’t know how that impacts their business or product line.  Maybe they don’t make these transmitters any more?

WBT430 – This model might be newer and is in stock at some websites as of today’s date but I think it is a discontinued model.

Conclusion

I recommend the Jensen WBT420 Universal Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter and it’s pretty easy to repair the audio jack, if needed.  Because of my good experience, I would return to the Jensen brand for other electronics, including their newer products.

Making cabbage juice with a Sharper Image HR-650-1

I’ve been having fun making fresh juice at home with raw produce. In the videos here, I show how this machine makes juice with carrots, collards, watermelon, strawberries, apples, and cabbage.

The machine I’m using is a Sharper Image HR-650-1.  It runs on 700 Watts of power, which has been powerful enough to juice everything I’ve tried throwing into it.  This machine is made by hardworking people in China at the Huzhou Runyuan Electric Equipment Factory, according to the label under this unit.  It was purchased from a mall in Little Rock, Arkansas for about $86 including tax.

VIDEO:  Making Carrot Juice, Watermelon Juice, Strawberry Juice

Cabbage Juice

There is some controversy about whether cabbage could cause trouble with people suffering from hypothyroidism. [Source]

Other than that, there are tons of health benefits.  [Source]  In the video below I juice up an entire head of cabbage and drink it.

VIDEO:  Making Cabbage Juice

How to change the batteries on Spykee, the robot.

Spykee came back to life when attached to a 12V portable battery.

In the video below, we hack into Spykee to attach new leads which will later allow for the connection of an external battery pack.  We also connect a multimeter to monitor the battery voltage.  We connect a 12V battery, charged with a solar panel, for testing.  Yes, Spykee works on 12V and could be off-the-grid!

VIDEO:  Verifying Spykee can run on 12V

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Next, we connected a new external battery pack that uses standard AA rechargeable batteries.  Nothing proprietary here.  We made the new battery pack and now Spykee is better than new. His new external AA battery pack has a higher charge capacity than the original pack that came from the manufacturer.  The original pack was rated at 1,800 mAh while my new home-made replacement battery is rated at 2,400 mAh.  The batteries I chose are Imedion Low-Discharge AA batteries made by Powerex.  See how it works in the video below.

VIDEO:  Spykee gets new battery pack with no tether.

Testing the Original Battery Pack

I tried freezing the original batteries that came with Spykee.  That improved the battery voltage, but was not enough of an improvement to get Spykee moving.

Spykee's original 9.6V NiMH battery

The video below shows the freezing process and how freezing increased the voltage of the batteries.

Results of Freezing Battery

VIDEO:  Freezing Spykee’s original batteries and Connecting to Charger

Disassembly of the original Spykee battery pack

When I took the pack apart, I found 2 bad cells and 6 good cells.  The good cells could be used for another project.

VIDEO:  Salvaging Spykee’s original batteries

I put the two bad cells into my battery charger.  One of them charged up.  That leaves me with one cell at 0 Volts.  I plan to surge it with my solar panel.  Spykee’s original batteries will live on in another application.

There is an alternative to RSSOwl – read on for another choice.

Back in 2009 and the beginning of 2010, I relied on Microsoft’s Live website to function as my RSS reader.  It worked fairly well and I was happy with it, but Microsoft shut it down.  I was forced to find a new way to keep track of my RSS feeds.

I downloaded and installed RSSOwl as a “Portableapp” (a portable application) on my thumb drive.  It has more functionality than Microsoft’s Live product.  It was a good solution for me as long as I was willing to use it on just one computer.  It’s free and available at rssowl.org.

My biggest complaint with RSSOwl is that it is not portable!  I thought it was at first, but by default it saves all it’s data to the C: drive, which is stuck on my computer.  I would like all the data saved to my thumb drive, but RSSOwl doesn’t play like that.  If I try to use the thumb drive on a different computer, RSSOwl does not have any of my feeds!

Update:  I found an RSS reader that works as a portable app:  GreatNews.  It’s free, I’ve been using it for months and it’s reliable for me.  I recommend GreatNews for keeping up with your RSS feeds.  I use it on my thumb drive and it lets me access my RSS subscriptions on multiple machines.  I tested it on Vista machines as well as XP machines.  No matter which computer I’m on, I have all my RSS feeds with the correct items marked read and unread.  GreatNews is completely independent of the computer I’m using.  I love it.

Download GreatNews

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Other podcatcher programs that work with Linux, which I have not yet tried:

Bashpodder

Banshee

Songbird

Rhythmbox

Amarok

Source:  Going Linux Podcast #35.

Conclusion

I recommend GreatNews.  If you use Linux, you might be interested to try some other choices listed above.

Hampton Bay Solar Light Reviews

The solar lanterns are made by Hampton Bay.  I see online there are many negative reviews for these lights.  Some of the complaints I also have:

• LED is too dim
• LED won’t turn on
• Not enough illumination
• Battery contacts corrode
• Solar panels darken and become cloudy over time
• Batteries included don’t last long (I replaced mine with batteries having more mA hours)

Here are some excerpts from other reviews on the web:

“I will never by anything with the Hampton Bay name again.”  complaintsboard.com

“Very dim, barely lights. Hard to see at night. Purchased at Home Depot…” complaintsboard.com

“Most lights quit between 10-18 months so if your looking for long term lighting solution, plan on continually buying replacements…”  homedepot.com

“I always get battery contact failure and end up soldering my batteries in.”  thestuccocompany.com

“I purchased a hampton bay solar walk light several weeks ago and it just stopped working.”  askmehelpdesk.com

Cleaning the Panels

The solar panels become cloudy and weathered in the sun.  The panels can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

The photoresistor works better if it is clean, so that the circuit knows when the sun is up.  There is no need for the light to be on during the day.  A clean photoresistor makes sure the LED is off during the day, saving the battery power until it is needed at dark.

VIDEO:  How to Fix Solar Lights

A few things that can be done to improve the solar light:

1. Clean solar panel with rubbing alcohol
2. Clean battery terminals
3. Press on capacitors
4. Replace batteries

If your rechargeable batteries are old or not holding a charge, you should change them with new rechargeable batteries.  Want to squeeze some extra life out of those old batteries?  You might try surging the old batteries.

Hydrolysis

To measure the power output of the small solar panel built onto these lights, I used hydrolysis.  I had a few questions:

How much power in Watts do these panels produce?

Answer:  84 mW in winter

Can low power be used in hydrolysis?  How many volts and amps does hydrolysis require?

As shown in the video above, hydrolysis can be achieved with low power.  With only 3.8V and 22 mA, we are splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen!  It doesn’t take much power to make hydrogen.  Looks like anyone can make hydrogen fairly easily.

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