Motorcycle iPad Navigation!

My birthday was yesterday and I decided to get a technology enablement product… an iPad mount for my motorcycle.  I found exactly what I was looking for over at GPSCity.com.  Here is a few images of the mounted product.

IMG_2157   IMG_2153

I opted for the lockable version so I can stop at a gas station or someplace and not have to take my iPad with me every time I go into the store.  It was very convenient that I already had a few pieces, so I only needed to pick up the following two pieces:

IMG_21551. RAM Mount Plastic Locking Apple iPad/iPad2 Mount Cradle

2. RAM Mount Locking Knob

 

imageNow that I have it mounted and working great, I downloaded the CoPilot HD app for $30.

 

I had it mounted in minutes during my afternoon break.  Now I’ll need to plan a long motorcycle trip to give it a good test.

7 Technology Must Have’s!

Ever wonder what technology you really need these days?  Check out this list:

iStock_000017044605XSmall1. The most important thing to spend your money on, far and above more important than cell phones, is your internet connection!  Drop your cable TV, you don’t need it, what you will need as a replacement is a very strong high speed internet connection.  If you live within Northwest Arkansas, I’d recommend Cox Cable over AT&T DSL, but AT&T Uverse takes the cake (if it’s available in your area).

2. Setup that wireless router for your fast internet connection!  This way when your within your home you can take advantage of the faster speeds for all your devices.  (don’t forget to encrypt it!)

3. Splurge on a 3g iPad!  Pay the $650 plus $30/month for unlimited access, you’ll have entertainment in the palms of your hands.  Reading, gaming, navigation, weather, the list of values goes on and on.  Oh, and remember to hook it up to your wireless router while at home.

iStock_DiskArray4. Buy a good computer with tons of hard drive space… and I mean terabytes worth.  This could be a Windows Home Server, or just a standard Dell computer you’ve augmented with additional hard drives.  This will give you plenty of space for your media which leads into step 5.

5. Convert all of your DVD’s to digital mp4 files which can be linked into iTunes.  This lets you sync with your iPad or other devices to watch your collection of movies anywhere.

6. Buy one of those $99 AppleTV’s!  This will give you access to your newly digitized DVD collection on your television set.  It also provides you with access to pictures and other media.  Even the internet is accessible along with NetFlix.

7. NetFlix.  This will give you access to a wide variety of movies and television shows which you do not have in your personal collection.  As an added bonus, you can access NetFlix on your iPad, AppleTV, and your computer!

These 7 things are all you need to have a technologically well rounded life, enjoy!

iPad Excitment

I’m really loving my new iPad. I only wish my distributed web server project was going so well.

Basically my distributed web server project is this: I want to have several web and dns servers spread out around North West Arkansas. These servers are all setup through load balancing and round robin techniques to serve up my web pages and supply me with fully redundant dns servers. The main advantage is the redundant nature. I can spend less on servers and Internet connections, oh even power and generators if the website is spread around town at different locations.
I now have two webservers setup around town but having lots of trouble with the websites I want to setup. I started off badly though… I’m trying to setup some one elses websites which are not designed for is kind of environment.
I should start with one of my own projects like the BitRac Client Utility admin website at msp.clientutility.com. This is a website I’ve constructed in asp.net and c# to give me access to all the computers I manage around Northwest Arkansas.

Now at I write this, guess that’s what I’ll do…

I’ll let you know my progress…