Happy pi day (3.14.15)

To celebrate pi day, I've created a couple of art works:

Peaces of pie 

and

3 dominates π

Later today I will also make a lemon meringue pie.

Bit of a makeover

I've given the MuzGadgets blog a bit of a makeover with a vector based banner designed in Affinity Designer from Serif and freshening up the look of the blog with new fonts and some color tweaking.

I have also removed some stuff, but all the blog posts since the blog started in 2007 are still here. 

Which gadget takes priority?

My work phone is a Galaxy Note 3 that came with a 1st gen galaxy gear watch. Because i am a gadget guy i like to get the most out of all my gadgets, the note 3 has nfc technology built in so i started playing with anything i could scan.

My credit card has a nfc chip inside as does my passport. I use an app called tasker to automate various parts of my life. I pulled the nfc page out of an old passport and placed it on my work desk. When I arrived at work each day I can simply lay my phone on the passport page and it would initiate certain tasks like backing up my photos from my phone. Because it works so well i ordered a bunch of nfc stickers from AliExpress. Once the second lot arrived, which were the right format, I was away putting stickers around the house to run different tasks on my phone.

NFC sticker on Marmite jar

This all went well until i discovered wireless charging. The kit I got from aliexpress included a charging pad and a receiver coil that fits inside the back cover of the phone. Wow this is awesome no more plugging the cable in just lay my phone on the pad and it would charge itself. Very convenient.

However now my nfc does not work it seems that the charging receiver coil seems to block the nfc radio signals.

So now i have to decide which is more convenient the wireless charging or the automation of tasks with nfc.

I know this is a first world problem and maybe i should be thinking about helping children in Africa . But if there's anyone out there who knows how to get both working drop me a line until then I think i'll go back to plugging in my charger.

Beware of fake solar cells

I was wondering why this cheap "DUAL POWER" calculator was not working. Sure the battery was probably flat and it was dim in the room, but it would not turn on even in bright light.

So I opened it up and found that the solar panel is fake. A piece of plastic with three lines embedded in it, not connected to anything.

Hourglass clock

I like this old style hourglass clock by Mike Sander which flips and advances the hour every 60 minutes. It is expertly handcrafted and the internal workings are a unique solution.