Hacks

Remote snapshot backups with rsync and Samba

Thanassis Tsiodras writes: What would you do if you had to automatically backup a remote Linux box (e.g. your web server), and all you had locally was Windows machines? How about this: automatically expanding local storage space transmissions of differences only automatic scheduling local storage of differences only secure and compressed transfer of remote data […]

Change the message on HP printers

A lesser-known feature of the HP Printer Job Language (HPPJL) command set is that you can change the ready message” from “READY” to whatever you like. Yaakov wrote a Perl script that will change the message for you, and he also came up with the clever “INSERT COIN” replacement. Very nice. You can think up […]

Geotag your videos

The latest version of Google Earth added a layer for geotagged YouTube videos. So far, it seems like a lot of people are using this feature for documenting landmarks, attractions and live recordings of things like music, sporting events, backpacking trips, urban skateboarding, etc. If you have a geospatially relevant video that you want to […]

WaterHobo: robotic trespasser sentry

Tim Higgins had some problems with kids cutting through his yard. His solution is a water cannon sentry that watches the yard and hoses down trespassers. I’m dreaming of making something like this to keep the squirrels off of my tomatoes, so it’s cool to see what worked and what didn’t in Tim’s system. I […]