18
Oct
09

How to Replace the LCD Screen on an Acer Aspire One

The other day I opened my pride-and-joy to discover, horror of horrors, a Matrix-like green splotch of dead pixels, precipitated by a large crack in the LCD. Apparently my almost total disregard for the well-being of my electronic devices is not without its consequences.

IMG_0042IMG_0047

Although the patches of dead pixels are relatively small, when the screen itself is only 8.9″, that’s a significant chunk of screen real-estate! Now, the good thing about netbooks is that they are relatively cheap, but not quite cheap enough to treat like disposable appliances! So I began to search for a replacement screen, and to my great pleasure found a company selling super-cheap authentic replacement screens based in Vancouver: ScreenCountry.com, where I was able to buy a screen, complete with shipping, for about $90. And it arrived within 36 hours of me ordering!

Now everywhere I read said that replacing LCD screens is a simple process, but for the life of me I couldn’t find any guides for the Acer Aspire One. But being an enterprising sort of chap I thought I’d dive in anyways, and hopefully pass on my wisdom to others who might find themselves in a similar predicament. The process is really simple and doesn’t require any technical skill beyond a steady hand. Here, then, without further ado are the steps needed to replace the LCD on you Acer Aspire One:

Disclaimer: This is an easy process, but by providing these instructions I accept no liability for damage to your netbook which might result from your attempts to follow these instructions.

Continue reading ‘How to Replace the LCD Screen on an Acer Aspire One’

13
Oct
09

Google Fail 2: The Pharangulation

google_fail_pharangula

On a related note, can anyone tell me why AdBlock Plus has stopped working for me in Firefox 3 for Windows Vista?

07
Oct
09

In Which Inappropriate Jokes Are Made Regarding Electromagnetism

Item the First:

drew_magnetism

Item the Second:

flux_me

Item the Third:

fluxing

Item the Fourth:

too_coulomb

Conclusion:

drewmoExeunt.

31
Aug
09

python makes everything easy

As I was sitting at my desk at work, watching code roll by as my Monte Carlo runs worked, I thought about how nice it would be to go do something else while I waited for data.  An email notifier wouldn’t be enough, as I might want to be away from wifi.  Then I remembered that Bell has an email to text message gateway, number@txt.bell.ca .  In the course of ~10 minutes, I was able to whip up a python script that will send me a short email notifying me that my jobs have completed.  All I have to do is add a line at the end of a script with the python script and the job name, and it will send me a message as soon as the script run completes.  I simply store the password for my local smtp server in ~/.pass, and it fires of texts like magic.  Python makes everything easy.  Code after the jump.
Continue reading ‘python makes everything easy’

25
Aug
09

Galileoscope Modification: Lego Focuser

So,  I have been the proud owner of a galileoscope for about a month now.  While I am quite happy with the optical quality (and the price!), the focusing mechanism leaves a bit to be desired.  In order to cut costs, the ’scope focuses (changes the distance between the objective and eyepiece lenses) simply by having a pair of concentric tubes that you manually pull out or push in to focus.  Continue reading ‘Galileoscope Modification: Lego Focuser’

21
Jul
09

Lifehack: Reading Rule

Despite my great ambitions, I have managed only a fraction of the reading I had hoped to achieve this summer. In fact I’ve really only read about 1.5 books since the school term ended. This is an embarrasing state of affairs, and is in spite of the recent addition to my room of a giant comfy chair perfect for reading.

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The fact is that I have not been making enough time for reading, something I want to change. In order to facilitate this I am trying out a new rule for myself:

On any given evening, I will undertake no other leisure activities (TV, computer games, music etc.) unless I have read for at least 30 minutes.

I think I will extend it to say that if it is before 9pm I must read for at least an hour. I just read for a solid three-quarters of an hour, so the rule is a success thus-far!

28
Jun
09

Aggregation Blog

I’ve created a new element to my website; a blog which aggregates all my writing from the two blogs I write for (here and the Terry blog). I’ll also write personal news etc. there. All the posts syndicated to the site link back to their original source, so comments etc will still be on the original blogs. The other great benefit is that I can have one destination and RSS feed for all my writing.

To do the aggregation I’m using a great WordPress plugin called FeedWordPress, which syndicated posts from RSS feeds into a WordPress blog. This plugin was suggested to me by Andre Malan. The theme is based on “Pretty-Parchment” by Lloyd Armbrust, with my own modifications.

26
Jun
09

Google Fail

googlefail

I was amused to see this ad pop up in Gmail for Microsoft’s newly-released search engine, Bing. Is this an oversight by Google, or the ultimate show of contempt for the supposed “Google Killer”?

06
Jun
09

UBC Website Pwnt

Visit the UBC Website right now and this is what you see:

ubc_website_pwntHacked? Hosting Fail? Alternate Reality Game? I’m confused…


Update: I think this must be a local DNS problem. Through comments and Twitter I’ve determined that http://www.ubc.ca is resolving to omegasupreme.ca only for people within Vancouver. It is not affecting access on campus.

17
May
09

Dear Facebook:

Why?

facebook_why