Simulating MapReduce in Mathematica

MapReduce is one of the most important algorithm types in big data. Perhaps its biggest draw is the fact that it can be massively distributed across commodity hardware to crunch massive amounts of data. This puts super computing in the hands of those without specialized parallel hardware. In a very basic example for a Hadoop class I did, I implemented a basic MapReduce simulator in Mathematica in order to illustrate how MapReduce works. I also got some extra credit for it, as well.

My High School Home Lab Is A Mess

I went home this weekend and I got a chance to work with my really janky homelab set up. Since I don't really have a whole lot to write about this month, I figured I'd take a anecdotal trip down memory lane for a blog post and document this this atrocity somewhere and begin to talk about how horrible this set up was.

Super Secret Spy Glasses

I got my hands on a triggered camera assembly that supposedly takes VGA video and 720p still pictures while still being exceptionally small. So, obviously, the next logical step would be to slap them onto a pair of shades, right? Snapchat has made glasses that take pictures so why can't I? Of course it won't be as high quality and it'll save to an SD card, not my phone, but we can only hope for so much, right? So, without further ado, let's get started.

MacOS Screensavers Aren't That Hard

I recently had the chance to play around with a Macbook Pro and XCode 10. I'm not used to using these computers, but I do really like them. I've never been a big fan of the iPhone, but I've always loved Apple's beautiful, if underpowered computers. I wanted to try to make something relatively easy, so I figured I'd start with a screen saver. It wasn't as easy as I thought, but it certainly wasn't hard, either.

Generating Colorful Random Backgrounds in the Browser

This is a short one because I was working on too many things at once and I wasn't able to get any of them done. So i figured I'd talk about a small thing I made a while back for some of my web pages. It's a random blurred color generator that creates random backgrounds every time it's rendered. I'll take you through my process of how I started with a prototype on the server side and slowly made my way to the final client side product.

Journey Into The Home Automation Sinkhole

Home automation. There have been many products, ecosystems, and clouds pushed over the years that claim they are The Best™ at automating your home. Recently with the wave of IoT devices, companies big and small, foreign and domestic, real and fake have been clamoring to get into the home automation space. This leads to fragmented homes with multiple devices running across multiple apps on your phone. If you decide to lock yourself into an ecosystem, it's expensive to get out. Hell, it's expensive to stay in some ecosystems (*cough* nest *cough*). But, the real question here (at least for me)... could we build a better smart home out of 'dumb' electronics or make electronics that are smart and extensible. Of course we can. Companies don't because they wouldn't make money that way.

How To Put A Custom ROM on a Verizon Samsung Fascinate (SCH-I500)

Old Android phones are really neat. They still have a decent amount of computing power and a multitude of neat hardware (sensors, cameras, WiFi connectivity and Bluetooth all in one). But with so much bloatware and carrier restriction, these devices are almost useless. A great way to get around this is to put an entirely new Android ROM onto the device. This blog outlines my adventures in trying to root the Verizon edition Samsung Fascinate (Galaxy S SCH-I500) so you can do it too. Heads up, I probably made it harder than it needs to be.