iOS Sleep App Shootout

A popular new trend in lifehacking is sleep tracking.  Devices such as the FitBit can track your sleep, as can your trusty iPhone.  You can then use the data to figure out how good you're sleeping and what contributes to your good night's sleep.  They even have alarms designed to wake you up at the ideal time.  It's simple to do, cheap, and potentially rewarding.  If you're new to sleep-tracking apps or just want to see what else is out there, read on.

LoseIt to MyFitnessPal (weigh-ins only)

Since there is presently no way to migrate data from LoseIt to MyFitnessPal, and I wanted to transfer my year's worth of weigh-ins, I figured out a set of instructions to enter in all the data for me.  This might not be the easiest way; it might not even be a very good way, but it worked for me and maybe it will work for you.

Switching from PC to Mac

I've been a PC user for at least 15 years.  I'm a professional (video game) programmer and I consider myself to be a power user.  I've written an Explorer shell extension.  I know pretty much every shortcut, I know how to tweak things, I'm very comfortable in the registry.  But I'm fed up with Windows.

DIY PVR 5: The Reality

After using the Media Center for about a year, here are my thoughts.

DIY PVR 4: Putting it All Together

Here are some various notes on putting the hardware together and setting it all up.

The motherboard's power switch connector is at the back of the case; I have no idea why (maybe that's the standard for micro atx?), but it causes difficulty because the case's cables don't reach.  I had to drill a hole in the front of the case so that the power switch would reach (it has to be plugged in otherwise it can't be turned on).

The motherboard's BIOS screen doesn't work over DVI (it does work over VGA and, I believe, HDMI). It caused me some difficulty since I was connecting the tv with DVI, but it didn't cause too much trouble.

The included Antec Fusion remote worked, but its button layout is pretty bad.  It's workable, and the mouse emulation is cool (and occasionally useful), but it's not a remote that you can hand to your wife or houseguest and expect them to be able to do anything.

DIY PVR 3: Hardware

Since reading this Coding Horror article on Jeff Atwood's new dvr setup, I've been contemplating switching from TiVo to Windows Media Center.  One of the good things about Media Center is that you can pick your own hardware, but that means that you have to pick your own hardware. Someone needs to sell a prebuilt, preconfigured HTPC to compete with TiVo.

My requirements were simple- it has to incorporate a cablecard (with switched video)-compatible tuner.  It has to look nice- like it belongs with TV equipment (tower cases are out).  I'm looking for as inexpensive as possible, without being cheap.

DIY PVR 2: The Promise

After being a loyal TiVo user for 10 years- not to mention converting my wife, parents, and sisters- I'm not going to switch to anything unless it's significantly better.  For reference, here is an in-depth comparison of the TiVo Premiere UI and Windows Media Center 7.  It looks like MC7 beats TiVo in all but a couple areas that I care about (most significantly, the ability to undelete shows).  Here are some of the features I'm expecting to get out of this effort.