Author Archives: Pieter

Razer Shoddy Support and Bad Software UX

This post is just me venting my frustration at Razer’s poor software user experience, and their shoddy support practices. I’m writing this after I just had to go and find a working mouse, so I could click a button on a dialog that had no keyboard navigation support. I’ve been using Razer keyboards and mice forContinue reading “Razer Shoddy Support and Bad Software UX”

Circumventing ThinkPad’s WiFi Card Whitelisting

What started as a simple Mini PCI Express WiFi card swap on a ThinkPad T61 notebook, turned into deploying a custom BIOS in order to get the card to work. I love ThinkPad notebooks, they are workhorses that keep on going and going. I always keep my older models around for testing, and one ofContinue reading “Circumventing ThinkPad’s WiFi Card Whitelisting”

Amazon Associate’s Account Closed

Amazon just notified me in email that my Associate’s account was closed due to not being in compliance with their operating agreement: “You are not in compliance with Participation Requirement Number 29 because purchases resulting from Special Links on your site have been used for resale or commercial use.” I have no idea how orContinue reading “Amazon Associate’s Account Closed”

Ecobee3 Thermostat with Remote Sensors

We’ve had a particularly warm summer, for our very moderate area, and between my wife and my parent’s in-law, they were constantly changing the thermostat temperature, leaving nobody particularly happy, and our electricity consumption skyhigh. I needed a better solution, I found one, but it has some quirks. I was an early adopter of the Nest Generation 1Continue reading “Ecobee3 Thermostat with Remote Sensors”

MR16 12V Halogen to LED retrofit

[7 years later, see update at end of post] This post is about my research into finding suitable MR16 LED’s for replacing the 50W recessed halogen lights in our house. In summary, I’ve found “ok” bulbs, not great bulbs, and you can read about the details below. Our house is about 3 years old, new construction, and oneContinue reading “MR16 12V Halogen to LED retrofit”

Nest Protect False Alarms

2AM, beep, smoke alarm low battery warning, and when one beeps, all the interconnected ones beep, now it is impossible to find which one has a low battery. As for how smoke alarms look, I’ve always wondered who made those terrible aesthetic design choices, maybe it is some kind of industry insider competition to see who can design the ugliestContinue reading “Nest Protect False Alarms”

Self Signed BitFury Drivers

Almost two years ago I pre-ordered some bitcoin mining hardware from Butterfly Labs, what a waste. After countless delays, more than a year late, they finally shipped the hardware, and given the low probability of ever recovering the money through mining, I immediately sold the hardware on eBay, for a little profit. In the mean time USB stickContinue reading “Self Signed BitFury Drivers”