Rounding to Order of Magnitude in Matlab

Posted on by mrsoltys
Knowing what order of magnitude a number is can be really helpful when performing analysis.  I find this especially useful when setting my color-scale using caxis. To find the order of magnitude of a number, denoted as O(10n) of some number A in matlab, use: n=floor( log10(A)); [caption id="attachment_1179" align="alignright" width="300"] Example: Say I want to plot this constrained to some integer value of 10^n....Read More

Freeing up space on your iPhone: Deleting the "Other" category that takes up space

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_1161" align="alignright" width="300"] What is this 1.3 GB of "Other" On my phone?![/caption] I get a little irked sometimes on my 8 GB iPhone when I can update an app or download a podcast because I'm out of space.  I usually try deleting some old apps I don't use, or old photos, but what's really annoying is the mysterious "Other" that...Read More

DIY Microwave Popcorn

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_1154" align="alignright" width="300"] Mmm... Home-made microwave popcorn.[/caption] I love popcorn: It's great brain-food. Popcorn is healthy and light: Pretty much the perfect snack. Store-bought microwave popcorn is usually full of preservatives (unhealthy), and in addition the bag is coated in cancer-linked chemicals.  In addition to that, store bought popcorn normally costs a minimum of $0.60 a bag. I prefer to make my popcorn at...Read More

Tool of the Week: WordPress

Posted on by mrsoltys
I'm comming up on two years of having a wordpress site, and so I think it's past due that I give a shoutout to wordpress for being an awesome blogging / website building tool.  I've had over 25,000 views to my site, and I've loved using wordpress!  Wordpress is my favorite blogging tool out of the there (I've also used livejournal and blogger in...Read More

Tool of the Week: Getting your phone to display decibles instead of bars

Posted on by mrsoltys
Here's a pretty cool trick that I tweeted last week: https://twitter.com/mrsoltys/status/286289533090291713 Basically, instead of bars telling you how strong your signal is, you get a number with higher resolution and real units, which is awesome if you're even remotely mathematically minded. So, Why would you want Decibles vs Bars? Well first, you're not sacrificing your bars. You can always click the display where the signal strength is...Read More

Tool of the Week: Blocking distracting websites using the hosts file

Posted on by mrsoltys
Every once in a while i decide that I need to block a distracting website from my computer in order to remain productive. An example might be me compulsively checking Facebook  or google reader throughout the work day instead of staying on task and focused.  The key here is I need a simple barrier between me and the distraction to remind me I...Read More

Smartphone Apps: 12 Must have Apps

Posted on by mrsoltys
I love having a smartphone, and although a lot of commentary could be said for being a generation that is addicted to our phones, they can be incredibly useful tools. I try to keep my phone free of games, and focus on making it a useful productivity tool.  This blog post is 12 apps to fill your home screen that...Read More

Tool of the Week: Boosting Performance in Mac OSX

Posted on by mrsoltys
Most of these performance improvements are super minor, but when my system is pegged out with a hefty image processing job or particle tracking model: every little bit helps.  These are especially useful if Matlab is running slow! Also, apparently saving 5% of CPU power can increase battery life by 20-30 mins.  Here are 10 ways to boost your system performance! [caption id="attachment_1068" align="alignleft" width="300"] In...Read More

Dropbox vs. Google Drive: Why I went back to Dropbox

Posted on by mrsoltys
Update: I now use Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon Glacier to back up my files, each for a different purpose.  I still love Dropbox as my favorite syncing/sharing service, but I use google drive with my work account for sharing files in our network, and Amazon Glacier as an emergency only  Fire-safe backup for photos and other stuff. When Google Drive...Read More

Tool of the Week: Daily Agenda from Google Calendar

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignright" width="300"] Screen Shot of my agenda for today[/caption] I think I've already posted about how much I love Google calendar, but if not it's an incredibly powerful tool. Recently I discovered that you can have google calendar email you your daily agenda every day at 5 AM.  Its awesome. Just click the dropdown by any calendar, click...Read More