Cycling Tip: Cheap Full Fingered Gloves

Posted on by mrsoltys
If you mountain bike, Gloves are essential. You will fall, and unprotected hands are painful! Full fingered gloves are also essential for road riding when it's chilly out. Unfortunately, cycling stuff always seems expensive (which is why almost everything i own, from clothes to bikes, is second hand). So you can imagine how a frugal guy like me would be...Read More

Tool of the Week: PayPal

Posted on by mrsoltys
"Every Time I see a bunch of checks taped to the fridge, I just roll my eyes." -William S. (Roommate) [caption id="attachment_324" align="alignright" width="273" caption="Just make sure you select the "Personal Tab" to avoid fees!"][/caption] You've probably heard of PayPal, maybe you even have an account to buy stuff off of ebay or other online retailers.  But I think the most awesome...Read More

Tool of The Week: VPN

Posted on by mrsoltys
Sometimes you want the privlidges you get when you're on campus computers, but you don't want to be on campus.  Maybe you're working from home, your favorite coffee shop, or on the road.  VPNs allow your computer to appear to have the IP address of another network.  This means is you get the benefits that you normally get on campus, from anywhere....Read More

Tool of the Week: Gmail Ninja

Posted on by mrsoltys
It's no secret I love google products.  I've used just about every mail client out there and I really think Gmail is the best.  They're always on the forefront of innovation, and a lot of features you see coming out in other mail clients are copied from google. Gmail has made a guide to optimize your e-mail exerpience on gmail called "Become...Read More

The quiver grows

Posted on by mrsoltys
My RSS notification on new bikes keeps me in the loop when there are good deals on bikes out there.  However it can be dangerous, as I have a pretty major weak spot for bikes.  Last night I bought yet another bike, bringing my collection up to 5: Konay-nay: The newest addition, I plan on putting gears on this single-speed...Read More

Tool of the Week: Using RSS to monitor news, craigslist, and journal articles

Posted on by mrsoltys
RSS is a way to subscribe to updates to websites.  So, weather there are a couple of blogs you follow, you want to stay on top of current news headlines on a certain subject, or you just want to stay on top of whenever someone posts a new bike in your size to craigslist, RSS is for you. The first step is...Read More

Tool of the Week: Google Chrome Extensions

Posted on by mrsoltys
Google Chrome, in my opinion, is the best web browser out there.  I've experienced less crashes and memory usage with google chrome than any other browser i've tried, which is awesome when you're running an intensive data analysis. Chrome runs noticeably faster than other browsers, and has a very clean user experience, and I love browsing in full screen mode (⌘⇧F on a mac)....Read More

Theoretical Fluid Mechanics: Venturi Meter

Posted on by mrsoltys
A Venturi Meter is a device that allows flow rates through pipes to be calculated by measuring the difference in pressure created by a contraction in a pipe.  When the flow goes through the contraction it must speed up, and so the pressure must drop.  By measuring the two pressures, engineers can directly calculate the velocity of the fluid.  Knowing the pipe...Read More

Tool of the Week: Mendeley

Posted on by mrsoltys
Mendeley is a program that sorts and organizes PDFs, allowing you to easily keep track of papers you've read.  Mendeley allows you to highlight and take notes on your PDFs, and all of your notes (as well as the full text of PDFs) are searchable... so you can quit saying "I read a paper somewhere..." and find exactly where it...Read More

Tool of the Week: Dropbox

Posted on by mrsoltys
<Update>: This is an older post.  I've recently started using Google Drive for all my cloud storage. </Update> This week's tool of the week is Dropbox. Dropbox is like a flash drive that you can never loose. Its a folder on your computer that gets backed up online automatically. So if you spill coffee on your laptop, or are in a...Read More