Need a cheap surveillance system? Then read this

The last 2 weeks were really full of excitement here at my place, we had invaders on our porch that did not care about a gate or anything else. They slept on our porch, took some stuff away and left a big mess.

It always feels bad if someone messes with your privacy, invades your private space or even takes your most beloved coffee mug away. 

It just feels plain horrible to see that you can't do much, or can you!?
As german blood runs through my veins, that little bit of engineering gene combined with the cheapness ( Love to call it frugal as it sounds a bit nicer) let me come up with a solution everyone can use at home. Thought I might throw that in here for those who would like to setup a (almost) free surveillance system. All you need is a windows pc, web camera or if you have IP camera and the free software from Yawcam. 

Really love the very easy interface, even non techies can set this up in under 15 minutes. What I really like about it is it's simplicity. But the best is at no cost to download or install, it really is complete free! Many sites offer free download surveillance software that is (now read carefully) free to download, that means in a lot of cases as you install you find out it is really just a trial and you have to purchase the software to get it running or use all the functions. But Yawcam (Yet Another Webcam software) is really completely free, runs on windows and really gets the job done. 

The interface is really easy to use and what I really like about it, is how you can setup the camera. Easy as pie, the camera can watch a specific place you can mark on the screen or just set the camera up for watching all of the screen. A feature that is mostly just found on expensive software. Now enough talk here is the link, there is much more to read and a lot of screenshots.

Head over and I wish you a great day,

JayDee

Working on something big

Hello my followers and friends,
right now is a busy time as the job is taking full advantage of me. Besides that I am working on a private project that finally over the years is coming true.

The job I do right now to keep a roof over my head is lawn care and as fall is marching into Calgary, a lot of work is coming up. Aeration of the lawn, fertilizing, clean ups and much more.
Life is quite a journey and not everything you do is really what you like to do, that is why I am putting now all my rest energy in the night to work on my project that I love.
Photography is something that always surrounded me on some scale as I grew up, from the first pocket snapshot camera, SLR cameras to now a D-SLR. Finally all the tools needed are available for everyone to go get the dream out and turn it into a goal, at least for my case and I am soo excited.

Again hit by hail here in Calgary

Calgary seems to get hit this year by many hail storms, but this time we got away with just a little one. My city gets chinooks and these can turn a beautiful day into storm and the other way around. We are known for getting summer weather in the middle of winter, these chinooks are sometimes a blessing and in some cases a curse.

I was sick the last days and really had no time blogging anything from importance and so I left it cool down for a bit.

As we got hit, I was just getting my camera (canon t3) setup for some video shots on a tripod. Yes we are lucky and got some footage, this time I cut it into a 2 minute short film, less wobbly. Love the camera and the ability to really shoot great video in HD and take stunning picture in RAW and jpeg. 

Here is my short Hail storm clip:                         

Thank you for watching and hope you stay safe and secure at all times.

JayDee

Free online music software, for those with small budget

Just discovered through Chrome apps this beautiful online music studio tool. Completely free!!
You have different synths and even a sampler is included.
Just diddling around with it right now and thought you might want to have a look at it, here is the link. The software is called Audiosauna and the best thing is, works on all Plattforms as you don't have to download anything to work with it. I think it is pretty amazing that even Mac or Linux users can use it without any hassle.
And now .... go try it
Have a great day,
JayDee

This site is amazing for crafters and do it yourselfers

Check this out, all I can say ..... really go and check this out. Great ideas and projects we all can do, let's grab our powers back and craft instead of shopping.
Love it.
Here it is: RIGHT HERE

A must see free Documentary about dirt

This is amazing documentary about our planet and how it recycles everything, we can learn so much and I thought I should share this with you.
Enjoy this in the evening instead of watching some game show and be amazed and stunned what dirt and our planet can do.

This is the description to the movie:
DIRT! THE MOVIE is an astonishing, humorous and substantial look at the glorious and unappreciated ground beneath our feet. Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth's climate. Why do we humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource? Consider the results of such behavior: mass starvation, drought, floods and global warming. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, DIRT! THE MOVIE tells the story of humans trying to reconnect to dirt -- the living skin of the earth. Traveling from the vineyards of California to the plains of Kenya, DIRT! reveals how repairing our relationship with dirt can create new possibilities for all life on earth.


ENJOY 

Free Mac programs that help to clean your mac

Coming from the Linux and a bit of windows world I was missing some programs to keep the mac up and running smoothly.
After hours of research I finally found two helpful programs that are for free.
One is called Onyx (found here), it is a multifunctional utility to very your startup disk, do maintenance and many other useful tasks. Best thing it is not just free to download, nope it cost really nothing to even use. No nagging, no popups nothing just a real good utility program to keep the mac smoothly running.
Give it a try.
The second one is call Magican and can be downloaded here.
Let it run in the background and it can free up your ram with a click of the mouse, it monitors the temperature of your cpu and gpu and many other details can be displayed. I find it great do uninstall programs as it looks up even for the folders that normally just stay as fragmented junk on your mac.
These 2 tools keep my older macbook running smooth and free up lots of space through cleanup of caches and other leftovers on my mac. Give them a try and visit their websites (just click the links above), hope this can help you as it does for me.