August 2013 – LagunaBeachComputer.com

August 21, 2013

Inside The 1991 Honda XR600r Engine – Why You Should Remove Your Choke Plate

So the other day while riding in traffic my bike engine just stopped. Just like if you had hit the kill switch. Couldn’t start it back up so I got the truck and brought her home to find out why she wouldn’t start. So I started by taking of the carb.

That’s when I found half of my choke plate missing:

Choke Plate Broken and Sucked into Engine

So that sucks. Lets pull the Spark Plug and see whats up down there:

XR600r Spark Plug 'Closed' from being hit by choke plate debris — XR600r Spark Plug ‘Closed’ from being hit by choke plate debris

Ohhhh COOL! So a piece of metal (choke plate aluminum) did get sucked into the engine cylinder and it even closed my spark plug gap. That would explain why my bike wont start, and why my coil now measures way off on an ohmmeter (its been fried due to the shorted spark plug gap).

OK, I thought. I don’t hear any metal banging around in there when I kick it over. Lets hope the valves aren’t all bent up and the choke debris has ‘passed’ at least out the engine and into the exhaust.

So I hooked up a $20 USB inspection camera and sent it down my spark plug hole. Looks ok for a 23 year old dirt bike engine:

OK! Well at least 2 valves ARE NOT bent up, and the piston doesn’t look excessively gouged or anything.

Time for some live action video of the cylinder while cranking over the engine.

August 16, 2013

TP-Link TL-WR703n External Antenna Mod

TP-Link TL-WR703n 3G Router External Antenna Mod

Here are some helpful links:

http://blagg.tadkom.net/2012/09/15/better-wr703n-antenna-mod/

http://blagg.tadkom.net/2012/09/01/wr-703n-external-antenna-mod-diy/

http://www.modlog.net/?p=429

Step 1. Drill A Hole

Step 2. Cut the two Internal Antenna PCB Traces as shown here: http://blagg.tadkom.net/2012/09/01/wr-703n-external-antenna-mod-diy/

I decided to keep the J1 resistor and C114 capacitor as they orignally were after reading some comments suggesting the signal strength would be better leaving them alone.

Step 3. Solder on Antenna Pigtail Cable. My cable was scavenged from a broken cheapie $5 USB Wifi adapter. The soldering was hard. It is just really small down there. Here is a trick: put a blob of solder on the tip of your hot iron. Now smear that melted blob OFF onto a dry sponge. Now you should be able to PICK UP a SMALLER BLOB of solder and place it where you want.

I used tape to hold down the wire. As you bend the cable, it puts a lot of tension on the two little solder points. If you do not hold down the wire somehow, your precious little solders will eventually break off. Since the tape will eventually fail, it would be far better to hold the wire down with a blob of hot glue gun stuff.

Step 4. Insulate, Assemble and Test. Make sure you insulate the two little R82 resistors under the antenna fitting metal. You do not want to short out the circuit board with the metal from the antenna screw fitting inside the case. A small piece of sturdy electrical tape under the brass nut should cover and protect R82.

Finished!

August 8, 2013

Federal Judge Declares Bitcoin a Currency

Federal Judge Declares Bitcoin a Currency
from the i-bet-the-IRS-just-got-excited dept.
tlhIngan writes
An East Texas federal judge has concluded that Bitcoin is a currency that can be regulated under American Law. The conclusion came during the trial of Trendon Shavers, who is accused of running the Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST) as a Ponzi scheme. Shavers had argued that since the transactions were all done in Bitcoins, no money changed hands and thus the SEC has no jurisdiction. The judge found that since Bitcoins may be used to purchase goods and services, and more importantly, can be converted to conventional currencies, it is a form of currency (PDF) and investors wishing to invest in the BTCST provided an investment of money, and thus the SEC may regulate such business.

August 7, 2013

Coinlabs Launches Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Company Alydian

COINLAB ANNOUNCES FIRST INCUBATOR COMPANY

ALYDIAN IS FIRST LARGE-SCALE U.S. BITCOIN MINING COMPANY

August 7, 2013, PORTLAND, OR—CoinLab, the first venture-backed Bitcoin company in the U.S., officially launched its newest portfolio company, Alydian. Alydian is the first to deliver turnkey at-scale Bitcoin mining solutions to customers.

“We are part of a transformation of Bitcoin mining,” said Hans Olsen, CEO of Alydian. “Alydian has developed an enterprise-scale Bitcoin mining system over the past year and we are excited to announce our capabilities today. The system, based on our first generation 65 nm custom ASIC technology will enable non-technical customers to participate in terahash and petahash-scale Bitcoin mining without worry or technical expertise. Alydian will begin at-scale operation and hosting in late August.”

Olsen, an industry semiconductor veteran and former CEO of Pixelworks, joins the CoinLab family, led by CEO, Peter Vessenes. The two comprise a team of other accomplished and respected tech start-up experts drawn to CoinLab’s newest venture. Alydian will serve as the first of multiple Bitcoin businesses developed internally at CoinLab.

“I am thrilled to have Hans here leading our newest venture,” said Peter Vessenes, CEO of CoinLab. “Alydian is unique in the Bitcoin mining industry — it was designed from the beginning to provide turnkey massive scale to customers. We’ve combined proven leadership, visionary strategy and great technologists. It’s going to be a great ride!”

Bitcoin mining turns silicon into money. Bitcoins are algorithm-based mathematical constructs aggregated into blocks and traded on open global markets. In order to successfully mine a block, which contains 25 bitcoins, one needs specialized computer setups constantly running the mining algorithm, a protocol designed to protect and secure the Bitcoin network. Currently, there are roughly 11.5 bitcoins in circulation, 25 more are mined every 10 minutes, and there will be a total of 21 million bitcoins issued. At time of press, Bitcoin traded around $105.

Alydian’s launch-day pricing was $65,000 per Terahash, a technical unit of capacity for Bitcoin miners. At time of press, each Terahash returned approximately $2,800 per day in earnings.

About Alydian
Alydian is a portfolio company of CoinLab, the first venture-backed Bitcoin company in the U.S. Alydian delivers enterprise-scale turnkey Bitcoin mining installations for qualified customers.

Alydian is hiring in our Portland office: jobs@alydian.co

About CoinLab
CoinLab, the first venture-funded Bitcoin company, is a Bitcoin business incubator that builds businesses that provide fundamental infrastructure for Bitcoin. Partnerships with top-tier industry executives in the fields of hardware, finance, payments and insurance make CoinLab a global leader in revitalizing existing industries. Join the Bitcoin Revolution.

If you are a veteran executive interested in Bitcoin, we’d love to get to know you. Write us at talent@coinlab.com.