Make an Android powered speedometer for your car

One of the things I noticed right away when we got our new van was that the speedometer was slightly off. The car is used and probably had bigger tires put on at some point, so whatever, it didn't bother me. It felt like a little problem I could live with.

But the more I tried to nail down exactly how much the speedometer was incorrect, the more I realized just how wacky speedometer problems can be. This particular problem would get worse the faster the car would go. So if you wanted to go 20mph, for example, you had to point the needle at 25. But if you wanted to go 65mph, you had to point the needle at almost 80. I tested the speed using speedometer apps on several phones, and by driving past those "your speed is" signs at various speeds.

This obviously made it really hard to ever know exactly how fast you were going. Real speedometer calibration is very expensive, standalone GPS speedometers are expensive, and simply learning to live with it was not an option for me.

The solution? A homemade Android powered speedometer for $35.

Hashtags aren't ruining language, but they are misused

I shared a link on Twitter yesterday regarding the misuse of hashtags on Twitter and other social network sites. The author of the original story was of the opinion that "hashtags are ruining the English language" and by sharing it I got quite a heated response from those who disagreed with the article.

In response to the heated response, I thought it would be good to write a quick post about how hashtags are supposed to work without the sensational "ruining the language" angle of the other article.

LEDs in the car

UPDATE: Be sure to read the update at the bottom of the post for details about LEDs and weird electrical issues with some cars.


The previously mentioned Project LED has taken a new turn recently. My original plan was to gradually replace all the house light bulbs with LEDs, thereby saving energy and money, while buying bulbs that will last as much as a decade.

That plan is still going, of course, but my new project has been to replace all of the car bulbs with LEDs. It's easy to overlook the car bulbs as even needing to be replaced because, unlike house bulbs, you're not paying per kilowatt hour on the electricity your car bulbs use. So why replace them at all?


LEDs run very cool, to start, meaning less excess heat which can damage or leave black marks on other electronics over time. 

Remembering my first car

Way back in 2004, I decided I wanted a car. I'd been driving my parents' car up until then, and I was anxious to get my own set of wheels. A coworker at the time was considering selling his Mustang, and the notion seemed to capture my mind. After my coworker decided against selling his car, I'd already decided I wanted a Mustang and couldn't get the idea out of my head.

So after a fair amount of shopping around, I found a winner. A 1999, 35th Anniversary Edition V6 with only 50,000 miles. I borrowed some money and made the purchase.

Android Tip: Google Maps Traffic Widgets

This feature has been a part of Google Maps for Android for a while now, but I only became aware of it recently. Google Maps for Android features a very nifty little widget you can add to your homescreen for instant traffic information.

To add it, go to add a new widget and look for Traffic. When you add it, you will have to give the widget a name and then give it an address to navigate to. The widget will then be placed on your homescreen and will look something like the picture here. It will show you a red, yellow, or green light based on current traffic conditions and estimate the number of minutes it will take to get from your current location to the destination in the widget.

You can add multiple traffic widgets to your homescreen to the various places you travel most. One for home, one for work, etc. Then before you leave for that place, just tap the widget and you get a quick heads-up about what the traffic conditions are along your route. The time estimation isn't perfect, of course, as routes can vary greatly depending on traffic lights and other factors, but it's still a great way to get a quick glance at what might be along your route. If nothing else, the light showing red when you don't expect it might make you pause to look up what's going on.

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The on-demand lifestyle

My children will likely never remember media being on a schedule. That's kind of a crazy thought, but it's true. The baby is still too little to understand watching TV or listening to music, but Amber definitely does and she has never had to be told no to a request. Of course, I have told her no, but only because of other circumstances, never because what she requested was unavailable.

All of our movies are in digital form on a hard drive in a Media Center PC; all of our CDs are ripped into the computer; whatever little videos she wants to watch are on YouTube; even the radio we listen to is choose-your-genre Internet radio. And once she's old enough to watch episodes of TV shows, they'll either be ready on the DVR, or streaming from the web.

Android pro tip: Search with different apps

One of the best parts about using an Android smartphone is that there are so many seriously powerful things that the OS is capable of. An admittedly frustrating part of Android, however, is that not all of the cool features are immediately apparent and average users may not always discover them.

One such feature is app searching. Most Android phones have a dedicated search button right on the front. And even those that don't at least have a Google Search widget with launches the same search app. Pressing it brings up a search bar that lets you search through items on your phone, as well as search the whole Internet. By default, it searches through your apps, contacts, bookmarks, etc.

But that search can be customized to be much, much more powerful. With a few tweaks, you can pick which apps you want to be searchable right from the search button