Sentry Fire Safe Fix

I have a Sentry Safe that I bought at Sam's for $150.  It worked great for about 3 months and then went completely dead. I tried the batteries, playing with the contacts, all of the normal things that an electronics geek would try and no luck.  I was keeping medication in there that I take every day so I needed to get in.  I called Sentry support.  They have an 800 number and they answered quickly and it was actually an American on the other end!  I know, amazing, right? He told me all of the usual and then he said there had been some problems with the contacts inside.

The solution: unscrew the face, there is a small phillips head on the underside of the keypad.   Turn the face counter clockwise and pull forward.  The problem was immediately apparent when I pulled the face off.  The connection that the batteries push against almost fell out.  Very poor quality.  There are two v shaped contacts that the battery tray presses against.  Take a flathead screwdriver and bend the contacts down so that the battery tray makes solid contact and voila!

I posted this here hoping it would get indexed by Google because I didn't find it with a search.  The model number is SFW123FTC. Other than this, I have been very happy with the safe.  It feels well built(other the the above) and is pretty roomy.  Probably great for the average family.

Family Found Living in the Wild for 40 years!

This is an amazing story.  A family in Russia had moved into Siberia to escape religious persecution and had no contact with the world for 40 years.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html

Free ebook from Packt Publishing

Hi All,

Packt Publishing is giving away a free book to anyone that signs up for an account this weekend. They have a great choice of programming and tech related books. It is only good until September 30th, so get in on it soon!  Check it out here:

http://www.packtpub.com/

Home Automation-Smart Everything?

I have been interested in home automation for years.  I have done a fair amount of research and I plan on implementing some different things in my house.  A Nest thermostat is going to be my first purchase.  I plan on adding motion detectors for lights in the house.  I am also going to put speakers throughout the house and on the covered front porch and the back deck.

There is a new device I just read about called Electric Imp that looks amazing.  Appliance makers can add a port for about $1 and the device itself is about the size of an SD card and should be available for about $25.  If they can sell some manufacturers and really get some market penetration, it could really move the era of connected home devices into the future.

Finished the Matching Engine

I finished the core matching engine last night.  You can match tiles and it drops the above tiles into place and generates new values for the top tiles.  I cleaned up the code and commented it.  I posted it on the Monkey code forums.  I have learned so much there.  I hope maybe the code will help someone that is new to Monkey learn a few things.

Now it is time to start on the gameplay and putting graphics into the engine.  I think I am going to use the Diddy framework for the game.  I am going to spend a couple of days going through it and seeing if I want to go that route.  I want to be able to release this for most of the platforms available on Monkey so I want to have autoscaling resolution in from the get go.

I have also been reading the Monkey book I posted about.  I am already 25% of the way through.  The book has good structure and I think it is good for someone that knows how to program and is just beginning with Monkey.

Link to Code

Monkey Game Development-Book Review Coming Soon

Packt Publishing was kind enough to supply a review copy of Michael Hartlef's new book on programming games with Monkey.  I am excited to get started reading this.  I will be providing a review in the next few weeks.  Here is a link to take a look and purchase if interested.

Monkey Game Development: Beginner's Guide

Coding a Game-With Monkey

One of my favorite games to play on my iPhone when I have a little downtime is Dungeon Raid. It is a lot of fun.  You match swords, shields & potions and they help you upgrade your equipment and killing monsters let you upgrade your hero.  The dragging motion to match is fun and satisfying.  I thought it would be fun to code something like this on a bigger scale where the game portion leads to more options, kind of a cross between Puzzle Quest and Dungeon Raid.

My initial thoughts are to have a turn that is comprised of phases.  Phase 1 would be matching to gain resources like wood, gold, stone & food.  Phase 2 would be using those resources to upgrade your kingdom. Phase 3 would be a research phase where you match to gain points for spell and technology research. Finally, Phase 4 would be a conquest phase where you have a world map and can expand your kingdom by conquering territories.

I have started the matching engine in Monkey.  It is in the preliminary stages, but the matching portion is functional.  I will start expanding out from there once I polish the matching engine a little more.  To be honest, finishing projects isn't my strong point, but I am going to work hard to make progress on this.