//ToDo: Sohj's blog name here

A somewhat slow week, so this post will be a bit shorter than the rest. So this week, yesterday in fact, Google deemed me worthy to receive a custom URL for my Google+ page (http://plus.google.com/+JoshWilson-sohjsolwin in case you're curious). I was not allowed to reserve a simple +JoshWilson like I would have preferred, simply due to it being too common of a name. I was instead forced to append some characters to the end to make it unique. I am not too happy with the result. Being able to select something like /+SohjSolwin would have been preferred to the naming scheme I had to abide by, but in the end, I still got my custom URL and it's still easier to remember and write out than the long number i was assigned before. Now, on to the #SecretSanta. This year, I will be participating in the #GPlusSanta #SecretSanta gift exchange on Google Plus. It's this really awesome thing where you put together an Amazon Wishlist, send it in to the GPlusSanta, and someone may pick yo...

So, I owe you two posts, and I'll deliver on those shortly. It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I'll break these up as they would have been had I wrote them on the original days they were scheduled for. Now, let us begin. I attended a hackathon last weekend at the Microsoft Offices in Chevy Chase. Myself and a team of 5 others (mostly co-workers) set out to create something to help prevent fraud and catch bad actors. We had access to Dun and Bradstreet's enormous dataset on near anything you would ever want to know about a business, including its financial information, how many computers they have, competitors, branches, offices, suits, liens, anything. It was a pretty amazing dataset. We decided to work on creating a graph to help visibly see how many degrees of separation existed between a seemingly reputable company and a potentially fraudulent one. It was a fun two days, filled with caffeine, code, and cold pizza. Our end product was, I thought, pretty good, bu...

Last week was host to the long awaited Nexus 5 (official) reveal. It was already leaked and all but confirmed in the weeks leading up to it's October 31st debut on the Google Play store, but now it's finally available for purchase. It looks to be a very nice phone, but I no longer feel compelled to upgrade. Starting a few months ago, about the time the Moto X became immensely hyped, I started taking a look at what I actually needed my phone for. There's making calls, sure, but aside from that, I really only used it for web browsing, email, and various other apps. I no longer have any games on my phone, I don't use it for streaming music or watching Netflix, there's the occasional Youtube video, and Google+. I realized that I am in no way taxing my phone's memory or processor, so what need is there for me to purchase a new device that is primarily a spec bump? If I'm going to purchase something new, it's going to be because it provides something that my c...

Earlier this week I had my introductory interview with the Helpouts crew to verify the skills that I claim to have and to get an overall feel for how the system works and what to expect from a Helpout. I think the system will be very useful and I look forward to both providing Helpouts and utilizing them to learn new things. I asked if Helpouts would be able to utilize Glass, and at current it does not, but Helpouts hasn't launched yet, so anything can change. I received confirmation that my Helpouts listing has been approved yesterday and that it will be one of the first available when Helpouts goes live. They also said that they would be sending me a few invitation codes for friends and family to practice prior to the launch date, so if any one is interested in helping me practice or if you need any Tech assistance, let me know. Thursday I attended a meetup co-hosted by  +Antonio Zugaldia  of Silica Labs and  +GDG Washington DC . It was informative and interesting....

#sohjsolwin Many people have a type of animal they find themselves drawn to, one that always grabs their attention. Whether they see it on the handle of an antique spoon, or on a billboard along the highway, it always makes them look and think "huh, cool". For some it's cats, others foxes, eagles, horses, ants; for me, it's dragonflies. Whenever I see an artists photo or painting of dragonflies I always stop to admire it. Whenever I see them floating in midair exactly where they want to be, I'm always amazed at how graceful and determined their movements are. They never seem to be blown around by the wind or interfered with in any way. They travel precisely where they mean to. My imagination always seems to fly off with them as well. This past weekend was a lazy one. I stayed home, browsed online some, played a few games, and watched The Office on Netflix. I accomplished nothing. On sunday afternoon I remembered receiving the invitation to set up a meeting w...

I know. I know. I haven't posted in a while. There's been quite a bit going on lately so I've been a bit preoccupied. As a result though, I have several posts in the queue. In the next week or so (when I'm able to sit down and finish them) there'll be new posts about my switch over to Linux Mint (12 and 13) as my full time OS, my start down the path of 3D printer ownership, a kick ass stereo I backed/bought on Kickstarter, and last, but certainly not least, I"M ATTENDING GOOGLE I/O THIS YEAR! That's quite a bit of writing, but I think I can handle it. We've reached the point on the project at work that I can go back to my preferred schedule (6a-3p) so I'll have some time in the afternoons to write these up. That coupled with the writers group meetup that I've begun attending should help these posts flow out like... something... that flows, i don't know, fast(?), not slow like cold maple syrup. Hey, I just started going, it's a wo...

First off, I apologize for the delay. I've had some things come up, the least of which being my HDD crashing, and side projects have been pushed back and around a bit lately. Anyway, now on to what  you all came for: The Galaxy Nexus dock mod. Completed Nexus S to Galaxy Nexus modified Dock Nexus S Dock box Nexus S dock contents: The dock and a micro USB power supply I started out with a standard, Samsung branded, Nexus S Multimedia Desktop Dock (Model: ECR-D1A3BEGSTA ). Inside this box is the dock itself, which is comfortably heavy so you don't have to worry about it sliding too much, and the power plug, which goes straight from a US wall outlet to a micro USB port, no standard 5V outlet on this one. The first thing you'll notice is that there are no visible screws to remove to aid in its disassembly. This gives the dock a very nice, clean look and, unfortunately, also makes it a bit of a headache to get in to. Not to worry thoug...