On twitter just type your tweet, hit ctrl-y and there you are. It does take up extra room so it will mean less information or more abbreviations. you can also use the dem pasge to encrypt a message for general posting with clear text or an un supported site.

Give it a try. my ussername is thetwidgetlog and key is starbuck.

{{thetwidgetlog::YJdVTu3 t7e157w XQYlrc4 4CYlmps V8oxYnl OJ6boAy HbxZaXQ d8ivOGi /sub0Sy NYQa8My 6YRXuiJ TNIkGnX KarXP0A wXcNE8T baB5ALs Kq7AOsc E95iqeo /B9TQ0f uloIpk4 4zERkUE PVh02D4 48N0l/K rxAEWRi 1a0}}

This time I have jumped several stages and am giving you two types of functions, serial monitoring and schematics using tinycad.

As I worked with this sketch I found that using the input values and a millisecond delay made it way to long and interval to brighten and dim.

I changed to microsecond and used the analogRead value as the interval.

I also found that if the delay value became zero, delay behaved badly. To fix this I put a 330 ohm resistor on the ground side of the potentiometer so that the analogRead would never be zero.

You will notice some code left in that appears to be not needed. You are right! Some lines are left over from what I tried to do first;.

If the notes in the sketch are not clear please let me know in the comments. I have left out the video, for now

adjustable_PULSE_LED_schematic

/*
Pulse an led on a pin. Go from dark to full bright in an adjustable interval then back down to dark in the same interval. The interval is adjusted via a potentiometer.
*/

int ledPin = 11; // led pin used for LED in entire program
int sensorPin = 0; // pin pot is tied to
int interval = 1000; // interval for change in microsecond, 100000 is one second up and one second down
int sensor1 = 0; // sensor raw
int sensor1a = 0; // sensor expanded
int waitforit = (interval/255); //delay this much between each increment

void setup ()  {
Serial.begin(9600); //start serial comm
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); //initialize ledPin for OUTPUT
pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT); // initialize sensorPin for INPUT
}

void loop()    {

waitforit = readSensor(); //
/*
The Serial.print lines are a debugging aid printing out the value used to count up and down in the bright functions
*/
Serial.print(“waitforit is “);
Serial.println(waitforit, DEC);
brightup(); //call the brightup function to raise the led brightness from 0 to 255
brightdown();  //call the brightdown function to lower the led brightness from 255 to 0

}
/*****************************************************************************************
additional functions defined below
*****************************************************************************************/
int readSensor () {
/* This is the subroutine to read the potentiometer and return the value 0 – 1023

*/

sensor1 = analogRead(sensorPin); // read sensor

/*
The Serial.print lines are a debugging aid printing out the value read from the potentiometer
a 330 ohm resistor was added to the ground leg of the potentiometer as a current limiter and to disallow
a reading of “0″. Zero as a value for delayMicrosecond statement causes the loop to behave abnormally
*/

Serial.print(“Sensor1 is “);
Serial.println(sensor1, DEC);

sensor1a = sensor1 * 1; //stretch the interval out, if needed

sensor1a = sensor1a / 1 ; //divide value by a number for use as the count delay waitforit

return sensor1a; // return the adjusted value for the interval
}

void brightup () {
/* this is the subroutine to raise the brightness from zero to 255 over a specific delay
brightness is declared and initialized in this function
waitforit was declared and initialized for the entire program first
*/

for (int brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness ++){

analogWrite(ledPin,brightness); //write the brightness value

delayMicroseconds(waitforit); // delay 1/255 of the interval to maximum brightness
}
}

void brightdown () {
/* this is the subroutine to lower the brightness from zero to 255 over a specific delay
brightness is declared and initialized in this function
waitforit was declared and initialized for the entire program first
*/

for (int brightness = 255; brightness > 0; brightness — ){

analogWrite(ledPin,brightness); //write the brightness value

delayMicroseconds(waitforit); // delay 1/255 of the interval to maximum brightness
}
}

About Jerry

I have done the blink and press button to blink. I decided the one to post about would be my venture into functions.

I needed to be able to call functions to allow for a program that had more flexibility to it. To that end I made what is a simple program to raise and lower the brightness of a led over a flexible period of time. I am going to post the program with what I hope are copious notes to make it understandable. If you have any trouble with it just leave a comment and I will try to clear the fog.

Here it is:

/*

Pulse an led on a pin. Go from dark to full bright in a designated interval then back down to dark in the same interval

*/
int ledPin = 11; // led pin used for LED in entire program

int interval = 500; // interval for change in milliseconds, 1000 is one second up and one second down

int waitforit = (interval/255); //delay this much between each increment

void brightup () {

/*

this is the subroutine to raise the brightness from zero to 255 over a specific delay

brightness is declared and initialized in this function

waitforit was declared and initialized for the entire program first
*/

for (int brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness ++){

analogWrite(ledPin,brightness); //write the brightness value

delay(waitforit); // delay 1/255 of the interval to maximum brightness

}

}

void brightdown () {

/*

this is the subroutine to lower the brightness from zero to 255 over a specific delay

brightness is declared and initialized in this function

waitforit was declared and initialized for the entire program first

*/

for (int brightness = 255; brightness > 0; brightness — ){

analogWrite(ledPin,brightness); //write the brightness value

delay(waitforit); // delay 1/255 of the interval to maximum brightness

}

}

void setup ()  {

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); //initialize ledPin for OUTPUT

}

void loop()    {

brightup();   //call the brightup fuction to raise the led brightness from 0 to 255

brightdown();  //call the brightdown fuction to lower the led brightness from 255 to 0

}

This is it working

We all do it, it’s easy. You don’t want to remember a dozen passwords so you just makeup a simple one and use everywhere. It’s no big deal, until a service you use that was not important is hacked and the “one” password is now exposed and is fed to a bot that will try every possible bank and service to see what they can get.

Another common mistake is choosing names in your life, past or present  for the password or reset questions. That was the mistake Sarah Palin made.

There is also the rule method. With this method you devise a formula and use it to make a self recoverable password. The simplest example is the all ways fun igpay atinlay. As with all things that can be made by a plan they can be undone. There is no simple way to make a robust password plan. It will require variety, random choices and lies.

One plan could be to create a tier of passwords:

• Highly secure with eight or more characters including numbers and capitals like fFer55$5$ERTGgH. Use these with banks and sites that can affect your life directly.
• Moderately secure with eight or more characters. A pass phrase is good here like, supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. Use this for sites that you pay to use and may have your credit cards attached.
• Moderately secure with just eight characters. for example MoonBeam. Use this with sites that you access for information but can’t purchase items or send email on your behalf.

The More passwords you have the better though. To that end I use a service called LastPass. There are other services and the browsers them selves can store passwords. LastPass has plugins and extensions for Chrome, Firefox and a tabbed browser for IOS that make it a better choice for me.. They have a free version and a paid version with more services. I current use the free version. It will save the password for any site and fill in the username and password fields when you go to each site. They also has a password generator that can create a random password of long length for your protection.

This feature showed up in Chrome v9 apperently, I just didn’t notice. So I set it up and checked to see if I could print from my ipad to the desktop printer. It worked! I can even print from my iPod touch on IOS 4.2

Setting up was a breeze. Just click on the wrench and go to options then the under the hood tab. Sign in to “Cloud print” and your off.

I tested it with my iPad and Google docs. I tried two different docs and both printed just as they should. You are offered a choice of printers, based on what you have installed on the computer.

Currently the spreadsheet did not offer a cloud print choice.

I then used team viewer to setup cloud printing on a home computer with a printer and WOW. There is the printer at home. I could be anywhere and send a print-job to a printer at work or at home!

This is just one more reason to use chrome and Google docs for your word processing needs.

I began with Safari. Opening a page was quicker. Then I went to a You Tube video I had tried the night before. It had taken several minutes to buffer the one and a half minute show. Now it began playing and did not need to stop for buffering, that is a win.

Now we check Hulu. Normally I have several stops to buffer and some total stops during any length show. With IOS 4.3 the show started up, only had some minor blips that would have been a stop. It kept on going without a hitch. Yet another win. App loading feels faster too.

What about the playing of your library media to the iPad via AirPlay? That’s not exactly what they mean. They mean’t you could access your home-shared library from your iPad or iPhone or touch. Once you go to settings on the device and put in your apple ID you can access your music, podcasts and video from either the iPod app or the video app.

I think this update is a win, right now. Now we will see how the new apps work this Friday.

As for the presentation, I like the carousel of pages,, but the movement of the page is too slow and clunky.  I don’t like the need to rotate my iPad to see some pages. Reading the news should not require movements to get the whole story. At the same time I think having accessible extra information is good. Those methods should be the same throughout the program.

Overall if you want an overview of some news then try The Daily, while it is free. I do not think you should subscribe though.

I think that if you subscribe to something you should be getting extras and lose the ads. You might say “but jerry, the magazines have ads in them and you subscribed to them”. I would respond, “hey the subscription was supposed to pay for the transport of that magazine to me, ahead of the general release to the public stands. The cover price of a magazine goes mostly to pay for the transportation and distribution chain, not the publisher”. They are, or should be, making their income from the ads in the publication.

Google Chrome under attack by critics. Operation payback cripples MasterCard site. Wikileaks cannot be stopped say the experts. Will Nokia jump to Android? Let’s hope so. No Windows 7 slates by year end. Meanwhile MSFT get huge government contract. Japan misses Venus with rocket. Bad math? Holiday shopping through the roof according to Comscore. NYC getting MSFT store.

Click to listen:

Google does a demo and shows Chrome OS plus the new Android OS and other items. The company is also in a battle with Amazon over book sales. 4Chan goes after the Swiss bank and others who attack the Wikileaks folks. AT&T still the worst carrier after one day. Cityville now on Facebook. IE9 supposed to stop tracking. Oh really? Japan floating around Venus. Twitter worm using Goo.gl. And Verizon thinks it can use LTE for home Internet service? Har.

Click to listen:

Google finally selling all those books it has been scanning. Two new phones from Google including the Nexus S. Whatever happened to the Nexus 2? Facebook on 60 Minutes to promote, uh, advertising? Apple to hire hot designer for new campus. Columbia backs off on anti-Wikileaks attitude. AT&T is the worst says consumer Reports. Samsung tablet news. IBM giving it away. HP’s new University. Lose you job over offshoring? Get money! Tech deals will continue forever. Tumblr blows up, for a day.

Click to listen: