Don’t you hate when you lose the remote? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could, oh, say store that information on your computer and never lose it? Or how about being able to control various parts of your computer (such as a music player) via remote?

If so, and you’re electronically inclined, go check out LIRC (Linux Infrared Remote Control). If I tried to explain it all, I wouldn’t do as good a job as they did.

Go check it out and never lose your remote again, you geek you.

I’ve been meaning to learn how to solder, since there are several things that I would like to make (like the Altoids MP3 player), but I haven’t got a soldering iron or gun.

I can still look, right?

Well, I found this guide on how to make a desoldering iron, or a ‘hot air pencil’. It looks pretty nifty and if I ever get around to soldering things, it’s certainly something I’m going to have to make.

I mess around with Linux sometimes (I really need a separate computer for that) and I know it can sometimes be hard to find Linux programs for certain tasks. Thankfully, there is now Ubuntu Studio for those who want to audio/video stuff.

I haven’t tried it, since I don’t have Linux at the moment (please don’t hurt me!), but at least it’s handy to have everything in one place.

Somebody try it out and let me know how it goes.

This time, I bring you FreeBookZone. Free Book Zone not only has free computer science books, but books on things like engineering and more than one science. Want some novels? There are some there, too.

There isn’t a huge selection, but it is something worth taking a look at, if only to see if there is something new.