Friday, January 07, 2011

Floating Guest House

 
 

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via Tiny House Blog by Kent Griswold on 1/6/11

As many of you know I am a huge fan of floating homes and have often thought of starting another blog focusing just on them. Recently through a google alert I discovered this little floating guest house in Portland, Oregon. Designed and constructed by a company called Studio Hamlet Architects, PLLC based in Bainbridge Island, WA. Julia Zander was kind enough to send me some wonderful photographs and gave me permission to share this project with you.

Floating Retreat
This floating guest house is nestled among a community of eclectic houseboats on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The project was designed to work as a part-time residence for a couple's use while their main floating home is being built. After moving into the main house, the guest house will become a vacation retreat for visiting family and friends.

Big Ideas With Small Spaces
We had to deal with the marina's very restrictive rules for a guest house size. The marina restricts the size of a float to 18'x34' and restricts the maximum height above the water to 15'-6". The fire code requires perimeter access on all sides of a structure, and with the inclusion of an exterior deck, we only had a 14'-9" x 22'-6" (332sf) outside perimeter structure footprint to work with. Not much room for the owner's desire for a self-sufficient dwelling, including a kitchen, bathroom, dining, living space and sleeping loft.

The design makes the most of its limited space and uses various design techniques to create a feeling of spaciousness. The house feels much larger and more spacious than its 433 sf. The careful design avoids uncomfortably tight spaces. You don't bump your elbows against the walls and the scale doesn't make you feel you are too big in a small space. The guest house can even handle extra guests. The dining booth can comfortably seat up to five and the couch coverts to a bed, accommodating two additional overnight visitors.

We Started With A Good Foundation
We constructed a concrete float for the guest house. Like a good foundation, it has a substantial feeling and carries the comfort of knowing it will require only minimal maintenance in the future. Concrete floats are rare in the Portland area, but the common practice of building log floats is beginning to be questioned with all the maintenance issues and the diminishing number of available quality logs.

Showering Meditation And A Cozy Place To Sleep
A skylight strategically placed above the shower illuminates the green glass tile. Combined with the warm grey colored cement shower pan, the space feels peaceful and serene. The cozy loft has just enough room to crawl up into bed. This bedroom and built-in shelving has a feeling of protection under the eaves, with a view looking out over the water.

The Natural World Surrounds
Although downtown Portland is minutes away, the location feels like you are on a constant nature retreat. Ducks, turtles, beavers, bald eagles and osprey inhabit the local environment. Daylighting is constantly changing as sunlight dances off the water. The corrugated metal ceiling catches the reflected light from the abundant windows and mimics the rippling water outside.


 
 

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How To Set Up A Home Server With Amahi [Linux]

 
 

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via MakeUseOf.com by James Bruce on 1/7/11

For a number of years now I've been running Microsoft Windows Home Server on a spare machine I had, as it's a great way to use up all the spare hard drives that I find lying around the house. It has served me well as a networked storage device and streaming media server, as well as providing me with automated nightly back-ups (of my Windows systems at least).

However, the Home Server team recently announced that they would not be including the disk pooling technology in the next release, so I've been looking for an alternative. Amahi Home Server - a Linux based solution – might just be the answer.

First off, let me explain why anyone would even need a server for their home.


In the modern home, there are sometimes a lot of media and computing devices. At one point last year, my home network consisted of:

  • An Xbox 360 and Playstation.
  • A network connected LCD TV in the living room.
  • 2 laptops.
  • 2 desktops.
  • 1 iPad and 2 iPhones.
  • A number of guests who would bring their machines round.

Admittedly, that is a lot for anyone – but even with just a few connected systems, they all need to access shared media (movies, music and such) and all could benefit from a backup every now and again. A home server can provide:

  • A central place to store files and media and well as stream those on your home network.
  • A central backup location for computers.
  • Printer sharing.
  • Much, much more.

We covered setting up a home media server with Linux or Windows, or as a UPNP device for streaming media, but nothing that really ties it all together in one package.

Of course, all that media storage means lots of hard drives, and this is where Microsoft Home Server really excelled. Normally, when you add a hard drive to a computer you must partition it, assign drive letters (like C: for your system, D: for data). Not so with "drive pooling" technology. With pooled storage, you simply throw another hard drive in and tell the computer "here, use that as you wish".

Curiously, Microsoft announced that this amazing functionality would be GONE from the next version of Windows Home Server – the excuse being given that "business users simply don't have need of it". At that point, I officially began searching for a suitable replacement, and would like to show you what I found.

Amahi Home Server

Before we begin, I must tell you that it is no surprise that this alternative is based upon Linux, and as such will require a degree of "fiddling" to get things right, and even such simple tasks as adding a hard drive can become confusing with a mountain of disinformation that the Linux community provides – but let's take that journey together, and let me guide you through the basics of getting your server up and running.

Since I approached this with zero experience of Linux, I think you can too. In future articles, I'll show you exactly how you can accomplish more advanced tasks like setting up a printer, adding hard drives, setting up backup etc.

Quick Install Guide

I find the guide on the Amahi page rather lacking, so here's a quick summary.

  1. Download the Fedora 12 DVD (more download links). Boot from the DVD – the install is fairly basic with help at every step.
  2. I assume you are setting this up on a dedicated machine, so select "use entire drive" when it asks how you'd like to set up the drives. You will lose all data currently on the drive.
  3. When you reach the "software repositories" install stage, stop and click on the "Add additional software" button.
  4. Enter Repository Name: Amahi and Repository URL: http://f12.amahi.org
  5. You will need to be plugged into your network, with the Internet on.
  6. Walk through the rest of the install and select to sync with network time.

When you first log into Fedora, there will be some icons on your desktop. Click the one labelled Install Amahi and you'll be off. You'll also need to create your free account at amahi.org, and note down your network settings to create an install code. If you don't know the network settings for your network you can read the tutorial here to find out. Most home networks have their routers on 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1, so enter this where it says "Gateway". The field is simply where you can make up an address for your Amahi server – it defaults to 192.168.0.10, but I changed mine to .101 just because I have a lot of devices and thought it might conflict. If you only have a few systems, sticking with .10 is fine.

You'll then be given a short code to enter into the Amahi installer on your server desktop. After you've entered your code and run through the installer, you'll need to restart.

After restarting the server and other computers on the network, everything is basically set up. I was able to log into the machine remotely at http://hda, so theoretically you could now disconnect the monitor and put the server in the cupboard.

The installer mentions turning off the DHCP function on your router, but in my case that wasn't necessary. You may need to log into your router or cable modem if you're having problems, but try without first.

Exploring the full range of features available in the server is subject matter for a future article, but suffice to say the server is now operational, so you should start to add some media files to the network shares. Should you feel adventurous, there's a support forum on the Amahi site, and a directory of apps you can enhance your server with.

If you're already running a home server, tell us about it and your experiences in the comments.

 

 

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Tuesday, January 04, 2011

kitHAUS

 
 

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via Design Milk by Jaime on 1/3/11

kitHAUS

LA-based kitHAUS are creators of modern, modular prefab housing. Prefabulous! Put it in your backyard, create a vacation destination, or design a big one to live in.

kitHAUS's six modules are super versatile, customizable, and affordable. They even come and assemble it for you. Since we started talking about backyard offices and modern sheds last year, I feel like they're popping up everywhere. Although I've known about kitHAUS for some time now I have never written about them! You could even say they were one of the pioneers of modern backyard prefabs.

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

kitHAUS

Want to hang out in a kitHAUS? They currently have a contest in which the winners get a weekend stay in a solar-powered kitHAUS located on the beautiful Barking Dog Ranch in Arroyo Grande, California (pictured below). Read more on the contest site.

kitHAUS


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© 2011 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Architecture | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook

 
 

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Man Skis 40mph Down Park Avenue [Video]

 
 

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via Gawker by Ryan Tate on 1/3/11

There's been so much creativity unleashed by New York's recent snowstorm that a film festival may be in order. If so, put Chris Branca's ski stunt video on the shortlist for a jury prize. More »

 
 

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Kinect 'x-ray' overlays you with CT-scan imagery

 
 

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via MAKE Magazine by John Baichtal on 1/3/11

The Kinect allows tracking of users without additional markers. We develop a magic mirror that generated an overlay of a video image with volume visualization from a CT volume. Such a system could be used for education of anatomy.

[Via Beyond the Beyond]

Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Virtual Worlds | Digg this!

 
 

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Saturday, January 01, 2011

Top Ten Cute Photos of 2010

 
 

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via Cute Overload by Meg on 1/1/11

At Cute Overload headquarters, we track the popularity of photos very closely. Y'all remember last year's Top Ten. We have a refined stat-o-meter attached to every post, that measures everything from minor giggles to guffawing LOLs and reports back. Without further ado, here are the Top Ten Photos of 2010.

Drum roll please:

#10 Seal Bomb!

[Who needs another BOOOORING photo of penguins? Look over here!]

#9 Liquid Courage Makes Him Sleepy

Hey y'all, Cowboy Drumsticks McLongbody here, and I reckon y'all here to see me wrangle some o' them wild horses and dangerous bulls! Well, I'll be right ready to go just as soon as I top off this shot of Jim Bea – zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

#8 Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!

#7 The Impossibirds

Ladies and gentlemen, this just might be the cutest darn thing on the entire Intertubes: Four impossibly cute, perfectly perched, flying floofballs!

No! Not the close-up! Not the close-up!

#6 Some Enchanted Morning

The thing that's really annoying about animated movies is how they completely mislead the public. Who's going to believe that animals like kitties & deer are the greatest pals? It's totally unrealistic!

#5 HOVERBALL CAT

According to this report, "This picture was taken just before Hoverball Cat took off at supersonic speed. It sounded like a whistle and a scream and the ground caught fire."

big orange hovercat

#4 Let's Check in on: Boo!

Oh! He's awake!


Nah—asleep.


Wait, he IS awake!


Fooled me again.

#3 Let's Check In on MeMe

MeMe the Kitteh sure is cute.

Let's see how she's doingks. [Cross-eyed head-tilt]

Oh, and this video will make happy tears in your eyeses:

#2 I Wonder If Magellan Had This Problem

Karl couldn't resist a nap while straddling the warm equator between two hemispheres.

#1 Let's Go For a Catwalk

Since 2008, two French hikers have chronicled their trek from Miami, FL to the tip of South America, a journey of 15,000km (about 9,320 miles) through 13 countries.

But what elevates this hike down a hemisphere straight into the Cuteosphere is the third member of the team: A stray kitten who joined them in Louisiana.

Thank you to ALL Sender inners. Especially the following folks who made the Top Ten this year. Photo Credits: #10: Mika W.#9: Amy L. #8: Elizabeth B. #7: T.L #6: Sue P. #5: #RSA #4: Boo! #3: Elizabeth V. and Sakurako Shimizu #2: Theresa V. and Miss Hannah. and #1: Keri F. and Turn of the World!


Filed under: Best of Tagged: Birds, Hoofers, Interspecies Snorgling, Kittens, Pocket Pets, Pups, Unusual animals

 
 

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