A Data Mining Project (day 1)

I've decided that the following weather station is a suitable model to get started with (http://goo.gl/vQSQu).
"Smartweather Professional Weather station with PC hookup and Solar power" http://goo.gl/vQSQu. It looks very similar to the (rebadged?) Ambient Weather WS-2080 Wireless Home Weather Station http://www.ambientweather.com/amws2080.html

Anyway: it has a solar battery recharger - so I don't have to maintain the outdoor part - wind speed and direction sensor, temperature, rainfall, barometric pressure; so lots of interesting data to accumulate.

However as Alex said "the fun is in deciphering the protocol used to transfer the data from the unit to the PC".

The console acts as a local display and the connection point between the PWS (personal weather station) and a PC. The Smartweather kit comes with an EasyWeather software install CD.
n.b. Davis provide the WeatherLink software application for their own products. There may also be other basic client software packages from open source or free. Some resources to investigate:

• the Cumulus Weather Station Software (link)
• the Weather Station Data Mining Project on sourceforge (link)
• the Weather Underground (wunderground) weather station network (link)
• for OS X, the Weather Snoop (link)

All good stuff. Now to read Mike Puchol's blog on "where are the all the beautiful Mac OS weather apps?"... (link)

Working life byod (r)evolution

Do you have the option of flexible work locations?
Do you work as a member of a virtual team working in different time zones?
As a member of a virtual team working in the same time zone?
What BYODs do you use (smartphone, tablet, laptop, other?)
Do you use paid-for IT services or 'free'?
Are your IT services provided in-house or by a supplier?
Who pays (for bandwidth, valued added services, hardware, support, breakages)?
Is it secure? Has data spread beyond the 'login' of the corporate zone?
Have you experienced data loss from file corruption? From erroneous use? From other's erroneous use? Due to faulty software or systems failure?
Is my working day spreading into private time? How much?
Has your BYOD ever failed, been broken, been stolen?
Are personal files (family photos, emails) mingled with your work files?
Are your personal files synched or backed up via regular docking or cloud services?
Have you paid excessive charges for backup or cloud services? Does your employer reimburse you?
Has your BYOD been audited by your employer? If so how was the audit conducted? What was the outcome?
Has your BYOD device been seized or subpoenaed as evidence?
Has it been subjected to a forensic examination?
Have copies of the files on your BYOD been made by other agencies in connection with investigation or litigation?
Do you know what files have been copied?
How are those files disposed? Retention/destruction period if relevant?