The Lance J. Technoweb

Smart Thermostats are stupid.  $250 for what amounts to a $30 thermostat with $10 of extra smarts and a $180 display is simply insane.  Then you add the installation costs and security risks and the risk that it will become useless within 15 years and it becomes clear that Smart Thermostats are a very very stupid investment. I have new approach.  I call it the Better Smart thermostat.  It costs the same as today's inexpensive "dumb" Programmable thermostats, but has 100% of the capabilities of the Nest. Take today's $30 thermostat and keep it as a regular, simply-programmable thermostat.  It has a temperature sensor, a display, and some relays for turning the systems on and off.  Then add BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to give it the ability to get hints from an external device. That's it.  No fancy display.  No special wiring.  No 802.11n.  It uses BLE, so it can use regular AA batteries. But with BLE on-board, some significant opp...

I buy a lot of aftermarket batteries for MacBooks, and judging by weight, it is very clear that 3rd party batteries are significantly lighter than the originals. That means that the aftermarket batteries simply cannot provide as much power. Analysis: There are three major parts to a laptop battery: The housing, made of plastic and/or aluminum The battery management electronics and power connector The lithium cells So let's think of everything that makes up a battery except the lithium cells: It seems like a good bet that a genuine Apple battery's housing and electronics has roughly the same weight as an aftermarket battery.  For argument's sake, let's say that a battery unit weights 100 grams PLUS the weight of the cells. That implies that a lighter battery has smaller (or fewer) cells! For example, I have a genuine MacBook battery that weights 364 grams.  My aftermarket battery weighs 230 grams.  Assuming that 100 grams is for non-cell componentry, that ...

Here is how to repair the cord of Apple MacSafe power adapters. There are three common failure modes of a magsafe wire: The base of the cord becomes frayed where the wire enters the power brick.  This is usually caused by repeatedly wrapping the cord far too tightly around the brick's "ears". The head of the magsafe connector becomes frayed.  This is usually caused by repeatedly removing the magsafe magnet by yanking on the cord. Chewed up cord.  This is where a pet or other pinching device weakens the cord. These types of failure are usually repairable at home using the technique described here. Tools Required: A beginner's Soldering kit, like this one, including a low-wattage soldering iron, rosin-core Solder, and wire strippers. Heat shrink tubing .   Any color works, but these days I use white to repair a MagSafe cord. One Soldering Sleeve, appropriate for 22 or 24 AWG wire Heat gun (optional.) Process:   The general process is t...

$1 a day is a lot of money. It's $365 a year. Estimating that you pay an average of 15% interest on your credit card, you'll pay $420 a year for that $365 dollar a year cost. Do you pay wage taxes?  Assuming 30% taxes, that means you need to earn $600 in your paycheck to cover that $420 a year financial expense. Adding it all up over ten years, you need $6000 to pay for $1 per day So remember: the $8 dollar sandwich instead of the $7 sandwich costs you $6000. the $3 coffee instead of the free cup of water costs you $18000. Next Steps The next step is to start getting cheap.  Stop buying ANY stuff that isn't needed, and skip extra expenses.  Take any savings and pay off  debts.  Once debts are gone, there is a lot more money to spend.

Did you ever notice that before a big storm rolls in, people go nuts and crowd the supermarket? I notice the crowds.  But I don't think it's because people go nuts. If a big storm is forecast for Wednesday, people who were planning to go to the store on Wednesday pretty much have to go on Tuesday.  And that means that Tuesday might be twice as crowded as normal.  Twice the crowd is a huge leap.  The longer the storm, the bigger the impact. Imagine that you're planning a dinner for a 15 person party, and then you get word that 30 people are going to show up.  That's a real scramble even if you get advanced notice. Supermarkets are a pretty predictable business, but a sudden 100% increase in foot traffic can completely throw off inventory and employee scheduling.  It can also throw off parking, cash register availability, and shopping cart use. I'm sure supermarkets work hard to try to cover the bases when many more people show up, but clearly every...