The Lance J. Technoweb

A few quick updates. I ended up moving my backboard from a location that was impeded by plumbing to a more accessible spot.  This change does mean extending some cables, but access to my backboard panel and power will be far easier.  It's a big win. Speaking of the backboard, I have an 8 port network switch mounted, along with a PoE injector and a giant amplified cable TV splitter.  I also mounted a power strip, which I might later replace with a UPS.  I don't plan to mount any more equipment in the short term.  I Now that my backboard has moved 8 feet away, I needed a way to drag over a dozen+ cables over 8 feet away, and most need to be extended.  Extending is easy with couplers, and  I figured my best solution for dealing with the extra cabling is to use a cable tray. Cable trays are not inexpensive (they are not free), so instead I have gutted an old light fluorescent light fixture and am using the steel housing as a poor man's cable tray.  I ...

Lots of tech things have come to an end, but some things still live on even though they feel like they should have come to an end. Our classic analog broadcast TV system here in the US ended about 10 years ago after a 70 year run, although many US cable TV companies embarrassingly still use it to transfer video to millions of customers despite its poor quality and inefficiency.  After all, US cable TV companies don't want to replace their profitable-but-obsolete systems. FAX machines seem dead, but due to the poor security of software services, coupled with a lack of legal privacy protections, FAX machines are still a staple within the medical and legal businesses. But mobile phone tech?  Yeah, that's dying on a schedule, as cell phone tech in the US is centrally controlled by the telecom oligarchy of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.  So given industry clout, some old and not-so-old iPhones are going to be unusable on US phone networks. The Retiring iPhones Apple made a b...

I've had a Roomba for a long time, and it's fair to ask why.  A robot vacuum cleaner seems expensive and fragile and gimmicky, but in my case Roomba is an incredible money-and-space saver. I live in a small apartment with a pet.  I have very little storage space, and I certainly have no room for a traditional bulky vacuum cleaner.  So instead I have a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Roomba as my only vacuum cleaner?  Hardly. You might now be thinking that a Roomba is not an all-purpose vacuum, and you're right.  A Roomba cannot vacuum everything, as it is restricted to the floor.  It can't clean stairs or under some furniture or the tops of the baseboard or under the oven.  So for those jobs, I have a higher-end handheld lithium-powered Dustbuster . Yes, I vacuum my place exclusively with a Roomba and a Dustbuster, and I've been doing this for many years. And now you're thinking I'm very nuts.  HOLD ON. Life with "Roombie and Dusty" My Roomba (a 500-series...

I recycle a lot of stuff that comes into my house, but I don't recycle everything.  Here is my rule: "If I don't know with confidence that it is recyclable, it goes in the trash". "Trash" in my area isn't as bad as others.  Where I live, trash is processed.  Valuables like metals are pulled out, and the remaining stuff is turned to energy.  Although incineration does release CO2, the same amount of CO2 is release when putting trash in the ground. After the incineration process, the more metals are pulled out of the ash, and the ash is turned into bricks for capping old landfills. Each locality has its own rules on what to recycle because each recycling facility has specific technical capabilities.  And these abilities can change over time.  So therefore, my first job is to pay attention to the current rules. Without overriding the rules, here's what I generally do where I live: Food containers I generally recycle food containers made out of cardboard...