The Lance J. Technoweb

A few weeks ago I tried to wonder why I run my dishwasher overnight.  I set it to run at about 4 AM or 5 AM, and it finishes up by 6 AM or 7 AM or so.  Here's a conclusion of my analysis. Electricity is more efficient overnight, and therefore costs less and emits less carbon. Power companies produce less electricity at night due to lower demand.  During the day, they produce more electricity. As for-profit entities, power companies want to use as little fuel as possible - after all, their biggest expense is fuel. So the plants that they run all the time are their most efficient plants, and the plants that they add during peak times - during the day - are their least efficient plants. By running my dishwasher over night, I am guaranteed to be using the power by the most energy efficient power plants. Winter Heat / Summer Heat My dishwasher releases quite a bit of waste heat and moisture.  Most of that heat from the dishwasher stays in my house.  By runn...

All my regular readers know that I love the late 2009 and mid-2010 white unibody MacBook notebooks.  They're robust, they're still very capable, and they can still run the latest MacOS. One problem with these old beasts is the bottom rubber can detach.  Apple used to provide free replacements, but that program ended more than a year ago. So what do you do to fix the bottom?  It's easy!  Here's what I did: Remove the bottom plate by removing the 8 bottom screws. Fully peel off the failed rubber and fully expose the aluminum. Use small pieces of permanent tape on the "back side" of the lid to cover the drill holes in the aluminum. Fully clean the "exposed side" of the aluminum plate. Apply small stick-on rubber feet to each corner. Coat the "exposed side" of the plate with several coats of Plasti-Dip spray paint .  I picked red, but there are many colors available. Re-attach the bottom plate to the laptop. There we go!  Now I ha...

I repair a lot of equipment - mostly smartphones and laptops.  I'm no genius and I have limited expertise.  But I do know how to do quality work - making sure that the result is no worse than where we started from.  I am happy to say that I've rarely made something worse. Not everyone is so good. I've acquired a lot of equipment that was ruined from "home repair" people.  Don't be that person. Here are the things I've seen: Missing components and screws. "Lost" small parts floating around inside a machine. Mistakenly disconnected cables. Welded parts mistakenly pulled apart. If you're going to do a home repair, do good work.  That means you need to be patient, triple-check your work, and use reputable procedures and guides (which universally means NOT YOUTUBE!) Here are my tips: Get good repair procedures well before you begin.  These should be written procedures with photographs.  Youtube is good, but is NEVER a substitute ...

The iPhone 3G ended production in 2010, and the 3GS was ended in 2012.  So the 3G/3GS series are all 5+ years old now.  But I have one that I keep and use. Why use one now?  Because these models are still useful phones.  I use mine as a backup phone, for use when friends or family damage or lose their primary phone. Both models are GSM-centric and have 3G radio chipsets, so they're still great for phone calls.  They have GPS, so they're useful for mapping and navigation.  And you can use them for texting, of course. They're also inexpensive.  For under $50 you can find a great one that you don't have to worry about losing.  You can keep one as a backup phone, or as a loaner. Of course, you'll want an unlocked one, so that you can use it with any GSM provider. The Reasons for owning an iPhone 3G or 3GS: Super-inexpensive, perhaps $50 for a fine 3GS. A great backup phone if your primary phone is lost or damaged. A great phone for inter...

The amazing part of the Roomba is how shockingly well iRobot supports them.  You can get a ton of spare parts for them, and it is easy and inexpensive to repair or even upgrade a Roomba. You read that right: Roombas are easy to work on AND the parts are inexpensive. That's like buying a BMW, and learning that cylinder heads and alternators are $50 each and can be snapped in within 5 minutes. I've had my Roomba 600 series for five years. Now five years is a lot of time for a computer technology product that deals with dust and dirt.  Here are the things that I've done so far: Replaced the battery After about 3 years, my Roomba's original battery was getting pretty weak.  I replaced it.  Replacing it is a simple affair, taking about 5 minutes.  New batteries are readily available at low cost. Replaced (and upgraded) the brush head Evidently I used my Roomba too much in my extremely dirty basement.  My Roomba's original green-colored brush head st...

I find it fascinating that many drivers are too dumb or too uncoordinated to stop before the stop line at an intersection with a traffic signal. A large percentage of drivers ignore the stop line and pull into the intersection - perhaps because they want to "get ahead", or maybe because they want to "see", or maybe because they don't understand the size of their vehicle. Sadly for these bad drivers, there are sensors in the roadway that tell traffic signals when to change.  If there is no vehicle triggering the sensors, the lights don't change as fast or at all.  Obviously, vehicles already inside the intersection - such as notably beyond the stop line or in the crosswalk - will not trigger the sensors.  Those drivers have to patiently wait for another vehicle to trigger the sensor.   Duh. I've seen vehicles wait over 5 minutes in an intersection during low-traffic conditions.  You'd think these drivers would figure it out, but they're so ...

Purchased: Three new batteries for the iPhone 5 from an eBay seller Shipped quickly, and well packaged. Received: Three iPhone batteries. A.K.A., two iPhone 5 batteries and one non-iPhone 5 battery AKA, one working iPhone 5 battery, one non-working iPhone 5 battery, and one non-iPhone 5 battery. AKA, one limited life (~ 15 minutes) but working iPhone 5 battery, one non-working iPhone 5 battery, and one non-iPhone 5 battery. AKA, one heavily used, limited life but working iPhone 5 battery, one damaged iPhone 5 battery, and one non-iPhone 5 battery. AKA, three used, not-fit-for-any-purpose batteries for various phones. Needless to say, I demanded (and received) my money back.