Hacking Hotel Power in Asia and Europe
If you travel in Europe or Asia, many of the hotels use one of these slots next to the door to control power for the room. Put your room key in when you arrive and the power turns on. Remove the key and after a few seconds the power shuts off. Based on something I read recently, it saves the hotels about $10-12 per room per year because all the stuff you forget to turn off powers down. The downside is if you’re trying to charge your laptop the power is gone when you leave and the air conditioning stops cooling the room.
At both hotels I stayed at in China, the hack for this is to stick a business card in the slot instead of the key. I’m sure hotels will eventually catch on, but in the meantime, you can leave the room and still charge your batteries. Kudos to Lee and Sachi for giving me the idea in the first place.
asia, hotels, hotel hacks, room key, travel in europeRecycling Old Appliances
Per my previous post on hacking a washing machine, I had a conversation about what to do with the broken machine. Since it’s not mine, it will likely occupy a cornerof the basement for the foreseeable future. The delivery company offered to take it away, but finding ways to reuse some of the parts and do some self-sustaining recycling seems more interesting. The guys at Vela Creations offer a number of useful suggestions for . They use the metal casing for making the blades on their wind generators (which I believe appeared in an issue of MAKE. The motor becomes a magnet generator. They’ve also got a trick or two for turning aluminum cans into hydrogen through an oxidation process.
oxidation process, recycling, self sustaining, washing machine, wind generatorsHow to Record Every Network Show in HDTV
With the fall lineup of shows sneaking up on us, I’m shrugging my shoulders with a big so what. All I’m interested in seeing is the next round of Doctor Who and maybe Family Guy. Over at the SnapStream company blog, they have another idea. Zack walks you through the steps required to record every single show on every major network during the season premiere week. Not just every show, but every show in High Definition. With this configuration there’s no chance you’ll get behind on water cooler discussion. Theoretically you could do this with SageTV or the beta version of Windows Media Center as well, although Beyond TV and SageTV have more real world testing with recording HDTV.
hdtv, sagetv, season premiere, snapstream, windows mediaWashing Machine Hacking
One of the many selling points on the house I’m currently renting in Seattle was the washer and dryer. We had them in while I still lived in Iowa, but I didn’t want to take up that much room on the moving truck with bulky appliances. A couple of months ago the cold water function on the washing machine stopped working. This effectively made the cold-only rinse cycle dead and made hot-only washing an unattractive option for dark clothes due to color bleeds and fading. The landlord opted not to fix the washing machine, instead suggesting we buy one we could take with us when we move out. At the time, I went shopping for a machine but the one I wanted was out of stock so I blew it off.
I hate laundromats, so in the short term I came up with a hack to solve the problem (the hack worked well enough I didn’t purchase a new machine until the one in the house died this week).
First I turned off the water and disconnected the hot and cold water hoses from the machine. Next, I got a Y-adapter meant for attaching to outdoor garden hose spouts and connected it to the hot side. I connected the hot and cold hoses to the Y-adapter.
I capped off the cold water side of the machine with a cap designed for outdoor faucets. Despite it not working – it still had a means of leaking water during cycles.
This provided three temperature cycles depending on whether I had hot on, cold on or both hot and cold on for a warm wash cycle. For rinsing clothes, I simply re-ran a shorter wash cycle with cold only and no soap. Spin worked as expected.
While I would recommend this for a fully functional washer, this solution will extend the life of a washing machine that costs more to repair than replace.
garden hose, laundromats, outdoor faucets, washing machineHow to Put Motherfucking Snakes on a Motherfucking Page
If you’re like us, you’ve already seen Snakes on a Plane this weekend – twice, in some cases. We’re even donating lines to the audience participation script! When you decide to go, we recommend seeing “Snakes on a Plane” with a large, rowdy group.
You’re probably wondering how to put motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking page. We figured it out! Go ahead, try snaking your favorite Web site here:
UPDATE: If you don’t want to use the form, simply replace yourdomain below with any url to see the motherfucking snakes:
http://lockergnome.com/diy/snakes/?url=http://www.yourdomain.com
The motherfucking result might not work properly if your motherfucking URL is built in Flash (or if the site kills frames automatically). We’re pre-caching the images below to make the motherfucking page load quicker. The motherfucking snakes will not begin to cascade until the motherfucking page has fully loaded.
What are you waiting for?! Put these motherfucking snakes on some motherfucking pages! Oh, and go see the motherfucking movie a few more times.
6 Reasons to Think Like A Four-Year-Old
Somewhere between the age of two and four, kids start asking ‘why?’ about absolutely everything. The smart ones never stop, they just don’t say it out loud every 5 minutes. David Allen teaches the value of asking ‘why’ as part his Getting Things Done mantra. Glen Stansberry at LiveDev offers six solid reasons to keep asking why about everything you do in order to establish a clearer picture of what you’re trying to complete.
david allen, getting things done, gtdHow To Ship Your Luggage
I remember reading a story once about a CEO (was it Bezos?) who sent clean shirts to his hotels via FedEx so he’d always have a clean shirt without the hassle of carrying luggage. While $15 shipping for a shirt puts buying new at the Gap in every city more in my realm of sensibility, there’s something to the idea of traveling light. Coupled with the aire of uncertainty about what you can and can’t bring on a plane these days and numerous stories of lost luggage, it might be more reliable to ship your clothes than check them at the gate. Jaunted offers up the suggestion of using a service like luggage, traveling
How to Build a Cat Tree
My marriage came with three cats. All this really means is I’m cleaning up puke at least once a day because there’s always one cat with a hairball, or that ate to fast, or chewed on a plant, or whatever the five million other reasons cats have for releasing the contents of their stomachs to the world. It also means the cats need places to perch. You can buy an overpriced combination of plywood and carpet scraps at the local pet store, or you can build your own. PandEcats.com offers great detailed instuctions on how to build a cat tree, complete with three different perches to give your cat options.
Found via Bain Books
cats, cat tree, hairballRule of Thirds for PowerPoint
PowerPoint gets the bad reputation as being the evil piece of Microsoft Office designed to create disinterest and loathing of all public presentations. That’s mostly because people simply use it incorrectly. Instead of complementing a presentation, people have a bad habit of using slides as notes they read to an audience, which translates to boring. Presentation Zen offers an interesting perspective on applying photography’s rule of thirds to PowerPoint slides by analyizing a number of promotional videos and looking at what makes them interesting. Peter over a blog.forret.com adds to the discussion Peter Forret’s Flickr stream.
microsoft office, powerpoint slides, public presentations, rule of thirdsHow to Stay Focused at Work
With all the potential distractions, staying focused at work can be a full time job by itself. There are articles to Digg; YouTube videos to watch; jokes to forward; IMs to answer – how can anyone actually get their work done? Dave Cheong offers a great list of 18 ways to stay focused at work. Most of these are common sense, but a few like time boxing will genuinely amount to productivity breakthroughs.
getting things done, gtd, productivityHow to Budget Your Finances
Budgeting is among the hardest things I ever do – I simply don’t enjoy it. I have a bad habit of paying bills and automatic investments, and then allocating the remainder to dining and gadgets, which makes the concept of zero-based budgeting almost mind blowing. Zero-based budgeting is the process of assigning a place for every dollar you take in each month before you actually get the money. Whether that’s groceries, savings, investments or the latest PSP game releases, knowing where your money is going makes it easier to plan. Getting Finances Done offers a comprehensive look at how to create a zero-based budget, which in many cases will lead to having more money even if you’re “spending” on paper before you actually get the funds. Use the recently mentioned Free Accounting Software to plan your finances and you’ll have zero cost for your zero-based planning.
Found on Lifehacker
budget, finances, free accounting software, zero based budgetingHow to End a Boring Conversation
We’ve all been there – you’re at a party, a business function, the grocery store and you can’t escape a conversation that just keeps going. You think there’s a break to safely exit just around the horizon, but it never comes. Lite Reviews offers 5 ways to end a conversation that’s starting to get dull. Here are a few more, just in case those don’t work:
1) Fake a phone call – nothing tells someone they don’t matter like picking up your phone in the middle of a conversation.
2) Check your watch repeatedly (or if you don’t have a watch, check the time on your cell phone) – the sense of urgency makes other people nervous.
3) Mention socially innapropriate topics – there’s nothing like an absurd medical condition to kill a party.
4) Read your email – you need a smartphone or Blackberry for this one, but it will get the point across that you have something more pressing than the current line of discussion.
5) If all else fails, simply walk away.
How to Defend Yourself in a Street Fight
Slightly more useful than how to defend yourself against someone armed with a bananna, this video shows a number of moves to counter an opponent in a bar fight or on the street. Aside from dodging a few bottles thrown at my head, I thankfully avoided any serious fights while owning a bar in my mid-twenties. When fights did occur, the guy who came out on top generally used tactics similar to those show here. The only thing missing is a demonstration on how to knock someone to the ground and repeatedly kick them in the ribs until they curl up into the fetal position.
Next week, we show you how to attend anger management class.
anger management, bar fight, owning a bar, self defenseHow to Make Incense
Most of my exposure to incense comes from the Nag Champa purchased by friends from the local head shop new age store. Apparently you can also get a variety of scent experieces by making your own. Scents of Earth shows you how to make incense, offering a detailed explaination of the difference between combustible and non-combustible incense, heating methods, and a complete list of ingredients with a few incense recipes. This is slightly self-serving since they also sell the materials, but the info appears to be solid.
How to Play WoW Good
Learning the intricacies of the modern MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) can be a little daunting — especially if you’ve never played one before. I wish that, when I’d started playing World of Warcraft (WoW), I’d had a helpful little guide like this one to…
Well, to completely mislead and frustrate me, to be honest. But it’s especially funny to anyone who’s played WoW for more than a few days.
Overexplaining this would only detract from the funny. Go have a look and enjoy this bit of what, in my opinion, is comedic genius!
[Thanks to Sean at Metroblogging Azeroth for digging this one up!]
gaming, MMOG, video games, WoWHow to Make an Ultra-Light Backpacking Stove
If you ever go hiking, you know that one of the keys is keeping your pack weight down. All that gear adds up. Here’s a DIY solution for building the perfect stove for backpacking – compact, versatile, and most importantly – light. One of the key things that makes this useful beyond size is excellent wind-shielding around the heat area, helping to guarantee you won’t waste time re-lighting the stove with every small burst of wind.
backpacking, camping, hikingHow to Maximize Laptop Battery Performance
Jeremy Toeman of SlingMedia (you know the Slingbox people) has a great list of tips for extending battery life on your laptop while on a plane or just disconnected from power for an extended period. I got a second battery for my laptop for exactly this reason, but I’ve still managed to run out of juice when I can’t find an outlet during long layovers. The obvious #1 is turn down your screen brightness, but the rest of them are all excellent ways to eek out a few extra minutes of flying time.
One thing Jeremy doesn’t mention (that you should be doing in-flight anyway) is turning off WiFi. If you don’t need it, turn it off. Next to screen brightness it’s the #1 battery drain.
What’s your favorite way to save battery life on a plane or elsewhere?
Found via HSXDunbar
battery drain, battery life, laptop, screen brightness10 Free Apps to Increase Personal Productivity
Whether you’re trying to achieve the Zen of David Allen’s Getting Things Done or simply want to make more effective use of your computer, here’s a hit list of 10 Free apps to increase your personal productivity. I could probably include some obvious apps like Thunderbird for email and Firefox for Web browsing in this list, but instead I’ll assume you already drank the Mozilla kewl-aide and want to extend your productivity with something you might not already use. Feel free to add additional favorites in the comments.
DupKiller – Duplicate files on your system can create confusion, waste space and generally reduce productivity. Instead of wasting brain cycles on which file is the one to keep – eliminate all those dupes efficiently with DupKiller. This is the best freeware duplicate file remover I’ve ever used. Just make sure you don’t confuse dupes with a backup copy (see Replicator below).
Free Accounting Software – The name says it all. With features on par with basic products from Quicken or Microsoft Money, you can easily manage your finances without ever needing to spend another dime.
FreeMind – Mind mapping software is the ultimate tool for free-form idea generation and organization. While some of the competing pay applications have a few more features (like Microsoft Office integration), FreeMind does an awesome job of getting you most of the features you might want to use mind mapping for.
Folder Marker – Keep track of projects, files and deadlines by visually marking folders on your desktop. For the Getting Things Done crowd or simply for those who want folders in more flavors than just Windows yellow, Folder Marker helps you quickly locate and act on information.
Folder Size – Add folder size information to Windows Explorer. If you ever run low on hard disk space, the detective work to find the culprit can be brutal without drilling down on every folder. Folder Size adds the all important folder size data to Windows Explorer to make locating file bloat a breeze.
Karen’s Replicator – Backup files, folders or entire drives on a schedule. While duplicate files can be a nuisance, having a backup of files is a must. There’s nothing worse than losing your work. Replicator is quick, easy, and the scheduling makes it a breeze to make sure you don’t forget to do it.
Kurlo – Contact management that actually works. While Thunderbird (and dare I say, Outlook Express) both support basic contact management, they still don’t hold a candle to full fledged PIMs like Outlook. Kurlo bridges the gap, giving you all the contact management you’ll ever need and making it portable on a USB keychain drive. Manage full contact info, get birthday reminders, receive event notifications and manage group lists all within Kurlo’s interface. The only downside is it doesn’t sync with cell phones.
SimpleOCR – Call it the hack for getting around the DRM that is paper; optical character recognition is one of the most useful reasons to own a scanner. From manipulating old printed materials to quoting passages from some long forgotten text, SimpleOCR is among the best free OCR solutions I’ve ever tried.
Stickies – Post-it style notes don’t really fit the Getting Things Done mold, but I can’t live without them. When I need to jot something down for future completion, a paper note or a digital equivalent is a must. Stickies replaces all those notes stuck to the side of your monitor with a digital version on your desktop, complete with live URLs, custom fonts and color-coded backgrounds.
WinMerge – Merge text files, difference two documents or simply compare the contents to discover similarities. WinMerge is a great solution for combining files to make the sum greater than its parts.
free accounting software, microsoft office integration, mind mapping software, productivityHow to Be A Restaurant Regular
Because I’m allergic to milk, I’m frequently making special requests when ordering from a menu. If I find someplace I like I tend to go back often, but I rarely develop any kind of lasting relationship with the wait staff or restaurant personnel. One exception to this is Mandarin Chef in the U-District in Seattle, where I’m always treated well and recognized on every visit. If it’s special menu items and favors you crave when you’re out for dinner, Urban Monarch offers a list of tips for becoming a restaurant regular. Most of these are just common sense advice like being polite to servers and tipping well. The only one I’d disagree with is taking a recommendation when you ask for one – I often order special items or recommended selections when going to a restaurant for the first time, but if the server’s suggestion doesn’t sound good (or if he/she forgets that I just told them I can’t have cheese) I politely decline a suggestion and choose something else.
Found via Lifehacker
common sense advice, restaurant tipsMake a Messenger Bag from a Tradeshow Banner
Judging by the revolving door of marketing materials I see at tradeshows, there must be hundreds of vinyl banners that find their way into closets or the trash over the course of a year. Instead of putting them in a landfill, why not make something useful (and unique) from a tradeshow leftover. Federico shows us how to make a messenger bag from a vinyl banner, complete with pattern and photos of his own progress.
messenger bag, tradeshow, vinyl banners
