Every weekday, our guide to the Web takes care of business, tackling tech topics that really matter to everybody. From topic definitions to topical rants, Dan Gray\’s pieces inform as much as they entertain.
The thermometer hit 100 today and it’s only the 9th of June. It’s time to talk about the other kind of windows again … not Microsoft windows, but the windows on your home. Window tinting, specifically.
I’ve been giving a good bit of thought to installing D-I-Y solar window tinting on a handful of the windows […]
When you’re the geek around the house, technology is where you find it. Last week, I found it in the master bath, when I replaced the original toilet with a hi-tech wonder … the toilet that flushes an entire bucket of golf balls.
It started out as a little job … we just wanted to replace […]
Comcast recently took over our local cable company. We had a clue before the welcome packet arrived in the snail mail … the performance of our cable Internet dropped dramatically.
“Dad! What’s wrong with the Internet?”
When tested with one of the speed testing services, we’re still cranking at a download speed of roughly 3000 kb/s … […]
I’ve long pondered this question: If you could control anything via the Internet, what would it be?
Over the years, I’ve come up with lots of crazy ideas, like RFID tagged socks (August ‘04) and net-controlled hot tubs. And I’ve stumbled into plenty of others, like the Proliphix Internet-controlled programmable thermostat.
Sometimes it seems like half of […]
Faithful Technobabble readers may remember my long-running obsession with space heaters over the years and my decision to purchase the bargain electric fireplace (that turned out not to be a bargain in the long run).
The electric fireplace landed in our sun room, which for many years did double-duty as my home office… that is, until […]
Do you have a home office copier? While there are a lot of pieces of home office tech that could (potentially) make my life easier, a home office copier is at the top of the list. I don’t have one of those newfangled multifunction print units … and I kick myself every time I need […]
What do you do when your digital camera breaks? Do you toss it in a drawer and go shopping? Or do you look to get it fixed? Once upon a time, every town of a decent size had a place to get your TV fixed, your shoes repaired, your watches tweaked (remember the watchmaker?), and […]
Thanksgiving, again … it’s time to pass the potatoes and stick a fork in that spyware. Just keep in mind that your post-holiday diet starts today … so think about that digital scale before you go for that third plate …
The conversation will inevitably turn to politics at one point or another. When things come […]
I’ve had my eye out for a cheap network attached storage (NAS) device for my home/office network for a while now. But the cheapest NAS was never truly cheap … until now. I was pleasantly surprised when a post from Chuck’s Deals arrived in my mailbox today … Chuck turned up an insanely cheap NAS […]
There’s little doubt that eBay has become the world’s marketplace … but sometimes it’s the world’s weirdest marketplace. We’ve all seen lots of crazy stuff appear on eBay over the years, but did you know that there’s an active market for haunted items on eBay?
It may be too late to win that auction or click […]
You have a fine tradition to uphold as an upstanding member of the community of geekdom. That tradition extends to your abode, as humble as it might be … when Halloween time rolls around, there’s no question about it … you need to geek your castle.
You know from previous years that creating your costume takes […]
The smaller that technology becomes, the easier it is to forget it’s there. Say an iPod. Or a cell phone. How easy is it to forget that you left one of those little critters in a pants pocket? And when you throw those pants onto the wash pile… well… you get the idea.
It’s even worse […]
What do you do when your dishwasher gives notice that it’s ready to head south for the winter? Why you start looking for a new one, of course. The dishwasher here at Rancho Indebto hasn’t packed its bags… yet… but its performance is so abysmal that we’re ready to give it an early ticket out […]
There’s nothing quite like waking up to realize that you’re completely out of toilet paper. The feeling of utter fear that runs down your spine ignites a panic like no other. That very unsettled feeling is what turned me onto the idea of buying toilet paper in bulk last winter. Peace of mind settled over […]
I’ve been a Simpsons fan since the days when this quirky little cartoon first appeared on the Tracey Ulman show. When I reported on 7-11’s plans to convert a number of franchise stores into faux Kwik E Marts to support the launch of The Simpsons Movie this summer, I went flat out silly.
What dyed […]
Take a look at your computer keyboard. Could it use a good cleaning? C’mon, you can admit it… unless you’ve recently undertaken a good keyboard cleaning, those keys aren’t quite showroom fresh. Cleaning keyboards has been a bit of an obsession of mine over the years, dating all the way back to mid ’80s when […]
A long time ago, at the peak of the first (and yes, now we can say the first) Web bubble, I ordered my Weber Grill online. Flash forward a bunch of years and here it is, Memorial Day 2007… time to break out the barbecue and sunblock. As I opened up my trusty Weber for […]
My jaw dropped when I opened the electric bill today. Okay, so I was warned. I just didn’t expect it to be this bad … now it was cold last month, but sheesh … it looks like the spiffy new home office electric fireplace conspired to double our electric bill. Sure, it was on sale […]
Know someone that’s into home brewing? The Sam Adams Brewery is running its 2007 Long Shot American Homebrew Contest. Winning home brews will take home a one-time royalty of $5,000 and bragging rights for life. Here’s the chance to turn that homebrew hobby into national fame (if not fortune).
The […]
How long do compact fluorescent light bulbs last? It all depends who you ask. After having been on the compact fluorescent bandwagon for years, it’s clear that some compact fluorescent light bulbs last far longer than others. The fantastic energy cost savings (roughly 75%) are offset by the bulbs’ higher cost. This in turn, is […]