Most of us have “surge protector” power strips. They are supposed to protect against power line surges due to lightning and certain power line faults.
But do they?
Well, yes… To a small degree.
But if you want some serious protection, you need a whole-house surge protector.
From a brief intro to lightning, to how surge protectors work and how to install them safely, this episode has everything you really need to know…
You probably do this all the time, but you don’t even know it.
I’m talking about AC power calculations with P = V x I.
Technically, it works. But when you think about it, it shouldn’t. AC has constantly changing voltage and current over time – unlike DC.
So how on earth does it work?
Well, the short version is: RMS, or root mean square!
In the olden days, our gizmos had electro-mechanical power buttons. When the thing was turned off, no power was sent to it.
Nowadays, things have changed with the advent of electronically-controlled everything – including things like washing machines.
You can even look at the specs of most gizmos these days, and you’ll see two power ratings: Max power consumption, and “Sleep” power consumption.
Puters haven’t been off-off for a long time now. Smartphones are also never really off in many cases, and neither are smart TVs.
I recently had some fun with HDMI cables – specifically, how best to connect a 4K UltraHD Blu-ray player to a 4K TV?
As a follow-up to my Display Cable Madness vid, I dive a bit deeper into the different flavors of HDMI cable: 1.4, 2.0, and 2.1.
Obviously, the latest and greatest cable is always recommended for new components. But what about existing setups?
Would your upscaled Blu-ray to 4K setup benefit from a newer HDMI connection?
It’s not just about resolutions and refresh rates, but also stuff like UltraHD Deep Color and High Dynamic Range (HDR)…
I recently learned the hard way what’s happening with smart meters in Europe. The same type of smart meter they’re using here in France has already been deployed in many EU countries.
Mostly, we hear only about the negative health effects of wireless smart meters, but the ones here only send data back over the power lines.
Nevertheless, it turns out smart meters here are still being used to pretty much screw many over.
In short, smart meters may mean less juice to power stuff, and more frequent main breaker trips as people exceed their (now reduced) capacity.
Smartphones are nice, right?
They let you Do Stuff™, and you can even convert your entire social life to be run entirely via Google’s servers!
WOW!
Well, according to a recent investigation by the Tucker Carlson clan, it turns out Google is hoovering up far more data than previously thought.
So, I finally decided to take the plunge: I’ve switched to a dumbphone, and I’ve never been happier…
A friend recently asked me about what backup hard drive to buy.
He mentioned an external SSD, which made me do a double-take. External SSD?!
Well, yeah. Apparently, they’ve been around for years already, although only recently have prices become a bit more reasonable.
And, until now, I hadn’t even seen an ad for one!
An external SSD as a backup drive has the primary benefit of SPEED!
But is it worth it? And are they reliable enough for use as a backup drive that might sit on your shelf for months or even years on end?
9 months ago, I made this video: Make your own stylish smartphone Faraday Box in 10 minutes
Since then, I’ve learned a ton more about Faraday cages, and experimented a lot to make an even BETTER box.
It turns out that my original box was only so-so at blocking Bluetooth. My original testing of Bluetooth blocking was, shall we say, not very thorough. My primary focus was blocking cell network signals.
I also mistakenly assumed that if Bluetooth was blocked, WiFi at 2.4 GHz would also be blocked. Nope! WiFi is much harder to block due to the higher signal strength (among other things).
I’m fired!
To make matters worse, contrary to popular belief, we’re still learning about how Faraday cages actually work!
And so, I give you: Stylish Smartphone Faraday Box: Mark II
By popular demand!
Meltdown and Spectre are the recently-publicized exploits that take advantage of flaws in modern processors.
These flaws are big news, but what’s the actual scoop?
It turns out that they ARE a big deal, but with a few important caveats…
Since the exploits themselves are so technically complicated, I have tried to explain them in a simplified way without sacrificing actual useful details.
That way, you can make up your own mind as to whether or not you should run for the hills!
If you’re like me, you tend to go a little Clark Griswold every Holiday Season.
My current favorite holiday lighting apparatus is those sassy red/green laser projectors!
But how do they work?
It turns out they’re actually pretty simple.
Lasers, some funky hair, and Bob’s your Uncle…
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