21 June 2015 | Gizmos, How Does it Work? |
If you’ve got any kind of gizmo – laptop, tablet, e-book reader, cell phone, MP3 player, cordless screwdriver or drill, etc. – then you’re using lithium-ion batteries all the time.
Lithium-ion batteries, often abbreviated as Li-ion, are extremely common these days.
But what about so-called Lithium Polymer batteries, also called LiPo or Li-poly batteries? Are they really better?
If you believe the marketing folks, yes they are. But, as it turns out, you’ve been fooled just like me!
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7 June 2015 | How Does it Work? |
What would you say if I told you that you could become a technical genius in just 3 Easy Steps?
Sound too good to be true?
It does, but this is one goal that you can reach with a minimal amount of time and energy.
There’s no restrictive diet, no toxic chemicals, no heavy investment of money, no hours of hard work, and it’s 100% natural, green, carbon-neutral, and fully biodegradable.
How much would you pay for such a program? $99.95? $49.95?
For a limited time, I’m going to give you THE SECRET absolutely FREE! 😯
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12 April 2015 | Computers, How Does it Work?, Networking |
You may have heard of browser fingerprinting and its security implications. Then again, maybe not.
In either case, you probably haven’t heard the whole story.
A browser fingerprint is when, by visiting a web site, that site can generate an ID (or fingerprint) that is unique to your computer. The fingerprint can then be sent to their server, and you can be tracked.
No cookies required, no security holes required, no “Do not track me” setting can make a difference… Just plain old browsing the web will do it!
Okay, so how does this all work? And what does it mean?
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22 February 2015 | Computers, How Does it Work? |
This one is a lot of fun: You borrow a DVD from a friend, or you buy one online somewhere.
You stick it in your player.
And then, disaster strikes!
You get a message like “Region not allowed”, and the movie won’t play.
WTH?!
Welcome to the glorious world of Region Codes!
Sometimes, it’s possible to bypass this restriction, but it depends on your DVD/Blu-ray player.
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8 February 2015 | Computers, How Does it Work?, Networking |
Everybody uses e-mail. It’s great.
Not everybody understands exactly how e-mail works, and even fewer people have ever tried to set up a mail server. For those of you who have, I can pretty much guarantee you that you’re doing something wrong.
Even if you aren’t setting up your own mail server, you really should understand the limitations of e-mail, especially in terms of security.
So, in this post I’ll try to give a simple and quick intro to e-mail and mail servers
If you are an admin looking for a postfix or exim “quick answer” that you can copy and paste, you must read this more than anyone!
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7 December 2014 | How Does it Work? |
And now for something completely different…
The greatest “technology” you own is one you probably never even think about, although you do think with it: your brain!
Your mind is capable of solving all sorts of problems.
Usually, you use your brain the old fashioned way: you brute force your way through a problem.
This typically requires hours of concentration, struggling, and quite often much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
And let’s face it, if I tell you a fabulous way to make your computer do more for you, you’ll be happy as a clam.
Why not optimize your brain while you’re at it? So, how do you work smarter, and not harder?
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12 March 2014 | Computers, How Does it Work? |
In this day and age of well-known NSA spying, everyone keeps saying that the only way to be safe is to use SSL/TLS, commonly known as “browsing with https://”.
The sad reality is that HTTPS does virtually nothing to protect you from the prying eyes of alphabet soup agencies – or anybody else with enough knowledge about how these supposedly “secure” connections actually work.
It’s true that connecting to web sites with SSL will certainly prevent “script kiddies” and other more winky opponents from eavesdropping on your surfing or otherwise interfering in your affairs. But as for the Real Bad Guys, forget it…
We shall begin by taking a brief dive down the rabbit hole of SSL, hopefully in a way that will make sense to even the least technically inclined among us.
This issue is, after all, so extremely important that I think everyone needs to understand what is really going on, and how web security actually works, without needing a PhD in cryptography, computer science, or engineering!
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15 September 2013 | Gizmos, How Does it Work? |
Okay, so I just can’t keep quiet about this one.
Apple has released their latest iPhones, the 5S and the 5C. While the release of the 5C is particularly hilarious given that it’s a “low-end” phone that Jobs said Apple would never release because they’re a “premium products” company.
That’s not what’s really bugging me, although it does help me laugh myself to sleep at night.
What’s bugging me is the fact that the #1 “attraction” in the new iPhone is the 64-bit processor.
Really?
Does a 64-bit processor actually matter at all? Is it really 2X faster?
No, it isn’t.
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9 December 2012 | Energy, Gizmos, How Does it Work? |
These days, it’s all about energy efficiency.
In some countries, you can hardly even buy normal incandescent light bulbs any more. You are left with a choice of slightly more efficient “a bulb inside a bulb” halogen options, or compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
Well, there are some problems with CFL bulbs, as we shall see.
Now, LED bulbs have made their big debut on the scene. They use even less power than CFLs, and supposedly they are better for the environment and all that jazz.
In some ways, this is true – but at a cost unless you are careful about which LED bulbs you pick.
And, since LED bulbs are so darn expensive, you need to choose wisely. Here’s how…
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16 October 2012 | Gizmos, How Does it Work? |
So, you got yourself a nice set of speakers, a good home theater amplifier, a fancy blu-ray player, and a giant flatscreen. Now you just want to hook it all together and enjoy the lovely 7.1 channel sound. Piece of cake, right?
No.
In fact, it is relatively easy to connect everything together and make it “work”, but it is downright mind-numbing to figure out if you are getting the full experience. Or, one thing may work, but other things do not.
For example, maybe Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks play nicely in surround sound, but 7.1 channel sound like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio do not.
And sometimes, nothing works at all.
Don’t worry, though: you are not alone. Do a simple search on Google, and you will find tons of posts on multiple forums with people who are just as confused as you are.
Frankly, I’m not surprised. There are so many standards and little technical details involved, you darn near need a PhD in electrical engineering just to enjoy a movie with HD sound.
And so, I present my quasi-guide to Home Theater Setup!
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If you’ve got any kind of gizmo – laptop, tablet, e-book reader, cell phone, MP3 player, cordless screwdriver or drill, etc. – then you’re using lithium-ion batteries all the time.
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