27 February 2018 | Energy, How Does it Work?, Video |
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.
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20 February 2018 | Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
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…
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5 February 2018 | Do-It-Yourself, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
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
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23 January 2018 | Gizmos, Spare Me!, Video |
In recent years, we’ve seen a huge upsurge in “political correctness” and certain “social movements”.
From James Damore being fired for speaking his mind in a very “leftist” corporate culture, to Amazon’s Alexa declaring that she is a feminist, to DNA testing services telling everyone they’re African to “combat racism”…
It seems that amidst all this political/social mayhem, our tech has essentially been weaponized.
We may still have separation of church and state, but it seems that the political and social views of tech corporations are being pushed onto people via their products.
I don’t think that’s a wise course of action…
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7 January 2018 | Computers, How Does it Work?, Programming, Video |
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!
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24 December 2017 | Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
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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18 December 2017 | Computers, How Does it Work?, Video |
We hear a lot about A.I. – artificial intelligence – these days. But is it really here?
Should you be worried about Skynet and terminators and some little punk named John having to grow up and save the world?
Not quite. At least not yet, anyway…
While so-called machine learning algorithms are insanely powerful these days, they aren’t really true AI.
Then again, we keep changing out definition of AI with every advancement in technology…
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4 December 2017 | Computers, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
A few weeks ago, I published a video on how to get max speed from your USB 3 gizmos, which you can find here:
Slow copy speeds with USB 3? No problem!
Right, but if what about lowly USB 2 sticks? They’re far more prevalent than USB 3 sticks, and many of them are veeeery sloooow…
There are a few things to watch out for when buying your next USB stick.
And you don’t even need to be a technical genius!
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21 November 2017 | Computers, Programming, Video |
Everyone knows that coders are weird people.
Interrupt them, and you often encounter a rather strange and “interesting” reaction. Why is that?
Well, it’s all about what happens in your brain when you’re programming something. It’s probably one of the hardest things to focus on, at least for me.
There’s a reason why programmers tend to work late/early hours: fewer distractions!
Fortunately, there are a couple of tricks I have taught myself over the years that can make everyone much happier.
Even if you aren’t a coder, you can still benefit from these tips!
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7 November 2017 | Do-It-Yourself, Energy, Video |
If you’ve ever accidentally chopped through a wire or electrical cable, you know how much fun it can be to try to repair it so that it stays waterproof, dust proof, weatherproof, etc.
I recently had just such a fun experience myself. It turns out that there are quite a few nice products out there to make the splicing process WAAAAY easier.
Keep in mind that the type of splice you use depends greatly on the application – and even the type of wire (solid vs stranded).
A wire splice for an automotive-type application must be pretty strong, because vibration is obviously an issue.
An underground electrical cable doesn’t have to withstand vibration, but it definitely needs to be waterproof!
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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.
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