The Good Machines

Thermapen - Good Machine and Good Eats (Sorry Alton)

2007-03-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I find a tool or a gadget that's a little more expensive than comparable products but that I get a lot of pleasure out of using. These are well-designed products that look good, feel right, and perform a relatively simple function very, very well.

The ThermoWorks Thermapen is one of those products. At $85 it's not cheap for a food thermometer but it's worth every penny. I've gone through almost a dozen thermometers in the last few years: digital thermometers, analog thermometers, thermometers with probes, remote thermometers. They've ranged in price from under $10 to $50 and they all had one thing in common: they sucked.

The thermometers with probes (you leave the probe in the oven or grill so you can constantly monitor the temperature of your food as it cooks) don't stand up to temperatures over 350 degrees fahrenheit and that makes them pretty useless. I've been through a half-dozen probes to prove it. They're also not very accurate. In side-by-side tests the temperature varied by 10-20 degrees. That's the difference between medium-rare and overcooked.

Almost all of the thermometers take too long to read the temperature (sometimes up to 30 seconds) and are not accurate. So you depend on the thermometer to tell you when your steaks are done and they end up being overcooked or undercooked. They also have big massive probes that must make every piece of pork, chicken, or beef feel like Cartman. Not good because the juices leak out and whatever you're cooking dries up.

The Thermapen is fast - it reads temperatures in a matter of seconds and it's accurate. It's got a thin, sharp probe tip (with a sensor at the very tip) so you can measure the temperature of very thin items.

Sure you can probably get by with a cheaper thermometer or you can cut open whatever it is you're cooking and take a peek every few minutes but for a thermometer that you can trust, that's satisfying to use, and that guarantees good results - the Thermapen can't be beat.

[Disclaimer: No one paid me to write this, I didn't get any free products in exchange, and I don't get any revenue from any links in this post. I just like the Thermapen - plain and simple.]

Pantech PN-820 Clamshell Smartphone for Verizon - Not so Good Machine

2007-02-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for the Pantech PN-820 Clamshell Smartphone from Verizon Wireless since it was announced last year and I'm sorry to say that it was a big disappointment. In fact it was on its way back to Verizon the day after I received it!

What attracted me to this phone was the form factor. I like flip phones for two reasons: the main screen is well protected while in my pocket with keys and loose change and I find it easier to answer or hang-up by opening or closing the flip. Plus it makes it tough to call someone by accident (Garry - you keep calling me every couple of weeks).

It's got a clear main screen and good voice quality.

The good stuff ends there. Battery life is horrible (I made it through one day but couldn't have made it through a second day without recharging and this was with minimal usage), it's a Windows Mobile 5 device, the Bluetooth implementation doesn't support Voice Command, the front display is basically useless, the keypad is so-so and it's easy to hit the wrong button. Oh, and did I mention that it's pretty ugly? When I told a friend I'd gotten a brand new Smartphone he took one look and said "That? I thought that was your old phone." (My old phone is an Audiovox CDM-8900).
Based on the phone's profile it does look like it would be pretty easy to add an extended battery without getting any protrusions.

To top it all off you need to add a data plan which is at least another $40/mo. I really didn't think I would miss the QWERTY keyboard but I realize that I really do. It's a pain to enter URLs, e-mail addresses, user IDs, passwords, etc. Without being able to take advantage of the browser then data plan is a total rip-off (and it doesn't even let you tether it - that's extra).

My recommendation? If you want something small and more functional. Just get a Motorola Q. It's got a keyboard, the battery life is probably about the same, it looks better, and it supports Voice Command via Bluetooth.

Sound Investment - Shure E2c

2007-01-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

Speakers are the most important part of your sound system and earphones should be the most important element of your portable MP3 Player or iPod. But even the best players come with lousy earphones. The first thing you should do is run out and buy the Shure E2c Sound Isolating Earphones.

I tried lots of earphones at all kinds of different price ranges and after trying these I couldn't justify spending more. At a little under $100 they're not cheap but if you're like me and spend 3-4 hours a day listening to music while you're commuting or when you're at work then consider it an investment - and an excellent one at that. They're solidly built and have a thick cord that should last a long time. You also don't hear anything when the cord rubs against something - not like those cheap earphones.

The key to making these earphones work is the fit. They go into your ear canal and block out extraneous sounds. You get to choose from 3 different kinds of earpieces in three different sizes. I find the foam earpieces to be the best because they work just like earplugs. They block outside noise which means that you can keep the volume low and avoid damaging your hearing. They're great on buses and airplanes and work so much better than noise cancelling earphones. They stay in and won't fall out regardless of what you're doing - even running.

I like the sound better than my Sennheiser HD580 Stereo HiFi Professional Headphonesand even my stereo system.

Crush, gobble and mangle your old DVDs, CDs, and Floppy Disks

2007-01-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's ever suffered the pain and anguish of a complete hard drive failure knows about the importance of making backups. Nowadays, you can easily have your entire "life" (digital that is - photos, movies, finances, diary...) on your hard drive. There is almost nothing easier, faster, and cheaper than burning backup CDs and DVDs. The big question is... do you save (possibly) hundreds of CDs and DVDs or do you start getting rid of the older ones? How do you safely dispose of them and protect your privacy at the same time?

Sure you can try to encrypt and password protect them but it's a hassle and it can make recovery harder. I've tried to cut-up, crush, and mangle old CDs and DVDs by hand and I can tell you that it's a real pain. I've even cut myself after a session of enthusiastically breaking DVDs with my bare hands.

Enter the Royal Media Destroyer - MD100. It turns a DVD, CD, or Floppy Disk into a mangled mess. I bought mine at jr.com through Amazon but it doesn't seem to be in stock right now.

Gadget of the Moment - "StressEraser"

2007-01-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

Most of us have many sources of stress in our lives: work, kids, family, money, love - you name it! Some of us have ways of coping with that stress: eating, drinking, sex, exercise, and meditation (to name just a few). Well since those don't involve batteries or gadgets (wait - that's not exactly true but never mind you get the idea) they're not exactly what I was looking for. But the StressEraser is.

It's a slick, well-designed biofeedback device the size of a deck of cards. There's a lot of info on the company's web site about the science behind and I'm not going to repeat it. Here's how it works: you stick your index finger on top of a sensor and then you follow instructions on the display about when to breathe in and when to breathe out. That's it! And it actually works. After 5 or 10 minutes I actually find myself getting drowsy.

There's a catch though... you can't do anything else while you're using the StressEraser. No listening to music, no reading, no watching television, no speaking with someone. If you start getting distracted, even if it's only by a thought, you'll get immediate feedback about how it's affecting you.

The hardest part about using the StressEraser is making the time to use it.

Gadget of the Moment - "Kill A Watt"

2007-01-07T01:09:00.000-08:00

Let's just say, and this is purely hypothetical because it's never happened to me, that one day you open your mailbox and you get a $300 bill from your local utility for gas and electricity for the last month. After the shock wears off you start to get a little pissed off and you vow to reduce your power consumption. Well, how do you go about doing that?

You've heard about turning the lights off, lowering your thermostat, getting a new refrigerator, turning your computer off, plugging all these little gadgets you rarely use into a power strip since they use a little power whether they're off or not, etc, etc, etc. But how do you know it's really going to make a difference? Do you have a clue how much power your TV, Playstation, Computer, Refrigerator use?

If you're like most of us you really don't know. Well here's a smart $30 purchase: the P3 International Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor.

This cool little gadget lets you know exactly how much power your device is using. It displays volts, amps, and wattage.

Now, every "Gadget of the Moment" is something that I have personally used and recommend. One feature of the Kill A Watt really has me puzzled. It's the ability to display Power Factor. So I've noticed something really weird - I have four outlets in my house (old Knob and Tube with some ground wires added by an electrician) where the Kill A Watt displays a Power Factor of almost 0 even though nothing is plugged into it! I've talked to PG&E (my local utility), an electrician, and P3 International (the manufacturer of Kill A Watt) and no one's been able to come up with a good explanation. What's even stranger is that my surge arrester/power strip: APC PF11VT3 11-outlet SurgeArrest with Tel2/Splitter and Coax Protection (a very cool device in it's own right) shows an overload warning on those outlets.

This has been an intermittent problem and I finally got a clue - it only seems to happen when it rains pretty hard. Weird. Anyway, the outlets work fine otherwise but this is really bugging me so if someone has a clue - post a comment and let us know. We'll be eternally grateful.

Compact Fluorescent Lighting Update

2006-12-24T00:32:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to installing some new light fixtures and trying out all of the different compact fluorescent lamps I ordered. I am a little disappointed and here's why:

1. Enclosures: Most compact fluorescents are marked as not suitable for use in fully enclosed fixtures. That seems straightforward but it isn't. Some manufacturers claim that it's a fire hazard because the lamps can overheat. Others claim that it shortens the life of the lamp but is not a fire hazard. There's some confusion as whether or not there's a difference between fully enclosed or fully enclosed and recessed. Some manufactures state one thing on the bulb and another on the packaging. To top it all off they usually state on the packaging that for outdoor use the lamps need to be enclosed.

2. Flickering: On lamp I tried, the TCP Deco Torpedo 14W Medium Base, flickered no matter which fixture I tried it in.

3. Problems with Dimming: Only some lamps are approved for use in dimmers. What they don't tell you is that the performance varies quite a bit by dimmer and that CF dimmables don't match the dimming range/performance of incandescents. I tried the Greenlite 23W Dimmable in three different fixtures with three different dimmers. Performance with one was completely unacceptable - it buzzed and flickered. Performance with the second fixture/dimmer was OK but it wouldn't dim very well and buzzed until the light was warmed up. Performance with the third fixture/dimmer was much better: minimal buzzing but it takes a second for the lights to go on once the switch is turned on and dimming performance is poor.

4. Brightness: One great advantage of CFLs is that you can use a much brighter light than you could otherwise. For example, if you have a sconce that uses candelabras and the maximum wattage for the fixture is 40W you can always use a 14W CFL that gives you the equivalent of 60W Incandescent.

Static Routing - when do you need it?

2006-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me to explain static routing. I'm not network expert and I have limited experience with this but here goes...

In a nutshell, static routing is when you have to manually configure each of your routers so that they know where to send packets to. Why would you need to do that when dynamic routing usually works so well?

In the case of a home user, the typical case is when you have multiple routers on the same network. In my case, this is because I have a Linksys Router with Wireless-g and VOIP support. I like using it almost like a wireless access point. But the problem is that other machines on the network can't find any of the the other machines that are connected to that router.

There are several ways to configure things but in my case I've just plugged the Linksys VOIP Router into one of LAN ports on the D-Link 604. So the Linksys has an IP address that is assigned to it by the D-Link (e.g. 192.168.0.x). The Linksys has a DHCP server and it's client are given addresses in the 192.168.15.y range. The Linksys clients can access the internet and communicate with other machines but the D-Link clients cannot access the the Linksys clients.

By the way, this was the configuration that Vonage recommended and it works perfectly for VOIP. So from what I understand, if I can define static routes in the first router then packets should be able to find their way from clients of the D-Link router to clients of the Linksys router.

Search For the Perfect Home Router - Linksys

2006-12-17T01:33:00.000-08:00

I got a hold of Linksys on Friday and I asked them the same question: do you have a router that has QoS, dual-WAN, and static routing? They told me that they had three models that met my needs: Linksys RV042 10/100 4-Port VPN Router, CABLE/DSL VPN ROUTER W/8-PT SW, Linksys RV016 10/100 16-Port VPN Router.

Linksys tells me that they are identical except for the 4/8/16 ports that the different models offer. I have read some reports that indicate that there are different versions of firmware for each version and that each version has its own set of problems.

So I read through the manuals and I noticed a few shortcomings. These are features that I would really miss since I use them on my D-Link DI-604: MAC Address Filtering and Static DHCP Clients. The latter is particularly useful since it allows you to assign the same IP address to a device based on the MAC Address. This is very useful when you're dealing with devices that can't be assigned static IP addresses or that have interfaces that are difficult to use. Such devices include Network Music Players of which I have several on my network.

I have also had some terrible experiences with Linksys. Most recently, it was with the Linksys RVS4000 4-Port Gigabit Security Router with VPN. I actually ended up returning this product! I buy a lot of stuff and I usualy stick with whatever it was that I bought because I can find some use for it. In this case, the pathetic technical support and the lack of useful features (such as Static DHCP Clients and MAC address filtering) caused me to return it to Amazon. The RVS4000 has a feature that let's you have logs and DoS (Denial of Service) alerts e-mailed to you. But there's no place to enter authentication info for the smtp server that you used! I literally spent hours on the phone with tech support and went through several rounds of e-mail trying to explain this to them!

To top it all of, Linksys seems to be getting a terrible reputation. Take a look at the reviews on Amazon and at the posts in various forums.

Conclusion: Linksys routers are *not* the way to go.

Search For the Perfect Home Router - Netgear

2006-12-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just got of the phone with Netgear. Bad news - they don't have any routers at all that support QoS. They reserve that function for their smart switches and they are all pretty big devices that are meant to be rackmounter - too big for my structure wiring cabinet. The two routers they suggested that do have dual-WAN capability and static routing are: Netgear FVS338 ProSafe VPN Firewall 50 and Netgear FVS124G ProSafe VPN Firewall 25 with 4 Gigabit LAN and Dual WAN Port Switch.

Conclusion? Netgear doesn't have the perfect home router. Linksys is next...

Compact Fluorescents - Easy Way to Save Energy

2006-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Will all these toys and gadgets sucking up power my electric bill has gone through the roof! So I've been looking for an easy way to save and I though that compact fluorescent light bulbs (you know, the spiral looking ones) would be an easy way to go. Turns out it's not that easy:

You have to choose which color temperature you want and you need to make sure that your fixtures can accomodate the often larger bulbs.

In my house, most of the fixtures are on dimmers and dimmable CFs are almost impossible to find.

I spent weeks hunting for dimmable CFs and specialty CFs that would fit the various fixtures I have. I had no luck at Home Depot, Lowes and other home improvements stores I finally found a place that sold me pretty much everything I needed but my experience with them was not very positive.

So I spent $150 on lights and I just got them today. For the most part I'm not disappointed. I did learn that compatibility of CFs with various dimmers is hard to predict and that they tend to buzz a lot more than incandescents.

One manufacturer, Greenlite, was actually kind enough to send me a couple of samples free of charge. Keep in mind that these aren't cheap at $9.95+ a pop so it's a very nice gesture.

Backup Tools

2006-12-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

I was looking for a program that would let me synchronize two folders. Why you ask? Well, I backup data on my main PC's hard drive to a second drive as well as to a second machine. I have a 200GB+ of data to backup and rather than make a fresh copy everytime I wanted something that would just copy the files that had changed or that were new.

I spent a long, long time looking for a program and I finally found FolderMatch. It is Shareware and it does cost $35 or so but it was worth every penny. I absolutely hate paying for Shareware and I tend to stick to Freeware. Foldermatch is one of the very, very, very few Shareware programs that I felt was worth paying for!

Network Backups

2006-12-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

I've been using two network backup solutions for a while now. I signed up for Mozy for sensitive stuff since they allow me to manage my own encryption key and I use Carbonite for things like photos and videos since they do not allow me to choose my own key so therefore, they have access to everything that is backed up.

In a nutshell - Mozy is faster and has a more comprehensive client that provides detailed information about the backup status. Carbonite is integrated into Explorer and doesn't provide much info on backup state and status. Until today I'd been paying $9.95/mo for Mozy to backup 60GB from multiple machines and $49.95/year with Carbonite for unlimited backups. I do have to say that Mozy is quite a bit faster than Carbonite.

Well everything changed today when I got an e-mail from Mozy saying that they had introduced Mozy Unlimited for $4.95/mo! The only difference between Mozy Unlimited and Mozy Plus, apart from the obvious 60GB limit for plus, is that you need a Mozy Unlimited subscription for each computer.

I use a server to perform my network backups (I backup from my individual machines to the server) so in my case it was a no-brainer to switch to Mozy. I highly recommend that you check them out. With the quantity of data that we are currently creating (thing media - photos, video, etc) CDs and DVDs often don't provide enough storage. The only good options, in my opinion, are backing up to hard drives and network backups. I do both.

Search For the Perfect Home Router - D-Link?

2006-12-15T01:08:00.000-08:00

I'm very, very happy with my DI-604 so I thought I would call D-Link. They answered the phone promptly and had all of the info I needed at their fingertips.

They recommended their D-Link DFL-CP310router but unfortunately, although it has a backup WAN port, it can only use one WAN port at a time. It also supports QoS and Static Routing.

So thumbs down on this product. If you don't need the dual WAN then it might be a pretty good, albeit expensive, choice.

Search For the Perfect Home Router

2006-12-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

I'm looking for the perfect home router. My current setupis fairly complex. I have CAT-5 cable routed throughout my home and it all terminates in a structured wiring cabinet in the garage.

Here's the basic setup:

Comcast Cable Modem

D-Link DI-604 Cable/DSL Router, 4-Port Switch

Netgear GS108 8-Port 10/100/1000 Copper Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Linksys WRTP54G Wireless-G Broadband Router for Vonage Internet Phone Service

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Wireless-G MIMO Performance Router and Access Point

So this all started because I wanted to add an Axis 207W Wireless Network Camera camera as a baby monitor. I got the camera working pretty easily (more on that later) but I found a couple of small problems:

1. Using Motion JPEG the camera uses up almost all of my up bandwidth (768 kb) and interferes with Vonage calls. Solution: QoS
2. Since I am using the WRTP54G as a wireless router (with it's own DHCP) I found that its clients can access the camera but if the camera uses the WRTP54G then other devices on the network can't access it. Solution: Static Routing
3. I don't have enough bandwidth! I'm happy with downloads (8 MB/s +) but not with uploads. Solution: Add DSL and use a router for load balancing between Cable and DSL.

Things to Come

2006-12-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Here are some topics that I'll be covering:

- Digital SLR system and lens
- Network Cameras
- Baby monitors
- The perfect home router
- Portable batteries
- Network Camera software
- Network backups

Introduction

2006-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

I spend an inordinate mount of time researching purchases, buying toys and gadgets, and then setting them up and playing with them. I often find that so-called "professional" reviews are not very accurate or are simply there for the purposes of product placement and that consumer reviews (such as those on Amazon.com) are often misleading.

So I've decided to share some of my experiences and some of the information I have gathered in the hopes of saving other people time, money, and frustration! I've linked many of the product names to Amazon.com (my favourite place to shop) in the hopes that you will click on them and make your purchases from Amazon so that I can get a little something in return for the investment in this blog.