Tech Blog (wh)

What Is An Inverter Generator?

2013-06-14T13:05:51Z

To understand what an inverter generator is, it is helpful to understand what an inverter is: Inverter (n): An apparatus that converts direct current into alternating current. Many generators spin and create AC electricity directly. There can be fluctuations in the power (voltage, current) if there is load on the motor or if it changes speed / RPM. Inverter Generators attempt to solve that by somehow creating DC (Direct Current) power, and then using an inverter to change it into AC (Alternating Current) power. Inconsistencies in the DC Power can be adjusted to create a smooth flow of AC power without fluctuation. Honda’s Inverter Generators use a three step process to take raw power produced by the generator and use a microprocessor to condition it. First, the generator’s alternator produces high voltage multiphase AC power. The AC power is then converted to DC. Finally the DC power is converted back to AC by the inverter. Honda states that “the inverter also smoothes and cleans the power to make it high quality. A special microprocessor controls the entire process, as well as the speed of the engine.” Yamaha has a very popular and quiet 2,000 Watt Powered Portable Inverter Generator that retails for under $1000.

Aeron Chair Hardwood vs Carpet Casters

2013-06-13T15:25:12Z

What is the difference between Herman Miller’s Aeron Chairs “Hardwood Casters” and “Carpet Casters” (a.k.a “Deep Carpet” Casters) ? In a nutshell Herman Miller only offers two types of casters: Hardwood and Carpet. There is no third “Deep Carpet” caster available. The Carpet Casters are standard and are meant to be used on all types of carpet Hard floor casters have a softer tread and are designed to help the caster grip a hard floor better. Carpet casters are composed of a hard plastic which rolls easier over carpet making them ideal for carpeted flooring. Because carpet casters do not have the soft tread they will not provide an optimal level of traction/grip needed for hard flooring. Over time, Carpet casters may get embedded with dirt and debris in the hard plastic which can result in marring or scratching of the surface of hardwood floors The Carpet Casters are meant to be used without a chair mat / plastic chair mat However, some people still have trouble with high pile carpets Standard Herman Miller Aeron Casters If you want the Herman Miller Brand, you can purchase Hardwood Floor Casters ($60), Translucent Hardwood Floor Casters ($90), or Standard Carpet Casters ($40) Extra Deep Carpet Casters for Aeron Chairs Aftermarket casters are available. If you need extra large casters for deep carpets, you can purchase Rolland Extra Large Casters ($22), or Miracle’s Extra Large Casters ($60). Both have 5-star reviews. Here are the images: FAQ: Herman Miller responds to questions regarding differences … Continue reading →

Godaddy Privacy Coupon – June 2013

2013-06-12T23:08:03Z

SPECIAL OFFER! .COM with FREE private registration just $3.00*! Godaddy has a free private registration (privacy is normally 9.99/yr) coupon code that is currently active. The code is 3COMPRF and is good through June 2013. Three Other Good Deals: Offer Details: *Plus ICANN fee of $0.18 per domain name per year. $3.00 price good for the first year of one new .COM per customer; not valid for transfers or renewals. Additional years or .COMs may be purchased for $9.99 per year. Free privacy offer valid for entire initial registration term of the domain name. When the domain name renews, each year of private registration will renew at the regular rates in effect at the time of renewal. Discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Customers may not use gift cards, PayPal, CCAvenue, In-Store Credit or AliPay to redeem this offer. Your discount will be applied in your shopping cart. Offer expires after 10,000 redemptions per promo code or on 7/31/13 at 11:59 PM (Mountain Time) whichever comes first.

Google Grants URL Policy Change

2013-06-13T19:42:07Z

Dear Google Grantee, We are writing to inform you of a change we are making to our URL policy. Google Grantees may only promote the one website domain name associated with the registered nonprofit that approved for Google Grants. We realize that some nonprofits may have separate domain names for events or fundraisers. However, to maintain the integrity of our program, we now require that Google Grantees only promote the one domain name associated with the nonprofit that was approved for Google Grants. For more on the URL policy, please visit the Help Center article: https://support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/1657899?hl=en NEXT STEPS: Google Grantees must remove any extra domain names from their account by July 2013. After a short grace period, we will begin enforcing the new policy. Grantees that continue to promote multiple domain names or a domain name not associated with the registered nonprofit will be subject to removal from the Google Grants program. EXAMPLE: Your organization has the website domain name www.HelpForAnimals.org. You are allowed to have ads that direct users to subdomains and subfolders within your website, such as your volunteer page, events page, or programs page: www.subdomain.HelpForAnimals.org/subfolder www.HelpForAnimals.org/volunteer www.HelpForAnimals.org/events www.raceforlife.HelpForAnimals.org You may not promote an entirely different domain name, such as www.ShopForPets.com or www.AdoptDogs.org For more information on Google Grants guidelines, please visit: www.google.com/grants To contact the AdWords team, please visit: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/8206?hl=en Sincerely, The Google Grants Team Please note: this email acts as a notification only. Please do not reply. You’ve received this mandatory service announcement email to update … Continue reading →

Solved: Raspbian with Edimax EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter and 802.1X authentication or WPA shared key authentication

2013-06-12T15:13:52Z

Recently I wanted to set up Wireless (Wi Fi) Ethernet 802.1X authentication on a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian “wheezy” 3.6 (version 3.6.11 actually) and the Edimax EW 7811UN WiFi Adapter. I had read a lot of posts about having trouble with the Edimax adapter – and how you would need to replace the driver file cfg80211.ko and / or rebuild one from the source code. This simply wasn’t true for me – the device worked very well right out of the box – with a few small configuration changes which I will share with you. Here is my setup: Raspberry Pi was a “Pi Model B” with the 512MB of memory Downloaded Raspbian wheezy from the downloads site – version was `2013-05-25-wheezy-raspbian.zip1 Created a SD card with the image EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter Notes: If you boot up the Pi and then plug in the EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter directly to the Pi, it will likely crash / reboot the Pi. This is not a problem with either device, but the EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter requires a lot of power and so it underloads the Raspberry Pi’s circuits and causes this behavior. If you have a powered USB hub (in my case my monitor) and plug / unplug the EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter then you will not cause the system to crash / reboot I did my initial bootup of the Pi without the EW-7811UN WiFi Adapter plugged in I did not select any special options on the first boot – I just went … Continue reading →