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Is your home or office in an area that’s prone to frequent power outages?
Does it receive fluctuating power levels from the main grid?
If so, you’re surely aware of the need for a high-quality Battery Backup System or UPS.
If you’re like most folks these days, you probably take tons of photos with your smart phone, and maybe even a point-and-shoot digicam or DSLR.
If so, you probably know that it’s very easy to make a photo smaller.
All you have to do is load it into your favorite image editor and either crop it or resize it, and the resulting image is almost always as crisp and clear as the original.
But try enlarging a photo instead and you’ll quickly realize that you have a problem. When you resize a photo to make it larger, you typically end up with an image that’s blurry and pixelated.
In short, you generally end up with a mess. [Read more…]
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If you have ever needed to find the circuit breaker that controls a certain electrical outlet you know how difficult the task of finding the right breaker can be.
It usually involves plugging a lamp into the outlet and then switching off all the breakers, one by one, until the lamp goes out.
If you don’t have a partner watching the lamp, that means you have to switch off each breaker and then make a trip to the outlet to check the status of the lamp. If the lamp is still on, you still haven’t found the right breaker.
What’s worse, after you have finally found the right breaker you discover that you have flashing clocks and powered-off appliances all over the house.
Needless to say, this almost always turns out to be a time-consuming, tiring and frustrating process.
But it doesn’t have to be that way… [Read more…]
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If you work on computers or other electronic items, you really need a high-quality anti-static mat to protect your gear’s sensitive electronic components from static electricity.
I’ve used a number of different anti-static mats over the years. Some of them were good, some of them not so good.
I’m always eager to try new out ones, and here’s one of the best I’ve ever used: the Bertech 2’x3′ Anti-Static Mat Kit with Wrist Strap and Grounding Cord
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It’s no secret that we live in a dangerous world.
Sadly, burglaries and home invasions have become commonplace in recent years, and the problem seems to be getting worse instead of better.
Several major companies have been providing homeowners with home security hardware and monitoring services for decades, but the solutions they offer tend to be on the expensive side.
What’s more, most of them require professional installation.
A while back I started seeing advertisements for SimpliSafe, a “Do-It-Yourself” security system that doesn’t require professional installation. I decided to check them out, and for the most part I was quite impressed. This is what I learned… [Read more…]