The Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 is coming soon to a Senate near you, and there are several things in it worth paying attention to.
All posts tagged TV
There are several things to like about the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013
Posted by Dave Farquhar on May 17, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/05/there-are-several-things-to-like-about-the-television-consumer-freedom-act-of-2013/
New Raspberry Pi this week
The Raspberry Pi Model A (the cheaper, stripped-down version) was just released for $25. How is this news? Well, I thought the Model A was already available. It has half the memory of a Model B, and no Ethernet, and only a single USB port. If you’d like to be able to mess around with [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 7, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/new-raspberry-pi-this-week/
How to save money on tech
CNN offered up some good tips on saving money on tech. But of course I want to analyze and comment on it myself. Anything else would be out of character.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 29, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/how-to-save-money-on-tech/
A contrarian (but defendable) view of e-books
Tech author Nicholas Carr has some interesting statistics that led him to state that perhaps e-books will complement printed books, rather than replace them. It’s not hard to find history to support that hypothesis.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 7, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/a-contrarian-but-defendable-view-of-e-books/
An update on the shortcut to wiring a house with Ethernet
Last week, I presented a shortcut for wiring a house with Ethernet using cheap keystone couplers. I’m happy to say I’ve done it twice now, and it all works, but I wanted to follow up and share a little more experience now that I’ve wired about a dozen ports this way.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 27, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/12/an-update-on-the-shortcut-to-wiring-a-house-with-ethernet/
How to be a hero next Christmas (or your next family get-together)
My mother in law didn’t have wifi set up, but she picked up a smart TV this year, so she asked me if I could help her with it. So I picked up a D-Link DIR-615 on sale, brought it with me and set up wi-fi securely (hints: set the SSID to whatever time it [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 25, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/12/how-to-be-a-hero-next-christmas-or-your-next-family-get-together/
Exceptional–as in exceptions–budgeting
Consider the following scenario: In [a consumer finance] study, the authors, Abigail Sussman of Princeton University and Adam Alter of New York University, ask you to imagine that one of your favorite bands is performing nearby. The ticket costs more than you would ordinarily spend, but you have never seen this band live and decide [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on July 23, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/07/exceptional-as-in-exceptions-budgeting/
How to clean your LCD monitor or TV cheaply and safely
I found a nice trick this week. If those microfiber cloths that came with your LCD monitors and TV(s) have all wandered off, you can use a dry eraser instead. They’re bigger, so they’re easier to keep track of, and easier to use too. Just wipe the screen with the eraser like you would if [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on July 16, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/07/how-to-clean-your-lcd-monitor-or-tv-cheaply-and-safely/
My household’s energy usage dropped 19% in 2011
I got a letter from my utility company Saturday morning. Inside was a chart, comparing our household’s energy usage from 2010 and 2011. It dropped 19 percent. Considering our total bill for 2011 was over $900, that’s hardly chump change.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on March 18, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/03/my-households-energy-usage-dropped-19-in-2011/
Advice for upgrading from a CRT to an LCD
Like a lot of people are doing these days, my brother- and sister-in-law replaced a CRT TV with an LCD. I helped my brother-in-law hook it up last weekend, and we got it working, but probably could have done things a little bit differently. A lot of inexpensive LCDs have a limited number of inputs [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 23, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/advice-for-upgrading-from-a-crt-to-an-lcd/