ecobee4 with Amazon Alexa Voice Service 4
Today is the official launch of the ecobee4 smart thermostat: the latest in what’s now a long(ish) line of WiFi thermostats from the eponymous Toronto-based ecobee Inc. Whenever ecobee releases an even “smarter” version of their smart thermostat, you can pretty much guarantee I’m gonna be all over that product […]

ecobee4 Smart Thermostat Review

Google Fiber speed test of EdgeRouter Lite 7
Many moons ago, I replaced my Google Fiber Network Box with a UBNT EdgeRouter Lite router at our house in Provo, Utah… and never looked back! With a street price of under $90, the ER-Lite was a tough act to beat for the money. But later, when Ubiquiti Networks released the newer EdgeRouter […]

EdgeRouter X vs. EdgeRouter Lite Google Fiber Speed Tests

APC UPS Diagnostic Events interface
By default, if you configure a notification email address on an APC Smart-UPS, it will send you an email every time your UPS passes a self test. Depending on how often you have your UPS’s self tests scheduled, this can fill up your inbox or SMS alert system with messages you […]

How to Turn Off “UPS: Passed a Self-Test” Emails on ...

ecobee3 Lite calibration mode 1
Are you wanting to get on the smart thermostat bandwagon, but aren’t sure if it’s worth the $249 price tag of the full-featured models like the ecobee3 and Nest? Then has ecobee got a deal for you. They recently added the ecobee3 Lite to their line-up with a very tempting MSRP of […]

Review: ecobee3 Lite

Kernel Version vs Firmware Version 6
In March of last year, I published this article claiming that the latest (at the time) DD-WRT builds based on the Linux 2.6 kernel (K2.6) ran faster on a Linksys/Cisco E4200 router than their K3.x counterparts. Since then, I’ve heard apocryphal stories from some in the DD-WRT forums that the […]

DD-WRT K2.6 vs K3.x vs Tomato Router Firmware Head to ...

Hazard switch pin and channel system
Imagine you’re driving a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS through Utah’s Wasatch Mountain canyons near Park City with a group of other European exotics. As the group pulls off to the side of the highway to let the stragglers catch up, you hit your hazard lights button. When it’s time to depart once […]

How to Fix a Broken Ferrari 328 Hazard Switch

AC Infinity S3 fan
If you’re like most homeowners, you probably keep your receiver, amplifier, router, network switch, or any other electronic equipment inside a cabinet… which means you have a heat problem. Heat is the enemy of electronics, and circulating air through and around anything electronic is vital to its performance and longevity. This is the cabinet […]

Review: AC Infinity Airplate Cabinet Fan

Even if you don’t understand the function of a GFCI outlet, or know what “GFCI” stands for, there’s a really good chance you’ve seen at least one (and probably a few) in your home. This is what a GFCI outlet looks like: GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, and that’s precisely […]

You Should Test and Replace your GFCI Outlets More Often ...

Batteries wired in parallel are now fully charged 1
It’s a story that repeats itself in garages across America every summer. Your kid wants to drive his Power Wheels Jeep, or her Power Wheels Escalade (is it really selling for $800-$900 on Amazon?)… and the battery is dead. You plug in the proprietary charging connector (if you haven’t lost it, that is), but […]

Dead Power Wheels Battery? Maybe You Can Trick it Back ...

"Forget" your access point(s) on your existing UniFi Controller before adopting it on your hosted controller 10
UPDATE: Due to the positive responses I’ve received about this script, and repeated requests for Let’s Encrypt support, it now supports standard and Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates. Read on for details. The Ubiquiti UniFi Controller comes with its own self-signed SSL certificate, which means that every time you try to […]

Use an Existing SSL Certificate on a Linux UniFi Controller

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UPDATE: Since most modern browsers yanked their trust for StartSSL certificates due to some funny business from StartCom, I no longer recommend StartSSL certs. I’ve switched all my certs over to LetsEncrypt (using the excellent Dehydrated script for easy setup and renewal). The article below remains here for historical purposes only. […]

Create a Free SSL Certificate with StartSSL

GE LEG Bright Stiks, 760 lumens, 5000K color temp 1
As I was tearing my 1997 Sub-Zero 601F freezer apart recently to troubleshoot a defrost issue (expect a separate blog post on that soon), I noted that it used four traditional 40W incandescent appliance bulbs as its light source. The 601R refrigerator installed next to it used the same. As […]

Quick & Easy LED Light Upgrade for your Refrigerator and ...

"Forget" your access point(s) on your existing UniFi Controller before adopting it on your hosted controller
After writing the post on how to quickly upgrade your Ubiquiti UniFi Controller on non-Debian Linux boxes (I run mine on CentOS), I decided that it still wasn’t quick enough. So I threw together a script called upgrade_unifi.sh that does the following: Stops the existing UniFi Controller Makes a backup of your old UniFi […]

Automated Script for UniFi Controller Upgrade on Linux/Unix Systems

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If you’re running the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller on a Linux box (I run mine on CentOS), the default instructions from UBNT walk you through building a simple SysV init script to run the Java .jar file as a service. I was in a tinkering mood, so I re-wrote the SysV startup script on my […]

Improved Startup Script for Ubiquiti UniFi Controller on Unix / ...

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UPDATE: I’ve written an automated script that performs all the steps in this article in less than 60 seconds. Feel free to follow the steps below if you want full manual control, or download my script to make your life even easier. 🙂 Ubiquiti Networks’ Java-based UniFi Controller software has a […]

Upgrade Your Linux UniFi Controller Version in 5 Minutes

"Forget" your access point(s) on your existing UniFi Controller before adopting it on your hosted controller 4
If you’ve ever set up a Ubiquiti UniFi access point, such as the UBNT UAP, UBNT UAP-PRO, or UBNT UAP-AC-PRO, you’ve had to run UniFi Controller software required to adopt, configure, and manage your UniFi devices. When I set up a UAP-PRO in our house (see my install guide) I ran the UniFi Controller software full-time on […]

DIY Cloud-Hosting a Ubiquiti (UBNT) UniFi Controller

Close-up of Trex flaking 1
When it came time in 2006 to replace the deck at my log home in Eastern Washington, I wanted to go low maintenance. I already had plenty of maintenance tasks with the logs, the waterfront, the dock, and the teak furniture, so I decided to go with the most well-known and trusted […]

Follow My Trex Surface Flaking Class Action Claim

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UPDATE: I repeated my testing in January 2017, and published the results here. The older K2.6 (Linux Kernel 2.6) versions of the DD-WRT open source firmware are still way faster for both wired and wireless networks than the newer K3.x versions of DD-WRT… at least on a Linksys E4200. How can I […]

DD-WRT K2.6 is Still Faster than K3.x

SCOTTeVEST Enforcer internal features 4
A few years ago, a friend of mine who is a fellow fan of “tacti-cool” gear emailed me a link to the then-new Brad Thor Alpha Jacket by SCOTTeVEST. I couldn’t whip out my wallet fast enough. Founded in Chicago in 2000, SCOTTeVEST is now headquartered in Ketcham, Idaho and specializes […]

Review: SCOTTeVEST Enforcer vs Alpha Jacket

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Warning: this blog post contains a link to explicit lyrics. Perhaps a similar warning should have been posted on the door of the Covington, WA Starbucks I visited on Friday, January 29, 2016. Even though I’m not a coffee drinker, I’m a fan of Starbucks’ food, their non-coffee drinks, and their […]

Rant: Explicit Lyrics Warning Label Needed at Starbucks?

LanmanServer now dependent on Drobo Dashboard 1
I’ve had a problem with my Windows 2008 R2 server for over a year that I could never figure out. After every reboot (which I only do after a Windows Update), shared folders were no longer available to network clients. My initial workaround was to RDC to the server, right-click on […]

Fix missing shares on Windows 2008 Server reboot with Drobo

WOSS Titan Suspension Trainer Kit 1
Like most other people who’ve visited a commercial gym in the past couple of years, I’ve seen those bright yellow TRX suspension trainer setups, like this: Initially, I wondered if they were simply the latest fitness gimmick, or whether there was something to them. I played around with them a bit, but never […]

WOSS Titan Review: Affordable TRX Suspension Trainer Alternative

This is another of those posts that might only be for my own benefit, so that the next time I need to change the oil on my wife’s 2008 Cadillac Escalade, I can simply locate this post to remember what parts I used… and whether I liked them. 🙂 I […]

Oil Change and Filter Parts for 2008 Cadillac Escalade

The purpose of this particular post is to have a destination where I can direct people (the majority of whom are friends of mine) whenever they suggest that I try out a health, fitness, diet, and/or supplement product… and/or program… and/or system… and/or approach. Usually, I receive that suggestion online (via […]

No, Thank You (or Why I Don’t Participate in Fitness ...