Steve Jenkins

The new ecobee3 1
While the Nest smart thermostat has fans of Apple-inspired designs swooning, it wasn’t the first smart thermostat. Toronto-based ecobee is actually the pioneer in this industry, and had two iterations of smart thermostats (the original “Smart” and the “Si”) on the market well before Nest (and now Honeywell) jumped into […]

New ecobee3 thinks it’s time to leave the Nest

This entry was posted in DIY Home Theater & Automation Product Reviews Technology and tagged ecobee ecobee3 Nest on by (updated 3716 days ago)
There is no such thing as privacy 4
Another day, another story about nude photos of celebrities being hacked and posted online. I won’t mention the names of the celebrities in this most recent round, because it really doesn’t matter… and I really don’t want to accidentally show up in web searches of people looking for the photos. […]

What Hacked Nude Celebrity Photos Can Teach Us About Privacy ...

This entry was posted in Personal Rants and Raves Technology and tagged celebrity nudes Hack hackers iCloud nude photos photo privacy video on by (updated 3730 days ago)
Stomping the mole hills doesn't work 10
Like a lot of guys, I take great pride in my lawn. I like it green, flat, fertilized, and weed-free. Because I have an irrigation well, I’m able to water my lawn all summer long and keep the soil moist. But wherever you have moist soil, you have earthworms. And wherever you […]

Getting Rid of Moles: What Works, and What Doesn’t

This entry was posted in DIY Product Reviews and tagged how to get rid of moles how to kill moles mole bait mole worms prevent moles talpirid Talpirid review tomcat Tomcat Mole Killer review on by (updated 3730 days ago)
Grill like a geek 6
This year has been one of the best summers I can remember in Seattle. The weather’s been perfect, and I’ve been able to relax — which includes working on a bunch of projects around the house (don’t judge how I relax :)). But one of my favorite things about summer is […]

My Favorite BBQ Accessories

This entry was posted in BBQ Product Reviews and tagged accessories BBQ best favorite gadgets gloves grill iGrill smoke Traeger wood pellet grill on by (updated 3732 days ago)
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If you do a Google search on “Escalade warped rotors,” you’ll quickly find lots of stories from Cadillac Escalade owners complaining about their front brake wear. It’s easy to understand why. These behemoths are heavy. The standard 2008 Escalade’s gross weight is 7,100 lbs. But if you opt for the longer […]

Product Review: Brake Performance Front Rotors for 2008 Cadillac Escalade ...

This entry was posted in Cars DIY Product Reviews and tagged brake Cadillac Escalade how to pads rotors vibration warped on by (updated 3734 days ago)
Final assembled grill 18
I’ve been a “big stainless steel natural gas” barbeque grill guy for a long time. I’ve owned everything from entry-level Nexgrill units, to mid-level KitchenAid grills, all the way up to the big-daddy Viking grills. So this past Saturday, when my wife and I hit our local Costco, our intent was […]

Product Review: Traeger BBQ 400 Select

This entry was posted in Product Reviews and tagged BBQ BBQ 400 customer service product review Traeger Traeger Select warranty wood pellet grill on by (updated 3766 days ago)
Why doesn't it look different? 14
Here’s the scenario: you’ve set up Dynamically Allocated Storage for the hard drive on your Guest VM in VirtualBox and you’ve run out of space — even though your Actual Size is smaller than the Virtual Size (this happened to me recently when my Virtual Size was 10 GB, and […]

Resize a Fedora, CentOS, or Windows Dynamic Guest Virtual Disk ...

This entry was posted in Linux Reference Technology Windows and tagged CentOS dynamically allocated Fedora LVM partition resize resize VDI VDI virtual disk VirtualBox Windows on by (updated 2817 days ago)
Linux Uptime 6
CentOS 7 was released recently, and so I fired up my build VM so I could attempt to build the OpenDKIM package for submission to EPEL. But the compile barfs on strlcat/strlcopy, because RHEL/CentOS doesn’t have libbsd available (yet?). The libbsd package was a requirement for the package to work […]

Rant: Why is there no libbsd for CentOS 7?

This entry was posted in Linux Rants and Raves Technology and tagged CentOS CentOS 7 compile libbsd OpenDKIM package yum on by (updated 3775 days ago)
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Earlier today, I received the following email from someone who is not named Bob, but that’s what I’ll call him to protect his privacy: Steve, Did you recently sell an F40? Or are in the process of selling one? I have one with your vin number being offered to me that I am […]

Fraud Alert: Mark Raider of Rogclassics in Ely, Nevada is ...

This entry was posted in Cars Personal Rants and Raves and tagged Ely Ferrari fraud Mark Raider Nevada Rogclassics on by (updated 3776 days ago)
Rasmus Lerdorf's opcache-status script 2
When I upgraded to PHP 5.5, I also said goodbye to my beloved APC cache (which never let me down) in favor of Zend OPcache, because it’s already part of the PHP package. Back when I used APC, one of my favorite tools was the apc.php script that showed cache status and allowed me […]

My Favorite Zend OPcache Status Scripts

This entry was posted in Linux Reference Technology and tagged APC apc.php cache memcache memcached OPcache opcode cache php cache script user data cache Zend on by (updated 3676 days ago)
Gas Water Heater Timer with included timer 13
I own a whopping eight water heaters between five houses: two at the main house, two at the Utah house, two at the cabin, and one at each of two rental houses. The cabin and one of the rental houses use electric water heaters, so the majority of my water heaters (5 out of 8) run on […]

Product Review: Save Money with a Gas Water Heater Timer

This entry was posted in DIY Home Theater & Automation Product Reviews and tagged American Pacific gas control valve gas water heater timer home automation remote control smartphone water heater WeMo on by (updated 3618 days ago)
Control options for the ZigBee control module 20
One of my favorite features of my Ecobee WiFi thermostats is the ability to heat or cool a location so that it’s nice and comfortable by the time we walk in the door. For example, our furnace and heat pump at our cabin both use electricity, so I save money on my electric bill by allowing a […]

Product Review: Remotely Controlling an Electric Water Heater with a ...

This entry was posted in DIY Home Theater & Automation and tagged 240V 30 amp ecobee Leviton product review remote control schedule smart thermostat water heater wireless control module ZigBee on by (updated 3611 days ago)
Caliber 4R digital hygrometer and thermometer 1
I recently purchased a dehumidifier to place in my gun safe (product review is coming), but I wanted to make sure it was doing its job properly. The only way to ensure that is to test the humidity inside the safe before placing the dehumidifier in there versus after. And […]

Product Review: Western Humidor Caliber 4R Digital Hygrometer and Thermometer

This entry was posted in Guns Product Reviews and tagged Caliber 4R cigar gun safe humidity hygrometer product review temperature Western Humidor on by (updated 3799 days ago)
Caliber 4R hygrometer in a salt test 4
“It’s not the heat… it’s the humidity that gets you.” Not only is that true for personal comfort, but even more so for important items that need to be kept at a specific humidity (like cigars at 70%) or metal parts on guns (which want to be stored in a […]

How to Calibrate a Hygrometer (Humidity Sensor) using the Salt ...

This entry was posted in DIY Reference and tagged 75% calibrate cigar how to humidity humidor hygrometer relative humidity salt test on by
Honeywell EconoSWITCH Review 1
When my primary residence was built in 1998, the builder installed a Lutron HomeWorks whole-house lighting system. Basically, it’s a set of three panels (one on each floor) that can control all the lighting loads in the house. It also allows any keypad in the house to control any light […]

Adding Astronomical Clock Functionality to an Original Lutron HomeWorks System

This entry was posted in DIY Home Theater & Automation Technology and tagged astronomical clock HomeWorks HWV-IP5 Lutron on by
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If you’re trying to set up an Apache web server on CentOS  as your origin server for Google PageSpeed service, you need to take certain steps to make sure that Apache can see (and also log) the IP address of the visiting host. Otherwise, all you’ll see in your Apache log files […]

Configuring Apache on CentOS 6 for Google PageSpeed Service

This entry was posted in Linux Reference Technology and tagged Apache CentOS configure Google mod_remoteip PageSpeed PageSpeed Service PSS wrong IP on by (updated 3800 days ago)
New fittings installed in minutes 4
If you’ve read any of my previous plumbing DIY posts, you know I’m a fan of SharkBite slip-fittings. Yes, they’re more expensive than standard copper or CPVC fittings, but their primary benefit is how easy they are to install… and remove for re-use or reconfiguration. Normally, you don’t have to remove plumbing fittings […]

DIY: SharkBite Fittings Make Adding a Check Valve Easy

This entry was posted in DIY and tagged check valve hot water tank plumbing SharkBite water heater on by (updated 3822 days ago)
Color temperature can change the "feel" of a room. 63
One of the reasons I enjoy doing DIY projects is because I love saving money. But not all DIY projects are created equal — and the least equal is replacing light bulbs. I hate replacing light bulbs. I feel very little satisfaction after doing it, and I often put if […]

Choosing the Right LED Bulbs

This entry was posted in DIY and tagged 2700K 3000K CFL color temperature compact florescent CREE DIY EcoSmart LED LED bulb LED bulbs LED fixtures light bulb lumens on by (updated 2862 days ago)
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I’d been planning to write a post about carbon monoxide (CO) detectors for some time now, ever since I installed one not long ago while replacing my first water heater here at the house. I wasn’t in any rush. I’d get around to it eventually. But a pair of recent and […]

Install, Check, Replace Your Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detectors… Right Now!

This entry was posted in DIY and tagged carbon monoxide CO CO detector CO sensor detector First Alert install CO detector Macurco sensor smoke detector test CO detector test smoke detector on by (updated 3900 days ago)
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Glock’s marketing tagline is “Perfection,” but that doesn’t prevent many of us from wanting a little something extra from these popular striker-fired pistols. This article will include links to my YouTube video series on Glock Upgrades. My general philosophy around any firearms modification is that in order to truly be […]

Video: Top Glock Upgrades to “Rock your Glock!”

This entry was posted in Guns Reference Videos and tagged connector Ferrari Steve field strip Glock mods Glock upgrades how to light plug trigger video on by (updated 3557 days ago)
New capacitor in place 590
UPDATE: Whirlpool has finally publicly admitted (kind of) that they’ve left their customers “high and dry” with this control board issue. They published this Class Code 91 Letter (though they never actually explain what “class code 91” means and Google wasn’t any help) with a list of all the model numbers that […]

How to Fix a Whirlpool & KitchenAid W10219463 / 2307028 ...

This entry was posted in DIY Reference and tagged 2307028 capacitor control board CoreCentric DIY fix FixYourBoard fridge JennAir Kenmore KitchenAid Maytag refrigerator relay Repair replace W10219463 Whirlpool on by (updated 3069 days ago)
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If you’re a DirecTV customer, and you want to watch your local channels and get shows from the “big” networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, then there’s a good chance you’re coughing up extra money for their local channels. Or maybe, you like to take your DirecTV receiver on […]

How to Get HDTV Local Channels “Off Air” with DirecTV

This entry was posted in Home Theater & Automation Technology and tagged AM21N antenna channel guide DirecTV DVR free local channels HDTV local channels Mohu Leaf off-air tuner Winegard on by