Home Energy Monitoring

There was a useful piece on the Today Show this morning on home energy use.  They referenced two devices that cost about $100 - $130 and do whole home monitoring (you connect them to your meter).  They work in the same fashion as the Kill-A-Watt, but you can plug in your local energy rate ($/KWh) and monitor your costs real time.

On the show, the woman demonstrated the before/after on her home after unplugging various 'vampire' devices including transformers and always-on appliances.

I still think the Kill-A-Watt is the best bang for the buck, but I like the idea of 'whole house' monitoring and the ability to monitor the cost using the device.

http://www.blackanddecker.com/Energy/PowerMonitorCompatibility.htm

http://www.bluelineinnovations.com/Products/

Technorati Tags: energy,home,frugal

Droid Day 3

1. First full business day of use summary
2. Droid recharge issue (possibly operator error)
3. ActiveSync error with Corporate Calendar
4. USB Sync with Windows (tested Win7)

First full business day of use, I had a very light day of e-mail, text, and web use. 

Phone configuration – Bluetooth, mail sync (GMail and ActiveSync) enabled all day. 

Use – 5-6 phone calls, ~15 texts, Twitter post and review morning, lunch, and evening.  GMail checks real time, about 100 messages total.   The battery level 40% at 8PM.

Another odd observation is that the Droid turns on when you charge it.  I turned it off on the charger, but if the power is cycled (turned off and on), the phone turns itself on again. Not a big deal, but not expected behavior.

ActiveSync – works fine with e-mail and Contacts, and I’m getting an authentication error with Corporate Calendar.  Not sure how e-mail is working and Calendar sync is not, but I’ll look into it and see if I can enable logging to debug the issue.

USB Sync with Windows 7 is not well documented.  Connect the Droid to your computer with the USB cable, a USB icon is displayed on the status bar.  Pull down the status bar, select USB and select “USB connected”, then Mount the Droid SD card. 

You can transfer files manually, or use DoubleTwist (http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt) to automate synch of media files.

Technorati Tags: Droid,USB,review

Verizon Droid

I went to the Mount Laurel Verizon store at 6am this morning to buy a Droid.  Oddly enough, I was the only one in line over the age of, oh, 30?  Lots of customer service people and they even had a photographer and some marketing folks.  Bill was my customer service person, and he did a great job – he knew the Droid and even took some time to walk me through the interface and apps a bit, even demonstrating how to search the App Marketplace for a Twitter client.

I was the first person to complete my purchase, so they took a picture of Bill, me, and the Droid with the time displaying.

My first impression is very, very positive.  I will wring the hell out of it this weekend and post my comments. 

I bought a set of screen protectors, but the Droid fits in my Samsung i760 holster as well as my car holder.  I’m amused that the Droid manual has fewer pages (it’s actually a gatefold) than the Product Safety and Consumer Information brochures.  The only accessory is a 115V USB wall adapter and USB/mini-USB connector, but this fits into my existing car charger, so I’m ready to go.

Current Favorite Apps

• TwitDroid – twitter client
• Advanced Task Killer Free – task management utility
• Google Voice
• Car Home – GPS navigator
• Barcode Scanner – scan barcode and web lookup
  
  

Technorati Tags: Droid,Android,Google,mobile,communications

Cell phone users rack up accidental data charges

NOTE – if you ask Verizon, they can setup your account so it is impossible for your mobile phone to access the Internet.  Period.  They incorrectly stated that multimedia messaging would be disabled, but this is not correct.  You can send and receive pictures without a data connection.

It also appears that need to have them reconfigure your account to disable Internet access if you switch phones or reset features of your plan.

I find it very troubling that Verizon talks about “fixing this aspect of our service” when I know this is not true, and my local Verizon tech people have configured my accounts in this fashion.

 

Verizon Wireless is looking into ways to prevent subscribers without data plans from accidentally starting up the Web browser on their phones and racking up $1.99 in fees each time.

On many phones, including ones on other carriers, it's easy to inadvertently hit a button that brings up the Web browser.

"It is obvious to us that we need to fix this aspect of our service," spokesman Tom Pica said.

He said the company is refunding data charges to subscribers who complain.

My Way News - Cell phone users rack up accidental data charges

Technorati Tags: Verizon,mobile,budget

Improving gas mileage

After experimenting with different driving techniques, removing the junk from the trunk (and the rear seats from the van), I have improved my gas mileage about 23% in the van and about 30% in the Saab.

Oddly enough, I just read two interesting tips. One from Ford, the other from one of the hypermiler forums.

The Ford list “10 ECO-DRIVING TIPS FOR EVERYONE” is more mainstream and could use more detail, such as ‘anticipatory driving’. This is what I call it when I look ahead to anticipate traffic flow, or trying to time lights so I don’t have to hit the brakes. I have made it a game and the payoff is better gas mileage.

The ecomodder list, “105 hypermiling / ecodriving tips” is actually more mainstream than you would think, with several tips I use, including improved instrumentation (I use a ScanGauge), tracking your mileage, lane of least resistance, reducing speed.

I believe the instrumentation, reducing my speed, and cumulative smart driving have yielded the greatest mileage improvements.

I plan to remove the roof rack from my van this weekend.

Technorati Tags: automobile,economy,ecomodder,fuel,energy,gas,car,mileage

Windows Mobile 6.1 Firmware – Sprint Mogul

I updated my phone with a developer version of the firmware.  The production release was issued 8.6.2008 and the link below matches the exact rev I have installed on my phone.

I found the following benefits of the firmware:

• NO SYSTEM RESETS.  None, since the firmware update.
• Device certs for ActiveSync support (future requirement for my company for security)
• Longer battery life (this is more qualitative, but it is noticeably better)
• Text messages conversations are threaded
• Eliminated occasional problems I had answering calls when phone locked
• Java updated – Google Mail application works
• GPS application support enabled – works with Google Maps real time
• Did I mention NO SYSTEM RESETS?

There are probably some other issues, but these are ones I know off the top of my head.

Also, I had a local problem with ActiveSync that I resolved with help from Sandy Dahri.  Details on link below .  The root cause appears to be a beta release of Microsoft Desktop Search 4.0.

Windows Mobile 6.1 for Mogul - Sprint

http://www.htc.com/us/SupportDownloadList.aspx?p_id=75&cat=all

ActiveSync problem fix

http://www.paulbegley.com/2008/07/office-2007-and-activesync-45-problems.htm

Technorati Tags: HTC,Sprint,Microsoft,mobile,firmware,ActiveSync

eneloop batteries - eneloop is a rechargeable battery.

Sony is offering a special PowerPack at Costco that includes a four position charger, 8 AA, 4 AAA, as well as two C and D size adapters (you can put four AA batteries into the adapters and use them as C and D batteries).

The neat thing about the eneloop over traditional NiMH batteries is they retain their charge longer on the shelf.  I just started testing  (AA in a digital camera and AAA in my voice recorder).  I will post a follow-up after I have some real world experience and stats.

del.icio.us Tags: gagets , hardware , recommendations