techimoto

A new year, a new decade, a time to trim the spending.

We have had Time Warner Cable as our cable television, internet and phone for the past few years under the “all the best” plan. According to Time Warner the “all the best” plan is a cheaper alternative to have TV, Internet and Phone service, bundled though them as aposed to having three service providers.

We have 4 tvs two of which are HD, and two are SD we had 3 digital cable boxes and one tv on basic cable. For the internet we have a wireless router, and a gigabit wired LAN. The phone was

digitalphone using the cable network. All of this was costing us about $170 a month.

Now that would not be to horrible if it worked all the time, but there was always issues with our service. During the time we have had Time Warner Cable we have made probably over 10 service calls and had just as many techs out to our house to fix the same issue over and over, weak signal…

Our neighborhood was built in the 1940′s and its aging infrastructure is starting to show its age, the city is constantly working on improving services and ripping the road up replacing sewer, and street lighting. But you rarely see Time Warner Cable upgrading there hardware. Read the rest

I shop on eBay about once a month and normally pay with PayPal in the last 6 years making and receiving thousands of transactions, using PayPal I have had a few small issues but nothing that could not be cleared up by a phone call. But my last experience with PayPal will change the way I look at that company, and may influence the ways I purchase online in the future.

On Dec 22 2009 I had purchased a 1.75″ shackles & spacer lift for my jeep cherokee, during checkout I wanted to use a new credit card. So like most people would do I clicked on alternate payment sources, and entered my cards information, and then hit save and submit. Little did I know that once I hit the submit button all hell would break lose…

To my knowledge the transaction worked as planned the next day my credit card showed a pending charge from PayPal, but it was for only $1. At this point I still thought it was working as I see a $1 charge all the time as merchants use that to authorize the card.

About four days later I get an email from my bank that I have been overdrawn and has over $100 in NSF fees, this is when I discovered PayPal made a big mistake. Read the rest

Living in southern California it can get quite toasty in the summer but up until now we haven’t had a day over 75, but last week we had a triple digit day with it peaking to around 105. This uncovered a hidden issue with the Jeep, as we where driving though Thousand Oaks we noticed that the coolant temp was pegged at 260. We quickly pulled into a gas station and and checked the coolant level, all looked good but after idling for a few minutes the temperature went down and took about 2 quarts of coolant. We made it to our Los Angeles location but was running hot the entire time.

Because of this we wanted to beef up the cooling system, so after some research we decided a conversion to a 92+ system was best. The two types of cooling systems are Open and Closed, the 90 jeep comes with a closed system, this means that the system is closed and has a inline recovery tank that allows for expansion, this type does not have a radiator cap and fluid is filled though the recover tank. The Open system is different as it has a radiator cap and a overflow tank instead of a inline tank, this recovers the extra coolant when the system gets to hot.

Each system has its advantages and disadvantages

Open system Advantages:

• Ease of filling system
• Overflow tank
• Simple hose routing

Open system Disadvantages:

• Overflow tank only works one way without special cap

Closed system Advantages:

• No overflow tank to worry about, recovery tank takes the overflow and also fills when needed

Closed system Disadvantages:

• No radiator cap
• Coolant must be added to the overflow tank
• Complicated hose routing
• Plastic recovery bottle can crack

So the game plan for this retrofit would consisted of the following:

1. CSF 3 row all steel radiator – radiatorbarn.com
2. Water Pump
3. High Flow Thermostat 195 Mr. Gasket
4. All new hoses
5. Heater Control Valve Read the rest

One year ago at this time I was looking at a project Jeep to purchase, it was in poor condition to say the least and would not move under its own power.

I then spent a long few months rebuilding it and transforming it into an off road Jeep. Tomorrow December 20th is exactly one year after purchasing the Jeep and having it towed home. In this time I have done many unique things to it and have customized it in and out.

In the year I have put over 10,000 miles on the Jeep and taken it many places, I have never been let down or stranded by the Jeep and over all it is a reliable Jeep. I would feel comfortable taking it on a long road trip with no worries about being stranded, I also have all the tools and spare parts to fix most the issues I would encounter on the road.

Jeep Specs & Projects:

• Painted exterior
• Stripped interior and replaced with new carpet, Volvo seats, recovered headliner
• Applied peel-n-seal on entire floor pan
• Rebuilt Transmission and replaced torque converter
• Converted to open cooling system, CSF 3 row radiator, Three Electric Fans
• Custom HD SYE (Rubicon Express collar, cut down yolk) and Coast Driveline HD CV shaft
• Rubicon Express 3.5″ Super Ride lift, full packs plus extra stock leaf for weight capacity
• 31″ BFG AT tires, 15 x 8 American Racing soft 8
• Diy Front & Rear Bumpers
• Con Ferr roof rack & DIY Ladder
• Slide out storage drawers
• Rope racks Read the rest

There has been much debate in the last few months over the Health Care Bills in Congress.  Much of it, I’m afraid, has been more emotion and misconceptions than logic or truisms.  Few that have gotten through high school can dispute certain mathematical truths that were drilled into them ad nauseum.  One that we learn early on, is:

If A = B

and A = C,

Then B = C

Instead of ranting and raving illogically at various town hall meetings, let’s try using a little good old-fashioned logic (that we were all bored-to-death with in high school, but, let’s face it, can come in handy now and then).

Now consider the following statistics:

When asked in a new Harris Poll how strongly those polled support 14 different government services, five services receive strong, or a fair amount of support, from about three-fourths of all adults or more. The five most popular services are The National Parks Service (85% support), Crime-fighting and prevention services (77%) Medicare (76%), Social Security (76%), and Unemployment benefits (74%).

Medicare came in with a strong 76%, over 3 out of 4 people polled by Harris.  (REMINDER: Medicare is a “single payer” system, with the government as the payee).  I think it is safe to say that overall, Medicare is a success, and, if we can say that success is “good”,  it logically follows that:

Medicare (A) = Single-payer System (B)

Medicare (A) = “good” (C)

then, Single-Payer System (B) = “good” (C)

Now, that wasn’t so painful was it?

Today's crowded emergency room

At least 80% of Americans don’t really have any health care insurance.  This implies that,  given some unfortunate event, you will still have health care coverage.  What they do have,  those that are now fortunate enough to have a job, and less and less frequently, a job that also provides health insurance, is a “heath related benefit”.

According to Wikipedia, an “employee benefit” is defined as:

various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries.   Where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit, this is generally referred to as a ‘salary sacrifice’ arrangement.

The problem is, coverage is tied into whether or not you have such a job, and a job where your salary was negotiated to contain such a “benefit” (this is entirely up the the employer.  They are not mandated to provide you with a health care related benefit).

Many things can disrupt this tidy arrangement, such as:

Your company could drop its health plan. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of the population covered by employer-based health insurance has fallen every year since 2000, from 64.2% to 59.3%.

You could lose your job. I don’t think I need to tell anyone what the unemployment rate is these days.**

You could voluntarily leave your job, for example because you have to move to take care of an elderly relative.

You could get divorced from the spouse you depend on for health coverage.

Read the rest

Google Apps poster

This week Google has launched a new advertising campaign using billboards in four cities, San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Chicago, each day the billboards will display a different message promoting Google Apps. I have been using many of Google’s products for the past few years, I also have helped many others setup and use Gmail as an alternative for traditional email hosting with great success.

Here is my five reasons to use Google Apps.

1. Google Apps, Free For 100 Users

If you are a small business and looking for ways to cut costs, Google Apps allows for up to 100 users on their free ad supported version. The biggest difference is the 25GB vs 7GB of email storage, as well as being able to force SSL on the premium account but not the standard account. You also get access to Google Docs, but with a shared account of 10GB, on the premium account you get 10GB plus 500MB of shared space per user.

2. Hosted E-Mail, Powered by Gmail.

Here at techimoto our email is powered by Gmail using Google Apps, we easily transfered our email DNS records and within a few hours we where reaping all the benefits of Gmail. One of the key features that drew us to use Gmail was the great spam filtering and the fact that you don’t need to delete anything, being able to go back and search for a receipt or other important message from many years back. Read the rest

Go Mic is a high-quality USB microphone that captures audio for all kinds of software and online applications, all in an innovative fold up design

Hauppauge, NY – August 4, 2009 – Samson Technologies, an industry leading audio technology manufacturer, is thrilled to announce shipping for the Samson Go Mic. Go Mic is a USB condenser microphone designed to record professional quality while providing maximum portability.  Its unique design provides the user with a built-in spring-loaded laptop mount or tabletop stand in one 2.5-inch by 1.5-inch package.  The microphone is supported by a multidirectional hinge; ensuring consumers record only the intended audio and can easily tuck the microphone away when not in use.

“The Go Mic provides general consumers, prosumers and professionals alike with an ingeniously designed handy solution that fits in the palm of your hand,” says Mark Wilder, Director of Marketing for Samson Technologies. “It provides incredible value and ensures users at home and on the go have the gear they need to clearly record or communicate.”

Go Mic is perfect for all forms of recording. On the road, in the classroom, in a house of worship or any office setting, Go Mic will provide professionals and consumers alike with a convenient recording option. Additionally, Go Mic is ideal for software applications such as Skype, iChat, webcasting, podcasting, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and voice recognition software. Read the rest

Lake Forest, IL – (August 4, 2009) – BFG Technologies®, Inc., the leading North American and European supplier of advanced NVIDIA-based 3D graphics cards, power supplies, and the Phobos™ High-Performance Gaming/Home Theater System, announced today the BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O+™ and GeForce® GTX 295 H2OC™ graphics cards with ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solutions—saving customers time and money by providing a high performance graphics card plus a fully assembled, self-contained liquid cooling solution right out of the box.

The BFG GeForce® GTX 285 H2O+™ and GeForce® GTX 295 H2OC™ ThermoIntelligence® Advanced Cooling Solutions are maintenance-free, self-contained liquid cooling units attached to enthusiast-grade BFG Tech graphics cards that easily install into most systems right out of the box and never need refilling or additional components. These unique solutions feature a top of the line BFG Tech graphics card plus a high-performance cooling loop designed by CoolIT Systems™ that pushes coolant across the GPU and exhausts heat directly outside of the system chassis. Three different system speed settings—Auto, Quiet, and Maximum—give total control over acoustics and performance. Read the rest