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April 30, 2019April 30, 2019

Weekend Project – 2011-2014 Dodge Charger Backup Camera Replacement

Over the last few months the backup camera on my wife’s 2014 Dodge Charger has been intermittently failing to send picture to the console display. The radio / head unit is functioning normally for climate control functions and AM/FM/ and Satellite is working OK too, so I began to troubleshoot the wiring.

During the troubleshooting process, with the backup camera active I disconnected the unit from the cars wiring harness and then reconnected it. At that point the camera begins transmitting again. (think reboot) The next time the camera is activated it fails once again.

This leads me to believe the unit is bad and needs to be replaced. A call to the Dodge dealership quoted me a price of over $350 for parts and labor. I quickly sourced the part on Amazon for around $197

OEM – Mopar 2011-2014 Dodge Charger / Chrysler 300 Backup Camera – $197 at Amazon

Tools you can use:

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April 25, 2019April 25, 2019

A Blast From The Past – Panasonic Panapet Radio

I love when I find vintage electronics in the basement or back of my closet. During some recent spring cleaning I came across this 1970’s something Panasonic Panapet radio. In itself its not very remarkable, but when you think about how much technology has changed in the last 45 years its quite amazing. Also kind of funny that they named it “PANA”sonic “PET”

History Of The Panapet

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April 23, 2019

Incredible Shrinking Product – Barbasol Shaving Cream

I’m not sure if anyone cares about this, I’m not sure if I even care about this however I guess I find it worth mentioning. I have been using Barbasol shaving cream since I hit puberty and it does the job its supposed to do. In fact my father used Barbasol shaving cream too. I would say he passed it on to me when I was learning how to shave so many years ago.

Welcome to corporate America, where profits are important and the incredible shrinking product is a reality of life. I have seen this before where the toilet paper roll becomes thinner, or the NET Weight of a product is shaved down by 1/2 and ounce or so and the price stays the same. I understand its all economics. Reduce the amount of product in the box and increase your profits.

Barbasol – 10oz vs 7oz

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April 19, 2019April 19, 2019

WTF – Is Amazon Selling Nazi Magnets?

Like most of the world I use Amazon to buy everything from electronics to dog food. I needed some magnets to complete a project and stumbled across this image. The $10 – 200pcs magnet set. Which normally would be innocent enough, except when the magnets are placed to reference a swastika.

What is going on here? Amazon Nazi Magnet Set?

Seems inappropriate if you ask me. Click here to see for yourself

Unless they took it down already, then click here to see a local copy

I wonder how much more inappropriate stuff is floating around on Amazon. If you find something let me know.

Thanks for reading my blog,
Joe

April 19, 2019

Fun Desk Clock From Recycled iPhone 5

Technology changes so fast, and we all want the latest gadget, but what is the cost of consuming so much? Big business wants us to keep buying devices, even if the old ones are still good. We wind up with millions of abandoned iPhones, Androids and tablets. Some are recycled responsibly while tens of thousands are just tossed in the trash or the back of your desk draw never to be seen again. Here is a super simple way to recycle your old iPhone into a great retro looking desk clock.

Recycle Your iPhone into a clock – WHAT YOU NEED

I needed a stand for my clock and since my objective was to keep this project as simple and low cost as possible. I started with two 3×5 acrylic photo frames.

3×5 acrylic frame. Very low cost, about $5.00 at Amazon

You will also need 8 flat rare earth magnets (Neodymium) The stronger the magnets the better. Keep them small and flat, the actual shape round or square does not matter. $14.00 at Amazon

A little glue to hold it all together. I tend to like GOOP, but any strong adhesive should do. Goop at Amazon $ 11.00

The last two items you probably have around the house.

A colored spay paint for tinting the acrylic frames, I used black.
Some type of counter weight for the back of the stand to give it stability, I used a pair of hard drive spindle motors.

Putting it together

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April 12, 2019

Battery Replacement – Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

It seems like everyone on this planet likes the latest shinny new gadget, and I’m no exception. However, there are times when one of those gadgets has everything you want in it and does a good job. My Samsung Galaxy Tab S is one of them.

Its OEM battery is running on fumes and basically it needs to be tethered to the wall almost all the time. Rather than toss it in the trash or take it to the kiosk in the mall I figured I would make a run at changing the battery myself. This replacement was MUCH easier than expected. I have changed a number of iPhone batteries over the years and they are a pain to do (because of all the glue). The Galaxy was easy and only took about 15 minutes to complete.

TOOLS AND PARTS

First stop was to Amazon to check out the replacement battery choices. There was a number of different units on sale from $17 to about $55. While scrolling through they all seem to be the same Chinese replacement so I simply picked the lowest cost kit

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April 5, 2019

Who Holds Amazon Accountable For Screw-ups?

I may just letting my misguided anger write this post. Let me first say I am a HUGE fan of Amazon and have spent over $6,500 on “stuff” in the last year. In the Amazon balance sheet that’s like finding a penny on the floor for you and I, however to me $6k is a good chunk of change.

How often does the giant make mistakes? And what recourse do we have as consumers? The simple answer is don’t shop at Amazon, but I would expect that to be hard to do. Even my parents who are terrified of someone getting their credit card number online shop Amazon.

What happened?

The beast know as Amazon loves to promise insanely fast shipping times. If anyone is going to invent a Star Trek like transporter its going to be Amazon. Recently I purchased a Blink camera system which was expected to arrive the next day. Great! I didn’t need it for two days, but early is good.

On the day of arrival everything was going great:

- - 2:13 AM – Package arrived at carrier facility
  - 8:08 AM – Out for delivery

Then pooof a delay was posted

- - 4:14pm – A carrier delay has occurred

Ok, what does that mean? Did the truck break down? Did the driver get sick? Maybe a flat tire? Who knows, the good news was that Amazon said they were going to get my shipment back on track and have it delivered tomorrow.

Wait, I just checked in with the tracking before I went to bed and a new message appeared.

- - 11:28 PM – Lost by carrier – undeliverables

Wow, another vague message. Was it stolen off the truck? Did it ever make it on the truck? Continue reading “Who Holds Amazon Accountable For Screw-ups?”

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

Stand Up Desk Craze – Varidesk Pro Plus 30 – Review

There have been numerous studies that sitting behind a desk all day is bad for your health. This must be true because my Apple Watch reminds me to stand up and walk around every hour like clock work. Therefore the Varidesk Pro Plus must be a good thing.

Seriously, I’m not sure if we need a study to tell us that sitting around all day like a couch potato is not good for you, just like we don’t need a study to tell us vaping and smoking is bad for your health too. With that said lately the trend in the office is to convert our conventional office space into standing office space as cost effective as possible. At first we were deploying these to staff that had back issues and doctors notes, but now we are pretty much giving them to anyone that asks.

Meet The Varidesk Pro Plus 30

We did a bit of research before purchasing our first stand up desk and found some cheap junk all the way up to very expensive electric desks with electric drive motors.

The desk we chose was the Varidesk Pro Plus 30. Its not the cheapest running about $325.00 on Amazon but I can say you do get a really nice sturdy desk for your money.

The desk arrives in an oversized box. You really should have a helper on hand to assist with the unboxing and setup.

Continue reading “Stand Up Desk Craze – Varidesk Pro Plus 30 – Review”

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019

Making a great home network!

Moving into a new home or simply switching Internet providers can be a daunting task. Cable companies offer so many TV, Internet and Phone packages and combination of packages it could be hard to decide. How much bandwidth do I really need? How do I protect my network from hackers? What is the best WiFi access point and how do I maximize my range?

These are a few questions I will try to answer in this blog posting and maybe save you some money in the process.

How much bandwidth do I really need?

There was a period of time during 2017 the cable companies were having their marketing departments spin how fast their internet connections could be and they would compete for your business. 50/50 MB not enough were offering 100mb.. no were offering 900mb etc and so forth. If you’re not sure how much speed you need READ THIS. Personally I have 75/75 at home and my family is your typical Netflix / Amazon / Fortnite ECT and we are doing just fine.

How do I protect my network from hackers?

January 17, 2019

Help – My 2003 – 2007 Honda Accord Trunk Won’t Open

My 18 year old son is driving a 2007 hand-me-down Honda Accord coupe and last week he came home and said, DAD – HELP! My trunk wont open. I immediately said did you overload the trunk with your hockey equipment and one of the bag straps get caught in the striker? He said no way, it opened at the hockey rink when I put my bag in the back, but now its stuck.

HOW TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE TRUNK

I initially tried pulling up on the trunk lid, even slid a crowbar in between the lid and the bumper (yes I know dumb move, but hey its a 12 year old car so its already scratched). I could here the electric solenoid trying to pull the lock open and we even pulled the manual release from up front. NO JOY. Its a good thing the back seats fold down in this car because we were able to gain access to the trunk and remove most of the contents. Finally my son was able to hit the emergency release on the latch and POP the trunk opened.