Hardware Archives

We've all seen the special effects in movies where a character looks to be in a very unrealistic situation. Of course it was filmed in front of a green screen and then the situation was digitally inserted using chroma key technology. I'll tell you about a product...

If you wander through your house or office, you'll product find a huge number of devices plugged into an outlet and using electricity. How much are they using? We'll discuss a way to monitor their usage. Yes, I'll get a small commission if your purchase using the...

I've talked about various solutions for connecting a bare hard drive externally to your computer in previous posts. They were just some flavor of cabling. Today I'll look at a docking station that makes the solution a lot more elegant while also adding features....

I've been charging my phones wirelessly for more than four years now. Yes, I still use wired charging at times when wireless isn't convenient. Over the years I've collected three different Qi chargers and have learned that some are better than others. Today I'll...

It's been almost a year since disaster struck and our backup plan had a catastrophic failure. Our data has recovered, but the corporate wallet still feels a lot lighter. As part of our recovered, we knew we had to replace at least two of the hard drives in our NAS...

I don't often write about toys, but the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 is as good a reason as any. Yes, I provide links to purchase the Lego kits on Amazon. Yes, I'll get a tiny commission if you buy them. No, I wasn't lucky enough to get kits of my own for free....

I'm a sucker for gadgets that make travel easier and I found one that is going to save me a lot of headaches. Yes, I'll be including a link to buy at Amazon (and a discount code) for which I earn a small commission. No, I didn't get a free one. Let's see if this...

New footage of old trips to the moon and new trips to a different moon. Facebook died for several hours and the world went crazy. Windows 1.0 is making a return? These are just a small number of the stories covered this week. Click on the headlines below to read...

I've written about graphics cards on many occasions. They are a very important component in any computer where graphics work is involved. Even if you aren't a gamer, looking at cards targeted towards gamers is a great place to start. I'll tell you about a new card...

When I write about monitors, I almost always want to write about big ones. About a year ago, I wrote Prices of 43″ 4K Monitors Dropping, LG Has Great Option. In fact, I purchased the LG Electronics 42.5" Screen LED-lit Monitor featured in that post and love it....

I know I've already written about what parts I've going to get as a rebuild my computer in Building a Fast Computer Starts With These Parts. Even though the parts were all selected, the order hasn't been placed yet. So like any good procrastinator, I'm wondering if...

I was talking with a client on the phone recently when the batteries on the cordless phone died. There are other handsets, but it took me a couple of minutes to get another one so that I could continue speaking with the client. Ugh. I'll tell you what I ordered...

In the last two weeks I've described the parts that will go into my refurbished computer. You can read the two previous posts Building a Fast Computer Starts With These Parts and More Components for Building a Fast Computer to see everything I've included so far....

I told you last week in Building a Fast Computer Starts With These Parts that the guts of my computer would require replacement. In that post I covered the CPU, motherboard and memory that I had chosen. This post will tell you about some of the other parts I've...

Loyal readers may have noticed I haven't been writing as much recently. There are various reasons, but one of the biggest ones is that I've been battling some issues with my desktop computer. I've tried a number of things to get it working correctly again, but it...

Back when I was a teenager, my home suffered a break-in while the family was on vacation. I've been lucky since then and my life has been crime-free. While one can never been completely safe, I don't have a lot of concern in my current home. An easy way to help...

As I was preparing to move to Loreto, Mexico, I decided to take a variety of steps to automate my home. Much of the process was described in a post I wrote last July entitled Automating a House with Alexa Devices. Today I'm going to share another product you can...

Recently a loyal reader asked if it was a requirement to have a discrete graphics card to run CorelDRAW. While it isn't a requirement, it definitely helps you get the most out of any graphics software. Your CPU can focus on doing what it does best and the discrete...

I know I'm not the only one who lives in a house that acts like a Faraday cage when it comes to WiFi signals. Thanks to heavy concrete filled with rebar, my signals are very limited. That's where a WiFi range extender saves the day. Today I'll tell you about a...

I always keep headphones in my travel backpack. Sure, they get used when I'm not traveling. I just make sure to keep them in my backpack so I have them on the road with me. When I went on my last trip, I reached into my bag to get the headphones and they had fallen...

I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of reading books on a screen when the idea first appeared. Now I do almost all of my book reading on my tablet. The most popular device for pure reading is Amazon's Kindle and today I'll tell you about the newest version. Yes, I...

Throughout my life, I owned a number of rubber garden hoses. They all fail. Plus they are really heavy. Today I'll discuss an alternative that provides more durability and is lightweight. Yes, I'll provide an Amazon link which does earn me a small commission. No...