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Alternative ideas for storing energy

I know most people who store solar & wind energy in batteries. Would storing it in something else like compressed air or a water tower.

I was thinking with the storage of compressed air or water tower to use small generators in individual rooms, although I don’t know the cost of using a large generator instead of several small ones. Another idea I had, was to use vehicle alternators with an inverter next to them for any AC needs, with this I would keep it as DC for USB ports with a DC voltage regulator of course.

I’m not sure the space needed to do this or if it would even be feasible in anything other than a new house.

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Bing Bing Rewards blog Firefox Internet Internet Explorer Marketplace Microsoft Mozilla Xbox Xbox Live Zune

Musings about Bing rewards program

The other day I saw a Google ad that said the following.

“Get 400 Free Xbox Points
Get 400 Free Xbox Points. Join Bing Rewards!
www.Bing.com/Rewards”

I was intrigued as I’d like to get some Microsoft points so I can buy some arcade games on my Xbox 360. The only issue I have with this ad is it sounds like you can get 400 Microsoft points just for joining the Bing rewards program. To get the 400 Microsoft points you need to have 400 search rewards points. Apparently from what I’ve read when they first launched the program you could redeem 100 search rewards points for 100 Microsoft points. I guess Microsoft realized this was to low of a number because they give you 250 search rewards points just for signing up for the program.

If you do the daily search items first they will also count towards the total number of searches that will earn you points as well. At the moment I’m writing this they seem to have two daily searches worth 3 points each & until January 29th 2011 you can earn one point per search up to a max of 10. So the current maximum you can earn a day is 16 points, which would take you 25 days at that rate to earn 400 search rewards points. But if you want to earn the first 400 search rewards points you can get that done in 10 days with your bonus 250 search rewards points that you start with.

One more thing before I rant about the installation process of the Bing bar. According to the Bing Rewards Preview Frequently Asked Questions “The Bing Rewards Preview ends on September 30, 2011. Credits accumulated expire December 31, 2011.”. So you have a limit amount of time to earn the points. Also remember that the Microsoft points rewarded from this method are only good for a limited time after you receive them from the program, so spend them shortly after you get them.

Now on to some of the issues I have with this program. First it installs three add-ons Mozilla Firefox Which if you are running the current version of Firefox they will be disabled right after they are installed, I haven’t tested with older versions as I refuse to run old versions of Firefox. They disabled the items because Microsoft said in Bing Bar support for Mozilla Firefox to disable them to prevent a security issue. While I applaud Mozilla for disabling them I’m irritated at Microsoft for installing software that they know will be disabled on install. When I last read the article it said “Article ID: 2430460 – Last Review: October 5, 2010 – Revision: 3.0”, meaning that they have known about this issue for several months at the point when I installed the Bing bar on my computer, & yet they insisted on installing the software they knew would be disabled.

You can see a complete list of what add-ons the current version of Firefox will disable on install at Add-ons Blocklist | Mozilla. At the time I wrote this post the first three in the list are the add-ons that the Bing bar installs. They are Bing Bar for Firefox, Default Manager v2.2, & Search Helper Extension.

I will admit I haven’t found a way yet to remove it from just Firefox. I have done some basic searches, but I have found nothing yet that will remove it only from Firefox. I have found ways to remove it from Firefox & Internet Explorer at Removing the Search Helper Extension and Bing Bar though.

Also during the install of the Bing bar it insisted that I close both Firefox as well as Internet Explorer. I closed Firefox on my own so that I would be sure to not lose the tabs that I had opened. It did reopen Internet Explorer after it finished & I was given my bonus 250 search rewards points.

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blog Microsoft Podcasts Zune Zune hardware Zune software

Zune 30 and 120 features I’ve recently noticed

Let me start off by specifying Which versions of the Zune hardware & software I’m using. Both devices are running the 3.3 firmware which is the latest version for both models. The Zune 30 is running the 435 boot loader & the Zune 120 is running the 1620 boot loader. I am running version 4.2.202.0. Both devices & the software are all running the current version at the time I wrote this post.

The other day I noticed that if when I sync either my Zune 30 or Zune 120 & if for some reason it stays at the screen saying connected I have to reboot it my pressing up on the pad & the back button for several seconds. I have my podcasts on my  Zune’s as either “Sync all unplayed and partially played episodes” or “Sync only the first unplayed episode”. The problem is that if it just removed one or more podcast episodes they will still be listed on the device as played. The workaround for this issue is to have another episode from any of the podcasts that are in limbo to be removed. That is assuming you don’t have to reboot again after removing the other episode. If you have to reboot the device again you need to remove another episode. Then after it updates after removing it from the computer & goes back to a screen where you can use it again it should have removed those podcasts. I like to mark an episode as unplayed then as played on a podcast that I have set to “Sync all unplayed and partially played episodes” because it causes me the least issues.

I also found a feature that I didn’t notice earlier on the Zune 120. I also don’t know which firmware version this was added to it. If you remove the headphones the device becomes locked & it will not allow you to use it until you plug it back in, just as if you have flipped the lock switch. Because I had a set of headphones I had just thrown away I tested if I just have a jack plugged in that doesn’t connect to headphones & it unlocked the device the same as a pair of headphones. The only issue I have with this feature is that for some reason unknown to me I only have this feature on my Zune 120 as my Zune 30 doesn’t do this. They both do stop playing whatever I’m listening to if my headphones are removed, but I can hit play on the Zune 30 without plugging my headphones back in. I guess they decided that the feature wasn’t worth making for the Zune 30 for some reason.

I also figured out how to deal with syncing two Zune devices to the same computer under the same user profile. It is slightly complicated & I will assume that you have set the Zune’s to sync to the computer already as I don’t want to deal with the issues of doing that again on either of my Zune’s.

First off I strongly recommend that you name the Zune’s with different names so that you can tell which device is which. If you only have one of them connected to the computer at a time then the device that is connected will be the device that anything that you tell to sync or never sync will apply. If you want to select a different device other than the one currently selected & you are not in the settings, you will see an icon of whichever device is selected. If you hover your mouse over the icon you should see the devices that you have available to select from. Then you just need to click on the device that you want to make changes for. If you are in the settings, you will want to go to the device where you will have arrows to change which device is selected, however if you only have one Zune associated with your current install the arrows will be grayed out.

That is all that I can think of for now. If I find anything else out or remember something else I will make another post.

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blog Cell Phones Evil Free Google Google Voice Net10 spam Verizon

Verizon wireless and text messages

Let me start this off by saying that I have used AT&T, Verizon, & Net10 for my cell phone. I have never worked for any of the aforementioned companies before I wrote this. I can’t say I won’t in the future as I do not know everything that will happen in the future.

Well I’ve been with Verizon wireless for about 18 months now. I have never been so glad to know the my contract with a cell phone company is nearing the end. I will most likely go back to Net10 as they treated me in a nicer manner. I’ll list some of the differences.

  • Net10 only charged me 5¢ to receive a text message if I actually read it, it was free if I never read it. (Verizon charges me 20¢ just for receiving a text message) (They both will send certain messages for free, but those are service related messages, like reminding you that your going to expire.)
  • Net10 allowed me to rollover my minutes while Verizon is still in the dark ages where you only get a certain amount & if you don’t use it up you never get to see it again.
  • I almost never got spam when I was on Net10, but my wife has been hit with spam while on Verizon. (To get refunded for the spam she has to call them after they have billed us for the month, while if I just ignore them on Net10 I don’t get charged.)
  • Verizon told my with that they raised the text message rate from 10¢ to 20¢ to be competitive. When I heard that I thought that was outrageous as Net10 still only charges 5¢ for sending or receiving a text message & again they only charge you if you read it not just receive it, unlike Verizon that charges you just for receiving the message.

Since my family has several member that insist on sending text messages I applied for & eventually received a Google voice account. I did that because I now have a cell phone number where I do not get charged for receiving a text message.

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blog Microsoft Zune

Some more podcast issues

On the MAKE Magazine: MAKE Podcast I get the File Too Big (Error Code C00D10E0) error on 4 different episodes that are not PDF files. The PDF files if you mark them as played & your computer should stop downloading them, if it still does you get to delete your ZuneStore.sdf that is in "%users%\%youruser%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Zune". (Where "%users%" is "C:\Documents and Settings" in Windows XP & "C:\Users" In Windows Vista & Windows 7 IIRC, also "%youruser%" is the name of the user name you are using.

The episodes I’m having an issue with are the following. "Weekend Project: The Arc Light", "Weekend Project: The UnaBox", "Weekend Project: Remote-Controlled Camera Mount", & "Weekend Project: Personal Portable Heater".

The sad thing about this is the Zune Insider podcast has a 1.2 GB file that downloaded without any issues.

I’m also getting the following errors for the WordPress.tv » How To podcast C00D1199 & C00D119A.

The episodes I’m having issues with are the following "Upgrading to WordPress 2.9" & "Introducing After the Deadline for Firefox".

I did post about these issues on the zune.net forums, at File Too Big (Error Code C00D10E0) & HD Video Podcast episodes not downloading properly/giving me errors.