Thursday, March 26, 2009

EcoDrain heat exchanger makes good use of warm waste water

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/26/ecodrain-heat-exchanger-makes-good-use-of-warm-waste-water/


File this one directly in the "why didn't I think of that?" folder. As the bathroom gets more and more eco-friendly, the EcoDrain is stepping in to take advantage of all the hot water that goes to waste each time you shower. Put simply, this user-installed heat exchanger transfers heat from hot shower waste water to cold incoming water, essentially cutting water heater usage by as much as 40 percent. Of course, we've never seen a plumbing job that was anything close to simple, but for savings like this, it may just be worth the trouble.

[Via Inhabitat]

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EcoDrain heat exchanger makes good use of warm waste water originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forever Plus finally takes a pico projector to 720p

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/26/forever-plus-finally-takes-a-pico-projector-to-720p/


Well, would you look at that! It's not 3M, Dell, Toshiba or any other mega-corp taking the totally tired pico projector from lackluster to 720p -- oh no, it's, um, Forever Plus. Said beamer has been around the block a time or two, but given the native 1,280 x 768 native resolution, we couldn't help but take notice. Reportedly, the 0.49- x 0.59- x 0.19-inch box outputs via HDMI and packs a lamp life of 30,000 hours, but we definitely have serious doubts about the quality. And the actual availability, for that matter.

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Forever Plus finally takes a pico projector to 720p originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

RichCopy Enhances Windows File Copying with Advanced Rules [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/f15eTOecvok/richcopy-enhances-windows-file-copying-with-advanced-rules

Windows only: If you're looking for extremely granular control over file copying, and fewer failures, you don't want to miss RichCopy.

We're big fans of replacing the default and clunky Windows file copier with more speedier solutions, like Teracopy or FastCopy. If you're looking for speedy transfer and detailed control over all manner of things, like what files should be copied or overwritten based on age, size, attributes, or even the security settings for the directory they are in, RichCopy has you covered.

RichCopy doesn't have shell integration, unfortunately, like many of our favorite replacements, but given the kind of detailed tweaking you can do in RichCopy, you'll likely be opening the application to tinker in the sub-menus anyhow. RichCopy was previously an internal tool for Microsoft developers to use, but now has public release. There's no serious support for the tool, and it falls into the as-is category. That said, I didn't have any problem copying 15GB of data from one drive to another in a matter of minutes, thanks to RichCopy's snappy multi-threading support. RichCopy is freeware, Windows only.



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Google Voice to Allow Number Porting [Google Voice]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/1dcx6KTYRv4/google-voice-to-allow-number-porting

We've been very excited about Google Voice ever since we gave it a closer look, but our biggest cause for hesitation (and the biggest complaint of many of our readers) is that you have to change your main number to take full advantage of Google Voice—a process that's always a pain for both you and your contacts. If you feel the same way, we've got good news: Reader Reid points out a Google support page explaining that number porting may be offered in the near future.

UPDATE: Reid writes back to point out that Google already allows you to take your Google Voice number with you to another provider if you decided to leave Google Voice at some point down the line.



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Enable User Scripts in Google Chrome [How To]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/MoJAngY6VOE/enable-user-scripts-in-google-chrome

Windows only: The latest beta version of Google Chrome adds support for user scripts, but if you want to enable them you'll need to follow a couple of quick steps.

The first step is to download and run the Google Chrome Channel Changer tool, which will subscribe you to updates from either the Beta or Dev channels—you get more features but potentially a less stable browser. For user scripts just choose the Beta channel, go to Help -> About and click the Upgrade button, and you'll get the latest beta version.


Next you'll want to open up your favorite file manager and browse down to the following path for your Windows version:

Windows XP: %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
Windows Vista: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

Create a new directory called "User Scripts" inside the Default folder. This is where you will need to save the Greasemonkey scripts.
The last step is to modify the Google Chrome shortcut—or any Chrome "application" shortcuts—to include the --enable-user-scripts switch after the executable path.

Now you can start using Greasemonkey scripts in Google Chrome—although keep in mind that not all of them work, since Chrome hasn't implemented all of the features yet. Once you've saved a Greasemonkey script into the User Scripts folder, simply refresh the page and it should work (or not).

User Scripts [Chromium Developer Documentation]


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