01.29.08
Posted in Misc Tech at 11:56 pm by Alice Pretchet
I have a friend who has been in the process of opening his own nightclub, over the past two months they have built the inside to look great, and now are focused on the outside of the building. 
I was quite surprised to find out that neon around the building was going to cost in the neighborhood of $50,000 for just a couple of strips around the building. Well they don’t have that in the budget, but they need something to draw the attention!
In comes the newer LED technology, I remember when the LED rope lights first came out, they were in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars for one strip, and that is actually a bargain compared to the quote we got on the neon, so I did some more research and found that LED rope lights have become much more affordable. I guess there are all kinds of places using them now and it’s bringing the price down to where it’s affordable for even homeowners to use them I may end up adding some of these to the driveway!
Rich ended up using the red LED lights for sign at the new club, and they looked so good from the highway, they decided to use white lights to highlight the driveway and entrance. I guess we’ll be seeing less neon around town with these prices!
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Posted in Misc Tech at 11:32 pm by Alice Pretchet
It’s finally here - the opportunity to rip all of my mom’s vinyl record collection into digital files, the USB connected digital turntable. I’ve been hounding my mother to download 
the mp3s of her favorite albums for years, since they are so easily damaged by heat and sun, it just makes sense to download a backup. Well now she is not going to have to download at all.
I am getting this USB turntable and setting her up to rip her albums herself. I know she will enjoy the projects, because it will be a trip down memory lane just going through all of her old albums. I’ve been wanting something like this for years, and I’ve had many friends ask me about ways to import their vinyl records, and I always suggested just getting a rca to 1/8th inch adapter and plug into the soundcard on the computer. This works okay for some people, but the sound quality can be pretty crappy, especially if you have an on board sound card. This new USB turntable takes care of the audio and is an easy solution.
Found via First Street
They also have a retro looking unit that can record vinyl and tapes to CDs all in one unit.
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01.25.08
Posted in Misc Tech at 11:43 pm by Alice Pretchet
You all know that I have an affinity for flashlights. I have 2 in my car, one or two with me at all times, a flashlight in almost every room of the house. If I’m walking through a store I always take a moment to look at the new styles of flashlights that are available. I love the new LED flashlights that are available everywhere. It’s one thing to grab a flashlight when you need it and find that batteries are dead, but when a bulb goes bad - that just gets me. I have had a lot of luck with the LED lighting that is available these days - never had to replace a bulb with one of these.
I have found however that when you pick up a cheap three 
dollar flashlight as an impulse buy at the counter you are definitely getting what you pay for. One I bought at an auto parts store last week is always useless - not sure what exactly is wrong with it, but it’s basically falling apart. I have found that the higher quality lights cost a bit more, but then I have no worries about them working when I need them.
Surfing for new LED flashlights I found this cool pink one online, and while there I found they have underwater rated dive lights that I may have to get chuck for his birthday, then maybe he’ll take me on his next scuba trip.
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01.24.08
Posted in Misc Tech at 5:31 am by Alice Pretchet
This happened in Beijing on a subway - security cameras caught two people kissing, someone leaked it onto the internet (you tube) and the couple is now suing. Invasion of privacy? Maybe. Inappropriate use of security cameras? Definitely.
Story found via yahoo news / Reuters
excerpt:
The three-minute video of the couple in their 20s was shot in September and uploaded to Youtube and Chinese video-sharing Web sites last week, Tuesday’s China Daily reported, citing a local newspaper.
I hope they win this lawsuit and people that have access to security camera footage will also be held individually responsible for shenanigans like this. I would be mortified to have my family sent videos of me engaging in PDA.
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Posted in Misc Tech at 5:10 am by Alice Pretchet
I found a site that offers hundreds of hypnosis audio programs to download. It’s a paid premium site, not a free download place, but the prices are good if you download more than one program. The first thing I realized when visiting the site is that they have a ton of audio hypnosis downloads.
The selection is much bigger than I imagined, they seem to have a hypnosis program for just about every fear, need, and desire. I can’t buy them until I get paid next week, and I want to try a few of them to get the discount. I do wonder if it is a guided meditation or subliminal program. If anyone has tried these out let me know, I like both types of programs, I just don’t have as much time for the guided audio programs these days.
The price is great if you can find 5 of the programs to download. There are two I’d like to have right now.
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