Archive for May 23rd, 2008

May 23 2008

Eco-Friendly Universal Remote Control

Posted by: Cedric in Gadgets, Great Ideas, technologies

“One for All” URC-8350 universal remote control has a “something different” than other remote controls.

You can control up to 4 different Audio-Video devices but with the dedicated Green Energy Saving button you can even switch off all your AV standby functions at once.

Doing so you can save over 90% of standby power consumption.

  • Switch off all your devices from Standby with a single button press
  • Ready-to-use energy saving button + On/Off Power Plug
  • Universal remote control, controlling up to 4 devices including TV (Plasma LCD, Projector), DVD, Sat/Cable/DVB-T and surround sound AMP

More details:

  • Expandable with OneForAll On/Off Power Plugs
  • Future Proof Remote - wireless upgrades of any new device code
  • Multiple commands by pressing just one macro-key
  • Learning function for easy addition of original remote functions
  • Uses 2 normal AAA batteries (could be replaced by Eneloop rechargeable ones)
French website GinjFo published a complete test of this remote and demonstrates the financial and environmental impact of such remote.
  • 4 tested AV equipments in standy mode 19 hours/day equal, for a year to:
    - 42.5 Watts of electrical consumption
    - 50.86 US dollar
    - 15.62 kg of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)
  • When they are switched off, using the Energy Saver remote control, the results appear like this :
    - 0.6 Watt of electrical consumption
    - 0.72 US dollar
    - 0.22 kg of CO2
So, if 10 millions households connect their AV system through it, it will just save  per year
  • 419 MegaWatts of electrical consumption
  • 501.4 millions USD
  • etc…
  • One for All and its dealers will get 500 millions of income the 1st year (unit price is about 50 USD).There is indeed a most Eco-Friendly and cheaper solution… Turn all equipments off manually. You all do that already, isn’t it ?

More : Complete Test results on GinjFo (in french), OneforAll.

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May 23 2008

Tips : Setup Firefox 3 to use Gmail as your default email application

Posted by: Cedric in Cool Software, Internet News, software

Firefox 3 makes it easy to select a default email application like Outlook or Thunderbird. When you click a mailto: link on a web site, that application will automatically open.

On Firefox 3 RC1 you can also choose a webmail application like Yahoo! Mail or Gmail.

  • Selecting Yahoo! Mail as your default email provider is simple. Just hit the Tools button, select Options, navigate to the Applications tab, and select Yahoo! Mail from the dropdown list next to “mailto.”
  • Lifehacker, here are the steps to add Gmail:
  1. Type about:config in the URL bar, and click the I’ll be careful button to continue.
  2. Type gecko.handlerservice into the filter field and find the listing that ends with allowRegisterFromDifferentHost. Click this button to change the value from false to true.
  3. Copy this line of code into the URL bar:
    javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler(”mailto”,”https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s”,”GMail”)

  4. A window will pop up asking if you want to add GMail, say yes and you should be all set.

Next time you click a mailto: link on a web site, you should get a choice of services to use including Gmail. You can then set Gmail as your preferred email service.

Source: Lifehacker via DownloadSquad

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