If you buy the wrong power supply you could cause substantial harm to your electronics, yourself and possibly cause a fire. If you buy the correct power supply then you should get trouble-free use of your electronics for quite a long time. Here are some great tips on how to buy a power supply the right way. This is written not by someone who sells power supplies or is doing someone who does a favor. This is written by a licensed ham radio operator that recently needed to think through the process of how to buy a power supply.

The first consideration is how much power you will need. There are three considerations to correctly determine the amount of power you will need.

· One consideration is what type of power your power supply will use as an input and output. Most of us are familiar with what we ham radio operators call a “wall wart”. A “wall wart” is the type of converter that plugs directly into your house’s AC outlets (wall outlets). They usually are small plastic box-like plastic contraptions with a small power cord and plug at the other end of it. You probably have used one for a radio, cassette player or other small device from time to time. In this instance, the AC (alternating current) is being converted to DC (direct current).

· Another consideration is what voltage you will need. Do not assume that one “wall wart” with the same size plug will work just as well for your device as another. Your power supply must be matched specifically for the device you are powering. If you supply your electronic device with either too much voltage or not enough you can cause serious damage to your device and possibly yourself. Be sure to check your device’s manual and / or stickers to determine the correct voltage needed. Do not assume that as long as your power converter supplies close to the right voltage that it will be good enough. That assumption can be quite dangerous!

· A third consideration is the number of amps (also known as amperage) that your power converter will supply. Think of it this way. Assume there are two people to handle a length of coiled rope. One person, call him “electronic device”, is pulling power (the rope). Another person, call him “power supplier”, is uncoiling the rope and letting “electronic device” take the rope that he is handing to him. If “electronic device” pulls the rope faster than “power supplier” is handing it out (supplying it) then “power supplier” is bound to wind up with burned hands from the rope being pulled too fast. This is just about what happens to the electronic components and power cord for your power supply if it is asked to supply too much power. This is where fuses and circuit breakers should step in to prevent things from going too far. Don’t take dangerous chances – get the right match for your equipment.

Also determine if there are other, less basic considerations. For example, in ham radio, some power supplies cause interference to some ham radio bands while others do not. Some large power supplies have noisy fans while others use cooling fins and heat sink devices to keep the power supply cool. Some power supplies for the same voltage and amperage are smaller than others because of a design that can wear out faster than other designs.

Look for unbiased write-ups by people who have used your choice for a long time. Search for internet forums for these write-ups. Make sure to read a good selection of these write-ups. In ham radio I use http://www.eham.net/reviews/ – there may be something like this for your particular application.

Remember – there usually are trade-offs in electronics design. For example, a smaller light weight more portable power supply may not be as durable and dependable for long periods of operation as a heavier unit with the same voltage and amperage specifications.

Once you have your model in mind determine how quickly you need your power. If you have the time, shop on the internet to find the best combination of price, freight and shipping times. Also remember to check for guarantees, warranties and availability of repair services. Good luck!

Bill C-28, Canada’s anti-spam legislation, was recently passed and will come into effect later this year. While its intended target is deceptive forms of spam, Canadian small and medium sized businesses should be aware of the Act in order to ensure their compliance when contacting leads, networking and developing marketing campaigns. Here are highlights of the important aspects of Bill C-28 that you and your employees need to know:

Definition of Spam

Generally spam is considered to be mass, unsolicited email from unknown or unwarranted senders. However, the new legislation applies to the sending of “commercial electronic messages”, which can encompass email, instant or text messaging and social media messages and other forms that we may not consider to be spam. Many times information that is sent may not be considered to be spam by the sender, but can be viewed as spam by the recipient. It’s important to think of how the message will be received on the other end before sending. Hopefully, the yet to be released regulations will provide some added details or thresholds to more readily define the scope of this term.

Expressed and Implied Consent

Electronic messages are not considered spam if the recipient consented to receive the message so it is important that you first determine whether or not you have approval from the recipient to send the message. Consent comes in two forms – express and implied.

Expressed consent, as defined in the Act, is what is known as “opt-in” consent, whereby the person or corporation expressly agrees to be contacted before any communication is sent. Usually this would come in the form of a newsletter subscription sign up, adding an email address to a written or electronic list, or checking a box to receive more information. This is a more viable option for business owners because it is less likely that an issue will be raised from those who have clearly indicated interest.

Implied consent has a broader use, which can actually be beneficial to marketers and small business owners, but could also pose to be harder to prove if any issue arises. According to the new Act, implied consent occurs when “[t]he person who sends the message, the person who causes it to be sent or the person who permits it to be sent has an existing business relationship or an existing non-business relationship with the person to whom it is sent;” (Bill C-28 Sec. 9a).

If a customer has purchased wares or services from your business with the past two years, there is considered to be an existing business relationship between you and your customer, which would be implied consent. There is no time limit on the relationship status if the customer has provided expressed consent for future contact. In terms of expressed and implied consent, it’s best to err on the side of caution and try to gain expressed consent for all users when possible.

Identification

Messages must clearly express to the recipient who the message is coming from, remaining consistent with the branding used when the recipient made initial contact with the company. There must not be any misleading information in the subject line that misrepresents the message or the sender. All messages are required to include the active contact information and postal address of the sender.

Unsubscribe Option

Businesses who have an email newsletter must have an unsubscribe option clearly stated on each message so that users can easily halt future correspondence at any time. Some users may not know to use the unsubscribe link, so including contact information for your business is important to ensure that recipients are able to contact you in another form in order to be removed from the mailing list. If a client does contact you via other means to be removed from the list, unsubscribe the user manually and notify them of the removal immediately.

Tips for Small Businesses

If you have a newsletter sign up area on your website, make sure your database saves important information such as name and date of sign up – not just the email address – so that you are able to prove consent if a problem arises. Always give your customers your contact information in any messages sent as well as the option to “opt-out” or “unsubscribe” at any time. Customers should not be automatically placed in an email database, they must be able to choose whether or not they would like to receive information from you. Don’t bombard your customers with messages, it can easily frustrate your clients if their inbox is getting constantly filled with messages from you. Setting up an account with email marketing software can ensure that your messages are compliant with the government rules. Senders who don’t comply with the new regulations can face serious fines, so make sure your messages are useful or informative to the user in some way, this will make customers look forward to your correspondence and make your database grow.

There will be more to come on this important topic when the regulations are released.

In business today, there are several things which are out of our control including economy, escalating operating costs and competition as well. But this may sound interesting that security in all sized organizations is now can be controlled.

Before the emergence of professional facility management facility providers, the security was the major concern. But, now with the application of advanced key management products, it has become easier to control access of keys by any unauthorized person.

Considering high performance and role of quality key control systems, it would not be wrong to say that business can stay in control by protecting intellectual, human and physical assets in almost all sized firms in the corporate world.

Through this article, we’ll come to know more about the components, benefits and other aspects of key control systems.

Components

The overall design of the system is dependent a lot on the interdependence of the components. When such components support each other the interdependence becomes the source of strength. And major components include a metal box, smart keys and software.

The metal box is known to come with an anti-sabotage security door that comes with a lock. And that door is designed either be transparent or metal. With a mechanical lock, the box has slots and the keypad has a display to support access of keys. More about key box, it comes with built-in battery and a power unit. The keypad enables the users to manage the box and use the keys stored in it.

The software permits its use through PC and it facilitates assignment of keys. Characteristics of software includes access is code protected, enables data transfer and administration, reports printing and much more.

Benefits

The first benefit is the access of keys can be brought into control. It is so simple to use as one is only required to enter the number or code of key using the key pad. The system records events automatically including the access time, the key number and the user name.

The system comes with multi-level security feature to guarantee secured access of the keys. The access patterns that can be used include password only, RFID card or password, RFID card only, RFID card and password both.

Another benefit of key control systems is it eliminates cost related to key theft or lost.

Thus, with quality components and a number of benefits, the key security systems can be used to secure essential keys and physical assets in any organization successfully.

Here is the latest launch from the reputed and trusted French company Renault! Renault has merged with Romanian manufacturer Dacia and come up with this new vehicle they have christened the Renault Dacia Dokker.

The Renault Dokker is a leisure activity vehicle which was initially rolled out in Morocco and Romania in the year 2012. The car may come to India in the multipurpose vehicle segment though there has been no official notice by Renault yet.

Renault Dokker is a flexible five seater with one or two sliding side doors with windows. The name Dokker is a short form of the word dock worker which conveys the high carrying capacity of the model. The passenger seats can be folded to make room for extra bags. This vehicle can easily carry a luggage of 800 kilograms which is commendable. There is a passenger version and a panel van version, as well, of this car.

Renault Dokker presents a unique design with a well built framework, twin door at the rear, side sliding doors, plastic body panels, roof bars, fog lamps, wide headlights and curved edges. The spacious and luxurious interiors add to the charisma of the vehicle.

Coming to the engine, it has four different options, all of which are supported by a five speed transmission gear box. The four options are 1.2 TCe 115 and 1.6 MPI 85 petrol engines and the 75 bhp and 90 bhp 1.5 dCi diesel engines. The petrol units have the capability to churn out a maximum power of 115 bhp at 4500 rpm and a peak torque of 190 Nm at 2000 rpm and 85 bhp at 5000 rpm and torque of 134 Nm at 2800 rpm respectively. Both the diesel engines generate 75 bhp at 4000 rpm and 90 bhp at 3750 rpm respectively followed by a maximum torque of 180 Nm at 1750 rpm and 200 Nm at 1750 rpm. Renault Dokker, with strong gear acceleration, will certainly be a pleasant car to drive.

Renault Dokker has ample safety and comfort features. It has the Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) along with Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD), Electronic Stability control (ESC), dual front airbags, side curtain airbags, knee airbags, cruise control and rear parking sensors, media system which comprises of both video and audio units, including an auxiliary USB and Bluetooth hands-free connectivity.

It is expected that the price of Renault Dokker will not exceed Rs. 8 lakhs which seems reasonable for a vehicle with such innovative design and features. Whether Renault Dokker would successfully stay on in the market along with other big cars from the houses of Ford, Toyota, Maruti and Chevrolet is something to wait and see.

We always have this constant question on all guitar oriented forums -“what order do I put my guitar effects in? While there are some simple guiding principle, there is no “right” way to do it. It’s all a matter of taste and your personal tone. Let your ears be the final Judge.

Guitar Effects are electronic device that connects a guitar and an amplifier or mixing board. Their main purpose is to modify and enhance the tone, pitch of the guitar and create special sounds using a guitar pedal or a combination of several pedals. These effects transform sounds in many ways and bring “life” to sound. It is usually used in in-recording studio accompanied with vocals and live performances. A Guitar Effects device consists of analog or digital circuitry which processes audio signals. Effects processing circuitry are similar to that found in music synthesizers; it may include active and passive filters, envelope followers or envelope modifiers, wave-shaping circuits, voltage-controlled oscillators, or digital delays.

Effects device come in several formats, the most common are the “stomp-box” and the rack-mount unit. A stomp box or “pedal steel” is a small metal or plastic box containing the circuitry which is placed on the floor in front of the musician and connected in line with the patch cord connected to the instrument. The box is typically controlled by one or more foot-pedal on-off switches and usually contains only one or two effects. Rack-mount effects unit contains identical electronic circuit, but is mounted in a standard 19″ equipment rack. Usually, rack-mount effects units contain several different types of effects. These are typically controlled by knobs or switches on the front panel, and often by a MIDI digital control interface. “Guitar pedal boards” are used by musicians who use multiple stomp-boxes; these may be a DIY project made with plywood or a commercial pedalboards.

Nowadays, modern desktop and notebook computers have sound processing capabilities that rival commercially available effects boxes. Some can process sound through VST or similar plugins, such as LADSPA, RTAS or Direct X. Musicians in the modern world can play any instrument through a computer’s sound card, emulating effects units or amplifiers. These VST-plugins can be downloaded for a little or no cost.

Guitar Effects are divided according to effects description; Amplitude based effects which composed of volume control, tremolo, auto tremolo, panning/ping-pong, gating/repeat percussion, compression, expansion, asymmetric compression, noise gating, attack delay, ADSR (Attack Decay Sustain Release), and limiting, auto swell. There is also Waveform distortion effects which can be done by Symmetrical clipping, asymmetrical clipping, infinite limiting, Half wave rectification, Full wave rectification and Arbitrary waveform generation. FILTER/FREQUENCY RESPONSE EFFECTS can be achieved through EQ/tone controls, treble/mid/bass boost, cabinet simulation, resonator, wah, envelope follower also called as Auto wah, tremolo wah, “vibrato”, and phase shifting. For time delay effects; echo, reverb, true vibrato, flanging, chorus/ADT, slapback, and reverse echo/reverb. We can also add other miscellaneous effects such as octave division, harmony generation, phase lock tracking, Noise addition, talk box, and voice tracking. Leslie, aphex and enhancers are examples of common combinations effects.

I have no parameters nor tools to assist me in rating the most active and most popular e-mail account people use the most, but I know Hotmail ranks among the best. This might just give us a clue as to why people use it as a means of communicating with one another on the internet. The fact that it is free to register and even quite easy to start using it makes it a ready tool for both legal and illegal online activities.

The joy of owning an e-mail account hardly ever lasts because of the avalanche of electronic mails that follow the opening of a new one. No sooner had one settled into using his account in his online correspondence that one begins to receive spam electronic mails into his accounts. After all it is free, so what stops one from opening another one if that will stop spam and unwanted electronic mails from flooding into the in-box? That is not the answer to the problem because no matter how many times you try to change your e-mail address, you can never escape being sent a spam.

The solution lies in the reverse email lookup service; a revolutionary internet based service that operates like a private detective. If you want either names or physical addresses of unknown email senders, go for it! The amount of social network websites on the internet only serves a limited purpose when it comes to email trace. Users must go for a specialized service called the reverse email lookup, to help them trace any unknown Hotmail e-mail sender.

Since reverse email lookup websites only offer specialized services, it only makes common sense for users to concentrate on using their online tools to trace people. Reverse email lookup is of two different types; paid and free, but users should avoid falling for traps set by the free ones. Tracing a person who uses Hotmail e-mail to send an unsolicited electronic mail does not cost too much.

Want to trace a name to get e-mail address and other contact details of the owner? CLICK HERE!

With the changeover to Digital TV coming up in February, people are confused on whether it will affect them or not, even some RVers are not sure if they need a Digital TV Converter Box to receive TV using their RV’s antenna. Here is the question I recently received and the answer I gave. Hopefully this information will clear up the most common questions people have about Digital TV.

I’m still confused about the digital TV thing. Our 2006 RV is cable and internet ready, but if we are not at a campground do we need a converter to pick up TV signals after Feb?

ANSWER

Thanks for your question. There is a lot of confusion about the change to Digital broadcast TV scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009.

If you do not have a TV with a digital tuner, you will not be able to receive any stations when using an antenna, all you will get is snow.

If you are at a campground with cable TV, you will be able to receive TV, whether your TV has a digital tuner or an analog tuner.

Since your RV is a 2006 model, there is a pretty good chance that you will need a converter box for each TV in your RV to watch TV using an antenna.

The government required that all TVs sold after March 1, 2007, had to have digital tuners. The TVs in your RV were manufactured before that.

You say that your RV is “cable and internet ready”. Unfortunately that does not mean that it is Digital TV ready. It simply means that the cable and wiring to hook up your TV and computer were pre-wired in when they constructed the unit.

The first thing I would do is find the owner’s manual for your TV/TVs. The manual will tell you specifically if it has a digital tuner. If you do not see anything in the manual about a digital tuner, then you will need a converter box.

If you are still not sure, try to find the model number of your TV (this is sometimes hard in an RV because the TVs are usually built into a cabinet). Once you find the model number, go to the TV Manufacturers website and look up the specifications for your TV. If the Specs do not mention “digital tuner” then, you will need a converter box.

Digital Converter boxes can cost as little as $40.00 to well over $100.00 (depending on the extra bells and whistles the box comes with).

The boxes are available at electronic stores, WalMarts, K-Marts etc.

Now, here is the GOOD NEWS. There is a government funded program to help offset the cost of purchasing a converter box for TVs without digital tuners.

This program is called the “TV Converter Box Coupon Program”. When you go to their website you fill out a simple form and you can receive up to two coupons valued at $40.00 each towards the purchase of a converter box.

These coupons look like credit cards and are accepted at places such as Best Buy, etc. Here is the catch; these coupons are only good for 90 days after the date they were mailed to you. There is a limit of 2 coupons per household.

The last I heard, the demand for these coupons was so great, that there was a chance that they would run out of them by the middle of January, unless they received more funding from the government.

The government website to get the coupons is www.dtv2009.gov Hopefully we have cleared up any confusion you might have.