If you think the Amazon Kindle is only good for giving you the best reading experience, you obviously haven’t explored all of its features yet. Yes, even the applications available on it that are stilled labeled as “Experimental” have their valuable uses already.

One of these is the web browsing feature. True, it still leaves much to be desired compared to browsing on your laptop or smartphone, but when it comes to using its pseudo Kindle GPS that can let you run Google Maps, the fact that it’s not a colored screen doesn’t matter. In fact, basic web browsing is all you would need.

But to make it more convenient for you to access Google Maps, here are a couple of easy shortcuts.

From the home screen:

Go to your Kindle home screen and start typing a URL. This action will immediately prompt the text box to appear at the bottom. Enter the URL — maps.Google.com/m/directions. Then press the controller to the right until you reach the box that says go to. Press the button and you will immediately be taken to the text direction page of Google Maps.

From any page of a book:

Suddenly need directions while your Kindle is open to an eBook page? Not to worry. You don’t even have to go back to the home screen to access Google Maps. Just type any character to bring up the search box. Then, deleting that character first, enter this into the search box: @url maps.google.com/m. Move your controller to the right twice and you should reach “my items”. Click on it and you’ll find yourself in the directions page. When done, just click on the Back key to go back to your book.

Most readers are here because their Refrigerator is Broken or not working correctly! Let’s not Waste time.

Top Mount & Side by Side Refrigerators

Question: Do you have any lights in the Refrigerator? If yes, you have Power, go to Next Question.

Answer Is No: Check Bulbs First, Then Check your Outlet Where your Refrigerator is plugged in, then your Breaker Box. If you have your Refrigerator Plugged into a GFI, see if you’re GFI is tripped.

Question: My Fresh Food Compartment is too warm but the freezer seems Fine.

Answers: There are several reasons this could happen. Most of the time it’s a Defrost Problem.

(Note: just because you think your freezer is fine in might not be)

If you see Frost build up on the back wall of the freezer you might have a defrost problem. The Basic defrost system is: Your heater, your limiter, and timer if any of these fail you should get an even frost on the back wall (Most side by side Refrigerators and Top mount models )) Note: (depending where your evaporator is located). If you have no idea what I’m talking about you should call for a repair person. On the other hand if you get the Idea let me help a little more! You can check your heater and limiter with a multimeter. You must have the component disconnected and the limiter has to stay cold to test it! The timer can’t always be tested and comes in many new forms. it could be part of the main control, or an old mechanical timer or just a electronic timer.

Your Evaporator Fan Might not be working, This fan blows the cold air from your freezer to your Fresh food compartment. You can listen in your freezer area to hear if the fan is on. You might half to push the freezer door buttons in to activate the fan. If your machine is in defrost mode the fan will not come on, so if your fan is not on just check it in about 45 min and if it is still not coming on then your fan is probably bad.

If you have a electronic damper door it could be in the closed position, preventing the air flow from the freezer side to the fresh food side. This means your thermostat could be bad, a sensor or main control board could be bad.

Question: Fresh food side and Freezer are warmer

Your condenser coils could be dirty or Condenser Fan could be bad, this will cause your compressor to overheat and shut down causing your Refrigerator to quit cooling until the compressor has cooled down. In some refrigerators a good quick way to tell if your system is getting too hot is too feel the strip between the fresh food door and the freezer door, if this strip is hot your compressor could be overheating. Something you can do if you feel that center strip is hot :(( take a fan and put it facing the bottom of the refrigerator and see if that strip doesn’t get cooler in about 45 min. This is only to help you till you get a repair person out to look at it.

There are many other reasons for this type of problem: Intermittent compressor start device, Intermittent Thermostat, Electronic control board problems, Electronic Thermostat problems.

Please call a appliance repair service company to repair your appliance under any of these conditions.

One more important note to all: Freon does dissipate it can only leak. This means there has to be a hole! Filling your machine back up without fixing the hole will not fix your machine. It might run for a day a week maybe a month or a year but it is not fixed. This goes for refrigerators, freezers and Air conditioners. Don’t let anyone tell you it just needed a little freon. Your leak might be small enough for it to work for a month and then you loose all your food again!.

Question: My ice maker won’t make any Ice

Answer: The ice system in most Refrigerators consists of: The Ice maker itself, the water inlet valve, The Dispenser System, and the lines that carry the water.

There are many different designs.

Example: Is your ice dispenser tray in your side by side door? If it is, you might have a emitter board that detects the level of your ice bucket. This emitter board commonly fails and needs replaced to restore function to your ice maker. If you have this design check the kick plate of the machine for the Tech sheet, This sheet will help you determine your problem.

A common problem with most ice maker systems is the water valve has a slow leak and freezes the water inlet tube to the ice maker, causing the ice maker not to receive water. In this case you need to replace the water valve or the water valve simply is bad. you will half to defrost the tube if it was frozen and make sure you replace the valve.

Have you check your water filter on your refrigerator? This also can cause a problem with your ice maker and water dispenser.

Good luck with your repair

Donald Rowan

The History of Hand Held Terminals in Restaurants

The desire for restaurant hand held terminals and wireless restaurant software has been around since the invention of the electronic cash registers in the 1980’s. When restaurateurs saw the power of the electronic cash register how it stored and recalled orders, how it dispersed orders to various kitchen and preparation printers and how it helped control the flow of the restaurant the desire to have this power in the palm of your hand has been there. It is only recently that technology caught up to the demand.

In the 1990’s a couple of companies introduced hand held terminals to restaurants with limited success. Displays were small and therefore limited menu items. Battery life was short and limited use. But the demand was still there because the tremendous benefits to the restaurant owner.

I distinctly remember a trip to an NFL game where the stadium food provider used Seiko hand held terminals to take orders from customers sitting in their seats. I was about 6 seats from the aisle and placed an order for a drink and a hot dog fixed the way I wanted. The server took the order, told me the total and I passed the money down to her. As I was receiving my change my food arrived from the kitchen! Now THAT is service.

Most recently, restaurant software companies have taken advantage of the PDA craze and their technology and have adapted their software to these devices. Screens have become larger and now can display entire menus. Battery life has been extended and we now have “hot swap” batteries that allow you to swap a battery without losing the program.

Table service restaurants are now entering orders at the table and having food runners deliver the food. The server/waiter only has to leave the floor when it is time to print the check.

Quick service restaurants are taking orders in the drive through ahead of the speaker box. Others are creating entire sections for curbside ordering where the customer parks and a server with a hand held takes their order and payment then the food is brought out to them.

With hand held terminals restaurants are providing a speed of service only dreamed of before now.

The Need for Hand Held Terminals in Restaurants

To be able to take orders at the table or car, receive payment and have the food delivered with amazing speed of service. Thereby increasing table turns and customer throughput.

The hand held unit needs to be reliable, durable (they do get dropped) and easy to operate. The battery needs to be able to swapped during operation without losing memory.

The network needs to be able to handle several hand held terminals without slowing down the entire system. In some cases, the network needs to extend beyond the walls of the restaurant so additional customer may be served in patios, parks and parking lots.

The Solution Hand Held Terminals Provide Restaurants

Some point of sale systems have an interface that allows the download of their software to a PDA using Windows Pocket PC technology and Windows Terminal License software. Multiple hand held PDA terminals can be in the wireless network at the same time.

Through the use of wireless routers and wireless access points an entire restaurant can be set up for wireless hand held terminals for every server/waiter/manager. Additional wireless access points may be installed outside the restaurant to give broader coverage and allow for taking orders outside the restaurant.

We have one customer who walks across the street to a park and takes orders. The server collects for the food, even swipes a credit card and the system processes the approval without the server having to go to a terminal. A food runner brings the food to the person who is still sitting/laying in the park.

Servers/waiters are able to enter orders and take payments at the table. Managers are able to authorize voids, check sales and other manager functions from their hand held terminal. Imagine the ability to view reports on a hand held terminal or to approve a void without having to go to a terminal. All these things are possible with restaurant hand held terminals.

The Benefits of Hand Held Terminals To You

• Dramatically increased speed of service for your customer.
• Greater customer service because your servers/waiters do not have to leave the floor to place orders.
• Increased table turns because of faster service.
• Increased customer throughput in Quick Service.
• Wait on more tables/customers per server/waiter. More time on the floor equals more ability to handle additional tables.
  Increase manager efficiency.

The ability in Table Service to turn just 1 additional table per night with a $20 ticket average equals $600 per month in additional revenue.

In Quick Service, if you were able to increase throughput to handle only 4 more customers per lunch rush at $5 per order, you would enjoy a similar $600 per month increase in revenue.

Video Graphics Array VGA was made popular by IBM – it was the standard that most computers were designed under. Component refers to another type of video delivery method. VGA video is analog video, and it has been largely replaced by component connections but was the most popular video and display methods from its inception in nineteen eighty seven until the late nineteen nineties. VGA to Component refers to the cross over between the two video and display mediums. A VGA to component video adapter basically converts VGA from a personal computer’s output to a component signal commonly found on high end televisions. VGA is based around screen resolutions. The connector for VGA has a 15 pin module that was used to fit into the back of the CPU. The video quality of the VGA is fine.

How it Works

The VGA to component video adapter is similar to what is usually called a PC to TV converter but the component outputs are delivered through jacks that are color coded, usually green, red and blue. The power for the adapter comes from the computer via a USB port, although there are separate transformers that are available for those who do not wish to use a USB port in order to use the technology.

The VGA to component video adapter features composite video, component video and s-video outputs, with the VGA input being on a 15-pin receptacle (female). A male connector then connects to the unit, and another male connector connects to the personal computer while the female connector connects to a VGA cable from the computer’s monitor. There are also gender changers that will allow you to change the reach of the monitor cable in order to use it from a greater distance. This type of unit usually has a remote control that is battery operated.

You can use the converter in order to connect your personal computer to any higher end television, including a plasma, projector, or LCD model television. Most have multi-format outputs that allow you to convert VGA resolutions up to a maximum of 1600 X 1200 into high resolution component video, s-video and RCA-type.

Where to Purchase

Many electronics stores and big box retailers sell VGA to component video adapters, or you can find them when shopping with a variety of online stores.