Online Electricity Calculators

This article was written on October 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with an increasing electricity bill, so wouldn’t it be nice to be able to calculate an estimate of what your monthly electrical bill will be based upon the electric items in your home? There are two online usage calculators that I came across which are worth checking out. While they’re certainly not going to be exact, they will give you an idea of how much money you spend each month to pay for your dryer or dishwasher, or any of the other luxuries you have.

Consumers Power

The first site is www.consumerspower.org and they offer a really rough estimate of what your electricity bill will be each month. All you have to do is enter which items you run like a refrigerator or freezer. You’ll also enter in how many loads of laundry you do each week, and how many of those are washed with warm, hot, or cold water. I entered in all of my information and it calculated that my electricity bill would be about $114 each month. In reality, my bill is usually about $60-70 each month so it wasn’t quite right. What is good about it though is that it shows on average about how much money you spend each month for a certain item.  For example, on average, it costs $13.72 a month to run a refrigerator.  For a freezer it costs about $14.33 per month on average to run.

consumerpower

Generic Electrical Energy Cost Calculator

What I like about the Generic Electrical Energy Cost Calculator found here is that you can enter in how much time each of your items gets used.  This can make quite a difference in your energy bill! Using this calculator you can enter in specifics like how many watts your microwave is, and how many minutes it gets used in a month. It also has more items than the first calculator that we talked about like a vacuum cleaner, clock, radio, electric blanket, and more. If you take the time to fill it all out, you should have a pretty good idea of what your electric bill will be every month and where you could save energy by using something less.

electricity calculator

This article was written in part for Blog Action Day.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Caption Contest: you shall not interrupt Gandalf’s 3D viewing session

Nobody likes being bothered while they’re really getting into a movie, and as we all know you can’t really get into a movie unless it’s in 3D. Right? Sir Ian McKellen took things a step further, not only watching a screening of The Hobbit in the third dimension but doing it in character, and looking ever so slightly perturbed at having his viewing session interrupted by a rogue photographer. The guy in the back doesn’t seem to mind, though.

Thomas: “Galadriel, is that new shampoo?”
Tim: “These glasses may be passive but I you may find me getting very aggressive if you use that flash one more time.”
Brian: “I’ll tell you what, you’re making me Gandalf the Red right now.”
Joe: “Would ‘one standard to rule them all’ be asking too much?”
Michael: “ZZ Top called, they want their roadie back”
Terrence: “Even Gandalf the Grey is powerless against the magic of these glasses which make any man look like a 90-year-old blind woman.”
Richard Lai: “Ha, no 3D for that flaming cyclops in Mordor.”
Darren: “One ring. Two Towers. 3Ds.”
Christopher: “Sir Ian McKellen: the latest victim of Rick Rubin’s Ambush Makeover.”
Sean Buckley: “Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee. What have I told you about interrupting me during my stories?”
Josh Fruhlinger: “You know how they say 3D is bad for children? This dude is 14.”
Myriam: “Yes, wizards get hangovers too. Are you happy now?”

Caption Contest: you shall not interrupt Gandalf’s 3D viewing session originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink /Film, reddit  |  sourceComingSoon.net  | Email this | Comments

With PSN still down, what else is there to do?

We’ve got some ideas for how you can while away the hours while Sony’s PlayStation Network remains down. How about PC gaming, social gaming, changing your passwords, or heading outside (just kidding on that last one!)?

HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week

After a false start when it passed certification earlier this month, SiliconDust’s three CableCARD tuner HDHomeRun Prime is finally available for preorder from Newegg for $249. The release date is scheduled for June 29th but those interested in getting it hooked up to their HTPC as quickly as possible may want to wait until next week when the six-tuner 6CC version goes up for preorder, as those are expected to begin shipping first. There’s no volume discount on the tuners at $499, but at $83 per tuner you might be able to justify it as a better value than the four-tuner and also network-sharable InfiniTV 4. Either way, if you just need a bit more information before purchasing, you’ll find it on the sales page, on the linked PDF below or in the video trailer embedded after the break.

[Thanks Justin & @TheReal_PeterF]

Continue reading HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week

HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 09:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink @HDHomeRun_US  |  sourceNewegg, SiliconDust  | Email this | Comments

Robot orchestra marries music and machines (video)

It may not be the first go-round for the Karmetik Machine Orchestra, but the automated musicians, fashioned by a group of students at the California Institute of the Arts, took the stage last night to prove that robots can rock. Among the mechanized musicians scheduled to perform at the Walt Disney Modular Theater were MahaDevibot, Glockenbot, BreakBot, and NotomotoN, described as a “duel-head drum with twelve beaters and a mallet orchestra.” Each of the robots was built from salvaged parts and programmed by CalArts students, who control the machines from laptops during performances. A description of the show posted to the CalArts website touts music-producing robots suspended from the ceiling that trigger sound activated light shows and animation — now that sounds like a way to spend a Thursday night. Check out a video of the players and their masters after the break.

Continue reading Robot orchestra marries music and machines (video)

Robot orchestra marries music and machines (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 08:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Huffington Post  |  sourceCalifornia Institute of the Arts  | Email this | Comments

Google And Zoho Each Create “Office Suite”

This article was written on October 11, 2006 by CyberNet.

Google Docs

Google finally brought their online text editor, called Writely, into a Google branded page. In fact they combined Writely with Google Spreadsheets and have now renamed the service to Google Docs & Spreadsheets (clever, huh).

There really isn’t anything too impressive with the Google Docs service because no new features have been introduced. It does look much nicer utilizing Google’s “theme” compared to all of the green colors that Writely seemed to use though. Despite the two services being tied together into one location you still can’t do things like embed a spreadsheet into a text document, which is something that Zoho already offers. In my opinion Google is way behind Zoho and they should just whip out the checkbook and buy them like they did with YouTube. :)

Zoho definitely didn’t want to be left out of the news this week either because they are also bringing all of their products together into a central location and calling it Zoho Virtual Office. TechCrunch says that the new service is still in closed Beta but it will be launching today as a free service for non-corporate users. For those that haven’t experienced the products that Zoho offers then I think you will find some of them to be quite amazing compared to their competitors like Google.

Here is a screenshot of what the new Virtual Office will look like later today:

Zoho Virtual Office

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This week in Crave: The 24-carat edition

This week, we reflected on Chrome, gazed at the stars, turned our house into one big game controller, and dropped way too much cash on an Amazon Kindle.

MOPS Shadow T800 brings analog joystick, hearts & spades to Android

Sure, the Xperia Play may have that slick gamepad slider, shoulder buttons, and Sony Playstation’s official blessing, but can it hold its own against the Shadow’s analog pad? Probably, because despite the new contender’s self described status of a “mobile Playstation,” its lack of shoulder buttons won’t help it play any of those Xperia-exclusive PSone games it can’t download. Still, besides being known as the “Phantom of the Opera” phone (thanks, Google Translate), this MOPS Shadow T800 has a lot going for it. This analog Android packs a Froyo-powered 806MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, front and rear 5 megapixel and 0.3 megapixel cameras, respectively, a 3.5 inch 320 x 480 touchscreen, and a whole mess of standard GPS, Bluetooth, and 3G radios. Not enough? Okay, fine; the device also comes pre-loaded with a handful of emulators, as well as a legit copy of Assassin’s Creed. Besides, who doesn’t want a phone with card-suit face buttons? Bragging rights will set you back 2680 yuan ($410), assuming you’re in China when this thing launches later this month.

MOPS Shadow T800 brings analog joystick, hearts & spades to Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNetease Mobile, MOPS  | Email this | Comments

Hurry! You Won’t Find Ubuntu this Cheap Anywhere Else!

This article was written on July 09, 2008 by CyberNet.

ubuntu best buy.png

I’m sure many of you already know that Ubuntu is not only available as a free download, but you can also order it on a CD at absolutely no cost. What’s the fun in that when you can actually pay to have the CD delivered to your home?

As someone over at Digg found out Best Buy (a retail electronics store in the United States) has actually placed a $20 pricetag on the open source operating system. Shipping charges range from $3.99 for standard to $16.99 for overnight delivery, or you can pick it up in store to save yourself a few extra bucks. I double-checked store availability around me and almost all of the Best Buy’s have the boxed copy in stock.

Can they really sell free software? You bet. According to the GNU license this type of thing isn’t even frowned upon:

Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate activity; if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it.

When I told Ashley about this her first response was “wouldn’t it be funny if someone bought it, and then paid Geek Squad to set it up.” I don’t see anything that says that the Geek Squad can’t install Linux, and I’m guessing that the $129.99 computer setup fee is what you’d get charged. Yikes!

So what do you make of all this? Is it a good thing since Ubuntu is more apt to being exposed to the general public, or are they out to just rip people off?

I think I’m going to hold off on picking up a copy right now. I’ll get mine in October when these go on clearance in preparation for the new release. ;)

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Kinect hack enables psychedelic acupressure, far-out graphics (video)

We’ve seen the Kinect do some pretty wild stuff, but this “Kinected Massage” thing might just take the cake. Jason Stephens, massage therapist and grad student, has employed the ever-expanding power of Microsoft’s Kinect in combination with a video projector to create “flow fields” that follow his hands on a client’s body while he performs a massage. Stephens describes the process as a “technologically mediated healing modality,” and while we’re not sure that the Kinect actually contributes much to the relaxation process, it does make for some pretty trippy graphics. Hop on past the break and expand your mind, man.

Continue reading Kinect hack enables psychedelic acupressure, far-out graphics (video)

Kinect hack enables psychedelic acupressure, far-out graphics (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 05:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceIntelligent Healing Spaces  | Email this | Comments