Four years ago I posted the article, “Cleaning Solar Panels – Does it make much difference”.  In that article I calculate the difference between my dirty and clean panels to be only 1.5% efficiency. That number just didn’t *feel* right to me, so I decided to give the process another try. I proceeded to export Read More …

We LOVE our Google Chromebook laptops! They are super inexpensive and do about 99% of what the kids need, about 90% of what my wife needs, and about 70% of what I need. We have two models, the Acer C710 and the HP 14-c011nr. The Acer was the first to have the screen broken. It Read More …

As you’ve hopefully read I’m pretty anal about backing up my computer and my websites.  I’ve been in the market for a new 2nd online location for my backup files.  Over the years I’ve heard fantastic stories regarding Amazon S3 as a wonderfully inexpensive and reliable  storage system and I’ve been anxious to give it Read More …

I’ve been SUPER happy with my Hyundai Elantra.  I can’t believe it’s been over 12 years since I did my geeky car purchase calculations and bought it new! Unfortunately over the past year I’ve noticed that it’s been harder and harder to unlock my car and disengage the alarm using both of my keyless remote Read More …

UPDATE: I’m not sure I trust the data in this article and have published a new article here: Cleaning Solar Panels – 8% Efficiency Difference   As I posted a year ago we added solar power  to our house.  Well, I noticed that our panels have a bit of a dusty haze / layer on Read More …

As many of my site visitors know, I own/manage a handful of internet forums including: The Printer Forum (on this site) BackYardChickens.com TheEasyGarden.com SufficientSelf.com BackYardHerds.com One of the constant problems with managing a forum is dealing with spammers.   Spammers come in many shapes and forms, but here are the two main types:

HomeMade Monitor Wall Mount A week ago I decided to upgrade to a new 23″ flat panel monitor (since I spend about 80% of my waking hours at the computer).  I was thinking about buying a wall mount, but I discovered two problems: Most didn’t extend from the wall as far as I needed (about Read More …

I’m sure you guys know about that “middle button” that is hiding underneath your scroll wheel on your mouse, right?  Usually it is set to some useless feature like “auto scroll”…  I mean, come on… who uses auto scroll anyway?   Well, the very first time I discovered that button (and how useless it truly was) Read More …

Privacy Policy for Nifty-Stuff.com The privacy of our visitors to Nifty-Stuff.com is important to us. At Nifty-Stuff.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit Nifty-Stuff.com, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell Read More …