Shimano Di2 Groupset

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In: Triathlon
With: 2,485 Comments

I learned quite a bit about Shimano Di2 when I installed one of the first available Time Trial/Triathlon groupsets on my Cervelo P2. I’ve subsequently answered a lot of questions on forums and article comments, and elsewhere. In doing so, I realized that people have a lot of questions about Di2 and the answers are difficult to find. This lead me to create this article, to consolidate everything I know and have been asked into one location so people can find answers. If you can’t find what you’re looking for below, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to help. Index: There’s lotsRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 291 Comments

I have 3 Panasonic DMP-BDT 220 Blu-ray players and all of them stopped connecting to Netflix at the same time. Although Panasonic seems to be particularity bad, all set top boxes and TVs seem to have occasionally have Netflix connection issues.  Here’s my list of the most common methods of solving those issues. Option 1 – Hidden Menu within the Netflix App to Deactivate your Device: this should work for any device as Netflix requires every manufacturer to include it. Please note that this does not deactivate your Netflix account itself, just your device, requiring you to log on again. Open the Netflix app on the device OnceRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 194 Comments

4k resolution televisions are now widely available and potential buyers are wondering if the extra resolution is worth it. In some cases it is, but in most, it’s not.  The details below can help you decide. 4K (and 8K) Resolution Defined The older 1080p HDTV standard has a resolution of 1920×1080 (2.1 million) pixels. The UHD resolutions are multiples of this base 1080p resolution. 4k resolution is named for the approximately 4,000 (4k) pixels that make up the horizontal resolution across the image. More specifically, the resolution is 3840×2160, which gives 8.3 million total pixels – 4 times that of 1080p. (4k is sometimes calledRead More →

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In: Personal
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2024 Highlights: Regrets for 2024: Numerous long-term friends and co-workers had their jobs eliminated at my employer and I still feel their absence there. One of my best friends passed away somewhat unexpectedly this November. He didn’t want to burden others with his health issues and always wanted to give more than he received. I deeply respect and admire him for that. He took up piano playing in his 40s and sent me this original composition he called “Clouds”. His favorite jazz pianist was Earl Hines and I think there are some of his influences here. “I was looking out the window on a gloomyRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 8 Comments

Background I first read about “line array” speaker designs around 2010 and have been fascinated by them ever since. As the name suggests, Line Array speakers consist of an array of identical speaker drivers placed directly beside each other in a long line. Because each speaker driver is so close to the one next to it, the result is constructive/reinforcing interference between the outputs of the speaker drivers. For a traditional vertical speaker configuration, this causes the sound to be more focused vertically (i.e. focused directly in front of the speaker and not toward the floor/ceiling) and more broadly and evenly distributed horizontally (across theRead More →

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In: Uncategorized
With: 5 Comments

In a recent episode of the Entertainment 2.0 podcast, the question was asked “what is the best smart-home tech for a vacation rental property?” Since I’ve recently stayed in several VRBO/Airbnb rental properties, and since I’m in the middle of an extensive smart home build at home, I decided to put this list together. While there is some overlap between a home you live in and a home you rent to strangers, there is quite a bit that will be different. Here’s my list of the best smart home products for the guests in a Vacation Rental Property. Some of these items are on theRead More →

LG Firmware Update Available Message

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In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

Usually a new firmware being made available a good thing. New features are added and bugs are fixed. But this is not the case when you cannot get the firmware update to apply and this message is continually displayed every time I turned on the TV and came up again every 20 minutes while watching TV. It was extremely annoying to constantly be interrupted by a useless message. Around February 2017, my LG 55LV3700 started displaying this message (and blocking the screen) every 20 minutes: “Updated firmware has been released! [Enter button] to update or [return button] to close.” The problem is that, when I hit enter,Read More →

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In: Reviews
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66 Audio is a Los Angeles based start-up focused on sports-oriented over-the-ear headphones with great customer support. I’m an active runner and audio enthusiast and I’ve had poor experiences with other Bluetooth sports headphones. So I was extremely interested when I was contact by 66 Audio and asked if I’d like to test their BTS Sport headphones. But to be clear, when my review is complete, I’m going to return the sample headphones back to 66 Audio. This isn’t a “free product bribe” review. So with that out of the way, let’s get to the review! What I liked: Useful Design and light weight. IRead More →

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In: Automotive
With: 28 Comments

I purchased a 2013 Audi S7 this year. While I absolutely love the car, and I’m particularly impressed with the fast and smooth shifting of the S-tronic transmission. I was very surprised and a bit disappointed that the transmission fluid (and spark plugs) have a scheduled maintenance interval of 40,000 miles. This is overly frequent for a modern car; the very similar Porsche PDK transmission has a 120,000 mile service interval. Since I prefer to do to my own vehicle maintenance, I compiled a list of the required parts and a general overview of the transmission fluid change process. Transmission Model: 0B5 7-speed dual clutch,Read More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 23 Comments

In my quest for the ultimate home theater bass, I’d always felt that my single Velodyne HGS-15 subwoofer wasn’t delivering quite the low frequency experience I was expecting. Visits to local IMAX theater had me jealous. So I set out figure out what was missing. Much of what I learned is included in my other post entitled Ultimate Home Theater Subwoofer Designs, which describes Infinite Baffle and Folded Tapped Horn subwoofers. This post details how I installed an Infinite Baffle subwoofer system in my home theater. I chose an Infinite Baffle subwoofer design because it delivers extremely low frequencies with perfectly flat response. Those low, chair-shaking / chestRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 8 Comments

I used to think the only way to get ultimate subwoofer bass was to spend thousands of dollars on a prestigious brand of subwoofer. I thought that people who build their own subwoofers were fringe enthusiasts who cared more about building something than about sound quality. It turns out I was completely wrong. The opposite is true: DIY subwoofers can deliver sonic performance that’s impossible for commercial subs to replicate. Here’s an overview of the two of the most effective subwoofers you can build yourself. Overcoming the Subwoofer Enclosure Cabinet Size Constraint Most commercial subwoofers are focused on achieving the best possible performance from the smallest cabinet size possible. Small cabinet size isRead More →