The benefits of a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) are clear. We all need, after all, enough time to save that important report or close that game properly, brownouts or blackouts be damned. Straight from the Tom’s Hardware Forums comes some sound advice.

Courtesy Aspstation.net

• “Never plug any surge suppressor or power strip into the load side of a UPS. [They] can cause the UPS to drain its battery faster than expected, or cause the UPS to shut down or trip a circuit breaker.”
• “Never plug any device into a UPS’s battery-protected outlets that… draws a high amount of power when first turned on. This includes most printers, especially laser printers; the power they draw at start-up exceeds what the UPS can deliver.”
• “[M]ake sure the load doesn’t exceed the UPS’s real or apparent power ratings. Most UPS’s have some type of total load indication or at least an overload indicator light to let you know that the UPS is overloaded.”
• “Different models of UPS may have the same apparent power rating but a different real power rating… UPS designs are different and one can handle more real power than the other. A prime example is the APC Smart-UPS 750 vs. the Smart-UPS 750 XL. Both are rated 750 VA, but the XL model can handle 600W while the non-XL model can only handle 500W.”
• “Different models of UPS may have the same apparent power rating but vastly different run times. The power rating is determined by the size and design of the inverter, while the run time is determined mainly by the battery size. The APC Smart-UPS 750 and Smart-UPS 750XL are both rated at 750VA, but when powering a 300W load, the XL model can run it for over 45 minutes, while the non-XL model has only 10 minutes of run time.”
• “Your computer power supply rating is much greater than the amount of power your system actually draws. Many computers today have a 600W or higher power supply, but actual draw from the line is generally 300W or less, so you don’t need to spend the money on a 1500VA UPS. To find out the actual amount of power your computer is using, use an inexpensive watt meter like the Kill-A-Watt.”

Face it, our passion for tech usually comes at a cost: those long hours spent seated in front of the computer are fatal for waistlines, not to mention for our health. That’s why Leo Babauta’s Simple Fitness Rules are gold for gadgeteers:

A lean tummy, courtesy stock.xchng (details below)

The Two-Rule Version

• Get your body moving on a regular basis; and
• Eat a moderate amount of real, whole foods (with occasional indulgences).

The Eight-Rule, Yet Still Simple, Version

• Get moving
• Enjoy yourself
• Slowly add intensity
• Minimal equipment
• Just a few exercises
• Eat real foods
• Eat less
• Give it time

Follow the full details here, and who knows? You could end up lifting a 12-pound desktop replacement with one hand multiple times, enough to score first dibs on some cool piece of tech.

See Also: The Best Damn Healthy Gaming Tip Ever

(image courtesy ljk)

Feel free to debate the ethics and morality of tricking someone into letting you see their Facebook account. In any case, the steps outlined at MakeUseOf.com’s “How to View Private Facebook Profiles” are surprisingly easy to carry out. Since the Facebook peeps are apparently quick to plug any hacks or exploits (according to the how-to’s author), the best way to gain unauthorized access seems to involve tricking people:

Courtesy of MakeUseOf

• Send a message via Facebook to your target, hopefully provoking them into answering. According to Facebook help, answering reply grants the recepient temporary access to your profile. A brief time which will no doubt be maximized.
• Failing that, you can trick your target’s friends into adding you. Once you’re able to acquire a large number of mutual friends, leaving an impression of familiarity—which increases the chances of succesfully befriend your target on Facebook—becomes that much easier.

Full details here.

So a girl was shocked to read that the taxi she rode last night was involved in a rape case. But then, she remembered texting a friend the details of her transportation. She made quite an affair of it, reading out the plate number and the info while tapping her keys as loudly as possible. She basically made sure the driver knew she sent the info to friend.

Courtesy of Marie Claire

You literally have no excuse, as practically any cell phone makes it easy to input textual information—and to send it to a virtually unlimited number of people.

Here’s a great way to avoid computer-related static shocks in the office or at home: build grounding right into your desk!

In my old office—full of carpeting—I’d always shock people whenever I’d casually (or maybe not) tap the shoulders of my more attractive office mates (the female ones of course). Not to mention myself whenever my hand met some metal. In fact, I resigned myself to an automatic grounding ceremony of sorts. That involved gingerly touching the metal frame of my old cubicle after standing up to take breaks from my laptop.

Luckily, fellow shockaholic anonymous Rob Severson found a way to build grounding into his desk, which would automatically activate even before he’d touch his laptop/desktop keyboard. It involved peeling the conductive strip of a 3M anti-static strap, and securing it on the front edge of a desk with some double-sided tape. The copper end of the strip was then hooked up to a grounding wire neatly tucked away. Easy as pie, so long as you have the patience to carry it out. Full details here.

(Image courtesy of Rob Severson)

During my recent desktop shopping spree, I made sure my new rig would be Bluetooth and WiFi capable. After all, why miss out on two features that proved really useful on my laptop?

Yet if recent experiences are any indicator, the wired setup still rules. I’m still glad I got Bluetooth and WiFi though, as they grant my desktop a certain degree of versatility. Yet now my rig is hooked up via Ethernet to my router. Surfing the web and downloading files proved faster through this setup. At the same time, I decided to buy a USB cable for my phone, no longer relying on Bluetooth for syncs and backups. Again, same reason: transferring data via cables is much faster.

One of these days, transferring data wirelessly will be a near instantaneous process. Right now however, if you want to maximize your data transfer speeds, it still makes sense to go wired.

(Image from vision-systems.com)

It’s a bit ironic when you ask your readers to “NEVER TAMPER WITH THESE [ADDCO] SIGNS”, right before you provide detailed instructions on how to basically hack said signs and make them print out whatever suits your fancy. (I bet the promise of learning such illicit info also piques your interest) Read more

This might be overkill for some, but for those who just can’t memorize Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts, the folks over at the Googleplex have quite a deal for you. Just send a self-addressed envelope to Send me some Gmail stickers already, P.O. Box 391420, Mountain View, CA 94039-1420. You’ll receive some vinyl overlays for your keys, as well as some artsy-fartsy Gmail-themed stickies.

According to Google’s blog, “The adhesive is a bit more removable than standard stickiness, so you can take them off once you’ve trained your fingers.” Google will ship this set even to outside the US—check out the full post for more details.

(Image via Google)

Well, even grandpa knows where the plus and minus signs of batteries should go. But many gadgets nowadays don’t bother with the standard sizes, featuring their own custom-shaped rechargeable batteries. Read more

The cases of Ilkka Kanerva and Kwame Kilpatrick are proof that text messages can come back to haunt you. Read more