There’s a number of problems with the plastic connectors for which I don’t recommend them. If you leave them outdoors all year round they get brittle and they don’t take a lot of abuse like when your dragging your hose across the cement. Instead I recommend the brass connectors such as the ones made by Camco.

Another issue with these things is they tend to get dirt in them and expand and contract with the weather. Sometimes you have to bang on them to get them to move again, try doing that with a plastic part.

Stargate The Ark Of Truth is the direct to DVD movie follow up of the Stargate SG1 series. It’s on iTunes for purchase or rent and can be rented on the AppleTV in HD. I plan to marry HD and Stargate.

Smarthome is having a $20 Off $100 Sale on April 3rd only. You can find the coupon code on Smarthome's website.

After I purchased the Insteon thermostat adapter and T1700 thermostat bundle from Smarthome, they offered this $5.00 off deal.

Use this coupon code on checkout: eFebruary

Discount: $5 off any order of $50 or more (excluding auctions) on Smarthome.com

Valid Dates: Until 11:59:59 PM on 2/29/08

There's some discussion on this device at the Smarthome message boards and it's not know exactly what it supports, extra humidity or temperature sensor or remote fan control? The developer of Indigo has indicated that the final release of Indigo 2.5 will support this device.

It's hard for me not to run out and pre order it right away. The cheapest Venstar Thermostat is $70 and the adapter is $99. It might seem expensive but the TXB16 thermostat is $300.

Girls Gone Wild type Lantern Indoor/Outdoor Party String lights. Picture is of one pose type/women there are 4 other different women in different poses. You will recieve 2 each of the 5 different lanterns. Pictures are from the 1960s. Each of the 10 white lantern plastic covers measures about 4 7/8 inches tall x 2 1/2 inches wide (the size of a 12 oz. can of pop) like the ones in the picture. The 12 foot wire in this set of string lights is green and constructed like an extention cord so up to 3 sets of string lights can be connected together. These sets are specially configured by us for you and pulled from our brand new never used inventory. Some assembly is required, as in putting covers on lights.

Smarthome is having a new years day only coupon for $20.08 off $100 or more. That's a good 20% off if you can keep it to $100.

The Kindle can do more than read books, it uses Sprint's EVDO data network to connect tot he internet. There is no subscription sign up or fees required to access this network. Think this sounds like a good deal? Think again, Amazon is going to nickel and dime you to death on content. After you paid $399.00 for the device, you will pay for every book through Amazon. Best Sellers run about $10 each, public domain books costs $1.99. You can subscribe to RSS feeds, but you will pay $1.00 a month for each feed. These are the same feeds that are available on your computer for free. You can also get newspapers, but again you will pay. There doesn't seem to be anyway to get content onto the Kindle for free, you will pay Amazon for everything.

I don't have a problem with Amazon charging for content, or even all the content, but only if the hardware is free or cheap.

I didn't even write about the hardware, the screen or it's very 1990's look. I will leave it to people who have one to talk about those things. Most of the reviews I've read have been in the "meh" or negative category with a small number that really like it. I've been using Palm devices for reading books and RSS feeds. I expect my future iPhone to have this same capability. This one isn't for me and I doubt any device which is designed around business model instead of the users will ever be.

[Update 12/02/07 12:41 PM] I should note, I also don't like the Sony PRS-500 e-book reader. It has it's own list of issues, some of them similar to the Kindle. At least it's not as ugly.

Amazon's new Subscribe & Save beta sounds like a terrific idea. It would save me a trip to the warehouse club for less interesting things.

Our new Subscribe & Save program is a great way to save an extra 15% on items you use routinely--coffee, shampoo, laundry detergent, and more--while helping to make sure you don't run out. Benefits include:

• A delivery schedule that fits your needs--every one, two, three, or six months
• Extra 15% discounts on our everyday price, whether you subscribe for a single month or for years
• Free shipping on every order
• E-mail reminders of upcoming shipments
• The flexibility to change your schedule or cancel at any time--no risks, no fees

I've started using Amazon's grocery service over the last 6 months and have liked it so far. This seems like a great extension.

80% off Scottevest Tactical System jacket. Use SAVE80 at checkout. Expires 11/25.

Smarthome Free Economy Shipping for orders $75 or more.

Amazon's Black Friday page

Black Friday Product Deals from Overstock.com! Valid 11.22.07 to 11.25.07

FREE SHIPPING on LEGO orders of $99 or more placed before 30-Nov-07. Use Code FSA99 at checkout. Valid in US only, exclusions apply.

Click Here for the 2007 Drs. Foster & Smith Gift Guide! Everything you need for your pets! Expires 12.31.07

Smarthome has a public beta of new Insteon SwtichLinc like dimmer that does not need a neutral. Some houses do not have neutrals in every switch location which means they cannot use current SwitchLincs

How it Works
The INSTEON 2-wire Dimmer Kit comes with two main pieces: a companion switch that installs in the switch box and a fixture dimmer that installs in your light fixture. With these two devices you'll now be able to convert one of your two wires in your switch box to a neutral, enabling reliable control of your light. The companion switch and fixture dimmer are "paired" at the factory so both devices will act as one. This means that once they're installed, you won't have to go back into the fixture, either for control OR for linking to other INSTEON-compatible devices. Simply put, the companion switch's SET button acts as a remote SET button for the fixture dimmer, giving you added convenience and flexibility.

Sounds a lot like the switches that are wired up to ceiling fans to allow separate fan and light controls from a single switch

Check out the discussion on the Smarthome forums

Smarthome is having a 20% off sale. I doubt they will have one greater than this.

Use the code ESAVINGS at check out. The sale ends Thursday, November 15th.

Leopard will be released on Friday, 26 October.

Smarthome is having a sale on Insteon Devices. The sale is 24 October through 26 October.

10% off over 70 Smarthome-brand INSTEON Products

I'm still hoping for a bigger sale before the holidays

This week Leo Laport posted a review of the phone. Of course, he compares it to the iPhone describing the Curve as not nearly as easy to set up or pretty to look at but has more functionality than the iPhone.

It meets some of my requirements to combine my phone and PDA into one, and has the killer wifi VoIP feature but it's missing things that I use with my current phone. Sailing Clicker doesn't yet support Blackberry devices, instead the developers are "holding out for RIM to add JSR82-support (Bluetooth) to Java in their devices". Whatever that means, I doubt it will happen anytime soon. I not sure how well cross syncing between Outlook on a PC and a Mac will work. Finally, can you use make voice calls over wifi systems that require browser authentication?

Amazon only has two reviews, both positive so far. This indicates that it's a very new phone. As tempting as this phone was to run out and buy right away, I think I will hold off and see what happens in the next month.

This is the Areo Booster which is part of the new Exoforce theme.

Extreme air power!
When EXO-FORCE™ needs air support, they call in the incredible Aero Booster! Piloted by daredevil aerial ace Ha-Ya-To, this powered-up battle machine rules the skies. A detachable booster pack rockets it into action with 3 gigantic turbojet engines, movable wings, a firing missile and massive laser cannons to blast robot invaders!

• Aero Booster has a detachable battle machine!
• Laser cannons can also connect to the battle machine!
• Aero Booster measures 11" (28 cm) long!
• Includes Ha-Ya-To minifigure!

Includes special code to unlock extra content at www.EXO-FORCE.com.

$29.99 at Lego.com

Smarthome is having a 25% off sale on a few Insteon items. Mostly Icon's and paddle replacements.

The World's first and only automatic sensor perforated paper towel dispenser works on all home paper towel brands, standard full and new half size sheets. Sensor-activated control guarantees one hand operation without touching the unused sheets or the dispenser, and the towels never unravel. It prevents contamination of germs and saves paper. This smart Towel-Matic™ can dispense one sheet, two sheets, or the new half page sheet on demand with just the approach of your hand.

I previously wrote about the Algae bloom in my 80 gallon aquarium. On Thursday I received the 18 Watt Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer and installed it that day. My impression from reading various aquarium forums is the sterilizer would show an immediate result, even clean up the algae in a matter of hours.

I saw no changes in a few hours as I was led to believe. It did do it's job, but it took about four days. I saw the best results after leaving the lights off at night. I suspect it's taken so long becasue flow rate of my canister filter is less than what most people have for a tank my size. Most people seem to run their filters at least 2x the capacity of the tank. Since I have a 80 gallon tank, most people would run a filter capable of at least 160 gallons per hour. I am not most people.

My flow meter read about 100 gph before putting in the sterilizer, it now reads about 90 gph. The low flow is actually good for the sterilizer, the longer the water is exposed to the UV light, the more effective it is at killing the bugs (this sterilizer is rated for 200 - 400 gph). it might also mean that the flow rate is not fast enough to keep up with the algae growth in the light. Not sure on that however, but seems reasonable.

Now that the algae is under control I am only running the sterilizer part of the night and I will slowly ramp down the it's use to maybe once a week or less

Finally the plants had a immediate reaction to the reduction in algae. I could clearly see a increase in growth. The hope is they will start to grow vigorously enough that they are absorbing enough of the nutrients to starve out any algae that might try to take hold.

I'm holding off on ordering for the moment, hoping in will find a better deal. In the past Amazon has had cheaper prices on the OS, but I've seen some local stores match it.

Both the single and family versions are #1 on Amazon's best sellers list

When I first set up this aquarium I immediately had a problem with a brown algae like substance growing on everything. In fact, I had the same problem with the 30 gallon I set up just prior to this one. This outbreak is not brown algae but diatoms.

My Gold Gourami seems to enjoy eating the diatoms off every surface of the aquarium. In fact he did a pretty good job of keeping up with the growth when he was in the 30 gallon tank. So much so that I didn't feed him at all for weeks and weeks. For the 80 gallon I purchased two Otocinclus Catfish which will also eat the diatoms. None of them have been able to keep up with the diatom growth in the 80 gallon. I've been using a magnetic glass scraper to clean the glass, hopefully the fish will take care of the rest over time. Since replacing the Actinic bulbs with more natural sunlight producing bulbs, the diatom growth as seemed to stopped or slow down significantly.

I really really hate it when I have to buy some sort of new hardware but it looks like the best solution to this problem is a UV sterilizer. UV light will kill single celled creatures like algae by damaging the DNA if they are exposed to the UV light long enough. I decided to go with the 18 Watt Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer which cost about $150. UV light will destroy all single celled critters, including viruses and good bacteria. Therefore it's only recommended to run when you have a problem.

I'm still waiting for the UV sterilizer to arrive. In the mean time I've done a 60% water change, which has helped quite a bit. The live plants are still pretty new, it might take a while for them to get established and start using up the nutrients in the water

Apparently, Maroon 5 is doing well. And so is iTunes

NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A&M/Octone recording act Maroon 5's sophomore album, "IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG," has broken an iTunes Store sales record amidst predictions of a chart-topping debut week (http://www.itunes.com). The Grammy-winning band sold over 101,000 albums via iTunes in one week including more than 50,000 digital pre-orders that provided fans with two exclusive tracks and a Ticketmaster pre-sale offer.

"Maroon 5 fans broke an iTunes record, making 'IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG' the #1 most popular album upon week of release," says James Diener, President of A&M/Octone Records. "The band's extensive fanbase has spoken: they clearly love the new album and special content exclusives available on iTunes."

I really dig this Ball Ceiling fan buy the Modern Fan Company. I think this will be the fan I will put in my master bedroom. Lighting By Gregory has them not too badly priced at $260.

They also have a ceiling hugger version, but it hangs at 13 inches, where the smallest down rod on the normal fan lets the fan hang at 11 inches. There are light kits available for $60 more and come in white or brushed aluminum.

Smarthome's RemoteLinc is now available for pre order. The RemoteLinc is a RF remote for Insteon. The bad news is the RemoteLinc is not compatable with the current SignaLinc RF to Insteon bridge. They are replaced with a new product called the Access Point. The good news, Smarthome is offering a "free" upgrade to the access point if you have SignaLincs. If you buy a 2 pack of refurbished access points and send in your old signal lincs, they will refund your money and send you a free RemoteLinc.

This certainly makes it easier to speculate that SmartLabs was having technical problems with their RF protocol, causing the delays in releasing the Remote. Also see this thread on the smarthome message boards.

Update: I'm mistaken on how the return works. You don't get a refund on the cost of the access points. You simply get a $49.99 remotelinc for each pair of signalincs you send in. Not quite as good as I had thought.

• Spend $75 and receive a FREE lamplinc (2456D3) or appliancelinc (2456S3). Enter promo code EHIHABX (for your LampLinc) or code EHIHABX2 (for your ApplianceLinc) at checkout to receive your Free Gift. Offer Valid May 1-May 31st 2007
• Mother's Day Deals: Save 10% off your entire order when you spend $150 or more. Offer valid May 3rd-May 8th. Use EMOTHER at check-out
• Save up to 75% on Overstock items We over-bought and you save. Brand new products at slashed prices.

Smarthome is having a monthly sweepstake and giving away $500 worth of Insteon hardware. The sweepstake is from 1 April to 1 July and drawings are once a month.

Your giving up your email for their newsletter.

Age Of Empires III for Mac has been out for several months now, and I've enjoyed playing it. It's a follow up to the aptly named Age Of Empries II, which I also enjoyed playing. It's a control freak like type game, where you control your empire. Production, buildings, miltary and the destruction of other empires if you wish.

The Demo is now available at MacGamefiles. It's one of the first Intel native games released. The other requirements are: G4/G5 or Intel processor running at 1.4GHz or faster, Mac OS X v10.3.9 or higher, 512MB RAM, 64 MB Video Card (with support for hardware T & L). 56K dial-up Internet access or LAN for online play.

The biggest Lego set ever, the 5195 Piece Millennium Falcon. It's over 33" long, 22" wide and 8" tall. It's $499.99 and will ship by Oct 1st. Limit 5 per customer.

This is an appropate item to post as I just signed up for the Lego affiliate program. People who know me shouldn't be surprised, as I have been a lego geek since I was very small. I currently have the Slave I (Boba Fett's ship) in my living room.

As a kid, to have Lego and Star Wars together is something I could have only dreamed about. The next best thing would be to have Legos, Star Wars and Video Games that run on a Mac together.

My Advertising Policy

Update: Here's a direct link to the 20% off coupon code: Hurry - Beat the Clock & Save at Smarthome! Up to 20% off entire order   3-23 to 3-31-07

Beat the Clock Sale:

• 20% off Friday 3/23- Monday 3/26/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC20
• 15% off Tuesday3/27-Thursday 3/29/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC15
• 10% off Friday 3/30-Saturday 3/31/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC10

• $8 off $80 purchase. Use Promotion Code: EAELITE8 Expires 3/27/07
• 10% off $40 minimum purchase. Use Promotion Code: EAFINAL4 Expires 4/3/07
• Free ICON Dimmer (2876DB) with $100 purchase. Use Promotion Code: EA200601C Expires 3/31/07.

Click here to go to the Smarthome Insteon page.

Another sale from Smarthome. 10% off stuff they have marked as "Hot Deals" . Use coupon code ESPRING07 on check out, good till 2 March. Also free shipping till on $150 or more till 1 March. Not all of the Insteon stuff is included. I'm buying a few things in this sale.

• Keypad Dimmer INSTEON Starter Kit. A KeypadLinc, two SwitchLincs and two SignalLincs. Price for this stuff separate would be $239.99, they have it listed for $159.99 before discounts.
• Icon Appliance On/Off Module. Listed at $24.99, normally $34.99.

I wish they had some Icon On/Off Switches included, guess I will have to wait for anther sale. They have some other Insteon stuff like the Plug-In Dimmer INSTEON Starter Kit, Kitchen Lighting Starter Kit and the Icon Lamp Dimmer.

You really can't beat this deal if you were planning on buying some Insteon gear. I just purchased the remaining switches I needed for my house, 3 Switchlincs and 1 Keypadlinc for about $150, which saved me about $40. They are not only offering a 12% discount, but free shipping over $150. Use coupon code EHSAVE12 between now and Dec 18th, use the link below to go to Smarthome's site and give me some affiliate love.

12 Days Of Holidays Deals at Smarthome.

Well this is new. Someone has posted their Panda Express leftovers on craigslist. The post even includes pictures.

Delicious takeout leftover from Panda Express. This food was excellent. Unopened fortune cookie in mint condition. Me and my family just cant think of throwing it out. We are sure someone needs it. Included is an eggroll my daughter was working on at time of picture. Fork not included.

Uhhhh... No thanks.

Thanks to rapper Young Jeezy angry snowman image from his single "Go Crazy", all snowmen are being discriminated against. Although not clear to the layman, the image is referring to the snowman as being the coke dealer since coke is often refereed to as snow.

A local private school is banning all images of snowmen and snow due to the drug references. The falling of snow near the children at school or home is also banned.

Enough talking about it people! I went out and bought me a iH5 from Target today. They have it on sale for $109.00, which is more than the $99 list price online. But I probably would have paid the difference in shipping and I get instant gratification!

I guess the most important thing is how good of a alarm clock is it? It has everything I want in a alarm clock, it goes off at a specific time that I program it too. It also has the "gentle wake" system where it slowly ramps up the volume. The thing I might miss is the multiple alarms, but it's easy enough to set that I can live without it.

This is replacing my Zenith alarm clock. I realize that this is the oldest piece of technology I have, I think I got it when I was a teenager. It still works perfectly after all these years. But it has no iPod dock, so out the door it goes.

Unfortunately, I have some pigeons living on my patio. That's unfortunate because 1) They crap all over the place, 2) They have a nest with a egg in it. I cannot bring myself to get rid of them with the egg there, actually it's their second one. Had I know about it before they laid it I would have done something about it.

To get something useful out of of the situation I have set up the pigeon cam. Running off my 500mhz first gen iBook, a iSight and EvoCam you can watch as the butt ugly baby is born (and believe me, they are ugly). Click on the image to see a 640x480 image. I will be adding it to the side bar as well. I'm also working on a time-lapse.

I've seem the mom and dad birds do some weird things so I will try to point them out when I see them. Also check out this MetaFilter post, who knew people ate them?

Update 06/01/05 3:44 PM: I wanted to mention that the picture updates only when there is movement, But EvoCam still seems to struggle to upload to my iDisk. I've also put in the link to the timelapse movie but doesn't seem to be accepted by QuickTime in the browser, it works fine when I view it from the finder.

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I'm not sure, but this just might be crackpottery. Apparently Nostradamus's writings have been interpreted to mean that on March 21st, 2006 we will have a "superwave". This "superwave" will consist of "he arrival of the "Star People" who will "rescue" many of the planet's inhabitants." It's not the first time this has happened either. Apparently a group know as the "christians" have mistaken this upcoming event for "The coming of the messiah, along with a sky full of "angels" who will do the gathering of people - before the end", because of a lack of communication from our UFO overlords last time they came.

I will be packed and ready by March 21st, 2006. Also, I wonder if they serve ranch dressing, I hate it when I go somewhere and they don't have ranch. It's got to be the most common dressing, how can people not server that? I guess I will pack in a few bottles just in case.

I've been a long time user of Intuit's TurboTax (formerly MacInTax). 2 years ago I paid a tax consultant a lot of money to have them save me no more than TurboTax would have, therefore I love it even more. I have a lot of tax "situations" that require I use all kinds of funky forms but TurboTax makes it easy for me to understand the various options.

I'm aware that Intuit has been blasted for their policies. I can't disagree with those criticisms, but there's really isn't any decent competition. Nothing beets Quicken on the Mac. H&R Blocks Tax Cut makes a good attempt with their tax software but it's still not quite there.

You can get a pretty good price if you order via Amazon, where I just did. Here's the differences between the various flavors of TurboTax.

TurboTax Premier 2004 Win/Mac ($69.95 - $20 mail in rebate) - It includes everything in Basic, plus extra tools and tips for maximizing tax savings, including investments, Schedule C business taxes, 401(k) plans, and rental property.

TurboTax Deluxe 2004 Win/Mac ($39.95 - $10 mail in rebate) - Basic gives you the extra guidance you need to claim more deductions ? and reduce your risk of an audit.

TurboTax Basic 2004 Win/Mac ($19.95) - 1040EZ.

If your just filing the 1040EZ, you can likely skip the $20 software and file for free. But if you need to fill out the long form the software is worth the investment, and you can write it off for the next years tax return. Also check out Yahoo's Tax site for some other alternatives.

It's being reported that iLife '05 and iWorks '05 (along with the Mac mini) will be arriving by Jan 22nd. If your patient you can buy them from Amazon with free shipping and no sales tax. If you have to have them by the 22nd you can order today them via the Apple Store and they will be delivered to you by the 22nd, but Apple charges sales tax.

I highly recommend you by hardware from Small Dog Electronics. Allthough it usally takes them quite a while to get stuff, thanks to Apple and their trying to control everything.

• In the box: Forerunner 101, wrist strap, protective case, user's manual and warranty information
• Display: 1.5"W x 0.9"H (3.81cm x 2.28cm); 100 x 64 pixels on FSTN display with LED backlighting
• Training data: Includes training time, pace, distance, lap pace, lap time, lap distance, average and best pace, elevation, and calories
• History: Stores up to approximately 5000 laps of training histories; review lap histories to date, by day, or by week
• Auto pause: Automatically pauses the training timer when you slow down below a specified resting pace; timer resumes when you start running again
• Auto lap: Automatically triggers a lap when you reach a specified distance; allows you to run anywhere and still get accurate performance data
• Virtual Partner: Allows you to input training goals based on time, distance and pace; Forerunner displays a graphic "virtual partner" that will run with the set goal, so you can see at a glance if you are keeping up or falling behind
• Pace alert: Alarm sounds if you are slower or faster than the pace you've input
• Time/distance alert: Alarm sounds when you reach the specified time or distance
• Receiver: 12 parallel channel GPS receiver continuously tracks and uses up to 12 satellites to track your speed and distance
• Antenna: Built-in patch
• Mark location: Mark and save up to 100 locations
• Find location: Look up and navigate to stored locations
• Back to start: Navigate back to starting location
• Map mode: Electronic map shows your location, along with marked locations; pointer arrow shows direction to travel when navigating back to start or to a stored location
• Power source: Two AAA batteries
• Battery life: 15 hours
• Case: Waterproof to IEC 529 IPX7 standards
• Temperature range: 5 degrees F to 158 degrees F (-15 degrees C to 70 degrees C)
• Item depth: .9 inches
• Item width: 3.26 inches
• Item height: 1.71 inches
• Item weight: 1.94 ounces
• Warranty: 1 year parts and labor

So basically it's a GPS "watch" (for $99) that designed to track your workout presumably while your running. I read in the editorial review that "it lacks the rechargeable battery and PC connectivity features of the Forerunner 201. Those are big omissions in my book and the Forerunner 201 doesn't seem like it's that much more expensive.

But who cares about the "workout" functions, it's a GPS watch! How cool is that! If it worked with a Mac (and Garmin is pretty notorious for not) and wasn't so bulky (I don't really think it's a watch, I think it straps on your arm, close enough). They should add a MP3 player to it or something otherwise I would have this thing on one arm and my iPod on the other arm. Needless to say I almost jumped right on the early adopter program and plunked down my cash.

For the last few days I have been playingSpy Hunter for both the Mac and PC. The CD comes as a Hybrid. The boys have it for the Playstation in which it came out some time ago and I played it then. It was a good game, IMHO. I like car games like this. Although it doesn't compare to Carmageddon. Still I looked forward to the computer version. I can say this, Aspyr needs to release some bug fixes but it seems true to the Playstation version.

One strange thing I found on this is that it didn't play to well on my PC, but played really well on my Mac. My PC is a 1.8Ghz P4 w/ a GForce MX 400 with 32 MB video ram. Not top of the line. However since this game only goes to 1024x768 I would expect decent performance. Even at 800x600 the display is choppy. So choppy that it effect game playability. (Maybe time for a new video card here anyway.)

On My Mac I have a 1Ghz G4 with a Radeon 9000 & 64MB video memory. I'm guess the big difference is the 2X video memory. It was very playable on the Mac and there was no choppiness. However I was disappointed that it didn't have any wide screen resolutions on it.

Unfortunately I have only been able to get past the first mission. After that the screen freaks out and it gets into some loop where it cycles through everything continuously.

I've had these two 160 GB Maxtor ATA 133 drive lying around here for a while. I bought the Concord Dual 3.5" FireWire External Hard Drive Enclosure from FireWire Depot to put them in.

The drive enclosure is pretty basic. Its steel with a plastic front. Nothing fancy. It was a little difficult to get the cover off. The two drive sit on their side. The insides are pretty basic as well with a power supply on top and the circuitry in the back. However one should note that the drives are chained together on a single IDE cable. That means that one drive is configured as a slave and one as a master. That also means that you only need 1 FireWire cable to see both drives on the desktop. Once you have them in there don't plan to take the bottom out unless you take out the top one.

I set mine up using OSX's Drive Utility and had no problems. It set both of them up as 157GB. I then used the same program to set up a software RAID in a mirroring mode. I then copied about 60BG of data over from my other drive FireWire drive. My old iBook serves as a server for this drive and I had no problem mounting it my desktop of my TiBook.

I should also note that it does have a fan built in but the noise isn't that noticeable. My 1Gig TiBook makes more fan noise.

[Updated 3/31/2007] This is my offical advertising polcy. I use advertising from several sources, mostly affiliate programs.

For the affiliate programs, I only advertise from those merchants that I personally have used. Links to those merchants are on the right hand column. I may also put links in my posts to those merchants where they can apply and I may make posts about special deals those merchants might make.

Amazon is one of the affiliate programs I use. They have a context links program which will automatically scan my site and add links to products. These links are differentiated from normal links by being orange. These links do not show up on RSS feeds.

Finally, I used Google Adsense. These links should be clearly marked.