Prior to becoming a star Chiefs TE, a Super Bowl champ and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, Kelce was a college student obsessed with another sport.
February 2024
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A Micro Combined Heat and Power Generator Will Make Your Home More Energy Efficient
Reducing energy costs is a top priority for homeowners these days—not to mention having an efficient and reliable home energy system. Home heating is often a high energy user, so having an efficient system for that can reduce your energy costs significantly. Imagine if you could combine efficient heating with power production. You can: it’s called a micro combined heat and power (mCHP) generator.
Where did mCHP generators come from?
Originally designed for use in manufacturing, combined heat and power generators are single appliances that can generate power from propane at the same time as they generate heat and hot water. The system can be self-contained so that it doesn’t rely on electricity from the grid and can include solar and battery storage, making it resilient during power outages as well. A micro CHP or mCHP generator is the same idea, but scaled for individual homes.
Micro CHP generators are extremely efficient
A mCHP generator captures excess heat produced by its generator engine and uses it to produce usable heat and hot water for a home. According to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, mCHP generator technology can reach 93% efficiency—about 60% better than the average efficiency of power coming from the grid. Even at its worst, an mCHP generator will work at about 35% energy efficiency, which is 2% better than average grid performance.
Micro CHP generators are more expensive to install
Since mCHP generators usually require retrofitting to add to an existing system, installing them is likely more expensive than other options. The simplest installations can start at around $5,000 and the largest, most complicated installations can cost around $40,000 as compared to between $4,000 and $25,000 for a traditional whole-house generator. The cost of installation is heavily dependent on the area you live, the size of your system, and the complexity of the system, including the volume of hot water you need and the area of your home you need to heat.
How to calculate your energy savings with mCHP
It’s not easy to predict even the average savings that an mCHP system can produce because of the variable cost of fuel, the variable low temperature regionally, and the efficiency (or lack thereof) of your current system. However, taking into account your current energy usage (found on your electric bill as kilowatt hours (kWh)) as well as the amount and cost of the fuel you currently use for heating if you use natural gas, oil, or other fuel, and then comparing that usage against the average expected fuel usage for an mCHP generator sized for your home, you can get some idea of your potential savings. If your mCHP system saves you an average of 15% of energy expended, you can expect around 15% savings on your bill. However, the savings when using an mCHP system is heavily dependent on the circumstances of your particular system, so it’s important to calculate your needs in conjunction with an mCHP specialist to make sure it’s actually a savings for you.
How to find a contractor that can install an mCHP generator
The Combined Heat and Power Alliance lists their members, many of whom are manufacturers and contractors that specialize in mCHP generators. That could be a good starting point to search for a reliable installation specialist for your job. You can also try looking at local natural gas utilities, as they sometimes partner with installers that specialize in equipment that uses natural gas, like mCHP generators. Since the technology is still emerging in the U.S., you might have to do some digging to find a contractor. Make sure to read reviews and ask lots of questions before choosing one, to make sure you’re hiring someone who has experience installing mCHP systems.
The Best Ways to Free Up Space on Your iCloud Drive
It’s easy to run out of iCloud storage space. No matter if you’re using the 5GB that comes free with your iPhone, or if you’ve gradually upgraded to 50GB or even 200GB, running out of space still happens to many of us. But if you want to avoid upgrading to yet another iCloud tier, you might be surprised how much junk is on your iCloud account that can be cleaned up. And if you don’t have a lot of junk to clear, you can move the bigger files like photos and videos to a cheaper cloud storage system.
First, find out what’s taking up all that storage space
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Start by finding out what’s taking up so much space on your iCloud account so that you can clean things out that you don’t need. Go to Settings > iCloud > Manage Storage. You’ll see a chart up top, and then a breakdown of what’s using up your storage space. Mostly, you’ll see photos, messages, and backups at the top, but it might be iCloud Drive too.
Delete the backups that you don’t need
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Your iPhone backs up to iCloud automatically, and while most backups are useful, you might have some old device backup files that you aren’t using and no longer need. Choose Backups from the iCloud section and then choose your device backup (you might have multiple devices here as well). Your iPhone will show you the total backup sizes and a list of apps that are backing up data to your iCloud account. Disabling apps that you don’t want to upload to iCloud will help you save some space. And if you’d rather save space by backing up your iPhone to your Mac, you can tap Turn off and Delete from iCloud to get rid of the whole iCloud backup. Only do that if you already have another backup plan, though.
Delete unwanted media and attachments from iMessage
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
The Messages app tends to rank high on the storage list because all the photos, videos, and GIFs that you exchange with friends are stored on your iCloud account. You can clear them out in two ways, either by deleting entire conversations or deleting the media. On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Messages and scroll down to the Documents section. If you want to delete entire conversations, go to Top Conversations, Tap Edit, select conversations, and hit Delete to instantly get rid of all the data. This will remove them from iCloud Storage too. You can also do the same for photos, videos, GIFs, and stickers from the same Messages screen.
Get rid of large videos and clean up photos you don’t need
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
For most of us, the Photos app will show up at the top of the iCloud storage list, but for every good shot in your camera roll, there are probably nine unwanted photos just taking up space. Take some time to go through your Photos app to delete the photos you don’t want, and try to do it at least monthly. Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson also shared his favorite way to gradually clear up space in his camera roll.
You can also try the Gemini app to find duplicate or similar photos that you don’t need—it’ll show you a batch of photos and the best option for you to keep. You can try out the app for free for three days, which should be enough to clear out your camera roll once, but then the paid plan costs $19.99 per year.
Videos obviously take up even more space. Go to Albums > Videos and delete videos that you don’t need. After you’re done, go to Albums > Recently Deleted and delete everything again to regain that space on your iPhone and iCloud account.
Consider disabling the iCloud Photo Library
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
If deleting your photos and videos isn’t enough, consider not using iCloud Photo Library as your photo backup solution. iCloud Photo Library is easy and built in, but there are also better, cheaper options out there. Both Google Photos and Microsoft OneDrive do a good job of uploading your iPhone photos to the cloud, and a Microsoft 365 Family subscription will give you six different accounts, each with 1TB of storage, for $9.99/month. You could move your entire photo library to another service and then disable iCloud Photo Library altogether. Go to Settings > Photos and switch to Download and Keep Originals. This will make sure that all the photos on iCloud are available on your iPhone (hopefully you have enough storage space to make that happen). Next, download the Microsoft OneDrive app for example, log in with your account, go to the Photos tab, and enable the photo sync feature. Wait as the upload is completed. OneDrive also has a bedtime feature where it will dim the screen, keep the app active, and continue uploading photos while you’re asleep. Once you’re confident that all your photos are safe, go to Settings > Photos and disable the iCloud Photos option to stop new photos from being uploaded to the drive. You can then open the iCloud website on your Mac, go to Photos, and select and delete files that you no longer want to keep on the iCloud. (The photos will still be there locally on your iPhone.)
Check if you’re automatically backing up your Mac documents and desktop
Credit: Apple
While setting up your Mac, you might have enabled the Desktop and Downloads folder in iCloud Drive. Apple kind of wants you to enable it if you’re paying for an iCloud subscription, but it means that it’s storing all the data that’s in those folders also on your iCloud Drive, which obviously takes up your paid iCloud storage. Just disabling this feature might get you a lot of storage space back (in my case, this alone wiped off 20GB). On your Mac, go to System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud, and under the Apps Using iCloud option, choose iCloud Drive. Disable Desktop & Documents Folders. When you do it, your Mac will create a new folder for Desktop and Documents in your home folder, but all the original files will still be present in iCloud Drive. I suggest using a simple drag-and-drop to move the contents of the folder from iCloud Drive to the new folders in your Home directory. That will instantly free up space in your iCloud Drive.
Remove and transfer large files out of iCloud Drive
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Finally, check if you’re storing large files and folders in the iCloud Drive. The easiest way to check is by using your Mac: Open the Finder app and choose the iCloud Drive folder from the sidebar. Go through the folders and sort the files by size. You can move the large files to a local folder on your Mac using a drag-and-drop gesture, and just like with your photos, you can use something like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive to back up the same files for less money.
Three Reasons to Upgrade Your Mesh Wifi System for Wi-Fi 6
Installing mesh wifi in my home was a game changer. I no longer had to work on top of my router, or worry about wifi calls dropping off in my kitchen. My home, built with the same ethos as a Faraday cage, a home that had challenged any tech the cable company sent my way, had finally been conquered. It went so well, I convinced every person I know that mesh would solve their coverage problems at home—and usually, I was right. Mesh wifi points came down in price, and I bought a few more to bolster my signal. I had not, until shiny new mesh routers arrived from Google, considered that there was better wifi to be had. I was, as usual, wrong.
What is mesh wifi?
First, let me explain what mesh wifi is, for the uninitiated. Wifi generally comes into your home through a modem. In all likelihood, there is a cable somewhere that comes in from outside, and ultimately dead ends at your modem, which you either own or lease from your internet provider. You could plug your computer into your modem using a cat5 cable, and get the same internet speeds the modem does, which should be the speed you pay for from the internet provider, since there’s nothing diminishing that signal yet.
These days, modems are also usually a router, although you could have a separate device—and a router is what makes wifi possible. A router takes that signal from the modem, and sends it out horizontally as wifi. Each router has a different range, but they are hampered by obstructions like appliances or other giant pieces of metal. Thus, devices like repeaters and extenders were invented, which you could put elsewhere in your house, and it would pick up that signal and extend it, but in doing so, it diminished the signal. So you had “less” wifi, but over a larger space.
Mesh is a different idea—it’s a series of points, one of which is connected to your modem, and it redistributes wifi where it’s needed most at any time. These points create a network, so you gain a greater area of coverage. There is some debate about what these devices are called. Technically, they’re called routers, but once in place in your home, you’d consider them wifi “points.”
With a newer system, you won’t need as many points
I upgraded to newer Google Nest wifi routers (Nest WiFi Pro, $319.99 for a three-pack), and went from five points to three, instantly. In fact, I likely don’t need all three. The coverage is fantastic (2200 square feet vs. 1500 square feet for the original Google wifirouters I was replacing), penetrating into every possible space with no regard for obstructions.
Aside from newer hardware internally, which will cover more area, new routers use the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard (802.11ax). If your routers are more than three years old, they’re likely just Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Wi-Fi 6 has much faster throughput speeds so it can transfer data much more efficiently. This can help with network congestion and even reduces your power consumption, which is a real bonus. Wi-Fi 6 does this using a method not unlike mesh—it looks at what your household is trying to do with wifi, and then assigns channels to each device, putting wifi power where it’s needed, and pulling it from channels that don’t.
There’s boosted capacity, too, not just at 6Ghz, but at 2.4Ghz radio frequency service, which is the frequency servicing most of your smart-home devices. Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 can use predictive technology to figure out when you’ll likely need wifi, and appropriate battery for it, which is going to save your battery life overall on devices that need it. This should translate to longer battery life for video doorbells, cams, and anything else wireless relying on batteries.
Newer mesh devices are more secure
Wi-Fi 6 devices support WPA3 encryption (the latest data security standard), and much beefier password protection. Wifi signals don’t broadcast over a broad spectrum and go directly to clients, which eliminates a huge risk exposure, and 256-bit encryption algorithms work to make it harder to hack in.
Mesh networks generally update themselves, which means you’re getting cybersecurity updates as well. To provide even more security, mesh systems make it easy to spin up a guest network, sometimes more than one, and change the password or issue temporary passwords. This keeps your home network insulated from guests having access to devices on your home network and poking around.
It’s not a painful process to make the switch
No matter how excited I was by better wifi, I was reluctant to make the switch. Even though I live alone, I have a bazillion smart home devices, four hubs and my coffeemaker connected to my current system, and the idea of reconnecting them all gave me palpitations.
I’m happy to relay that the process was unexpectedly smooth. I remained in the same ecosystem (Google) and decided to keep my SSID and see if that would help. It took longer to mount the new routers than it did to re-associate all my devices. All mesh systems will now have an associated app that will allow you to control the wifi, and that app will help you set up the new system. It won’t feel different from setting up a new smart home device.
Once my wifi reconnected with the new modems, I began to get notifications about various hubs and devices, and in each case, I just had to go in and reauthorize the connection. If the SSID or password had changed, I’d have needed to change the settings. As reluctant as I am to admit it, it turned out to be a good experience overall; it forced me to clean house and delete devices that were long offline or had been excised from my place.
Recommended products
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Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System: $115.99
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Eero 6+ : $109.99
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ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 2-Pack: $429.99
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ASUS ZenWiFi AX XT8 2-Pack: $321.14
Ultimately, the switchover was a good thing. Remember back when I explained above how your signal, coming into your modem, is the strongest signal possible, because there’s nothing to diminish it yet? The signal is diminished as it’s broadcasted out via wifi, depending on where you are, but there are speed tests that you can access to see how your wifi speeds compare to what you’re paying for. The cable company doesn’t have control over it once it leaves your modem—this is just for you. I was really pleased with how the speed jumped, not just on downloads, but on uploads. The newer devices simply did a better job of broadcasting the signal from the modem.
In the weeks since the switchover, I’ve noticed less streaming pauses, less outages of my smart home devices and Zoom has not dropped out once.
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You Can Now Run Your Own ChatGPT From Your Nvidia GPU
You’ve probably noticed generative AI tools such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT pushing their way into most of the technology we use every day. These tools are based on giant Large Language Models, or LLMs: networks trained on huge amounts of human data so that they can spit out realistic text or images or video.
You don’t need a cloud app to access these LLMs though—you can run them on your own computer too. You can benefit from everything these models offer while you’re offline, and you don’t have to hand over your prompts and conversations to the likes of Google or OpenAI either.
Now Nvidia has launched its own local LLM application—utilizing the power of its RTX 30 and RTX 40 series graphics cards—called Chat with RTX. If you have one of these GPUs, you can install a generative AI chatbot right on your computer and tailor it to your own needs.
How to get started
Before you start, make sure you’re running the latest drivers for your Nvidia GPU—the GeForce Experience app on your PC will help you with this—then head to the Chat with RTX download page. To run the tool, you need Windows 11, a GeForce RTX 30/40 series GPU (or RTX Ampere or Ada Generation GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM), and at least 16GB of RAM.
Bear in mind that Nvidia labels this as a “demo app,” which we’re assuming means it’s not in its fully finished form (and you may come across some bugs and glitches as a result). It’s also a hefty download, some 35GB in size, because it includes a couple of LLMs with it—something to note if you’re limited in terms of disk space or internet speed. The installation tool takes a while to finish all of its tasks too.
Chat with RTX runs from your PC.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
Eventually, you should find the Chat with RTX application added to your Start menu. Run it, and after a few moments of processing, the program interface will pop up in your default web browser. Up in the top left corner, you’re able to select the open source AI model you want to use: Mistral or Llama. With that done, you can start sending prompts as you would with ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
If you’ve used an LLM before, you’ll know what these generative AI engines are capable of: Get help composing emails, documents, text messages, and more, or get complex topics simplified, or ask questions that you might otherwise run a web search for (like “what’s a good party game for four adults?”).
The app keeps a command prompt window open too.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
The standard AI bot rules apply—try and be as specific and detailed as you can, and be wary of putting too much trust in the answers that you get (especially as this is a “demo”). Chat with RTX can’t look up current information on the web, so it’s not really suitable for producing answers that need to be up to date, but it will always try and give you an answer based on the masses of online text that it’s been trained on.
Down at the bottom of the interface you’ve got a button for generating a new response from the last prompt (if you’re not all that happy with the current one), an undo button (for going back to the previous prompt), and a delete chat button, which will clear your conversation history so you can start again. At the moment, there’s no way of exporting answers other than copying and pasting the text.
Adding your own data and YouTube videos
Even in this early form, Chat with RTX has a few useful tricks, one of which is the ability to base its answers on documents you provide: Maybe a week’s worth of research, or a series of reports you need to analyze, or even all of the fanfic you’ve been writing. Under the Dataset heading, select Folder Path, then direct the program towards the folder containing the documents you want to use.
The app will scan the folder you’ve pointed it towards—which might take a minute or two, if there are a lot of files in it—and then you’re free to start inputting your queries. The bot will scan the text looking for appropriate responses, then name the file(s) that it’s used at the end of the answer. You can ask for summaries, check facts, or get the bot to generate new text based on the text you’ve fed it.
Chat with RTX can work with your own files too.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
Again, to reiterate, this is an early version of a technology that is known to be less than 100 percent accurate—it’s not something you want to base boardroom decisions on yet. However, it’s fun to play around with an LLM that can work from documents you give it, whether they’re interview transcripts or volumes of poetry.
Speaking of transcripts, Chat with RTX is also able to analyze YouTube videos and offer responses based on them via the transcripts linked to the clips. (Based on the testing we’ve done, it can automatically generate transcripts for videos that don’t already have them.) This even works with entire YouTube playlists, so you can have the program run through a whole series of clips at the same time.
You’re also able to point the program towards YouTube videos.
Credit: Lifehacker
Credit: Lifehacker
Select YouTube URL as the dataset, then paste the address of the video or the playlist in the box underneath. If you’re working with a playlist, you can specify the number of videos you want to include from it in the box on the right. Finally, click the download button on the far right, and Chat with RTX will download and process the transcript text, ready for whatever prompts you may have.
As with the document-scanning feature, this can be useful for getting summaries or picking out bits of important information, but we found it to be the most buggy part of the program to use—a program which, to be fair, is labeled as version 0.2. The app occasionally got confused about which video we were referring to, but if you need quick answers about lengthy videos and playlists that you don’t have time to watch, then Chat with RTX can be a useful tool to try.
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These Smart-home Upgrades Are Worth the Money
Someone has to be first in line for every iPhone or the latest wearable tech, and that job generally falls to early adopters—the overly enthusiastic among us who are willing to take a chance on technology before anyone else. Sometimes it pays off; sometimes you have an expensive pair of Google Glass in a box somewhere in a drawer.
But when you buy into new technology before anyone else, it also means you might not notice that the technology upgrades dramatically over time. As you watch friends acquire the tech you’ve had a long time already, you might not take note of the new features or benefits coming out, and thus, you’re likely missing out.
If you’re hanging onto Sonos Play speakers, you’re missing out on Sonos Era and Arcs
I was stubborn and tried to avoid paying the steep price of a Sonos Playbar and speakers. I was sure there was another solution for wifi-connected speakers, but Sonos was the only game in town almost 10 years ago so I finally acquiesced. While I’m happy with my system, I recently upgraded from a Playbar and two Play 3 speakers to an Arc and two Era 300 speakers for my TV surround. The difference is immediately noticeable. Put aside the fact that all the new speakers are voice-responsive, which is a huge upgrade. The bass of the Era 300s results in such a richer sound, and this may be because there’s just more hardware tucked inside, you gain better spatial sound.
While I thought, all this time, the Playbar provided spectacular sound, particularly over my television speakers, I spent a few days in awe of how much clearer dialogue was with the Arc soundbar. This might be because the Arc supports Dolby Atmos and eArc. Even before I set up the Eras as the rear surrounds, the Arc alone provides an almost surround experience on its own, with its curved design. When I flip the surround to music, even in the absence of a subwoofer, I hear each note more distinctively. (I spent three days listening to The Mountain Goats ad nauseam—they just sounded so good on this setup). With the upgrade came the ability to use Trueplay, a tuning application previously unavailable for Android.
The Era and Arcs are expensive, no doubt, but I can’t overstate how much better they make TV dialogue, action and music sound. While Sonos is no longer the only wifi speaker game in town (Samsung has a line as well), it’s hard to imagine better sound than what the Era/Arc surround combo offers.
Three new Sonos speakers to consider:
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Sonos Arc soundbar: $899
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Sonos Era 300 speakers: $449
It might be time to upgrade your doorbell
In the last few months, I’ve tested doorbells from Aqara, Google Nest, Blink and Wyze and one thing is for sure: Universally, doorbells got a lot better in the last 10 years. The resolution difference alone is worth the upgrade. If you’ve ever felt, as I did, that the video quality on the camera wouldn’t be worth much in the case of a house or car break-in, the latest high-resolution options could change your mind. Particularly at night, newer cameras, universally, have much better night vision and generally don’t even come in versions lower than 1080p, with capability for much higher resolutions, too. In the case of Eufy, you get two lenses for the ability to get real detail.
Video doorbells have also become much less expensive, with models starting under 50 dollars. Sure, there are still expensive doorbells to be had—Ring, for instance, has a brand-new offering I’ve yet to test. While these lower-priced doorbells don’t have the design details of a Ring, they get the job done and in some cases, don’t involve subscription fees—a huge bonus. Additionally, newer cameras might offer AI features like package detection, and, in limited cases, face detection.
Video doorbells with high resolution:
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Blink doorbell: $59.99
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Aqara G4 Doorbell: $119.99
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Nest Doorbell: $179.99
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Wyze Doorbell: $29.99
Your robot vacuum was cool—but these robot vacuums are cooler
In the last few months I’ve tested five floorbots, and each of them so handily put to shame my Roomba, I was able to give away the robot I’d named and jokingly referred to as my autonomous child without a second glance. I thought my Roomba was fun. I didn’t understand the paths it took across the floor, and it annoyed me how often I’d have to untangle something from its brushes or replace them altogether. It would often get stuck under a couch and I’d leave it for a few days until I felt like dealing with it.
It was replaced with a series of robots that vacuum and mop, and not in the way that the Braava, Roomba’s pal, does, like a Swiffer. New floorbots never put dirty water on the floor; they constantly clean the mop pad, and store dirty water until they’re ready to empty it into the dock. The floorbot empties the dustbin so you’ll almost never have to deal with it, but also refills the mop from the clean water, and empties the dirty water into a separate station, all of which you only change every week or so. The station then scrubs the mop pad clean and dries it.
This isn’t the only improvement. The floors get cleaner, and new machines get closer to the wall when they clean. New machines have better navigation around objects, so they aren’t completely put off when you leave a dog toy (or your dog) in the living room. Almost no machine uses bump-and-go guidance anymore; they all use Lidar, mapping an entire room in a matter of seconds. New machines have joystick capabilities, so you can guide your bot out of a jam. Some even have onboard video, so you can watch what your floorbot is cleaning.
The most important thing is that the bots need less maintenance. They generally get lost less often and get things stuck in them less often. While I felt strongly that my original Roomba wasn’t worth the work it involved, newer floorbots absolutely alleviate the workload around my home.
Two floorbots I’m impressed by:
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Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: $1999.99
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Switchbot k10: $499.99