Deerslayer, Got my Oregon Scientific rain gauge today. It seems like it's reasonably well made/designed. But what a pain in the arse to install the batteries! Good thing I had a #0 phillips lying around. I must have had to unscrew a dozen tiny screws between the thermometer sensor and rain bucket. Hopefully they'll last so I won't have to do it again any time soon. I put the thermometer on the front porch to keep it out of the elements, and currently have the bucket sitting on my deck out back. But even with the main unit in the middle of the house I can't get it to pick up both. I'll have to mess with the positioning tomorrow. My house isn't brick (which would be really nice in hurricane country), but RF energy seems to have some difficulty getting through my walls. I don't know if it's the 2x6 studs or the house wrap/insulation. My cellphone works great all around my yard, but not in my house.

A gell cell battery has from 13.2V-13.4V therefore more CCAs. Use one of these in a very hot or cold environment. So your not waisting money. Everything is made to last a certain time including transmissions ect... It just happens to fail out-of-warranty as we call it. In our shop we repair CNG systems, Hybrrids, and EVs (Electric Vehicles). Though fewer problems, when they do happen it is much more expensive to replace than your regular car. A EV or HEV battery pack can cost up to $23,000 for the most expensive (Ex: Fisker Karma Coupe or Mercedes Benz S-400 Hybrid). So love your cheap stuff now and hate the dealers now: Honda, Lexus/Toyota, Kia... ect, Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge, because they are set to fail after warranty. Your best bet is a foreign car like Fiat, Jaguar, Benz... ect. UK cars in general (Better economy where based). Though Fiat has brought back the 500 with Jeep/Dodge (The companies they own). We needed a small turbo deisel not gasoline powered. With a motor generator and a deisel to charge a pack we would be set. But we are afraid :(. Boo hoo America. We have almost no polution from some deisels now. Lets see your paying an extra dollar to gain a extra 25-35 mpgs its worth it trust me. We are not ready for this innovation, for even i drive a souped up 1994 940 Turbo that uses premeium gasoline. Thanks, The Hybrid guru. JKSully

This is what he sent me. I have had this for awhile now, it might be a bit different now. Please follow the next steps to correct the issues on your Pandigital Novel: 1. Plug your reader into your computer using the USB cable. 2\. Locate the "My Computer" icon on your desktop or just "Computer". This can also be found by clicking on the "start" button in the lower left\-hand corner of your screen. 3\. Locate the drive listed as "Removable disk". 4\. This file should have Adobe Digital Editions as the first icon. Delete everything in this file except for Adobe Digital Editions. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Re\-run the firmware update. I have included specific instructions on how to update your Novel: If you should have any questions after following these directions, please do not hesitate to call our customer service phone number at: (800) 715\-5354. 1. Please visit our website on your home computer at www.pandigital.net 2. This will bring you to our home page, on the right\-hand side of the screen you will see a box with the words "Firmware Updates Click here", please click on this box. 3. This will bring you to the next webpage asking you to select your region. For your specific Pandigital Novel please click on the \[American/Canadian\] flag. 4. You have now reached our information page. On this page, please locate the blue lettering that states: "Click here to learn more and to update your Pandigital Novel." 5. This will bring you to the actual update page. Please read over the information on what the latest firmware update can do for you. The additional features that come with this update are something to be excited about and we�re sure you will be too! 6. Please locate the blue text at the bottom of this screen that states: "Click here to run PC Updater Application." 7. At this point if you have a pop\-up blocker in use, you may get a yellow/gold bar that appears at the top of your screen asking if you would like to allow this pop up. Click on "temporarily allow pop\-ups" and refresh the page by hitting the F5 key on your keyboard. If you do not have a pop\-up blocker in use, ignore this step. 8. You will now have a download box appear on your screen asking you if you wish to run or save this program. If you are using Windows XP with IE you will choose the "Run" option. If you are using Windows Vista, please "Save" this file to your desktop. 9. Windows XP: At this point you may have an information box appear that will inform you that the publisher of this program could not be verified and ask if you are sure you would like to run this program�Click "Run" again. The Updater Application will start automatically. Windows Vista: Please double\-click the download icon on your desktop to being running the Updater Application. 10. The Updater Application should now be on your screen. It lists the steps that you will go through to update your Pandigital Novel. Click on the blue text that states "Click here to start the process". 11. At this point, the program will list some steps you will need to do before updating your novel. These steps are: 1. Unplugging any other USB mass storage devices from your computer. These kinds of devices include flash drives, cameras, photo frames etc. Keyboards and mice are not considered storage devices so if you have any of those plugged into your USB ports, they are ok to leave plugged in. 2. Powering your Pandigital Novel with the supplied AC adapter (please ignore this step and just be sure that your Pandigital Novel is fully charged before you attempt the upgrade process). 3. Connect your Pandigital Novel to your computer using the USB cable that was supplied with your device. 4. Power your Pandigital Novel on (your Novel will go into "PC Mode"\- this means that your Novel will be inoperable while connected to your computer). 12. Once you have completed these steps, please click on "Ok" to advance to the next step. 13. The Updater Application will then display a screen and ask you to confirm the details of your device (serial number, model number, etc.). Confirm these details by clicking on the "Confirm" button. 14. You will now begin the download process. (This process can take some time depending on your computer and your internet speed). 15. Once you have finished the download the screen will display that you have successfully downloaded the firmware update. At this point you will see another text box on appear on your screen giving you more instruction. These instructions will include: 1. Removing your Pandigital Novel device from your computer 2. Informing you that your Novel may or may not turn itself off, if it does not turn itself off, please power the Novel completely off by pressing the power button and choosing the "power off" option. 3. Now it will ask you to power your Novel back on in a very specific way. Please press the power and volume up button (located on the top of your device and is the + key) at the same time (not one and then the other, they must be pressed at the same time) for 10 seconds. Please do these steps until you see two lines of white text appear at the top of your screen that states the boot count and firmware version. As soon as you see these lines of text, let go of the power and volume + buttons. This should begin the update process in the form of a blue progress bar appearing at the bottom of the screen that will state things like "verifying update." If you have reached this screen your Novel is now updating properly. If you do not see this screen, please power your device off once more and try the activation process of holding the power and volume + buttons again. Do not be discouraged if this takes a few tries, and be sure you are holding the edge of the power + button; holding it too close to the middle will not activate the update. 4. Once the update is complete, please power off your Pandigital Novel completely, then reconnect the device to your computer using the USB cable and power it on after it is plugged in. 5. Click on "Ok". This will then run a process called a "restore". Once this has finished please disconnect your novel and once more perform the activation process of holding down the power and volume + buttons. You will again get another blue progress bar at the bottom of your screen when done correctly. 16. Congratulations! You have now updated your Pandigital Novel successfully! I have attached a new user manual for your use as the interface of your Novel has now changed to the most recent version. We hope you enjoy your Novel even more now and make use of all of the newest features! Happy Reading!

Nicole wrote: "I agree with the idea the surge protected outlets should not be working, ... Out of 5 TV's, why did 1 make it...? We just keep shaking our heads." Everything observed is consistent with how and why surges do damage. Either a surge connects low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to earth before entering. Or that surge is all but invited inside to hunt for earth destructively via appliances. Assume a surge was incoming on a typical path - AC electric. A surge is incoming to every household appliance. Are all damaged? Of course not. It is called electricity. That means a current is incoming on one port while that same current at a same time is outgoing on another to earth. If both paths do not exist, then no electricity and no damage. That explains why some are damaged; others are not. If plug-in protectors did as assumed, then everything without one was damaged - including a dishwasher, furnace, all clocks, any recharging electronics, door bell, smoke detectors, all GFCIs, central air, telephone appliances, etc. Knowledge means not ignoring exceptions. Best protection at each appliance was already inside each appliance. Plug-in protector did what its specification numbers said it would do for this type of surge - nothing. If one appliance makes a better and destructive connection to earth, then it is protecting robust protection inside other appliances. TV cable must already have best protection - as required by regulations, codes, industry standards, etc. So what is a best outgoing path to earth? Appliances connected to cable. Damage is often on the outgoing path (ie cable); not the incoming path (ie AC electric). Damage is a human failure. Effective protection has been well understood and installed over 100 years ago. Unfortunately, most consumers ignore spec numbers and science. Most consumers listen to naive friends, wild speculation, sales brochures, and advertising. Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? How many joules does each protector claim to absorb? Hundreds? A thousand? Just enough above zero so that a consumer *knows* it is 100% protection. Cable company installs best protection for free - a hardwire connected low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to single point earth ground. Earth ground does protection. No protector required. Other incoming utilities (ie telephone, AC electric) cannot connect directly to earth. So a 'whole house' protector does what that hardwire does better. Makes a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to earth. Telco installs this for free. It only exists on AC electric if a homeowner installs it. Then a surge dissipates harmlessly outside in earth. Then a surge is not inside hunting for earth destructively via appliances. More numbers. Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector is 50,000 amps. Any protector that fails is ineffective protection. This 'whole house' solution costs about $1 per protected appliance. How much was that plug-in protector that does not even claim to protect from destructive surges? $25? $85? Protection means one says where hundreds of thousands of joules are harmlessly absorbed. A protector is only as effective as THE most critical item in every protection system: single point earth ground. Then nobody knows a surge existed. Only that is effective protection - as found in every facility that cannot have damage. They also do not waste money on 'magic box' plug-in protectors. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - that a plug-in protector does not have and will not discuss.