Insulation may not be sexy, but it's everywhere - and without it we spend more money and lose the ability to regulate both heat and air conditioning in our homes. But recently, there's been a new growth area in the insulation and weatherization sector that's spurring all sorts of new technology for finding better ways to cram insulation into the standard pocket areas created in home construction. Now, after some time, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has voted unanimously to officially recognize open-cell spray foam as an accepted insulation.
LED lighting truly is the future. While we still like our incandescent lighting and how inexpensive it is, Cree has long been pioneering the next phase of LED-based lighting components. Now, Cree has introduced the new XLamp XB-D LED, which is the first LED based on an innovative new Cree technology platform. What makes it more impressive is that it actually doubles the lumens-per-dollar you get, so it simplifies product design and halves the LED component cost for many products. In this way, the XLamp XB-D LED is the next wave of price-performance for lighting-class LEDs. The XB-D LED is also 48 percent smaller than the XLamp XP package and ideal for lighting applications where high lumen density and compact light sources are especially important.
It's important to take responsibility for your actions - and that equates to actions that lead to failure of products you've developed. This is particularly important when those products cause injuries or property damage. But, what if your product is only suspected of being the culprit - and investigations turn out the truth that it wasn't really your fault at all? This is what apparently happened when the owners of Larry's Upholstery dropped their case against Black & Decker. It turns out that an investigator discovered that the company's power tool equipment did not, in fact, cause the fire that burned down the business in 2008.
Home Depot has always been in the business of providing services to its customers. There's carpet installations, kitchen cabinet and countertop installation, plumbing, AC, electrical and more. But today, the home improvement warehouse chain announced that it acquired Redbeacon, a website-based company that connects consumers with contractors for their home maintenance, repair and remodeling needs.
You've heard of a pain in the neck, but Dante Autullo took it a little higher by accidentally shooting a 3-1/2" framing nail INTO HIS BRAIN. Now what makes this story even more interesting is that Dante didn't even realize he had shot the nail into his brain when the incident happened. He thought it flew by his head. The only mark was apparently a small puncture wound and the real truth (and subsequent panic) didn't occur until 36 hours later when an X-ray showed the nail lodged in his skull cavity. It wasn’t until he felt nauseated the next day that his fiancé took him to an immediate care center for a checkup. Adding to the irony, Dante's fiancé had already known him to be accident prone, stating at one point in the article "she wanted to marry [him] before he hurt himself too badly."
This week Lista announced that it has merged with global leading tool and storage manufacturer Stanley Black and Decker. Stanley's Vidmar division, like Lista, is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of a wide range of storage products. Lista is a Massachusetts company well-known for its excellent storage cabinets, mobile cabinets, workbenches and accessories. While Stanley Vidmar manufactures and markets similar modular cabinets, the company felt that the two complemented each other - with Stanley supplementing Lista's existing offerings in particular. The merger of these two leading companies and brands will establish a newly formed Stanley Storage and Workspace Solutions group. This group will be responsible for sale and support of both Lista and Vidmar products. That means that in the not-too-distant future you will be able to use the complete Lista offering alongside a powerful new complement of Stanley products, such as STAK, VLM and much more.
If I was to pick the buzzword for 2011, it would have to be "energy efficiency". After all, this was the year the incandescent light bulb died, the year Chevy (sort of) put out an electric car, and the year all those energy efficiency tax credits expired. So is energy efficiency a good thing? Yes... and no. Energy efficiency doesn't exist in a bubble. It's a movement that, when coupled with politics and federal and local mandates, affects the way we do business - both through incentives and taxation & fees. So that means that any time we talk about energy efficiency we have to consider ALL of these things. As 2011 slips into the record books, this is a good time to take a look back and evaluate some of the accomplishments - and failures - of energy efficiency initiatives.
Last week we were exposed to yet another reason as to why it's imperative to always use a blade guard on any type of saw. A hunk of sharp metal literally fell from sky and cratered into a parking lot in Bossier City, Louisiana. The event was witnessed by a man eating at a nearby restaurant who called the police and sparked a series of news reports and conjecture as to where the metal came from and how it fell. The piece of metal, weighing around 50 pounds, was a full 3 feet in diameter, with a curved edge and what looked like metal gears on the inside. It was initially thought to be something from an airplane that had fallen off. After city officials contacted the FAA it became apparent that the material was not something that would have been part of an aircraft of any kind. The mystery was solved when someone at Northwest Pipe company saw the report on the news and recognized the metal.
We were talking with a friend the other day and the topic of conversation quickly turned to a recent claim he had made on his homeowner's insurance policy. The claim was rejected outright and the friend had been completely blind-sided by the denial. At that point it occurred to me that there are indeed homeowners who don't regularly and diligently pay close attention to stipulations of their existing policies, or the frequent legislative moves that cause certain exclusions which creep in from time to time as the industry strives to maintain the delicate balance of affordability and profitability. In reviewing our own policy and taking a brief survey of those we interact with on a day-to-day basis, here is a list of 7 things that are (probably) not covered by your homeowner's insurance.
We've seen our share of strange houses, but a couple of Berkeley architects took a decisively unique approach to a home in their local area, building an 1140 sq. ft. home from as many used car parts as they could get their hands on. We're talking painted sheet metal siding, windows and skylights & windows from Dodge Minivans, and car roofs. They went after a fish scale look by putting together a blend of parts made from different gray shades picked up from a variety of cars harvested from local junk yards. He and his partner used over 100 car roofs, laying them out according to color to make up the second-story "siding". They also utilized other reclaimed materials such as poplar bark and even salvaged redwood.
Perhaps this isn't part of a tool-story, but I suppose the combination of escaped prisoner and port-a-potty was impossible to resist. It seems an escaped prisoner, Cesar Sanchez, who had leapt from a moving van during a routine court transit, was caught just 6 hours later. How, you ask? Police dogs were used to track him to a local yard where there were portable toilets being stored. A helicopter crew then scanned the area using infrared and finally located him within one of the toilets.
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