I've been warning people about the dangers of static electricity to electronics for YEARS, now it seems it can also damage tablets...

From www.geeksugar.com;

Kindles and Tablets at TSA Checkpoints

Why You Shouldn't Take Your Kindle Fire Out of Your Bag at TSA Checkpoints

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Kristy Korcz / NOVEMBER 21, 2011 9:45 AM / Read More: Travel, Geek Tip, Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire (and Nook Tablet, for that matter) are perfect travel companions. They store your books, movies, music, and apps, and run on the plane's WiFi so you could even browse the web at 30,000 feet. But a few users are reporting that their new Kindle Fires are being damaged after going through X-ray machines at airport TSA checkpoints. While the X-ray machine isn't exactly to blame, according to an expert, it can be a factor.

Professor Daping Chu, Chairman of the University of Cambridge centre for Advanced Photonics, says that static electricity is likely the culprit . He says:

"I don’t think the radiation used in an airport scanner would ever be strong enough to damage an electronic ink display. . . . But you can get a buildup of static inside these machines, caused by the rubber belt rubbing. If that charge were to pass through a Kindle, it’s conceivable that it could damage the screen. . . . A static charge from an airport scanner could be 100 volts or more. That could permanently stick the particles to the screen.”

Kindles, tablets, laptops, cameras, and thousands of other devices pass through airport X-ray machines every day, but one way to be totally sure your new Kindle Fire won't be damaged due to static electricity is to leave it in your bag when going through TSA checkpoints. Any electronic items smaller than a 13-inch laptop doesn't need to be removed from your bag when going through the X-ray machine anyway, so this should make your trip move that much smoother.

Source: Getty

More Posts From Kristy Korcz

Since the belts or at least the effects of a rubber belt are roughly the same whether they are on a treadmill or a TSA x-ray machine, I thought it would be helpful to warn tablet or kindle users about the possible danger to our precious electronic gadgets.

And while they seem to be focusing on the deleterious effects such a static charge might have on e-ink screens, which would not as readily affect an LCD screen (they are two completely different things) it is never good to have a random extra electrical charge in any circuitry, and such a random extra electrical charge will cause damage, albeit at a very slow rate.

A very slow rate= anywhere from minutes to years, with no way to say exactly unless we were able to see the weaknesses of each electrical component at a molecular level + the exact static charge + what voltage the circuit was designed to handle.

The bottom line; using your tablet on your treadmill probably won't hurt it, but it could.

On the other hand, since the article refers to tablets in direct contact with that statically charged belt, and unless you dropped yours on the walk belt this is not the same thing, so if you want to use your laptop, kindle, or tablet, whether ipad or android, I'd say it's fairly safe, as long as the ground circuit of your treadmill is in good condition.

Of course, everything breaks, even and including something as simple as a ground circuit, and that is assuming whoever assembled it in the first place remembered to install the ground circuit and did it correctly, so don't forget to have us service your treadmill yearly to keep it in good running order, and safe for your electronics.

If more information about tablets and treadmills indicates a specific danger, we will of course keep you apprised via text message or this blog, so subscribe or check back.

Best, Eric of Expert Gym Service

Children are so nice...

While fixing a guys treadmill today, I was touched by how he doted on his daughter who seemed to be around 5 years old, kept his eye on her, and made sure she didn't wander off and get into some mischief...

And when I finished, as I was leaving, the father said; "I think she wants to give you something," so I turned around, and she shyly handed me this flower, so delicate that when I took it from her as gently as I could it folded just a bit...

But that's not important. The important part is I was pulled into her world a bit, that world where a child sees past the fact that you're big, and liked me, and absolutely made my day by giving me something beautiful, in that simple, powerful child way.

Thanks little girl, I'm afraid I was too focused on what I was doing to even really register your name as your dad called you to not wander off, so I'll just have to remember you as; "beautiful little girl who gave me a flower".

When is an el cheapo drill better than an expensive one?

When is an el cheapo drill better than an expensive one?

When you're working on plastic, like the kind used in exercise equipment.

My more powerful Dewalt, especially when the battery is freshly charged, will break the plastic shrouds (no matter how careful I try to be, and the lowest setting on the clutch is still too strong for plastic) while my el cheapo $25 swap meet drill weighs half as much, and won't break the plastic, even if the battery is freshly charged.

And as a repairman, I know everything breaks, so replacement cost is much less.

At $25 a pop, I can replace a lot of drills before I reach the $80-90 it would cost for the cheapest home depot drill.

99% of the time, I only use it to unscrew small screws to get access to the innards of a machine, so it's fine.

I have used the el cheapo to customize some decks, drilling holes in half inch thick particle board, and it's not the best drill for that, but given my use of it, and the fact that it only sees heavy duty use 1% of the time, it's perfect.

If you're a regular person, homeowner, you're wasting your money on that $100 drill- it's too heavy to easily control, it's too powerful, and the replacement cost is too high. Especially if you lose the charger.

Update on yahoo / fake treadmill technicians changing their name

Update on yahoo / fake treadmill technicians changing their name; so Mike, who has gone by L.A. Treadmill Repair, Los Angeles Treadmill Repair, Protread has changed his name to / or simply added another name of; L.A. Gym Doctor or Los Angeles Gym Doctor.

I don't know about you, but anybody who goes by that many names raises a red flag with me.

Sounds like he's running away from bad reviews.

Or maybe even lawsuits?

We can only hope this is the beginning of the end of him conning people and taking their money while giving nothing in return.

sigh. Yet another customer basing their decision on perceived price-

sigh. Yet another customer basing their decision on perceived price-

I try and explain that we're the least expensive based on several factors, not the least of which is that YOU ACTUALLY GET SOMETHING FOR YOUR MONEY...

It's pretty simple math, is $90 for nothing a better deal than $69?

In the first place, the guy pitching that deal PROMISES to come back for free (after giving you NOTHING, since he's not a trained technician, just a dude with a toolbox who's good at conning people or fixing the most basic of problems) and promises not to build the cost of the 2nd service call into the price of the parts you supposedly need.

Riiight. Sure.

People, let's all just take a deep breath and sip on a cup of common sense here, shall we?

Anytime someone tells you something is free, your hand should automatically move to cover your wallet out of sheer instinct. Anytime someone gives you (or SAYS they will, BIG difference there) something for free, it's sure they're making up that cost to them in some other way.

Unless you think this yahoo is some kind of modern day Buddha, wandering the countryside playing a flute and fixing stuff for free or half the cost of what anyone else can fix it for (well, saying he can anyway, sounds good until he's walking out your front door with your money, at which point the reality of the situation will slowly dawn on you as you never hear from him again)...

And let's break down the economics to show how his business model can't work unless he is scamming people;

Gas is $4+ a gallon, lets assume his car gets 20mpg just to keep the math simple. He will go anywhere for $90, even driving up to an hour or more sometimes, so his cost just to get to you (one way) is $4-12. Then, unless he's sleeping in his car, he has to drive home, so another $4-12. Then, if he's supposedly going to return if you need a part for free, that's another $24 (round trip cost) so just his gas (not even counting maintenance on his vehicle) is costing him $48 out of $90, so his profit is $42. $42 divided by travel time of 4 hours, actual labor of 2 hours (and this is an extremely conservative estimate, some jobs take longer, not everything can be done in an hour, period, absolutely. An absolute like that is just silly. Add a dash of administration in there, time spent ordering parts, etc, and you've got another 1-2 hours. All that adds up to 7-8 hours total time, which means his profit, before taxes (!!) is about $5-6 an hour. And in Los Angeles, you simply can't live on that. Nor would any trained technician accept that wage. Which also proves that he's a one-man operation.

So either this guy is living in his car, and is BOTH brilliant at fixing stuff and yet a COMPLETE IDIOT at math and somehow hasn't completely gone broke yet, or had an expensive enough mechanical failure of his car that has stopped him cold, or he's just a con man.

Those are basically the only possibilities, and it's not hard to see which is the more likely one.

We know he's a con man.

This promise of something free smells like something a kid says to get what he wants (i.e., whatever he thinks you want to hear or a wild promise that sounds too good to be true, and most of the time is) like the; "I promise I'll feed it and clean up after the great dane puppy, you won't even know it's there."

And don't feel shy about calling us if you do call this yahoo, and find out he won't return (which he usually won't, his business model is to maximize profit on the first call and discourage or flat out refuse to return- usually by just ignoring your call- that's why he prefers to deal with people via email, which is a red flag right there, who does that?) or just want to double-check his price, feel free to give us a call, we'll happily confirm that the price he's trying to charge more than pays for a second service call.

We've seen it plenty of times before.

Best, Eric

Outstanding Android applications

Todays rave; Remote Desk Webtop by SmartDog studio, free or donation version, allows you to use your computers keyboard as the input for your android phone, take screenshots, use a picture from your computer as your phone's wallpaper, send and manage messages, contacts, (oh, wait, that's still under construction, as are the notes and mobile settings, clicking those brings up an "under construction" image of a guy digging furiously, the screen capture is new, so this dev is one that actually updates his stuff, that other stuff should be up and running soon ) browse files using a file explorer, amaze your freinds.

If this were an iphone, you'd probably be paying $20-$100 for this app, as it stands, it's free, or you can donate $3.98 for the paid version, which is exactly the same.

This is one of those apps I've donated to just because they're so useful and I appreciate the dev making it.

Why's this review of an android app in a blog about repairing treadmills? Because it helps me help people by making the time I have to spend administrating more efficient and take less time.

And I like helping others make their lives better, so I like to share good stuff like this.

Get treated like a rock star! Or movie star!

As someone who's not very star-struck, (my wife is the one who keeps me up to date on what stars are up to, the latest Brad and Angelina rumors, etc.- my viewing habits tend more towards Mythbusters and science channel fare) I've actually gone to movie and television stars homes to service their equipment and not even recognized them, only finding out later that they're so-and-so from that show or movie.

Which means everyone gets the same-top-of-the-line cadillac service, since we can never be sure who might be a REALLY BIG DEAL in Hollywood or whatever industry- (how would I recognize an executive?) or just someone like my aunt who knows simply everyone and is happy to pass on our contact info to their friends and family.

It all kind of stems back to when I was a teen and at a Star Trek convention listening to Michael Dorn (the guy who played the klingon on Next Generation) speechify while we waited for the auction- smart of them to schedule it that way- and realized that a couple years ago, this guy was maybe waiting tables, analyzed what he was saying and didn't find it terribly compelling or life changing, and wandered out to the vendor area and negotiated a great deal on some trinkets and toys in the nearly empty shopping area.

You see, everyone else (right now listening to blather, sorry Michael, I'm sure you're a great guy) had saved most of their money to try and win something at the auction, and so sales were slow, so they were willing to bargain.

I'd also just like to apologize here for not making a fuss over William Katt when I met him while working on his neighbors treadmill- my normal reaction to seeing someone famous is to let them go about their business, not interrupt them while they're eating, try not to make them uncomfortable by unnecessarily pointing out; "Hey, you're that guy from tv!".

In this case, I think I might have hurt his feelings a little by NOT making a fuss- after all, actors didn't become actors because they DON'T want attention. (duhh...)

He came walking up and said hi and asked what I was doing, and as I told him I was fixing the treadmill, he saw in my face that I recognized him, but didn't say anything about him being the Greatest American Hero guy, which he may have interpreted to mean that I thought; "hey, it's that spaz who used to flail about in long underwear." and wasn't a fan.

In fact, I loved that show, watched it religiously, and even got the box set for my wife's birthday a month or so later. (More proof that she's perfect for me, since she loves the same stuff I do...)

Amazing that the it boy of the time, Michael Pare, had EQUAL billing in the opening credits of that show, even though he would usually appear for like 5-10 minutes an episode, I had forgotten about that...

I should have fawned at least a bit and got a picture with him- that would have been fun, and he wouldn't have had his feelings hurt.

And when I come to your house, you could even tell me you're a movie or tv star, I won't know the difference...