(Note: if AT&T’s throttling is affecting you too, please follow me on twitter as I’ll be continuing to broadcast my investigation there)

Looks like AT&T has a new system to rid itself of the remaining unlimited data plan accounts: throttling.

Last month, I got a troubling text message from the cell phone carrier with some news — not one of their updates to let me know that the card on file has expired — this was something new, something domineering in its faux-friendly tone.

ATT Free Msg: Your data use is approaching the top 5% of users. Avoid reduced data speeds, use Wi-Fi where available. Visit att.com/dataplans or call 8663447584.

A confusing message — I’ve been with AT&T since the early iPhone days, and still have their unlimited data plan. Who were these “top 5%?” What type of use were they seeing? Had someone hacked into my phone account and started torrenting BlueRay movies? I checked my data usage for the month: a very mediocre  2.4gb — and this was about three weeks into the billing cycle (btw, I’m on a family plan, but data is reported separately). Click to continue »

I’m pretty excited to be heading to Chicago next weekend (Jan 20/21, 2012) to meet with the bigwigs at Kenmore and hear about some of the new things that they are getting up to. They’ll be flying me and a few others out and showing us their latest in home goods. Most of the stuff I focus on in this site is gadget, tool, and build-related (and I’ve helped out with similar events for Craftsman, another Sears brand), but I do let my pizza fascination influence some of the posts I make on this site, and am intrigued if Kenmore has anything pizza-related in the pipeline (not that there’s any reason for me to think so).

I’m going to bring a few questions for the Kenmore folks to the event, and I’m happy to ask anything you’ve got in mind or are wondering about too (like: why do they only offer ONE pizza slicer?). So feel free to pop any of those into the comments.

The Kenmore people also have a few prizes for the best video entries in response to the following:

“When tasked with the overwhelming demands of day-to-day chores, a little creativity goes a long way – and helps stretch our resources a bit. What is your most unusual, yet practical, use of a common household appliance?”

They’re offering a $100, $50, and $25 gift card for the best three submissions, which will be used internally and possibly sent out on their social media channels (I asked).

The rules:
- Submit your videos, and I’ll send my pick for the best five (if I get that many). Kenmore will select the best three from the entries of all bloggers (which means your odds are pretty decent)
- Video Due: Wednesday, January 18 at 9p.m. CT
- Rule: No branding visible other than Kenmore. To avoid, simple cover other brand names with tape.
- Format: Uncompressed Quicktime files at 1920×1080 16:9 are preferred. Any uncompressed file would be best, and the bigger the format the better. My suggestion: upload to Vimeo so the original file can be saved easily.

Have fun with it. I’ll report back after I return.

CNC machines are awesome, computer-controlled tools that use digital files to output some incredible creations. CNC routers will cut large (or small) pieces of material into precise, repeatable designs. CNC mills allow you to carve intricate projects in materials from foam to steel. And CNC lathes make cylindrical components that range in complexity, from baseball bats to precise titanium aerospace components.

These amazing machines have started dropping into the price range that makes them accessible to the everyday user in their home workshop. Quite a few are available, but one company is getting high praise for its product and its stellar customer service – Tormach. I recently reached out to them and one of their users to discuss their entry-level machine, the PCNC 770, for Wired magazine.

If you can get to the store and grab the September 2011 issue, check it out. Otherwise, the article can be read online here.

When it comes to trustworthy home tips, there’s one name I always look for.

Unfortunately for this publisher, that name is not Don Knotts.

Build and Repair With Concrete : The Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual

(Found this gem of a book in my friend’s parents’s house.)

A couple months ago I posted about how to improve your video projects by using an iPhone to record improved audio. I described a system that mimics a lavalier (clip-on) mic, by putting the phone in your shirt pocket, or even on the desk next to you.

Jeremiah Warren (the guy who strapped a camera to some fireworks) took the same concept and expanded it a step further — using the iPhone as a handheld microphone in his latest video (about cooking food on the hot dashboard of your car). The interesting thing about this approach is that it creates the concept of a handheld microphone with a built-in-audio recorder, rather than the system where the mic wirelessly connects to a separate recorder. This creates the option of having as many channels of audio as you have microphones (I’m envisioning a full concert with all the instruments and individual drums recorded on a multitude of iPhones). Of course, the iPhone doesn’t have the ergonomics a handheld mic does, nor does it have the same microphone patterns that the variety of mics used for various instruments, sound levels, and recording environments require, but still something I might have to play with…

And get a kick out of the windscreen!