Computer Technology By: Bill Michling

Welcome back, I hope you are having a great week. Some of you will be going on or have gone on summer vacation. I have two words, “sun screen”.

Last week we talked about some energy saving tips and of course our ongoing Applescript introduction.

I did not know there would be so much interest in energy savings information. My email box was unidated with emails asking for more energy savings info. So, I will attempt to provided some more energy savings info and will continue with our ongoing Applescript introduction.

Remember, this article and all past articles are available online at: (http://www.mespn.com/techarticles ) as well as the online version of the Saipan Tribune, which you can access by clicking the banner on that same page.

The energy saving lights I mentioned last week come in many models, shapes, colors and sizes.

** Lights colors

There are two main colors used in compact florescent lites, warm yellow and daylite white. The warm yellow color is similar to the color of a regular incandescent light. The daylite white is similar to the color of florescent lights on might find in an office environment. As to which color is best for you, it is really a personal preference. I do have a suggestion though. If the light will be used mostly as a reading light then you may want to choose the daylite white color. If on the other hand the light will be used in the dinning area of the TV room, then maybe the warm yellow is a better choice. The daylite white may take a little getting used to, but once you do, you will wonder how you did without it.

** Lights sizes

There are many sizes and shapes of compact florescent lights. I guess the best way to compare is by comparing to a similar incandescent light. Some common sizes are:

Incandescent Size Equivalent Compact
florescent

100 watt 20 watt

75 watt 15 watt

60 watt 10 watt

These are just some of the sizes available.

** Installation of Compact Florescent Lights

One last comment. The compact florescent lights I have been discussing can usually directly replace old energy robbing incandescent. That means, just remove the incandescent and put a compact florescent in its place. You can use CFLs in table lamps, ceiling fixtures, even in standard porcelain sockets.

The bottom line is, if you want to realize up to 70% savings on your light bill, then replace those energy robbing, heat producing, old fashion incandescent lights. The sooner you do it, the sooner you will start realizing energy and money savings.

You can find CFLs at Marianas Electronics-Saipan, Ph: 234-5424 /email: jun@mespn.com or sales@mespn.com
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** Applescripting
Last week we talked about Applescript and folder actions. I also recommended that you try out one of the included folder actions.

** Dissecting a folder action
This week we will start see what the folder action does in detail. We will begin with the first few lines.

(* The text between these symbols is a comment. This is a way to comment many lines at once. *)

— When the line begins with two dashes, then the line is a comment property destination_folder_prefix : “~!” — the prefix indicating that the folder alias points to a backup folder.

(A Property is a variable that once set remains set with the script until changed or the script is recompiled. This means even if you quit the script the property remains set.) property auto_replace : false — set to true to automatically replace existing files with the same name as the item to duplicate property show_dialogs : true — set to false to not have any error dialogs property dialog_timeout : 30 — set the amount of time before dialogs auto-answer property copy_checks_indicator : false property item_check_delay_time : 2 property folder_check_delay_time : 3 property special_label_index : 7 on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
(This script line creates the capability of processing item that are copied to the folder this script is attached to.)

If you have any questions on these first few lines, send me email. Next week we will delve deeper into this folder action script.
See you here and on the web next week.
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Bill Michling is a computer professional and welcomes any comments or questions you may have. Just send email to: bill@mespn.com or michling@usa.net.

You may also go to Marianas Electronics and ask help from the friendly staff there, or call them at: 234-5424, Just ask for Annie, Jun or Joseph.

For world access this Wednesday column is also on the Saipan Tribune website at: (http://www.saipantribune.com) or at the mespn.com site at: (http://mespn.com/techArticles/ ), now connected to the Internet via broadband T1+….