The Japanese 3-in-1 Multifunctional Breakfast Maker

Bread toaster, coffee maker and hot plate, all in the "Wake Up Morning Set"

As we all know only very well, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in this world, the number of innovative products launched on the market by Japanese companies every year being absolutely huge. And we're not talking here just about computers, gaming consoles, TVs, digital cameras etc., but also about everyday products for home use. And one of the most interesting devices made in Japan I've come across lately is the so called "Wake Up Morning Set", a very useful multi-functional device that combines an electric grill, a bread toaster and an automatic coffee maker machine.

As you can plainly see, this device is aimed at creating the perfect American breakfast. One can use the electric grill to make some bacon and eggs (or whatever else he/she might desire, for that matter), the toaster to make some toast bread (or heat up some leftovers from yesterday's diner, if you're in a hurry), all of these while waiting for that perfect cup of coffee that jump-starts you in the morning. Moreover, this device carries out its breakfast making duties quite rapidly, since the fried eggs are ready in around 10-12 minutes, the toast in 3-5 minutes, while the coffee is ready in around 2 minutes.

Another interesting thing about the "Wake Up Morning Set" is its control system. Thus, the user can either start all the functions at the same time, or use them separately, according to his/her personal needs, thus making it a very interesting addition to one's army of kitchen appliances. However, the device does have a problem, namely it consumes a huge amount of power (around 1,140W) when all 3 functions are switched on. Not sure about the availability, but - according to the Japanese site Impress Watch - it won't be too expensive, just around 40 US dollars, which makes it quite affordable for all the people who don't want to waste too much time preparing their breakfast in the morning. 

happy automating life...:)

Using Office 2007 documents in all old versions of Office

Files in the new Office formats often cause problems when they are opened with older versions of the software. Yet not many prefer to buy the new Office package just to work in an “upwardly compatible” way.
You need not buy the new Office package. Microsoft has released the “Compatibility Pack” solely for this purpose. You can download it form the Microsoft Download Center. Please ensure that you have the latest versions of Office XP and 2003 and that all important updates have been installed before you install the tool.
To install the “Compatibility Pack”, start Windows Update or open the link “http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyld=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displayLang=en” in the browser and install the available updates. Then, open the “FileFormatConverters.exe” file and finish the installation process.

Defragmenting the swap file and Registry

To accelerate your computer, regularly defragment the contents of the system hard disk. However, during the defragment process, important elements such as the swap file are skipped, resulting in the slowing down of the computer.
Windows and the current defragmenters cannot access the files which have been exclusively opened by the system. Therefore, the registry data and the swap file are usually ignored during the optimization. However, these files are used frequently and they take up a large amount of space. Therefore, their fragmenting slows down the system significantly. But then again, there are specialists to solve every problem!!! The tool “Pagedefrag” uses the start phase of the PCs to defragment the registry and sway file. During the start phase, Windows can access them.
After unpacking the zip archive, the tool can be readied for use by just calling “pagedefrag.exe” without any further installation processes. It first shows how many clusters occupy the respective system files and how “fragmented” they are. Besides the swap file, and the branches of the Registry, the tool also processes event protocols as well as the stand-by mode file. Its size corresponds to the quantity of the installed main memory.
APPLICATION: For one time execution, select the option “Defragment at next boot” and click on “OK”. Then, restart the computer. While booting, the tool completes its task and creates a status report. You can check the progress by calling Pagedefrag in Windows again and checking the actual status in the Pagedefrag dialog box. This kind of defragmentation must be repeated from time to time. You will be rewarded with remarkably shorter booting and shut down times for your computer.
AUTOMATION: To automate the process, select the option “Defrag abort countdown” to “0”, and confirm with “OK”. In future, “pagedefrag” checks the status every time the system starts and then optimizes the files if required. The check takes just under a second.
If you do not wish to run the check on every boot, you can also automate the execution with the Task Planner. Use command “pagedefrag –o –t 0” in the command prompt for that. It is used for one-time defragmentation on booting the next time.

Speeding up the disk cleanup tool

While starting the disk cleaner, the tool analyzes the amount of space that can be freed by compressing old files first, before it allows access to options. This is time consuming. While doing so, you don’t have to use the packing function at all.
The time-consuming analysis can be permanently stopped by an intervention in the Registry. Start the Registry Editor and browse to the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches” key. Select the sub-key “Compress old files” and create an REG file through “File->Export” as a backup copy to restore. Then, delete the entire entry. After restarting the system, there is no more analysis so that you can reach the settings of the data carrier cleaning faster. Besides, the option “Compress old files” no longer exists in the dialog. If you want to undo the change, execute the created REG file by double-clicking on it and confirm the acceptance of the values in the Registry by clicking on “Yes”.