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Should you pick an EV charger with a 6-50 plug or a 14-50 plug?

If you are like most folks these days, you are getting ready to install an EV charger at your home.  You agonize about whether to get this brand of EV charger or that brand of EV charger.  And then just as you think you figured everything out about which EV charger to purchase, you smack into a wall.  The charger is available with two kinds of plug, a so-called “6-50” plug or a so-called “14-50” plug.  Which variant of the EV charger should you choose?  Which plug is the right one to pick?

It turns out that this is a trick question.  But if you click here, you can read a blog article by someone whose writing style you might recognize, who answers this question for you.

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Modulate the shield harmonics!

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I recently received this handheld distance measurement device.  Like a laser pointer, it shoots out a narrow beam of red light, making a small red dot on a surface that might be 100 feet away.  It then uses a built-in telescope to view the red dot of light, and works out the distance to that surface.  The device arrived today, and I compared its measurement with that of a long fiberglass measuring tape.    The two approaches yielded answers that differed by only a tenth of a percent.  How does it work exactly?

Star Trek fans might be able to guess where I am going with this. There were episodes of Star Trek where an enemy had somehow found a way to bypass the Enterprise’s shields, at which point the captain on the bridge of the Enterprise would shout out “modulate the shield harmonics!” In the world of Star Trek, this modulation apparently restored the protection of the shields. And indeed this kind of laser distance measurement uses a modulation of a signal to accomplish its remarkable result. Continue reading “Modulate the shield harmonics!”

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Making your office VPN situation faster and easier to use

We recently started using a new VPN solution at OPLF.  It is faster than our previous VPN solution and has lower latency.  It has no recurring cost and the one-time cost to get it working was under $100.  In this article I will describe this new VPN solution in detail.  I will also explain how you could set this up yourself in your own office.  Continue reading “Making your office VPN situation faster and easier to use”

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Today is the day — only 3 months to respond to a trademark Office Action

Yes, folks, today is the day.  Starting today, you only get three months to respond to a USPTO trademark Office Action instead of the usual six months.   I told you all about this back on October 12, 2022 (blog article).  This article hopefully answers some of your questions about this change.  Continue reading “Today is the day — only 3 months to respond to a trademark Office Action”

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How to get the “+Request PCT Link” button

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I posted a few days ago (blog article) that the EPO had set up a way for users of ISA/EP and IPEA/EP to receive correspondence (such as International Search Reports and Written Opinions) instantly and electronically, which might for some users be preferable to having to wait a long time for such correspondence to show up in slow postal mail.  In that posting I described my own lack of success in setting up such things, particularly because an important button called “+Request PCT Link” was missing in the EPO system.  I have heard back from the EPO people about this.  It turns out you have to ask for this button.  In today’s blog article I offer more information about this new system, that I have heard from the EPO people.  Continue reading “How to get the “+Request PCT Link” button”

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EPO’s new system for PCT applicants to receive ISR/WOs electronically

(Update:  there is news about how to get the elusive “+Request PCT Link” button — see blog article.)

(Update:  EPO people have provided a summary page about how to do this ISA/EP and IPEA/EP stuff, that is linked here and that I have archived here.)

PCT applicants who are located outside of Europe, and who pick ISA/EP as their ISA, have for some years now faced a frustrating situation:  ISA/EP only sends out its communications by postal mail, not electronically.   A couple of days ago I attended a webinar presented by four nice people at the EPO, in which they explained how their new system will work that will permit applicants to receive International Search Reports and Written Opinions (and other ISA communications) electronically instead of on paper.  This article briefly summarizes my notes from that webinar.  Continue reading “EPO’s new system for PCT applicants to receive ISR/WOs electronically”

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Sign up for tomorrow’s EPO webinar on PCT

(Update:  the webinar took place and I have written an article about it.)

Well, folks, maybe you knew about this imminent webinar a long time ago, but somehow I only learned about it today.  You know how you hate it that EPO only sends ISR/WOs out by postal mail?  Not electronically?  Well, I gather EPO intends to drag itself into the previous decade and plans to provide some electronic way to receive your ISR/WOs.

Yes, an extremely important webinar will take place about 24 hours from now.  Yes, I am giving you a mere 24 hours’ advance notice on this one.  Sorry about that.  Continue reading “Sign up for tomorrow’s EPO webinar on PCT”