Category: Tech Tip

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When a $33,000 Battery Isn’t the Problem: How to Avoid Costly Misdiagnoses in Electric Vehicles

Mechanics working on an electric vehicle in a modern car repair shop, with one mechanic using a laptop to perform software diagnostics while another works on the vehicle's hardware. The car is connected to diagnostic tools, illustrating the integration of software updates and traditional car repairs in electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are transforming the automotive industry, but their complex integration of hardware and software can lead to expensive misdiagnoses. A recent story highlights just how costly these errors can be when an Ontario man was told his Chevy Volt needed a $33,000 battery replacement—only to later find out a simple software update solved the problem.

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Ten Things I Learned – December 5, 2023 Update

April Wine

I was sad to hear of Myles Goodwyn‘s death. Myles was the lead singer of April Wine, a Canadian band that had quite an influence on my musical tastes.

WordPress

Want to your open WordPress links in a new tab as the default? “External Links in New Window / New Tab” is your solution.

Speed Test

Google has a speed test webpage. (I’ve added it to my Google A-Z page.)

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Hey Bing Chat: How can I compile a Python program into an executable file?

Bing Chat is an AI alternative to Chat-GPT. I’ve been testing it quite a bit since, at least for now, it is completely free and in most cases does an excellent job.

Here is a test case that worked perfectly for me…

Prompt: How can I compile a Python program into an executable file?

There are several ways to compile Python code into an executable file. One of the most popular ways is to use PyInstaller² which can be installed using pip package manager². Once installed, you can use it to create an executable file by running the following command in your terminal:

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Integrating Google Drive into Google Colab Notebooks

Why might we want to integrate Google Drive into Google Colab? The primary reason for this would be to easily access data files to use in your Colab notebooks. 

Here is a video that outlines the basic process. For written instructions, see below.

Integrating Google Drive into Google Colab is quite simple. The first step is to go to Google Colab, then open a new notebook.

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Need to Upgrade Your Old Computer? Consider This $45 SSD (Really!)

Do you have an old computer that you want to speed up? Adding an SSD is an easy and quick way to do that.

Samsung SSD

This 250 GB drive is super-cheap now ($45) but is great quality (I have one, which cost me $85 about a year ago).

You may need an inexpensive USB adapter to copy the contents of your old drive to your new one. Samsung has a utility that makes the process easy.

You can buy the drive here:

https://amzn.to/31SS88s
(Amazon Canada link)