The Fuel Efficiency Advisor can help you improve your gas mileage - but the real work is up to you.

Fuel Efficiency Centers recently announced their new Fuel Efficiency Advisor – an intelligent gauge that accurately monitors fuel efficiency, suggesting that “consumers can plan on earning back the cost of their device in 12 short weeks”. That’s a pretty impressive claim, considering that it costs $159. Is it true?

The device (and others like it) can, in fact, monitor your mileage both short and longer term. It includes a powerful trip computer and can display quite a bit of information about your car. It does this by plugging into your cards OMBD11 port – a standard diagnostic port available on most cars built after 1996.

The device itself does nothing to improve your gas mileage. Your mileage will only improve if you use it as a guide to modifying your driving habits. It can help you choose more efficient routes on a commute. It will demonstrate clearly why jack-rabbit starts, frequent braking and higher speeds reduce your mileage. A good mileage gauge can improve gas mileage. Ask any Prius owner: their glitzy mileage charts make fuel efficiency a game – where winning consists of getting over 50mpg average on a tank of gas.

The key question is: can you really improve your fuel efficiency by the way you drive, and if so, by how much?

• If you’re already driving efficiently, you are unlikely to see any major benefit using this kind of device.
• If you aren’t willing to change your driving habits, this device won’t help you at all.
• To actually pay for itself in 12 weeks, you need to be driving a car that drinks a lot of gas. Assuming you actually get a 20% improvement in efficiency, this represents an increase from 12 to 14.4 mpg. The higher mileage you already get, the longer it will take for this device to pay for itself.

So who should get one of these devices?

If you want a great trip computer or have a compulsive need to be able to monitor everything going on inside your car, these devices are great as they can read your cards diagnostic port. They can even come in handy at diagnosing problems without a visit to the dealer.

If you’re a really bad driver and want to improve, these devices will give you feedback that can help you do better. If you are driving a larger car or SUV that gets relatively poor mileage, and put in the effort, the device really will pay for itself – possibly even in the 12 weeks claimed.

For everyone else: it may be a fun gadget, but don’t expect much in the way of savings.

Be sure to also check out the PLX Kiwi Scanner that provides similar functionality with a nice color/graphic display.

Khet may be the ultimate geek game. Fun? Who cares? It has laser beams!

Every gadgeteer has their own idea of the best holiday gifts for geeks. It seems only fitting to wrap up my own series of unusual gift guides with this guide to the geek gift guides (with commentary).

ExtremeTech’s Geek Gift guide 2008 starts their list with the Patriot 64GB USB drive at $170. It’s a bit pricey and wider than most. I wonder why they didn’t choose the Kingston 64GB at $129 or the SuperTalent Luxio Ultra-Fast Drive at $166 that claims up to 30MB/Sec transfer and a lifetime warranty.

The ZDNet Holiday Gift Guide also starts with a USB drive, this time the IronKey ultra-tough, waterproof USB drive with built-in hardware encryption. At $299 for an 8GB drive, you’re paying a steep premium for the security and reliability. Hint: The 4GB version is being more heavily discounted. They also have Khet: The laser game on their list. The only board game with two class II lasers, it’s probably the ultimate geek board game.

BBSpot’s Geek Gift Guide 2008 doesn’t start with a USB drive! He starts with his own book “The BBook of Geek: The Only Geek Humor Book You’ll Ever Need”. Who can blame him? He also includes The Tube Clock – a bit retro for my taste, but check it out.

Juixe TechKnow’s Ultimate Geek Guide 2008 opens with the IPhone and Netbooks. The Flip Mino follows – ultra miniature HD camcorders that are definitely geeky and cool.

CIO’s 2008 Geek Gift Guide likes Acoustibuds earphone adapters that fit onto your existing earbuds and turn them into “in the ear” style earphones for improved audio fidelity and sound isolation. Their number two spot is the Infocus IN1102 projector. At 1680×1050 resolution and 2200 Lumens brightness this small projector is a great choice for any geek on who you want to spend $1000 or so.

InfoWorld’s 2008 geek gadget gift guide recommends the botanicals.com plant Twitter kit. It’s a moisture sensor that sends you messages on Twitter when the plant needs water (or has too much). Not only is it overkill, but you get to build it yourself – it’s surely the geekiest gift on the list. This list is definitely worth looking over.

ComputerWorld’s 2008 geek gadget gift guide has the same list as InfoWorld. I wonder if they’re related?

Our own Denver Technology Examiner, Kevin Rook, doesn’t have a formal gift guide, but he should. Check out his recent postings in the gift category and you’ll find find such curiousities as a “poking box“, wrist bands with USB storage and a power-nap machine that claims to give you three hours of sleep in 20 minutes (yes! more time for Warcraft!).

ars technical has multiple gift-guides for geeks, 25 pages worth. If you still haven’t found that perfect gift, this might be your last resort.

TechRepublic’s Geek Gift Guide 2008 requires a free registration to view. Sorry, that’s way too much trouble.

Geek gift guides are fun and can inspire ideas, but remember: contrary to popular opinion there are many kinds of geeks with many different interests. Be sure to spend some time thinking about the person you are shopping for, and not just reading gift guides.

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What kind of geek would I be if I didn’t have my own lists? Enjoy:
Top five gifts for people you hate.
Top five gifts for kids that might change their lives.
Top five gifts for the unemployed.
Top five gifts that are really green.
Top 5 less expensive off-brand alternatives to name brand gadgets.
Top 5 gifts for a healthy new year.
Top 5 toys for future inventors.

Multi-point route optimization

In yesterday’s article “One feature to consider before buying that new GPS” about multi-point routing, a reader suggested he’d “throw multi-point routing in there with bluetooth, fm transmitter, and the like” and that this feature only makes sense if you think it sounds cool and have extra cash.

But there’s a huge difference between multi-point routing and Bluetooth and an FM transmitter. To see why, you have to perform a cost/benefit analysis.

The features of any gadget fall into one of three categories:

• Features that you like and will use, but are either included or will cost you more.
• Features that you like and will use, but save you money.
• Features you will not use. If they cost you more, that money is wasted

Bluetooth and FM transmitters on a GPS are convenient, but tend to increase the cost of the device. There is no long term financial benefit in having them, so indeed, if you think they sound cool and have extra cash, it makes sense to get them.

Multi-point routing in a GPS is very different for those who tend to have multiple destinations when traveling. Let’s say a route optimizing GPS can save you just five miles a week in travel. That’s about 250 miles/year.

How much does it cost for you to drive each mile?

According to the AAA, the national average cost per mile in 2007 was 52.2 cents – that includes depreciation and fixed costs as well. At that rate, route optimization will save you about $125/year. Even if you only include the cost of gas, you’ll be looking at savings of $20-$40/year depending on mileage and cost of gas. Given that a route optimized GPS such as Garmin’s 760 has a street price of about $150 over the least expensive available GPS, there’s an excellent chance that the upgrade will pay for itself during the life of the unit and even save you money in the long run.

Adding the convenience cost to the mix, you can see why I won’t buy a GPS without multi-point routing.

And what about web based services that do route optimization? Those are generally targeted to business use and, unsurprisingly, are not free. Having route optimization built into your GPS is convenient for individuals and typically costs less.

This principle for evaluating features applies to any gadget, and you can be sure you’ll continue to see this kind of analysis in future articles.

The Garmin 760 offers multi-point routing

If you’ve never heard of multi-point routing, or route optimization, take a moment to read on before you buy that new GPS.

GPS units for your car will be one of the hottest gadgets this season (as they were last season and will be next season). Once you’ve used a car GPS, you will never want to drive without one. The most popular GPS brand in the U.S. today is Garmin, followed by TomTom and Magellan, and you can find numerous models, many in the $100-$200 range that will do an excellent job getting you from point A to point B.

You can spend a little bit more for features like traffic based routing (which often comes with a monthly subscription), voice recognition, spoken street names, Bluetooth, and so forth. But there’s one feature that may convince you to spend a bit more. It’s called multi-point routing, multi-destination routing or route optimization.

You see, while it’s true that any GPS will get you from point A to point B, in real life many of us find ourselves combining destinations. We have to go from A to E by way of B, C and D. You might be going on several errands. You might be a carpool parent who has to pick up or drop off kids from several different homes. You might be seeking out multiple garage sales. You might be in a business that involves visiting multiple sites or stores or offices. In each case, you have to decide on the best route that allows you to go to all of those destinations in the shortest time or distance.

Frankly, I can live without the traffic updates – I can tune my radio for those. I don’t need the GPS to name streets – I can read them off the screen. But I won’t ever buy a GPS without multi-point routing. I use it constantly.

The high-end Garmin units are where you go for this feature – you’ll find it in the Nuvi 750 and higher. The Nuvi 760 is one of the more popular units with this feature.

UPS or surge protector?

You may think that a surge protector is giving you the protection you need, but in many cases you’d be wrong – dead (as in, dead equipment) wrong.

Most people know that electronic equipment should be plugged into a surge protector. A surge protector protect monitors the power line for short but intense voltage spikes – the kind of surge that can fry your electronic equipment. And they generally do a good job against that kind of surge – even protecting against intense surges such as those caused by nearby lightning strikes.

But there’s one thing to keep in mind about a surge protector: they do absolutely nothing to protect you against power loss. You’ve probably been indoors during a storm and seen the lights flicker or dim – those flickers or “brown outs” represent sudden drops in power or a lowering of the line voltage. They are typically caused by excessive load on the power grid – the kind of load caused when a power line on a nearby circuit shorts out (perhaps because a tree just fell on it). Between the time the short happens, and the power grid detects the short and cuts that part of the circuit out of the system, a brief outage or voltage drop can occur.

Surge protectors happily pass that voltage drop on to any attached equipment. They have no choice – a surge protector has no internal source of power to overcome the loss.

For most equipment, this poses little problem. Your appliances are designed to tolerate outages. Most of your entertainment equipment can handle it without suffering any damage (though you may have to reset the internal clock).

But there is one type of electronic device that you really don’t want suffering this type of outage – any device that contains a hard drive.

Uninterruptible power supplies – your hard drive’s best friend

Hard drives do detect power failures and try to protect themselves from crashes when they occur. But rapid on-off cycles do increase the risk of failure. Worse – any data in the process of being written to disk will be lost. Not only might you lose something you’ve been working on, there’s a risk of corrupting the data on the hard drive. Corrupt the file system in the wrong way, and your computer may no longer work correctly or even boot.

Did I say computer? That DVR you’re using to record shows has a hard drive as well. So does your Xbox 360 or PS3.

Desktop computers and DVRs need more than a surge protector – they need an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

A UPS contains a surge protector and a battery backup. When the line voltage drops or power fails, it instantly switches to battery power and sounds an alarm. This gives you a chance to shut down your equipment safely, saving your data and reducing the risk of corrupting the contents of the drive.

Equipment that needs a surge protector:

• Most entertainment equipment (TV, audio, CD players, etc.)
• Computer displays and printers
• Video games that do not have hard drives (PS2, Wii).
• Chargers (for phones, MP3 players etc.)
• Laptop computers (when the power fails, they switch to their internal battery)

Equipment that needs a UPS

• Desktop computers
• Video games that have hard drives (Xbox 360, PS3)
• DVR equipment and Tivos
• External hard drives

You might also want to keep your Internet modem and router on a UPS – that way you can still use the Internet from your laptop when the lights go out (at least for as long as the battery lists).

Choosing an Uninterruptible Power Supply

The amount of power used by an electronic device is measured in watts. Most electronic equipment will include the power requirements somewhere in the specifications or on the label. Here are the power requirements for some common equipment:

• Xbox 360 or PS3  - about 180 watts (less for newer models)
• Desktop computer – 500 watts
• DVR – typically under 100 watts
• External hard drive – typically under 50 watts

You’ll want to choose a UPS that has a power rating greater than the total load you’re going to plug in. Most UPS equipment will give you at least a few minutes of operating time at that load – but that is plenty of time to save what you are working on and shut down the equipment safely. If the equipment you plug has a lower demand, the backup time will be longer.

When you set up your UPS be sure to follow the instructions. You’ll probably have to connect the battery – the instructions will show you how. Also keep in mind that most UPS’s have some outlets that are connected to the battery backup and others that are only surge protected.

Your UPS will probably also come with a USB port. Plug it into your computer and your computer can be set up to automatically shut down when the power goes out. If you don’t do this, remember to plug your display into the UPS as well so you can see what you are doing while you are manually shutting down the computer.

American Power Conversion (APC) makes some of the most popular UPS systems. They come in various sizes and have user-replaceable batteries (a battery typically lasts a few years). They also come with an insurance policy – $75,000 if your equipment is fried by a surge while connected to their UPS.

Recommended for DVRs and games

330W/550VA – Back-UPS ES 8 outlet

390W/650VA – Back-UPS ES 10 outlet

Recommended for computers

540W/900VA – APC BR900 7 Outlet

865W/1500VA – Back-UPS 8 Outlet

Here’s a hint – there are many models available. If you’re getting one on Amazon.com, look for one in the power range you’re looking for that qualifies for free shipping (these things are heavy!).

Learn why uninterruptible power supplies are rated by VA and Watts in Watts vs. Volt Amperes – Watts the Difference.

One of these consoles is a power miser

Energy consumption is probably not the first thing you consider when shopping for a game console. In fact, it’s probably far down the list. But energy use translates into cost, and you’d be surprised how much a game console can add to your household budget.

All three of the main consoles: the Nintendo Wii, Playstation III and Xbox 360 draw power even when turned off. The power use rises dramatically once you turn them on.

The Nintendo Wii easily wins the award for greenest console. Though it uses 1.9 watts while off, that increases to 16.4 watts once you start playing. It is followed by the Xbox 360 whose latest version draws 3.1 watts off and 118.8 while on. The power guzzler of the group is the Playstation III that, while drawing a miserly 1.1 watts while off, drinks up 150.1 watts while on.

That’s for the latest versions of the products. If you have older versions, you’re using more power: 172 watts for the original Xbox 360 and a whopping 188.6 watts for an original PS3.

So how does a game console impact your budget?

Here’s a way to estimate it. Look on your most recent power bill and find the cost per Kwh. It will typically run in the 10 cents to 20 cents range. If your electric company has different costs based on usage, choose the highest number.

If your game console is on for an average of four hours a day, multiply the power cost by the following:

0.16 for an Xbox 360, 0.03 for a Wii and 0.19 for a PS3

If your game console is on for an average of four hours a day, multiply the power cost by the following:

0.3 for an Xbox 360, 0.05 for a Wii and 0.37 for a PS3

And if it runs 24 hours a day (likely if the kids forget to turn it off), multiply the power cost by the following:

0.85 for an Xbox 360, 0.11 for a Wii and 1.08 for a PS3

The resulting number is your approximate monthly cost to power your video game console.

Here in California, power isn’t cheap – and with the various computers and gadgets around here, it’s no surprise my power cost hits 23 cents/kWh. Forgetting to turn off the Wii isn’t the end of the world at $2.71/month. But I’m sure going to remember to turn off the PS3 – an extra $25/month on my power bill is not going to go unnoticed.

Google Trends (trends.google.com) is a useful gadget for tracking interest in a topic – it displays the relative search frequency for different terms. In this case we’re looking at Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Google trends shows Wii still in the lead

Indications are that the Wii keeps its lead, though the PS3 is catching up. Nintendo’s insistence on actually making a profit on their game consoles has resulted in a steady production rate, meaning a likely shortage for the holidays for a third year running. There are a number of Wii finder web sites such as wiitracker.com and outtastock.com that can help you track one down. And supply on EBay is plentiful, with prices above retail, but not terribly so.

The Wii not only has an innovative controller, it also supports the very popular Wii Fit (also hard to find), which can definitely help you work off those holiday pounds.

This is the year for High Def, and there’s no doubt that Blu-Ray is the winner in the media wars. If you’re planning on getting a Blu-Ray player, you might as well spend a few extra dollars and get the PS3 (which has a Blu-Ray player built in). One thing to watch out though – the newer PS3 units do NOT include PS2 compatibility! So don’t be too quick to throw out your PS2 until you’re sure your PS3 is backward compatible.

And what about Xbox? Some of its games have a strong following (Halo), and this season it is the least expensive console with an entry level (no hard drive and no compatibility with original Xbox games) unit coming in under $200. A Pro unit will run you about an extra $100.

Bottom line is that any of the units are a good value – if you consider the cost per hour of entertainment. And if your budget is tight, look for used PS2 consoles at about $75 or less, with plenty of great used games at a fraction of the cost of the newer ones.

Would the real Fender Stratocaster please stand up?

Guitar Hero, Rock Band and all the variations of electronic music video games have two things in common: They can make players feel like rock stars, and they don’t teach a lick of music. Ok, maybe the drumming games do a bit, but you certainly can’t compare a Rock Band guitar with a real one, for all that they look the same.

And while it might be old fashioned, there is quite a bit of evidence that learning to play a musical instrument (that is, a real one), can have long lasting benefits. Studies show that kids who play instruments do better in school, have greater self-discipline, and lower levels of stress.

Believe it or not, a decent beginning guitar setup won’t cost much more that the Guitar Hero game. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Start with an acoustic or classical with nylon strings. They are much less painful on the fingers when starting out.
• Don’t buy a toy guitar – buy a real guitar. The Honor student series or Yamaha student series are good examples. Guitars from Hasbro are not. For an electric, you can even go with a real Fender Stratocaster for under $200. You can by online, but before you do – try it out in a local music store. But buy it at the store, and they may toss in some music lessons.
• The strings should not be so high as to require a great deal of force to push down, and should not buzz when played. And the guitar should sound good.
• Get an electronic tuner. The Korg GA-30 can be found for under $15 and is virtually foolproof. Making tuning easy will help beginners sound good – and sounding good will encourage more practice.
• Get some lessons, and try to find a teacher who focuses on helping students to play real music quickly, without bogging them down too much in theory to start with.

Guitar Hero is a fun gadget. But a real guitar is an investment that can last a lifetime.