Free - or better - Home Depot gift card

American Express is pushing their new payment system, Express Checkout, by offering a $10 statement credit if you try it through 9/7/15.

One of the sites that accepts the AmEx Express Checkout is Newegg. Newegg sells primarily computers/accessories, however, they also sell some gift cards.

You can use the Express Checkout credit to get a free gift card after the AmEx statement credit. I used it for a $10 Home Depot gift card.
If you go to Newegg through a cashback site, you can actually earn cashback as well, so you might get paid 10 or 20 cents on top of getting the free gift card.


Step 1 (optional) - Use your favorite cash back site to click-through to Newegg.
 Fat Wallet offers 1% cash back. Top Cashback offers 2% cashback.

If you don't have an account at these sites, sign up with one of the following referral links:
 Fat Wallet
 Top Cash Back

Step 2 - Once on Newegg - search for the item # of your choice and add it to your cart Here are a few options, but there are probably others

•  N82E16832963001 - Home Depot $10 eGift card 
•  N82E16832474004 - Groupon $10 eGift card 
•  N82E16832689004 - CVS $10 eGift card 

Step 3 - On the checkout page, don't use the standard "Secure Checkout".  Instead, make sure you click on the button that says "AMEX EXPRESS CHECKOUT"

Complete the purchase and you'll get the eGift card that you purchased.

Within a couple days, you'll get a $10 statement credit from AmEx, paying you back for the gift card. In my case, the credit showed up on my account 2 days after the purchase:

 Then, if you used a cashback site as well, you'll earn cashback into your account as well!

Rachio IRO irrigation controller

We replaced our 20 year-old sprinkler clock with a new wifi-connected device.

We decided to go with the Rachio IRO Smart Wifi Enabled Irrigation Controller 8 zones

Installation was very easy, but a couple tips to make the installation easier:

1. Take a picture of the wiring of your old clock before disconnecting it and /or label the wires for each zone 
2. The Rachio utilizes a photo sensor to send your wifi network password from your phone to the IRO.  I couldn't get this to work from my Android phone, which was frustrating.  A little research turned up a page on the Rachio support site indicating that Apple devices are more reliable for doing the initial setup.  I used an iPad to finish the setup and everything went smoothly.

There are two models of the Rachio IRO - 8-zone and 16-zone.  So if your current clock controls more than 8 zones, make sure to buy the 16-zone model.

Every so often, you can get the 8-zone model for $199 on Amazon, so keep an eye out for a sale

Amazon: Anker battery pack sale

Anker makes some of the most popular external battery packs out there. They are running a great sale right now, so if you were thinking about picking one up, now would be a great time.! 

 The 10,000 mAh Astro E3 is on sale for $22 (Make sure to select the Black E3 to get the best price - the white is more expensive)
 
Anker 2nd Gen Astro E3 Ultra Compact 10000mAh Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank with PowerIQ Technology


And the 13,000 mAh Astro E4 is on sale for $25 (Make sure to select the White E4 to get the best price - the black is more expensive)

Anker 2nd Gen Astro E4 13000mAh 3A High Capacity Fast Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank with PowerIQ Technology

I use the older model of E4 battery pack and it has been a lifesaver!  These are excellent prices for such highly-rated battery packs.


Another even cheaper option is a sale on the KMASHI 10000mAh MP816

On Sale for $14, but you can use coupon code GOQL7EVL to get the price down to $9.49.
I've never used a KMASHI battery pack before, but to get a 10,000 mAh pack for under $10 is impressive.




If you're wondering which size battery pack to get, as a reference, the iPhone 6 contains a 1,810 mAh battery.  So on an iPhone 6, you'll get about 5 charges out of the E3 and about 7 charges out of the E4.

Save money on an expensive baby monitor by using an IP Camera

When it came time to purchase a baby monitor for our nursery, we looked at the many options available at our local Babies R Us.  I was shocked to see that almost all of the baby monitors available were in the $200-300 range.

Instead of one of these dedicated baby monitors, I ended up getting a Foscam FI8910W IP Camera. 

This camera was dirt cheap compared to the dedicated video monitors, and has served us very well.

One of the best features of using an IP Camera for your baby monitor is that you're not limited to viewing the camera with a single viewing device - like you are with a CCTV-like baby monitor system.  I use IP Cam Viewer Pro on my Android phone and tablet as well as on my wife's iPhone and iPad.  Get IP Cam Viewer Pro here for Android or iOS.

If you know how to configure your router to allow web traffic to the camera from outside your home network, you can even pull up the baby monitor if you're not at home.  The only downside to the Foscam FI8910W is that it does not provide a secure web interface - so if you do allow external access through your router - make sure you use complex user passwords and change your passwords frequently.

Foscam does have an updated version of their IP Camera that is "better" than mine.  That model is the Foscam FI9821W V2.

This updated version does alleviate the security concern I mentioned above by implementing a secure web server (traffic goes over HTTPS).  However, if you read the reviews on Amazon, the 9821W doesn't get nearly as good reviews as the older 8910 did.  So it's up to you whether you want to chance it on the newer model.

Hopefully this helps provide an alternative to purchasing the expensive baby monitor systems that you'll encounter at the big box baby stores like Babies R Us!

Home media server made easy

I frequently watch TV shows and Movies that I have downloaded from the internet. I used to transfer these files to a flash drive and watch them via my DivX compatible DVD player. However, recently I watch the files in a much easier fashion.

I load them up on my Western Digital My Book Live hard drive and then watch them streamed to my TV via my Logitech Revue Google TV set top box.

The My Book Live has a built-in DLNA media server that allows your media content to be played back on any DLNA - compatible player (Revue, PS3, etc).

The My Book Live also has a companion mobile application WD2GO that allows you to access your files from your iOS or Android device.  Another useful feature of the My Book Live is that it has a built-in FTP server for easy access to your files from any computer or network.

Without any complicated setup or expensive servers, I have a media server that I can access from any device.