My earlier wifi booster caused the readers at my Iban language blog much amusement! They had never seen anything quite like it but as I gleefully pointed out to them that despite it’s ugly look it worked very well!
I subsequently found a cheap aluminium strainer and used that instead of the earlier version. The strength of the signal it picks up is about the same as the earlier version. It can go up another 2% which is quite negligible. But the best thing about the new version is that the signal strength remains at “very good” for most of the time.
This version certainly looks a lot better than the previous one!
I find that the current location, which is on the balcony outside my old bedroom, is where it picks up the strongest signal from the city’s free wifi service. I’ve tried the downstairs patio and the signal at best is only at 30% strength.
So I’ll leave my wifi booster where it is right now. I do, however, take my wifi adapter off when I am done surfing the web. I do not want the only wifi adapter that I have to be exposed to the elements!
I love to do bead work, and recently I found that the weak reading glasses that I rely on for close work just don’t seem to be as helpful as before. That means I need to get myself a pair of slightly stronger reading glasses.
When it comes to my vision, I am resigned to the fact that as I grow older, I will need stronger and stronger reading glasses. I have not heard of any real natural solution for improving hyperopia (long-sightedness), that is, until I read the positive testimonials of people of have tried wearing pinhole glasses to improve their eyesight.
What’s that, you ask? My thoughts exactly when I first heard about the pinhole glasses! I mean, I have heard about eye exercises for strained eyes and even some exercises that are supposed to improve your vision problem but I have never heard of eyeglasses that do not even have glass lenses that can help improve your vision!
The way pinhole eyeglasses work is that they prevent light rays that come at extreme angles from reaching the pupil. That means only direct light rays reach the eyes thus minimizing distortions in the images that the eyes perceive and resulting in better definition and clarity of the objects that we see.
However, there are limitations to the pinhole glasses. You can’t wear them while driving because they severely restrict your peripheral vision, and while doing activities that require movements. They are also not suitable for people with refraction disorder of 6 diopters.
But they are great for stationary activities like watching TV, at the movie theaters, reading the blackboard in the classroom, and for working in front of the computer.
If the pinhole eyeglasses work as well as claimed by the people of have used them, I think I should try them for myself too. I hate the idea of having to rely on stronger reading glasses as the years go by!
I finally found a USB extender cable that works with my laptop. It’s 5 meters long and and a good thing I got one that is that long!
I paid RM 25 (about US$8) for the cable and didn’t feel like spending RM 27 for a metal strainer for the wok-fi! How come the strainer costs more than the cable?
Anyway, I started with a metal strainer (from my mother’s kitchen drawer) that was about 6 inches in diameter and which I lined with aluminium foil, and strapped onto the rails of the upstairs balcony at my parents house. It increased the signal strength by about 13% to about 36%, which I thought was quite good.
Today, I scrounged around the house to see if there was something I could use that was wider than 6 inches in diameter. I found the cover of an old table fan, and it was about a foot in diameter. I attached it to a piece of wood, wrapped it in aluminium foil, strapped it onto a metal rod and strapped that rod to the rails of the upstairs balcony facing the closest wi-fi hot spot in the area.
Ta da! The signal strength has increased to 60% and it hovers between three and four bars! And the wi-fi is is not from a neighbour! 
I was able to connect to the free wi-fi service from the city! Woohoo!
This is how the contraption looks like! Ya, ya, I used the aluminium foil from the previous pot lid. I should put a new one around it, and who knows the signal received will be much stronger, eh!
Who knew the metal cover of an old table fan could double as a wi-fi signal booster! 
When I saw that headline on the online version of the UK Telegraph, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Oh no, I hope I don’t have that disorder!”
When I read the story further the description of the person who had the disorder did not fit me. Phew! According to the story, sufferers spend “unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing” and they even forget to sleep! Games? Porn? Emailing? Nah, not me! Blogging is my thing! Reading the news is my thing!
But I could spend a lot less time in front of my computer though. I should spend more time exercising and getting myself in better shape!
Doug sent me a link to show me how to build a “wok-fi”. What do you think?
The metal strainer used for the “wok-fi” is easy enough to find. The only problem is the USB extender cable. My laptop does not give out enough power/current to go through even a 1.5 meter cable. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the message I got was “Device Unknown”.
I did some research and found out that there is such a thing as a USB repeater cable. This cable will boost the energy running through the regular USB extender cable. I doubt I will be able to find the repeater cable in any of the computer shops in town. But who knows, eh. I will check out some of the computer shops in town and see if I can find a USB repeater cable.
For now, I am using my brother’s new laptop and it does a far better job of picking up the city’s free wi-fi signal. Hence the more frequent updates on my blogs! :wink: