Over the holiday weekend I went over to my parents' house to help my dad with his battery backup sump pump. He purchased a Basement Watchdog a few years ago to protect his basement, but we have become disappointed by the amount of service it needs. The battery needs to be opened and distilled water needs to be added to the sulfuric acid every 6 months. My dad doesn't feel comfortable doing this so I have to help him. The first battery completely failed after two years and cost $95 to replace. For that price I am considering buying a computer UPS system and plugging in a standard sump pump. Has anybody tried this? Please feel free to share any other UPS applications you have tried in the past.

Lifehacker has an article on how to hide MP3 files within JPG images. This is not new technology. However, what is keeping this technology from becoming a mainstream method of illegal music distribution? If it's merely an issue of user familiarity, this may no longer be the case. How long will it be before music industry officials catch on?

Recent market research discovers that despite the end of the format war, Blu-ray market share is not growing as expected. The article notes, " NPD said 45 percent of U.S. high-definition television owners now claim to be familiar with Blu-ray, up from 35 percent in June 2007. While just 6 percent of all consumers surveyed said they plan to buy a Blu-ray device, 9 percent of high-definition TV owners plan to buy one in the next six months, NPD said."

The article doesn't compare Blue-ray market share growth to that of successful formats like DVD or VHS.

Is anybody else having trouble viewing articles on Slashdot? The main page works fine, but if I try to click an article I get, "The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading."

An article in the Consumerist points out that it's almost impossible to sell anything of value on Ebay anymore. What can Ebay do to fix these problems? Is this the end of online auctions?

A friend of mine recently graduated college and is currently doing freelance work. It's currently quite profitable and she is interested in starting her own company. I told her that an LLC is probably the way to go. Are there any Slashdotters who have gone through this experience willing to give some advice? I have heard that Delaware is the best place to start a business, but does this only apply to major corporations, or can the small business owner benefit too?

Netcraft confirms that Slashdot has been down all morning.

According to a CNN article Patrick Stewart has spent the past year playing Macbeth on Broadway. "Part of his sci-fi life has followed him to Broadway. In his dressing room sits a boxed up Capt. Jean-Luc Picard action figure and a bumper sticker that reads 'Picard/Riker 2008: Make It So.'"

In an article on Lifehacker, a reader writes in that she was caught downloading movies via BitTorrent by her ISP. Lifehacker readers offer their suggestions, but what do Slashdotters think?

A couple in California are being forced to cut down their redwood trees because they block too much light for their neighbor's solar panels to work properly. CNN writes, "But the couple next door insisted they should not have to chop down the trees to accommodate Mark Vargas' energy demands because they planted the redwoods before he installed the solar panels in 2001." Apparently the trees grew since the solar panels were installed, in violation of California's Solar Shade Control Act. (PDF)

I'm considering doing some electrical work on my new place. I live in the Chicagoland area and I know parts of the area used to require all electrical work be in metal conduit. I'm not sure if that's the case anymore but I have come to find out that a copy of the electrical code is available for $145 in print and $155 for PDF! Come on! This is a law and I should not be charged for viewing it.

A few people here at Slashdot are lucky enough to work at home. The rest of us have to manage gridlock on our way to and from work, cursing at the person going ten under the speed limit while talking on their phone. This article in Time says, "researchers estimate that such distracted drivers lengthen the average car commute by about 5% to 10%. That amounts to only a few extra minutes a day, but those minutes add up. Say your hour-long commute were cut by 10% a day -- or 6 mins. -- in each direction; the savings would translate to an entire weekend of free time a year." The study was performed by the University of Utah.

My new drinking game involves watching a political debate and whenever a candidate makes an informal fallacy take a shot.

On second thought, unless you want your stomach pumped, don't do that.

After shopping for some jewelry for my girlfriend I have decided that it is the most uninformed purchasing decision one can make. I am a mechanical engineer and I know a thing or two about materials. Granted, I was far from the head of the class, but can somebody tell me what the heck does 18 karat white gold mean? 75% pure "white gold." White gold isn't an element! It's an alloy. What did they alloy it with? I looked it up on Wikipedia and it can be several things. But jewelry stores don't tell you what it is. The best thing you can do is know your diamonds. Follow the GIA specs. They are standardized and are how the jeweler purchases the stones. It's the only way to remotely level the playing field between you and the person behind the counter.