Har lige fået de nye #soundcore Sleep A20 hjem og glæder mig til at teste dem på min snarlige rejse til Korea.
De ligger helt flat i øret og er bløde så de ikke irriterer. Dermed kan man sove med dem i. De fjerner støj og kan samtidigt enten spille musik eller et lydlandskab (white noise, regn, tog, tastatur, og mange andre) man selv kan samme sætte. De kan selv slå over i lydlandskab 2 timer efter man er faldet i søvn og vækker roligt en igen når alarmen går om morgenen #gadget#travel#sleep
A quick check in on the Xiaomi 14, and while this is an awesome camera, it turns out I TOO have issues with condensation and the lens fogging up. Has YOUR Xiaomi suffered similar issues? Has Xiaomi fixed or exchanged your phone?
The good folks at Kaiweets have sent me their KTI-W01 Thermal Camera to review. You can use coupon code TEB15 for an exclusive 15% discount. Let's get this unboxed and working! Demo Photos The photos are stored as JPGs which can be read by any normal graphics program. Th…
The photos are stored as JPGs which can be read by any normal graphics program. They also contain the thermal metadata which you can extract with specialist tools.
Here's the full photo taken with the camera. It shows the interior of an office with some computer equipment on a shelf.
Because the optical camera is quite some distance from the thermal camera, it doesn't cope well with close ups - as you can see. Luckily, this can be adjusted in the UI by pressing the up and down keys.
As well as static shots, it will take video - 240x320 resolution and 25fps - well, ish. It looks a bit jerkier than that to me. But it is good enough to see what's going on.
In this video, I've recorded a bath filling up. Towards the end, I've changed the settings so it shows more of the real-colour video with the heat overlayed.
Amusingly, it shows up as 1f3a:1000 Allwinner Technology Prestigio PER3464B ebook reader (Mass storage mode). Nevertheless, the 30GB volume was mountable and had an IMGS/ directory full of JPGs.
There is a Windows app, which I was able to run in PlayOnLinux. It offers a few features, such as being able to change the colour scheme of the photo, and pick out specific temperature points.
The button layout is a little odd. The buttons feel nice and are responsive. But I would have expected the "Enter" button to be in the centre of the directional buttons.
It is a little slow booting up - but then, this isn't designed for quick action shots.
After taking a photo or a video, it asks if you want to save it every time. That's a little annoying. There's 30GB of storage and photos are only about 300KB - so it should be good for about 100,000 photos.
The videos are recorded without sound. A cheap microphone would make it easy to narrate what's going on in a shot.
Weirdly, the bundled app doesn't work on videos.
There's no expandable storage - the 30GB is plenty, but sometimes it is easier to shove an SD card into a computer.
Finally, there's no mounting point. Other cameras I've tried have a connector so they can be attached to a tripod. This is strictly hand-held only.
This costs £200 - £250 depending on whether the algorithm likes you. Astonishingly, that's cheap for a thermal camera of this quality!
If you're into DIY, or you want to check the thermal efficiency of your home, or you just want to see how hot things are - this is a useful bit of kit. It's sturdy and well built. Dragging images and videos off it is a breeze - even if you don't use the official app.
The interface isn't the greatest thing in the world. But all you need to do is point and click. It's the sort of thing that's unexpectedly handy around the house with all sorts of tasks - from checking if the radiators are balanced, to seeing if a hidden plug is spewing heat.
£200ish isn't cheap cheap. But it is cheap enough that most geeks should have something like this. Also worth buying for community groups who want to check for heat leaks in their properties.
If you are happy with the slight user-interface oddities, and don't need a tripod mount, this is an excellent gadget.
The good folk at WAVLINK have sent me their Dual-Screen USB-C adapter to review. Plug it in to a USB-C socket and you now have two extra monitor ports. It'll even work on a USB-A socket, if it is USB 3.0. But is it any good? No. Not really. Hardware It's a fairly chunky…
The good folk at WAVLINK have sent me their Dual-Screen USB-C adapter to review. Plug it in to a USB-C socket and you now have two extra monitor ports. It'll even work on a USB-A socket, if it is USB 3.0.
The USB cable has a dongle which converts it from C to A. That's handy if you don't have enough C ports. But the cable being so short means it is sort of awkward to place. If you're on a narrow desk, the weighty adapter will just be left swinging.
On the back are four ports - two DisplayPorts and two HDMI.
But you can only use two at a time. I stuck a DP in the left and an HDMI in the right and (eventually) it worked! I was able to get 4k @ 60Hz and 1080p @ 60Hz on my screens.
It also passed through audio, although I couldn't find a way to select which monitor received the output.
There's also the requisite blue LED to let you know it is working.
Sadly, it is a bit of a faff to get set up because it is a DisplayLink adapter, rather than a USB-C hub. The manual spends 11 pages talking about driver installation!
Plugging it in to Linux shows 17e9:6000 DisplayLink USB3.0 5K Graphic Adapter - so it was detected without issue. That said, there were some warnings in dmesg:
Warning! Unlikely big volume range (=672), cval->res is probably wrong.[7] FU [USB Audio Playback Volume] ch = 6, val = -10752/0/16
But plugging it in doesn't give you extra screens. Instead, you need to visit DisplayLink.com to download the drivers. They are only available for Ubuntu Linux. There are also drivers for Windows, ChromeOS, Mac, and Android.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get them to work. It looks pretty buggy. Instead, I downloaded a random GitHub repo which installed the right drivers and got it working.
Once that was done, my laptop happily detected both external screens - one HDMI, one DisplayPort. It was able to change resolution, rotation, and refresh rate using Wayland. It even worked through the USB-A socket as well as the C.
It's hard to know who this adapter is for. On the one hand, it does its job brilliantly. It turns your USB3 / USB-C port into a dual output device for two 4k monitors. On the other hand, that's all it does.
Installing the DisplayLink software is a pain. USB-C means that I should be able to plug in an adapter and have it just work. With this, you have to manually install drivers and reboot before it will work. Good luck getting those drivers installed on a corporate laptop!
In theory, it can go up to 5K (5120x1440) on each DisplayPort - but I don't had a screen to test it on. If you need that sort of resolution, that's the only reason I can think for buying this.
It works - but it isn't plug-and-play, the drivers are a pain, USB cable is too short, it has limited functionality, it is too bulky, and is over-priced.
I want to make one thing very clear. Despite my propensity for IoT gadgetry, I did not connect my toilet to the Internet! It's 2024. Why are you still scraping your arsehole with paper like some kind of 20th century throwback? A decade ago, I got a cheap bidet attachment. It wasn't great. The water […]
Recap - I want to build an NFC reader expansion card for the FrameWork laptop. So I've bought a couple of components. This is the ACR1251T-E2 - it's a USB pen-drive sized NFC reader with a side-out USB-A plug. Costs about £40. There's a recessed green LED which flashes to let you know that it …
There's a recessed green LED which flashes to let you know that it is working. It doesn't beep or vibrate when it detects an NFC token. It is a little bit tricky finding the antenna as the internal circuitry slides down the plastic housing - as can be seen in these internal photos
There's a lanyard hole at the end, and a plastic clip so you can attach it to things.
Linux support is flawless. Running lsusb shows 072f:224f Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR1251 CL Reader PICC
And running pcsc_scan gives the same information: 0: ACS ACR1251 CL Reader [ACR1251 CL Reader PICC] 00 00
It's a solid enough unit. The plastic housing is sturdy and not easily damaged. You can't get in to the shell without a spludger.
The only downsides are that it uses USB-A - we're in the C era now! - and that the sliding mechanism obscures the antenna position. But, if you want to carry a discreet USB stick with you for NFC purposes, there's nothing better.
Recap - I want to build an NFC reader expansion card for the FrameWork laptop. So I've bought a couple of components. This is the ACM1252U-Z2 and Oh! It is a dinky little component! The only sign that it is working is a flashing green LED. There's no buzzer on the board. It really is […]
Does it work with Linux? Oh yes! It has a Micro-USB port, so I got a USB-C OTG cable. I plugged it into my laptop and ran lsusb - which shows it as 072f:223e Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR1252 Reader
Running pcsc_scan gives pretty much the same information 0: ACS ACR1252 CL Reader [ACR1252 Reader PICC] 00 00
The antenna seems pretty sensitive. It read my ring from about a centimetre away though a cardboard sleeve. I think the debug port is the "J3 nRF USB" - but I can't find many details about wiring it up.
So, will it fit in the Framework laptop? Perhaps. If I could solder on a USB-C jack, it would still stick out 2.5cm - so a 3D printed protector would still be needed.
Alternatively, as suggested by Stephen Early it might be possible to hook it in to the spare USB 2.0 ports. And, if the size is right, stowing it beside the touchpad.
But, first, I need to wait for my laptop to ship 😂
Early access on Patreon! Were point and shoot cameras as good as we remember them? https://www.patreon.com/posts/100264714?utm_campaign=postshare_creator
I found an old point and shoot #camera in my closet. Let's see how it compares to a modern premium phone camera!
I don't think those old super zoom lenses were as good as we remembered them...
Adding the Xiaomi 14, Vivo V30 Pro, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra!
Full run down on synthetic benchmarks, video editing, podcast mixing, photo processing and file compression tests. Let's see how these phones REALLY compare using actual apps for work!
Xiaomi releases a smaller premium phone that EMBARRASSES similar offerings from Samsung and Apple. Here's a first look at the Xiaomi 14! https://youtu.be/82U5t0S21k0
The main camera on this thing is pacing (and often outperforming) the main cameras on iPhones and Galaxy Ultras... 🤯
🆕 blog! “Review: An NFC reader/writer with USB-C - ACR1252U-MF”
★★★★⯪
I needed to read and write NFC cards on Linux. I only buy USB-C peripherals now, so I found the brilliantly named "ACR1252U-MF" which appears to be the only USB-C reader on the market. Total cost was about £35 on eBay. It's a cheap and light plastic box with a short USB …
I needed to read and write NFC cards on Linux. I only buy USB-C peripherals now, so I found the brilliantly named "ACR1252U-MF" which appears to be the only USB-C reader on the market. Total cost was about £35 on eBay.
It's a cheap and light plastic box with a short USB cord. When you plug it in, there's a flashing light which can't be disabled. When it is powered up, or it detects and NFC chip, it makes this weird and scratchy beep:
🆕 blog! “Giving the finger to MFA - a review of the Z1 Encrypter Ring from Cybernetic”
★★★★☆
I have mixed feelings about Multi-Factor Authentication. I get why it is necessary to rely on something which isn't a password but - let's be honest here - it is a pain juggling between SMS, TOTP apps, proprietary apps, and mag…
But, it turns out that the shop does not process purchase requests, resulting in an incomplete page with nothing to click on.
And the support email bounces as nonexistent.
I hope that you would incorporate that information in your review and/or boost this as a real world experience.
🆕 blog! “Review: Iiyama 28 inch 4K Vertical Monitor”
★★★★⯪
Four years ago, I got the Iiyama ProLite 24" Vertical Screen. But as my eyes grow dimmer and my hind-brain desires upgrades, I splurged on the (stupidly named) Iiyama ProLite XUB2893UHSU-B5. It is well lush! Thin bezel around 3 sides. Excellent viewing angle when vertical. A decent array of video ports an…
🆕 blog! “Review: Another USB-C Hub from Mokin - 14-in-1”
★★★★☆
The lovely people at Mokin keep sending me their USB-C hubs to review, and I'm happy to do so. They work splendidly with my Linux and Windows machines, and they provide more ports than I ever thought necessary. This one is positively festooned with extra ports. Let's take a look. USB-C Plug your power adapt…