Just today I opened a newly-arrived package from MobilePixels – a 14″ 1080FHD USB-C extension monitor. Made primarily for laptops and tablets the monitor provides up to 1920*1080 as a secondary or third monitor. I should say right away, these are not cheap. I opened the package, thinking it would…
Category: General
UGREEN HiTune X6 Hybrid Active Earbuds
The full title should be “UGREEN HiTune X6 Hybrid Active Noise-Cancelling Earbuds“. Well, earbuds are earbuds, right? These were sent to me FOC so I thought the least I could do was give them a good run. Bluetooth 5.1. Playback time 6 hours of music without resorting to the case,…
TP-Link Tapo C200 Pan/Tilt WiFi Camera
Regular readers will know I’ve had MANY WiFi cameras in here but never TP-Link so this is a first. For clarity I should say I’m currently in the UK. The very first thing that struck me during box opening was the almost complete lack of throw away plastic. The camera…
The Confusing World of Zigbee featuring ZemiSmart
Of course – this could all be down to my age – but I find Zigbee in practice to be both exciting and confusing. I am currently supposed to be reviewing some devices from ZemiSmart. Original post late 2020… Updated July 2023. So, the Zemismart company sent me one of…
Time For A New Watch? Bakeey U98
The last watch (technically BAND) I bought was the Xiaomi Mi 6 Band – it is on my wrist every day. That acquisition was many months ago so I figured I’d try something new and asked Bangood to ship me the While I’m siting here taking a break from “A…
2.7V-6V HTTM Series Capacitive Touch Switch Buttons
This is an interesting one – these devices are tiny touch-sensitive buttons – handy for lots of projects – I’ve been working on this for a while (and not getting far until now). These buttons have been around for a while – we used them in our thermostat project AGES…
ESCAM PVR008 Auto-Tracking H265 IP Camera (QC1)
No, this is not new. Back in October 2019, sent this little, inexpensive WiFi to me and for reasons beyond me I did nothing with it. While sorting my stuff to take away with me last summer I was about to file the camera under “bin” as nowadays I only…
Grove Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi Pico
No doubt you’ve heard of the SeedStudio Grove Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi Pico. Just in case I’m wrong, the Pico is a recent development from the Raspberry Pi people, a small board that in fact is actually nothing like a Raspberry Pi. While I am here, I should point…
Saphe Traffic Alarms
Firstly, let’s look at the Saphe Drive Mini as fitted into my car while in Spain. I’m showing you a photo of the unit in it’s box as the morning we left Spain it was a bit too dark to show mounted on the dash. SO, the idea is simple…
The Saturday UK Roundup – and Solar Lights
I have so much to write about and so little time – yet here I am writing about solar lighting (not for the first time). But first – did I step back in time? It’s late 2021 and it seems that Ebay still can’t get their emails right. This morning…
New to Windows 11 or Did I Miss Something Earlier?
Bottom line: MAC scrambling bypasses free WiFi limits I’ve just spend well over a day on a ferry with the most obscenely limited WiFi I’ve ever endured. For years we have routinely travelled back and forth between Spain and the UK and until recently there was an excuse for offering…
More M5Stack Goodness
My last M5Stack gadgets came from the company itself but this week I received a tiny M5StickC Plus (no, that’s not a spelling error) from Banggood. The full description says “ESP32-PICO-D4 Mini IOT Development Board”, anyway . I know I’m a little late joining the party with this device but…
Redme Airdots 2S TWS Earbuds
There’s only so much to tell about my new Redme Airdots earbuds – mainly as the instructions were entirely in Chinese (Note I’ve changed the link to the updated airdots 3 as the 2S are no longer available). The important stuff is all over the web – Bluetooth 5.0, noise…
X96 X4 Amlogic S905X4 Android 11 TV Box
The latest just arrived in the mail and after setting up and having a brief play – I think it could be a winner. At any time I usually have a few such boxes attached to my TV. After all, they don’t last forever and you never know when support…
Synology DS720+ NAS – Big Upgrade
By “big upgrade” I mean mainly for me… I’ve been using a Synology DS214+ NAS (Network-Addressable-Storage or box of disks 😎 ) back in the UK for several YEARS. In my IT Director role at the FSB, before I decided to go down the early-retirement/enjoy-Spanish-sunshine route, I needed reliable backup…
M5 TOUGH and other M5Stack Goodies
I’ve written a couple of articles on M5Stack, the most recent being a re-look at the M5Stack Core 2 now that it is supported by Tasmota – and I’m hoping soon by ESPHOME. I got as far as putting my own little Tasmota-based display on the Core2 in a previous…
New Athom ESPHOME-Ready Smart Bulbs
Regular viewers will know I had a thing about Athom a little while ago. When my handy Tuya-convert rig became redundant and it was no longer possible to convert smart bulbs from various suppliers to run TASMOTA (and hence be locally controllable without signing up for someone elses CLOUD), Athom…
Raspberry Pi 4 plus SSD Case
Funny how things come around. I originally started this blog back in September 2020 as a request for feedback from you guys, having recently (at the time) mastered then blogged about Raspberry Pi 4 and the speed benefits of using an SSD drive via a USB3 to SATA adaptor –…
Death by flossing? the Fairywill FW-5020E Water Flosser
. Two things I’ve always wanted but never got around to buying: one of these water irrigators and a bidet. The later is still on my todo list and will probably remain there, but I’m pleased to say, I now have my very own water cleaner at last – in…
An Aqara Week and New Headphones
It’s been a good week for gadgets so far. Here we go… SuperEq sent me their new noise-cancelling headset – rather handy for any upcoming flights. Bluetooth and 3.5mm jack. I’ve included their links above – they also sent me Amazon links but I’m not that keen on offering Amazon…