The "New Toys" Thread

prizrak said:
I agree with you there, but two things
1) Battery is replaceable, you can take off the bottom of the laptop and replace the battery as needed, Apple suggests having a certified tech do it but really its not THAT complicated. It's just not as easy as it would be with most other machines, my biggest fear is spilling stuff on the laptop, I did it to my old Dell and lightning fast pulled the battery out as well as the power cable thereby saving it before water actually went inside the case.
2) According to Apple the battery will maintain acceptable capacity for about 5 years, considering the rate of hardware development that is quite a bit longer than is feasible to keep a machine. I would estimate average life span of a laptop to be 3 years or so.
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Ah ok, I was under the impression that the case was sealed like an iPhone 4; haven't looked at Mac laptops ever since I bought a Powerbook 100 for the lulz. As for the battery capacity issue, "according to manufacturer" is always something to raise eyebrows at, but if their initial capacity is high enough, it'll probably be okay.
 
Labcoatguy said:
Ah ok, I was under the impression that the case was sealed like an iPhone 4; haven't looked at Mac laptops ever since I bought a Powerbook 100 for the lulz. As for the battery capacity issue, "according to manufacturer" is always something to raise eyebrows at, but if their initial capacity is high enough, it'll probably be okay.
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Nah you got like 8 screws in the bottom :)

While I agree with you on that, Apple has been pretty good about their battery life estimations. They explained it when it was introduced it basically balances the individual cell's charge/discharge rate with the controller to pull as much life as they can. Also they are Li-Polymer cells so they re rectangular instead of round so you end up with less wasted space :)
 
I regret buying a new battery for this old laptop so it could be a laptop again while other one is STILL being fixed.
It was in no way worth the money and brand new out of the box it's still a 2 hour battery life from 100% with my usage. The one in the new one will run for 5 easily with the same load a year later. :|
 
got my cardreader and works great
Also : a brand new tinymouse is tiny (my old tinymouse broke after 2 years of hard work and lots of falling down)

warning : picture stolen from interwebs, not to scale :p

u_07526916.jpg
 
One of these arrived in the post today:

808-micro-keychain-camera.jpg


A 720p video camera, that's 5cm long. Seriously, this thing is tiny. I was expecting it to be at least double size. On my 22" monitor @ 1680x1050 that picture is actually bigger than the real thing.

This little wonder records on to micro SD cards and does a bloody good job for a tiny ?27 camera, I'd go as far as saying it's the best value for money camera out there.

It's actually for a mate of mine as a birthday gift but I'm going to play with it first and fill the SD card up with random videos to excite and terrify him when he gets it, and I'll be buying another before the ringmeet so we can flout the camera ban and stick it to Saabtouch's dashboard (not really, unless a bet or dare is involved but it'll be good to get clips of the drive over).

Here's a sample video that I didn't make:

 
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Matt2000 said:
One of these arrived in the post today:

808-micro-keychain-camera.jpg
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I was going to buy one of those but then I found out there is little to no consistency in what you end up with.

There's different revisions and I wanted #11 which actually records in 720p and opposed to scaling up a non-HD image, but when I called a few people through craigslist none of them even knew these 808 cameras had different versions which recorded in different resolutions.
 
Shawn said:
I was going to buy one of those but then I found out there is little to no consistency in what you end up with.

There's different revisions and I wanted #11 which actually records in 720p and opposed to scaling up a non-HD image, but when I called a few people through craigslist none of them even knew these 808 cameras had different versions which recorded in different resolutions.
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You're OK with that #11 since there is only one 720p version at the moment. eBay is the best place, this is the item I bought. Anything that shows 1280x720p and that style will be the #11, that's the theory anyway.

This is a good resource for these cameras, with links to an RC plane forum that has even more information plus the firmware updates. I've successfully updated this one to firmware revision 4 which removes the date stamp, removes the 20 minute cut off and improves the processing a bit.
 
Thanks for the info, but since I bought a GoPro I'm not really looking into an 808 camera anymore. :)

I know any 1280x720 is HD and therefore supposedly the #11 camera. But you never know, with the older cameras you still end up with a 720p video but one that was filmed in lower resolution and uprated to be HD (at least from what I understand).

The ad you linked looks to provide quite a lot of specs which suggest it to be #11, but I didn't find anything local with any information that convinced me it was the the good one.
 
btw, me, D-fence and a few others on #gear bought those around a year ago, love them, there's a good page with a lot of info on all the cameras and what to avoid
 
Yes, I remember before the mighty Miata the keychain cam was the thing to buy on FinalGear. :p
 
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Shawn said:
...before I forget why I even came in here, here's my newest purchase:

*GoPro LCD BacPac accessory*
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IceBone said:
I want a review of that.
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Shawn said:
I've only had it for a day, but I guess I can provide my opinion since it's such a simple thing.


It's basically exactly as advertised. It's expensive to buy and it's a really small and rather crunchy looking screen. But anyone who is looking at this knows what they are paying for, they've likely already bought a GoPro HD and been frustrated with the lack of any sort of viewfinder.

It serves three completely different purposes - viewfinder to frame your shot properly, playback for the files stored on your SD card and also a settings menu to use in place of the front LCD and those cryptic codes.

But I only see myself really using the LCD for the first purpose... I see no point in file playback on something so small (speaker is really just for show too), and while it's nice having an actual settings menu it's still just as finicky to operate since it's using the same buttons as before.

So to sum up, it's an expensive accessory but one I'd say you almost need to buy if you have a GoPro. One of the biggest selling points of these cameras is the variety in mounting options so it's really nice to be able to move the mount without having to worry about framing again.

If you have a laptop with a card reader then you might be able to get around buying the LCD BacPac and use that to frame your shots, but I don't at the moment. Oh, and last point, it eats up battery like crazy. This seems like a no brainer since the BacPac has no power source for itself, but I mean it really puts a dent in your battery life - another reason to just use it to frame a shot.

My recommendation would be to get it if you see yourself keeping and using your GoPro with some regularity, though expensive by itself I would almost say it somehow justifies the price of the camera further since it makes it more of a traditional video camera.
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Just wanted to add two points now that I've used it a little longer:
- The speaker is actually not too bad, if you take the camera out of the housing. Even the non-waterproof housing with the holes gives really muffled noises.

- Viewing angles are horrible on the screen, and this can be a real issue for when you've mounted the camera in some weird spot and need to check your framing.​
 
Here she finally is :D

IMG-20110528-00033.jpg

IMG-20110528-00035.jpg


Antec Three Hundred
Corsair 750 Modular PSU
2x Nexus Blue Led Fans
P8P67 mobo
Intel Core i5 2500k
Radeon HD6970
8GB Corsair Vengeance DD3 RAM
1TB WD Caviar Black
Logitech G500
 
was too lazy to find the exact place to post this:

new polarized sunglasses that go over my regular glasses :eek:
https://pic.armedcats.net/v/vi/viilaaja/2011/05/30/300520111346.jpg

from irc :D
Code: 
<FDaihatsu> those are officially the first pair of sunglasses with an a-pillar

those costed 49 eur and from the first moments they feel alot better than the previous magnet ones :eek:
 
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What's so confusing about that?
 
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