Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

NecroJoe said:
For me, I'd have to have a need for the extended battery more than once a week.

It would also depend on how much of a boost would this battery case provide. If i wouldn't end a heavy-use days with 30%+ left, then no.

Also, does the battery case take away the ability to wirelessly charge? I've been using a wireless charger at work, and love it.
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There's cases that come with a puck that you can wirelessly charge your device and the battery from.

I've got a 6000 mAh pack i bought before a power outage that never happened. I discovered it was faulty (never fully charging, only like 3 out of 4 bars full) but too late to return.

I also have a smaller pack, 2000 mAh, but it's not the slim rectangle shape like the larger one - it's a perfect square - not ideal for pocket use.

I'd only use the case for what I use the 6000 mAh battery pack for now - going to places where I won't be plugged in all day and when I'm taking lots of photos/videos.

I would use it while in Pittsburgh to make sure the phone lasts until the end of the festival.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
Is a battery case worth 99 bucks over the alternative of having a battery in your pocket connected via a lightning cable?
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Yeah, if you want to fuck up the charging/data jack. A few coworkers found that out the hard way.
 
93Flareside said:
Yeah, if you want to fuck up the charging/data jack. A few coworkers found that out the hard way.
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Yeah a lot of the cheap case reviews mentioned the lighting connector of the battery like snapping off either from the case or getting stuck inside the phone....
 
They didn't have that. After about a year, the phone started to intermittently recognize being plugged in whether it was inside or outside the case.
 
Adamar said:
I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "design flaw".
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It would be possible to ignore or remove inputs from outside of the audible frequency range. There was probably just no reason to do it (and it would have made the product a tiny bit more expensive and complicated). So technically it actually is a flaw, just not a very serious one ;)
 
I was looking at new gaming controllers and I find this:

Original Xbox's huge controller is returning for current platforms


Original Xbox owners got a powerful yet eccentric machine in Microsoft's first stab at console gaming. The system itself was a massive VCR-sized slab of circuits and plastic, but it was the comically oversized controller that most baffled gamers. Yet fans look back fondly at the beastly peripheral, nicknamed "The Duke." Unbeknownst to most, one of its original designers has been secretly working to revive the controller for Xbox One and Windows 10 -- and Microsoft just gave it the green light.

Xbox designer Seamus Blackley has been building a near-perfect recreation of the 17-year-old controller for peripheral company Hyperkin. Remember the jellybean face buttons, the cheap center jewel, the sheer GIRTH? All faithfully remade to your inner child's specifications, with a couple improvements (like an OLED screen under the jewel).

As Blackley confirmed in the first tweet, that the controller's final prototype had been approved by Microsoft. Next step: Tooling to create a plastic mold. It's unclear when they'll be ready to order or how much they'll cost, but you original Xbox purists can rest assured that your favorite big-boned controller of yesteryear is headed for resurrection.
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Oh, hell yes! As much I like the 360 controller, I have always missed the Duke. I hated the S controller for the Xbox, and had to repair the old Duke to keep it going.

I am also not a big fan of the One controller.
 
I've heard they're starting to use the Xbox controller in subs for the periscope adjustment. Must be good.
 
People often say that you can't upgrade a Mac, well I think it's bullshit. It's actually super easy to add components, even to a Mac mini.

Here's my new dual Gigabit NIC 2006 Mac mini running pfSense:

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As you can see, the fit and finish is close to perfect. I didn't even have to cut the case to drive the cables out, they just fit in one of the vents, but I do have to use a little bit of tape to keep the HDD/Optical drive assembly down.
You may also notice the zip-tied CPU heatsink, as all the pins that were holding it broke at some point.

Specs wise, I changed the processor from a 1.6GHz Core Solo to a 2GHz Core 2 Duo, installed 2GB of RAM and a 60GB SSD that was laying around.
 
So I'm 30 years old but I want to relive being a kid....

So basically my idea is: stick a 4K TV at the end of my bed so that I can watch youtube videos and netflix and play old/new console games (like the xbox 360, PS4, etc). I usually sleep to youtube videos and turn my head to the side to look at my work laptop which is playing it, and have headphones in. This is starting to hurt my neck, and I'm pretty sure contributed to slight vision issues. I'd much rather watch the videos on a TV or something so that I can sit up, or on the weekend, sit in bed and play vidja games until afternoon or whatever.

So now I'm thinking about TVs. First thing is size and second thing is resolution:

Given that I'm about 5'10", the tip of the bed to the end is about 6'-6.5'. Given this distance I'm thinking 40-45 inch TVs. Split the difference and you get 42-43 inches. Does this sound reasonable? Too huge?

Second is resolution

Theres: https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electroni...qid=1507181872&sr=1-4&keywords=43+inch+led+tv

In 43 inch LED TVs - it's 1080p and $325

Then there's: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elec...qid=1507181872&sr=1-5&keywords=43+inch+led+tv

That's 4K and $480. The difference in price would take me about a paycheck and a half to save up for.

The question is, at the distance I'm going to be viewing it from and the content that I'm going to be using it for, is 4K worth it? I would definitely check out 4K youtube and netflix vids, and perhaps some blu-rays.

After that will be deciding which consoles to get.
 
Relevant LTT for an alternative solution.

 
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> Posts about TV
> Gets response with projector... <_<

  1. I have no place to set up a projector
  2. I don't want to spend that much time trying to find a place to set up projector and DIY it just to end up hating it because of the amount of work put into it
  3. If I want to view something during the day or even with any small amount of light, projector will not do. I would need it to be pitch black at all times.
 
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2 meter viewing distance is about perfect for a 55" 4ktv.
 
That's it? Sounds like it would feel as if youre burning your retinas out at that distance. Especially with the lights off.
 
93Flareside said:
That's it? Sounds like it would feel as if youre burning your retinas out at that distance. Especially with the lights off.
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I'm at 3 or so meters and have a 42" TV which suits me fine. I never understood the point of bigass TVs anyways
 
To get as close to the movie theater experience as possible. :dunno:
 
When I upgraded to a new TV in the living room a couple years ago my 50" got "demoted" into the bedroom. From where's I'm laying now in bed with my laptop the TV is just a bit more than 10 feet away against the wall. It's like having a billboard and is excessive in my view. Almost too much at night when it's dark.

Something in the 36-42" range would be perfectly adequate and approaching overkill if placed directly at the foot of the bed. As a side bar I question putting it directly at the foot of the bed without bolting it down, seems like a dangerous place where it could get easily knocked off or take an errant foot to the screen.
 
Just did some geometric comparisons, I sit about half a metre from my 22" 1080p screens, giving them about 52? viewing angle. Sitting 2 metres away from a 55" 4k panel gives it only 33.9?. If you wanted to provide the same viewing angle to the 4k tv, effectively increasing the resolution by a factor of two, you'd need to sit 1.25m away.
 
Paging narf....
 
Unless it's OLED, a dark LCD still gives off a fair amount of light, and especially the bigger the screen is.
 
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