Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

My much older ASUS router has served me pretty well, it did start acting up eventually but I put a weird Russian custom firmware on it and it's been great since.

Ummm....you may want to reconsider that if you would prefer just one government keeping tabs on you.
 
Russian as in, the guy who made it is Russian, not as in its intended for the Russian market.
 
I think I'm finally gonna replace my aging DLink DIR-615. Don't want to spend an absurd amount of money on a new router. Narrowed it down to choice A or choice B. Any input/suggestions/recommendations? Both seem to have more or less decent reviews, but I'm leaning with the TP-Link. Also open to other options, but I want to keep it in the $40-60 price range.

Skip the TPLink products. Seriously.
 
Any recommendation for 2.1 or 2.0 PC speakers at around 100EUR? I mostly use headphones with my desktop, so I don't need something very fancy but they should sound decent and to not take much space on my desk. I was tempted by Logitech's Z533 speakers, but I tried 2 of them in stores and both had static noise(quite faint, but it was there) when pausing music... and reading some reviews on the store's page it seems to be a common problem with them.

Skip the TPLink products. Seriously.

I could say that about entry/mid level Asus routers as well. In february I bought an ASUS AC1200G+ that was randomly rebooting at least once a day, I returned it and replaced it with an Asus RT-AC58U which works fine and I'm pleased with it, no random reboots or connection drops. In the mean time I also got a cheaper Asus(can't remember the model) router for my parents that kept dropping connections almost daily... that one got replaced with a D-Link router, similar in price, that works with no problems. So 2 out of 3 Asus routers, that I tried this year, were duds. I will avoid them in the future.
 
Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

Harmon Kardon Sound Sticks. They look like they belong on an early 2000s Apple Mac desktop system but, I do remember them sounding good.

Check out Mackie Creative Reference monitors. They have a 3? woofer set that are below $100. I have a set of their MR5 5? woofer monitors and they are great. They don?t hit super hard for bass but, you still have decent enough bass without the need for subwoofer space. Everything is clear and not mushy sounding.
 
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Anyone has any experience with Qi wireless chargers? Anything specific to look out for with them, or can I just go for the Anker stuff as I usually would? Want to put one on the bedside table, and one on the desk at home and at work, now that I have a compatible phone.

Possibly in the car later as well, as soon as I find a good holder/charger compatible with the iGrip/HR mount. That, plus a Bluetooth AUX receiver hidden somewhere inside the dash would allow me to have no phone cables in the interior at all.
 
Why on earth was there such a short USB cable in the package of the USB 3.0 hub I bought, and why on earth are longer USB 3.0 cables in local electronics stores so damn expensive? I bought that hub so I can screw it to the underside of my desk (it has holes specifically for that), but the cable is just 0.5m long so when I screw the hub to my desk I'll need a cable at least twice the length to get to the nearest USB 3.0 port on my PC.

Today I went to an electronics store in the mall I went anyway, and the cheapest USB 3.0 A to Micro B cable longer than 1m was 14 Euros :blink: - online at a german shop you can get a 1.8m braided cable with gold contacts (not that I'd need braided or gold contacts) for not even 5 Euros including shipping...

I'll ask my colleague who orders the stuff for the company I work for on Monday if he can order an inexpensive cable the next time he orders at a shop which has reasonable prices...
 
I don?t know if Monoprice ships to you but, I?m sure they?d have it cheaper.
 
Looking through monoprice, these ribbon driver bookshelf speakers look to be a perfect solution to add rear speakers to my current 2.1 set up in the basement.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10904&cs_id=1090407&p_id=24739&seq=1&format=2

Being $50, I won't feel bad screwing in eye bolts and do this:




I have this hard on for doing a concert style set up with "flying" speakers and I haven't found speakers I would want to immediately screw into the housing to. Sure, I could wall mount them but, then I would have to settle for where they would go. Since my ceiling is tongue ingrooved (only heard that spoken so, sorry for spelling!) wood planks, I figure a few pounds of speaker would hold. If It doesn't or the wood bows real bad, I can secure it by the floor joists.

Also, having a ribbon driver for a "tweeter" is much better in my experience. You can get much louder without it hurting you ears (I'm sure it's still damaging) and still retain incredible clarity. How one audio buddy told me it works is, the ribber driver sort of "tickles" the air rather than compress it. Somehow that translate to better.
 
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Why on earth was there such a short USB cable in the package of the USB 3.0 hub I bought, and why on earth are longer USB 3.0 cables in local electronics stores so damn expensive? I bought that hub so I can screw it to the underside of my desk (it has holes specifically for that), but the cable is just 0.5m long so when I screw the hub to my desk I'll need a cable at least twice the length to get to the nearest USB 3.0 port on my PC.

Today I went to an electronics store in the mall I went anyway, and the cheapest USB 3.0 A to Micro B cable longer than 1m was 14 Euros :blink: - online at a german shop you can get a 1.8m braided cable with gold contacts (not that I'd need braided or gold contacts) for not even 5 Euros including shipping...

I'll ask my colleague who orders the stuff for the company I work for on Monday if he can order an inexpensive cable the next time he orders at a shop which has reasonable prices...

Glad to know this phenomenon is not exclusive to the US. The cheapest cable at at physical Best Buy location is usually around $20.
 
That's what Amazon prime was there for before they added the video crap and jacked up the price, and invented "plus" items.. I ordered so many 3? cables and adapters overnight from Amazon over the years.. now I go to eBay for that, since they're usually shipping for free too. Amazon mainly killed it's prime customer in me with the fuckery that is plus items..
 
That's what Amazon prime was there for before they added the video crap and jacked up the price, and invented "plus" items.. I ordered so many 3? cables and adapters overnight from Amazon over the years.. now I go to eBay for that, since they're usually shipping for free too. Amazon mainly killed it's prime customer in me with the fuckery that is plus items..

Plus items? That the same as add-on items where you have to tag them on to an existing order? I always wait until I need to make an order, hasn't been an issue yet.

In other news it looks like one of my HDMI switches shit the bed, had trouble with artefacts on the TV so messed around with all of the cables and somewhere along the line it looks like the switch died. I have a spare so no big deal. I also realised that I've had by Sony SBH-80 headset for over a year now and it's been well worth the money. Looks like they've discontinued it and the prices for whatever stock remains appear to have gone up.
 
To be honest, I was hoping to get at least a Radeon T-shirt when I purchased a Vega 64 Liquid.
 
Any recommendation for 2.1 or 2.0 PC speakers at around 100EUR? I mostly use headphones with my desktop, so I don't need something very fancy but they should sound decent and to not take much space on my desk. I was tempted by Logitech's Z533 speakers, but I tried 2 of them in stores and both had static noise(quite faint, but it was there) when pausing music... and reading some reviews on the store's page it seems to be a common problem with them.

I'm happy with my Jamo DS4. 2.0 with bluetooth, all the electronic gubbins built into the right speaker. They were 199? last winter, though.

The only annoyance is you have to have them paired to something, otherwise they'll be in pairing mode with a red-blue-red-blue-red-blue blinky light all the time.

Harmon Kardon Sound Sticks. They look like they belong on an early 2000s Apple Mac desktop system but, I do remember them sounding good.

I seem to recall you could get the subwoofer separately as a USB connected accessory for the iMac G3. Called iSub, obviously.
 
I?m not nerdy enough to wear a cpu/gpu brand on a shirt lol.

I do have a barracuda networks shirt I got from work but it doesn?t scream ?TECHNOLOGY?
 
Embrace your inner Kip Dynamite!
 
Any recommendation for 2.1 or 2.0 PC speakers at around 100EUR? I mostly use headphones with my desktop, so I don't need something very fancy but they should sound decent and to not take much space on my desk. I was tempted by Logitech's Z533 speakers, but I tried 2 of them in stores and both had static noise(quite faint, but it was there) when pausing music... and reading some reviews on the store's page it seems to be a common problem with them.



I could say that about entry/mid level Asus routers as well. In february I bought an ASUS AC1200G+ that was randomly rebooting at least once a day, I returned it and replaced it with an Asus RT-AC58U which works fine and I'm pleased with it, no random reboots or connection drops. In the mean time I also got a cheaper Asus(can't remember the model) router for my parents that kept dropping connections almost daily... that one got replaced with a D-Link router, similar in price, that works with no problems. So 2 out of 3 Asus routers, that I tried this year, were duds. I will avoid them in the future.

I have this set of Edifier powered speakers doing 2.0 duties at my workstation
https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1280T-Powered-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B016P9HJIA

Sound great for the $.
 
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