When I started the blog entry for this new entry-level laser engraver from Ortur, shipped to me by Zbanx, I thoroughly expected to spend half the day putting it together. I’d even thought of doing a video of the assembly process. Well, I was wrong – the Ortur Aufero Laser…
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 ZemoSmart. So, the Zemismart company sent me one of their nice warm/cool E27 lamps and a…
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 Bakeey U98 1.7″ Full Touch-Screen Smart Watch (to use…
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
No, this is not new. Back in October 2019, Banggood sent this little, inexpensive WiFi Escam auto-tracking PTZ pan-and-tilt 1080p night vision camera 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…
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 iself 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 here’s the Banggood link for this interesting little gadget. I know I’m a little…
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. The important stuff is all over the web – Bluetooth 5.0, noise cancellation and control touch button. If you look back over my blog (check the link above), I’m…
X96 X4 Amlogic S905X4 Android 11 TV Box
The latest Android box from Banggood 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…
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
Ok, I admit, I needed a snappy title to make a water cleaner interesting. 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…
An Aqara Week and New Headphones
It’s been a good week for gadgets so far. Here we go… SuperEq sent me their new SuperEQ S1 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…
ESP32 Development Trials – The Sunday to Thursday Sermon
That is, as in “trials and tribulations”. I’m busy getting myself familiar with the ESP32 and ESPHOME to see how far I can push these devices now that the price is not a LOT more than the ESP8266. Regular readers will know that years ago I and others developed “ESP-GO”,…
Sonoff NSPANEL – I Like It
The new Sonoff NSPanel has been sitting on my desk for some time now, awaiting the go-ahead to put it on the blog. It has now been released on Kickstarter so you may wish to take a look! And here’s a photo. The NSPANEL looks great and out of the…