And what’s a Shelly Button 1? Not to be confused with the sadly now defunct Shelly Button which was a white plastic case to put around the original Shelly One or similar. I have of course used the Ikea Zigbee Smart button (remember the nice plain button that they stopped…
Category: General
AliExpress RGB vs Athom RGB Lamps
This post came from my need-to-know why AliExpress-sourced RGB bulbs (E27) were less than half the price of Athom bulbs of the same power. The Athom bulb in the link above is one of several of their 15w models I use around the house and they are pre-programmed with Tasmota…
Is ChatGPT the End of Creative Writing and Blogging?
I’m quite new to ChatGPT 3 but have played with several other packages capable of writing code, creating general text and more (I’ve been fascinated with AI before the term was in general use). I have of course played with the various AI programs that create art from simple text…
Blog Newsletter – Starting from Scratch
Hi everyone and let me start by apologising to the many of who you have at one time or another genuinely signed up for the weekly news brief due to a phenomenal amount of spam which started to worry my service provider, I’ve had to wipe the large subscriber list…
Local Bytes Tasmota Smart Plugs and Lights
Local Bytes are a company who make, amongst other things, Smart Plugs and Smart RGB+CT lamps (E27, Bayonet etc.) which come preconfigured with Tasmota – the free firmware for ESP-based devices about which I regularly rant in here. Local Bytes is a small British company based in Oxfordshire – that…
A Brand New Year is Upon Us
Happy New Year everyone – I’m sure most of us have high hopes for a better year this year. 2022 has been a mixed year here at tech.scargill.net, my old favourite Banggood have not been having a good time and have been very quiet, meanwhile I’ve made all sorts of…
Christmas 2022 General Goodies
I’ve just arrived in the UK to a shedload of samples and stuff I’ve ordered from Amazon etc… first off – a lady over here called Marianne Wilson (her UK-based company is called PRotocol) sent me a “Defender door handle alarm” from another UK-based company called Solon Security and is…
Christmas 2022 with New Sonoff Devices (Itead)
I recently arrived in the UK for Christmas to find a bunch of stuff from Sonoff waiting for me – so let’s get into it… for starters, the new WHITE Sonoff NSPanel Pro and the enclosure for desktop operation (model “StandW”). Initial impression? Very Pretty! And here, the initial power…
Zigbee Motion Sensing – Tuya Z20ZL and Aqara P1 Sensors
Last update 12/12/2022 at the end. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Zigbee TUYA Mini-PIR Sensor ZG-204ZL from (in my case) AliExpress – taking a leap of faith – as I wanted initially to see if it was worth turning Alexa Show off overnight. Today the sensor appeared…
Vyze-Link WiFi PTZ Security Camera VYZ-KT5
This is the point where I’d often show you the box, but guess what… the box ended up in the bin.. SO, the camera – full PTZ (i.e. pan and tilt) and the KT5 camera produces a 4MP output with a field angle of 110 degrees. Night vision is claimed…
The Topic of Power Saving and IOT
I regularly use Smart Sockets to save power on various devices – been doing it for years and never given it a second thought. I was just today pondering the fly-killer we run all day every day in our living room. Now, let’s say we have a standard LED UV…
The Ugoos Media TV Box with Android 11 ROCKS
The new Ugoos X4Q Android 11 box (AMLogic S95X4-based unit) looks neat.. I’d love to show it to you completely unopened but the wrapping messes with my camera 🙂 So… Back in April 2022 I reviewed the Ugoos UT8 Pro TV box. That box was quite impressive and has been…
eWeLink Web and using an Old Phone as a Security Camera
As many of you know, I’m always testing Sonoff products – and as such I have their eWeLink APP on my Android phone. I spotted an ad/link this week and just out of boredom (just recovered from Covid and have been playing with gadgets in-between coughing fits) I went off…
The Mi Band 7 from Xiaomi – More Smart Band Updates
Note: Big update October 2022 to the included original June 2022 article – see the end. I’ve written in here several times about my love for the Xiaomi Mi Band range – I’ve had them all and in June 2022 the brand-spanking new Bluedtooth 5.2-based Mi Band 7 arrived on…
Hohem iSteady V2, Samsung S22 Ultra and Video Production
Last update: Dec 16, 2022 – I’ve been playing with the new for Smartphones on my Samsung S22 Ultra phone. First things first, after opening the box, I went off to the Google Play Store and found the HOHEM PRO App. Firstly a small negative to get it out of…
Meross Whole Home Mesh WiFi System MMW120
An interesting title with the assumption of a certain “home” size. I’m confident this mesh WiFi router pair will handle our small-ish home here in Spain – the box claims “Covers up to 300m2” and “Ideal for 1-500Mbps fibre”. It says nothing about 100Mps incoming 4G but then I guess…
Chuwi Larkbox – Windows + Celeron Mini PC – Updated
This is one of those devices you just have to SEE – I’ll do my best. I started this blog entry around October 2020 but checkout the updates toward the end. The (that Banggood link is no longer valid – there is a newer model but it is much more…
Blitzwolf BW-S25 75W Fast Charger
Firstly take a quick look at one of my blog entries from way back from August 2020 – the Blitzwolf BW-S16 75W Fast Charger cost at the time (and I think still is) something like 56 Euros from Banggood (I hesitate to convert that to other currencies due to the…
TOX3 Android 11 TV Box and More
I’ve just finished setting up the new TOX3 TV box currently on pre-sale at AliExpress at a somewhat silly range of price depending on which Ali store you select. Bearing in mind this is brand new in September 2022, I’m guessing I may have a pre-release model – but here…
Another Athom Day
I always get excited when a package arrives from Athom (2025 now branded as IoTorero) Last time it was various ESP-HOME-compatible lamps and I’d previously had some Tasmota-pre-programmed bulbs from them – which now light up my living room and office. I’m not so familiar however with their general smart-home…