After a while all of these Android TV boxes begin to look and sound alike – but are they? What about picture quality? I just received a new Android 9 TV box from Banggood – and we did not get off to the best start. On opening the box, hidden…
Skype Alternatives – DISCORD is the Winner
I am sick up to here with websites telling you “the best alternatives” while not allowing discussion – in other words, thinly disguised adverts. I’ve been a Skype user since long before Microsoft came along and ruined it. Recently we’ve been looking for FREE alternatives to the free Skype that…
Helpful Engineering Volunteers Against Covid-19
I’ve been asked today by Aidan Ruff – many of you will have come across the name of my friend and ex-business partner of many years as we work on projects together and so when he asked me to put a word in for a volunteer group called “Helpful Engineering”…
A Trip Down Memory Lane
Nothing beats virus-related-boredom like a trip down memory lane. This morning I got an email from Japan – specifically from game journalist Koji Fukuyama. Now, I get stuff in the mail all the time and I’m VERY wary of people asking questions out of the blue, not relating to the…
Teckin SP23 and SP27 Smart Plugs
In 2019 I wrote here (now updated) about the Teckin SP23 (for British plugs and sockets) Smart plugs and commented that whether this ends well or not will depend on the company. Well, they wrote back to me on Nov 4, 2019. It would seem they have binned power monitoring…
ZemiSmart Smart WiFi LED Table Lamp
This blog entry will be short as there is not much to this desk light. This ZemiSmart offering is controlleable by WIFI or locally, costs maybe £30 on Amazon and – why would you pay that for a desk light? Well, for one thing you have full control over colour…
Guudgo 21 LED and 47 LED External IP Cameras
I have in my hands two cameras called Guudgo – one has 21 LEDs and the other has 47 LEDs. For reasons well beyond me the 21 LED camera uses Android APP called “YCC365 Plus” while the 47 LED camera uses downloadbale Android APP “V380 Pro” – there will no…
More Node-Red Dashboard Success
This is a blog entry from 2016 that I’ve just updated.. In an even earlier entry the subject of Node-Red Dashboard, you’ll see I can hide that top menu if needed (the blue menu is great on a phone – not much use on a thermostat)… and then I discovered…
Instar IN-9008 Full HD MQTT Wired/WIFI IP Camera
In February 2020 I received a very nice IP camera from INSTAR Deutschland (Germany) GmbH – the IN-9008 Full HD camera (1920×1080 which has turned out to be a winner). I’ve had several emails with support and comments from Mike Polinowski of Instar about the “first ever” MQTT IP Camera.…
Geekcreit 3.5″ LCD Touch Screen, Case and Pen Kit
Just a brief mention of the Geekcreit 3.5″ TFT LCD Touch Screen+Protective Case+ Touch Pen Kit http://bit.ly/2qydycW for the Raspberry Pi – Banggood sent this to me a while ago – if you are planning to use an RPI3 and need a small screen this is a good an option…
GL iNET MT300N V2 Mini Router
Update March 2020: Back in 2018, I bought this low-cost Mini-router (Mango) without having a clear idea of how to use it, other than to somehow try to get past the RIDICULOUS GEO-restrictions that providers such as the BBC and others put on their TV content. My MT300N (Mango) is…
Cheaper Raspberry Pi 4 , New Flasher and More
Update: Raspberry Pi now has it’s own image downloader and flasher – https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ called “Raspberry Pi Imager” – Note separate links for Windows, MAC and Ubuntu respectively within the above – odd that they chose Ubuntu and not Debian – given that Raspbian is based on the latter – but…
Meross Home Control
Recently I received several IOT units from a company called Meross (designed in California, made in China I noted on one of the boxes) including the UK version of their MSS310 power-monitoring Smart Plug, their Smart Radiator Thermostatic starter kit and othe items. Now, before I launch into this, I…
A quiet refurbishing day
Recently I’ve been catching up on my backlog of reviews and you could be forgiven for thinking that’s what I generally do. Far from it, today I’ve had a quiet day refurbishing. A couple of weeks ago, in order to do some testing before sending some kit off to Spain,…
Wireless Video Camera Doorbell with APP
Wireless Video Camera Doorbell for Home Security or to give it the full title from the Banggood website, Wireless Camera Video Doorbell Home Security WiFi Smartphone Remote Video Rainproof. I love it. Late in 2019 I received this wireless (433Mhz for the bell, WIFI for the app) doorbell and to…
Owon ODP3033 Bench Triple Power Supply
Updated Feb 29, 2020: And why would anyone write about a power supply? Not the most interesting subject, but like many boring things such as backups, essential. I created a short video several weeks ago about the Owon P4603 – a single channel job of particular interest as it has…
AliExpress Sinilink WIFI USB Controller
Today’s project for the day is the ESP8285-based “Sinilink WIFI-USB Mobile Phone Remote Controller” (or Sonoff for USB” as others have called it) – which handles up to 5 amps and can use a USB connection of from 3.5 to 20v (I’ve only tested 5v). Later I will describe how…
Bakeey E70 Waterproof ECG, Blood Oxygen and BP Smartwatch
I’ve updated this blog entry about the Bakeey E70 IP68 Waterproof Wristband ECG+PPG Heart Rate Blood Oxygen Monitor Smart Watch (which looks lovely) as I think it deserves a second glance because it has now been on my wrist for 7 solid days and the battery is still at 68%.…
Raspberry Pi 4 and SSD – Miracles at Last?
I’ve just been watching a video by Andreas Speiss – and I agree with him, USB boot on the Raspberry Pi has taken FAR too long and we are NOT a tiny minority in favour of USB boot, contrary to comments in the Pi forums. The PI3 had USB2 boot…
Blitzwolf BW-HL2 Smart Watch
If like me, you are aware of Blitwolf (actually the name often takes me back to “Wolfensten”) you will probably think of battery packs or even WIFI-controlled power sockets or adaptors…. but here we have a Blitzwolf BW-HL2 WATCH. A classy looking job with “leather” look strap, default classical-looking analog…