If I hadn’t just had to buy a replacement phone, I would seriously consider buying the same thing. I have an older “dumb” Roomba and always liked the idea of the self-emptying ones but can’t justify the price of it…this one looks just as good and that refurb price is damn nice…hrm
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Now that it’s arrived and has been fully set up…Replacement phone get! Replaced my Pixel 3 XL with a Pixel 5 since the battery in the 3 appears to have started possibly swelling and the backplate is starting to separate out from the case.
Getting used to a smaller phone again is going to be a challenge, this one’s probably a good at least half-inch shorter on screen real-estate and it just feels tiny after huge phones for a while.
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I’m dreading the day that my Mi Max 3 dies. I’ll probably have to get a small LTE tablet after that.
Oh, one of my molars cracked in half and fell off last night, so I should have shiny new tooth by this afternoon.
I hear you! Yet I now find a bigger screen is better as I can have a larger font.
Eyesight’s not what it were.
I’m getting old.
Do they do eyeball replacements with bionic equivalents yet?
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I’ve read some stories and they’re actually getting close, but right now the resolution is extremely poor. I think one story (from several years ago) was akin to something like a 16 x 16 grid… and one recipient was still thankful for that. I think we’re also seeing miniaturization issues. A good camera is easy to make small these days, but the method to get data to the optical nerve is difficult.
I feel like the one used by G’kar from B5 is probably realistic: he deals with it being the wrong color for a while and is still has to be removed to charge regularly. It does work wirelessly which has some advantages…
G’Kar, the prosthetic eye Dr. Franklin gave you. Where is it?
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I just dropped $1000 on a new camera and some gear. It’s the Sony ZV-1 and should help me to get better product shots, short video clips, maybe do some vlogging and product development short films. The thought that I’ve put into this as a central point for everything I can do is enormous. I sure hope it works out.
It doesn’t look like much (disregard the dead cat on top), but it is such an amazing powerhouse of a camera that it should really help me out a lot. It does time lapses. It does slow motion. It has amazing sound and does product auto-focus better than anything I’ve ever seen. It is incredibly pre-programmable. I’ve ordered a designed-to-fit camera cage so I can attach other goodies onto it. Example: the battery is pretty small, so I can put a battery pack on it to be able to take 4K video all day long.
I suppose I should invest in storage cards, now.
https://www.sony.ca/en/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/zv-1#product_details_default
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Looks more like a baby tribble on top. 
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Tribbles are troublesome!
This is not the ideal/final configuration, but it looks damn cool.
This is my new Sony ZV-1 with the wood handled SmallRig camera cage and battery pack clamp, and a Vilim VL 120 RGB light box. I’ve got a lot more parts and stuff coming in for this beauty, so probably a few more reconfiguration photos on the way.
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What’s with the tribble on top?
Well, tribbles give off a soothing sound which helps to mask any wind noise.
We also got a new camera, a Canon EOS 2000D which, because they like to confuse, id part of a family which includes a 200D, a D2000, and probably more.
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I bought a new winter jacket today.
Yes, I know.
It was on sale.
$100 instead of $210.
I already have all the batteries I’ll ever need to run this, so I could get it as a ‘bare tool’.
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I had to get a new mouse.
I bought a new router and media converter to replace the awful device that Bell sent me with my fiber subscription. Unfortunately, the new router (ASUS RT-AX58U) seems to interfere with the Bluetooth channels. As soon as I plugged it in, the Microsoft Precision mouse I bought a year ago stopped working. The Logitech wireless keyboard w/trackpad kept going, though. I guess the RF plug works well enough.
So, I got the Logitech vertical mouse that should work off the same device. I like the vertical design, I don’t need another plug, and it recharges with USB-C. Whew!
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MSI GF65 Gaming Notebook - 15.6" screen, Intel Core i7, RTX2060 video card, 16GB RAM. Only a 512 GB SSD, but I have an external drive so that’s not a big deal. I got it mostly to run Photoshop and Lightroom - my old one just can’t handle them. And I’ll be using it to write, of course.
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The BAP (Big Ass Phone) is giving me grief lately. Sure, the battery lasts almost a week, but the problems are starting to pile up. It’s a Chinese phone (Xiaomi Mi Max 3) that I’ve had to load a custom version of Android onto. That was an adventure by itself. The camera doesn’t work really well. It doesn’t have NFC. Because it’s a rooted device, I can’t use my credit/debit card scanner with it for obvious security concerns. If I’m usening Google Maps for more than 10 minutes at a time, the phone will turn off and boot into the boot loader menu which means I have to restart the phone and get back to Google Maps which can take 4-5 minutes. Not the kind of time you want to spend fiddling with a phone when you’re driving and don’t know where you’re going. Yes, I was safe and pulled over to do that.
So.
I decided to replace it with this:
It should fit in my satchel, it’s only a year old, has a big screen, LTE, can hold a 1TB SD card, NFC, headphone jack, programmable buttons, POGO pins if I want to find commercial addons, has the Galaxy pen, is ultra durable, with a good size battery.
I think we’ll be very happy together.
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Just ensure that the “use hardware acceleration” boxes are ticked in the settings to harness the power of the GPU.
My son has the previous generation of your new shiny toy. I have a 14" MSI business laptop and I love it. No GPU, but it’s an Intel i7 EVO platform and it is stupid fast.
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Cool, thanks! I’m hoping to play with it this weekend and really run it through some paces.
I bought the tablet through CDW Canada. A reputable company.
I got an email today requesting me to pay them by wire transfer before the transaction could be completed. That sounded sketchy, so I checked around and this is a standard business practice for them. Even though they have a .ca website, all of their business and shipping is handled from their home company.
SO, I decided to check around. I went to the Samsung website and was actually able to buy it there for a lot less, with bonus perks, free shipping, I can use my credit card so I avoid extra steps and bank fees, and it will ship out immediately.
I guess I couldn’t buy it from my work computer yesterday because the corporation has certain things locked out. On my personal machine, no problems.
About a hundred dollars less and direct sales from the manufacturer. Plus, Air Miles!
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