Tag: Gadgets

Preface

I’ve been using my Linksys E4200 router for about eight years and was quite happy with its very robust operation. However, any hardware is destined to get outdated over time.

Firstly, as soon as we’d moved from our former apartment into a three-storey house it became evident the Wi-Fi coverage was suboptimal. In some remote corner you’d sometimes hardly get any connection at all. Secondly, it didn’t support modern IEEE standards such as 802.11ac, which was also hurting the bandwidth.

Thus eventually I’ve decided to go for a mesh Wi-Fi system.

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TGIF — time for wine (and a review)!

I’ve been using the electric corkscrew Xiaomi Mijia for more than a year now and I’m pretty happy with it.

It features a rechargeable battery, which means there’s one more gadget to charge. However, I dare say you won’t need to charge it frequently unless you drink wine a crate a day.

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Today I’ve received a parcel from the almighty AliExpress. A pretty puzzling one.

You’d be puzzled, too. What do you think an “inflatable treasure” is?

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The Dutch will never stop to impress me with their ingenuity.

Being sustainable is now trending in Europe—and in Holland in particular. So in June 2019 my client, NS, has installed a special kind of swing at the Utrecht Centraal railway station.

This new attraction was presented during the “Sustainability Week” (Duurzame Week), and it can charge your mobile phone!

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I like Xiaomi gadgets and own quite a bunch of them.

I’ve been using their thermo-hygrometer Xiaomi Mijia for about a year now. This neat gadget provides temperature and relative humidity readings.

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Recently I’ve come across a couple of USB cables of Chinese origin (what else).

Cables that are a real innovation in my view. Carrying just regular USB Type A or Micro USB connectors, they can be plugged in both ways!

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My most bulky gadget needed an upgrade. I’ve been a devoted Toyota Prius fan ever since my first leased car. Later I’ve owned another one, which almost lost a wheel once. The latter turned eight years old last March so I’ve decided to trade it for something more modern.

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I’m not really into reviewing gadgets, but in this case it’s worth doing it. Today I’d like to review Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro HD by the well-known Chinese make Xiaomi.

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I’ve stumbled upon a cute and convenient DC adapter the other day, with four USB charging ports (up to 4800 mA total), a power socket, and a tablet stand. All of that for less than € 15.

A bit later turned out there’s a pitfall, too: it produced annoying whining noise. The noise was quiet but clearly audible in silence, especially while the adapter was unloaded.

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Being quite happy with my 75 inch whopper Samsung UE75HU7500, the only thing I wanted to do about it was giving it ambient backlighting. When watching TV in complete darkness your eyes get quickly tired because of the stark contrast between the bright screen and its dark surroundings. Even though this device features an ambient light sensor, which is used to automatically adjust the screen brightness, the contrast is still all too harsh.

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