PiHut’s Maker Advent Calendar – Day One

In my previous video overview of the PiHut’s Maker Advent Calendar I explained that there were only 12 “draws” to open even though traditionally there are 24 days leading up to Christmas. I assume that this was a cost related decision. So I will be opening up one every other day and posting a short video of the contents. Here is the first video and below that is a parts list and more information. Enjoy!

Day one included the following:

  • 1x Raspberry Pi Pico H
  • 1x Half-size breadboard
  • 1x 1m Micro-USB Cable

There is also a comprehensive page on the PiHut page … Read the rest

The failed Kickstarter that’s still a partial success

There is much to like about UK plugs – for a start they never fall out of sockets under the weight of the plug as so many US chargers seem to but they are big and bulky. This was something that Mu looked to address with their innovative folding charger.

Back in February 2018 Mu launched a Kickstarter campaign to deliver the “World’s Thinnest 45W International Fast Charger” which was successfully delivered August 2019.

In October 2019 Mu were back on Kickstarter again this time to bring to market the “Next Generation 63W Dual USB Type-C Wall Charger”. What happened … Read the rest

PiHut Advent Calendar

When I was a lad my advent calendar was a bit of carboard with a Christmas scene printed on it with numbered doors that folded back to reveal a Christmas image. There was no chocolate or other delight behind the door and this bit of cardboard religiously came out every Christmas.

How times have changed and now advent calendars are clearly big business. I don’t normally do advent calendars but when I saw this one advertised from the PiHut I thought that I would give it a go.

It arrived this morning and while I knew that it was going … Read the rest

What to do when your Scanner is no longer Supported

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you will know that I am a fairly early adopter for new technologies regardless of whether they are hardware or software. Sometimes that works well, other times not so much.

I’ve had and loved a Fujitsu Scansnap S1500M for many years now and have happily been scanning my paperwork into Evernote with it. However, more recently I had been getting dire warnings from MacOS that at some point in the future the Scansnap software would stop working. With the arrival of MacOS Catalina that day arrived and instantly (albeit with … Read the rest

The Paperlike2 for iPad

If there is any gadget related job worse than cleanly applying a screen protector to a device I don’t know what it is. So it was with mixed emotions when my Paperlike2 arrived in the post this morning.

Paperlike2 is yet another Kickstarter project but one that had a higher chance of success as it it the follow-up to, of course, Paperlike. Basically Paperlike is an iPad screen protector that adds a slightly course layer on top of the screen making it more, well, paper like, and better for writing and drawing.

Application

But before you can get to the … Read the rest

My Everyday Carry (edc)

Everyday Carry, as defined by wikipedia, are useful items that are consistently carried on person every day. It has become something of a movement with people showing off their own edc which, in many cases regrettably, seems to include a knife.

Always one to jump on a bandwagon when it is passing I thought that I would present to you my minimalist edc which you can see above and includes:

A couple of these items (Spooly and Mu) have been sourced from Kickstarter projects. I have to … Read the rest

HyperCube: Auto Photo Backup USB Device

The HyperCube is another Kickstarter project but unlike the tardy Spooly this one went from completion on 16th July to delivery in just eight weeks which must be some sort of record for projects I have backed.

The HyperCube’s premise is simple. It’s a USB dongle that allows you to backup multiple device’s photos and videos to some connected media while simultaneously charging. That media could be a microSD card, a USB stick or even an external hard drive. The idea is that it makes backup simple and could replace services such as iCloud thereby saving you money.

The Dongle

Read the rest

Spooly – the Long Kickstarter Wait

I’ve written about Kickstarter on numerous occasions highlighting both the successes and the failures for me on the crowdfunding platform. Today I wanted to talk about the successful failure that is Spooly.

On June 9th 2016 the self-styled “World’s First Magnetic Charging Cables” was fully funded securing £70,000 more than the project goal. What had attracted me to the Spooly was the size, little more than the connector and a short cable, and that it would stay neatly together using a magnetic cable.

The Long, Long Wait

I handed over my money and waited. And waited. And waited. In … Read the rest

KeySmart the Tile Enabled Key Organiser

Over the years I have blown hot and cold in my views on Tile, the bluetooth dongle that you attached to bag, keys and other items to keep track of them.

Tile, a History

I was early in and was frustrated by the slow time for order to delivery – over a year at the time of writing this post in 2014.

The fundamental flaw of the original Tile was that the battery was baked in and so when that died you were left with a useless piece of plastic. Tile did offer a replacement facility but the … Read the rest