Tag Archives: gadget

Rabbit R1: First Impressions

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, Technology, , , , , ,
Rabbit R1

Rabbit R1

First impressions of the Rabbit R1 are not great. The industrial design of the device makes me want to love it, but simple tasks fail in ways that quickly frustrate.

In no particular order, here are the stumbles so far.

Website

The Rabbit website looks pleasant, but the company chose a smaller than average font size that is painful to read. Wish they had favored accessibility over looking cool.

WiFi

WiFi currently sucks. The only way I can get back to a previously joined network on the R1 is to forget the saved password. To add insult to injury, tapping away on the virtual keyboard is torturous (small virtual keys, close together). The device supports Bluetooth, but only for speakers and headsets – not Bluetooth keyboards.

Connected Services

Of the four connected services (Music: Spotify, Ride Share: Uber, Food: DoorDash, and Images: Midjourney), only one I immediately want to use – music. I have a Spotify account, which I can connect to via the Rabbithole portal, but it never works. I connect, I test, it does not work, I delete and retry… I keep on seeing the “I could not start up the Spotify rabbit” error message.

Journaling

The journal feature (saved voice notes, images, etc.) looks like it might have some value, but only if I can easily get on WiFi. Otherwise, just using my ‘phone is the way to go.

Another Genuinely Useful Gadget: The Mu

Gadgets, Travel, , , , ,
The Mu

The Mu

I will be heading back to the U.K. for two weeks later this year, and I was getting some of gear together that I intend to take with me. Amidst the various cables and adapters was The Mu. This is another genuinely useful gadget. The U.K. electrical plug is an impressive piece of technology, but has two notable features.

  1. More painful then Lego to step on barefoot.
  2. Cumbersome to pack, with a tendency to scratch or destroy everything else it is packed with.

The Mu makes the U.K. electrical packable with some amazing folding action.

I have the original, but I am looking out for the new version that sports two USB ports, with enough output to properly charge a tablet.

Pocket Tripod: A Genuinely Useful Gadget

Gadgets, Mobile, Travel, , , , ,
Pocket Tripod

At first glance, an ordinary piece of plastic

I will cheerfully admit to owning more than a few gadgets. Most are a clever idea, but poorly realized and of little longterm value. However, every-so-often you come across something that is genuinely useful….

Pocket Tripod

A few twist and turns. Now we have an iPhone stand…

Last year, I supported the “Pocket Tripod” on KickStarter. This was to be a credit-card sized piece of plastic, that twisted and contorted into an iPhone stand. Typically, the travel iPhone stands are frustrating – small, lightweight, but ultimately useless.

Pocket Tripod

Pull it apart for widescreen use.

This particular gadget (the Pocket Tripod) is actually well-machined, and does the job as it should. On those occasions when I need to prop up the iPhone on a desk (to use with a Bluetooth keyboard) or to play music, this does the job. Very easy to carry around, and a particularly ingenious design. I recommend it.

Innovative Advertising

Gadgets, Internet Marketing, Online Learning, , , ,
Stukent Advertising

Open, and magically a video starts playing automatically.

I received a rather nifty package at work yesterday, one of the the more interesting examples of advertising I have seen for some time…

In the same way that some birthday cards play a message or tune as you open them, this mailer started to play an advertising video. A hidden magnet detects whether the cover is open or closed, and plays the video on a loop when open.

 

I was impressed.

Ad

The mysterious “Ad”

I don’t really have need of the service (stukent.com/special), but I started to experiment with the package. At the bottom of the mailer I could see a Mini-USB port. Connecting a cable allowed me to see that the device showed up as external storage (Ad), with a video directory. Providing I replaced the existing video file there with nothing larger than 97.4 MB, I could play my own videos on the device. Neat.

When I have more time to kill, I am going to cut away the cardboard exterior, and see how I can repurpose this. Possibly in a small frame. Could make for a clever animated wallhanging.

Thank you mysterious stranger for sending me this. I hope you get some business out of this…

WiFi Express Adapter Model Number: F8277

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, , , ,
WiFi Adapter

WiFi Adapter

I took a minor gamble this week and ordered a “WiFi Express Adapter Model Number: F8277.” This is an unbranded USB Ethernet adapter that looks suspiciously like an Apple USB Ethernet adapter, but also works like an Airport Express (minus the audio out and printer/drive sharing).

I have unpacked, but have not tested the device. The printed instructions are not particularly illuminating:

WiFi Adapter Screenshot

WiFi Adapter Screenshot

Good to know use in the Pub is expected…

 

 

Resuscitating (and repurposing) the old Nokia N900

Internet, Misc, Mobile, , , , , ,
Nokia N900

Nokia N900

I migrated to an Apple iPhone 5 a while back. Even though the ‘phone is lacking a keyboard (which my old Nokia N900 had) I am fairly happy with the device. However,  I sort of need for a portable speaker, and rather than buy a Jawbone JAMBOX (or equivalent) I think I can repurpose the N900.

Over on Maemo.org Sabrog has a useful piece of script for activating the earphone socket as a line-in:

Speaker ON

#!/bin/sh
amixer -c0 set PCM 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Right PGA Bypass Mixer HP Switc' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Bypass Mixer HP' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line1L' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line2L' on
amixer -c0 set 'HP PGA Bypass' 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Speaker Function' On
echo "Speaker is ON"

Speaker OFF

#!/bin/sh
amixer -c0 set PCM 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Right PGA Bypass Mixer HP Switc' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Bypass Mixer HP' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line1L' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line2L' off
amixer -c0 set 'HP PGA Bypass' 0%
echo "Speaker is OFF"

Thanks Sabrog!