The good folks at SmartDisplayer Technology Co have sent me a six colour eInk badge to play about with. Here's a quick video and then a walk-through of its features. You can also view SmartDisplayer's official video. The Badge It is a single block of plastic. There are no seams, screws, or rough edges. The ePaper appear right on the surface of the badge, there's no recessing or anything to indicate that this is a high-tech gadget. It uses their "cold lamination" technology which creates …
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The gadget wizards at Benfei know that I'm a sucker for any sort of USB-C gadget. So when they offered to send me their micro-hub to review, how could I refuse? It is dinky! Here's what you get for your tenner USB-C PowerDelivery HDMI USB-A Frankly, I'm impressed that they managed to fit that much in! If you'll excuse my lacklustre photo-editing skills, here are the two output ports: This is what it looks like plugged into a laptop: The spec says it will use about 10 Watts for…
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The good folks at Benfei know that I'm always losing my USB Thumb Drives. They're just too damn small. I crave something bigger and harder to lose. Not as huge as a CD Drive, but not as small as a MiniDisc. Something chunky and satisfying, with a slim elegance. So they've sent me their SATA to USB-C drive enclosure. It's a cute little box, with a built-in USB-C cable. The cable has one of those weird adapters which lets you convert it back to USB-A. Personally, I think we should force…
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Sure, WiFi is basically fine. But sometimes you need the raw power, high speed, and utter reliability of Ethernet. Billions of packets hurtling down twisted copper pair in order to deliver your data - that's what it is all about, right? But - alas! - laptops don't have Ethernet ports these days. And mobile phones tend to shun them as well. Who can save us from the tyranny of multi-GigaHertz radiowaves?! The good folk at Benfei have sent me their latest gadget and, somehow, I need to make 300…
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The good folks at Benfei have sent me a laptop stand to review. You know the drill, a few pieces of metal, some hinges, and rubber feet. But this stand holds a little more interest for the gadget lover - a built in USB-C hub! What do you get for your £35? USB-C power input - capable of taking 100W of PowerDelivery. A built-in USB-C cable to connect to your laptop. HDMI port which supports 4k @ 60Hz. Four USB-A ports. And that's it! There isn't any DisplayPort, no Ethernet, no sound, no …
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The good folks at Windfall Energy have sent me one of their interesting new plugs to beta test. OK, an Internet connected smart plug. What's so interesting about that? Our Windfall Plug turns on at the optimal times in the middle of the night to charge and power your devices with green energy. Ah! Now that is interesting. The proposition is brilliantly simple: Connect the smart-plug to your WiFi. Plug your bike / laptop / space heater into the smart-plug. When electricity is cleanest,…
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I was packing for FOSDEM when I suddenly realised that I'd lost my clicker. Disaster! Here's a shortlist of what I need in a presentation remote: Ring style to fit on my finger USB-C Works on Linux Frickin' lazor beams! The only one I could find which matched all that was this Voviggol unit. Ring Here's how it looks hooked to my hand: The ring is stretchy and will fit around the thickest thumb. It grips the finger tight and didn't fly off even when I was gesticulating wildly. USB-C …
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Android is belatedly getting a Bluetooth tracker feature which doesn't rely on proprietary apps. Long-time readers will know that back in 2016 I reviewed both the Chipolo and the TinTag. Both of those were adequate at finding things which were in range of your phone, but hopeless at finding lost items - because they required everyone to have a special app installed. But now, under pressure from Apple's incredible Find My network, Google has started rolling out a similar service to modern…
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"Mirror Mirror on the wall. What's the hottest gadget of them all?" Do you need a mirror which is connected to the Internet? Yes. Obviously. What's the point of having anything which doesn't have an IP address‽ The good folks at Infrared Group don't want me shivering while I blog, so they've sent me their latest Far Infrared heating panel which, obviously, is also a smart mirror. 350W of heat, enough for a 6m room, and a cool little display to tell you the weather. Let's put it through its p…
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While I was at OggCamp, I noticed a few people had repurposed supermarket eInk shelf displays as name-tags. Nifty! I wondered if there was a retail version I could hack around with. I found the HSN371. It is a colour eInk screen with a lanyard hole. The picture quality is amazing given the technology, the update speed is acceptable, and the supplied app is crap. Let's take a look! Picture Quality Colour eInk isn't designed to be as vibrant as an OLED display. But that's not why you get…
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People like to send me gadgets to review. My motto is "if it has a USB-C port, I'll review it!" So the good people at Flexispot have sent me a chair with a USB-C port. Fair play! This is the Lotus XR6 Recliner Chair - the electric variant of the XC6. Here's what it looks like when assembled: And once fully reclined: Not completely flat, but good enough for a quick snooze! Tech Specs There's both a USB-C and a USB-A port. I measured the power output using an in-line meter. I wasn't …
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Ever since phone manufacturers killed off the headphone jack, there has been an epidemic of people blasting sounds from their shitty speakers in public. Music, TikTok, phone calls - it seems some people want the whole world to share their sonic experience. Forget that noise! I have a passive-aggressive death-wish and want to hand out free headphones to people annoying me on public transport. Time for our-lord-and-saviour USB-C! With Apple finally succumbing to the inevitable it should be…
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