A delightful and emotional rendition of three rather different works. Mark-Anthony Turnage's "Three Screaming Popes" was a chaotic cacophony. Wild, bizarre, inventive, and seemingly driven by excess. A fascinating performance, although not one I'll put on in the background. Turnage himself took to the stage to bask in the applause. Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1. Reading the story behind the …
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The good folks at Epomaker know that I love an ergonomic keyboard, so they've sent me their new "Split 70" model to review. This isn't your traditional ergonomic keyboard. Essentially, this is two separate halves joined by a USB-C cable; so you can position it however you like. Here's a quick video showing it in action: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/split-new.mp4 It is …
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I love thermal imaging cameras. They're great for spotting leaking pipes, inefficient appliances, and showing how full a septic tank is. The good folks at Topdon have sent me their latest thermal camera to review - it is specifically designed for spotting wildlife. This is the TS004 Thermal Monocular: Let's put it through its paces! Hardware This is a chunky bit of kit and fits nicely in…
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If I'm being brutally honest, I never really got the appeal of mechanical keyboards. There was always someone in the office who made a godawful racket hammering on their keyboard and then waxed lyrical about the merits of various switches. I'd mostly just dismissed them as cranks. I'm in love with my old Microsoft 4000 ergonomic keyboard. What use could I have a mechanical keyboard festooned with …
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The good folks at Orico have sent me their latest power-strip to review. On the surface, the specs are pretty good - two UK sockets, two USB-C for PowerDelivery, and two USB-A for legacy devices. Let's put it though its paces! Specs Physically, it is a little larger than I was expecting. The two UK sockets are far enough apart to easily get your fingers around the plugs. Similarly, the USB…
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Lander 23 had a few pre-launch glitches, but is now up and running in Woolwich. It is a fun enough experience, but could be a whole lot more with some tweaks. In a team of four, you are split into two groups. One group operates a baffling array of switches and has to direct the other group around a ruined city because of [under developed plot point]. Only by working together can you… well, it i…
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The good folks at SOUNDPEATS have sent me their new "Clip1" headphones to review. They are easily the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. Typically, headphones fall into three broad categories. In ear, like the Apple EarPods. Over ear, like the Beats. Bone Conducting, like the AfterShokz. But these are not typical headphones. These are part of a new category of "cuff" audio. They…
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D'yer remember the eighties? The eighties, eh? Remember 'em? With the Acorn Archimedes an' that? What were we like? Remember them mags what y'got? The computer mags? Wirral the source code? Remember typin' it all in be hand? If yer semicolon were outta place y'd gerra syntax error! And you try telling that to the young people of today, will they believe yer? For those of you born this century,…
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Want to capture video from your phone or console? You could just point a camera at the screen, but a more sensible way to do it is to capture the video directly via USB-C. The good folks at Benfei have sent me another gadget to review! This is a USB-C Video/Audio capture dongle. Plug one end into a device and the other into your computer - it will show up as a USB video capture device. Notice …
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The good folks at Benfei have sent me another gadget to play about with. This one comes in two parts. The first plugs into an screen's HDMI port, the second beams video from your device's USB-C port across the airwaves. Here's what it looks like: But how does it perform? Plug the HDMI into your TV and its USB-A end into a suitable power source (my TV had one nearby). After a few seconds,…
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Historical entities have been sighted in the old village of Lambeth. Are they ghosts? Visions? Or intruders through a crack in time? Join your guides and explore the backwaters and byways that slowly spread over the mysterious marshes of Lambeth. Most walking tours have a guide drag you around the well-known tourist hot-spots while they read out a bit from Wikipedia. Minimum Labyrinth’s tour i…
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At some point around the start of the pandemic, The Algorithm instructed me to listen to music by Rainbow Girls. Who am I to question the ineffable will of the machine? I don't know what it was about their harmonies, slide guitar, and double-bass which tickled my brain, but I was hooked. A few days ago, a different algorithm alerted me to the fact that they were touring the UK - so I snapped up…
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