Review – Terence Eden’s Blog

Gadget Review: Tozo NC9 Pro Bluetooth Headphones ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 12:34:17 +0000

The most interesting thing about these headphones isn't the headphones; it's their case.

The good folks at Tozo have sent me a pair of their new ear-blasters. They're a fairly standard pair of in-ear headphones. Sound quality is good, noise cancelling is excellent, battery life is fine. You know, all pretty standard. But what's actually a little bit special is the charging case.

As well providing charging to the cans, it has this cute little full-colour display!

Which is also a touchscreen!

Everyone knows that hardware manufacturers can't write decent apps - and Tozo are no different. But here you don't have to rely on the app, or anything on your phone. Tap the screen to wake, slide to unlock, fiddle about with the settings:

Or change what song is playing:

Or interact with a dozen different helpful functions:

Specs

You can read about the headphones on the official site but the headline features for me are:

14 hours playback with about 60 hours from the case.
LDAC if you crave bit-perfect audio.
Active Noise Cancelling with various different modes.
Multi-function touch buttons on each side.

The App

*sigh* OK, it isn't the worst headphone app I've used, but it isn't great. In its defence, you do not need to create an account in order to use most of the features.

The app isn't brilliantly translated, but you'll probably be able to figure it out.

You can play about with some basic settings in the app.

Both headphones support multi-tap, so you can change them to your preference. There are four different types of tap each ear can support.

It's also possible to change the noise cancellation. The functions are perhaps a little indistinguishable - but they do work.

There is, sadly, a bunch of bullshit in the app. As well as a shop, there's also this weird "Community" tab given pride of place in the middle of the shortcut bar.

Apparently you can earn points the more you post? Why? Who cares! You also get the now-ubiquitous AI tools, which you have to sign in to use, and some white noise to drown out the sounds of the world.

Ultimately, the app is usable. You can adjust the EQ to your preferences, check for firmware updates, and similar. But you'll play with it once or twice then forget it exists.

Audio Quality

I'm not an audiophile. I'm not going to pretend that you need virgin-rolled cables adorned with mystic crystals in order to hear the true sonic soundstage of The Spice Girls.

Everything sounds fine. The default profile was good enough for me. I pumped up the bass and it was nice and boomy. There was no noticeable sound leakage at moderate volumes. The "spatial mode" didn't sound particularly nice to me and introduced a fair bit of distortion.

The noise cancellation was pretty decent as well. It won't drown out a crying baby next to you on public transport.

It will do LDAC on both Android:

And Linux:

Sound quality on both was excellent.

Usability

Pretty good! The taps are quick to respond and, of course, you can whip out the case if you want to change the settings. The touchscreen is small but responds well.

Price

They're between £50 - £60 on Amazon right now, or about £40 direct from the manufacturer. That's bang on what I'd expect for normal headphones, but I think is decent value considering the little touch-screen it includes.

It's a pity that the app is so woeful. But once you've set up your favourite EQ settings, you'll never need to touch it again.

But if you want noise cancelling, snug fitting, easy to use headphones, these are hard to beat.

Many thanks to Tozo for supplying me with the review unit.

Gig Review: The Witcher in Concert ★★★★☆

Terence Eden — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 12:34:18 +0000

The most common way people experience classical style music these days is via movies and video-games. After seeing The Force Awakens - live in concert, I've become rather a fan of watching movies performed with a live soundtrack.

But what about watching a video game with orchestral accompaniment? We travelled up to Wolverhampton to see "The Witcher":

A one-of-a-kind live event that transforms the lasting legacy and emotional storytelling of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt into an immersive concert

Obviously you can't have someone sat there with a PS5 controller while a band plays (although that'd be a hell of a Twitch stream!) instead a large screen projects various cut-scenes and in-game footage. It works pretty well - most of the popular scenes are in there (Geralt in the bathtub got a big cheer) although there was no hyper-extended Gwent session. The videos were a little repetitive. Some of the music is obviously composed to be swelling in the background and so repeated shots of swords looking cool or Geralt looking grumpy were sprinkled throughout.

The highlight was seeing Percival Schuttenbach play a variety of instruments with absolute joy and gusto. The entire band look like they're having a whale of a time, and the conductor encouraged us to whoop and cheer for our favourite scenes (with perhaps a few boos for some of the more notorious enemies).

As soundtracks go, it isn't particularly varied. There's a decent mix of tunes, some with singing, but they do tend to blur into one after a while. Nevertheless, a brilliant time for fans of the game who want to soak up the music.

The Witcher in Concert is on tour around the world now.

Pre- and Post-Show

There was a merchandise stall hidden in one corner of the venue. Between doors opening and the start of the show (about an hour) a video looped through three screens - one of which encouraged up to share our photos with a hashtag. That's fine, but a few more videos wouldn't have gone amiss.

After the show, the conductor said the band would stick around for selfies - which was nice of them.

A touring show like this probably can't spare too much space for large scale models for people to pose with, or a couple of cosplayers to photograph, but it might have been nice if there were something to interact with before and after the show.

Gadget Review: SoundPEATS CC3 Pro Bluetooth Headphones ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:34:54 +0000

These are easily the most comfortable headphones I've worn. I've literally had them clipped around my ears all day without noticing them.

The good folks at SoundPEATS have sent me their latest cans to wrap around my lugs. I'm a big fan of these new-style "clip on" headphones. Rather than encasing your ears, or sticking way down into the wax-mines, these clip over your ear. It isn't a tight grip like a paperclip - more like the gentle caress of a tender but firm lover who wants only to delicately pinch your ears.

Look - it's hard writing about this stuff, OK?! Grab a pair and try them; you'll see what I mean. Here's a picture of an attractive model to give you an idea.

Specs

All the usual things you'd expect from headphones. AAC and SBC audio codecs are standard, it'll also do LDAC - which will get you higher quality but at the expense of battery life and the ability to connect to multiple devices at once.

The case recharges via USB-C, the battery seems fairly chunky and will quick-charges the headphones. 10 minutes in the case will give them 3 hours of playback.

Each clip has a button - you can change what they do in the supplied app.

IPX6 should be good for wearing in the rain, but you can't go swimming in them.

Useful Features

We all know what headphones can do - play audio, provide a microphone, and let you control the audio coming from your device. The CC3 Pro also have a few other smart features.

Like most decent battery-powered headphones, they will automatically switch off after a predetermined period without use.

There's a privacy mode which adds an EQ filter to reduce sound leakage. It works, but does make the sound slightly murkier.

There's a button on each one - you can use the app to set actions for tap, double-tap, triple-tap, and long press.

The case supports wireless charging, so you can chuck it on any charging puck for a quick top-up.

Comfort

Outstanding. After a few minutes you will genuinely forget that you're wearing them. Shake your head as hard as you like and they will not fall off. Here's a genuine photo of me doing some manly exercises while wearing them.

Sound Quality

Excellent - with a couple of caveats. These are open-ear devices. You can hear the world around you. That is by design and is extremely useful if you need to be aware of your surroundings. You can't block out the world or do active noise cancelling. I was not a fan of the default EQ. The bass wasn't bassy enough for me. It's easy enough to change in the app - but that does require a login.

Voice quality when speaking on the phone was also good. The people I spoke to could hear me clearly and with minimal background noise.

Android

Piece of cake. Open the case, press the button on the back, they're ready to pair.

Sound quality was great, my voice transmitted just fine, and I could easily play/pause and adjust the volume.

Linux

Again, dead easy. Ubuntu detected and paired with them instantly.

The App

I've complained to SoundPEATS before about their lousy app. The best thing I can say about it is that you don't have to use it. It's handy for downloading the occasional firmware update and fiddling with the setting. But that's about it.

It obnoxiously insists on needing an Internet connection to change some settings. Stuck on a train in the middle of nowhere and want to adjust your EQ? Tough. Similarly, some functionality is gated behind a login wall - such as the custom EQ and custom sound effects.

Thankfully, the rest of the app is fairly simple to use and will work offline. You can adjust what the buttons do, for example:

Weirdly, you can also download other people's EQ settings.

There's also a firmware update and a bunch of other things to flick on and off.

Downsides

Other than the app, there are a few niggles which are only slightly annoying.

Firstly, they don't pause when you take them out of your ear. That's a feature which was on the first set of SoundPeats I had and is sorely missed.

Secondly, the default sound profile wasn't very bass heavy. A bit of fiddling in the app and they sounded much better.

While they do charge in either slot within the case, they're incompatible with previous SoundPeats cases. The risk with smaller manufacturers like this is that you won't be able to find a cheap replacement case if you need it.

Price

Launch price is about £75 / €80. That's getting towards the upper end of what I think is acceptable for headphones like this.

Readers of this blog can use code PRCC3PRO for an extra 10% off at Amazon UK or other international Amazon stores. The code should work from today until 30th November 2026.

Ultimately, these are ridiculously comfortable headphones. They won't block out the noise of the environment around you - but that's their selling point. You use these while cycling, wandering through the city, or any other time you need to be aware of your surrounding. If you can put up with the slightly shonky app, these are well worth the price.

Many thanks to SoundPeats for the review pair.

Gadget Review: LiberNovo Omni - the USB-C powered office chair ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:34:01 +0000

Whenever a company asks me to review their gadgets, I always ask if it is USB-C powered. If not, I'm not interested. So, welcome to the future where your chair is USC-C rechargeable!

WHAT?!

The LiberNovo Omni looks like a standard office chair - but has two secret features.

First, is that it is exceedingly comfortable. Full foam cushions, lovely headrest, and a recline which almost gets you horizontal.

Second, it is USB-C powered. There's a small battery pack which plugs in to the chair. Why? Read on!

OK, let's start at the beginning.

Assembly

Flat-pack chairs like this are normally notoriously hard to assemble. The LiberNovo bucks that trend - not only does it include a how-to video, it prints the instructions on a MASSIVE piece of cardboard.

I'm used to peering at tiny black-and-white diagrams in a flimsy paper booklet. IKEA could learn a thing or two from this.

The screws are all labelled and a hex-driver is included. What's an even nicer touch, however, is some safety gloves:

That's the sort of thing which doesn't cost much to the manufacturer, but is such a thoughtful gesture. There's nothing too sharp as you assemble, but who wants to cover their new chair in blood, eh?

The parts come in two large boxes, but there aren't that many separate bits.

Building it took about half an hour. It's easier with a friend to help - as are most things in life - but doesn't require much skill.

Go Back To The USB-C Part Again Please?

The battery pack is a 2200mAh unit with a USB-C port to recharge. It connects in to the chair with this slightly unusual connector:

The internals of the chair have a USB-C cable to connect everything up.

LOL!

YES BUT WHY DOES A CHAIR NEED A BATTERY PACK??!?!

On the side of the left arm-rest are three buttons.

Two of them move the lumbar-support up and down. Depending on how your back is feeling and how far you are reclined, you can adjust the the back-support position.

And the 3rd button?

That's the build-in back massager, silly!

Is that useful?

Yes. Being able to instantly adjust the back support without having to twist around is fantastic, especially for those of us reaching a certain age.

The "massage" feature essentially just moves the support up and down for five minutes before returning to its previous location. When sat upright, it feels great. But the real benefit is when you're laying down.

How flat does this thing go?

160° - not quite flat, but good enough when you're taking a break from Typing Real Hard. You don't want a photo of me sprawled out, so LiberNovo have helpfully provided some stock photos of much better looking folk.

It is incredibly stable. At no point did it tip over or feel like it was going to deposit me on the floor. What really helps is the included foot stall.

No Feets On Seats

Unsurprisingly, this is not USB-C powered. A sturdy plastic footrest with a deeply padded leg rest on top.

Again, assembly was a cinch - follow the large printed instructions and clip it together. It's rated for 40㎏, so you shouldn't stand on it but it is more than enough to rest your weary legs.

Price

I hope you're sitting down for this.

Direct from LiberNovo, you can expect to pay around £700 - although there are bundles with extra batteries, the footrest, and even an eye mask which will shoot that price up. You can get the full bundle on Amazon for around £1,000.

There's two ways to look at that price. Firstly, youch. But, alternatively, that's still cheaper than a Herman Miller Aeron. And Herm's doesn't come with a built-in lumbar massage.

(There is also an upgraded version which has a built in fan under the seat. Personally, I suggest eating a healthier diet.)

I can't deny that's a chunk of change. If you're anything like me, you probably spend most of your day sat down. You might as well sit on something comfortable.

Final Thoughts

Having the back-rest adjustable via arm-rest buttons is a genius touch. I just wish it went further. I'd love a control panel (or, dare I say it, app) which let me adjust the seat height, recline, headrest position etc. Who can be bothered with fiddly manual levers when electricity can do the work for us?

Building this chair was a breeze - and it was delightful to get a pair of safety gloves with it.

The chair is extraordinarily comfortable and the back massage, while not on the level of a "shiatsu" style heated massage pillow, is delightfully pleasant. Would I lie all the way back and sleep in it? Yeah! Certainly more comfortable than an economy airline seat.

If you spend a lot of time sitting at your computer, your arse deserves something supportive. Your back deserves some love too. Yes, the USB-C power-pack is a little bit of a gimmick - but it is a hell of a good one.

In my opinion, this is worth splashing out on.

Gadget Review: Mokin 17 Port USB-C Tower ★★☆☆☆

Terence Eden — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:34:36 +0000

The good folks at Mokin have sent me their new USB-C hub and it is a beast.

This is the MODK2403 - the latest in their line of high-tech USB-C docks. It does close to everything you could want and has an LCD monitor for showing the weather.

Errr… What?

OK, a quick product shots, then on to the specs.

On to the ports:

Triple display
- Either 3x HDMI or 1x HDMI and 2x DisplayPort
4x USB-A
- 2x 2.0 480Mbps, 1x 3.0 5Gbps, 1x 3.1 10Gbps
2x USB-C
- 1x 3.0 5Gbps, 1x 3.1 10Gbps
USB-C PD input
- 100W
USB-C to host computer
- USB-C to C cable included
Ethernet port
- 1Gbps
SD and microSD
3.5m Audio Jack
Suction cup

Yup! At the bottom of the tower is a silicone surround which allows it to firmly plant on any flat surface. It's strong enough to take any gentle nudges without toppling over, but easy enough to lift off if you need to move the unit.

It is slightly cheeky to describe this as 17 ports. The two DisplayPorts are tied to the HDMI ports - so you can only have 3 screens active at a time, not five. But as each screen can do 4K @ 60Hz, I'll let it slide.

Screen

There's a black and white screen included which can show you a bunch of information. Tap the power-button on top to cycle between them.

Which ports are connected:

Screen resolution of attached devices:

Total power draw:

WiFi set up:

Wait? What! If you connect to the hub's WiFi, you get this set-up screen.

Once it is connected, it'll show you the weather in your area:

I'm not entirely convinced about whether that's useful. Although you can change the units from ℉ to ℃, and show or hide your area, there's no other customisation available. No 24 hour clock, no date formatting, nothing. There's also no privacy policy or indication of which weather provider it is connecting to.

The screen switches off after a few minutes - so it isn't a constant distraction. Tapping the top button turns it on again.

Double-pressing the power-button switches the external monitors off. Which is useful for privacy I guess?

Linux Info

Worked perfectly with my Linux laptop. I drove two external screens via DisplayPort, a bunch of USB peripherals, Ethernet, etc.

A full read-out gives:

0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub
2109:0822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.1 Hub
2109:8822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB Billboard Device
0020:0b21 Generic AB13X USB Audio
0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device
0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub
1a86:8095 QinHeng Electronics USB Hub
303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit
2109:2822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub

Speed

I have 1Gbps broadband, and I was able to get 850Mbps through the Mokin's Ethernet port. That's pretty much what I'd expect.

Copying files via USB-C to a Pixel phone topped out at about 200MBps, which was a little underwhelming, but fast enough for my needs. I tried a variety of cables, including the bundled one.

Sound

The AB13X USB Audio presents as both analogue and S/PDIF. There was no meaningful difference between the two in terms of sound quality. There was minimal hum on output when nothing was being played.

WiFi and Security

I'm slightly uneasy about the built-in WiFi connection this hub offers. It is primarily used for showing the weather on screen, but it can also be used to upload new firmware.

Worryingly, it has a weak default password set - mokin123. I think that might be against the law. The password can be changed by the user - but I wonder how many people will bother?

When I mentioned this to Mokin, they replied:

After the initial password is set, the user can change the password themselves rather than continuing to use a fixed default password.

I don't think that's good enough to protect users.

Similarly, the SSID can be hidden and is randomised, but I wonder if that's suitable defence against a determined hacker?

I'm glad that the unit doesn't hijack the Ethernet connection - but who knows what a future firmware update might do.

There's also a 303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit exposed on the hub. I tried connecting to it with esptool and the hub crashed! I had to pull out the power to get it to restart. I'm not smart enough to probe it further, but I can't help wondering why it is there.

Finally, there's a mysterious 0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device. I thought that was used for blanking the external screens when the power-button is double-pressed, but that didn't register on evtest. So what is it for? I don't like the idea of a random Human Interface Device (usually a keyboard or mouse) being attached to my computer.

I spoke to Mokin about it and they said:

our technical manager confirmed that these two entries are reserved for future firmware updates.

Personally, I would expect these to be disabled if they aren't going to be used.

Privacy

With any device which connects to the Internet, you have to be concerned about what data it is collecting, storing, and transmitting. I asked Mokin if they had a privacy policy related to their weather service. They said:

There is no need to worry about your personal or location information being uploaded or stored remotely. The relevant user information is stored locally on the device.

The weather/location information is provided through Google services, and no personal information is uploaded or stored by us. Therefore, there should be no privacy or data security concern from our side.

I don't find that terribly convincing. At the very least they should tell users who their weather provider is and what their privacy says. I assume that the device is doing a GeoIP lookup before sending the request to Google - again, that should be explained to users.

I've no evidence that the hub is collecting data about what is attached and then sending it off somewhere - but without a privacy policy from Mokin, who can say?

Cracking It Open

The suction cup at the bottom is only lightly glued on and peeled off easily. Underneath are four screws.

The base removes easily, exposing the three circuit boards.

Here's a close up:

I couldn't easily get them out, and the front plastic was held on securely. I'm sure it would be possible to snap off, but I didn't want to damage it.

Price and Final Thoughts

It's usually about £90 from the manufacturer or around £70 from Amazon.

You can get a basic hub for less than half that price - but what you're paying for here having all the ports. It's an attractive package, well designed, quiet, and unobtrusive.

The screen is moderately useful - being able to see which ports are in use was handy, as was seeing the total power draw. The screen debugging was also handy. I'm not that interested in the weather, but I can see how it would be helpful as a single-use screen.

I have significant concerns about the always-on WiFi, especially given its easy to guess password. I've contacted the manufacturer to see if anything can be done about that but they don't seem interested in fixing it. The lack of privacy policy is also worrying.

Similarly, the HID and JTAG are also something I wouldn't expect to see on a hub like this. Ideally they should be disabled if not in use.

In terms of ports and performance, this can't be beat. But I would be reluctant to connect it to my home WiFi network.

Concert Review: London Voices - Video Games Go Choral ★★★★☆

Terence Eden — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:34:09 +0000

London's musical entertainment scene has something for everyone - from long-running blockbuster shows to no-name bands in dingy basements. Somewhere in the middle is monophonic plainchant versions of the Halo theme sung in a church.

The acoustics at St Martin in the Field are echoey. That makes it rather hard to hear the amplified announcement to turn off our phones, but makes an a cappella chorus absolutely soar. The choir of London Voices have sung on just about every movie you've watched and game you've played - so they're no stranger to more modern compositions.

The programme strictly alternated between songs from popular games are some more traditional verses. As a tone-deaf musical ignoramus, I found some of the pieces hard to distinguish from each other and, perhaps, just a little repetitive. Delightfully, the choir is generous with its solos. Far too often these events have one main star while everyone else glares daggers at them. Here it seemed quite the opposite, with a range of voices brought to the forefront.

Parts of the programme are a little odd. While Pilentze Pee is an incredible song and sung extremely well, I don't think there's much to tie it to The Wind Waker. Of course, the highlight was a cheeky rendition of "Still Alive" from Portal. An excellent arrangement sung with joy and gusto.

An eclectic and interesting event, marred only by the uncomfortable pews of the church. Truly we must suffer for other people's art!

Gadget Review: Una Watch ★★★★☆

Terence Eden — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:34:48 +0000

I've never been a huge fan of smart watches. My £16 smartwatch is basically fine, but the OS is closed source and there's no way to add new functionality. Previously I had the eInk Watchy which was a pain to use and really poorly designed. Even back in 2014 I was bemoaning the design compromises in the MyKronoz ZeWatch Smart Watch.

So why did I pick up the Una Watch?

Firstly, the Una Watch is designed in Scotland ~~from girders~~, and it's always nice to support local businesses.

Secondly, as a USB-C Maximalist I want gadgets which can plug in to the same cables as all my other toys. No magnetic pucks here!

Thirdly, it is (almost) completely open source.

Finally, it is repairable. You can easily unscrew it to replace the components. As my cheap smartwatch's dial has died after 12 months of use, that's a pretty compelling proposition!

Let's put it through its paces!

First Impressions

I bought mine second hand (yay for sustainability) and it arrived with a flat battery. The first charge from 0-100% took a little over an hour. My USB-C power monitor showed it taking in about 5V and 0.17 amps.

It happily charged from a PD plug, but didn't get any faster than about 0.84W. Basically, I can fully charge it on most public transport in London.

The time seemed accurate, there were options to play about with, the vibrations for notifications were easy to feel. There is an option to make it beep with every button press - I turned that off sharpish!

Disclaimer

I am not a smartwatch power user. I'm not using this to minutely track all my exercise or calculate if my heart is going to explode. I don't need cm level precision of my GPS. I didn't sync this with Strava or anything else.

Apps

The official Android app (which, sadly, isn't Open Source) worked fine on GrapheneOS. It found the watch, updated its GPS almanac, and let me browse the app store & install apps. Obviously early days, but there are a variety of community developed apps to play with.

Annoyingly the watch needs to be restarted after every app is installed - but that only take a handful of seconds.

There are some strange error messages.

That isn't the sort of message which should be shown to users.

But, on the plus side, you can install Doom!

The Screen

Oddly for a modern smartwatch, the screen stays on all the time! But this isn't some power-hungry OLED, nor is it static eInk. Instead it is a memory in pixel display - black background with orange, blue, and white pixels. The backlight remains off most of the time and is easy enough to see in daylight. It is slightly reflective - but not too bad.

Note the ?? on the notifications - more on that later.

Annoyingly, there's no "raise wrist to light" option. You have to interact with the watch to get the screen on. The accelerometer should allow this functionality - so perhaps it just needs to be activated in the firmware? It is bright enough to see in the dark, but not so bright it will dazzle you or people nearby.

There's no touchscreen - instead there are four buttons around the face. Up, down, select, back. I did find myself repeatedly jabbing at the screen to no avail.

So, to light it, press the back button or hold one of the other buttons.

The colour scheme is pleasant enough. I miss having a full colour display so I can see a photo of my wife whenever I glance at the screen. But the low power usage can't be argued with.

Notifications

I couldn't get notifications working at first. The app just refused to let me toggle them on. Eventually I found an app in the app-store which claimed to enable them. That didn't work either.

Unpairing, repairing, and reinstalling the app made them spring to life.

There's no notification history. Once you've clicked to read it, that's it. Gone forever. Considering this has 4GB storage, that's an odd decision.

Some of the notifications were slightly corrupt - showing question marks in place of (I assume) esoteric Unicode.

There's no way to customise the vibrate pattern - so everything "feels" the same on your wrist.

At the moment, the Una Watch sends every notification to your phone. You can't tell it to ignore certain WhatsApp groups, or only allow text messages from your spouse. The only way to get fine-grained notifications is with a third-party app like…

Gadgetbridge

You're not tied to the official app. Gadgetbridge support is excellent. There are a few things missing (you can't install apps or set alarms) - but if you want to measure your heart rate, send notifications, etc you'll be fine.

Linux Compatibility

The Una Watch plugs in to USB-C and shows up as 3.5GB of exFAT formatted storage.

You can manually edit the JSON files if you like. I think you can copy off your workout data. Or you can just use it as portable storage.

Under lsusb it describes itself as 0483:52a4 STMicroelectronics UNA Watch

Battery Life

After a full day of use the battery was at around 95% - that was with a bit of GPS, several notifications, heart rate monitoring, step counting, and a bunch of fiddling. With more GPS use, that's going to be heavier on the battery.

But the joy of USB-C is that I can thwack in the same cable as I use for all my other gadgets. I can even plug it into my phone and leach a bit of power from there.

Development

The watch comes will a full Open Source SDK including lots of assets. There are several tutorials and a friendly community board.

Of course, everything has to be done in C++ - an accurs'd language which I learned in the last century and wish I'd forgotten.

Annoyingly, the TouchGFX GUI designer only works in Windows.

I'm going to try to build my own watch faces and a few niche apps.

Downsides

There are a few things this watch doesn't do - some of these may be deal-breakers for you, but weren't for me.

No payments. There's no tap-to-pay, NFC, or anything like that.
No microphone. You cannot speak into your Una Watch or take calls on it.
No speaker. There's a little buzzer which can make squeaks and squawks - but you won't be playing your music through it.
While the apps and SDK are fully open, the firmware isn't (yet).
Can't reply to notifications.
No maps or directions (yet).
Step counter only shows the full day - no hour-by-hour view.

Some of these things can and will be fixed in software. Others are limitations of the hardware.

Final Thoughts

The Una Watch has dropped in price to £180. I grabbed mine 2nd hand from eBay for £120. At either price, it's decent value if you're happy to play with alpha / beta quality technology.

If you're a serious athlete, you'll probably want a more expensive and polished experience. If you are tied into the Apple or Google ecosystems, you'll probably want one of their watches.

If you like tinkering, want to experiment with new technology, or simply want to support a British company trying to build something open - then this is the watch for you. Yes, there are some rough edges, but I fundamentally believe that technology should be Open Source, repairable, and give control to its users.

Gig Review: Public Service Broadcasting's Race For Space at Alexandra Palace ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 11:34:08 +0000

Ahhh! PSB's RFS! A delightfully indulgent soundscape of melodic wonder, performed here on its 10th (ish) anniversary. Is it really nostalgia if an album is only a decade old? It feels like it has been in the air forever.

For something which is seemingly made up of samples, it would have been easy for them to half-arse it and basically just play the CD. Instead we got a full band, guest singers, and 360° video projection,

Oh, also a disco Sputnik flying over the crowd!

Simply magical! As were the indoor fireworks.

I might quibble a little with their song choices (no Gagarin!) but hearing the crowd repeatedly scream "GO!" was magnificent.

Ally Pally isn't a raked venue, so the video projection of the band was most welcome. An excellent gig in a splendid location.

Pre-show and Post-show

As I've written about before, the art of the Pre-Show and Post-Show is vital for getting people to pay for events outside of their homes. Right now I can stream all the music in the world for a year for about the same price as a couple of gig tickets. Why should I freeze my arse off outside, paying stupid money for mass-produced lager, when I could be at home?

PSB kept up a constant stream of emails talking about the gig. Not an overwhelming amount, just letting people peek behind the curtain of organising it, giving helpful information about logistics, and letting us know about merchandise which was available.

Crucially, they also gave us stage timings for them and their support act! How many times have you turned up on time to a gig only to spend an hour listening to some crap DJ before the crew even started setting up the stage? PSB treat their fans with respect.

Ally Pally isn't a venue I've been to before. It was well laid out with decent toilet provision - including a big block of portaloos at the back of the hall. The beer prices weren't ruinous, but I kind of resented paying £15 for a veggie hotdog and a handful of chips.

Some venues seem to think that screaming at punters to open their bags will make for an enjoyable visit. Here the security staff were polite and not overly officious. Water bottles were allowed in with a cheery wave.

Post show - although the train stations are downhill, there were several buses waiting to take punters directly back. That's a perfect way of treating guests at your venue - ensuring that they get home safe and sound.

Gadget Review: Thermal Master P3 Macro Lens ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:34:52 +0000

The good folks at Thermal Master have sent me their latest camera to review - and it is a bit different to all the others I've tried.

Whereas previous cameras are good for bird watching, or wildlife spotting, or finding leaks at home - the P3 has a manual macro lens and is specifically designed for getting close-up and personal with your electronics.

Yup! See just how hot your CPU is getting 🥵

Let's take it for a spin!

Unboxing

As well as the camera (which looks gorgeous with its gold trim) you get a carry-case, USB-C extension cable, and a Lightning converter for older iPhones.

The metal casing of the camera feels delightful and gives it a bit of heft. The focus wheel is reasonably stiff which makes it easier to position just right.

Sample Photos

These are the raw images taken directly from the app. I haven't resized or altered them in any way. What you see is what you get. Here's a hot-spot on a circuit board:

The natural size of the images is 1344x1008. That's obviously upscaled from the sensor, but there's a surprisingly amount of detail in there.

Here's a small circuit board which has just booted up:

Where the P3 shines is when you twist the manual lens all the way down to macro. You can get about 2cm away from a surface and stay in focus.

Obviously don't get that close to something red hot!

Annoyingly, the images are uncompressed JPEG and weigh in around 6MB each. I've losslessly compressed these to WebP, which is about 10% of the size.

Colours

There are a variety of different colour palettes to play with. Some are more useful than others. Here's a mug of hot and delicious matcha rendered in the various colours:

Scrolling through the colours is a little difficult in the app (more on that later) but once you've found one you like, it stays that way for the photography session.

EXIF

Geolocation is taken from the phone - there's no GPS chip in the camera. You can refuse location permission to the app and it will work just fine.

That's just about all you get other than the time and the model name of USB_IR_RS300_P2L - the infrared details aren't recorded separately.

Video

The video doesn't upsample the image, it has a resolution of 504x672 playing at 25fps. Audio is recorded from the phone's microphone and is 64kbps mono. A minute of video is around 22MB. I've recompressed this one for the web.

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/p3focusvid.mp4

The App

It is, sadly, an inevitability that good hardware is always accompanied by a substandard app. The Thermal Master Android App is the only way to access the camera. It has a relatively easy to use interface with plenty of options.

As you can see from the word "brightness" the UI is a little janky in places.

There's a decent amount of settings to fiddle with.

You can also change which elements get displayed on the final image.

Unfortunately, it is also a bit crash-happy. Most times I used it, the app would randomly close. It takes a little while to re-open thanks to a mandatory animation. So it gets a bit annoying. Flicking through some of the options can be slow and tedious. It also doesn't respect the phone's orientation, so images may be 90⁰ off what you expect.

The app updated the firmware on the camera, but didn't say what had changed.

It takes photos and videos, allows you to share them, and has a bunch of options to play with - but it does have a habit of crashing just when you're about to take the perfect shot. There is also zoom available, but it is digital only - so you're just making the pixels bigger rather than getting optically closer to the object you're scanning.

Linux Info

I tried plugging it in to a Linux laptop. It shows up as 3474:45a2 Thermal Master Technology Co., Ltd. P3 - but that's about it. There's no way I can find to access the thermal images.

To be fair, this is explicitly sold as an Android and iOS device. I'm hopeful someone will be able to reverse engineer it.

Cost and Final Thoughts

Thermal cameras are expensive. This will run you about £280 on Amazon or about £260 direct. Readers of this blog can get 10% off using code THERMALBF10

If you run a hackspace, this is a no-brainer. The ability to see hot-spots on your circuits is immediately useful. The detail is impressive, allowing you to see exactly what's causing problems.

If you're a hobbyist, this is definitely in the "ask Santa if you've been good" category. You'll find it handy on any small projects you have, or to diagnose faults with electrical equipment.

For non-macro uses, it's also pretty good. You might be better off with a dedicated device if you want to go hunting wildlife or doing home surveys.

The only fly in the ointment is the app. While somewhat customisable, it does repeatedly crash and it isn't the easiest to use or set up. I found that pretty frustrating and have fed back the problem to the developers. I appreciate it saving high quality images - but a PNG or lossless WebP would be easier to work with than massive JPGs.

Ultimately, this is an excellent thermal camera. It looks lush, it is customisable, the images are high quality, and the macro-lens is surprisingly useful.

Edinburgh Fringe: Stand-up Philosophy ★★★⯪☆

Terence Eden — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:16:26 +0000

For a pay-what-you-want show this was decent. Three comedians doing sets on the theme of philosophy - followed by a Q&A where the audience poses philosophical conundrums to them.

It more-or-less works as a gimmick. Although an early afternoon crowd may have been more likely to ask questions anonymously.

I've never seen a Sikh doing an unnervingly accurate impression of Trump before. Daman Bamrah did a perfect routine which blended his philosophy with the perils of the bum-gun. An unexpected but hilarious combination.

Sid Singh's set trod a fairly standard path through reactions to racism, but his discussion at the end about the inherent problems involved in writing controversial material was excellent.

Tying it all together was Alex Farrow who perfectly brought together the various philosophical strands and proved why Albert Camus was a fan of Stewart Lee.

A great set of acts at a decent price.

Edinburgh Fringe: Doris, Dolly and the Dressing Room Divas ★★★★⯪

Terence Eden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:23:25 +0000

Quite simply marvellous! Three Scottish divas giving us their interpretations of the greats while backed by an excellent pianist.

So many shows at the Fringe skimp on sets and props - not this! A luscious array of costumes, hats, wigs, and ruby slippers bring the characters to life.

The framing is thin but serviceable - the backstage helpers are reminiscing about their favourite stars and bring them back to stage. It is a fun and campy evening, without ever straying into parody or obsequiousness.

Sadly a few technical gremlins crept in, but the cast are absolute troopers and dispensed with them.

Oh, and there's an incredible Sweary Poppins who steals the show.

In amongst the Fringe's high concept art, fiendish new writing, and blokey-standup, it was a real treat to see a good old fashioned revue.

Highly recommend.

Edinburgh Fringe: The Musical Mystery Caller ★★★★★

Terence Eden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:21:53 +0000

Walking down the street, I noticed a ringing phone box so, naturally, I answered it.

What happened next was a few minutes of pure fringe magic!

I had a little chat with the caller, he welcomed me to the smallest venue in the fringe, and then he improvised a banger of a song based on my peculiar proclivities.

What a treat to have a front row experience at a one man (and one audience member) show. The song was heartfelt and beautiful, played and sung with panache - albeit down a twisted copper pair of limited bandwidth.

He didn't reverse the charges, so it didn't cost me a penny! Which, given the high prices of most shows, was an absolute bargain 😃

If you hear a phone ringing, you should always answer it and say hello.

Edinburgh Fringe: Miscast Sondheim ★★☆☆☆

Terence Eden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:45:15 +0000

I'm not sure what they're teaching at LAMDA, but it certainly isn't vocal projection. We were forewarned about the technical difficulties - but if a trained stage singer can't reach the 6th row of a tiny theatre, that can't be blamed on the backstage team.

The show advertises itself as:

What happens when you take Sondheim’s most beloved music and turn it on its head? Ingénues become villains, villains deliver delicate ballads, and comic sidekicks step into tragedy.

But, bluntly, that's not what was delivered. The gender swapping and colour-blind casting was fine, but there was no sense that this was a twist on the songs. They were all delivered in a straightforward fashion.

In fairness, there were a couple of truly excellent singers - Adam Boggs McDonald was spectacular and Paulina Hill was an absolute showstopper. The twist on Agony by Angelia Castillo and Adelia Castillo worked well.

Sadly the rest was over promised and under delivered.

Another show seen purely in the basis that we had an hour free and the venue was close. That's generally a pretty sound strategy for seeing shows - but you have to accept the risk that you might not like what you get.

Edinburgh Fringe: Hot Flush – A Bold, We’re Old(ish) Burlesque Show ★★★☆☆

Terence Eden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:45:02 +0000

Are menopausal women hot? It is often said that pornographic actresses move straight from "barely legal" to "MILF" without so much as moment in between. Unlike the fringe's other burlesque shows - which seem to exclusively feature nymphettes and twinks with nary a grey hair between them - Hot Flush focuses on the over 40s.

Look, you probably don't want to read a review of how tempting I found each temptress, nor a multivariant testing of their erotic powers - so let's just say this…

The lecture in the middle about the menopause and how to cope with it was very educational.

The performers were all talented and the costumes (before removal) were sufficiently sufficient for their purpose.

The main problem is that it is staged at the least sexy venue on the fringe. A basement meeting room which looks more suitable for a regional sales conference than a burlesque. Perhaps if they were going for a Belinda Blinked cabaret it might have worked better.

The performers coped well with the technical difficulties (no doubt caused by a moralising theatre ghost) and recovered their momentum well.

Edinburgh Fringe - Eleanor Morton: The Mermaid ★★★⯪☆

Terence Eden — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:55:59 +0000

The undisputed queen of short-form viral video comedy snacks takes to the stage. Well, swims to the stage.

The Mermaid is a delightful and gentle amble through the confusing world of a girl who just wants to become a mermaid. Less standup and more storytelling, nevertheless it packs in the laughs with some rather clever jokes, a bit of bawdy humour, and - a rarity on The Fringe - a decently designed set!

It stands out by being well-rehearsed (surprisingly not a given here) and with no technical glitches during the performance (and, again, I cannot stress enough how unique that is). Eleanor Morton is an absolute professional who knows how to put on a quality show.

Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody ★★★★☆

Terence Eden — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:22:09 +0000

There are at least four different Heated Rivalry shows at the Fringe this year. Earlier this week we saw Edinburgh Fringe - Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody!. This is different because it is the unauthorized musical parody.

Oh, and it is in the much larger Udderbelly venue.

Some people spend the fringe watching every possible interpretation of Timon of Athens - we decided to go for doubles of gay hockey sticks.

So, how does it compare to its twin?

It is good, but deeply conservative. The whole thing is framed through the eyes of a middle-age suburban mom which, sure, is probably a large part of the target audience but felt a bit retrograde. While the other show had a plentiful amount of acrobatic simulated sex with near-nude performers, this only has a couple of shirtless scenes and the actors are reduced to having a couple of trysts with literal mannequins. Weirdly, the one sex scene they perform together takes place behind a sheet. The leads kiss only twice which, for a parody of a show famed for its explicitness makes it all feel a bit Hays Code.

The songs, however, are sumptuous. A full score accompanies the incredibly talented cast. This is very off-Broadway - with soaring melodies, powerful solos, and solid reprises. At times it feels more like a parody of Broadway shows than of the TV show.

That isn't to say this is bad. It is very good. The script is full of delightful references and silly jokes. The lyrics at times are downright filthy! It is an excellent show and well worth seeing - but my heart remains with the other parody.

Edinburgh Fringe - James Rowland: Team Viking ★★⯪☆☆

Terence Eden — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:20:01 +0000

This is a technically precise and emotionally complex show with energetic delivery from a talented performer.

Sadly, it did nothing for me.

I found it a little one note in terms of storytelling. The rhythm of the story followed all the predictable beats which I thought was a little repetitive.

There's no doubt he's a gifted storyteller. The comedy is suitably dark with some good moments of joy and catharsis. It is probably the perfect show for some people but I wasn't the right audience for it.

Edinburgh Fringe - Garrett Millerick: We Tried it Your Way ★☆☆☆☆

Terence Eden — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:55:57 +0000

Easily the worst show we've seen at the fringe. Garrett Millerick has trained an AI on his stand up. Can it replace him?

Yes, but only in the sense that the AI is obnoxiously dull and Millerick is simply obnoxious.

He insulted a kid who he'd called on to stage to help him. Not even in a jokey way, just being rude. His splenetic rants against religion and politics were beyond tired. The dating segment was like something from an incel forum. Bitter and uncomfortable.

There's a minor point that's made about whether AI comedy is cheating (yes) and if comedians need to be worried (no). But even when he goes back to performing his organic routine, it is dire. There are a few chuckles to be had, but most of the audience were just looking stricken with second hand embarrassment.

The delivery is a one note rant, the jokes are the shouting of an angry disillusioned man, and the AI is a clanker of the worst order.

Dire.

Edinburgh Fringe - Justina Seselskaite: Settled ★★★★☆

Terence Eden — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 22:23:14 +0000

Sometimes at the Edinburgh Fringe, you take a punt on a random show because it's close by and you can't be bothered walking any further. Justina Seselskaite's set was round the corner and started in 7 ½ minutes - so we scurried into one of the less glamorous rooms of The Hilton, sat at the front (as is our wont), and wondered what on earth Lithuanian stand-up was like.

It was sublime!

There's a rich history of foreign comedians coming to these shores and ~~stealing our jobs~~ making us laugh by pointing out the UK's foibles as only an outsider can. Seselskaite has a witty outlook on the perils of being mistaken for Polish while working in Waitrose, how high-class a Wetherspoons is, and what's up with Manchester’s weird obsession with bees.

The show isn't the most innovative thing on the Fringe; it's mostly straight stand-up. But the game of "guess which English song was plagiarised by Lithuanian singers" was surprisingly entertaining. OK, I won a badge by guessing correctly, so I'm biased.

Settled is a solid piece of work which has obviously been road-tested and honed into a tight set. Excellent observational stand-up from a unique perspective (come on, how many other Lithuanian comedians have you been to see?).

Edinburgh Fringe: Handel Nine German Arias ★★★⯪☆

Terence Eden — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:21:05 +0000

Part of going to The Fringe is to expose yourself to new ideas, different art forms, and a range of artworks. Not everything needs to be a "zany" comedy about AI or a loving pastiche of that 1990s disaster movie you love.

So I found myself sat in a Unitarian Church listening to a harpsichord and choral organ intertwined with a violin and cello while a soprano soared through Handel's greatest hits.

I'm too much of a philistine to assess its merits - but there's always pleasure watching technically accomplished professionals at the top of their game. I assumed they played the right notes (and in the right order) as the music was delightful.

It was restful and restorative after a long day pounding Edinburgh's pavements.