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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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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I am easily influenced. At EMF Camp, I saw my friends Skylar and Cameron using some nifty walkie-talkies out in the field. Skye (patiently) explained to me the joys of PMR446 and - because I was quite drunk I hastily bought some radios on Amazon. Hey, they were on special - £30 for a pair! After a few days of use, I've come to the conclusion that they're… basically fine? My main reason for buying them was that they did USB-C recharging (we live in the future now). They didn't come with ch…
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I've got a fancy new Framework laptop. It comes with little expansion sockets - which allow you to plug in USB devices, HDMI ports, Ethernet cables, and all sorts. I want to add an NFC reader to it. So, step one was to find an NFC circuit board which worked with the hardware and was relatively small. Enter the ACM1252U-Z2. It works perfectly with Linux. It has a USB-Micro socket - but a USB-C OTG cable allowed it to work with the Framework. It is about as small as they come - but will…
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The good folks at Kaiweets have sent me their KTI-W01 Thermal Camera to review. You can use coupon code TEB15 for an exclusive 15% discount. Let's get this unboxed and working! Demo Photos The photos are stored as JPGs which can be read by any normal graphics program. They also contain the thermal metadata which you can extract with specialist tools. Here's the full photo taken with the camera. It shows the interior of an office with some computer equipment on a shelf. You aren't…
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The Framework laptop has several little slots which can be used be used to expand the functionality of the laptop. They convert the internal USB-C ports into a different sort of port. For example, Framework sells an official HDMI card and Ethernet card: But the community have built their own SD card expansion pack as well as 3D printed snack drawers: Brilliant! I have an NFC-only authentication token which I want to use when I log in with my laptop. I currently have a USB-C NFC reader…
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I needed to read and write NFC cards on Linux. I only buy USB-C peripherals now, so I found the brilliantly named "ACR1252U-MF" which appears to be the only USB-C reader on the market. Total cost was about £35 on eBay. It's a cheap and light plastic box with a short USB cord. When you plug it in, there's a flashing light which can't be disabled. When it is powered up, or it detects and NFC chip, it makes this weird and scratchy beep: 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. On Linux, it shows…
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The lovely people at Mokin keep sending me their USB-C hubs to review, and I'm happy to do so. They work splendidly with my Linux and Windows machines, and they provide more ports than I ever thought necessary. This one is positively festooned with extra ports. Let's take a look. USB-C Plug your power adapter into the hub, and then the hub into your laptop. With most hubs, that's it; you've lost a C port. This has an extra USB-C port - so you don't lose anything. Personally, I'd prefer…
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You can never have too many USB-C ports, right? It's rubbish having a cheap laptop with only a single USB-C port. So, the good folks at Mokin have sent me a gadget which turns your single and lonely USB-C port into FIVE USB-C ports. Along the side you get 4 USB-C 3.1 ports which are theoretically capable of 10Gbps in aggregate. At the bottom is a USB-C 3.0 Power Delivery port which can take up to 100W of power. There's also an obligatory blue LED to let you know it is working. Speed …
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