Tag Archives: new stuff

Getting Started: Nuand BladeRFx40, XB-200 Transverter, Case & SDRSharp

Posted on August 5, 2016 by lui_gough

This is one of those posts that I should have compiled and put up a long time ago, but never really got around to. Right now, I probably shouldn’t be blogging (since there are more pressing things to attend to), … Continue reading →

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Review: Western Digital WD60EZRX 6Tb Green Hard Drive

Posted on October 27, 2015 by lui_gough

One thing I can’t do without is oodles of storage. Some of my experiments have very peculiar storage demands – from high volume storage, to high speed streaming storage, I have to carefully consider my needs and how to best … Continue reading →

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Review: Western Digital My Book 6Tb USB 3.0 External Hard Drive

Posted on October 25, 2015 by lui_gough

One thing power users know is that their appetite for storage is pretty much insatiable. In order to try satisfying this craving, I’ve decided to go on an all-out spending spree and grab myself some more storage. Instead of buying … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Review, Teardown: Apotop Wi-Copy (DW21) 5200mAh Power Bank

Posted on January 29, 2015 by lui_gough

Towards the end of 2014, I entered a competition held by Scorptec for a chance to win an Apotop Wi-Copy power bank. Guess what? I won! Thanks Scorptec! As a bit of a hobbyist photographer, backing up photos and keeping … Continue reading →

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Review, Teardown: HP Stream 8 Tablet (Intel Z3735G+Windows 8.1 w/Bing)

Posted on January 28, 2015 by lui_gough

In a world where ARM CPUs and Android OS have come to be dominating factors in the tablet and mobile marketspace, and Chromebooks have become a big force in the educational market (at least in the US), it seems that … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Tablet | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Review: Agilent U1241B 4-Digit Handheld DMM & Accessories

Posted on January 28, 2015 by lui_gough

Early in December, I made a trip to element14 to treat myself to an early Christmas present. Having posted about it on my element14 blog, inviting members to take a guess at what the surprise would be, I was surprised … Continue reading →

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Review: Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint

Posted on December 25, 2014 by lui_gough

Working with capacitive touch screen devices has often been a compromise of input accuracy. Having previously trodden down the path of capacitive stylii, I have always been impressed by Adonit’s products, which began with their innovative “plastic disc” style design. … Continue reading →

Posted in Tablet | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

An SSD in a USB 3.0 Enclosure: Part 2 – Transcend SSD340 256Gb + StoreJet 25S3

Posted on August 26, 2014 by lui_gough

Having just done a review and teardown of the Transcend SSD340 256Gb SSD, astute readers will note that the product was purchased in a bundle with a Transcend branded USB 3.0 2.5″ enclosure. While the inclusion of the enclosure is … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Review, Teardown: Transcend SSD340 256Gb 2.5″ Solid-State Drive (TS256GSSD340)

Posted on August 26, 2014 by lui_gough

Solid state drives are now a vital part of every computer I build and use. Most of my commonly used machines in my fleet have already been outfitted with SSDs, and it has paid dividends in terms of faster response … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Quick Review: Samsung Evo 32Gb (MB-MP32D) microSDHC Card

Posted on August 15, 2014 by lui_gough

It seems that Samsung has done some shuffling with their memory cards, and the Samsung Plus is no longer available. Instead, they have instead drawn on their SSD branding scheme and bought the Evo moniker to their microSD and SD … Continue reading →

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Marketing Confusion: Wireless 802.11ac Data Rates Explained

Posted on August 11, 2014 by lui_gough

For people who have looked at upgrading their network to 802.11ac, no doubt you have been perplexed by the wide range of physical layer rates advertised. Before, in the 802.11b and g era, all cards operated at just one rate … Continue reading →

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Review: Raspberry Pi Model B+ & Multicomp Raspberry Pi B+ Case

Posted on August 7, 2014 by lui_gough

Having been kept busy with many side projects of mine, I was rather caught unaware when, on 14th July 2014, the Raspberry Pi foundation announced their latest and greatest iteration of the Raspberry Pi, dubbed the Raspberry Pi Model B+. … Continue reading →

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Review: Pioneer BDR-209DBK 16x SATA Internal Blu-ray Writer

Posted on August 2, 2014 by lui_gough

A while back, I decided to build myself a new rig on the account of many random failures. Being one of the few that insist on retaining an optical media drive, I couldn’t resist picking myself up a new Blu-ray burner. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Review & Teardown: ViewSonic VA2249S 21.5″ IPS Full HD Widecreen LED Monitor

Posted on June 22, 2014 by lui_gough

One of the key points of increasing productivity with computers is to increase the number of screens you have at your disposal. By having multiple monitors, you can avoid needing to excessively scroll within a resized window that squeezes everything … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Quick Review: Microsoft LifeCam Studio Webcam

Posted on June 21, 2014 by lui_gough

It’s been a while since I last purchased a webcam. In fact, the last time I did, high definition webcams were only just becoming the ‘in’ thing and the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 was one of the leading choices. It … Continue reading →

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Review, Teardown: Intel 730 Series 240Gb (SSDSC2BP240G4) Solid-State Drive

Posted on June 20, 2014 by lui_gough

Intel has been part of the SSD revolution early on, with their X25-M being a fairly popular drive around 2009. Embarrassingly, this drive also suffered from several firmware bugs, which may have driven Intel to perform stringent validation of their … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

4Tb Head-to-Head: Western Digital Green WD40EZRX vs Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000

Posted on June 20, 2014 by lui_gough

A universal truth since the beginning of computing has been that you can never get enough storage because you’ll always find something to fill it with. This is true more than ever, with the proliferation of high definition multimedia files, … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Laptop Diet: Swap the ODD for an SSD or nothing at all!

Posted on June 1, 2014 by lui_gough

Owners of older, more traditional laptops eventually get tired of the 2.2-2.8kg weight and the generally lackluster battery life. As time moves on, and newer, lighter form factors become available, the temptation to upgrade to a new device grows. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Review, Teardown: Kingmax SME35 Xvalue 240Gb SSD

Posted on April 5, 2014 by lui_gough

An SSD is one of the best upgrades you can make today – a machine booting and working with files from a traditional hard drive with spinning platters often sits waiting as the drive seeks away. By using flash memory, … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Quick Review: 5w & 13w Philips LED Light Globes at Woolworths

Posted on February 4, 2014 by lui_gough

Just last week, on one of my better days, I took some time to visit my local supermarket – Woolworths. I haven’t visited one in over a year – so it was an opportunity to see what’s new (and get … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Lighting, Opinion | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Review: Adonit Jot Script (Evernote Edition) & Jot Touch 4 Styli

Posted on December 26, 2013 by lui_gough

As I’m sure some of you would be aware, yesterday was Christmas day. Judging from the responses to my poll, a majority of visitors to the website seem not to know what it is, or don’t celebrate it at all, … Continue reading →

Posted in Tablet | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Review: Acer Iconia W3 (Intel Atom Z2760) 8.1″ Windows 8 Tablet

Posted on October 7, 2013 by lui_gough

Background Early in 2013, when it was announced that Acer and Asus (two of the biggest OEMs in the market) would stop producing netbooks, I was rather disappointed. I had always intended to write a blog post about it, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Opinion | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

First Impressions: iOS7 goes live

Posted on September 19, 2013 by lui_gough

By now, most of the readers probably already have the impression that I’m an Android “fan”. You’d only be partially right. While Android is my primary “mobile” platform, I’m slowly growing platform agnostic – I’ve used many from Windows Mobile, … Continue reading →

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Kogan LED Light Globes – Unwelcome RF Noise!

Posted on June 19, 2013 by lui_gough

Today, I fired up my Winradio G31DDC SDR for some HF action, but wait a sec – what’s that noise all over the place? That wasn’t there before!!! The above is a spectrogram (click for larger – resized to 50%) … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Lighting | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Opinion: Tech giants stumbling …

Posted on June 12, 2013 by lui_gough

Normally, I try not to write opinion pieces – I’m (admittedly) not an industry insider, but I do follow the tech news with some enthusiasm, often becoming disappointed at the “new”. It seems we are living in a climate where … Continue reading →

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DAB+ Digital Radio in Sydney and Review: Digital Radio Receivers

Posted on June 7, 2013 by lui_gough

Digital Radio is nothing new, after all, the Digital Radio Plus campaign has been running for a while, advocating radio that doesn’t sound like sh*t. Yeah right! The Radios I suppose if you’re in the market for a Digital Radio, … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

ADS-B with RTL-2832 based USB TV dongles made easy!

Posted on June 7, 2013 by lui_gough

If anything, I think Realtek and ezCap are very happy companies when hobbyists discovered they could leverage a mode inside the low-cost TV-tuner chipset to get direct access to I/Q samples at a decent rate (2-3MS/s at 8 bits). Many … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Electronics, Radio | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Review: GoTek System SFR1M44-U100K USB 1000 Floppy Disk Emulator

Posted on May 19, 2013 by lui_gough

Following on my previous review of a 100-bank low-cost USB floppy emulator and testing of the emulator, I realized that the eBay market saw the introduction of another floppy emulator. This one is the GoTek System SFR1M44-U100K 1000-bank USB floppy … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing | Tagged , , | 71 Comments

Project Kryoflux – Part 1: The Board and Associated Hardware

Posted on April 21, 2013 by lui_gough

It’s 2013 – and the floppy disk is extinct. Floppy drives are no longer sold at computer stores, motherboards have almost all completely eliminated the onboard interface. Computer cases are beginning to lose their 3.5″ front facing bays, and USB … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Electronics | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Review: Manson HCS-3102 1-36v/0-5A Switch-Mode Benchtop Power Supply

Posted on April 13, 2013 by lui_gough

One of the most basic pieces of test equipment in the arsenal of an Electrical Engineer is the humble benchtop power supply. While I have gotten away with using old plugpacks, AT/ATX power supplies as surrogates, they have never had … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments