As is our custom on a Saturday, this morning my wife and I went out to a local cafe for breakfast. We know the proprietress so I was chatting to her whilst paying for the meal. Part way through the chat, the cafe proprietress tore off the receipt from the POS terminal and removed my …
Category: electronics
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2016/10/22/nfc-nfw/
Jul 15 2013
nokia lumia 1020
I have been a Nokia fan for many years. Like many people, I guess, my first mobile phone was made by Nokia. I have certainly owned more Nokia mobiles than those from any other single company. One of my favourite mobiles (which I still own as a backup) is the 6500 slide. I also still …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/15/nokia-lumia-1020/
Jun 12 2013
blimey that was quick
The cable tester I ordered at around 17.00 yesterday arrived in this morning’s post. And jolly good it is too for such a ridiculously cheap item. As expected, the instructions are amusing but pretty clear for all that. It is easy to use and feels fairly robust, despite the price. Now the results. I am …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/12/blimey-that-was-quick/
Jun 11 2013
blimey that is cheap
David’s comment to my post about my gigabit ethernet upgrade prompted me to look for a cheap LAN tester so that I could check continuity through the RJ45 coupler that had caused me difficulty. It would also be handy to be able to check the box full of old patch cables that I seem to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/11/blimey-that-is-cheap/
Jun 10 2013
slow gigabit ethernet
I have been making some changes to my domestic network of late which I will write about later. However, one of the main changes has been an upgrade from 10/100 switches to gigabit – mainly to improve throughput between my central filestore and desktop machines. For cosmetic reasons (and to keep my wife happy) I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/10/slow-gigabit-ethernet/
May 29 2013
another good reason not to buy one
Back in November 2011 I wrote about the TP-Link TL-SC3130G IP camera. I had some trouble getting that device to work properly over wifi so I returned it and got my money back. Today, Core Security released an advisory about this device (and several others from TP-Link) about a remotely exploitable vulnerability arising from “hard-coded …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/05/29/another-good-reason-not-to-buy-one/
Dec 14 2012
password theft
I have mentioned odd postings to bugtraq before. Today, one “gsuberland” added to the canon with a gem about the Netgear WGR614 wireless router. He says in his post that he has been “reverse engineering” this router. Now for most bugtraq posters (and readers) this would mean that he has been disassembling the firmware. But …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/12/14/password-theft/
Aug 20 2012
what every iphone needs
I stumbled across this site today when following a link from an email on the topic of reflashing an android tablet with CyanogenMod. The guy who sent the email (to the ALUG list) had bought a generic 7″ android tablet. He was considering reflashing with CM9 and was asking for advice/guidance/gotchas or whatever before doing …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/20/what-every-iphone-needs/
May 13 2012
disappointing satnav
One of my hobbies is motorcycling. I have travelled extensively by bike in central and southern europe over many years, but oddly, I have never visited scotland before. I intend rectifying that shortly. When travelling in europe I have always made do with the excellent Michelin range of 1/1000000 (1 cm to 10 km) maps. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/13/disappointing-satnav/
Mar 14 2012
unplugged
A few days ago my sheevaplug died. Beyond the obvious lack of response either over the network or through the USB serial connection, the symptoms (single green LED rather than blue and green LED lit, ethernet LED light steady rather than flashing) were all consistent with a blown PSU. This problem is well known and …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/03/14/unplugged-2/
Nov 30 2011
tp-link respond
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the problems I had with a TP-Link IP camera. Today I received a comment on that post from a guy called Luke in the TP-Link support team. In that response he apologises for the difficulties I had and promises to investigate further. His response deserves as wide …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/11/30/tp-link-respond/
Nov 16 2011
do not buy one of these
Standalone IP cameras have come down in price quite remarkably over the past few years. It is now perfectly possible to get a camera for between £50.00 and £75.00, and this makes them attractive for anyone wanting to set up simple “home surveillance” systems. I bought one recently just to see what I could …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/11/16/do-not-buy-one-of-these/
Jan 26 2011
I guess they do it differently over there
I came across a potential new entry to the “slug replacement” competition today in the shape of a 2GHz Sheeva Marvell based plug computer by Ionics called the Nimbus 2000 (all the company’s products seem to be named after cloud types – wonder why). In addition to that rather fast ARM CPU, this little beast …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/01/26/i-guess-they-do-it-differently-over-there/
Mar 30 2010
unplugged
My earlier problems with the sheevaplug all seem to have stemmed from the fact that I had installed Lenny to SDHC cards. As I mentioned in my post of 7 March, I burned through two cards before eventually giving up and trying a new installation to USB disk. This seems to have fixed the problem …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2010/03/30/unplugged/
Mar 07 2010
plug instability
I’m still having a variety of problems with my sheevaplug. Not least of which is the fact that SDHC cards don’t seem to be the best choice of boot medium. I have had failures with two cards now and some searching of the various on-line fora suggests that I am not alone here. In particular, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2010/03/07/plug-instability/
Feb 28 2010
from slug to plug
Well this took rather longer than expected. I intended to write about my latest toy much earlier than this, but several things got in the way – more of which later. About three or four weeks ago I bought myself a new sheevaplug. The plug has been on sale in the US for some time, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2010/02/28/from-slug-to-plug/
Mar 16 2009
a thirteen amp plug just won’t cut it
I normally read the register for its IT tech related reporting – and I enjoy it just because it is a wonderfully scurrilous rag. However, an article about the Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg’s “Quant”, which el Reg chose to call “Mary”, piqued my interest somewhat. I can’t quite make the arithmetic work out. To quote …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2009/03/16/a-thirteen-amp-plug-just-wont-cut-it/
Jan 04 2007
vinyl to digital
Recently you may have seen adverts in a wide variety of publications for a USB turntable. This product is aimed at people (like me) who have a collection of old vinyl recordings but no longer have the means to play them as they have moved to CD and/or digital recordings. Most of the turntables I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/04/vinyl-to-digital/
Dec 26 2006
Mike Harrison
I admire the offbeat, the unusual, and the plain weird. I came across Mike Harrison’s site when I was looking for information about Tesla Coils. It is well worth a visit – I mean the man collects thermionic valves such as this: A bit bigger than a transistor
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/26/mike-harrison/