Stuff Just Gets Better!!


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Just a few rambles on my latest adventures.

 

I've been watching these adverts for 'Alexa' and other 'Hubs' that you can now buy to control assorted gadgets in your home.  Being used to an earlier generation of technological  'convergence', I was assuming that having 'Alexa' dim the lights would involve wires everywhere. but no... The actual light bulbs are now 'smart'.. in that they have wi fi inside and can be controlled by it to dim. Flippin'eck!!!  Not cheap though at about £30-50 a bulb.

 

On bulbs.  Most of my house is now lit by LED lamps.  They typically claim a life of 15000 hours plus.  None have 'blown' yet.  They give good light and cost about £5-£7 for a 100 watt equivalent .  Much more than a 'traditional' filament bulb, but they also use MUCH less 'leccy'.  'Traditional' filament bulbs are now all but unobtainable.  I've found that 'halogen' types at around £5-6 for three '100w equivalents' are a fair replacement.. but i'd styill go with L.E.D. as they run cool and use less leccy.

 

 

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Just got a new Virgin V6 box for the telly.  The old Tivo box was clunky, slow and rubbish, but the V6 is much better.

 

So this got me thinking about how to connect a TV upstairs using the old Tivo Box.  No way I'm running an 'ethernet' cable upstairs so it seems the solution is to use .'Powerline'.  This has been around for a while.  Involves an adapter which you plug into a mains socket.  You can then plug an ethernet cable into it.  The signal is  routed via your mains wiring. . to another 'Powerline' socket, which can be connected via Ethernet', to another device.

 

Fab stuff.

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Wi-Fi Dentistry.

 

I have an electronic Toothbrush which can connect to my phone via Wi-fi so long as I get the 'Oral B Toothbrush' app.  Apparently it will tell me if I'm brushing my teeth properly...

 

I think I'll pass on that one..

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I've got one too,  cleans my teeth,  my tongue,  massages  my gums and gives me a signal after 2 minute which apparently is the optimum time. Presumably this is based on an adult having 32 or perhaps 28 if wisdom teeth have been removed giving an average of around 4 secs per tooth. I suppose the next model will be able to count how many teeth we actually have and adjust the time accordingly I could do with saving 20 seconds twice a day.

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3 hours ago, DJ360 said:

So this got me thinking about how to connect a TV upstairs using the old Tivo Box

 

Cables what's them? Get your old TiVo box & hub, put out it outside for the bin men, Get a couple of "SMART" TV's, watch & control anything you've recorded or want to watch, upstairs, downstairs, work, on the beach in Spain, next doors telly, on your phone, iPad, get with it Granddad.   

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4 hours ago, DJ360 said:

Alexa

 

Alexa was the must have gadget of Christmas 2017 we had much fun with it on Boxing Day round my brothers asking it questions, folk spoke of it in the tea bars @ work, by the end of January 2018 most had forget they had it! 

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French TV is such rubbish I could hardly justify the purchase of a coaxial plug, never mind Alexas, TIVOs or V6 boxes (?). From what I recall from my UK visit last Christmas, your TV is not any better. I assume it has not improved.

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9 hours ago, DJ360 said:

I've been watching these adverts for 'Alexa' and other 'Hubs' that you can now buy to control assorted gadgets in your home. 

 

But as you discovered when unable to log in to Nottstalgia...........if one crucial element stops working, your entire life comes to a halt and you're totally bug*ered.

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Apparently if you say to Alexa "How many more sleeps until Christmas" she replies and then Santa joins in for a chat!

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Mrs Fly has one, and I keep telling it to go and reproduce in no uncertain terms, but it doesn't comprehend.

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7 hours ago, radfordred said:

 

Cables what's them? Get your old TiVo box & hub, put out it outside for the bin men, Get a couple of "SMART" TV's, watch & control anything you've recorded or want to watch, upstairs, downstairs, work, on the beach in Spain, next doors telly, on your phone, iPad, get with it Granddad.   

 

Don't mince your words RR.  Say wot ya mean!!  :laugh:

 

I've got a smart TV in the lounge.  but I don't see how it would do anything other than deliver terrestrial channels without connecting to a Virgin or similar gizmo via W-Fi or ethernet?  And recording? On what if I bin my Tivo/V6

 

OK I'm sure I could 'pair' my TV with some local unsecured wi-fi source.. like next doors except everybody round here is wise enough to have their netwrok secured.

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2 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

But as you discovered when unable to log in to Nottstalgia...........if one crucial element stops working, your entire life comes to a halt and you're totally bug*ered.

 

Yebbut.. I can get on here with my phone.  I can get Freeview.

 

I still have a TV aerial on the roof with a booster amp in the loft feeding three bedrooms and the lounge.

 

I'll always be able to find some rubbish to watch so long as they keep transmittiing to 'air'!!  :P

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Taking the plunge and finally embracing the 21century I bought a super dooper TV to go with the new Virgin TV and Broadband service we had recently.

What a disaster! anyone have a spare 10 yr old they can rent out for awhile?

The TV remote is the most annoying. It puts a pointer on the screen which appears to have no relationship with where the damn remote is pointing, even backwards and under a cushion it's still there!. 

No idea what has been pressed but now it nags us to speak to it for voice commands. 'no sod off' 'please speak clearly' 'no go away' 'do you require assistance?' 'will you just %!^&% off'

Get rid of that by changing to the Virgin box only to told it needs to retune itself, it drives me potty!

The number of  'apps' as they are called is huge... sob.. all I want to do is watch TV. Scrolling through acres of channels that need a subscription, finding some channels are not available or have moved and 'would you like to retune now - please choose full, aerial, digital only or manual'...… aaaargh

It says it can use the internet. Haven't managed to do it yet but if I do why would I want to stream from my PC or my phone? They are connected to the same service surely?

 

In my profile I put technology as one of my interests, I may have to revisit it.

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technology pah, we have just been sent an online catalogue for ordering parts,not for me,as I said to the manager of the firm that sent it , this is just a ploy to get rid of you your staff and the branch of the company you work in ,if all your customers end up using it ,I will carry on phoning the branch for bits and help keep the staff ,drivers etc in a job the maintenance company ,the people who service the vans ,the girl who brings the cobs in a morning , the corner shop ,local petrol station ,electric co ,the council rates etc ,no mate not for me!

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On 1/17/2019 at 12:03 AM, Brew said:

Taking the plunge and finally embracing the 21century I bought a super dooper TV to go with the new Virgin TV and Broadband service we had recently.

What a disaster! anyone have a spare 10 yr old they can rent out for awhile?

The TV remote is the most annoying. It puts a pointer on the screen which appears to have no relationship with where the damn remote is pointing, even backwards and under a cushion it's still there!. 

No idea what has been pressed but now it nags us to speak to it for voice commands. 'no sod off' 'please speak clearly' 'no go away' 'do you require assistance?' 'will you just %!^&% off'

Get rid of that by changing to the Virgin box only to told it needs to retune itself, it drives me potty!

The number of  'apps' as they are called is huge... sob.. all I want to do is watch TV. Scrolling through acres of channels that need a subscription, finding some channels are not available or have moved and 'would you like to retune now - please choose full, aerial, digital only or manual'...… aaaargh

It says it can use the internet. Haven't managed to do it yet but if I do why would I want to stream from my PC or my phone? They are connected to the same service surely?

In my profile I put technology as one of my interests, I may have to revisit it.

Sounds just like my TV that gets delivered this afternoon...................................great ! Too late to cancel.

Should have sent for Ben, he's soon sort it !

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On 12/9/2018 at 2:46 PM, jonab said:

Does this WiFi teeth cleaning work if you hold your teeth in your hand when cleaning them?

At least you can whistle and brush your teeth at the same time!

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On ‎12‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 11:11 AM, loppylugs said:

How's that going for you btw

On a bit of a hold during summer, for me it is more of a cold wet winters day thing.

I have managed a fair rendition of Ode To Joy, the bass line is only C and G so I can manage that. No fancy work yet

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