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Present from Santa Claus! – a Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS

Monday, December 29th, 2014

Okay, I bought it for me!

I already own a few DACS, an Arcam Alpha Black Box DAC5, and two Cambridge Audio S700 ISOMagic, the later designed by John Westlake, of Pink Triangle fame, they do not support above 48KHz, (and they are also not portable!) so it was about time to purchase something new and fresh, which supports 88kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz and 192kHz

Enter the Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS USB DAC, which is an external offboard USB DAC for the computer (Windows PC or Apple MAC), also acts as a headphone amp as well, to drive those headphones correctly!

At present offers, more excellent value for money from Richer Sounds (just do not purchase from the Cardiff store – another blog tomorrow on that!).

I’ve just been listening to the excellent detail in Pink Floyd’s – The Endless River (on Spotify!)

Tags: Cambridge Audio, DacMagic XS, Harman, KVG
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3D Printing A Mobius Bangle using an Ultimaker 2

Thursday, September 4th, 2014

I’ve managed to get access to the 3D Printer…. what fun can I have, and what can I print…

The Ultimaker 2 3D Printer

3D Printing

Tags: 3D Printing, Mobius Bangle, Ultimaker 2
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Special Designed Silver Modulo! – Delay on Accessories ? Will these ever appear ? Kickstarter Failure ? @idapt @kickstarter

Thursday, August 28th, 2014

This is the specially designed Silver Modulo!

Limited Edition Silver Modulo

Unfortunately, it looks like the Wireless Charger, Crank Module, Dual Cable and Solar Charging module will be delayed….due to sourcing issues.

Tags: idaptWeb, Modulo
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Maximum Modulo Power! 12,500mAh for my gadgets! @IDAPT

Thursday, August 14th, 2014

Another surprise this morning, a very early delivery by the postman, delivery of two orange/yellow packages.

Another four Modulos, a pink, green, blue and yellow. these ones are rated at 2500mAh, so all stacked total capacity is 12,500mAh of power to charge gadgets….

Don’t forget still available from http://idaptweb.com

Tags: idaptWeb, Modulo
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New Zanussi ZCV561DW Cooker!

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014

It’s been a while since, we spent money on the house’s white goods….

eventually the cooker that came with the house, had to go, we’ve been keeping the over door shut with a plant pot, for approx 5 years!

Old unbranded cooker

so we purchased a new Zanussi ZCV561DW – 50cm wide electric cooker with separate grill and ceramic hob, from John Lewis. (and they were very good! which is what you’d expect from John Lewis, free delivery on a Saturday, and removed the old cooker for disposal!

New Zanussi ZCV561DW

Tags: Cooker, hotpoint, zanussi
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My Kickstarter has arrived – the Idapt Modulo

Wednesday, August 6th, 2014

This has been my first Kickstarter that I’ve personally backed, the Idapt Modulo – Portal Power for smartphone, tablet or other gadgets.

I already own some Idapt products, and I was notified in April by email, they were starting a Kickstarter campaign to raise $30,000 to launch a new Expandable portable battery.

So I pledge $20, and here it is, arrived today

boxed Idapt Modulo

Contents of the boxed Idapt Modulo

The Modulo

Tags: Idapt, Modulo
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Buzzed by Phantom Quadcopter

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

and this is what we get up to on a busy day at the office….

Aerial View of University of Hull from quadcopter

Tags: quadcopter
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Testing Chromecast on a Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Internet LED UHDTV

Friday, May 9th, 2014

So here, you go Google Chromecast plugged into a Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Internet LED UHDTV, and playing low resolution version of content from BBC iPlayer!

It’s a large screen!

Google Chromecast starting on a Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD

Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD with BBC iPlayer

More about Chromecast later!

Tags: Chromecast, google, Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD
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Programming with Sphero 2.0

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

I’ve had my Sphero 2.0 less than two weeks, so you can use your Android or Apple smartphone to control your Sphero 2.0, but I want to program it, so it comes out during the day, entertains the cats, and then goes back “home” to charge up…

so far these are my efforts, using a Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit Linux computer, a bluetooth USB adaptor, and the ROS (Robot Operating System) and Sphero SDK.

ROS (Robot Operating System) provides libraries and tools to help software developers create robot applications. It provides hardware abstraction, device drivers, libraries, visualizers, message-passing, package management, and more. ROS is licensed under an open source, BSD license.

Starting roscore

Starting rosrun, pairing with Sphero

Here is a video, of the Sphero pairing with bluetooth usb adaptor, and then sending commands, to change colour from blue, green to red, and then unpairing the Sphero.

full throttle….zoom zoom …

Tags: Android, Apple, cat, cats, Smartphone, Sphero
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Sphero 2.0 – new robotic toy for the cats!

Monday, November 11th, 2013

This was the Amazon.co.uk purchase which arrived Saturday morning!

A Sphero 2.0! Sphero is a robotic ball, which can be controlled via a phone or computer, many different development kits have been released, e.g. Android, iPhone and Python etc It’s a bit like a modern day Big Track, but it’s a ball!