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What's your latest tech purchase?

Going for a bike fitting. £190

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Going for a bike fitting. £190


I feel there is worth suggesting the bike industry is not so honest. Bike fitting are the scrap of bread thrown out to keep brick and mortar around. Under no circumstance purchase a non-proprietary bike component that is a direct or sub-brand of a bike manufacturer. Especially wheels.

Since I'm already intruding: Find your position - find the saddle that works better than others in it - make ownership and care of extremely high quality 35mm (medium profile) aluminum wheels a priority and always stay brand agnostic in mounting tires with the best set of qualities available (high quality not high cost and certainly not high maintenance cost ;))
 
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med-tech.


and a nice simple decently priced chair for my PC desk.
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Blood pressurement:
That machines search my pressure like no good. Pumpimg getting the air away. Pumping again. Getting the air away again. Sometimes 5 times. then they realize: "Here there is something. Could it be that low?". They show me a 120:80. But only when i'm outraged and after 10 Espressi. Normally around 80-100:60-80. Also the people in the hospitals. After the third pump they check their machines. Sometimes quite funny.
 
Start of last week I upgraded my T480 with WiFi 6E and the cheapest 500GB NVME with dram cache I could find.

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I was running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 6 but WiFi 6E speeds was around 120Mbps and missing Dolby Atmos and Vision support was a downer so I changed back to Windows 11 Pro debloated and optimized and got 3-4times the wifi speed at around 400-450Mbps and both Dolby supports back.

Also upgrade my wifi with a TP-Link Deco X10 WiFi 6E works like a clam even with my Samsung Galaxy S23 getting better WiFi speed than my Deco M5 WiFi5.
 
I had one of the old KVM models (VGA video connectors and PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports), many many (many!) years ago. Acquiring a modern version is on my bucket list. When I'm working from home, I can change my existing setup to accommodate the company hardware in just a couple minutes... but man, it would be SO nice to just plug in to a KVM and tap a button to switch back and forth.

i missed that train... didn't even know KVM was a thing back then. I never looked into these types of solutions until 2017 when i finally got 2 builds sitting side by side. Had i known these existed I may have invested in a dual system years earlier.

Just wandering, do KVMs significantly limit storage data transfer speeds or present any other issues when pairing up a USB Ext. SSD/HDD hub? I've got a Fideco cloning/backup docking station with 2 HDDs installed and was wondering whether this would be a practical solution to tie in with the KVM. Its not really a requirement for the second PC, i could just stick with hooking it up with the primary work build for backups but just curious.

Start of last week I upgraded my T480 with WiFi 6E and the cheapest 500GB NVME with dram cache I could find.

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I was running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 6 but WiFi 6E speeds was around 120Mbps and missing Dolby Atmos and Vision support was a downer so I changed back to Windows 11 Pro debloated and optimized and got 3-4times the wifi speed at around 400-450Mbps and both Dolby supports back.

Also upgrade my wifi with a TP-Link Deco X10 WiFi 6E works like a clam even with my Samsung Galaxy S23 getting better WiFi speed than my Deco M5 WiFi5.

SNAP!!

I also picked up a WIFI 6E Deco (XE75 Pro AXE5400) and upgraded my gaming rig with WIFI 6E PCie adapter (Gigabyte GC-WBAX210)

Currently in the process of upgrading my gaming build with a bunch of stuff (incl. 5800X3D), some received some expected tomorrow. I'll post up probably tomorrow.
 
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Fairly recently purchased an ASUS RT-AX88U PRO AX6000 Dual Band WiFi 6 Router. Very happy with it so far. Using my older RT-AX86U as an AiMesh node.

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A month or so ago I purchased a KM switch ('UGREEN' 10Gbps USB-C KM switch). Didn't go for KVM as my main panel has multiple inputs so I can switch that over at the monitor, and didn't want to chance any signal degradation by running the DP through a switch. Makes it nice and easy to hook my laptop up to my main panel when I want to. Relatively cheap purchase through Amazon, link here if anyone is interested.


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I feel there is worth suggesting the bike industry is not so honest. Bike fitting are the scrap of bread thrown out to keep brick and mortar around. Under no circumstance purchase a non-proprietary bike component that is a direct or sub-brand of a bike manufacturer. Especially wheels.

Since I'm already intruding: Find your position - find the saddle that works better than others in it - make ownership and care of extremely high quality 35mm (medium profile) aluminum wheels a priority and always stay brand agnostic in mounting tires with the best set of qualities available (high quality not high cost and certainly not high maintenance cost ;))

I hear you, but ive been trying to fix some reoccurring knee pain whilst on the bike probably for the better part of 8 months. No matter what I tried to fix the issue, I still had knee pain almost every ride. Ive also always had a feeling that my bike might be too big for me as I bought it online in 2016 and used the manufacturers guestimate chart for sizing.

So lets just say the bike fitting was to dispel some doubts that I had and also to not accelerate the destruction of my knees. Not everyone needs a bike fit but it was cheaper to see a fitter than buy a new bike to see if that solved the problem instead.
 
I hear you, but ive been trying to fix some reoccurring knee pain whilst on the bike probably for the better part of 8 months. No matter what I tried to fix the issue, I still had knee pain almost every ride. Ive also always had a feeling that my bike might be too big for me as I bought it online in 2016 and used the manufacturers guestimate chart for sizing.

So lets just say the bike fitting was to dispel some doubts that I had and also to not accelerate the destruction of my knees. Not everyone needs a bike fit but it was cheaper to see a fitter than buy a new bike to see if that solved the problem instead.

My way to set seat height is, heel on peddle leg should be straight, when the ball is on peddle it's perfect. I use spd's btw. I think the reach to the bars is personal preference. I don't like been stretched out on my road bike(full carbon boardman team) so have changed the stem for a shorter one.

The Orange E8 i just bought is very spiffy too.
 
I looked at the Creative Pebbles X Plus review, think of myself “huh, that thing looks pretty okay for the review and I wanted to replace my speakers for a long time…” but then there is no way to grab one right now nearby.

I looked a bit further, and I suddenly remembered I wanted a soundbar for the compact greatness. I stumbled upon the Katana V2 and V2X, looked at the reviews claiming this is about the best PC/gaming soundbar money can buy, and my bank account is suddenly itching real hard.
This is either an utter overkill for my small room, a wrong purchase because there are cheaper better products (I can’t find one easily), or a great purchase decision for whatever.
First impression is, wow, this audio quality is great AF at least for my not very well trained normie ears.
(If I have said that the specific requirements are compact PC speakers (at most ~150mm tall) or a compact soundbar (about 600mm wide), with an okay subwoofer, probably someone will give a better choice. yeah...)

(To be fair to my ex (I mean my previous audio device, the Gigabyte GP-S3000), it is galaxies better than the garbage speakers in displays, and it is probably great for a USB-powered-only device (rated 4.5W). But it is a bit too tall that it is partially hidden by my main monitor, and it is ridiculously loud even when the volume on Windows is set to 1/100. And the Katana V2X is probably galaxies better than the tinny USB speakers.

EDIT#?: Oh no, this is the #20000 post of this thread! *panic*
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You mentioned Creative. I have the Stage V2 and it makes 70s Reggae with deep bass and high horns awesome to listen to. It is for the most part it looks the exact same as what you have in the Pic. Does it have Bluetooth as well?
 
My way to set seat height is, heel on peddle leg should be straight, when the ball is on peddle it's perfect. I use spd's btw. I think the reach to the bars is personal preference. I don't like been stretched out on my road bike(full carbon boardman team) so have changed the stem for a shorter one.

The Orange E8 i just bought is very spiffy too.

well, according to the bike fitter, I had the saddle height and position pretty much within margin of error so that wasnt the problem. I had played around with the saddle a lot aswell as swap out the stem for a shorter reach. Bike fitter said it was all good.

The take away was:

1. Too narrow a saddle - not enough support for my big ass so my body had a bit of a side to side wobble as I peddled.

2. my left foot had a nasty habit of dragging/twisting the heel inwards as I peddled which was resulting in extra pull/pressure on one of the tendons which was causing the pain because of unnatural movement. Cant quite remember the terminology he used but i'll be getting a report shortly via email soon.

3. cleat position a little too far forward and widened to give my chunky lets some space and not be so close to the cranks. I did play with cleat positioning but I didnt set it as far back as he did. Granted, If i did this, there would be no guarantee that it would completely cure my knee pain. I have a weird left foot which i have always had since birth, so my left foot is never 100% completely flat on the ground as the right and a toe insert should help that balance as well as the twisty heel/ankle.


Maybe the bike fitting service is an industry scam. But if it gets me out riding more (which i really plan to as last summer was completely waterlogged) then it would have been worth it IMO. Its honestly no different then seeing a physio.

I learnt a lot more about the bike when it comes to the geometry and handlebar width (which i always thought was too long for me..) at the session then the day I bought the bike.

When youre at your wits end. You go to someone who specialises in dealing with these issues.


I just wish the saddle he gave me to try out before our follow up session wasnt made of stone because boy did my arse hurt riding it the 8 miles back home.
 
well, according to the bike fitter, I had the saddle height and position pretty much within margin of error so that wasnt the problem. I had played around with the saddle a lot aswell as swap out the stem for a shorter reach. Bike fitter said it was all good.

The take away was:

1. Too narrow a saddle - not enough support for my big ass so my body had a bit of a side to side wobble as I peddled.

2. my left foot had a nasty habit of dragging/twisting the heel inwards as I peddled which was resulting in extra pull/pressure on one of the tendons which was causing the pain because of unnatural movement. Cant quite remember the terminology he used but i'll be getting a report shortly via email soon.

3. cleat position a little too far forward and widened to give my chunky lets some space and not be so close to the cranks. I did play with cleat positioning but I didnt set it as far back as he did. Granted, If i did this, there would be no guarantee that it would completely cure my knee pain. I have a weird left foot which i have always had since birth, so my left foot is never 100% completely flat on the ground as the right and a toe insert should help that balance as well as the twisty heel/ankle.


Maybe the bike fitting service is an industry scam. But if it gets me out riding more (which i really plan to as last summer was completely waterlogged) then it would have been worth it IMO. Its honestly no different then seeing a physio.

I learnt a lot more about the bike when it comes to the geometry and handlebar width (which i always thought was too long for me..) at the session then the day I bought the bike.

When youre at your wits end. You go to someone who specialises in dealing with these issues.


I just wish the saddle he gave me to try out before our follow up session wasnt made of stone because boy did my arse hurt riding it the 8 miles back home.
Butthurt is temporary, good saddle fit is eternal.

Seriously, the firm saddles are only uncomfortable at first.

A carbon plate with maybe 5mm of padding is perfect. Little bit of flex.
 
I hear you, but ive been trying to fix some reoccurring knee pain whilst on the bike probably for the better part of 8 months. No matter what I tried to fix the issue, I still had knee pain almost every ride. Ive also always had a feeling that my bike might be too big for me as I bought it online in 2016 and used the manufacturers guestimate chart for sizing.

So lets just say the bike fitting was to dispel some doubts that I had and also to not accelerate the destruction of my knees. Not everyone needs a bike fit but it was cheaper to see a fitter than buy a new bike to see if that solved the problem instead.

I wasn't making any comment on your decision that seemed reasonable even before reading the above.

Don't be surprised if they suggest orthotics or cleat wedges depending on your preferred pedal type.


Edit: Just saw you just had the fitting. A good saddle will need to break in as much as you will. My first good road saddle lasted 100K miles and hurt at first. This is where the term ironbutt comes in.
Definitely look at getting an orthotic for your left foot and probably the dummy for your right to bring them level.
 
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Butthurt is temporary, good saddle fit is eternal.

Seriously, the firm saddles are only uncomfortable at first.

A carbon plate with maybe 5mm of padding is perfect. Little bit of flex.

I hear you but im a heavy rider at 95kg and dont always ride with padded shorts for short rides. I went from a Prologo Kappa T2.0 that had some padding to a Selle Italia Model X Superflow which is extremely firm jello.

At least the bike fit included a 'saddle fit' so its easy for me to buy what i need after im done with the follow up session which is free.

I wasn't making any comment on your decision that seemed reasonable even before reading the above.

Don't be surprised if they suggest orthotics or cleat wedges depending on your preferred pedal type.

No problem!

As for the orthodontics. I've already got a set of Specialized arch support Insoles that I have had since the dawn of time. He also gave me an additional toe insert to balance my left foot because the outer part of my foot wasnt really making good contact and pressing down on the bottom of the shoe at the same time with the inner part of my foot when peddling. What im trying to say is my left foot has some weird angles.

He used a heatmap pad to find all that stuff out which was pretty cool to see.
 
Blood pressurement:
That machines search my pressure like no good. Pumpimg getting the air away. Pumping again. Getting the air away again. Sometimes 5 times. then they realize: "Here there is something. Could it be that low?". They show me a 120:80. But only when i'm outraged and after 10 Espressi. Normally around 80-100:60-80. Also the people in the hospitals. After the third pump they check their machines. Sometimes quite funny.

mine is on the lower end but it measures fine. i get 114/66. need to opt for better more expensive machines rather than cheaper generic ones.
 
Yesterday i decided what phone/smartphone i will have next. A Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. For that i ordered a hull after. That will take 20 days for delivery.

In my mind there was a film playing where a chinese jumped into a rowing boat. Make his way through the indian ocean, the suez canal, mediterian sea, north atlantic and north sea to Rotterdam. Getting upwards the rhine to speyer to my location. :D
 
You mentioned Creative. I have the Stage V2 and it makes 70s Reggae with deep bass and high horns awesome to listen to. It is for the most part it looks the exact same as what you have in the Pic. Does it have Bluetooth as well?
The Katana V2X (and V2) do have Bluetooth 5.0.
To my knowledge, the Katana V2X and Stage V2 use what looks like the same subwoofer unit (same dimensions, rated 40W).
The Katana V2X uses a smaller, more powerful main unit with a few more features and some subtle RGB. (600mm vs 680mm but with seemingly slightly larger drivers, 50W vs 40W, and SXFi which I don't use yet, and a "acoustic engine")
Now that I have used the Katana V2X, I find that it is a bit muffled on stock settings compared to what I used to have, and the "Crystallizer" in the acoustic engine can mitigate that.
The Gigabyte thing held its own for sharp treble (I have to EQ the Katana with treble +6dB to have it sound similar on the high end to what I used to have, and the Gigabyte thing is still sharper there)

The Katana V2 non-X has a even bigger subwoofer, and more power on both the subwoofer and main unit, which is too much overkill for my room.
 
It seems that you realized that in nature vegetarians are on the victims side.
You just keep earning that ignore.

$34, not bad for 65W.
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I'd have gone for a non-sag-a-majig, but that's just preference.
Had great results/luck with Baseus branded chargers and cables lately, too. Anker is still my go-to, but if they're not running a good enough sale it's a solid second option. Got a 65w 4 port (2 USB-C PC / 2 USB-A QC) with 2 A/C outlets and a 6ft integrated power cord for like $22 after all the Slickdeals silliness the other day. Also have a couple of their portable chargers, and the 100w version of the one I got recently. Solid build.

Now to my latest tech purchase!

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The IEMs (AWW x TCA Project 4+2) aren't new... But the PDA from 2004 is, at least to me!

So why did I buy a Sony CLIÉ PEG-TJ37 PalmOS PDA roughly 20 years after it lost relevance? Because I saw one in the Chicago Sony store (and a couple years later in an outlet mall) and desperately wanted it at the time, but couldn't afford it. Right now I think I've got roughly $100 in this thing. Paid a whopping $30 for it from a really nice guy on Facebook Marketplace (and my friend bought the Sony Glasstrons I wanted! Oh well - I'll still get to play with them) in exceptional physical condition. The screen is flawless, as is the protective flip cover apart from where it's just flaking from age alone. Looking in to repair options there. There are a couple tiny scuffs on the back cover which are the only indicator I can find it was ever even used. It's beautiful.

The battery had to be replaced immediately as it was quite swollen and threatening to go nuclear, and the power adapter was missing so I had to grab one of those off eBay as well. Supporting accessories ended up costing more than the unit itself, but I'll likely never sell it, so whatever. That and a couple different MemoryStick adapters/readers got me up to around $100 all in. Thankfully not starting entirely from scratch as I already own a PS Vita.

The charger thing is frustrating cause it's a 5.2v adapter so they could have just used USB... But hey. Sony. Gotta have a weird plug for everything. Thankfully the charge and sync adapter - a breakout for Mini-USB and the power connection that literally takes as much or more space than just those two connections themselves - was in the box. I haven't looked up used prices, don't want to know.

It powered right up when I connected the new battery and has been flawless since. Graffiti 2 (the weird Palm input thing) is bad, but not as bad as I expected. If I had this 20 years ago it would have felt like a revelation. HotSync is terrible, and almost impossible from what I've found so far to get running on Windows 11. Thankfully I keep an old laptop around dual booting 7 and 10 for weird stuff like this.

It has definitely been sad to see how much thought, care, and love went in to PalmOS-centric websites at one point and how many have just disappeared since. Really makes me wish I'd been able to afford this thing or something like it in its heyday.

In the picture it is running a cracked version of Pocket Tunes Pro because the company that made it has long since gone out of business without making their stuff freeware and all the keygens I could find didn't work on other versions. This is an improvement over the bundled MP3 playback app because it doesn't skip and pop every time a file switches between bit rates. Full multitasking support - you can listen to MP3s while checking your email, writing to do lists, etc. Pretty impressive for 2004.

The integrated headphone amp is surprisingly high power! More than enough for any IEM (like "don't turn it all the way up, you will hurt yourself" powerful) and probably most full size headphones. They didn't skimp.

There's a MemoryStick to MemoryStick Pro Duo to microSD adapter in there with a 32 gig microSD card in it formatted FAT32. PalmOS 4 or 4.2 or whatever it is only supports FAT16 out of the box so I had to find a freeware FAT32 driver somebody wrote and install that to get support for anything over 2GB. My friend did give me a 2GB original MemoryStick for when I want to be fully period correct, though. Reads and writes are really slow, but thankfully the TJ37 has enough RAM that it's not an issue. I can read and write to the full stick but the OS only ever shows if the first two gigs are full or not. Nobody at Sony or Palm ever thought this was going to happen.

The original stickers down towards the bottom proudly tout the IEEE 802.11b wireless (useless since there's no support for anything above WEP) and 310,000 pixel built in digital camera. That's... 640x480.

What it lacks in megapixels (and low/medium/ideal light performance) is almost made up for in convenience features and smart design we flat out don't get any more. There is a physical camera lens cover with a switch on the side of the unit. If it's not in "HOLD" mode (if it is, move that slider first) using that switch to open the camera cover also wakes up the unit and opens the camera app. Around the corner from the camera cover switch is a fairly large, easy to find physical shutter button. You can take this thing out of your pocket and with one hand in about 2 seconds with no fumbling or uncertainty about what you're doing open the camera app and take a picture. Never have to touch the screen. Never even have to open the flip cover if you're using it. It's brilliant. Classic Sony. Yes, my Pixel 8 will do something similar if I double-click the power button, but it doesn't have a physical lens cover, and I would say it needs it more than the Sony ever did.

The OS skin is classic early 2000s jank, but it's not the stupidest layout I've ever seen by a long shot. I'd rather this than iOS any day.

All in all it's a silly little thing to play with and I'm enjoying it / learning about PalmOS quite a lot.
 
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The OS skin is classic early 2000s jank, but it's not the stupidest layout I've ever seen by a long shot. I'd rather this than iOS any day.

My Casio Cassiopeia E-100 palmtop Pc from 1999 has windows CE and color display.
 
Recently my External Seagate 4TB USB backup unit failed, so I pulled the 4TB HDD out and bought this to use instead (plus I have a few odd HDD & SSD lying around)

Fideco HDD Docking Station.jpg
 
I learned developing on a Sharp PC-1403. I had some books where i turned an Assembler code to hex figures that i integrated into a Basic Program and that i typed into that device. Later i had a Casio PC-850P. That was really comfortable because of it's display. There i developed some adventure kind games.

When i got to university to study computer science i bought a HP-28S. At that time this calculator was incredible expensive. I wasn't able to afford the bigger HP-48G. So this one kept my content of "wet" dreams. I remember really well were a fellow student and me were sitting in the cafeteria/canteen to program them with mathematics (Analysis). It took me some weeks. My fellow typed it in at all the devices. His, mine, from some friends etc. But then we sold the programs (even to our Professor) and have earned that much money that all the coffee's for the rest of the semesters were for free. The follow-up semesters got it recommended by him. :) A few month ago i bought the successor of the HP-48 an HP-49. Man, i was so proud about. Like at the times of studying. So that old dream was fulfilled. I paid for that unit more than 200€, Originally noone is able to use it fastly because of the UPN. One has to type "1" "2" "+" instead of "1" "+" "2"
 
Originally noone is able to use it fastly because of the UPN. One has to type "1" "2" "+" instead of "1" "+" "2"
When I was majoring in computer engineering (which I ended dropping out later), I learned the logic behind the RPN. Makes a lot of sense computationally. Still have my 50G (which was formerly my brother's) to this day.
 
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RPN calculators are awesome. I had a handmedown HP-67 and HP-41CX that got me through math in college. The 67s LED display was pretty awesome.
 
EZ GPU brace For my 4090.
 
I recently got a great deal on a pair of Titan V card. The ones in out of case have the backplate that was used, when they were applied ot run autonomous trucks, ones in the PC have their stock backplates bought from ebay. Also yes the P100 on the bottom has a cartboard cooling shroud XD, uses PCIe Risor cable as well.
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