Category Archives: review

Razer Shoddy Support and Bad Software UX

This post is just me venting my frustration at Razer’s poor software user experience, and their shoddy support practices. I’m writing this after I just had to go and find a working mouse, so I could click a button on a dialog that had no keyboard navigation support. I’ve been using Razer keyboards and mice forContinue reading “Razer Shoddy Support and Bad Software UX”

Ecobee3 Thermostat with Remote Sensors

We’ve had a particularly warm summer, for our very moderate area, and between my wife and my parent’s in-law, they were constantly changing the thermostat temperature, leaving nobody particularly happy, and our electricity consumption skyhigh. I needed a better solution, I found one, but it has some quirks. I was an early adopter of the Nest Generation 1Continue reading “Ecobee3 Thermostat with Remote Sensors”

MR16 12V Halogen to LED retrofit

[7 years later, see update at end of post] This post is about my research into finding suitable MR16 LED’s for replacing the 50W recessed halogen lights in our house. In summary, I’ve found “ok” bulbs, not great bulbs, and you can read about the details below. Our house is about 3 years old, new construction, and oneContinue reading “MR16 12V Halogen to LED retrofit”

Nest Protect False Alarms

2AM, beep, smoke alarm low battery warning, and when one beeps, all the interconnected ones beep, now it is impossible to find which one has a low battery. As for how smoke alarms look, I’ve always wondered who made those terrible aesthetic design choices, maybe it is some kind of industry insider competition to see who can design the ugliestContinue reading “Nest Protect False Alarms”

TiVo Roamio DVR vs. Verizon FiOS DVR

I just replaced the last of my four Verizon FiOS DVR boxes with a TiVo Roamio DVR box. The last time I used a TiVo was about seven years ago, it was a DirecTV TiVo box, commonly referred to as a DirecTiVo. At that time DirectTV was my only option for television service, TiVo theContinue reading “TiVo Roamio DVR vs. Verizon FiOS DVR”

Panasonic Lumix WiFi Dissapoints

I’ve been a long time fan of Panasonic Lumix digital cameras, and I tend to update them every couple of years. My current cameras are the DMC-ZS20 for travel, and the DMZ-ZS7 for pocket use.   My workflow typically entails taking lots of pictures, and then using a Transcend USB3 card reader and ImageIngester ProContinue reading “Panasonic Lumix WiFi Dissapoints”

XBMC on NUC’s and Pi’s

I’m still looking for the perfect XBMC hardware; must be small, silent, low power, low heat, 1080p, HD audio, and play anything I throw at it without a hiccup. The number of options are increasing, but no clear winner.     I previously tested a XIOS DS running XBMC on Android, and XBMC on Linux.Continue reading “XBMC on NUC’s and Pi’s”