Sep 29 2021

Laptop Travel Accessories

Category: Hardware,ReviewsTeknovis @ 22:09

I recently travelled by air for the first time in 18 months. I was not travelling for work, but I was working while I was abroad, so I had to bring my laptop with me. The experience taught me that I needed to buy some new accessories!

All Accessories
All Accessories

Bluetooth Keyboard

I already own an Arteck Bluetooth keyboard, and I use it with my phone a lot. I think that it is extremely useful, and I love it. However, I needed to buy a new one for travelling. So I bought the Arteck HB220B. I also bought the Arteck HC220 Protection Case.

Bluetooth Keyboard Boxed
Bluetooth Keyboard Boxed
Bluetooth Keyboard Unboxed
Bluetooth Keyboard Unboxed
Bluetooth Keyboard with Cover
Bluetooth Keyboard with Cover

Both the keyboard and the cover are excellent. There are two features of the keyboard that are especially useful to me:

  • It is backlight, so it is very easy to use in low-light locations (e.g., a room at night, on a plane). There are seven backlight colours to choose from!
  • The keyboard can be used with three devices at the same time, and you simply switch device by pressing one of the bright blue buttons on the top right of the keyboard.

The keyboard and cover were the only accessories that I bought from Amazon UK. I was concerned that if I bought them from Amazon DE (Germany) then the layout of the keys would be slightly different. (I know that the functionality of the keys can be changed in the operating system, but the stickers on the keys would still be wrong.)

Screen Cleaner

I am extremely fussy about keeping my laptop and phone screens clean, and I really hate streaks or specs on either. So I bought this Mistify Natural Screen Cleaner Set that includes clothes and solution.

Screen Cleaner Boxed
Screen Cleaner Boxed
Screen Cleaner Unboxed
Screen Cleaner Unboxed

This is working well, and I have no streaks on my screens!

Carabiners

You can never have enough carabiners in my opinion! I think that they are extremely useful for connecting things to the outside of a laptop bag, and even to a trouser belt. A typical use for me would be clipping my headphone case to my trouser belt before boarding a plane so that I have easy access to them during the flight without having to open the overhead bin and opening my bag!

Unfortunately the exact pair of locking carabiners that I bought does not seem to be available any more, but these ones are similar: GnarCore Carabiner Set.

Locking Carabiner Boxed
Locking Carabiner Boxed
Locking Carabiner Unboxed
Locking Carabiner Unboxed

I also got a box set of cheaper non-locking carabiners: MyIdeaz Carabiner.

Carabiner Set Boxed
Carabiner Set Boxed
Carabiner Set Unboxed
Carabiner Set Unboxed

I love the colours, but I thought that individually wrapping each carabiner was a waste of packaging.

Carabiner
Carabiner

Combination Locks

On two separate occasions I have had people try to pickpocket my backpack while I was wearing it, so I bought Amazon Basics AB-PL108 Luggage Locks to prevent this.

There were many other brands to choose from, and some of the other locks definitely looked more secure. I wanted combination locks, but I did not want locks that could be opened using a TSA key.

Combination Locks Packaged
Combination Locks Packaged

I did not realise that there were two locks in the packet until I opened it!

Combination Lock
Combination Lock

The locks are very light, and they are unlikely to offer any resistance against a tool.

USB-C Cables

Finally, I bought some USB-C to USB-C Cables. My laptop has only USB-C ports, and my phone is USB-C, so it is very convenient being able to connect them together without any adaptors.

USB-C Cables
USB-C Cables

I liked this set because it contains three cables of very different lengths. I am probably using the shortest one the most when my phone is on a table beside the laptop.

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Nov 03 2020

Dell XPS 17

Category: Hardware,ReviewsTeknovis @ 23:12

I recently bought a new Dell XPS 17 laptop. It has been years since I last blogged, so I thought that this would be a good time to post something new!

Unboxing

My unboxing experience with Dell has been very positive in recent years, and this was no exception. Having said that, I am not too fussed about the unboxing experience!

A courier delivered my laptop in a normal brown cardboard box. I opened this, and I took out the XPS 17 box.

Dell XPS 17 Box
Dell XPS 17 Box

I assume that the clear plastic wrap was to protect the black box from scruff marks, but I thought that it was an unnecessary use of plastic. Also, the black box looked much better without the plastic wrap.

Dell XPS 17 Box
Dell XPS 17 Box

The box itself is very nice. It is kept closed by a magnet in the flap. I have keep the box for some other (as yet unknown) purpose! The laptop is within this box.

Dell XPS 17 in Box
Dell XPS 17 in Box

The laptop is also wrapped in clear plastic, but this is probably more worthwhile then the outer plastic wrap on the box.

The charger and supplied adapter (Thunderbolt to USB and HDMI) are underneath the laptop.

Empty Dell XPS 17 Box
Empty Dell XPS 17 Box

I was actually surprised that so little of the box is used. I think that it probably could be less than half of its height.

Perhaps the best thing about the unboxing experience is that the plastic is 100% recycled, and some of it has been salvaged from the sea! Well done Dell!

Accessories

I also bought a new mouse and a wired network adapter.

The mouse is a Microsoft Surface Mobile Mouse. The most confusing thing about buying this mouse was its name, and the difference between it and the Microsoft Surface Mouse!

I generally like Microsoft mice, but this one was a bit a gamble because it is so slim in the vertical direction. Luckily I find that it is very comfortable, and I love that I do not need to use a dongle in my laptop because it is a Bluetooth mouse!

Microsoft Surface Mobile Mouse
Microsoft Surface Mobile Mouse

The wired network adaptor is from a brand that was not previously known to me. I use a wireless connection most of the time, but there are occasions when I need to upload/download gigabytes from my local network (e.g., raw photos for post-processing). I will use this adaptor on these occasions.

Wired Network Adapter
Wired Network Adapter

The only difficulty that I had when buying this adaptor was trying to understand the differences between a Thunderbolt adaptor and a USB-C adaptor.

I bought both the mouse and the wired network adaptor from Amazon Germany.

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May 26 2014

Kindle Advertisement

Category: Hardware,Mobile ComputingTeknovis @ 08:01

I was browsing the Amazon site recently, and I came across the following advertisement:

Kindle Fire HDX Advertisement

Kindle Fire HDX Advertisement

I am extremely sceptical about the claim that it is “Lighter than Air“! Is this false advertising?

However, if it is true then I think it must be very inconvenient!

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Dec 02 2013

Amazon Prime Air

Category: eShopping,HardwareTeknovis @ 17:48

A friend brought Amazon‘s latest announcement to my attention today – Prime Air! I think it is really impressive, although I am not sure if Amazon’s goods are particularly suitable. My Amazon orders tend to be bulky, relatively heavy for air lifting, and fragile!

Several people have questioned if this is a hoax, but I think it is believable!

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Dec 04 2012

Eircom and Amazon

Category: Cloud Computing,TelecomsTeknovis @ 22:48

Wow – it has been a while since I blogged! I guess that I have been busy!

Anyway, I read with interest that Eircom has done a deal with Amazon whereby the former with resell the latter’s cloud computing services. For more details see Eircom signs cloud services deal with AWS.

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Nov 16 2011

Pulse on Kindle Fire

Category: AndroidTeknovis @ 17:34

I read the Pulse will be included pre-installed on the Kindle Fire! See Pulse Scores Key Spot On Kindle’s Home Shelf; Co-founder Says It May Pass 10M Users This Year and Kindle Fire, Welcome to the Pulse Family!.

That is a great achievement, but then again, Pulse is a great application!

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Oct 03 2011

Facebook and You

Category: Humour,InternetTeknovis @ 19:37

Somebody was discussing the virtues and dangers of Facebook with me recently, and he subsequently sent me this cartoon summarising his feelings :)

Facebook and You

Facebook and You

In fairness, this could equally be applied to Amazon‘s new Silk browsing experience! See Amazon’s Silk looks creepily Phorm-ulaic.

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Aug 20 2011

Two New High-Profile Web Apps

Category: Business,Internet,iPad,iPhoneTeknovis @ 08:39

This week I came across two more high-profile companies moving from apps to web app (HTML5) to avoid the Apple tax.

The other advantages that these developers will experience is that they no longer need to get approval from Apple (which can make planning and time lines difficult), and their apps are now cross-platform!

I previous wrote about this subject in Financial Times on an iDevice.

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Aug 12 2011

The Week in Patents

Category: Mobile Computing,PatentsTeknovis @ 18:11

It has been a really interesting week in terms of patents! Probably the biggest news has been Apple‘s attempts to block the selling of superior Android based tablet devices made by Motorola and Samsung. For example, see Samsung delays Australian Tab launch, Apple prevents Galaxy sales in EU, Will Apple block the Motorola Xoom in Europe next?, and Apple patent disputes Xoom towards Motorola. HTC should be in the mix there also as another infringer. However, the fight back in the EU has started according to The Battle Continues: Samsung To Appeal Apple’s European Injunction.

Apple have reasons to be concerned with the rise of the Android based tablets according to Android tablets peel away 20% of iPad’s mega market share.

Yes – I am annoyed by Apple for its behaviour. Although I imagine Google must be more annoyed! See Google Patent Woes for more details.

There has also been considerable interest in some of Apple’s patent applications that become public this week. For example see Apple Patents Hint At Multi-Part Gestures, Touchable OS X and Patent application: Apple wants to put projectors in its iPhones. The first of these is very interesting, and it makes me wonder if there is more to gestures on touch devices than we are currently considering. I do not think that I would be interested in the second idea, due to the extra hardware requirements it would impose on the device. Anyway, we will know if these applications are successful in about 5 years time.

Finally, Google had some success this week with one of its patents – US7996328. It is probably best described in Google lands patent for, um, estimating shipment time. That should help dissuade Amazon from taking patent infringement cases against Google anyway! Amazon is also in the patent news this week for its mobile device airbag idea – Amazon’s Bezos Dreams Up Protective Airbag for Smartphones.

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Aug 10 2011

Data Centre Lightning Damage

Category: Cloud ComputingTeknovis @ 21:41

Unbelievable – Dublin lightning strike zaps Amazon, Microsoft data centres! Surely, having and testing a UPS is really basic data centre management!

This says an awful amount about the data centre in question, and it is yet another self-inflicted blow to Cloud Computing.

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