Nerdy Awesome shit you bought!

[Lethul]

NOMNOMNOM!

 

[ileks]

NOMNOMNOM!

Nice. I've never done fly fishing but always wanted to.

 

[Bodhi]

Had a bit of an impulse purchase over the weekend.....went into Richer Sounds looking for a DAC so I could take the Optical Signal out the back of my new telly so I could hook it up to the Hi-Fi so I could listen to my phone through Screen Mirroring and boost the sound through Netflix a bit, and ended up with one of these

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/yamaha/rxv375/yama-rxv375-blk

Pretty impressive bit of kit for the price. No Airplay or DLNA but I have 2 other devices for this, but sound quality is top notch and it has plenty of inputs. I was so tempted to go for the Sony 1040 but 350 quid is slightly above impulse level. Overall I'm chuffed with it, just need a CD Player / Bluray player to go with it.

Anyone have any experience of using a BluRay drive to listen to CD's? Am I going to be able to play them without switching the TV on? And is it going to stick to 2ch output as it should (I only have 2 speakers hooked up to the Yamaha at this stage)?

 

[soze]

A few hours early but I have just got my hands on a Lenovo Miix 2 (8 inch) http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/lenovo-miix-2-1207874/review

I really want a surface to play with but I am not ready to spend that kind of money. So I got this for the bday since telling them to buy it the price has dropped to £199 which is a steal for a full windows machine with a copy of Office on it. I have a 64gb micro sd card going in there and I will move the recovery partition to a USB stick so the small hard drive should be fine. I am hoping I will be able to replace my Nexus 7 but I will need to wait and see. So far I am not impressed with the hand writing on it, I feel like I am having to use too much pressure.

 

[Nate]

Are windows 8 tablets anything on android ones?

 

[Exioce]

Couple of Sonos Play:1's set up in the living room. Loving this system, all controlled from smartphone.

Giant canvasses of some photos I took hung up in the hallway.


Nerdy enough?

 

[soze]

Are windows 8 tablets anything on android ones?

That is what I want to figure out, it is not RT it is full blown windows so so much more possibilities but it all depends on useability.

 

[Nate]

I've had a play on windows 8 laptops and they just piss me off tbh

 

[TdC]

Nerdy enough?

looks sweet chum. if I may ask, where'd you get them printed?

 

[leggy]

Couple of Sonos Play:1's set up in the living room. Loving this system, all controlled from smartphone.

Giant canvasses of some photos I took hung up in the hallway.
View attachment 18301

Nerdy enough?

So the nerdy thing is the canvass when you have a sweet looking telescope in the periphery of the photo? Nice

 

[old.user4556]

Couple of Sonos Play:1's set up in the living room. Loving this system, all controlled from smartphone.

Giant canvasses of some photos I took hung up in the hallway.
View attachment 18301

Nerdy enough?

The Play 1s are awesome - I was shocked at how much body and clarity came out of such a small speaker. I've got one in the kitchen to extend the Sonos - I was expecting "background music", but it sure does hold it's own.

Like the canvasses too.

@TdC I highly recommend http://www.theprintspace.co.uk/ - I've got two large prints on my walls done by them. Superb.

 

[soze]

I've had a play on windows 8 laptops and they just piss me off tbh

That has been covered before. I like it now it boots faster and after turning Metro to the Application list mode it is just like a full screen start menu.

 

[Raven]

CM stealth mechanical keyboard, takes some getting used to but it is awesome.

 

[Exioce]

looks sweet chum. if I may ask, where'd you get them printed?

Have used various places in the past. These were from 1ClickPrint, as they were offering the size I was after.

 

[TdC]

bit late-ish but I bought a GTX770 and am working my way through the Far Cry series I got in a steam sale. The GTX plays FC1 at 900+ FPS, and FC2 at 120+ FPS (everything on super-mega-ultra high 1920x1200 ofc), so if this rate of decline is lineair it will play FC3 at 13 FPS :-(

 

[caLLous]

But they will be 13 gorgeous frames.

 

[TdC]

well, yes. the lighting effects in FC2 are already lovely. I walked my char through the forest while the sun was setting and it was ace imo.

 

[caLLous]

I remember when I downloaded the DX11 pack for Crysis 2, it was unplayable on my HD5870 by oh em gee it looked pretty.

 

[Tilda]

On the Sonos system I bloody love it. Have been hankering after them for ages and finally got a Play1 for my birthday. Did the sound demo on classical music in John lewis though and the Play5 sounds so so so much better. Probably want to get one of them now too. Although some have said two play1's (nearly same price) sound better as better sound separation.
PlayBar is a wait and see purchase because lots of TV's have problems doing passthrough optical out atm according to the forums.
Would very happily get more Play1s or 5's. Leave out the 3's because they are older and have no woofer(passive base). I think there's not much difference in sound quality between the 3 and 1.

I set up Macronos on my android with tasker. So when an alarm goes off, it turns on radio 4, when I get home between 4 and 7, it puts on classic FM. I then put an NFC tag in the kitchen that lets me toggle through stations just by tapping. So cool!

I also splashed out on some LIFX bulbs. My parents bought me some for a present last year, and I got another two. They're slightly limited as the offical app is lagging behind, but now the API is released people are starting to release windows controls, FLUX sync, backlighting for your TV based on screen colour, alarms, alerts, etc. Will be very exciting to see how these progress.


Finally, regarding RT laptops. Unless you *JUST* want a machine for word, outlook, powerpoint and internet I'd steer clear. I had a Surface RT and changed for the Surface Pro (the pen is wonderful for note taking). My mum now uses my old RT, but tbh I wish I'd just got her an android tablet. Its not windows, but android is certainly slicker atm I think unless you're more of a power user.

 

[Scouse]

working my way through the Far Cry series

Skip 'em all until blood dragon m8

 

[TdC]

lol I may well. I'm already bored to death with FC2 tbh :-/

 

[TdC]

dislike, Gface? it's uber uber uber repetitive pretty though!

 

[cog]

I also splashed out on some LIFX bulbs. My parents bought me some for a present last year, and I got another two. They're slightly limited as the offical app is lagging behind, but now the API is released people are starting to release windows controls, FLUX sync, backlighting for your TV based on screen colour, alarms, alerts, etc. Will be very exciting to see how these progress.

Out of curiosity, how are you finding these in general? Been quite tempted to try a couple out myself.

 

[Nate]

£80 for a fucking light bulb so I can press my phone and have disco lights?

 

[Tilda]

Out of curiosity, how are you finding these in general? Been quite tempted to try a couple out myself.

Ok so I look at it from three ways.
First they're a very eco LED bulb. They are as bright as I need (very dazzling on 100%) but use a tiny amount of power compared to both old bulbs, and energy efficient bulbs.
Secondly, right now, they're a fun toy, I can turn the colour, kelvin or tone down to suit the mood. I can use an app to change colours or I can use a 3rd party app that will let me use them like FLUX and control them from my PC (it can also do screen monitoring so I could uplight my wall if I was watching a movie and it would change the bulbs to the tone of the screen). If I had to describe them right now, they are fun, but limited. (Also, disco lights)
Thirdly, and most excitingly is the future. The App has had several big updates and LIFX are preparing their first big firmware update. The API has been released. Thats where stuff gets cool. Lights coming on when my phone reconnects to wifi. A dawn simulation in time with my alarm. Light alerts when I get a text, rain is forecast, the doorbell rings. Pebble integration. There are a huge number opportunities that will only grow and get cooler as the API is fully explored and 3rd party developers like Tasker incorporate LIFX. Very exciting.

Nate, I wanted to make a meme saying "Not sure if Serious or Sarcasm" but I cba

 

[Moriath]

dislike, Gface? it's uber uber uber repetitive pretty though!

FC3 is much better than 2.

 

[MYstIC G]

dislike, Gface? it's uber uber uber repetitive pretty though!

you're quitting

 

[Nate]

Nate, I wanted to make a meme saying "Not sure if Serious or Sarcasm" but I cba

I'd recommend using the optimistic rainbow. I'm not sure if I was serious or not. Eighty quid for a lightbulb is ridiculous, but disco lights.... Hmm...

 

[Bodhi]

I'd be more impressed if they invented a light bulb that was actually capable of lighting the room properly, and wasn't filled with all sorts of horrible chemicals in the vain hope of reducing tax gas.

Oh wait, we had them for like 100 years. Then they got banned for no reason.

 

[TdC]

it woz the hipsters, guv!