Tried out some new polish today as I had to remove a couple of marks. Come out pretty perfect!

In some pretty good news. Brand new EVs are on average cheaper than Petrol. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/17/new-uk-electric-car-price-petrol-ev-autotrader Definitely a move in the right direction.

Nothing better than the Google Play notices to developers going to spam boxes. On Gmail / Gsuite....

Made a couple of tweaks to my computer, a bit less RGB and back to air cooling. I had an AIO for about a year and a half but decided to change. With the air cooler for most tasks it's virtually silent, where as even at idle the AIO was noisy due to the pump […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

I somehow have ended up with lots of thermal paste. Let's give them all a try and see which wins! #ThermalPaste

A rarity, but I doubt my Amazon parcel is arriving today.

It still baffles me that people are raving about the "Open Printer". You're limited to using HP Cartridges where the nozzle is built into the cartridge. Once that dries out from under usage you need to replace the cartridge(s) at £40. Just opt for a decent printer like one from Brother instead […]

Been tweaking my computer slightly more. Now with less RGB but quieter fans. Just need to sort out cable management now. Although the main problem is a PSU cable. Torn between changing PSU or trying cable mod or maybe a DIY cable?

"2026 will be the year of linux on the desktop" Meanwhile major hardware manufacturer's ticket system has every version of windows back to 98 as an option, but for linux you'll still need to say "Other" 🤣

Today in networking nightmares. I (with the help from my parents) buried a new conduit between the garage and house as I have my NAS in there which runs things like our plex server etc. (Which is also used for Live TV). My goal was to upgrade from just normal network cable to Fiber. The fiber […]

Raspberry Pi have launched a new variant of the Pi 4 B which has 3GB of Ram for around £80. Apparently not an April fools either. 3GB just feels wrong.

Currently debating weather to get a Playstation 4 or Xbox One as my 8th Gen console. PS4 possibly seems better, but I prefer xbox usually. Tricky.

Despite fuel prices rocketing, people still are bashing EVs on a lot of social media. Meanwhile some EV Charging has been reducing in price, in the last week I had a 15% and 20% discount during certain hours to an excess of green electric. Whilst not ideal for everyone, with the current […]

I don't think I remember a console generation where the prices went up, not down during it's lifetime. Yet alone going up multiple times. - PS5 Prices up by £90 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czx9852nkexo

Any recommendations for Home Assistant Capable Doorbell Buttons? I currently use a basic doorbell button wired up to an ESP running Esphome that then triggers an automation when pressed to play a doorbell tune via our speakers. But I need to look at moving to something that's battery powered […]

Thanks Tesco, just forget to put the 3 Steaks I ordered in my delivery. The main part of my mothers day dinner I was going to cook 🙃

What's My JND? 0.0049 Can you beat it? https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/whats-my-jnd/?r=AeUhKP__1_F- ----- I've done this a few times today, this was on my laptop. On my desktop I got 0.004 so I wonder how much is eyes vs display calibration. Is it also cheating that I have glasses that claim to […]

I picked up a M.2 to 2.5Gbps ethernet adapter. Annoyingly I ordered too short of a cable to reach the actual serial slot I could have used, so instead had to cut a new hole into the IO Shield. It's come out ok, just needs some testing now.

Email from a big PCB manufacturer asking to sponsor my PCB designs. That'd be cool but I haven't done any PCB Designs in years now.

I need to look at doing a new network run between my house and detached garage. I need to dig a trench for other reasons and the current cable did get chopped at one point so needs re-doing. However I can't decide between trying to run fiber or just go with Cat 6. Main concern is that the […]

I checked the Q&A Section of a popular DIY Retailer in the UK for a product. Two people asked the same question. Can this product be used for a specific purpose? One of the replies was recent, and it seems that the retailer now uses AI to reply. The reply was basically "You're wanting to […]

Well the last bit of Unifi kit in the house has also been yeeted. I had a Unifi AC Lite in the garage still for the IOT in there and to cover the driveway but found a used Zyxel at cashies dirt cheap. Now almost fully Zyxel now as also got another Zyxel switch giving me an extra 8 gigabit […]

[UKPol x Tech / Phones] A clear win for #teampixel in the By-election today as winner Hannah has a Pixel. Meanwhile Reform UKs Candidate is an iPhone User. The vote is clear, Pixel is superior to iPhone.

Hmm, for some reason my Unbound Configuration in Opnsense stopped working with block lists on the latest update. Managed to resolve it by changing source, but a tad confusing as to why it happened.

About 2-3 weeks in I thought I'd do a follow up of the Zyxel WiFi Access Points I got to replace my Unifi U6+s. So far still an improvement, I would say that WiFi has dropped out less and I consistently can pull faster speeds via the new Zyxels. Only downside is that there's no self hosted […]

My FTTP Saga gets worse. Openreach Have informed me that they've cancelled plans to provide my area with FTTP. One of around 20 streets in the entire town left to cover. 🙃

So I'm trying to figure out why for some reason my housing estate is the only area in the entire town that has no FTTP coverage (if the maps are right). 1) Our housing estate was unusual in that it was heated by Oil, with the pipes owned by BP or Shell which requires extra permissions. 2) I […]

When openreach say "building in this area now", how long is it until they actually start FTTP rollout? I haven't seen any openreach vans around at all.

Well my Glowmarkt Glow Stick has finally caused me some trouble, despite everything else in the house moving to new WiFi points without issue this just won't connect to the new points. Even with a dedicated WPA2 SSID just for it. Not sure if it's worth trying to debug further, or take it as a […]

Oh yay, my raspberry pi stocks are finally going up. I wonder why? *Checks* Looks like people are now buying them to have 24/7 AI chatbots. *Sigh* Like, yay for shares going up. But boo because likely RPi shortages.

Whilst getting a mini cabinet was tempting spending £150 odd for one was a tad too much. Instead I went for this little shelf unit at only £15 or so. Not perfectly tidy yet as need to get some cable ties, but has neatened my network a tad. Top to bottom […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

*Sigh* my Zigbee network is now being a pain.

Starmer or Lettuce Time?

What suggestions do people have for storing network kit? I want to get something to put my kit in and tidy it up. However looking at some of the 10" Network cabinets seems to be over the £100 mark. I have 1-2 switches, Virgin / Docsis modem and a small ITX PFSense box

How did I miss the biggest game announcement of 2026? Thomas The Tank Engine Simulator! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8wJ7YfzHO0

Well 1 day in, so far my conversion from #Unifi / #Ubiquiti to #zyxel has been excellent. The three Wi-Fi APs seem to be pretty solid, I even got just a tad over a gigabit when testing against my computer that has 2.5Gbps Ethernet. Loaded latency seems to be […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

New switch is working well so far. I think it might have highlighted my other switch had an issue.

Tiny PC

Another two WiFi APs ordered and 2.5Gbit switch. Hopefully will finish my network upgrade nicely for now.

So I've still been debating what I want to do WiFi wise. I briefly tried TP links and didn't find it great, so now it's time to try Zyxels. I'm hoping for some improvement over my Unifi U6+s. If not, then I guess I'm sticking with Unifi and will be going all […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Interesting, it looks like Raspberry Pi have done a revision to the Pi 4 PCB so they can use two smaller RAM chips rather than one bigger RAM chip.

So network switches. Managed vs Unmanaged. I like to have a fairly decent network but I just can't see myself using Vlans.

And that concludes my testing of 3 of the more Premium EVs. The Mach-E, Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3. Annoyingly the Model 3 was likely the best out of them. But still not what I want from an upgrade. Now to potentially look at some more mid range options. Or back to petrol?

I also sat in a Polestar 2 again, but confirmed it is a bit too cramped for my liking.

I test drove the Electric Mustang today. Unfortunately not quite right, the main thing was the drive comfort. Would barely tap the gas and it would launch forward then barely tap the brakes and it was like performing an emergency stop. Very hard to get smooth […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

How is it that the first Raspberry Pi Product I've been excited for in a while is a flippin USB Drive?!

Any Fediversians with a Mustang Mach E? Currently top of my list of EV upgrades, wondering about any opinions etc. Almost seems to get skipped / forgotten about.

Oh Pi have released another AI hat? And it's £130? Does anyone remember the good ol' days of it being just a small, cheap computer for students? At £130 you could pick up a used GPU that's likely quicker for your normal PC.

It still surprises me how quick dust can build up on computers. This is my Radiator after only 3 months. Most of the case has mesh on too to prevent dust getting in, in the first place.

Picked up a few more ZigBee temperature sensors. Total cost about £30 Inc batteries. The idea is to have one in each room and average between them for the "house" temperature. However each sensor has slight deviation already.