Category Archives: Computer

Best Gear Of 2025

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Best Gear Of 2025

And yet another trip around the sun is near to completion. What was the Best Gear of 2025? These are a few of my favorites. Let me know in the comments what your selection for the best gear of the passing year is.

Computer Hardware

I should have added this to the bottom as a grand finale, but it also fits nicely at the top. For 2025 the Beelink Me Mini is one of my top picks for Gear Of The Year.

It is a high capacity NAS that is SILENT and uses NVME M.2 SSD drives for data storage. While the Beelink Me Mini is inexpensive, sadly memory prices have exploded. I got mine just in time it seems.

Equipped with 16 GB of built in RAM and four 4TB drives nets you about 12TB of storage in a RAIDZ1 configuration. Even better is that you can install TrueNAS on this device. This is replacing my very noisy QNAP NAS appliance.

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Syncthing

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Syncthing

Syncthing

I’m going back to my roots here with Syncthing. My tech blog started as a way for me to record my projects so that when they blew up I could reconstruct them.

When you crack that code and then six months later you realize you forgot that code you have to start back at square one. Here’s my back story.

I have a QNAP server and use Qsync Client to back up my important files to that NAS. I just deployed another NAS (Beelink Me Mini with TrueNAS) recently. Additionally, I thought that Qsync Client software could be used to back up to TWO NAS devices. It couldn’t. Well technically it can but not from the same computer. That won’t do.

So I hit the Google and one name for synchronization software kept popping up. Syncthing. So I installed it on my Mac which was no problem at all. Then I went to set it up on TrueNAS. Not as easy. Read on for more fun…..

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Beelink ME Mini NAS Review

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Beelink ME Mini NAS Review

Beelink Me Mini

This may be one of the best pieces of tech I have seen come down the pike in some time. Having a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device has become fairly standard in a lot of households and is darn near required in the office or business space. Enter the Beelink Me Mini NAS ($259 for the 16GB version) device.

This is a unique device based on the Intel Twin Lake N150 chip. The N150 is a 4 core, 4 thread chip with a max turbo boost speed of 3.6 GHz. It also sips power at about 6 watts.

Storage consists of a 64GB eMMC onboard and 6 NVME M.2 slots for a max capacity of 24 TB. The downside though is that 6 – 4TB NVME drives are EXPENSIVE. Also due to limitations on the PCI Express Lanes (9 total) it is possible that populating all six drive locations MIGHT cause some power or bandwidth issues. If possible, low power NVME drives could be utilized.

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PCBWay Printed Circuit Board Prototype Review

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PCBWay Printed Circuit Board Prototype Review

pcbway printed circuit board

If you stumble across my site chances are you were looking for something technical. And if you were looking for something technical you may have had a need to put that technical idea onto a printed circuit board. This is where PCBWay can help

There are just so many times that I have used the venerable old breadboard to lay out my projects. And then sometimes those projects just stay like that.

pcbway printed circuit board

So suppose you’d like to translate that simple circuit into something a lot more polished. Why not sketch out your idea and make a proper printed circuit board (PCB)?

There are a ton of PCB software design solutions out there. For years I have used a program called “Fritzing”. But PCBWay can help with prototype design as well.

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Canon Powershot A640 Review

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Canon Powershot A640 Review

Canon Powershot A640

You might be asking yourself why I’m reviewing the Canon Powershot A640 which was released to consumers in 2006. By my estimation that makes it nearly 20 years old.

And you really might be wondering why I’m writing about it 19 years after I bought mine.

By today’s standards it has features that a lot of cameras today should have at the same price point.

I am not referring to sensor size or megapixels although it has a respectable 1 1/8″ CCD sensor with 10 Mega Pixels. And DPReview.com gave it a pretty decent review in late 2006.

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Camera Tethering

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Camera Tethering

Camera Tethering

I have written several articles on camera tethering over the years. And here I go again. I am FAR from any kind of professional photographer but I do have this blog and I do sell the occasional item on Facebook.

So allow me to discuss why I believe tethering is important.

Let’s dissect the photo just above for a moment. I am using a Canon A640, circa. 2006 tethered via a USB-B Mini 5 pin connector to a USB-A cable on the computer end. The laptop cost a whopping $75 and the white background cost around $35.

This is neither the best camera or laptop that I own. Far from it. I’m just making a point here. I’m using this setup to show how great results can be obtained without spending a ton of money. Additionally, there are pros that use tethering way more successfully than I ever will. I’m just a guy who stumbled across this great method of getting better results with the tools that I have. To this day I will not buy a camera that cannot be tethered to a computer.

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More Benfei Adapters

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More Benfei Adapters

Benfei Adapters

I’ve been extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to test LOTS of Benfei Adapters.

As I have stated before I mostly use a MacBookAir and it essentially only has two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.

That simply will not do for a guy like me with so many gadgets and electronics projects going on at any given time. I’m into audio. And I’m into photography. And a dozen other things. The only way to function with limited ports is to own ADAPTERS.

For example, my Mother In Law likes to stream church and watch it on her TV. Sometimes we all come over and watch with her. The only way to make that connection on her older TV is to have an HDMI adapter coming off of the computer.

I make quite a few videos with higher end cameras and microphones and by golly, I need adapters to read the CFexpress, SD and TF cards.

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KYY Portable Monitor 15.6″

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KYY Portable Monitor 15.6″ 1080P USB-C

KYY Portable Monitor 15.6"

The folks at KYY asked me to review their 15.6″ KYY Portable Monitor for Amazon Prime Day. Current price is $69.98.

The best time to buy one is NOW during the Prime Day sale.

Also of note, this monitor has nearly 11.000 Amazon reviews with about 4 1/2 stars. File that under, “That Many People Can’t Be Wrong”

The monitor comes very well packaged and does not feel or look cheap at all. In fact it feels pretty beefy. The protective cover also acts as a stand. I had read some comments about the protective cover being flimsy but I’m not seeing any issues. Mine works fine and looks fine.

I wish they had these portable monitors when I was working a few years back. Anyone who needs a portable office should get one of these. Road Warrior approved!

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More Benfei Adapters

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More Benfei Adapters

I’ve been lucky enough to get to test a small boatload of Benfei Adapters. This is the third shipment of various cables and USB devices, and adapters that Benfei has sent me.

You can read my previous reviews here and here. In this entry I’ll be reviewing 3 more items.

After the first two reviews Benfei asked me if there were any other items I wanted to try. I dug through their website and requested 3 specific items:

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Benfei Adapters – Part Two

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Benfei Adapters – Part Two

Benfei Adapters

Benfei Adapters

Benfei previously sent me a bunch of their adapters to review. You can read that blog here.  And recently I opened a box on the porch that had even more Benfei Adapters in it to review.  I love Mac computers and I love their ecosystem and sleek designs.  But that can come at a cost.   That cost is a lack of input/output connectors.

But first you can connect with Benfei on their social media sites Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, or TikTok.  Benfei sells about 6 million units per year and is the #3 seller on Amazon in their category. Benfei has been around since 2014 and has shown impressive growth in that period of time.

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