Category: Gear

We’ve had the same couch in our living room for a long, long, time. It’s gotten so worn out that there’s a permanent dent where my butt goes and the wooden frame pushes into my back every time I recline in it. The poor thing is permanently bent at an angle on one end and the material looks like a shirt that’s been through the wash one too many times. Furniture shopping time!

We started out at the local furniture store looking at couches that were similar to the one we needed to replace. We like having recliners on each end and cup holders are nice. My parents had recently picked up a unit with power recliners and built-in USB ports that we really liked.

One might think that power recliners are just for lazy people; how hard can it be to pull a handle? The thing is, they can do some things that other seating just can’t. Power recliners can maintain any position your heart desires. Wherever you let go of the button is where they stay. For me, this is especially nice on the foot rest. Traditional reclining furniture usually has two foot positions, up or down. Having my feet fully up while sitting puts stress on my hip joints and lower back because they are almost always a too high of an angle for my build. Being fully reclined makes it difficult to watch TV or play a game. These are some serious first-world problems people!

So, power reclining is a requirement for us and you would think there’d be limited choices in the category, but you would be wrong. Apparently while I was working on digging a deeper butt hole in my old couch, the whole furniture world decided to make power everything. Guess we’ll have to pick the old fashioned way; by sitting on a bunch of them.

My wife and I tried out literarily hundreds, possibly thousands, of couches and chairs in a multitude of different stores. Aesthetics aside, we figured out some key features that make a big difference in comfort. First, a power headrest is important; much like power windows in a car, you can get a couch or recliner without the option but the savings aren’t worth it in the end. The power headrest allows you to prop your head and shoulders up for the perfect viewing angle, no matter how far you lay back.The ability to move the back separate from the footrest also dramatically improves comfort. Being able to get your perfect pelvis angle while sitting, removes stress points. Unfortunately this option is both rare and expensive. Out of the countless examples that we looked at, only a handful had it and most were well over $1300.00 for a single chair. We didn’t find any couches with the option at all.

Most of the power reclining furniture will raise the legs until they reach their maximum height and then the back will lower or vice versa; the two parts are connected via their movement mechanism. This is still better than the old fashioned pull a handle solution but, if you have the funds I suggest you try the indpendant movement before going this route. It’s uncomfortable for me to sit up-right with my legs fully extended and either power recliner configuration will fix this, you can put the legs at any angle that you like. Being able to get the same adjustability on the back is like having  steering wheel that tilts and telesopes; it provides a slightly better fit.

While looking at and testing all of these furniture pieces we both came to the realization that a couch wasn’t what we wanted at all. While they are the more traditional living room seating option, they have a lot of issues for us. Their footprint is too large given the seating surface, they are difficult to arrange in many rooms, and somebody always ends up with a worse view of the TV. We decided to go with two chairs and end-tables in between each.

Now that our list was narrowed down; power reclining chairs with seperate back and footrest mechanisms along with a power headrest our choices were pretty limited. Especially with regard to our budget. We really liked the Lazy Boy Morrison PowerReclineXR but at the time it was almost $1400. It was easily the most comfortable chair either of us have ever sat in but was out of our price range. We ended up finding it at our local Nebraska Furniture Mart for $749.00, the catch was that it only came in one color. Luckily we both liked the indigo fabric. Normally, I would provide you with a link to their site but it currently isn’t listed; the closest thing they have right now is the manual version of the same chair.

We’ve had them in our home for more than a month now and couldn’t be happier. The chairs are a major uprade in comfort. Being able to slightly move your back, feet, head, and lumbar at any point you feel stress is a huge advantage over traditional seating. Remember when you first sat in a car with power seats and could adjust them just right? It’s like that but more cushy and with a footrest.

These chairs do not have cup holders or USB ports but our end-tables do. We had planned on getting end-tables to fill in the gaps between the chairs so why shouldn’t they be of the hi-tech variety? Again we spent several days looking on-line and in stores before we found the right pieces for our room. We ended up going with Laflorn Chair Side Tables from Ashley Furniture. They have built-in cup holders, power strips, and usb charging, along with closed in storage for all our controllers, game disks, and books. Several furniture stores carry a version of them but we found the best deal on Amazon.

I never expected to write a piece about furniture on my tech blog. It just goes to show you how far technology has infiltrated our daily lives when chairs have controllers and motors and end-tables can charge your laptop and your phone. I predict that in the near future we’ll see smart chairs that automatically adjust to your body position and tables that wirelessley charge your devices while they back them up to the cloud.

Now that the days of carrier subsidized smartphones have largely come to a close, many of us are considering purchasing our mobile devices outright. Shelling out nearly a thousand dollars for the latest flagship hardware is a tough pill to swallow. Spending $35.00 a month on the financing plan can also leave a nasty taste in your mouth, especially if you need multiple devices. What other options are out there?

Several manufacturers have responded by producing some decent hardware for between two and three hundred dollars. My teen son’s hand me down gave up the ghost this week so I suddenly found myself with a reason to take a hard look at the options in this price range. I started where I always do; with a ton of research.

There are a surprising number of entrants in our price range but as always, a good list of requirements will help narrow them down. Besides all the standard WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. smart phone stuff. We also needed LTE support, a fast processor (teens = games), the newest version of Android with a proven update track record, and a decent camera. Optionally, we also wanted biometric security, because typing in a password sucks, and NFC is nice, too.

The requirement that really narrows down the field in a hurry is the Android version. From my research I deduced that one of the ways these mid-tier devices are being differentiated from the top-tier devices is that many of them are running outdated operating system versions with no upgrade path. A lot of the devices I looked at were still on 6.x or 7.x and had no listed date for an Oreo (8.0) update. Several of the “off brand” makers appear to never update their devices. You’re stuck with whatever was on it when it shipped, unless you have the skills to root it and install a custom ROM. For a lot of us this won’t matter much, but if you like to play games and run many apps, it’s a concern. Developers eventually stop supporting the older OS versions because they have too.

The next most limiting category is the processor. Current flagship level devices have Octa-core (8 processing units on the chip) monsters that push almost 3 Gigahertz on each core. The closer you are to this spec the better your device will perform with the newest apps. Again, many of the lower-tier devices cut corners here by going with only quad-core 1.X Ghz chips. If you mostly send texts, take calls, and browse the web these lower end CPUs are fine but don’t expect Facebook and Twitter to scroll fast and you’ll also be left out in the cold when it comes to intense games.

Keeping our requirements in mind, I narrowed down the list to three contenders, rather than filling this page with their specs I’ve just linked to them so you can look for yourself.

• Nokia 6.1
• Moto X4
• Sony Xperia XA2 

The Moto X doesn’t have Android 8.0 on it out of the box but the update for it is already available. Motorola used to be a major player in the smart phone market. Their Droid series was top of the line, but after being bought and sold several times in the last few years, the brand has been somewhat tarnished. The phone itself was fine, but the styling was pretty bland and we didn’t like the launcher very much.

Nokia has recently separated from Microsoft and is trying to establish itself in an already crowded market. The specs and styling on this one look good and it’s getting some positive on-line reviews but we couldn’t find one in a store to get hands on with it.

In the end we chose the Sony. For my teen, one of its biggest selling points was the styling; it is a sharp-looking mobile that is available in four different color schemes. The next most important stand-out to him was the audio equalizer and amp, a feature that is lacking in most devices at this price point. I liked that it had Android Oreo on it right out of the box and that it’s predecessor the XA1, had also been updated.

We purchased the Sony at Bestbuy for $319.00. It’s a good value at this price. The phone has a nice screen, great audio, the latest version of Android, a snappy octa-core processor, 3 Gigabytes of RAM, 32 Gigabytes of onboard storage and it can take a memory card. It also has a 23 megapixel back camera, and 8 megapixel front camera, a fingerprint scanner, and an FM radio.

Both cameras work well enough in well lit rooms and outside but get poorer results in low light. There are multiple reports of issues with call quality in other on-line reviews but ours doesn’t have this issue at all. I’ve also seen reviews that say the WiFi randomly turns off but again, this issue hasn’t afflicted our unit.

Overall my son and I have been very happy with the XA2. A word of warning, there are not very many cases specfically made for this device. There are some, but you’ll probably have to order them on-line (we did).

For the last four years my daily driver has been a Surface Pro 3. It’s been my favorite mobile PC of all time. I have produced more digital work on it than on any other single system. In part because it’s physical design allows it to be used comfortably almost anywhere and it’s power allows it to do most anything. Put it on a desk and it can give any Ultrabook a run for it’s money. Dock it with external monitors, keyboard, and mouse and it makes a powerful workstation. Strip off it’s keyboard and pick up the stylus and it’s a good tablet.

Notice I said “good” tablet. From my prospective, the Surface Pro 3 is a little too heavy to be a great tablet. I can hold it in one hand, resting on my upraised knee and write on the screen for a while but that is basically the only position that works for me. I get tired fairly quickly and have to take a break. Its also a little too big for couch surfing. Size issues aside I’ve been able to make it work all these years.

I’ve been on the look-out for a smaller tablet that was still powerful enough to be my main system. I have to run PhotoShop, Illustrator, Visual Studio, write documents, run multiple apps, and I’m not a fan of waiting. My task demands tend to rule out systems that use the Atom processors. I’ve tried them a few times, I like my Dell Venue 8 Pro, but it just isn’t quite fast enough and lives most of it’s life in my desk drawer.

I’ve had my eye on Samsung’s Galaxy Book since it launched. The combination of Intel’s m-series processor and the small 10.6″ footprint caught my attention. There are mixed reviews of the tablet out on the intertubes. They run the gambit from best tablet ever to POS. I’ve had good experiences with other Samsung equipment so I decided to give it a shot. Originally I had purchased the tablet for my spouse, to replace her aging iPad mini but although she liked the tablet itself, she didn’t enjoy Windows. She ended up with a new iPad and I inherited the Galaxy Book. Neither of us could be happier.

The Galaxy Book comes in two sizes 10.6″ and 12″. For my use the 10.6″ is the ideal size. It’s essentially the same size as the smaller iPad Pro. The larger system is roughly the same dimensions as my Surface Pro 3 and so doesn’t solve my one-handed couch surfing problems. I’m also not sure that any 12″ tablet is going to beat Microsoft’s. None of the units that I’ve tried so far have managed to pull it off.

I think the best way to describe the device’s physicality is to say that holding it feels similar to holding an iPad. It’s thin, light, and made of premium materials. The screen is vibrant and just the right size. The speakers sound surprisingly good but they are side facing which causes me to turn up the volume. There’s no rear camera, just a front facing one for video calls.

The front camera is not compatible with Windows Hello and there’s no onboard fingerprint scanner. If you own a Samsung phone you can use a service called Samsung Flow to pair your phone’s security devices to the tablet. I can use either the Fingerprint or Iris scanner on my Note 8 to logon to my tablet. It was a little clunky to get running but it works surprisingly well once your get the hang of it. Flow also sends all of your phone’s notification messages to your tablet and let’s you reply to them.

The device ships with a case that contains a keyboard and touchpad combo. The keys are small but I have no trouble touch typing at full speed. The keyboard isn’t backlit and that’s a bummer, but I didn’t have to shell out an extra hundred bucks for it so I won’t cry too much. The touchpad is fine, it gets the job done and has a lot of options for gestures which I like. The case looks nice and doubles as a multi-angle stand. It has two positions for typing, a couple for vid watching, and one specifically for drawing or writing.

That brings us to my favorite piece. The S-Pen is great. It has pressure sensitivity and tilt support. The ERM (Wacom) digitizer is accurate and doesn’t suffer from parallax issues. The shape of the S-Pen basically requires that you hold it the same way every time that you pick it up. The clip and button location force the situation but luckily it is fairly comfortable. The tips are replaceable and it comes with two different styles

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If you’re not in love with the Pen itself there are several other options. There are a few different Wacom styluses that will work, the S-Pen from a Note phone will work, and there are several third party ERM compatible devices available like those made for the Surface 1 and 2.

Samsung teamed up with STAEDLTER to make a truly epic digital pencil. It’s an exact replica of the classic Noris #2 pencil down to the freshly sharpened tip. You can find them on Amazon for less than $30.00 if you catch a sale. It’s my favorite stylus ever, period. That’s saying something considering that I’ve owned and used almost every type of digital writing instrument ever made. Yes, I have an Apple Pencil, and the Studio Pen, and a Wacom Intous, and an XP-Pen and a Dell, and . . . . . . .

When it comes to performance, I’m impressed. I’ve been using it as my main system for a few weeks and haven’t experienced any wait-rage yet. I’m not one for elaborate benchmarking. I find that the results of such testing are often irrelevant. All that matters is the ability of a device to do it’s tasks in a satisfactory manner. That being said, web pages are snappy to load and Outlook runs well. Photoshop and Illustrator both run fine and there’s no lag when drawing. I’m even able to play some games; Sims 4 and Skyrim both play well as does Fruit Ninja and several others from the Windows Store. Multi-tasking is no issue either.

The same USB C dock that enables DEX mode on my Note 8 works on this tablet to connect an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. When “docked” the system makes a decent workstation although I rarely use it as one. Most nights you can find me on the couch writing on the Galaxy Book in tablet mode just like I’m doing now.

My Tech Monkey and lack of brand loyalty have compelled me to end up with all of the major smartwatch operating systems. From the first gen Gear S1, Sony Android Wear, and Apple watch to the current equipment; I’ve had them all and witnessed their evolution. How do they stack up in the real world? I’ve worn them in every conceivable situation: work, work-outs, hikes, vacations, date night and everything in between.

I’ll start by declaring that I like them all. For my lifestyle there’s a best fit, but they’re all useful pieces of gear. Second, I must say that I’ve always enjoyed gadget watches. Calculator watch? Check. TV remote control watch? Got it. Casio Databank? I have two. I also had the Timex DataLink. I mention this because it causes a bias in my overall opinion when comparing smartwatches and standard time pieces.

My grandfather sparked my interest in time pieces at an early age. He was an antique watch trader and often took me to watch shows, pigeon swaps, and other various gatherings to obtain some of most beautiful pocket watches and clocks you can imagine. Railroad pocket watches with cases of multi-colored gold and jeweled internal mechanics were his specialty. Some of them were able to show the time, date, and phase of the moon with nothing more than spring powered gears.

Why wear a smartwatch in the first place? They don’t do anything that your phone can’t already do better. This is what more than a few members of my social group think. The valuation is accurate. They really don’t do anything that your smartphone won’t. But isn’t that true for lots of tech? What does your iPad do that your iPhone or laptop can’t? For me, the point of a smartwatch is not to provide unique functionality but to augment your other devices and to look cool while doing it. Seriously, the best feature of smartwatches from my point of view is the ability to change the watch face at will. I often match my watch to my clothing on any given day just because I can.

I use my watch to primarily do the following (no particular order):

• Fitness Tracking – Specifically I need to track my heart rate, distance, and ideally my location.
• Notifications – Text, email, and calendar alerts are the biggies here, but Facebook, Xbox Live, PSN, Skype and Instagrahm are appreciated.
• Directions – I spend a lot of time navigating various downtown areas and have found glancing at my wrist for the next turn to be safer than having my phone up in my face.
• Tell the time – This would include all of your basic watch functions; stopwatch, timer, alarm, ect.

All three of the major operating systems can perform these functions as can most of the secondary vendors like Fitbit, Garmin, and Pebble (if you can still find one). So what ends up setting the devices apart are the looks and secondary features that are most helpful to you. I’m not going to spend much time discussing specifications, there are countless articles on-line to enlighten you about the hardware options. In a nutshell Apple is square and Android is round, LOL. The watches themselves break down just like their phone counterparts.

The Apple Watch is the easiest to use right out of the box; strap it on your wrist and pair it with your phone. That’s it. Sure there are apps you can install for everything under the sun, but most people don’t need them and won’t use them. The design is elegant, but I’m not a fan of square wrist watches in general. The fit and finish on Apple’s wrist computer is second to none. The tolerances between components are minuscule and the case feels like a premium device. My biggest complaint about the Apple is that you’re stuck with the watch faces they give you. If it wasn’t for this limitation, it could have ended up being my favorite.

You can use the Apple Watch with an Android phone, albeit in a limited fashion. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing one specifically to pair with an Android device, but it’s a nice option for people who are moving between platforms. My wife is the Apple fan in our home, so the Apple Watch belongs to her. I borrow it from time to time just to see what Apple has changed on it . I really enjoy wearing it, but the lack of 3rd party watch faces is maddening to those who’ve grown accustomed to the ability.  It does everything else on my list of requirements exceptionally well. The Medical ID feature could prove invaluable to someone with drug allergies or other need-to-know health conditions.

Android Wear, now renamed to just Wear OS, matches its phone counterpart. Rather than a hardware and software solution like the Apple Watch, Wear OS is an operating system that many manufactures use on their watches. Not all Wear OS devices are created equally! They can have drastically different features, functions, and shapes. Due to these differences, you need to be careful when choosing a device to be sure it has the hardware to support the functions you are after. For example; choosing a Wear watch that doesn’t have an integrated GPS receiver will prevent it from tracking your run locations unless you take your phone along.

Wear OS takes more work and know how to get up and running. You will be installing apps on both your phone and the watch before it is fully functional. It is more difficult to use but ultimately offers more functionality than the Apple Watch, assuming you got top-end hardware. Plus, you can load different watch faces to your heart’s content! Up until a few weeks ago my everyday watch was a Wear based Moto 360 Gen 2. It’s Google voice functionality is the best of the voice assistants and having the full Google maps was great. You can pair most Wear OS watches with an Apple phone but you’ll get less functionality if you choose to.

Samsung wasn’t happy with Google’s Wear OS so, they created their own. Like Wear OS, Tizen is a Linux-based smartwatch operating system. Similar to Apple’s approach Samsung makes both the hardware and the operating system for the Gear S3 series of watches. If you are pairing it with a Samsung phone, the process is just as easy as Apple’s. No apps to install and configure, just pair the devices and go. Of course Samsung has their own app store full of apps for you to fiddle with, but most of the main features are controlled by the built-in software. The watch can be paired with any Android or even Apple phone.

I’ve just recently switched to a Gear S3 and for my lifestyle its the best choice of the three systems. It doesn’t have as many apps as Google’s Wear OS, and isn’t as simple as the Apple Watch; it sits comfortably in-between them. For me, the always online LTE connection and excellent fitness app (Samsung Health) are the best features. It offers some truly excellent watch faces (not as many as Wear) and looks nice. The LTE connection means I don’t need a phone at all when I head out for a run, I can stream music, track my run and heart, and even take calls and texts all from the watch. The bad news is that it requires a service plan from your carrier. I was also disappointed in the S Voice assistant and had to learn to use a new map provider.

Smartwatches aren’t for everybody but they can be a life saver if you rely on tech for your livelihood or are required to be in constant communication. They don’t do anything your phone already doesn’t, but they do extend your digital life to something that is always visible. I’ve stopped wearing out my pants pockets since I’ve started wearing them, LOL.

My kid and I were rough housing, I moved in to tickle him and felt my hand be poked by something sharp. When I looked down, the cap of my Surface Pro 3 stylus was laying on the floor; the batteries had bounced to who knows where. When I picked up the parts I immediately noticed that the cap’s rubber attachment seal that holds it to the battery cover was torn.

It was my fault I should have paid more attention to what was in his hand before I started playing. Oh well, I had been wanting to get the new stylus ever since I’d demoed it at the Microsoft Store and now I had the all important justification for my purchase! Maybe I subconsciously picked the wrong time to wrestle?

My daily driver is a Surface Pro 3. It’s been my favorite mobile computer of all time. I splurged and got the most powerful model that Microsoft offered and I’m nowhere near ready to replace it. That being said, I’ve never loved the stock stylus. Don’t get me wrong it works just fine. It doesn’t fit my hand very well because it is both too short and too thick. I’m not a huge fan of the balance and really wish the top functioned as an eraser. Unfortunately, you can’t just hop on-line and order some other stylus to use with the Surface Pro. The technology is proprietary so unless Microsoft releases a new stylus; you’re stuck.

Lucky for me, MS did exactly that. When they designed the next generation pen for the Surface 4 and Surface Studio line they made it compatible with the previous generations and sold it separately. At $99.00 it’s not exactly cheap. So is it worth the moolah?

The short answer is absolutely! The long anwser is that for me personally, it corrects every issue that I had with the original. It feels like an expensive writing instrument. It’s well-balanced and the dimensions are a much better ratio. Holding it reminds me of a number 2 pencil, the flat edge accentuates the nostalgia and also serves to help you easily find the barrel mounted select button.

The stylus tip is made of a softer material than the orignal’s and provides a little more drag as you write or draw on the screen with it. The added drag gives you more control, helping to prevent overshot on connecting planes and tightening handwriting strokes. Speaking of control, the pressure sensitivy is 4 times higher than the original at 4096 points. The device also seems to communicate with the Suface faster and reduces the lag I used to see while drawing in PhotoShop.

The top button can activate up to 3 programable functions (one for click, double -click, and another for press-n-hold); I have mine set to Take a screenshot, open OneNote and launch Cortana
Did you make a mistake while drawing? Just flip the device over and erase; no need to go to the tools menu and select the eraser (such a time saver).  The barrel button is the same as right cliking on your mouse; you press the pen on the screen and hold it there to left click.

While we’re on the subject of navigation with your pen. Here’s a tip! Windows has a little known feature in it called flicks. Pen flicks let you perform an action by quickly moving your stylus across the screen in various directions. You can find the settings and enable flicks by opening the control panel (search) and selecting the icon for Pen and Touch, then choose the Flicks tab. 

I am really impressed with the new Surface Pen and will be using it for years to come. Microsoft has been at the forefront of digital input devices and this one will go a long way toward keeping them at the top.

As I have stated numerous times throughout my blog, I am a gamer. I have custom-built my gaming PC and I’m pretty proud of it. One of the things I like best about Elder-Wand is it’s RGB LED lights that are controlled by my MSI motherboard’s “Mystic Light” feature. As long as the lights that I install are RGB, the motherboard’s controller and app can change them all to the same color with an app on the rig or from my mobile. It even controls my Razer Chroma Keyboard, Mouse, and Headset. This is a fairly common feature among high-end gaming systems now, but they usually don’t go the same extreme.

When I built Elder-Wand, I put most of my fun money into the running components: motherboard, CPU, GPU, M2 SSD, and Vengeance RAM. I skimped on the case, fancy fans, got a no name CPU cooler, etc. figuring I would update those components later. I have stuck with that goal, updating components as my budget allows. I’ve put everything in a nice new case, upgraded all the fans to LED 120 mm PWM, upgraded the power supply and more.

While I was moving everything into the new case, I broke one of the plastic mounting tabs for my CPU cooler. It still worked, but it wasn’t attached in all four corners as it should be so I decided to replace the cooler over the Christmas break from work. This is where my tale begins.

I started my project the same way that I always do, with a ton of reasearch. I wanted something that worked well but it also had to look great. I considered converting to liquid cooling but I don’t need to overclock my system right now, so I settled on copper tube based designs, there are a lot of them out there. One of the most popular units is the Cool Master Hyper 212 it’s been around  a while and has great reviews. It looks nice, but I wanted something with a little more flair. The Noctua Dual Tower looked big enough to chill my living room but was overkill for my requirements. In the end, I chose the Deepcool Gammaxx GT, I thought it would be a good balance of performance and looks.

I had planned on this taking an hour or so, boy was I wrong.

I used a thermal paste kit that I purchased on-line to remove the grey goop from my CPU and prep its surface for the new paste.

I followed the instructions to insert the nuts into the bracket, mount the brackets, and mount the rails.

The instructions with new cooler said to place 5 pea size dots of thermal paste on the CPU. I used the paste that came with my kit, Arctic Silver is supposed to be the best you can get and I’ve used it for years.

I installed the cooler, connected the cables, installed my GPU and double checked everything.

When I booted up my PC, I was concerned to see it shutting down almost as soon as it powered up. The fans and board lights would come on for a second or two but then turn off before the BIOS post even started. My first assumption was that I had a partially connected cable somewhere so I took the case back off and re-seated my components along with re-plugging all the connectors.

No go. Still blinking on and then back off. My next guess was that something was amiss with the thermal paste. I took the case back apart, removed the GPU, pulled off the CPU cooler and sure enough, the paste was not evenly distributed. The fan screws in to the mounting bracket and unless you have a 4 screw driver rig of some sort, there’s no way to apply pressure evenly (yes, I did opposite corners a few turns at a time). I decided to clean the CPU and cooler base and try again. This time I applied the thermal paste in an X pattern (what I’ve always used in the past).

I got everything back together, booted up and I almost lost it!!! My system was still blinking on and then back off. I decided to remove the BIOS battery to reset everything. Of course on my board, the battery is underneath the GPU so I had to take everything back apart again. Bye now I am around 4 hours in to this project and my nerves are starting to fray. I got the battery out then re-assembled and tried booting. Yes! Elder-Wand booted up, the BIOS config screen loaded. I set the clock and boot options then saved and exited the BIOS. A quick reboot and my Windows logon screen loaded.

After I got logged on I decided to load my hardware monitoring app and see how the new fan performed while I played a game of Overwatch. Just about the time my match was starting my PC shutdown hard. When I tried to boot it back up I got the blinks back *%^! That was it; I’d had all I could take. I had to work in the morning so I decied to leave my system down and deal with it on the weekend.

Over the next couple of days my mind was turning over all the things that could be causing my issue. I knew the i-7 CPU had built-in thermal protection and so did my board so I was reasonably sure I hadn’t fried anything. I closely examined the pictures above and decided that the thermal paste would work better if I spread it like peanut butter. So I took my system apart, cleaned everything and used a silicone spatula to evenly apply a nice thin coating to the processor. Put it all back together and it booted again. Time to test. This time I made it through a couple of games before it shutdown. I had data though, there was a temperature spike on the processor.

I thought about it for a bit and looked at the pictures some more. I noticed the ridges in the copper cooling plate had gaps that were not being filled by the paste. I decided the paste was too thick to get down in there and was just smooshing out to the sides. I went and dug around in the box my new cooler had come with and found the paste that came with it. So I proceeded to dis-assemble, clean, and re-apply the manufactures paste. Then I put everything back together and booted. After 3 matches of Overwatch and an hour or so of Destiny 2 I felt I was in the clear. My system has been running fine for more than a week now. The new cooler works great and keeps the temp around 5 degrees lower than my previous one did. It looks nice too. The moral of this story is, “Don’t think you know better than the people who made your hardware”.  If you have a system that won’t stay up after a CPU cooler swap; you might try thinner thermal paste.

The only Christmas present on my wife’s list this year was an HP Sprocket printer. I must admit to being a little embarrassed because I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.  What kind of tech blogger am I anyway?

After she explained what the Sprocket was, I jumped on-line and did some research of my own. The Sprocket is a printer that utilizes ZINK (Zero Ink) paper. Each piece of the paper is a multi layered packet that is impregnated with heat activated dye crystals. The printer contains the heating element, not traditional print heads. These things are the new trend for “crafty” types and most printer manufactures are making at least one model of ZINK printer.

So basically, we’re talking about the digital age version of a Polaroid camera. In fact, the Polaroid company makes one of these things with a camera attached. It’s called the Polaroid Snap. They all have an embedded camera or hook up with your mobile via bluetooth. Most of them spit out 2X3 photos that double as stickers if you peel off the back. I was a little sceptical about how useful a 2×3 photo would be but it was the only thing she really wanted and I always like new gizmos so I dropped the hint to my mother and she ordered one from Best Buy. HP’s model is available in 6 different colors, I went with white.

After the food and present exchange, I offered to set it up for her but it was so easy to get going she’d already done it herself. She had even printed a photo from our celebration on one of the 10 sheets of demo paper that comes with it. I was impressed, the print looked great and the size was better than I had imagined. suddenly a whole bunch of uses for the thing popped into my head. Lables for my gear being chief among them. We travel in an RV and I thought of plastering the ceiling with shots from our trips.

The software is easy to use and apparently HP’s implementation is considered the best by ZINK connoisseurs. It offers easy photo touch ups, frames, stamps, text insertion and more.

I’ll let you in on a little tip. Each manufacturer makes their own ZINK paper but as long as you keep the little bar code card that comes in your brand’s first pack of paper you can use any of them in your printer. Sometime’s Polaroid’s paper is on sale, order it, scan the card that came with your HP paper and insert the Polaroid stack into your printer. On average you’ll be spending about $0.50 per print. It prints a sheet in just a couple of minutes and because its battery-powered and not much bigger than an iPhone you can easily take it with you. We’re taking ours to my son’s birthday party to make stickers for all the kids with their pictures on them.

All in all, they are neat little gadgets. I’m not sure anybody actually “needs” one but if you’ve got the extra money and you like pictures, you can come up with some pretty cool uses for it. For instance my wife, sticks the pictures on her notebook pages.

As I have said in other articles, I’m not a fan of cases in general. However, if a case can extend the functionality of a gadget, that is a different story. Wallet cases do just that for me. One less thing I have to find in the morning, gets me that much closer to being on-time to work. I’ve been on a mission to find the perfect wallet case for my beloved Galaxy Note 8.  I’ve purchased, carried, and used 3 of the top models and thought my readers might appreciate what I’ve learned.

First Up is the Samsung LED Wallet Case:

You can find this case on Samsung’s web-site, on Amazon, and even at Target. It retails for $59.99 but I’ve seen it on sale for as low as
$41.00 several times. Its available in the same 3 colors as the Note itself and holds two cards (I stuffed 3 in mine). This protector has a pretty cool trick up its sleeve; LED lights embedded in the case display icons for your notifications. There are several default icons and software that will let you create custom ones. The LED section on the front of the case is touch sensitive you can answer calls by swiping on it etc..

I bought this case with my phone and carried it for a couple of months. It barely adds any thickness to the phone and looks great. The LED lighting function is cool to show off but isn’t really all that useful in my daily life. I wear a smart-watch and the notifications it shows are detailed vs. the generic icons the case displays. The LED notifications don’t last very long so if the phone is in your pocket when it buzzes you’ll probably miss the ICON . I constantly found myself wishing I could carry more than two cards. I was disappointed in the durability of this case. After just a few weeks the material started to unravel next to the power button (open the last pick full screen). I put some tape over it but at this price point it should last a lot longer before having these types of issues.

Next I purchased the Burkley Leather Wallet Case:

You can find this case on their web site and if you watch the price it will go on sale for around $50.00 (normally $69.99). This thing is gorgeous. It is the nicest looking phone case I have ever owned, period. It feels soft and supple, like the inside of your favorite fuzzy slippers. The case fits the phone perfectly and easily holds 3 cards and some cash. I wanted it to work so, so bad, but it just doesn’t. The magnets that hold the phone in the wallet are in the wrong place and kept the screen from turning off when you hold the phone up to talk on it. The magnetic field also disturbs the auto-brightness sensor and stops it from working when attached to the wallet. More importantly, the entire back of the inner phone case is metal which stops wireless charging from working all together and for me, that is a deal breaker.

I ended up sending this case back. I told Burkley that if they could make it work with wireless charing I would purchase another one in a heart beat and be happy to pay twice as much for it. It is so nice I actually considered keeping it even though it stopped three important functions from working. I’ve never gotten so many compliments from random people as when my phone was in this case. If they can fix the magnet issues this will be the top of the line wallet for your Note 8. Please fix it Burkley, I really like it a lot.

Last is the AMOVO Detachable Wallet Folio:

This is the case I am currently carrying. It’s also made of leather and feels very nice but in my opinion it doesn’t quite look as nice as the Burkley did. It is glossy leather instead of suede. It fully works with the phone. It doesn’t stop any of the features from functioning thou wireless charing is a little finicky. You have to get the phone in just the right position due to the magnets being on the sides but once you get a feel for where it needs to go it works just fine.

It holds 3 cards and cash and the inner case seems like it might protect from drops better than the others. My phone will be living in this case for the forseeable future. You can beat the price either, its only $24.95 on Amazon.

Summary:

1. Samsung LED Wallet Case
   • Pros
     • Looks Nice (matches phone color)
     • Thin
     • LED display
     • Works with wireless charging
   • Cons
     • Only 2 cards
     • No cash pocket
     • durability issues
     • Phone is always in a wallet, this one doesn’t have an inner case that detaches
2. Burkley Leather Wallet Case
   • Pros
     • Looks excellent
     • Feels excellent
     • 3 cards and cash pocket
     • Attention getting
     • Makes a stand for watching videos
   • Cons
     • Not compatible with wireless charging
     • Breaks auto-brightness
     • Breaks screen-off while talking
     • Expensive (when not on-sale)
3. AMOVO Detachable Wallet Folio
   • Pros
     • Looks good
     • Feels good
     • All functions work
     • 3 cards and cash pocket
     • Makes a stand for watching videos
     • Available in multiple colors
     • Half the cost of the others
   • Cons
     • None

If you’re in the market for a wallet style case for your Galaxy Note 8, the winner in whatdouknow.com’s opinion is the AMOVO. It looks and feels nice and doesn’t hinder any device functionalilty. If you have a favorite wallet case that isn’t listed, let me know in the comments.