Posted by Ub3rG33k on Jul 11, 2010 in
Brain Dump With the average life expectancy for men in the UK being approximately 70….at 35, it’s time to have my midlife crisis.
Some men, by a flash car, or start dating somebody half their age…..not me….I bought a Stormtrooper outfit. 
Just a little bit of history. Myself and Antony (my co-host on the ScutterCast podcast) have talked for a while about how cool it would be to have a stormtrooper outfit….well today, that became reality.
The suites themselves are supplied by the company that supplies Jedi Robe, however due to collecting and buying 2 at once, we got a fantastic discount.
With the company not keeping boots in stock (due to the fact they would have to keep in multiple sizes), we bought them from an American company and had them shipped over. The company is called TK Boots, and again we got a huge discount for getting 2 pairs at once. The shoes are sold as “Disco shoes” and TK Boots are very careful not to mention anything Star Wars related…(I’m assuming this is to do with copyright reason) however if you read between the lines….you know what your buying
It’s been almost 30 years since the classic white ankle high boot has been seen on the dance floors of this planet. White boot mania has returned!
We did look at buying some official boots from CABoots, however they were out of stock, and didn’t look to get any until the end of the year. We then looked on eBay for some, but only found the “Elvis Style boot”, which were fine, but would be rejected if we decided to sign up for a garrison.
Below are the unboxing photo’s…..Why isn’t there one with me in the suite I hear you ask ?!?….Simple, it’s too bloody warm. I got as far as putting on the body sock and got far too warm, I’ll got back to it once it’s cooled down later tonight.
edit 18/07/2010
I wasn’t happy having it stuck together with just velcro, it just seemed a little too loose, so decided to go with the glue gun and rivet gun approach. It took me around 7 hours yesterday to remove all the velcro, trim the suit to size, but I’m now really happy with the fit.
I did however make a right mess !
And below is the finished product
Tags: age, ankle high boot, antony, average life expectancy, bit, body, body sock, boots, caboots, co host, copyright, dance floors, Disco, disco shoes, discount, ebay, elvis style, flash, flash car, glue, little bit, mania, mess, midlife crisis, pairs, planet, podcast, reality, reason, robe, Size, star wars, stock, stormtrooper outfit, time, velcro, year, yesterday
Posted by Ub3rG33k on Jun 25, 2010 in
Apple,
iPhone Same as most people who were fortune enough to get their hands on a iPhone 4 on release day,
I ordered a bumper case too. Now grated, this is essentially £25 for a bit of rubber that surrounds the iPhone, but it really works.
The bumper itself is rubber on the front and back, with hard plastic in the middle. When fitted, it lifts the iPhone about a millimeter from the desk, stopping it from getting scratched. It also gives additional protection on the corners and sides.
Once fitted, it looks like it belongs, each cutout is perfect for the mics, speakers, buttons and dock. I have however noticed that unless your using an official Apple cable, it won’t fit in the slot. I’m picking up a dock connecter at the weekend, so will let you know if it fits or not.
I say again….there are £25 for a bit of rubber, but as I’ve spent £600 on a phone, £25 is nothing to keep it protected.
Pictures below
Tags: Apple, bit, Bumper, cable, connecter, cutout, day, desk, dock, fortune, front, iphone, iphone 4, middle, millimeter, nothing, phone, plastic, protection, rubber, speakers, weekend
Posted by Ub3rG33k on Feb 8, 2009 in
Tech 
Anybody who watches HD content, will know that streaming this across a wireless network is virtually impossible.
My upstairs network is wired, however downstairs (my Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3) are all wireless. This has been fine for gaming, web browsing, and everything else I normally use the Internet for downstairs, however it’s just not quick enough to stream HD content.
I’m a bit of a AV snob, and like the Video and Audio quality to be the best I can get. I like most people download TV episode from the web (just seems easier than recording via Sky, plus if you get them from the web, they tent to be a couple of days in front if the UK). I normally download the 720p version, granted they are over a gig in size, but the quality is so much better.
As you know from my previous posts about my Acer Aspire Easystore box, it’s got a Upnp Media server built in, which allows me to stream the content, and I normally watch these on my PS3 in the bedroom. If I do feel like watch the downloaded episodes downstairs, it normally means copying to a memory stick, then plugging into the PS3, then watching. This process has been fine up until recently. As I’m starting to build up a collection of Bluray Disks, I decided to look at converting these to mkv files, so I could stream these across my network, job done, a couple of films sat on my NAS Drive, converted into a readable format for the PS3. I’ve ripped these in full 1080p, and they are 11Gb+. Now my problem is, a, I don’t have a memory stick with 11Gb on it (8Gb is the largest I have), b, as you need to format the memory stick in FAT32 for the PS3 to be able to read it, I could only get 4Gb on it, and c, if I’m copying the film to a memory stick, I might as well put the bloody disk in, lol !
I’ve tested the films in the bedroom, and these work flawlessly, downstair was “play a couple of seconds, stutter, freeze, play a couple more seconds…….so decided to upgrade to the Powerline adapters (I know, I’ve finally got to the point !)
I spent Thursday morning reading through reviews, if I should go for the cheaper 85Mbps or splash out for the 200Mbps (Go on, have a guess which ones I went for, lol).
A lot of people dependant on their house hold power electrical wiring were getting on average 40Mbps connection speed through the 85Mbps ones, which wasn’t really much improvement on my Wireless, however the reviews for the 200Mbps were suggesting the people were getting 100Mbps, so went for the 200Mbps.
The strange thing is, even through the adaptors are advertised as 200Mbps, the built in NIC adaptor is only an auto sensing 10/100 card, after reading further at the specs, its 100Mbps each way (send and receive), making them a 100Mbps Full duplex.
Anyway, I got home, plugged them in, I end into a 10/100 Switch downstairs (which I then plugged in my PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii), and upstairs I plugged into the router. That’s it, done !, it worked straight away.
I plugged my MacBook into the downstairs switch and got a full 100Mbps transfer rate when copying from my NAS drive.
The ones I bought were £80, however well worth it for me, no drilling, no running cables, they just worked, I can highly recommend.
What’s in the box
Official Overview from Belkin
Powerline AV allows you to reliably transmit content from your Internet directly to your computer and other network devices through the electrical wires in your home. Transfer speeds of up to 200Mpbs makes Powerline AV ideal for streaming media to your home entertainment devices such as gaming consoles and set-top boxes.
Powerline is a great solution for areas in the home that are hard to reach by wireless connections, Powerline is the most reliable solution for providing secure Internet connectivity to these remote areas.
Setup of Powerline is simple with its plug-and-play connectivity. Connect one adapter to your router and plug it into an available electrical outlet. Plug the second adpter into an available wall outlet and connect the other end to any device with an available Ethernet port such as a gaming console, set-top box, or computer.
Official Features from Belkin
- Includes extension power cables for the optional placement of powerline adapter away from the electrical outlet
- Data speeds of up to 200Mbps
- Ideal for surfing the Internet and reducing online gaming latency
- Security: 128-bit AES link encryption with key management for secure powerline communications
- Operating range: Up to 300m in wall powerlines
- IEEE 802.3/802.3u
- HomePlug® AV-certified
Tags: 1080p, 200Mbps, acer, Adaptor, audio quality, AV, Belkin, bit, Bluray, Box, content, couple, couple of days, downstairs, F5D4072uk, fat32, fine, gaming, gaming web, gig, HD, home, internet, lol, Mbps, memory, mkv, nas drive, Network, network job, outlet, Powerline, powerline adapters, PS3, readable format, stick, stream, stutter, tv episode, UK, upnp media server, upstairs, vob, web, web browsing, wii, Wireless, xbox, xbox 360
