The Tech Random Crap Thread

figmentPez

Staff member
In 1983 it would cost you $2.99 for a pack of 4 AA batteries at Radio Shack. That's $7.28 today, adjusted for inflation. A quick search shows you can get 4 NiMh AA batteries and a charger for <$12 shipped on Amazon. That just blows my mind.

I spent $50 on a charger and 4 AAs back in 2003, but that was one of the better chargers available at the time. (It's still hard to find chargers that can charge single cells, and doesn't force you to charge in pairs.) I still use that charger, though all the cells I bought with it are long dead. I'm glad my old charger works with the newer low self-discharge type of NiMh.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I didn't even know NiMh batteries were still a thing. I thought lithium ion had long since sent them all away.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I didn't even know NiMh batteries were still a thing. I thought lithium ion had long since sent them all away.
Can't use lithium ion as a replacement for AAs. Lots of things still run on AAs. Flashlights, game controllers, kid's toys, remote controls, some of the "fairy lights" that are so popular for decorating these days (strings of LED lights). I've got a beard trimmer that runs on a single AA battery, I use rechargeable for that.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Can't use lithium ion as a replacement for AAs. Lots of things still run on AAs. Flashlights, game controllers, kid's toys, remote controls, some of the "fairy lights" that are so popular for decorating these days (strings of LED lights). I've got a beard trimmer that runs on a single AA battery, I use rechargeable for that.
Admittedly, I've been out of the rechargable AA market for 15 years or so, but I could have sworn I had...

Oh, you know what, when you said "NiMh," my brain conflated that with "NiCad." Never mind.
 
NiCD is very much alive and well. It's cheap, and it lasts forever, as long as it's maintained. Each chemistry has its advantages, but while NiCd has largely exited the consumer market, it'll be around for a long, long time.

 
That's about it's only good feature - and a critically important one at that given our mobile society. It fails in so many other ways.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
NiCD is very much alive and well. It's cheap, and it lasts forever, as long as it's maintained. Each chemistry has its advantages, but while NiCd has largely exited the consumer market, it'll be around for a long, long time.

I was debating about saying how NiCad still has a ton of industrial uses, and that it stuck around as the choice for RC planes well after NiMh became popular because of its ability to take punishing charge/discharge cycles. (I'm assuming that the weight savings of LiPo has finally won out, but I don't know for certain.)

I thought the biggest reason for Li-Ion’s dominance was the power-to-weight ratio.
Isn't lower toxicity also on the list? I know NiCad has been banned from consumer product use in some countries, but I'm not sure how lithium chemistries compare to NiMh.
 
Isn't lower toxicity also on the list? I know NiCad has been banned from consumer product use in some countries, but I'm not sure how lithium chemistries compare to NiMh.
I think lithium's famous flammability would trump any toxicity concerns.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
My grandpa wants to put X-Plane 11 on his computer. But he only has the onboard Intel, and it runs the demo at about 7 frames per second.

I had to explain to him how poor his timing is, what with all the video cards being 50-100% overpriced right now due to the cryptocurrency mining craze.

And then I had to explain what cryptocurrency mining is, and why that matters to GPU prices.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
So get this. 2 days ago, after I explained all that, Grandpa went and bought Nvidia stock.

It went up over the last two days enough for him to buy a 1060 6 gig (and double his RAM).

#WhyDidn'tIThinkOfThat

Grandpa now has a better gaming rig than I do /headdesk

Well, maybe not... it's DDR3 after all.
 
So get this. 2 days ago, after I explained all that, Grandpa went and bought Nvidia stock.
It went up over the last two days enough for him to buy a 1060 6 gig (and double his RAM).
#WhyDidn'tIThinkOfThat
[Insert relevant Mark Twain quote image here]

—Patrick
 
A computer mouse is "outdated technology"? What replacement am I missing out on?
Tapping? Whatever the heck the official term is for using touch-screen technology. Smart phones, tablets, even some laptops have touch screens (though I hope fewer and fewer of those will be made, stupid Windows). Most of the people around here who "don't use computers," are retirees who skipped the entire generation of desktop home computer tech and went straight to iPhones. Though, to be fair, after living around here and listening to some of the older members of the population talk about their phones, the ad with the three old ladies where one plays Candy Crush by smashing candies with a hammer may not be such a caricature after all.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Tapping? Whatever the heck the official term is for using touch-screen technology. Smart phones, tablets, even some laptops have touch screens (though I hope fewer and fewer of those will be made, stupid Windows). Most of the people around here who "don't use computers," are retirees who skipped the entire generation of desktop home computer tech and went straight to iPhones. Though, to be fair, after living around here and listening to some of the older members of the population talk about their phones, the ad with the three old ladies where one plays Candy Crush by smashing candies with a hammer may not be such a caricature after all.
At present, tablets and phones are not a replacement for desktops/laptops. For entertainment, they're pretty capable; for accessing essential websites, especially government forms and applications, banking, insurance, etc. they're still kinda hit-or-miss. Chances are a class like this is meant to help with that type of computer literacy more than entertainment. While I would agree that a class like that should be offered for touchscreen computing, mouse/trackpad has yet to be made obsolete.
 
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GasBandit

Staff member
Figured it out. There's no transcoding, so like many other (cheapass flash-in-the-pan) chromecast streaming applications, VLC 3.0 only can stream MP4/AAC codec content. Any fancy ass codecs like DIVX or anything H.265 is right out.

Bummer. I would have thought the VLC team was smart enough to realize that transcoding would definitely be needed. Guess I'm stuck with VideoStream for a while yet.
 
Alright, dammit. Once I'm done with the computer build, and we buy a new bed(room set), I'm going to have to get a sound bar and/or stereo system to go with the flat screen. I'm watching the Fast and Furious franchise and when I watch it on the TV it goes a little something like this:

RACE SCENE talking ACTION SCENE most important part of movie ENGINE NOISES

Etc. And when I watch it on the new gaming headset? Perfect balance. Anyone know a good starting point?
 
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