@andrew@melder.social
@andrew@melder.social avatar

andrew

@andrew@melder.social

Lucky husband & father. Always interested in gadgets and consumer technology. Dabble in photography, gaming & dad humour.

#Perth #Australia #family #coffee #technology #photography #gadgets #gaming

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

andrew, to blogging
@andrew@melder.social avatar

It's definitely not you Fediverse, it's me.

I think I need to move away from microblogging and other social. Here, Instagram, Threads, Reddit, Facebook (if I can) etc.

LinkedIn might be the annoying holdout.

https://andrewmelder.com/2024/04/29/something-needs-to.html

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@cliffwade thanks mate.

Not going to lie, I'm hesitant to pull the instance; but I think it's what's needed for now.

ravi, to random
@ravi@social.lol avatar

Had four brilliant days with family in Nairobi.

Off to the Mara tomorrow for three days of Safari.

🇰🇪

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@ravi awesome. But that second shot is a stunner!

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@ravi Don't sell yourself short, there's some top photos in this ongoing thread.

andrew, to threads
@andrew@melder.social avatar

Seeing Fediverse-enabled Threads accounts reposting something from other Fediverse-enabled Threads accounts, and having that show up as boosts on the Fediverse is pretty cool to see.

Looking forward to this progressing so I can reconnect with even more people I want to follow in Threads.

cliffwade, to threads
@cliffwade@allthingstech.social avatar

I just did a test and it took 12 minutes from the time I posted on Threads from my @cliffwade account until it showed up in my timeline here on Mastodon.

https://www.threads.net/@cliffwade/post/C4y96SBL6di

I'm definitely curious if this will improve in the future or if this will be how it will always work.

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@cliffwade @cliffwade based on the presentation from , they have implemented a 5 minute delay.

Believe this is to cater for the 5 minute edit timer present on Threads posts, but hope they will eventually make it more real time with any edits flowing through as well.

SomeGadgetGuy, to tech
@SomeGadgetGuy@techhub.social avatar

I just read yet ANOTHER article about a sharp rise in folks buying old point-and-shoot cameras, which is what my last Patreon editorial was about. https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-point-and-100264714

The sensors and optics on a good Pro or Ultra phone are demonstrably better than these old cameras. The hardware is there, so what are phone manufacturers getting wrong with mobile photo processing?

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@SomeGadgetGuy I feel it's less about the end result and more about the process and (let's be honest) the novelty of being seen using one.

andrew, to random
@andrew@melder.social avatar

Alright, @protonmail setup with my domain.

Might look to reassign my blog to the same domain if possible later today.

cliffwade, to fediverse
@cliffwade@allthingstech.social avatar

Good morning and happy Monday

How are we all doing today and what all did we do for the weekend? Anything fun and/or exciting?

We stayed home all weekend and just relaxed and played a bit of Fortnite here and there. Nothing too special, plus it was raining most of the weekend.

Today it's work stuff with a meeting at 12pm, and then nothing much after that.

andrew,
@andrew@melder.social avatar

@cliffwade just worked today. A good weekend attending a wedding.

Trying not to spend more time playing Balatro on my Switch casue it's already cost me a few hours in time :D

andrew, to fediverse
@andrew@melder.social avatar

Mornings at the beach. Hope you all have a great day Fediverse.

Colorful beachfront boardwalk with shaded seating areas, a bicycle, and a person seated nearby.

noellemitchell, to mastodon
@noellemitchell@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @noellemitchell this is odd. From what have seen in posts over the last few days, their account doesn’t seem to have posts that warrant hiding their profile. But their X account is also suspended for breaking their rules.

    I’m unclear if it was for the IWD post or something else.

    cliffwade, to email
    @cliffwade@allthingstech.social avatar

    Huge thanks to @protonmail for accepting me into the Partners program today!

    Super excited to be a part of this.

    Remember, if you're looking for a more secure email service, Proton is the way to go and if you want to give Mail Plus a try for one month free, let me know and I can provide you with a referral link!

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @cliffwade @protonmail well I'd like a referral code to give Mail plus a shot.

    I was looking at going to Fastmail but after some further looks into it, I think if I'm paying for privacy and security Proton seems to be the better option.

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @cliffwade @protonmail yep free plan setup last year but not really used. Referral link gives me the option to sign in, which works fine but then just takes me to my inbox.

    andrew, to fediverse
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    Morning Fediverse!

    📸 Ricoh GRIIIx
    📍Rockingham Beach, Western Australia

    vintagetech, to bluesky

    I'm still loving life on

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @vintagetech @cliffwade it’s been a while since I deleted my Bluesky account. When I was on it, I felt like the old guy at a bar full of kids in their early 20s who talk like they know it all but have barely experienced life (to put it politely).

    Has it changed at all?

    beardedtechguy, to mastodon
    @beardedtechguy@allthingstech.social avatar

    What in the UI nightmare in this?!

    This has got to be the most insane thing to have in the interface. The whole point of a user interface is to make the user not have to guess what to do. What the hell is “Mutual”? When you hover over the button it turns red… Just looking at it the button isn’t intuitive to what it does.

    What was @Gargron thinking? 🤔

    From: @mcc
    https://mastodon.social/@mcc/111768030344091358

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @cliffwade @beardedtechguy @rolle @Gargron @mcc I get what they were trying, but I don’t think this was an element of the UI that needed tweaking.

    andrew, to fediverse
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    Morning Fediverse. Another 28 degree Celsius morning heading towards 38 🥵

    📸 Ricoh GRIIIx

    A seaside promenade with a tall pine tree, colorful beach huts, and a clear view of the ocean and distant hills under a blue sky.

    Cliff, to IT

    Mechanical keyboards are popular with geeks because they can be customized with a variety of switches and keycaps. But have you ever seen a mechanical keyboard that can fold? Well, you will today because I’m going to tell you about the RK Royal Kludge RK925 folding mechanical keyboard. It’s certainly something different than what you will normally see when it comes to a mechanical keyboard.

    The Royal Kludge RK925 is a foldable mechanical keyboard that can be either wired or wireless, depending on your preference. Don’t take the Kludge part of the name in a bad way here, as it’s not meant as if it’s an ill-assorted collection of parts assembled to fulfill a particular purpose.

    https://www.seerofsouls.com/wp-content/themes/groovy/assets/images/transparent.gifAs you can see it’s definitely a foldable keyboard. But what’s different about the Royal Kludge RK925 it folds horizontally instead of vertically like most foldable keyboards you see will do. This truly sets it apart right from the start in my opinion.

    Unfortunately once it’s folded in half, there is no locking mechanism or anything similar to keep it folder. You have to rely on the way you store it in your bag or whatever. There is however a velvet pouch for the folded keyboard to fit in, so that does keep it from coming unfolded if you store it in that.

    Another thing that most gamers, among others, will appreciate about the RK925 is that it’s what they call a 60% keyboard with only 68 mechanical backlit keys.

    Along the top edge of the Royal Kludge RK925 is where you will find the power switch, the USB-C charging/connectivity port and the foldout phone/tablet holder if you wish to use it with a mobile device. One neat thing is, the RK925 can be paired with up to 3 different devices using Bluetooth 5.1.

    The foldout phone/tablet holder is very sturdy and has no issues at all. It will even work with cases, depending on their thickness of course. I personally used it with an iPhone 12 Pro and a Pixel 6 Pro while on vacation in Las Vegas.

    This keyboard uses low profile white switches that have a 12mm height and a 1.4mm distance to actuation.

    The double shot ABS keycaps have a very shallow concave shape but they are full-size keys allowing typing to feel roomy and comfortable. Being a mechanical keyboard, typing on it results in a pleasant clickity clackity. I found the volume of the clicking and clacking to be fine for my ears but if you work in a quiet office, you might bother others.

    The backlight is bright but not too bright. It can be completely turned off or you can switch it to a ‘breathing’ mode where it will fade in and out.

    https://www.seerofsouls.com/wp-content/themes/groovy/assets/images/transparent.gifAs I mentioned above, the Royal Kludge RK925 can be used wired or wirelessly as the choice is up to you.

    It has a 600mAh battery that will give you up to 200 hours of nonstop typing with the backlight off and is fully recharged in 2-3 hours.

    Note that this keyboard seems to automatically time out and go into power savings mode after about a minute. So if you come back to your desk and start typing, you might lose a stroke or two before you notice.

    One thing to note is that the RK925 does not include a Mac mode so using it with a Macbook Pro or something similar works, but you won’t be able to do the special key combos using the OPTION and CMD keys unfortunately. If you can live without those special key combos, then using it with a Macbook or anything similar should work without any other issues.

    Discount Code

    Thanks to the awesome folks over at Royal Kludge for allowing me to review this product and others that they have sent over in the past. They have also provided me with a special URL that anyone can use to save a total of 10% off of your entire purchase across their site. So if you’re interested in purchasing the RK Royal Kludge RK925 folding mechanical keyboard, or any of their products, you can enter code DECRYPTED to Save 10% On Your Entire Order.

    Final Thoughts

    It’s nice to see a company that makes normal every day products come up with something different and do it differently than you would expect. The Royal Kludge RK925 does exactly that while maintaining the ability to work as expected. It’s very well made, sturdy, solid, portable and affordable.

    If you’re looking for or in the need of a keyboard you can easily take with you but not have all the bulkiness of a regular keyboard, then this is certainly one product you should take a look at. Throw in that the price is only $79.99 if you buy directly from RK Royal Kludge.

    https://www.seerofsouls.com/review-rk-royal-kludge-rk925-foldable-keyboard/

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @Cliff I like it. Admittedly I'm immediately thinking that should come with some sort of protective case/sleeve since the keys are exposed when folded.

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @cliffwade @Cliff ok, I think even that is better than nothing; less chance of something in your bag snagging the keys.

    Still interested though as I'm a sucker for portable gadgets :)

    andrew, to coffee
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    Not the worst view during the morning coffee.

    Outdoor cafe setting with a person working on a laptop, a cup of coffee on the table, and another customer in the background.

    andrew, to fediverse
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    Any users on single user instances have any other ideas outside of relays to improve the amount of content in their Federated feeds?

    I could probably follow some more people but then I'm way of having too much in the home feed too.

    Just trying to find the right balance and its tricky.

    dimillian, to random
    @dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

    I need help, and I need a new coffee machine.
    Right now, I have a standard Delonghi Espresso.
    I want a machine that can grind and press the coffee.
    I'm not a coffee snob; I like to choose and shop for my beans. And I like it when it's fast and efficient too.
    Let me know your recs!
    I'm looking at Marzocco and Sage, but another better Delonghi could be fine, too.
    Unlimited budget.

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @dimillian unlimited budget? Oh boy 😊

    I would highly recommend a separate grinder and espresso machines if you can deal with the extra inconvenience (didn’t think Marzocco did a combined model).

    I have a Breville (Sage) Bambino espresso and I think it’s great, but I need another grinder as my Breville Smart Grinder Pro broke. In hindsight and after getting coffee beans ground from the roaster; the Breville grinder never did a great job anyway.

    andrew, to retrocomputing
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    When you obtain some retro technology and you just hope the old battery inside it has enough juice left in it to just be usable.

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    IT LIVES!

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @amoroso yep, much in the same vein as the old AlphaSmart devices. The Writer series of devices was designed for students, with this one having more features to help students with their spelling and grammar; and includes built in text-to-speech.

    I’ve been into dedicated word processors for journaling and thought development since I started using my PSION 5 PDA last year. Unfortunately that broke so I started looking elsewhere and came across this (to avoid buying a Freewrite)

    andrew,
    @andrew@melder.social avatar

    @amoroso I had no idea about them either until I happened to come across a blog post talking about AlphaSmart alternatives.

    There isn't a ton of info about them online so depending on my experience, I might write and post more about it.

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