Gil -
congrats on your upgraded palmtop, external keyboard, trackball and
all! When I saw the name (Note10) I thought maybe it was technically a
Phablet (is that even a contemporary term? how big does a phone (or
small a tablet) have to be to be a phablet?) I'd probably go for a
phablet if I had bigger pockets... maybe if I took up wearing nothing
but bib overalls (as too many of my relatives do... not even a t-shirt
in the summer) it would be "just right" (big chest-pocket).
Sorry you didn't find a physical-keyboard model to acquire... REC's
links were surprising, I thought they were totally deprecated!
<self-indulgent tangential rant> I share your preference for
used/refurbed even though I know that stream tends to be a *fraction* of
the *new* stream size... one upcycle/recycle loop in the stream is at
least a nudge in the right direction. It is a little like my
philosophy on picking up hitchhikers. Not only do I give someone in
need a ride somewhere, I also lower the anxiety of the next 10-100 folks
driving by who might "worry" either that they
shoulda-but-didn't-pick-them-up or
that-person-is-crazy-dangerous-and-I-hate-the-world. I'm now on the
back end of this process now, carefully seeking new (probably final)
homes for old tech that I rescued a decade or two ago, got good use
from, and am now ready to "share forward" one more time... like the
three LCD monitors I unloaded on you recently!
But fusion energy will "fix all that", we can just dump our old tech
into the tiny-suns at the hearts of each building/community (heck in the
chest of your suit of flying armour, tony stark style!). It wasn't that
long ago that every commercial building (Industry or apartments) had
their own incenerator in the basement where *everything* was flash-fried
and the results belched into the (already murky?) air over the
cityscape. Good for human-remains disposal too?
I'm not doing it myself, but I did discover that along with better and
better methods for turning PET/HDPE? plastic bottles into 3D printer
filament, that in the Himalayan highlands, they are building rocket-mass
heaters capable of consuming (most of) the toxic emissions when plastic
waste is burned (too often burned open-pit there). The very high
combustion temperatures in the throat of the (very low-tech) rocket
stove are enough to break down *most* of the noxious bits and then the
rapid condensation when the "jet" hits the "bell" of the stove means
that most of the toxic by-products end up on the inner surfaces of the
bell and the exhaust is mostly just above-ambient temperature CO2/H2O.
The hydrocarbon chains are also dense fuel compared to cellulose, so the
desired high combustion temperatures are easier to obtain and maintain.
I do let the plastic-window-bits of my junk-mail go into mine but no
juice bottles or cello wrapping for me... I mostly stick to aluminum
and glass which is either well worth the effort to recycle or mostly
inert. My rocket-mass stove is pretty happy eating typical yard-waste,
I don't want to spoil it with high-test plastic!
On my trip to EU I upgraded the fairly lame solar-rechargeable 6500 mAh
battery packs to 30k versions suitable for multiple phone recharges and
even driving a heated travel blanket. I have been handing out $5
bills, chocolate bars, and hand-toe warmers to folks flying signs on the
street and I *hope* one of them can make good use of on of these (now
10+ year old) power banks even though they A) barely top up a half-empty
contemporary cell phone, and B) take several days of full sun to
recharge without plugging into a USB source. I do have an older
Android whose, battery is only good for an hour or two I suppose I could
pair with one of these... I haven't been able to get the 2 hand-me-down
iPads I have updated well enough to do *anything*... first significant
"planned obselescence" I've seen in Apple Products... or I'd pass those
along as well.
I just reconnected with the SF MakerSpace (you should check them out if
you don't know them) and I'm hoping they can absorb some of my
duplicate/triplicate shop/hand tools that several dead/retiring men left
to me over the last decade or two. The coming population collapse
(next pandemic, next assault-rifle-armed-MAGA temper tantrum, next rogue
authoritarion with nuclear codes?) will leave us (or not) all with way
more gak than we know what to do with... time to start being clever
upcyclers!
</rant>
- Steve
On 12/20/22 12:12 PM, Gillian Densmore wrote:
First up is samsungs note 10. In a nutshell fun af, and complete, It's
old phone that feals modern af. love the option to use a stylus for
notes. It's a chonker of a phone. This one was refurbed*. It came from
amazon and it's good as new. fantastic reception. and yeah just a cool
phone. android
A external keyboard: (don't have a link atm): Omg what a difference
for quick texts when going to googles messages from the web is
overkill. The one I have Is more meant for inplace typing. and meant
to be used with a case and I think on a desktop or something. Sigh
RIPish phones with keyboards.
Elecom Deft:
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GQZVH78?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1>
(arg gmails weird way to format!!): at any rate: in short? love it.
It's trackball. I had one like it for a few years before it broke. I
got it on impulse because I got frustrated with the small mousing area
of my desk. It pleasantly surprised me how fast I adjusted. This one
is wireless which is fantastic when you have a small space. I have no
clue about the mechanical side. Just after a week and change of use
it's my favorite mouse so far. I've tried one with a bajillion dpi
and polling rates and blah blah. but this relatively simple guy is
just...fun? to use. I haven't tried it with games yet. if it's like
the other trackball I suspect i'll be good. Has function buttons, I
think those are for macros. All in all just great. uses 2.4 ghtz usb
dongle to connect and a AA battery.
*I've gotten to prefer used gizmos because of being very concerned
about the environment.
Back to our regularly scheduled geek out about Ai.
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p
Zoomhttps://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribehttp://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIChttp://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru presenthttps://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/