Category: Media

This is a container category for media reviews and related drivel.

Pixel to Pixel

It’s phone refresh time for everyone on my Ting plan. Spud’s phone just up and bricked itself after several years of stalwart service, so I got his replacement sent out and that seems to have gone well. And then I started thinking, hmm, it has been a while since my Pixel 4a (5G) fell out of regular updates support. And Vyx’s phone has been giving her fits for a while.

So… new phones for everyone! She’s got a Pixel 8a due to arrive soon, and my Pixel 8 arrived today. I can’t really say if I like it better than the 4a (5G) or not yet, but the only annoying thing about it so far is that I can’t find a way to get rid of the “AI Wallpaper” app it comes with. Yuck. I got Signal, Duo, Discord, MediaMonkey, and Medisafe installed and settings/music/etc migrated with no particular difficulty, and my Jabra 65t earbuds are paired & tested.

I originally wanted to get a face-on shot so there’d be a partial reflection of the old phone in this picture of the new phone… but the autofocus kept locking onto the reflection. So you get a 3/4 angle view instead.

In spite of my advancing age (and the decreasing visual acuity which comes with that) I’m happy that this is a slightly smaller phone. Fits in the pocket easier, doesn’t feel quite so bulky to grasp. And with the font sizing features I can make the phone more-or-less usable by my “old person eyes” even before I’ve got my readers on. Helpful, that.

All things being equal I’m going to miss the 4a, it was quite the workhorse, but eventually it will give up the ghost and now I’m freshened up for the future. Yay?

26 September, 2024
Satisfactory: Ironworks Again

I planned to use this website to write more about Satisfactory. (Among other things.) What’s stopping me? All the free time I could be writing, I’m spending in the game. So, my love of the game gets in the way of my plans and principles yet again. Same as it ever was.

Anyway: At just about the 24 hours (in-game time) mark in the new save, I completed my Ironworks.

There’ll be beautification done later, after I’ve unlocked more of the cosmetics. I want a roof, walls, supports, all of that good shiny stuff. But for now? It doesn’t look too shabby!

I’ve been referring to various purpose-built factory sites as [whatever]works since my very first play-through about four years ago. This one’s the best I’ve built yet. Which you’d expect given all the practice over the years, I suppose, but I really do feel good about this result. Let’s get into why.
(more…)

20 September, 2024
We All Key Ya For Ikea

We live in a proper house now, and with that change came some extra floor space for furniture. I decided last week that what my room needs is a “proper” display shelf. Cue some puttering around on Ikea’s website and a chunk of money gone from my bank account, and… well:

Unexpected benefit of the design: It doesn’t block the switched power outlet so I can use the light switch by the door to turn on a lamp sitting atop the new cabinet. Sweet!

As usual, Ikea does such a smart job providing visual instructions that even an easily confused duck like myself can follow along with relative ease. At one point I needed Vyx to help get the side glass panels into place (absolutely a two-person job, the instructions said so) but even that didn’t take very long. Mind you I also needed her to make sense of the instruction for getting the metal top piece into place. It’s a good thing she’s so smart or I’d still be at the build an hour or so later.

I thought I was being clever by not hauling the entire shipping box up the stairs before starting the build, and it wasn’t actually a bad idea to take each piece up as needed… but I absolutely did not save myself the workload by piecing it out. I still had to shift almost exactly the same amount of mass (minus the cardboard, which weighs little) plus I had to climb and descend the stairs that many more times.

In other words: Owie. My back hates me right now.

Worth it, though?

From top to bottom and left to right: Foam pickaxe reading “Remember Tunnel 17” from the Digger comic, Tolo brand rubber ducky, plush Teto from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, plush Kafka “Creation” (a cat-cake… thing) from Honkai Star Rail, Lizard Doggo from Satisfactory, Quaggan from Guild Wars 2, and Ryo-ohki from Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki.

Yeah. I think so.

14 September, 2024
Satisfactory: 1.0

It’s out. It’s finally out. Most of 4 years since I bought the game in its Early Access state, 1000+ hours of time spent in it during that time, and here I am starting a fresh new save.

Not that there weren’t some hiccups at the start.
(more…)

10 September, 2024
Gearing Up For The Stream

When Coffee Stain Studios announced the release date for Satisfactory’s 1.0 version I immediately put in for the day off. (Also the day before, since taking just a random Tuesday seemed silly.) How, I wondered, would I properly celebrate? Given that I’ve very (very very) occasionally streamed the game on Twitch, I decided to go ahead and do that thing for as much of the release day as I can manage.

Mind you, apparently Pacific time zone folks get the game at 8 o’clock in the morning. On the one hand this means I get to start playing as soon as I’ve had breakfast and such in the morning. On the other hand this means that I will want to start playing as soon as, etc, etc. Hmm. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I have to be up and medicated by that time anyway.

Now, about that streaming idea.
(more…)

8 September, 2024
Straight Into My Ears

I have, one might say, a bit of a problem.

Most of those are gaming headsets of one form or another, a couple are just-headphones, and a couple are designed primarily for videoconferencing use rather than for gaming. And then there’s the earbuds.

“I can quit any time,” I say, as I ponder shopping online for yet another set of headphones. I (probably) won’t buy anything right now, though, because between the Poly-formerly-Plantronics work headset and my excellent Sony listening headphones, I’m set. For the moment.

What brought on the urge to dig through the Box Of Discarded Headsets? Tuesday’s Satisfactory game stream project/idea/thing. The Poly headset is great but after a couple of hours my ears start to hurt. This isn’t a problem very often since usually I’m not in several-hours-long meetings… but the weekly game sessions with the kids can run to nearly three hours and by that point I’m definitely feeling some discomfort. Given that I’ll be streaming for more than three hours on Tuesday (if all goes well) I figured I should check my alternatives.

My current plan? I’m going to stick the Blue Snowball on a boom arm to be my microphone and use the most comfortable just-headphones I have available… which probably means the wired earbuds. But we’ll see.

5 September, 2024