I'm sorry I've been so preoccupied with
useless expensive crap lately but I've
been neglecting the stuff that actually
works and does so on the cheap well I'm
getting back to my roots today
welcome to handy tech under $100 episode
11
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combining creative problem-solving with
real-world experience learn more at the
link below
so first up I've got a bit of an odd one
I have to confess I just take my
disposable batteries with me for
recycling whenever I have the hankering
for Swedish meatballs from the cafeteria
of the local IKEA I had never heard of
recharging alkaline z' but apparently
it's been a thing for over two decades
with the first consumer disposable
battery recharger the Buddy L super
charger having been released in 1993 now
that one didn't really last thanks to
its tendency to stop charging the
batteries early and the extremely
difficult battery insertion process but
I have its great-great-grandson the
mighty charger if you throw away
disposable batteries you're throwing
away money as far as I'm concerned in as
seen on tv badge might as well read
shoddy useless gimmick but I figured
what the hey let's give it a shot
so I devised a test putting a set of
three Kirkland double-a batteries in one
of my kids toys recording the discharge
time and then with all those warnings
about leakage or explosions in my mind I
set up a safe space to recharge them
with nothing flammable within four feet
in my garage my recharge batteries ran
for less than half of the time of my
original test but I've since done a lot
more research on the topic and yes
alkaline batteries can be recharged
now you can't recharge disposable
batteries now you can with mighty
charger it needs to happen in bursts to
keep the battery acid from leaking out
the pressure release valve and it works
best if the batteries aren't fully
drained and then even so you'll only get
ten consecutively shorter cycles
recharges dead disposable alkaline
batteries up to 70 times that's right if
you're lucky compared to hundreds or
thousands on a proper ni MH but for
items like kids toys where I don't want
to invest in expensive rechargeables
that I'll probably end
losing when they leave their junk
outside in the rain this is a great
solution here's how to order
moving on it's no secret that I love
high-end audio crap the most expensive
headphones I own is a pair of Odyssey
LCD 2's that I picked up used for still
over $1000 Canadian a couple of years
ago but that doesn't mean that I can't
also appreciate value and item number
two is both the cheapest pair of
headphones that I've ever gotten from
anywhere other than a dollar store and
arguably the best bang for the buck
audio device I have ever laid my hands
on as far as packaging product
appearance and included accessories go
the venture electronics monk plus is
actually pretty comparable to those
dollar store earbuds you get the earbuds
themselves these marvelous foam pads
that serve to well pad your ears a
little bit and increase friction helping
keep them in your ears complete with
bonus color coating red for right blue
for left and you get this carrying bag
that dankmemes aside is just a bag it's
actually made out of shockingly thin
plastic and doesn't even reseal it's not
much better than the free bags at the
grocery store for putting your apples in
funny story though when they first
started charging for the regular
shopping bags at our local grocery store
my wife would actually take a bunch of
those free ones and then put our
groceries in them at the checkout she
only stopped doing it when I refused to
continue to go shopping with her out of
embarrassment anyway I digress
what's remarkable about the monk plus is
that they actually sound pretty darn
good the closest thing to a fair point
of comparison that I have would be Apple
earpods
which have more thump at the low end and
then I personally find a touch more
comfortable but whose mids are
relatively veiled making vocalists get a
little lost by comparison so yes in
spite of the price difference I found
the monk plus more pleasing to listen to
than Apple earpods wait what's that I
didn't tell you the price yet
oh they're five bucks
on Aliexpress plus a few bucks for
shipping I mean sure the build quality
is nothing special and they don't
include an inline microphone or
controller but at 1/7 the price if
you're one of those people and you know
who you are
who loses your earphones all the time
come on man just buy seven of these and
then don't stress about anymore am i
right right moving on
have you ever wanted to recharge your
double-a batteries only to go dammit I
don't have a battery charger on me and
even if I did there isn't a wall outlet
for miles yes the next handy tech is
another battery item these are called
USB cell batteries and they're made by
Moxie Energy Limited the difference
between these and any other nickel metal
hydride batteries are several first
there are only 1300 milliamp hours which
both theoretically and in practice is
much less than the two thousand milliamp
hour rating of Amazon basics for
chargeable zand closer to one third the
capacity of a disposable alkaline second
there are about $10 per battery or about
five times the price of the
aforementioned amazonbasics
so Linus why well this is pretty cool
don't let its appearance deceive you the
USB cell includes in addition to the its
internal cell DC to DC voltage
conversion circuitry a charging
indicator LED and a USB plug under the
positive terminal they can be recharged
in about five hours over USB and while I
wouldn't recommend buying a ton of them
the capacity to cost ratio just doesn't
justify it if there was a double-a
battery that I was going to carry around
in my bag with me for emergencies the
convenience here is undeniable the last
item is another always with me always
with you item and charging related again
in the old days every device used a
different proprietary vil charger which
was a total nightmare
then everything switched to microUSB a
completely different nightmare one
that's finally almost over
Lightning haven't taken over all of
Apple's mobile devices and USB type-c
riding in on its white steed covered in
shimmering armor for everyone else one
small problem it means for techies
you're carrying around a minimum of
three charging cables if you want to be
ready for your own needs and those of
your friends so pick up one of these I'm
not married to a particular brand here
but these converter tips are available
individually or in packs and are much
less bulky to carry around than a bunch
of cables I keep them in my at all times
bag all right so then as always with
handy tech here's the disclosure bit the
mighty charger was purchased by me out
of morbid curiosity I wanted to know
what melted batteries look like and I
was pleasantly surprised when I didn't
see them the USB cell batteries were a
similar story and the monk plus
earphones were provided by mass drop a
conflict of interest if I ever saw one I
mean five dollars of sponsorship here
yeah that's right as for my two examples
of cable tip adapters one was included
with a ZTE axon 7 engineering sample and
the other was purchased by Brendan for
his own personal use and was then stolen
by me when he showed it to me what a
f--king chump
which brings us to today's episode
sponsor Full Sail University virtually
every industry relies on software
technology and Full Sail University
offers undergraduate degree programs
that address the need for skilled tech
professionals through a curriculum that
blends code and theory with real-world
experience they have undergraduate
programs offered for web and tech
including software development which
teaches programming fundamentals mobile
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to develop through project-based
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software products web design and
development which teaches front-end
design back-end development along with
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more and all students have hands-on
access to technology from day one they
receive a laptop computer at an
institutional discount along with
relevant software and tools so to learn
more about full sales web and Technology
programs visit Full Sail dot edu slash
Linus tech tips linked in the video
description
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