New Tech you didn't know you needed or even wanted

[orygun]

I put these on all of my vehicles.

Cheap and easy to install but makes things so much nicer.

Amazon.com

I never would have put them on, but my shop truck has a set. It's really nice to be able to have the window open an inch or two and be able to keep the rain out.

 

[Jay Walk]

My new Subaru Crosstrek has the eye sight feature and if I activate cruise control and press the steering wheel but it turns the steering wheel automatically and follows the road. It also automatically slows down for traffic as well. When cruise control is off, It also has the ability to take control if you start drifting outside your lane but I do not have that feature on.

It does tell me that traffic is moving and I am still stopped. It also does auto braking if I am following the car too closely. I had it auto brake just once even though I did think I was following too close. I have paddle shifters so I downshift when I am going down the hills. It also has a sports mode on the steering wheel which I sometimes use when I am getting on the freeway.

I have an iPhone and the car has Apple CarPlay so it uses my phones Maps app to display where I am at. It also use the microphone and car speakers to make phone calls which very nice. When I get an SMS it reads them out loud with Siri's voice.

Wifes new Legacy Limited has all of that. She is pretty happy with it; she drove her last car for 16 years.

 

[Tony617]

I have over 250 CDs and have about 100 loaded on my iPhone. Also have a large collection of DVDs and BlueRay DVDs. It nice if I have an internet outage outage and the power is on since I can watch movies at least. We only have streaming services now and cut our cable service.

We can use our cell phones but if the internet is down and 1000s of homes are without internet we can make phone calls and SMS only assuming cellular service is up. We had a few times that we lost cell service for a while as well.

 

[gmerkt]

AC can of course be added on but, the couple times I tried doing that the cost was high enough to keep me only buying that had factory.

Adding AC was not unusual in the 1960's, Ford sold a ton of aftermarket kits for it. "Hang On units." As I recall, the early Mustangs had no provision for through the dash air, the unit was hung under the dash from the factory just like the add-on kits.

In the 1970's, automotive engineers began routing AC and heater/defroster through the same plenum chamber on the firewall on common cars, which I think started to drop the price from the factory. I used to buy lots of 1970's era clunkers from the abandoned vehicle auctions and I remember seeing some of those with add-on air under the dash, with a big, long AC air duct added under the dashboard. I only remember seeing one car from the 80's with add-on air, that was a Buick Special that my sister in law bought. Man, that was a large, ugly piece of machinery that they added onto the floor. The evaporator unit basically divided the front seat area into driver and passenger, like a bucket seat car.

These days, cars are too complex for me to contemplate adding AC, and don't nearly all cars come with it standard? There aren't many cars sold in the US today that don't have power windows, either.

Talk about AC machinery. I think maybe it was Packard that had the first AC that was available from the factory, maybe 1941 or thereabout? I'm not familiar with those systems. But 1950's stuff is in my wheelhouse. My dad had many Lincolns 53-57, some had AC. The evaporator was a big unit in the trunk area, situated on the shelf above the rear axle. The cooled air blew up through clear plastic ducts next to the rear glass into more ducting in the car roof, with four discharge ports. A flaw in the basic design, the driver was at a port farthest from the unit. With the compressor and condenser in the engine compartment, there were long lines to carry the refrigerant to both ends of the system. My 1955 Cadillac had that same system, the unit in the trunk must've weighed 200 pounds by itself. It had one of those typical Frigidaire rotary compressors, whereas Lincoln used York style. Except 1957 when Lincoln used a four cylinder Tecumseh design.

 

[Spitpatch]

Well, maybe it ain't "tech", but it's the best invention for guns that I've seen in recent years:

Home

 

[Alexx1401]

Well, maybe it ain't "tech", but it's the best invention for guns that I've seen in recent years:

Home

Damn, now that looks like a great little idea!

 

[orygun]

Well, maybe it ain't "tech", but it's the best invention for guns that I've seen in recent years:

Home

I have various punches like that, but none of them are brass tipped. Neat idea.

 

[Spitpatch]

Here's where it comes into it's own for me:



Essentially a spring-loaded, miniature "slam-hammer". Works on anything riding in a dovetail, or any punch pin. No swinging thru the atmosphere to "tap" (and ding) stuff. I've used it on some car stuff too.

 

[Bobbygun]

With all those options few want the disc player any more.

Blasphemy! Geez, I repurposed an old gun cabinet into a CD cabinet and it is overflowing. I've gotta have a CD player. Fortunately, all of our vehicles still have CD players.

What I really don't like is the cruise control in my wife's 2018 RAV4. I drive a 2016 almost exactly like it and have no issues with the cruise control. I was driving the wife's and was struggling to get it to stay in cruise control mode. Every time I was about to pass someone ahead of me, the dang cruise control seemed to be kicking off, no matter how many times I pressed the "up" arrow to increase speed. Turns out, there is some sort of sensor that detects a car ahead of you and slows you down. After about 30 miles on I-5 of thinking the cruise control didn't work, I figured out what was going on because I remembered riding with a friend that had a Tundra that slowed down when the car ahead of him got too close. There is also a "lane departure" warning that I would probably find annoying, but my hearing is so poor, I don't hear it unless I have passengers - they'll tell me. LOL

 

[Mikej]

There is also a "lane departure" warning that I would probably find annoying, but my hearing is so poor, I don't hear it unless I have passengers - they'll tell me. LOL

Okay, this right here ^^ is funny!

 

[Flopsweat]

Good LORD man! Speak English!

Good thing I'm old enough that I just don't care if I'm an idiot to such things.

I saw this and I thought of you.

When a bunch of developers work together on a software project, they have to be careful that the code that they write doesn't cause problems with the code other people write at the same time. When there are hundreds or thousands of people working on the project, a very powerful system is needed to coordinate everything. When I first switched from the old source management system to Git, I hated it because all of the terminology was different, and it worked very differently. I just wanted to check in my changes! There was no check-in in the new tool. It was designed from a completely different mindset. Recently, I ran across this diagram of the commonly used Git commands and what they do. If it looks confusing to you, take comfort in the fact that it's even more confusing to someone moving to Git from a more traditional source management system.

Click image to enlarge the chaos.


And yes, Git was (eventually) a game changer for me.

I guarantee you someone here is going to look at that and think it's really cool.

 

[Flopsweat]

While we're geeking out, there's this.

 

[Joe13]

How about home CCTV cameras…

I'm not that counts as I've known for a long time I wanted a system and have installed many during my life at work but once I had them installed outside I found that it is insanely nice to flip the tv input to the hdmi for the camera DVR and be able to see what is going on (generally out front) without having to get off my spot on the couch lol.

 

[MikeInOr]

Figured this would be an off topic post since there is so much out there, but what new (or new to you) tech stuff have you found or been given and didn't even know you wanted or needed?

Preferably things you can give a first (or second hand if you know someone) hand account of why it was a game changer for you.






My biggest one of many would be the heated coat my wife gave me last Christmas. Just so happened to also be one of those puffy coat designs which she was aware that I have not been a fan of but it was the only style she could find that would fit my shoulders and length of my arms.

First off the coat has a type of heat reflective material similar to a space blanket (but not crinkly like tin foil) on the inside that makes it a great coat with a giant hood with out any of the fancy heating stuff by itself.

Without the battery it probably weighs less then a pound or right around that so it is incredibly lightweight.

(Thankfully) She got me the 5v model which has a longer battery life and is way more then I need for heat vs the 7.2v models. Also the 5v batteries are much cheaper and I even bought a couple generic batteries for something like $15 vs the $32 for the brand that the coat is.

Settings are somewhere around 85f - 115f - 140f (for 1, 2 or 3 clicks of the button).

Even on low, unless it is dang cold outside, I only really need to turn it on for about 15 min and the residual heat stays for quite some time. I did try the 140f setting and got distracted when I all of a sudden realized I was sweating and roasting in the coat 10 min later.

It beats heated car seats by a mile mostly because heated seats tend to get me sweating where I don't want to sweat and it goes with me when I get out of the car.


I was so impressed by the thing that I ordered one of their vests (also in the puffy coat style but it lacks the reflective coating) to wear under my work jackets and honestly it is very nice in a cold house in the winter over a t-shirt on low (I think low is a 10 hour run per battery charge).

Anyway - my wife has an aunt that is always cold (even in the summer) that I tried to talk into trying but anything with a battery or electric anything is of no interest to her lol.


Prior to this I had a co-worker that had a different model that he didn't really talk up much and wasn't good for work wear so he would take it off and leave it in his rig while working so I didn't really think much of them.

Compared to other winter coats these things are very reasonably priced on the Amazon and I would highly recommend them (I don't really get that cold but even I love them).




So what else have I been missing out on?

Is the heated coat washable?

 

[Flopsweat]

How about home CCTV cameras…

I'm not that counts as I've known for a long time I wanted a system and have installed many during my life at work but once I had them installed outside I found that it is insanely nice to flip the tv input to the hdmi for the camera DVR and be able to see what is going on (generally out front) without having to get off my spot on the couch lol.

They keep improving them. One of mine has an intercom and a floodlight.

 

[Flopsweat]

Is the heated coat washable?

No, you just have to stink after a while.

 

[MikeInOr]

Raspberry Pi. It's a little computer the size of a deck of cards. Runs on 5 volts from a USB port. You can run Linux on it, so it doesn't need a lot of memory or a big processor. You can do about anything with them, like set up a web/network server in your truck to connect a bunch of wireless cameras mounted all around the truck. Set an old tablet to automatically connect to that network when it's available, and put a web page on the web server that displays all of the cameras. $49. Well, and hours of fiddling. Dash mount for the tablet, another about $50. I'm thinking about a magnetic mount camera that I can stick on any trailer I might be towing. If it won't reach the Raspberry Pi from back there, for another $49 I can make another one into a signal booster.

Or with a little extra hardware, you could make one into a custom weather station for the house.

Or a file server to stream all of your movies from.

Or a VPN server.

Or a TV that mirrors what's on the main TV, but in the bathroom, that comes on automatically when you enter and doesn't turn back off while you sit on the pot.

Or a Digital Sound Processor that doesn't use expensive proprietary software.

Or all kinds of robot stuff.

Basically anything you can do with Linux, which is as ridiculously broad as it sounds. It has several USB ports and HDMI. You can literally plug a mouse, keyboard and monitor in it and you have a little Linux computer. Or not plug anything in and remotely connect to it over your Wi-Fi instead. Plus you can add a hardware controller board to remotely or automatically control all kinds of hardware.

I've got three of them laying around halfway configured for various projects right now.

And then there are Arduino controllers, which I haven't even started with yet...

My daughter is driving my old 2003 Nissan Maxima (coincidentally the car I brought here home from the hospital in when she was born) and the radio only powered one of the speakers. We installed an ATOTO S8 Android head unit (radio). She absolutely loves it! It will download and run most any Android app and the custom ""automotive" interface is well done making it easy to operate. For only $200 it was a lot easier than "rolling my own" which I had considered several years ago. The rear and front facing cameras just needed to be plugged in and they were automatically recognized and activated with the base install. Some day I will install one in my 2006 Duramax (It REALLY needs a rear camera!!!!). The ATOTO also has a steering wheel controls decoder built in so the Maxima steering wheel controls were easy to integrate.

The Raspberry Pi3 didn't have enough cahoonas to power my Plex server so I am using old PC hardware under TrueNAS (Desbian based). I do want to migrate my HomeAssistant install from my TrueNAS server to the Pi 3 someday, when I have the time. HA has more options when run on its own dedicated box instead of as a virtual. I find it utterly reprehensible to have to get up off my butt to walk over and turn on/off a light switch these days when I can just Tell HomeAssistant to do it through Alexa! I can't understand why most people still insist on living in the dark ages these days. Yes, I had to change all my light switches out to Z-Wave smart switches but it is definitely worth it!

For a DSP (Digital Sound Processor) these boards kick butt!

WONDOM OFFICIAL SHOP - Bluetooth Amplifier Board - Sure Electronics - BCPB - 18650 charger - T-AMP - Volume Control

Sure Electronics is a professional audio amplifier supplier that provides electronics hobbyists and business partners the middleware which can help reduce customers' development difficulties and save their precious time-to-market by making the products directly released in the market.

store.sure-electronics.com

They have a "Analogue Devices" ADAU1701 programmable DSP integrated with four good Class-D amps. Parts-Express sells the same exact boards under their own name which means community support is pretty good:

Dayton Audio KABD-4100 4 x 100W All-in-one Amplifier Board with DSP and Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD

Dayton Audio KABD-4100 4 x 100W All-in-one Amplifier Board with DSP and Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD Dayton Audio KABD-4100 Amp Board The Next Level of DSP Amplification Leverage the convivence of Bluetooth 5.0 and powerful DSP to truly create customizable audio projects with the accessibility of...

www.parts-express.com

Personally I think this is much easier than rolling my own Linux based DSP.

 

[Joe13]

Is the heated coat washable?

Yes and I have washed them. Cold water and hang or lay out dry. The cord that connects to the battery has a cap that goes over it for washing.

**** Different brands may have different directions

 

[Joe13]

They keep improving them. One of mine has an intercom and a floodlight.

I do not have an intercom unfortunately but they all have flood lights and imo I think that would deter 99% of people right away because it brings a lot of attention to the face the cameras are there.

I got mine on a crazy deal at Costco after looking for a very long time and knew what brand I wanted and what the average orices were for the systems so I sacrificed audio for 6 more cameras. So it's a pro con thing.

 

[Alexx1401]

How about home CCTV cameras…

I'm not that counts as I've known for a long time I wanted a system and have installed many during my life at work but once I had them installed outside I found that it is insanely nice to flip the tv input to the hdmi for the camera DVR and be able to see what is going on (generally out front) without having to get off my spot on the couch lol.

I had toyed with having exterior cameras' for quite a while. Wife kept poo pooing the idea until she forgot to lock her car one night and someone got in and went through it. After I had the first ones? They are now the first thing I hook up when I move.