Handy Tech Under $100 Episode 7 - Organization is Sexy
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,915 words · ~9 min read
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we haven't done a handy Tech under $100 in a while and not because there hasn't
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been any handy technology in the last little bit but because we've been so
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incredibly busy with other projects so I guess it was a bit of a blessing in
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disguise that I came into the office this morning having forgotten the
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microphone I was supposed to review today at home cuz now we get handy Tech
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that SL600 microphone review will be coming soon by the way so we'll find out
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if a dedicated single condenser module cardioid mic can Dethrone the Jack of
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all trade zti Pro but uh first this
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video Corsair's h8 GT and h100i GTX
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all-in-one liquid coolers improve both the appearance and cooling of your PC
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click my face to learn more as long as Nick doesn't forget now our first handy
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Tech under 100 today is one that I actually dug my heels in about buying
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Brandon really wanted one though so basically I finally said okay look fine
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if I never have to use it and I don't have to see you wasting time dinking
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around with it because there's a thousand other useful things you could
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be doing you can get one it's a label
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maker specifically the brother pouch D200 so to give some background Brandon
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is a bit of an obsessive about putting labels on things and while I see the
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benefit for things that belong to him and he brings to the office he can label
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those at home and it seems like a waste of time to run around the office
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labeling things that belong to the company since you can pretty much assume anything unlabeled belongs to lus Media
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Group and besides from my point of view printers are printers they never work
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their upkeep is expensive and they almost always end up wasting more time
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than they save since a piece of tape and a pen is just as functional to me as a
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label maker at least that's what I thought a standalone sing single purpose
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label maker like this that requires no wireless connection no computer and just
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generally takes a text input on its built-in keyboard and spits out a label
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within a few seconds is actually a godsend for everything from organizing
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which SD cards are for which cameras and which power adapters go with which
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laptops or network switches to well
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that's actually the only thing I use it for but it's definitely worth the 35
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bucks for that alone it's not perfect the side margins are too big so it was
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some paper the replacement cartridges cost a third as much as the entire
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device and the menu system isn't exactly revolutionary and awesome but I am
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officially converted I thought it was useless when I bought it but it truly is
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a handy piece of tech my second handy
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Tech item today is well let's start with this every day I get companies sending
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me their latest stupid Bluetooth doad
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that for some reason they think makes my life easier but is actually just another
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confounded Gadget to remember to charge from my perspective but this one is
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actually surprisingly cool it's called the gate keeper and it has the same
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functionality as those Bluetooth proximity tags where there's an iOS or
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Android phone app that lets you know if your luggage or your purse or whatever
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this is attached to moves too far away with an audible alarm but that's not
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that cool and I said this thing was cool the cool part is that it comes with a
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USB lock dongle that allows you to automatically lock or unlock your
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Windows or Mac based PC simply by moving near it or away from it the app is super
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simple to install on your computer and set up you just pair the Locking Key by
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putting them next to each other set up a proximity threshold I found somewhere in
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the middle was good for having the lock plugged into my keyboard although if you
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had it inside your case with one of those little dongles that we actually
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introduced in the last handy Tech then you might want to set it a little bit
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further away then all you do is move away from the PC and it locks and toward
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it and boom it unlocks by the time you've put your butt in your chair
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usually now to be clear Windows
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passwords are pretty easy to defeat on their own so if you're just using a
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gatekeeper on its own then it's not much of a deterrent for someone who has
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unlimited time to access your computer and is trying really hard to steal your
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data but what it does do is prevent casual eavesdropping from co-workers or
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or other patients in a setting like a doctor's office or hospital and much
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much more and if that's not enough for you you can actually set your system up
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to require both the keychain key and a
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typed password for unlocking so two Factor authentication and then if you
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combine the gatekeeper with other security measures like bit Locker full
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drive encryption it can actually be fairly difficult to defeat it with you
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know a couple passwords and a physical item in the way of all but the most
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dastardly data thieves my last handy
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Tech item is one that many of you will already actually already own and the
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vast majority of you will already know about at the very least but it's the
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kind of thing where it might take a video like this to make you think a snap
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I got to go order a couple of those so next time I'm running all over the place
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looking for one when I have a Skype meeting in five minutes that I'm
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supposed to join I'll know where it is now pretty much everyone knows that the
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vast majority of personal audio devices use a female 3 and2 mm or 8 in Jack but
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what some people don't know is that in addition to there actually being some
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wiring variations they can actually have three or four contact points depending
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on whether they're designed to accommodate a pair of headphones or speakers a microphone or both of those
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things yes the popularity of smartphones and Ultrabooks with no physical space
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for two separate Jacks has skyrocketed the popularity of four pole 32 mm Jacks
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but if you happen to have a headset for Skype or gaming or whatever else it is
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that doesn't have four poles you can plug it in and just use it as a
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headphone or you can get one of these little puppies to split the audio output
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and input for you now there's not a whole lot to say about these other than
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that I ordered a couple from Amazon a startech one for a few bucks and a
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Sennheiser one for a few bucks more and they both work about as expected the
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Sennheiser one has more Supple thinner wires and features gold plating on the
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connectors inside and out a longevity booster but given that I could afford
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literally twice as many of the cheaper ones I think I lean towards those or if
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there's something on mono price that for whatever reason I couldn't find and is
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cheaper then that's good too since functionally they are exactly the same
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but like super handy and that's what this video series is about speaking of
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functionally exactly the same most portable battery Banks except this one
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from churo Power the world's first battery for engress agents officially
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licensed by Niantic Niantic whatever
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Niantic Labs a startup within Google dedicated to creating mobile apps that
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connect people with the real world like Ingress so Ingress if you're not
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familiar with it is kind of this unique entertainment experience known as a real
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world game an all new style of Game featuring Innovative massively
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multiplayer mobile game playay which transforms neighborhoods and cities around the world into the well the just
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intera active gaming experience there's like 9 million downloads there's a huge
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Community around it and this battery bank is for Ingress agents okay so it
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okay so it's not that functionally different from other battery Banks it
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features an ultra high capacity battery so that's 12,000 milliamp hours it's
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compatible with regular 1amp charging devices it's got a 1 amp port for those
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and it's got a quick charging 2.1 amp Port allowing an iPhone for example to
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be charged up to five times on a single charge and quickly something that's
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itely handy when you're out and about with your phone constantly powered on
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and in front of you speaking of powered on and in front of you it comes with a nice Supple USB cables you go ahead and
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pop that baby in your back pocket you got your phone in your other hand and
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you can go around and do your Engish things now where it does get differ is
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that it does have a variety of lighting pattern so you press the power
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button press the power button oops that's not the power button ah so you
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press the power button and the lights light up you can short press the LED
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control button and change the color of the center logo you can long press and
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these other LEDs around it are going to light up and looks pretty cool and I
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guess that's pretty much all there is to say about it it's outfitted with the usual automatic shutdown protection and
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automatic overcharge prevention and ShortCircuit protection all that good
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stuff and I think that pretty much wraps that puppy up you can check out the link
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in the video description if you want to pick up one of those bad boys for yourself or someone you know who's like
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really into angress so the last thing for this video is the full disclosure
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part that I like to include with handy Tech the churo Ingress charger was one
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of of our usual sponsor spots the label maker and the headphone adapters were
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purchased for use at Linus Media Group here and the gatekeeper was provided by
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coolcat electronics for evaluation even though I told them at the time I
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probably wouldn't review it but then I liked it so I did thanks for watching
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guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment if your feelings are more
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complicated than this as always Linked In the video description you can support us with a monthly contribution you can
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buy a cool t-shirt like this one and you can change your Amazon bookmark to one
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with our affiliate code so we get a small Kickback whenever you buy portable battery Banks
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um these doohickeys or the doohickeys that go in them so you can print more
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stuff with them adapters and whatever the heck thanks for watching and as
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always don't forget to subscribe