OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[Tony G]

I don't think I will ever understand how wireless changing works... It seems impossible and dangerous to me haha...

Here's a scaled down explanation. When you run current through a wire it creates a magnetic field around it. If you have a coil (tightly wound loops) of wire sitting in such a magnetic field, it will induce a current in it. This is how transformers work. The wireless pad creates a low level field and a small coil in the phone picks that up and uses the current from it to charge the phone.

[-Deborah-]

I've never needed external storage so I don't really get the desire for it. As for data usage, remember you can access the cloud over WiFi too...

[Tony G]

I store content from Audible on my phone so I can listen to a book at work if I'm doing a repetitive task or driving (30 minute commute or 8 hour drives to my folks). Work doesn't want me streaming content through their network either.

[-Deborah-]

Internal memory wouldn't hold that? I'll trust you need the extra space. I just can't relate.

[Tony G]

maybe I'm a little app happy but I have 80% of internal (16 gb) used and 50% of the external (64). I put songs on the card too since it has the room.

[Cody_Russell]

Here's a scaled down explanation. When you run current through a wire it creates a magnetic field around it. If you have a coil (tightly wound loops) of wire sitting in such a magnetic field, it will induce a current in it. This is how transformers work. The wireless pad creates a low level field and a small coil in the phone picks that up and uses the current from it to charge the phone.

Thanks!

[unknown lions fan]

Do the wireless charging phones take longer to charge than a plug-in?

That's the only drawback I could think of. Definitely better in the sense that you're not wearing out a USB port that will eventually fail on you.

[unknown lions fan]

I just put in one of those WD MyCloud (4TB) NAS units. It's very cool.

Now I have a single place for all of our pictures (40,000) and video (850,) and they're accessible from anywhere. I can give my family access so they can view all of our pictures as well.

The Android app for remote access is awesome as well. It has a built-in photo viewer with slideshow, and it works flawlessly without delays.

The MyCloud is a full media streamer, so watching videos is very smooth.

One cool thing I learned about it is that it automatically builds smaller versions of your photos and caches them. That's great because my DSLR creates 3-4MB files that would be horrible for slideshows across the net.

The next thing I need it to do will require a little hacking. I want to put a second 4TB unit in my Sister's house, and have this one constantly mirror to it. That way we won't lose our photos and video if there's a hardware failure, or worse yet a house fire.

[Topweasel]

Do the wireless charging phones take longer to charge than a plug-in?

That's the only drawback I could think of. Definitely better in the sense that you're not wearing out a USB port that will eventually fail on you.

From what I gathered not incredibly, but its easier to keep your phone fully charged. I am 100x more likely to take my phone out of my pocket to set it on a pod than I am to pull it out to plug it in unless its got a low charge.

[LionsFanInJapan]

I just put in one of those WD MyCloud (4TB) NAS units. It's very cool.

Now I have a single place for all of our pictures (40,000) and video (850,) and they're accessible from anywhere. I can give my family access so they can view all of our pictures as well.

The Android app for remote access is awesome as well. It has a built-in photo viewer with slideshow, and it works flawlessly without delays.

The MyCloud is a full media streamer, so watching videos is very smooth.

One cool thing I learned about it is that it automatically builds smaller versions of your photos and caches them. That's great because my DSLR creates 3-4MB files that would be horrible for slideshows across the net.

The next thing I need it to do will require a little hacking. I want to put a second 4TB unit in my Sister's house, and have this one constantly mirror to it. That way we won't lose our photos and video if there's a hardware failure, or worse yet a house fire.

That sounds really cool, ULF. How much did that cost for you?

[unknown lions fan]

They're pretty cheap for what you get. You can get 2TB for about $140. I got the 4TB for around $200.

I've only used 0.6TB after loading all of my pics and videos, my entire music library (also streamable from anywhere) and several movies. Ultimately, I'm going to move my entire DVD library over to the cloud drive. I ditched CD's a while back, now DVDs are on the cutting block.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with this I could put pictures/videos on the drive and my parents would be able to download them in the U.S. As long as they had the password?

[bimmer84]

They're pretty cheap for what you get. You can get 2TB for about $140. I got the 4TB for around $200.

I've only used 0.6TB after loading all of my pics and videos, my entire music library (also streamable from anywhere) and several movies. Ultimately, I'm going to move my entire DVD library over to the cloud drive. I ditched CD's a while back, now DVDs are on the cutting block.

You can move your DVD's to disk media without copyright issues? Last time I tried, which is years ago now, movies had some sort of mechanism to defeat a copy process.

[unknown lions fan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with this I could put pictures/videos on the drive and my parents would be able to download them in the U.S. As long as they had the password?

Right LFIJ. They need to install the desktop software if it's a PC or Mac, or an app if it's an iPhone or Android. And they don't *have* to download, they can just view. Downloading is an option though.

You give them an access code and a password. You can also give them their own folder so they can share content with you.

[unknown lions fan]

You can move your DVD's to disk media without copyright issues? Last time I tried, which is years ago now, movies had some sort of mechanism to defeat a copy process.

DRM is for chumps bimmer. You can find everything you need to rip and backup your DVDs here.