@blacklion1725
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Yeah I’ve started paying more attention to this. The argument “I’ve done nothing wrong so have nothing to hide” is very naive these days. Streaming one thing, but anything I do banking-wise I do through my work VPN. Murky times.
For me the appeal of Chi-Phones has eased off because of (a) cheaper, decent “local” alternatives and (b) aggro returning anything with a battery to HK or China.
The dual-sim feature is what makes it attractive as a holiday phone, and being on Amazon (Prime) means delivery and returns is a doddle if there is a need. Around the £100 mark they are reasonable value, but not the mega-bargains they were a couple of years ago. £100 gets you a lot of “proper” phone these days, whether new budget or 2nd hand “premium”.
I actually own that phone – got it for holiday last year, used it Dual Sim in Russia with UK (Three) SIM and Russian (Tele2) SIM – worked AOK and still does. Its very functional but nothing particularly flash about it. I’m a bit wary about ChiPhones with all you here about malware – but that aside I think it is great value (As are many of these). Build quality is decent, and mobile data and wifi performance decent. I could certainly use it as a day to day phone, but was very pleased to get my S5 back after holiday – different class but then it should be – for the money.
I’d get it from Amazon for a few bob more – if you don’t like it a doddle to return.
you remember it right Duke. Tragically I remember my first Sky installation in my original flat. Me and my neighbour got a deal for 2 lots of kit off a local “business man” in Ilford – and spent about 8 hours wiggling a dish and saying left a bit right a bit to get it all working! I was only bothered about the sport and you got Sky Sports for £5/month. They bought out BSB (“Squarial”) and became British Sky Broadcasting.
Ahhh they were simpler times, before all this internet malarky.
Just seen this – congratulations! Manchester is a lively old place, spots to avoid like anywhere else, but also very good social place and some very nice spots within easy travel.
I’ve heard of a Glasgow Kiss, not a Birkenhead one though – and isn’t that on Merseyside? – or is it a generic “northern nutting term!” I’ve always thought the blue and red halves of Manchester hated scousers (particularly LFC) more than they hate each other.
Anyway fair play for rocking the boat and making things happen.
Ed I think you mean the old RF2 port or the IO adapter – the one I’m on about works off the hdmi port – needs a splitter – but uses the bog standard HDMI port. Output is RF but carried the Sky HD output (can by a Q box, Roku, PC, – anything HDMI) in to your RF distribution. I’m using this one. I used decent cable (Satellite WF100) when I ran all the old magic eye links in, and it is working fine – the old RF2 splitter amp worked too, but am replacing it with one using F-Type connectors as I trust them more.
Yeah Sky have solved a problem I haven’t got anymore…I need less telly not more. Still got 2 boxes as you get Sky Go extra with it (otherwise fiver a month). In the process of re-doing my own distribution with an HDMI modulator using the old magic eye wiring round the house…shows up as an extra Free view channel..1080p at 16MB….plenty good enough, magic eyes still work. and free. May well bin the 2nd box and pay the Sky Go extra sub when its finished. Sky Q don’t interest me at all even though Sky are constantly pushing it at me.
The republicans are about mental anyhow, so I can see how trump got there. They maybe the conservative party, but they have a very diffent take on conservativism As with Clinton, it amazes me that family workex their way to the top. They are ment to left wing liberals, and in reality they [the supporters]are that far left or liberal left, and Clinton’s is what we would see as conservative, like Thatcher conservative, I just can’t see how she got the big seat. Well I can, and it has to do with fear within the party. The majoeitg main stream media in the us are so liberal it’s hurts. Now I’m a socialist at heart, that like a spinkle of capalism , but this “progressive left” nonsonses makes me sick. The real crook of it is, they see themselves the the progressive peoplie whare everyone has rights and opinions, and everyone should be heard. Fine so far, bit of falls apart when you don’t agree with them, they are the most bitter lot going. It’s ironic the democratic party supporters are demonsting and rioting , (alot of riots Soros has been linked to bussing people in), the irony hurts. Did you see the lovely liberal grandma kick of the plane of verbally attacking a perfectly well mannered boy because he went to Washington not to protest. Then demanded respect of the fight atendent. I’ll post a link in a moment. This is why trump won, self-righteous }wow like her http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/23/unhinged-woman-goes-off-on-trump-supporter-on-airplane-cabin-cheers-what-happens-to-her/
Interesting few clips there Duke…funny how she only got concerned about her late father in law when they were going to lob her off the plane…..Sympathies to her husband – on all counts.
My eyesight ain’t brilliant, but Netflix looks great whatever I watch it on (normally the TV client). They are the kings of getting quality out of bandwidth. I had a BT internet fault recently, speed down to a crawl, but was watching Netflix and it still looked great – only when I started testing other stuff I found the fault as everything else was stuttering. But in general for me it looks great on TV, Roku and Xbox One. The Xbox obviously not a budget device, but also UI gets less horrible once you’ve used it a few times, and the stuff you use gets easier to access.
I’ll might have a nibble at a Chromecast Ultra if the price drops (£70 at the moment). Just to see how it is. The dependency on a mobile/tablet/whatever is a real killer for me though.
blacklion I got hold of an Amazon Fire Stick. Whats it all about, I set it up, everything I tried to watch wanted coins or ££s. I downed apps (all4) it wanted coins to watch it. I downloaded a Free Fitness App, it wanted money I need to check it didn’t take any ££ off my Amazon account. Loads of lists for Prime Members.
The Fire TV Stick UI isn’t great out of the box, but if you want a kodi device then once set up it is easy to use. I didn’t use mine for anything else. Once you have installed and used Kodi it should appear in your “Recents” and be very easy to find and launch from the home screen. You will need a phone or tablet with kodi and an app like “apps2fire” installed. It is a one off so you can always borrow an android phone for 10 minutes to do it. The other way is a lot of work from a PC. Once you have Kodi on, I’d ignore the rest of the GUI and the Amazon apps, just launch Kodi and away you go.
Its horses for courses, I don’t like Chromecast as I prefer a “proper” remote (like Fire and Roku). But for a cheap, Kodi solution I really don’t think you can beat the Fire Stick/TV.
Have a google for (recent) results on “Install Kodi on Fire TV stick” – have a read up and start from scratch (reset) would be my advice. If you want more than Kodi then maybe the Fire Stick s not the product for you – I agree the Amazon UI is pretty dreadful compared to a neutral device like the Roku (no Kodi for Roku though).
doileak.com is a particularly interesting test – probably most revealing out of them all…out of interest did you pass that Duke? I didn’t, I had WebRTC leaks on Chrome and Firefox (which can be fixed) – ironically Edge and IE don’t have this particular vulnerability.
Despite where the IP location puts you – what is the DNS look up saying? If you have the DNS servers set to OpenDNS on the PC then you are probably OK, but for example Windows 10 behind a VPN router will still try and use local DNS even if you tell it to get the DNS configuration from the router.
Region-swerving for telly is a lot less of a concern than true privacy, but main point is even the best VPN service is compromised if you don’t go belt and braces.
The other recommendations include Flash (disable if you can), third party cookies (disable) and making sure your PC is in the same time zone as your chosen VPN if practical.
Be double careful with VPN. If they are cheap they are probably cheap for a reason….I would do a trial a and run checks like doileak.com, ipleak.com and dnsleaktest.com…you might be surprised how insecure you are. Even with a great VPN, windows (especially 10) can leak DNS at will, and chrome and Firefox have (fixable) vulnerabilities too (RTC). If you use windows 10 behind a VPN its worth entering your VPN providers DNS directly, don’t trust windows.
My VPN of choice is Torguard. Very reasonable if you don’t need streaming, five additional dollars a month for a dedicated USA streaming IP if you do (apparently)…and five simultaneous devices.but whatever you do check your vpn….without extra steps good chance you are still exposed
Haha…..I’ve got TP smart-plugs on a couple of lamps, they go on a program while I’m away, but you can set them on/off manually from the Kasa app too….I do it to annoy everyone from my phone even when I’m sat next to the lamp (which I can reach from my chair). Best thing is turning it on or off while I’m out (and someone else is indoors) and waiting for the text that says **** off you ****er!
I just can’t help myself.
Ah sorry didn’t realise. Might be easier to set up a free google account on a PC/Laptop and then use that to log in to the Android box. You will also now have a free GMAIL email address, so worth picking a decent username.
https://accounts.google.com/SignUp?hl=en
Sounds like the seller has already installed and configured loads (Kodi is an Android app) so you may find you don’t need to add much new, but worth knowing how to. To remove apps, you can find “Apps” in the setting menu and uninstall from there, or search for it in the Play store, it will show “Installed” and you can uninstall from there as well. I’d make sure you are going to keep it before you tinker too much.
Adding apps would normally be via Google play store – just like a phone since these are Android devices. that’s assuming Play Store is installed. You would normally log in to a Google account once your wifi is set up, so you probably haven’t seen it yet….but if you keep the ethernet option, you should get prompted to log in to google ad hopefully then see the “Play” icon on your home page or in the app drawer (just like phone or tablet)
And yes for Kodi – Amazon Fire TV (stick is about £35 at the moment – a high point, it tends to cycle down to £30 and occasionally £25). Chalk and cheese compared to an Android box for Kodi though – way, way better experience. It (Fire) is Android-based and you sideload (from a phone) Kodi. Dave did a little guide on the old site, be worth posting back if you decide to go that way. I’d wait till the Fire TV stick drops again (which it will).
I think on mine (no currently is use) the on-screen keyboard just popped up on the appropriate screen. A USB keyboard like this is always handy to have – even if you only need it for setting up – save loads of time typing in urls, passwords etc.
If you have ethernet I’d use that though – I can’ see any case where wifi would be “better” than ethernet, especially on a device that is 99% about streaming.
I’d also be prepared to be underwhelmed as to the performance of these things. I’ve always found the display output less than great on a big TV, and Fully Loaded often means loads of Kodi addons and bloat, a lot of which won’t work. I’ve normally ended up resetting them and starting from scratch, adding just the Android apps and Kodi addons that I actually want. If Kodi is your main interest, Amazon Fire TV or TV Stick is the best budget solution for me, much nicer to use
Went to buy it and apparently I already own it! Gawd knows when I bought it !
you and me both – hated it at first – its very sharp/sour – but I really enjoy it now and you get a real smack (i.e. a “livener”) in the morning when you have a glass – a bottle (946ml) should last a month, if no change then no great loss, but I could tell a difference (maybe placebo who knows) very quick. Also meant to be good post-exercise.
This has come up before – I posted this before – and I am as much sceptical of mumbo jumbo as anyone else……….
I have been taking montmorency cherry juice for probably 3 or 4 years and it has coincided with the disappearance of the arthritis symptoms I had in my left ankle (fractured 30 years ago).
It certainly won’t do any harm and has anti-oxidant benefits too. I’m almost rolling my eyes at myself but a glass of that a day has made a real difference for me….takes a bit of getting used to but you’d know by the end of the first bottle (make it up like a small glass of squash) if it is worth it…..I was amazed how quick it worked for me.
….as a side benefit it is great for hangovers (so I have heard).
Bit gutted about the demise of the mag – enough to keep me interested for very little outlay each week – nothing else likely to make me cough up, already cancelled computer shopper which I can already tell is not for me. But on we go thanks to Lee and his efforts to keep us afloat one here – you are a star Sir!
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