This site got a revamped back in April 2020, and in its current iteration, it is version 5.
Smart Home
The only change I did in 2020 was to slowly replaced all my spoiled MCO Z-Wave switches to Sonoff T2UK Wi-Fi Smart Wall Switch. So far, I have already replaced three out of ten, one 4-gang, one 2-gang, and one 1-gang.
I was waiting for the rumored Apple AirPods Studio to be announced as I intended to get it. But after Apple announces the AirPods Max, I went ahead and bought the Sony WH-1000XM4 Headphones instead.
At S$849, AirPods Max is not targeted at regular consumers. I am not an audiophile by any extent, so I would not spend that much money on headphones.
QNAP TS-453D comes with only 4GB of RAM, and if you are going to do RAM intensive tasks like using Containers or Virtual Machines, you will definitely need to upgrade the RAM.
I bought the Crucial 8GB DDR4 2666 MT/s (PC4-21300) SODIMM 260-Pin Memory (CT8G4SFRA266) from Amazon.sg during Black Friday as they are having a sale. I got it for S$31.08 with free shipping to Singapore as my total order is over S$60 and I am an Amazon.sg Prime member.
My second NAS 10 years ago was a decision between Synology NAS and QNAP NAS. In the end, I chose Synology. I can’t remember the reason why. Throughout all these years, I have been sticking with Synology NAS.
QNAP contacted me and wanted to hear my thoughts on the QNAP TS-453D against the Synology DiskStation DS920+, so they sent me the QNAP TS-453D.
Back Story
Right at the beginning of my smart home journey in 2016, I have been using MCO Z-Wave smart wall switches.
I have used a mix of both Series 3 and Series 4 MCO switches. All my 1-gang switches are Series 4 (MH-S411), and all my 2-gang and 3-gang switches are Series 3 (MH-S312 and MH-S314).
There are two product variants of the Ugreen NVMe M.2 SSD Case on Lazada.
The first variant comes with two cables, a 50cm USB-C to USB-C cable, and a 50cm USB-A to USB-C Cable. It retails for S$31 on Lazada.
The Bebird R1 is the entry-level smart visual ear cleaning rod while the Bebird X17 Pro is the flagship smart visual ear cleaning rod from BeBird.
Bebird R1 retails for US$26.99 (S$36) on Bebird’s website and is currently available in both Black and White.
YZXstudio USB-C Power Meter is my first purchase on Taobao. Normally, for products on Taobao, I will just ask my wife to add to the cart. This time around, I decided to give it a try by myself based on my limited Mandarin.
YZXstudio USB-C Power Meter retails for ¥158 (S$33) and shipping to Singapore is an additional S$6 via CaiNiao.
Apple 20W USB-C Power Adapter retails for S$29 or S$25.68 if your company is on Apple’s Employee Purchase Plan (EPP).
Like most Apple products being sold, it doesn’t come with anything extra. So no USB-C to Lighting cable or USB-C to USB-C Cable is included in the packaging.
Cool Focus is a portal air conditioner by Close Comfort. Close Comfort is an Australian and Singapore based start-up founded in 2007.
Cool Focus retails for S$649 on Lazada.
