3,439 posts
since 2002
My Ariston Andris Lux 15L water heater, bought in March 2016 for S$280 and smart-home integrated, started leaking intermittently this year. Two weeks ago it began leaking non-stop, forcing me to shut the valve off.
The Synology DS220j is an entry-level NAS for newcomers. Ten years ago I moved from a D-Link DNS-323 to a Synology DS210j and never looked back. At S$249, the DS220j is an affordable starting point.
WD Red was always my go-to NAS drive, but my four WD Red 3TBs in a DS918+ were a nightmare, all RMA'd, some twice. Chalking it up to luck, I switched to Seagate IronWolf drives for my DS220j.
The Gaston Luga Splash is my second backpack from the Stockholm-based Swedish brand, after the Praper. Known for Scandinavian minimalism with a touch of elegance, the Splash launched in June 2020 and retails for S$149.
KableCard (KC7) is a Singapore-designed Kickstarter from 2018 that raised over S$456,000. About the size of a credit card but slightly thicker, it's a 6-in-1 multitool combining cables, a wireless charger, SIM kit, and microSD reader.
The Crucial P1 is popular as one of the best-value NVMe M.2 SSDs. The 500GB reads at 1,900MB/s and writes at 950MB/s. I'd tried twice to buy the 1TB without success, so I settled on the 500GB.
Sudio finally entered the ANC earbuds space with the Sudio Ett. At S$239, just S$20 above the Sudio Fem, it becomes Sudio's priciest earbuds, justified by added active noise cancellation.
I bought the UNI-T Mini Sound Level Meter (UT353BT) from Lazada for S$31 to measure noise from gadgets like my new PC. Most useful phone apps cost money, so a dedicated meter felt worthwhile.
My previous design, version 4.0, was over seven years old. With COVID keeping me home and bored, I revamped the site to version 5.0, trimming old pages and plugins, and rebuilt it using Tailwind CSS and Tailwind UI.
The Choetech Adjustable Wireless Charger Stand retails for US$28.59. Its clever trick is a foldable stopper, letting it work as an upright charging stand or fold flat into a charging pad, with two coils inside.
The Choetech 100W GaN Dual USB-C Charger retails for US$59.99 with free shipping. Its Gallium nitride design enables higher efficiency and a smaller footprint, and it comes in different plug variants.
With Singapore's COVID Circuit Breaker running from 7th April 2020, and having worked from home since mid-March, I tidied up our work-and-play setup. This post shares some photos of our home arrangement.
Momax, a Hong Kong accessories maker, offers the Q.Power UV-Box, a UV sanitising box with wireless charging. It retails for S$79.90, though a flash sale and voucher brought mine down to S$63.90; PhoneSoap was the original.
I bought the PQI My Lockey USB Fingerprint Reader from Amazon Singapore for S$39.49. I rely on a PIN for Windows, but this reader lets me log in faster with a fingerprint.
My new desktop's Corsair SF750 PSU kept failing, even tripping power three times before dying, despite the PC being off. To protect against such power issues going forward, I picked up the APC BACK-UPS BK650-AS 650VA.
My brother and sister-in-law gifted me the Bose Companion 20 speakers for my birthday. Retailing for S$399, it bundles a wasteful five power cords when one suffices, but I love the separate control pod.
For my 36th birthday, Li Xiang and I had a last-minute buffet at Edge, Pan Pacific Singapore, on 14th March 2020. As my brother's birthday is four days after mine, we also celebrated together at Lei Garden, CHIJMES.
My third Logitech MX Master mouse, after the original and the 2S. I bought the MX Master 3 during Lazada's Online Tech Show, where Logitech's discount plus stacked vouchers brought the S$169 mouse down to just S$123.48.
Turning on my new computer tripped my main circuit breaker, and the PC wouldn't power on afterwards, likely a fried PSU. To guard against future surges, I picked up the Belkin Economy Series 4-Socket Surge Protector.
Thanks to the Peak Design Facebook group, I caught a 24-hour B&H Deal Zone sale on the Everyday Sling (5L) in February 2020. Only Black and Ash were available, open-box, but mine arrived like new with full warranty.
The j5create UltraDrive Kit (JCD389) retails for S$199 on Hachi Tech and is the first modular dock I've come across. Five tiny swappable kits are included, covering VGA, HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, gigabit Ethernet, and SD/microSD card reading.
The j5create USB-C Triple Display Docking Station (JCD543) retails for S$199. As the name suggests, it drives up to three monitors and packs 13 ports in an elongated 300g body.