About fake power tools

I have been looking for some cheap power tools, and was surprised by some Makita prices on ebay. So I was sceptical about the quality of such tools. I was also looking at some Bosch hammers and after seeing some genuine ones

I spotted this obviously fake tool

To the seller's credit, he didn't try to pass it as a BOSCH Hammer tool, however its almost identical !

Unfortunately on Ebay, most sellers selling cheap makita drillhammers do not have an actual photo of the item, but generic ones not allowing to make a judgement about authenticity before actually buying and receiving said tools.

Android TV HDMI Stick Firmware Upgrade RK3066

I had a relatively old, no name, HDMI Android TV stick, with rockchip 3066. At some point stopped booting. It would remain stuck at R-Box boot logo. Not remembering where I got it from and not being able to find a firmware online I replaced it with another one and it remained on a shelf collecting dust.

I do not like my stuff to be fautly, and since I had some time to kill, I start searching for a proper firmware.

first of all, I visited http://www.rockchipfirmware.com/firmware-downloads to download the proper flash tool for dual core chips. (RK3066 (Dual-Core) Firmware Image Flashing: English RKbatch Tool v1.5)

Of course one needs the proper drivers too, which I had downloaded in the past and dont remember where from.

Then because my particular Android stick didn't have a reset button i was thinking about using the directions shown bellow:
http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/rk3066-devices/mk-models-mk808-802-etc/2176-unbrick-or-fix-nand-on-the-mk808?1943-Unbrick-or-fix-NAND-on-the-MK808=

but then it occurred to me to look if the PCB board had contacts for an absent reset switch.

 and I did! On the pcb there was 2 unpopulated contacts with a rectangle and a circle inside, as shown above which when shorted with a metal pin, immediately the stick went into flash mode and was recognised by the flash tools.

After a few fruitless attempts to locate a firmware that would work on this one (most returned an error about the Chip) I found one that upgraded flawlessly! I plugged the Stick on the TV and worked!!!! After more than a year collecting dust, it was working again!
The firmware that worked for me was the following: TV-HDMI-200BT(V1.0)_20130312.

Unfortunately after some testing I realised, that the WIFI wasnt working, but that is a minor problem since it can playback video from USB, which was its primary usage anyway. I found more problems, like the SD card wasn't accessible, the bluetooth didnt seem to turn on. But at the moment I dont care.

considering an electric

So I seriously consider buying an EV vehicle for city usage. After all 95% of my needs would be covered vu the 80miles radiu offered by Nissan leaf. I live on a small island after all. However I don't have the buying capacity to spend 25-30k for a new car not to mention that arednt sold officially here in Greece. By a stretch most I could afford would be a second hand car nor over 10000€. And that with financial help from the family.

It has a variety of advantages. No yearly tax for the forceable future as long as EV cars remain scarse here and no new legislation decides to milk them for money. Electricity is much cheaper for running the at the moment.

Don't require any specialised mechanic, doesn't have Much mechanical parts to break down. Although it will require an electrician, if something goes wrong.




The problem I for see in the future more and more will be on the roads, electricity will go up, it is bound to lose its privileged tax free status, oil prices will go up as demand slows and less billions are spend in new oil production capacity. Battery technology is bount to get better, which means that people will get stuck with vehicles losing their value and range faster if current second hand EVs are any indication.
 If no after market batteries exist for cars like the leaf and Renault fluence in reasonable cost, then... EVs are kinda here to bring us "doom"

Samsung Galaxy Alpha screen replacement

Among the family phones, we have a Samsung Galaxy Alpha (the non exploding variety) which suffered a curiously broken screen while in its case. Anyhow after checking online on how to replace the glass screen (there is a variety videos on youtube) I decided to get both a replacement screen assembly, and a spare glass alone in the tune of ~5€ and ~100€. 

The idea was to change the screen assembly which was fairly easy and then replace the broken glass on the original screen and keep it as a spare or sell it cheaply online.

The disassembly is fairly easy using a heat gun. The glue holding the screen softens and can be easily lifted using a thin object. The is only one connector between the screen and the phone. Care must be taken for the button area where two small stickers on the left and right of the button might not be readily off.

Placing the new screen assembly on was a piece of cake.

However, when I attempted disassembling the glass from the LCD, disaster. The LCD broke in a variety of places. First it partly detached from the digitizer glass and I didnt realised it at the moment, but kept trying.

Since I don't have the fancy vacuum table to keep the screen steady that might be a major factor.

All in all, changing the whole screen assembly is easy. Replacing the glass is not.

Εντυπωσεις JUMBO Ντουλάπα Υφασμάτινη 100x46x174

Η συμβία αποφάσισε και αγόρασε μια υφασμάτινη ντουλάπα από το Jumbo. 

Και στη συνέχεια με έχωσε να την συναρμολογίσω. 

Αν με είχε ρωτήσει πρώτα θα της έλεγα να βρίσκαμε κάτι πιο ποιοτικό. 

Με το που την είδα από κοντά όμως απογοητεύτηκα εντελώς.

Το "υφασμα" ειναι του είδους που μοιάζει και σκίζεται σαν χαρτί. Και μετά από λίγο καιρό, 1-2 χρόνια αποσυντίθεται μόνο του κιόλας όπως είχαμε εμπειρία από σακούλες μαζέματος χειμερινών-καλοκαιρινών ρούχων.

Οι πλαστικοί σύνδεσμοι που συγκρατούν τους μεταλλικούς σωλήνες ειναι λεπτοί σαν τσιγαρόχαρτο, όπως και οι σωλήνες με αποτέλεσμα να μπορεί να κρατήσει το βάρος της, αλλά ουσιαστικά τίποτα περισσότερο.

Μέσα σε 2 μήνες είχε λυγίσει υπό το βάρος των παιδικών ρούχων και μεσα σε 3 μήνες είχε σπάσει.

Θα πρότεινα αν σκέφτεστε να την αγοράσετε, να κρατήσετε τα χρήματα σας. Είναι προτιμότερο να ανέβετε στο Galaxy του Hilton και να πετάξετε τα 19.99 (σε πεντάευρα μην χτυπήσετε και κανέναν)  στον δρόμο από κάτω, παρά να αγοράσετε αυτή τη ντουλάπα. Θα χαρείτε περισσότερο.

Διάβασα με φρίκη την είδηση 15ετους κάθειρξης για μια καθαρίστρια που προσελήφθει στο δημόσιο με πλαστό απολυτήριο δημοτικού. !!!!!

Το δημόσιο λέει υπέστει σοβαρή βλάβη της τάξης των 120000-150000 ευρώ ποσο που αποτελεί τους μισθούς επι 20 χρόνια της εν λόγω καθαριστριας.

Ενταξει. Κακή ή πλαστογραφία. Και προσωπικά δεν έχω σε καμια ιδιεταιρη εκτίμηση τις καθαρίστριες του δημοσίου γιατί δεν μου δίνουν την αίσθηση οτι κανουν σωστα τη δουλειά τους όταν μπαίνω πχ σε μια εφορία. Αλλά 15 χρόνια κάθειρξη γιατί εργάστηκε στο δημόσιο ως καθαρίστρια .... Πεφτω απο τα σύννεφα.
 Δηλαδή όλοι οι λοποδυτες με κρατικές διαφημίσεις, οι Τσοχατζόπουλος, όλοι αυτοι που ριξαν τη χώρα στα σκατά ρίχνοντας μας στάχτη στα ματια, οι εφοπλιστές ναρκεμποροι κλπ αφρός της κοινωνίας, ποσά χρόνια πρεπει να φαει έκαστος; Ισόβια χωρίς αναστολή;





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eBay going from bad to worse...

A few days ago, eBay changed the way it showed the listings depending on area or even on the exact ebay website.
As you probably know, there are lots of eBays, com, co.uk, fr, it, etc.
Some listings although they offer global shipping are only shown in one of those. However till lately if you could find a particular listing in eBay.AU for example, using the listing number you could also see it in eBay.co.uk even if it didn't show during the searches in co.uk.
For incomprehensible reasons, since a few days ago that is no longer possible.

using different ebay sites while searching is useful to get better prices on the items you need. something selling for 0,99 British pounds for example, can easily be found for 0,99$ with a bit of searching. And the exchange difference works in the customer favour.