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The Mega Technology Thread - Happy 3rd Birthday!


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Put in those Hako Trues yesterday afternoon. I really like the feel of these switches!

The past couple of times, I would normally take off all of my keycaps before swapping switches. This time, I moved from right to left; starting at the numpad and moving all the way over. 

In the process, I did kill four switches via bending pins the wrong way. I still have a full bag of 10 switches left, since I bought 120 of them. Don't know what I will use the remainders for yet, either.

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6 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

The rabbit hole is too deep for me. 

I hear you. Custom keyboards are especially daunting!

Speaking of custom keyboards, the makers of the GMMK keyboard showed off their updated model, the GMMK Pro, on Twitch the other night. From the things I've seen in the custom keyboards community, the reveal didn't go over really well; and the people showing off the Pro were getting roasted left and right. I'm sure this updated model will be fine for gaming though.

Moving away from that, I'm coming up on a month that I've had my new iPhone (January 30th will be one month). I've thought about recording a video and possibly posting it to YT. Haven't fully decided on that, but with shorter hours for client work this week; I'll have more time to consider it.

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7 hours ago, Hawkingbird said:

One of these days I'll dive into custom keyboards. I'll wait when it's a little more accessible. The rabbit hole is too deep for me. 

It's already super accessible tbh.

 

You can buy a barebones board with hot-swap sockets for quite a low price already: https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/gmmk-full-brown-switch

 

A board by itself without switches or caps will only run you 60 bucks or so.  You can get your switches from them too, or opt to buy them on your own from somewhere else.  Installing the switches is as simple as just plugging them in.  You don't even need to solder anything these days.

 

If you only care about looks you can also just buy a cheap mechanical keyboard on Amazon for like 40 bucks and buy key caps for it to customize its appearance.

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50 minutes ago, misterBee said:

It's already super accessible tbh.

 

You can buy a barebones board with hot-swap sockets for quite a low price already: https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/gmmk-full-brown-switch

 

A board by itself without switches or caps will only run you 60 bucks or so.  You can get your switches from them too, or opt to buy them on your own from somewhere else.  Installing the switches is as simple as just plugging them in.  You don't even need to solder anything these days.

 

If you only care about looks you can also just buy a cheap mechanical keyboard on Amazon for like 40 bucks and buy key caps for it to customize its appearance.

I'll look into getting keycaps. I brought the Logitech G915 a few weeks ago and it bothers me that the secondary symbols don't light up. Worse yet they are colored grey making it harder to see. I see some white keycaps on Ali Express that allegedly work on this board. It's hard finding stuff for low profile switches. 

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I looked into key cap replacements for my G915 and I feel screwed. Logitech doesn't officially offer any keycap replacements. There isn't any third parties that make replacement caps for this board neither. However, I learned that the GL switch is a slightly modified Kailh choc. So modding the stems of a Kailh choc cap is a possible solution for me. It would cover the entire board but it's better than nothing. 

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I don't know how it happened, but apparently someone got into my LastPass vault and just absolutely wreaked havoc on my passwords. It'll be the end of the week before I have everything back up and working, but I moved off it and went back to BitWarden with a fucking vengeance. 

My super important stuff was in that LastPass vault, so I'll be calling/visiting banks and all of that over the next couple of days.

Edit: with this older info, I was actually able to log into SRK for the first time in a bit. Said peace, and came back here.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
blah
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44 minutes ago, YourFavGrandpa said:

I don't know how it happened, but apparently someone got into my LastPass vault and just absolutely wreaked havoc on my passwords. It'll be the end of the week before I have everything back up and working, but I moved off it and went back to BitWarden with a fucking vengeance. 

My super important stuff was in that LastPass vault, so I'll be calling/visiting banks and all of that over the next couple of days.

Edit: with this older info, I was actually able to log into SRK for the first time in a bit. Said peace, and came back here.

This is scary to hear. I use LastPass as my password manager. I don't keep any bank info on my mine but I still have important info on there I wouldn't want exposed. Did you use an authenticator with your vault?

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On 1/25/2021 at 8:11 PM, Hawkingbird said:

I looked into key cap replacements for my G915 and I feel screwed. Logitech doesn't officially offer any keycap replacements. There isn't any third parties that make replacement caps for this board neither. However, I learned that the GL switch is a slightly modified Kailh choc. So modding the stems of a Kailh choc cap is a possible solution for me. It would cover the entire board but it's better than nothing. 

Yes, you likely just gotta shave the stems for Kailh low-profile switch keycaps a bit and they will likely fit your G915.  Non-standard form factors are a pain -- sorry. =[

 

On 1/25/2021 at 9:52 PM, YourFavGrandpa said:

I don't know how it happened, but apparently someone got into my LastPass vault and just absolutely wreaked havoc on my passwords. It'll be the end of the week before I have everything back up and working, but I moved off it and went back to BitWarden with a fucking vengeance. 

My super important stuff was in that LastPass vault, so I'll be calling/visiting banks and all of that over the next couple of days.

Edit: with this older info, I was actually able to log into SRK for the first time in a bit. Said peace, and came back here.

Man sorry to hear about your troubles -- this kind of thing is why I have never been a fan of password managers/consolidators.  If they go wrong things can be really bad.

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7 hours ago, misterBee said:

Man sorry to hear about your troubles -- this kind of thing is why I have never been a fan of password managers/consolidators.  If they go wrong things can be really bad.

It was eventually fixed, but it was apparently caused by an issue with changing my main password to use the damn thing to begin with.

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On 1/25/2021 at 8:52 PM, YourFavGrandpa said:

I don't know how it happened, but apparently someone got into my LastPass vault and just absolutely wreaked havoc on my passwords. It'll be the end of the week before I have everything back up and working, but I moved off it and went back to BitWarden with a fucking vengeance. 

My super important stuff was in that LastPass vault, so I'll be calling/visiting banks and all of that over the next couple of days.

Edit: with this older info, I was actually able to log into SRK for the first time in a bit. Said peace, and came back here.

Fuck, dude, I hope it's all securely sorted immediately. I hate those password managers because if my unlocked device is stolen or my LastPass unlocked, I'm screwed. I'd much rather use Google Keep for passwords. Available everywhere on everything and quickly updated, and even then I barely use that due to the lack of security. Scary stuff.

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2 hours ago, Dayaan said:

Fuck, dude, I hope it's all securely sorted immediately. I hate those password managers because if my unlocked device is stolen or my LastPass unlocked, I'm screwed. I'd much rather use Google Keep for passwords. Available everywhere on everything and quickly updated, and even then I barely use that due to the lack of security. Scary stuff.

My LastPass doesn't stay unlocked for long. It locks itself up as soon as you forget about it. I often struggle to get the fill-in drop down to pop up so it can do it's job. 

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2 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

My LastPass doesn't stay unlocked for long. It locks itself up as soon as you forget about it. I often struggle to get the fill-in drop down to pop up so it can do it's job. 

Yeah... Fuck that. I would much rather input my own passwords from memory than to be let down by software that I'm meant to rely on. It's unfortunate, and I'm now disconnected from that line of software.

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1 minute ago, Dayaan said:

Yeah... Fuck that. I would much rather input my own passwords from memory than to be let down by software that I'm meant to rely on. It's unfortunate, and I'm now disconnected from that line of software.

I started using password managers as I struggled to remember what my passwords were for which accounts. I have too many registered accounts to be remembering passwords.

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Alright ... because no one asked for it (and I'm fucking bored as shit), here's my iPhone 12 Pro Max review.

Good Things:

  • The processor on this phone absolutely is a fucking monster. It doesn't give a shit about what you throw at it, it's like MOAR
  • The camera on it is out of this world, I absolutely dig the ProRAW format. But it's very good at what it does (I have some bad things to say about it though).
  • The frequency of security updates is better than I remember.
  • Services (iCloud et al) are miles ahead compared to Google, based on personal experiences.
  • No Fortnite.

Bad Things:

  • To use the camera somewhat decently, I had to invest in Halide Mk 2 and Darkroom (which was $50 for the two apps) right out the gate.
  • Monthly subscriptions for apps/premium features. Whoever thought of this needs to be shot.
  • Fitness+ is not available with the phone by default. You have to buy further into the Apple ecosystem (via purchases of a supported Apple Watch and Apple TV).
  • After 3 years, Apple still uses a proprietary connection where damn near everywhere else has moved onto USB-C.
  • No charger in the box (the charger that's recommended overall is the Anker Nano, I have one of these)
  • Device limitations - you're still allowed a max of 5 computers in a year, and only are allowed to deauthorize all of them once a year.

Overall, I'd give the phone a solid B. It works out pretty well for what I use it for, mostly for work and media consumption (YT/Twitch).

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I might need to use an new authenticator. I'm currently using the LastPass authenticator and I'm not liking how it handles backups. I recently added it to my tablet as a backup incase any happened to my phone. I recently added a new account to the authenticator to my phone and it didn't update on my tablet. Been trying to restore the backup but I don't see that option anywhere. I'm not in the mood to jump through if something happens to my phone. 

 

Authy seems to be a favorite when it comes to backups but it uses SMS codes to get the ball rolling and that's major vulnerability.

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51 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

Authy seems to be a favorite when it comes to backups but it uses SMS codes to get the ball rolling and that's major vulnerability.

I don't like Authy ever since I switched to my Yubikey in late 2019. With Twitch finally allowing non-Authy authenticators to send out codes, I got rid of Authy for good. The Yubikey even works with my iPhone pretty decently, but NFC has to be manually triggered with the Yubico Authenticator app.

Yubikeys are expensive af, but you'll never use anything else. I'm telling you.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
blah
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  • 2 weeks later...

Saw discussion of this posted in the Lounge thread in GD, so I want to try breaking this down.

http://blog.lastpass.com/2021/02/changes-to-lastpass-free/ - the tl;dr version of this is that LastPass Free will not work on a secondary device type (think cellphones if you're using it on desktop, and vice versa) starting in mid-March. If you're looking for a password manager (and you really should be looking at that, especially if you have a lot of logins), here's a short list of sites that offer premium versions for cheaper than what LastPass charges, which is around $40/year.
 

  • Bitwarden ($10/year for individual accounts and $40/year for family use) - is open-source software as well, and the premium costs help with development and keeping servers up. Free version of this will work just fine for 99.9% of users.
  • 1Password ($25/year for individual accounts and $60/year for family use) - is a usable alternative to LastPass. It also has a travel mode for crossing borders and all that.
  • Keepass - Keepass is completely free, but requires some setup. I've not used this in a while, but I found the original process a little daunting to get working on a desktop PC. 
Edited by YourFavGrandpa
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10 hours ago, Hawkingbird said:

I got my tax money and I'm interested in buying an LG OLED TV. Does anyone know of an extend warranty that covers burn-in? I don't watch the news so the CNN logo won't get burned into the TV but I do plan to game on it. I worry about the HUDs potentially being burn in points. 

Depends on where the TV is bought tbh. I'd say if you're buying at a big-box store (Best Buy et al), get their accidental damage warranty. Amazon should have something similar from Asurion, I would believe.

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10 minutes ago, YourFavGrandpa said:

Depends on where the TV is bought tbh. I'd say if you're buying at a big-box store (Best Buy et al), get their accidental damage warranty. Amazon should have something similar from Asurion, I would believe.

Best Buy is the only store I managed to find that specified burn in as a issue they cover. Every other big box store doesn't. Like Costco frees all state warranty for free with the TV and every negative review is how their claim was denied when they got burn in. Same with square trade. 

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I made the switch to Bitwarden. Been using it for about a week. I like how it works and I prefer it's UI over Lastpass. Lastpass UI looks dated compared to the one BitWarden got. 

 

I bit the bullet and switched to Authy as my authenticator. Still not happy about having to use my number for account creation. I wish this thing had touch authorization but it having a desktop app is great. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I pulled the triggered on the LG OLED CX TV. Man, the picture quality on this thing is nuts. On some of the youtube vids I've seen that can actually take advantage of the TV I'm absolutely blown away. I gotta watch some movies on this to get the full grasp of this picture. When Falcon and Winter Soldier drops in two weeks it's gotta look so sweet. 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Man I'm trying not to get another TV. I technically don't need one, but that LG CX man....me and my brother talking about it since last year. If a certain $1400 shows up I may not be able to resist any longer.

I technically didn't need it neither but having a TV that can do what it can do was something I couldn't pass up. When I end up getting a PS5 shit going to look glorious. If GPUs ever snap back into existence I'll try it out as monitor.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
4 hours ago, Hawkingbird said:

I recently brought a Chromecast with Google TV. Mainly got it to cast from my PC to TV and for apps that my TV has no native support for (LG doesn't have HBO MAX yet). I like this thing. It's snappy, can do 4K with HDR10 and Dolby Vision and shows from all my streaming services appear on home page instead opening the individual apps is pretty sweet. 

I have one of the new Chromecasts as well, but I don't have a HDMI port to plug it into currently. Eventually, I would like a third monitor to go above the two monitors I have now for this exact purpose, but the walls in this place are paper fucking thin; and the weight of the monitor would rip the poor wall to shreds.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
boob
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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, so this new Mercedes car that MKBHD is talking up in his latest video is making me want to consider it as an end-game car over either the Tesla Model 3/Tesla Model S.
 


Also changed the main topic of the thread in lieu of the Oracle v Google decision/recent talk about digital vaccine passports.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
boob
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  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Code Jacking is American, Vaccine Passports Aren't.
  • 2 weeks later...
5 hours ago, YourFavGrandpa said:

Holy crap ... if you're a Mac user (or even an iPad user); the Apple event a couple of days ago was absolutely nuts! 

I haven't been a Mac user for many years now, and am not really interested in going back.

 

I'm just waiting for high end ARM processors to heat up on the PC side.

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17 hours ago, Hawkingbird said:

I'm seeing all this hype for the Airtags and it's an bluetooth tracker? Really? The way it works sounds like a privacy risk waiting to happen. It would have more merit if it was GPS. 

My favorite tech is just...keeping track of my things the normal way.  🙃

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On 4/25/2021 at 9:21 PM, Hawkingbird said:

I'm seeing all this hype for the Airtags and it's an bluetooth tracker? Really? The way it works sounds like a privacy risk waiting to happen. It would have more merit if it was GPS. 

It's that with a couple of additional things. Eventually I'm gonna do a test with another couple of tags to see if it's possible to actively track someone.

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So here's my 24 hour review of Airtags.

Good:
They're inexpensive ($30 is an okay price)
Instant pairing with iOS devices running iOS 14.5/iPadOS 14.5

The battery is actually replaceable in the AirTag via gawd-tier CR2032 batteries
 

Bad:
Privacy concerns/Anti-stalker detection fails horribly
Hermes selling $600 Airtag holders. Seriously, WTF?
Right to Repair concerns levied at the company level.

 

Godawful:
Limiting the use of the product to one platform (Apple OS)
Android users are limited to basic features
 

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On 5/3/2021 at 6:48 PM, Hawkingbird said:

Us Android users are sticking with Tile. 

Personally, I'm all about choice.

Also, Samsung has done something similar to AirTags with their Tile competitor as well (It's locked to/works only with Samsung devices). You aren't seeing Tile tattling to lawmakers because of Samsung, but because of Apple. Tile, I think; is a bunch of salty-ass MFers complaining to Congress because they know with Apple now involved in their industry; they're basically done

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