Category: rant

Bosch (BSH) spare part packaging (#R24)

Hey Bosch!

Very recently, I repaired the induction cooktop of a former coworker. Bosch/Schott branded (PXV995DC1E?), large 90×50 field with 5+2 zones, somewhat on the more expensive side of things, but likely also available from the other BSH brands like Siemens, Neff, or Constructa. The fault was a partially unresponsive touchy-feely interface, and since those cooktops do not have separate hardware buttons and knobs, it’s a bit of a problem when more and more buttons die. Especially the one that turns everything on and off, but also heating on full throttle all the time isn’t very helpful. […]

8th December 2024 8th December 2024 By Bzzz In No Comment

MicroQR scanner phone apps (#R23)

I’m not reeeeally into app recommendations, but that one bothered me for a long time…so here it goes:

For all your barcode needs on a mobile phone: Use the Cognex scanner! Available here for Androids and there for low hanging fruit.

Why the recommendation? Because, for reasons unknown to me, no standard camera app on both systems, nor any other barcode app that I could find for Android does support MicroQR codes. Basically everybody does Code 128 and 39, some do weirder stuff like interleaved 2-of-5, and 2D apps often support things like standard QR, Datamatrix or Aztec. […]

15th September 2024 8th December 2024 By Bzzz In No Comment

Fluke spare parts availability (and cost) (#R22)

Is it a rant, or is it an editorial note? Well, it’s probably a rant.

Spare parts. Fluke spare parts, to be precise.

Earlier this year, I sniped a Fluke 187 off eBay. 150€ delivered, really minor blemishes, probes included, fully functional except for the tilting bail. A fully functional unit is about double that, so I consider this a bargain. The stand is shown in the photo right besides this post, someone simply broke the two clips that make it hold onto the main unit. Mechanically super simple stuff.

Fixing the tilt is of interest to me, as using it sitting flat on the table only is sometimes annoying. […]

28th July 2024 29th July 2024 By Bzzz In 1 Comment

Dishonest, scammy AliExpress games – and a towel from drippy dick (#R21)

AliExpress occasionally does have some great promotions, and they’re usually linked to their games in the subpar phone app. Often times, some base promotion is available to everyone, and additional discounts can be gained by game progress. I’m not sure why that is, since advertisement inside the games is limited, shopping is clunky and very limited, and one is generally better off picking items outside of the games. Nowadays I’m just assuming it’s a time waster for western people paid for by the Chinese state, that seems to be the most reasonable explanation of the whole shebang. […]

26th May 2024 27th May 2024 By Bzzz In No Comment

Samsung TV custom USB jacks from IKEA? Nope. (#R18F1)

Super quick update on the Samsung USB port with the additional retaining pin: Although I usually don’t watch Youtube Shorts, especially not the ones from BigClive since I just watch the regular video, I recently stumbled upon this:

It’s a review of the smaller IKEA Smahagel USB charger (the one with just a single port). In there, he mentions an anchoring pin of the USB port that he doesn’t really talk about in the main video:

Around 5:44 where the PCB bottom side discussion starts, the USB layout can be seen. I’ve added a couple of arrows to the four regular USB pins and also the USB retainer (next to the L-shaped PCB cutout). […]

2nd July 2023 2nd July 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

RIP Cadsoft/Autodesk Eagle (#R20)

Oh well, looks like we got another piece of software to mourn for…good ol’ Eagle is no more!

Autodesk announced in a recent blog post:

Effective June 7, 2026, Autodesk will no longer sell or support EAGLE. Moving forward, we will continue to invest our energy in Fusion 360 Electronics.

(Note that it says 2026: That’s the end of the support. However, nobody sane will buy into that package from now on and switch again with all their projects in less than three years…)

Sure, the announcement itself was a surprise, but the path was clear once Autodesk tried squeezing out money. […]

11th June 2023 11th June 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

RIP RS DesignSpark Mechanical (#R19)

Well,

It looks like RS has pulled the plug on the free Designspark Mechanical 3D modelling software. I’ve only been using it for about three years, starting right on the transition from DSM4 to DSM5, but I spent countless hours with it, making or editing probably close to 100 models, plus opening hundreds more, e.g. recently checking electronic component STEP files before importing them into Altium. OpenSCAD doesn’t really work for complex geometries, and Sketchup, later Google Sketchup, was quickly dismissed when I tried DSM – it’s simply inferior software, at least, it was back in ~2019/2020, plus Google als tried monetizing it at that point. […]

30th April 2023 30th April 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

Samsung TV custom USB jacks (#R18)

Dear Samsung,

here’s a random thought: If you already know you’ve fucked up a device design, and you know it so well that your own folks have decided to create a custom solution because it’s obvious the end-user will tear apart a standard part in no time…then maybe (just maybe!)

  • don’t make that special part and fix your impractical design? Reaching inconveniently placed ports with minimal clearance for cables and devices is a terrible user experience in the first place?

    • …or

  • make that part available to everyone (you’re a big company, you can handle that!)
[…]
2nd April 2023 2nd April 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

The WHL Director of Human Resources (#R17)

We at Wan Hung Lo Enterprises have grown considerably over the years. Our new director of HR (so high up he doesn’t even need a name) now sends out strange mails to the peasants that also don’t have a name, not even a number…

Wait a minute, it’s still me running the whole show, TF is that?

Well, looks like Titan Technology (the cooler and fan specialists that were pretty popular fifteen years ago – still in business!) might have lost a bit of their customer database. I think I enquired a long time ago for a datasheet and needed to provide an email address for that; it’s not the one shown below, this mail was received by the catchall option that typically categorizes those mails as spam right away. […]

13th November 2022 13th November 2022 By Bzzz In No Comment

The 2022 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and another useless FLIR video (#R16)

Do I rant too much? I probably do.

Is it unfounded? Probably not.

So, I’ve done a slightly insane yet enjoyable trip to Scotland and covered 2000 miles in 8.5 days, thanks to the wonders of free lifetime supercharging on my Tesla. End point of the trip was the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo show on 25th of September, for which getting a single ticket on the desired “7” block was a bit tricky, but worked out in the end. And while literally hundreds of the crowd of around 9000 people had their phones up quite a lot of the time (does anyone watch those hour long videos of wobbly footage?), […]

25th September 2022 26th September 2022 By Bzzz In No Comment