tech-tastic
Got to love a bit of impulse buying eh!
Wombling around Tesco's yesterday (*a major supermarket chain in the UK), I got drawn into the vortex that is their 'technical/gadget section'. In there was something very exciting that I had noticed the other week and had, subsequently, researched on the internet - but, to no avail.
Firstly, the background to this situation, now as bad as it is (and I know it is bad) I have a wee tv in my bedroom that I quite like to watch before going to bed. Nothing like relaxing tired eyes, that have been staring a computer screen all day, by going to bed and staring at a tv screen.
Anyway, living in this Medieval area of Britain I can only get channels 1-4 on my bedroom telly (running off bunny ears). Or, I could only get channels 1-4 until, very mysteriously, a short while ago, Ch3 (or ITV) disappeared off the radar scope. Weird (and, yes, I tried everything to get it back, except for re-wiring the telly).
I don't know what happened because I don't remember reading anything in the paper about a TV mast being de-commissioned or a stray Israeli missle hitting it (the way they're spraying them around at the moment, nothing is safe). All of a sudden, one day out of the blue, I was reduced to 3 channels ("of crap", I'd like to add).
So, in Tesco's, I had eyed up one of these wireless video (or whatever - DVD, video, PC) transmitters. Now I was pretty sceptical of their real-world effectiveness and, furthermore, would not normally buy a piece of kit like that from a supermarket. Nonetheless, in a fit of carefree abandon, I threw it into my trolly, doubling my food bill, and bought the little gizmo!
Having got it home, I pulled it out of its box (read the instructions - I must be over 30!) and began to start plugging it in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it worked, or sort of!
Amazing, just like that, I could now watch Freeview (digital telly - with about 30 channels) from my bed. Admittedly, at first the remote would not work, so I had to walk 50 paces down the hall and into the lounge to change channels and it completely screwed my wireless internet connection. Eventually, I got both of those problems resolved and I was able to relax in bed late last night, listening to Radio 3's 'Late Junction' with Verity Sharp (great name, especially for a music presenter), as I was dozing off.
It is, probably, a very expensive way to listen to radio, involving 2 tv's, a digital tuner, a wireless transmitter & receiver, not to mention the millions of electromagnetic waves that must be bouncing around this house and their associated cancerous implications.
But, late last night, I was in heaven - 30 channels of crap to watch on tv with an additional 50 radio stations to listen to! I don't normally give a company like Tesco's a thumbs up (typically, going out of my way to try and buy fruit & veges from local traders), but credit where credit is due - that was a pretty good deal on a techy piece of kit... and my regards to the children in the sweatshop in Shanghai who probably built the thing too...
* it must be so helpful to foreign language readers of this blog that I, helpfully, explain that Tesco's is a big supermarket chain, but don't give any lead as to what 'wombling' is, earlier in the sentence... It'd be a bloody good dictionary that translated wombling... (or a kids one from the 70's, I suppose).
Wombling around Tesco's yesterday (*a major supermarket chain in the UK), I got drawn into the vortex that is their 'technical/gadget section'. In there was something very exciting that I had noticed the other week and had, subsequently, researched on the internet - but, to no avail.
Firstly, the background to this situation, now as bad as it is (and I know it is bad) I have a wee tv in my bedroom that I quite like to watch before going to bed. Nothing like relaxing tired eyes, that have been staring a computer screen all day, by going to bed and staring at a tv screen.
Anyway, living in this Medieval area of Britain I can only get channels 1-4 on my bedroom telly (running off bunny ears). Or, I could only get channels 1-4 until, very mysteriously, a short while ago, Ch3 (or ITV) disappeared off the radar scope. Weird (and, yes, I tried everything to get it back, except for re-wiring the telly).
I don't know what happened because I don't remember reading anything in the paper about a TV mast being de-commissioned or a stray Israeli missle hitting it (the way they're spraying them around at the moment, nothing is safe). All of a sudden, one day out of the blue, I was reduced to 3 channels ("of crap", I'd like to add).So, in Tesco's, I had eyed up one of these wireless video (or whatever - DVD, video, PC) transmitters. Now I was pretty sceptical of their real-world effectiveness and, furthermore, would not normally buy a piece of kit like that from a supermarket. Nonetheless, in a fit of carefree abandon, I threw it into my trolly, doubling my food bill, and bought the little gizmo!
Having got it home, I pulled it out of its box (read the instructions - I must be over 30!) and began to start plugging it in. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it worked, or sort of!
Amazing, just like that, I could now watch Freeview (digital telly - with about 30 channels) from my bed. Admittedly, at first the remote would not work, so I had to walk 50 paces down the hall and into the lounge to change channels and it completely screwed my wireless internet connection. Eventually, I got both of those problems resolved and I was able to relax in bed late last night, listening to Radio 3's 'Late Junction' with Verity Sharp (great name, especially for a music presenter), as I was dozing off.
It is, probably, a very expensive way to listen to radio, involving 2 tv's, a digital tuner, a wireless transmitter & receiver, not to mention the millions of electromagnetic waves that must be bouncing around this house and their associated cancerous implications.
But, late last night, I was in heaven - 30 channels of crap to watch on tv with an additional 50 radio stations to listen to! I don't normally give a company like Tesco's a thumbs up (typically, going out of my way to try and buy fruit & veges from local traders), but credit where credit is due - that was a pretty good deal on a techy piece of kit... and my regards to the children in the sweatshop in Shanghai who probably built the thing too...
* it must be so helpful to foreign language readers of this blog that I, helpfully, explain that Tesco's is a big supermarket chain, but don't give any lead as to what 'wombling' is, earlier in the sentence... It'd be a bloody good dictionary that translated wombling... (or a kids one from the 70's, I suppose).
posted by Captain Fargon at 11:59 am
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