techmoan

Best Lava Lamp?

A video that no one asked for, which took an unreasonable amount time to make.

https://youtu.be/ipFePT4Z270

Imagine if you will, a lamp that takes all morning to get up and running but can only be used once per day.  Then to this, add in the logistics of trying to demonstrate four different colours of liquid in this lamp.

Amongst all this there was the usual off camera drama of life, including a very unpleasant day in a hospital which not only caused disruption on the days before but some recovery time afterwards. When all this gets added together you have a very long production period for a very simple video, about very little.

But for those who were enquiring about when the next video would be out - the answer is today (on Patreon anyway).

In an ideal world I’d have a brand new video completed every day and it’d be better than anything you’d ever seen before. But as I’m sure you’re aware it’s not an ideal world. I really am trying my best, it’s just that I’m prone to failure.  I will be starting afresh on the next video tomorrow, but this time I’ll definitely be avoiding anything that takes a day to create ten seconds of timelapse B-roll footage.

Hope your weekend is going well - take care and have a good one.

AUDIO ODDCAST JAN ’26

Here’s the Audio only version of the new Patreon exclusive update. The main video version is available in a separate post.

Take care.

VIDEO ODDCAST JAN ’26

Something for the weekend.

A bit earlier than anticipated, here’s my first Patreon exclusive update for 2026.

https://youtu.be/2diOPJKZh_U

There’s an audio only version available in a separate post.

Take care.

AEI Foreground Music System

You’ve heard of Background Music but what about Foreground Music? Let’s take a look at this AEI player and its carts and see what we can discover about this pretty much undocumented (until now) music system.

https://youtu.be/yq179lvycjA

I’ve been spending my birthday today editing this video. It’s not a negative, there’s nothing I’d really rather have been doing.

I’m putting this video out on here now and then I’m going out for a meal so apologies for not being around to respond to any comments or messages today.

I’m not big on birthday celebrations though, I just play along to keep the Mrs happy. The date all seems a bit too arbitrary for me (as well as a very long time ago now). I seem to remember my mother telling me I was born in the middle of the night, so my birthday could have just as easily fallen yesterday but then again perhaps it was closer to tomorrow. I was also a month premature so it should really take place some time in February. But I suspect I've already told you all this, I'm starting to lose track.

I do know though that it was caesarean birth, the only way you can tell, is that whenever I leave a house I always go out through the window. That’s an old Steven Wright joke. But anyway, apparently I shouldn’t really exist at all, as the previous child was going to be my parents' last one, but something untoward occurred during pregnancy that no one ever spoke about, so they tried for another.

On a more positive note I’m now old enough to draw my pension early. Might not be a bad idea given how things have been going in recent years health wise, but I’ll hold off on early retirement for a while. Hopefully I can continue to make videos for a while longer yet, until everyone decides they’ve seen more than enough.

I also think I've fallen into the final category of age on surveys - I think beyond 55+ there might not be any more age bands. If I wrote a memoir (which wouldn't be possible with my memory), but if I did, it might be called 'No more boxes left to tick'.

Have a good one.

UPDATED: Made a couple of tiny edits and re-uploaded the video

UPDATE 2 - Correction made. (Added an on screen annotation about the existence of a wider Type D cart) Thanks as always to Andy for his expertise. Also swapped the AI upscaled cart image at the end for the original blurry low res one that no one can read.

REVIEW: Philips Combo Vinyl & CD Player

Well it seemed like a good idea…

https://youtu.be/vLJdHxp6XFw

This has been a tricky one to assemble as every time I slept on it, I’d rethink something I’d done the previous day. I’d then go back to the ‘finished’ edit and replace whole segments with new bits. It’s all worked out in the end…I think.

Shame I couldn’t say the same about this device, however it can often be more interesting to look at something that has a few issues. 

In other news, a decorator is redoing my lounge this week. It’s very fortunate I got the garden office built, as quite a bit of the furniture has been moved in here until he’s finished. The cat is extremely confused about the whole thing. Both he and I will be very glad when this is all finished. 

Incidentally my yahoo email stopped receiving all Patreon emails in December for some unknown reason. They didn’t end up in spam or the bin, they just vanished. This included all notifications and messages. As a result I may have missed out on some things, apologies if that’s the case. I contacted Patreon about it but in the end switching email providers resolved the fault.

I hope your 2026 hasn’t fallen off the rails just yet. Take care. 

UPDATE: Made a few nips/tucks to the video to clarify some things and tidy up a couple of rough edges.

https://youtu.be/vLJdHxp6XFw

Best Volcano Lamp?

Time for some hard hitting consumer journalism answering the question no one else dares to ask… Which is the best Volcano Lamp?

https://youtu.be/HWBr-_903tM

Just a bit of fun to keep the channel ticking along during the busy holiday period. I hope your Christmas has been relaxing so far. I’ll start off looking at something brand new tomorrow.

Take care.

December 2025 Oddcast

Arriving just in the nick of time, it’s my December/Christmas 2025 update for everyone here on Patreon.

Have a good one.

https://youtu.be/l731wcYgxCA

We Are Rewind Curtis Blaster REVIEW

Perhaps 2025’s most requested item for me to test has arrived just in the nick of time, it’s the Curtis Blaster/Boombox from We Are Rewind.

https://youtu.be/U3aroewJiYE

I wasn’t expecting this to arrive this week. I also imagined that when it did arrive I’d have a couple of weeks to test it before they hit the shops. However I’ve already noticed online adverts for this popping up and email requests for me to review it have ramped up as a result.

I can see that I'll need this video to go public on Saturday while it’s still relevant. I normally like to give more of an exclusive window to Patreon viewers, but the timing on this one is awkward.  It’ll still be ad-free until Saturday though.

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I’m going to be fulfilling some offline obligations all next week so there’s going to be a bit of a gap before I can properly start on something new. If I can find the time I’ll try my best to get something put together just for Patreon, but there’s a good chance that this might end up being the other side of Christmas now, after taking a look at the calendar.

Even if I don't get a new video done, I'll have time to post a message on here before Christmas Day, so we'll kick the Christmas Platitudes Can down the road for now.

So have a good non unique calendar period until then. Take care.

Patreon Name Credits delay

Normally I’d have updated the end name credits pages by now, but there’s a glitch at Patreon’s end in exporting the data I need. I’ll update things as soon as I’m able, apologies for the delay.

The RiddimVox

I’ve finally got something new (old) to show you - and despite all the issues I’ve had while making this video, I don’t think it’s turned out too bad in the end for something that's been assembled in such a disjointed manner.

https://youtu.be/OwcFaavyLJg

In other news I should have a couple of new to the market products arriving next week that I could do with completing the videos on pretty quickly so they are relevant. We’ll see how that goes, it all depends on when the parcels arrive. While I’m waiting for the deliveries though I’ll probably start on a quick video, just in case things get delayed.

My shoulder seems on the mend so that’s a big relief. Hope you’re coping with all this Christmas malarkey, take care.

UPDATE: Dulled the video down a tad to smooth off sharp edges. Replaced the embed and link.

Apologies for the delay.

(As always) I am working on my next video, however this one has been very slow going due to yet another frustrating health snag.

Nothing too serious this time, just an agonising shoulder pain that turned up out of the blue and is preventing me sleeping. This lack of sleep mixed with pain killers has made me rather lethargic. I’m trying to work around things as best I can and hopefully I’ll make some more progress on the next video this weekend.

Fingers crossed I might even have something to show by the end of Sunday. But since I’m doing everything single handed (literally), we’ll have to see. In the meantime, thanks for your patience and take care.

Dead quick tip - no charge

I’m not sure if this is worthy of a video - but I made it anyway as I thought it might be helpful to someone somewhere.

https://youtu.be/NxtWQtaLDeQ

UPDATE: Looks like this ‘tip’ wasn’t of any use after all, as pretty much everyone here has already done this. I’ll keep this video off the main channel feed so as not to waste anyone’s time.

Waves of emotion.

In a Patreon update a while ago I mentioned my years' long fruitless search for one of these. Well I finally landed this great white whale, so here’s a silly little video about this soon to be complained about, distracting background shelf filler.

https://youtu.be/2mJL152QdS8

In other news, scaffolding is still up on the house following the roof replacement. I haven’t been able to go out as the scaffolders have threatened to turn up at any moment to take it down. They won't nail down a specific time and day.  It’s like being under house arrest and I’m going slightly stir crazy. When they do finally turn up I won’t be able to get anything done for that day because of the disruption. This has been a very wearing couple of weeks.

I hope things at your end are far more relaxing. Take care.

PERSONAL SURROUND SOUND

This time I’m testing out a surround sound neck speaker. You might have seen me test other personal surround systems in the past, but they've all had limitations/flaws when it comes to AV pass through connectivity. I was hoping this new contender had finally figured it out.

https://youtu.be/T8FRXN0Ag6g

As anticipated in my last update there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes here - none of it fun or productive. Most notably a new roof is in the process of being put on the house. I’m sure you can appreciate the disruption caused by something like this. It’s been non stop but the end is now in sight. There have been plenty of other chores and obstacles to working, but I won’t bore you with the details. The end result is that this video has been delayed longer than I’d hoped. I trust therefore that you’ll understand why I need to get this one out ASAP (on Saturday) as my November releases are looking a bit sparse.

I’ll quickly move onto making the next video which I aim to get to you just after the weekend as it’s likely to be a quickie. Then I’ll move onto something with a bit more going on.

Hope you’re well, take care and we’ll speak again soon.

UPDATE: Added a few overlays etc to hopefully pre-empt and clear up any potential misunderstanding/misinterpretation/miscongeniality.  The new re-edit is the one now embedded and linked above.

The 125 pound Record Weight

A video review (of sorts) of the HumminGuru Lumi.

https://youtu.be/NAUu5PzUEek

Oh I just want to mention something about the start of the video. The other week I noticed the stats on the previous video showed that about 50% of viewers had stopped watching in the first 30 seconds. This intrigued me. The idea of spending all that time effort and money making a video only for someone to give it the most cursory of glances and click away before it had really got going, amused me to no end. So I thought - right let’s see how many viewers I can get to bail when nothing is said for the first minute.

It turned out though that those YT stats were messed up and the actual percentage still watching after 30 seconds was around 75% which is pretty good really - but still it was the erroneous stat which prompted the intro. That and I thought it would be a bit ludicrous to go to all this trouble to play a record containing this audio. It’s a lighthearted ‘bit’, poking light fun at the whole overblown vinyl enthusiast thing…but I doubt many will get the joke.

Now last week I naively wrote the following.

I’ll attempt to catch up a little mid next week with a short video about a nonsense item that cost too much and does very little. I feel that it shouldn’t take very long to demonstrate.

Well this is that video and it turns out that I’m incapable of assembling a video in a hurry. I’m learning to live with this. I mentioned last month how despite my best efforts my pace has noticeably slowed down in recent times. But yes it’s not so great for producing lots of ‘content’ efficiently.

Anyway, since I haven’t managed to get ahead or even to catch up I’m going to leave it a week before this one goes out on youtube. It’ll be a Patreon exclusive until then,

I anticipate there will be a bit of a delay now before I have anything else new ready to show you as there are loads of annoying chores getting in the way over the next couple of weeks. I’ll try my best to get something done in-between them, but I’m not going to make any promises this time.

All the best, take care.

UPDATE: As requested I’ve added in a wow & flutter test and therefore swapped out the video. I think we all know the outcome- so no need for a rewatch but for the curious it starts at around 12:50.

Panasonic’s Mr Thin range

This one has taken longer than expected for what I anticipated would be a ‘quick video’ about a range of pocket radios.  However due to the extra time I had to do research on this one, I discovered a very interesting side story which resulted in this being a far more interesting video than I’d anticipated. At least the first half is…it goes off after that.

https://youtu.be/zVTkzx0IA1c

In other news thanks to a third dose of antibiotics I finally managed to get my toothache under control. The sleepless nights and constant pain really wore me down, hence the delay since my last video. I’m still temporarily deaf in one ear from the infection which really restricts what audio devices I can feature, but since all the items in this video are mono it seemed like a good topic to cover until things improve.

I think I’ll attempt to catch up a little mid next week with a short video about a nonsense item that cost too much and does very little. I feel that it shouldn’t take very long to demonstrate.

Talking of expense, this video cost quite a bit to put together. In the end I had to cut my cloth before I’d acquired everything I wanted to show. There’s no way Google/Youtube ad revenue will fund this level of folly, so it’s only thanks to the generosity of people here on Patreon that this video can exist at all, even in this ever so slightly truncated form.

Hope you’re all well, take care and have a good weekend.

UPDATE: Re-edited to remove an error as well as a brief Bond skit which I decided I didn’t like.

October 2025 No-video Oddcast

It’s that time again. Here’s a feature length Patreon exclusive Oddcast (audio only version) featuring a lot of very little. The video version is available in a separate post.

October 2025 Video Oddcast

It’s that time again. Here’s a feature length Patreon exclusive Oddcast featuring a lot of very little. There’s an audio only version available in a separate post.

https://youtu.be/BsU5R5J8V4g

One quick correction - the item shown towards the end of the video cost me £23 not £17.

A video about a connector.

I really couldn’t figure out how best to name this video. I have no interest in trying to compete with the ever increasing wave of AI Slop and SEO clickbait nonsense. So I decided I might as well just head in the polar opposite direction… and lean into it.

https://youtu.be/tRFrnwrwyxk

Whether or not anyone chooses to watch this or ‘Ten times cats used AI in Minecraft, number 11 will amaze you & win a free iPhone” is up to them. I enjoyed making this video and I’m the primary audience.

After the weekend I’ll see if I have enough random nonsense to assemble for a Patreon video. I feel that I’ll be struggling for anything new or interesting to talk about - but that’s never stopped me.

Enjoy the rest of your week/end. Take care.

Not a format.

A little video about something that isn’t what it appears to be.

https://youtu.be/c6TiIduyag0

You can thank my deceased parents for this one. A number of years ago I was struggling with what to get them for Christmas. Being rather old they’d already accumulated everything they wanted so the only suitable gift that sprung to my mind was a hamper of edible goodies. The most suitable one that could be delivered was from Fortnum and Mason and ever since then I’ve been on the F&M Christmas mailing list and the device featured in this video was listed in there.

When I cleared out their house the empty wicker Fortnum hamper was found in the loft.

I’m still struggling with earache and deafness which is now causing a dull toothache as well - just your typical week. I was prescribed antibiotic drops, but I'll have to take it easier until things improve somewhat. I only mention this to justify this week's simple-to-make video. It was the best I could muster in the circumstances.

Hope you’re doing better - take care.

UPDATE

I’ve made a few small tweaks to the video, nothing significant, just tidying up. New version now embedded and linked above.

A belt too far?

My 50% successful repair shown in the last video gave me enough confidence to tackle another job I’d been putting off for some time. You might have seen me mention that the Sony bookshelf HiFi system that sits on the shelves behind me was faulty. Here’s how I got on with trying to sort that out.

https://youtu.be/EwWJRal2Ais

Judging from the stats on the last video, there’s a waning interest in my repair vids. This one wasn’t done for the views though, I just wanted to figure out if this thing was going to hang around or instead free up some shelf space for something else.

I’ll see if I can think of a topic that a few more people might prefer to watch next time. No promises though.

In other news I’ve just swapped my home cinema surround system in the lounge but I can’t experience it yet, as an ear infection has made me deaf in one ear. A situation only Alanis Morissette could appreciate. I’m off to the Drs in a few mins, hopefully to return with some magic tablets

Take care.

Not A Boombox - Epilogue

A ‘what happened next’ update regarding the pair of faulty Panasonic SY-PA100s.

https://youtu.be/9VUorpwiDcs

Just a basic video this time as I’m feeling worn down at the moment, so I’m trying to take it easy until things improve. It’s been a weird 2025 and I feel like it’s all caught up with me.

I’ve had some welcome news though on my health saga. It appears that I should be around for a while as they're only planning on checking on me again now in six months. It seems like that initial panic is over. I didn't get an 'all-clear', but it's as good as.

So now I just need to try and get myself back up to speed. At the start of the year I was thinking I could well be dead or dying or worse by this point, so now that I'm still here it's a bit of an anticlimax, albeit in a very positive way. It's a very strange feeling - there's probably a syndrome named after this. So give me a minute or two and I’ll try and get back on the horse.

Anyway I hope you're doing well, take care.

Colour E-ink picture frame

This device has reminded me why I started making YouTube videos in the first place. Back then I wanted an excuse to test out new tech that I otherwise might not have bought just for myself. “Oh this, it’s not for me, I bought that for the channel - it’ll pay for itself.”

It’s been some time since something as simple as this product has landed on my desk that I’ve been this enthusiastic about.

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/g0GV4875W20 

Oh and by the way did you know that E-Ink was a company name - I only found out today.

In other news the weather was crazy yesterday with very heavy rain, flooding - and damp feet in bed. Yes the roof is leaking. After a temporary fix of a bucket in the loft I woke up to a lovely sunny day and the Mrs suggested that I use my DJI Neo Mini drone to have a look at the roof tiles. She called it a flying camera thing - but still it was a smart idea as it hadn’t occurred to me. It’s just been gathering dust.  Anyway it did a great roof surveying job and told me that the roof is completely knackered  and all the tiles are crumbling to dust. The house is as old as me and it seems we’re both in the same shape..nothing on top and falling apart, but fortunately I’m not wetting the bed yet.

Anyway hope your weekend has been less expensive.  Take care.

UPDATE - I’ve added a few seconds back to clarify that fact this frame does not have a rolling slideshow feature. I’d presumed I’d already done too much blabbing and the lack of such a feature had been demonstrated by its absence. Apparently this was not a wise decision, so the usual re-edit, re-up and replace process has taken place.

UPDATE 2 - Uploaded another version with a new large onscreen pop up repeat mention of the non existent slideshow feature.  I’ve deleted the first two versions to ensure this is the only one now being seen.

UPDATE 3 - I sent the Reflections team a link to the video, here’s one thing they said:

Currently, the Reflection Frame is designed to display one photo at a time, using our Tap-to-Print technology—simply tap your phone to the frame to send and display an image. This method allows us to achieve exceptional battery life (up to 1,000 transfers per charge) and also offers a key advantage: your photos are never uploaded to the cloud, so your privacy is fully protected.

We understand many users would love the ability to store multiple photos and have them cycle automatically, and we're actively developing a software update to support this. Once it's ready, it will be delivered to your frame via a free over-the-air (OTA) update.

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Of course no one should ever buy something based on a promise - but also please do not under any circumstances buy anything, ever. Even though I already really like my Reflection Frame as it is, I'm wrong and it's rubbish.

UPDATE 4 - I figured out what was causing the issue with the blue leaves on the boombox pic - so added in an explanation of the cause as well as a simple work around fix that can be used while waiting for the bug to get squashed with an inevitable app update. The new section starts at 14:49

Patreon Oddcast Audio for September 2025

It’s time for a Patron only audio experience. Unfortunately my energy levels are a bit depleted at the moment, so please only listen to this one if you’re happy with a low-key experience.

If you choose to skip this, rest assured that you won’t be missing out on any ground shattering news.

The video version is available here https://youtu.be/wFeQwnindoI

Enjoy(?)

Patreon Oddcast Video for September 2025

It’s time for a Patron only video. Unfortunately my energy levels are a bit depleted at the moment, so please only watch this one if you’re happy with a low-key experience.

https://youtu.be/wFeQwnindoI

If you choose to skip this, rest assured that you won’t be missing out on any ground shattering news.

I’ve also uploaded this as an audio version (in a separate post) so you could listen to an old man mumble on for an hour while you wash your car or something. Enjoy(?)

Not a Boombox (UPDATED)

Could this be the bulkiest portable CD player? If not it must be in the running. However CD playback is only one feature, it’s a different one that really caught my attention.

https://youtu.be/Uiu9HEqa0dg

This is the video that should have been out a few days ago, however I was waiting on a vital delivery before I could finish this one off.

Now that this one is done perhaps I can start assembling a Patron update video.

Take care.

UDPATE: As a result of the feedback I’ve retested the woofer and added in a new section about this process between 34:40 and 38:27.  The updated video is the one now embedded and linked to above.

UPDATE 2: Added in a new section about the true purpose of this device between 11:05-12:03

Same as it ever was.

As I am sure you’re all aware, any new cassette boombox isn’t going to be ‘good’. However do I still regularly get asked ‘what about this one’ or someone will send me a link to a new one because it comes from a name familiar to them and it ‘looks like this one could be better than the others’.

I decided it might be time to take another stab at elaborating on why the latest and greatest boombox from Aiwa will be exactly as good (or bad) as the one from the Aldi supermarket in-house brand Medion.

In order to do this I bought a big new boombox and made this video about it.

https://youtu.be/l4f4qTtSz5k

Due to postal delays I’ve been forced to shuffle videos around. This video was supposed to be the one after the next one but that one was taking too long. I’ll get back to it tomorrow. Oh and I have to apologise to David H. who signed up for the ‘name in the outro’ tier mere seconds after I compiled the new credit screens. You’ll be on it the next time I do the update in a few weeks.

Anyway, I hope you’re all doing well. I feel that I should make a quick Patron video to elaborate on what’s going on here behind the scenes - no health updates to share yet (still pending) - but there are a couple of other things to talk about.

Take care until next time.

UPDATE: - Re-uploaded with a few corrections/snips, no significant changes.

UPDATE 2: A few postulated that the CD to Tape recording had been done via the mic, so it seemed wise to add an overlay stating this wasn’t the case, prior to the video being published.

Added an explanatory overlay, hence another re-up.

Seventeen+ years ago

It’s been an odd week with a death, a marriage and an MRI. As a result, video production has been slower than anticipated. The new video is also currently on hold while I wait for the delivery of a broken device that should enable me to fix my broken device due to it being broken in a different way. That should be arriving tomorrow.

In the absence of a new video this week, how about an old video, a really old video I found on a hard drive. I’m not sure whether I ever published this one on YouTube. I do recall that it was a competition/audition to get a job. This was back when lots of companies were making videos with good production values to be watched on iPods or the first iPhone. Needless to say I didn’t get that job and after watching this stilted, awkward video you’ll see why.

https://youtu.be/YEHK7_fyVj4

In my defence though this was recorded in June 2008. That’s over seventeen years ago. We'd only just invented TV a couple of years prior.

I’ve got ever so slightly better at this since and hopefully no longer come across as a slimy twit.

And no, I never had hair.

VID PIX

You might recall me mentioning (quite a while ago) that I was on the look out for a modern stand-alone video music visualiser. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter, I barely remember saying it, but I’ve recently found something along those lines, so here’s the video.

https://youtu.be/6zyUMRI5_G8

This has been a really problematic week to try and get anything meaningful done. It’s been jam packed full of chores and obligations and the first half of next week looks to be no better.  So it’ll be a few days before I’ve got a clean enough slate to properly get stuck into something.

However please do rest assured that I will be working on the next video until there is a next video, at which point I’ll then move onto working on the video after that. I needed to mention this because I know from experience that if there’s any sort of unusual delay between uploads I’ll start getting emails asking if I’m OK and when my next video is out.

If I ever do decide to throw in the towel on YouTube and instead spend the remainder of my days catching up on my backlog of unplayed media, I’ll be sure to let you know first, but it’s definitely not happening this week.

Take care.

UPDATE: Trimmed off a few seconds to remove a sticking point.

A better Burger?

I think we can all agree, my video on the original Sound Burger record player was the only reason this product returned from the dead (*citation needed).

Well now there’s rival device from whoever bought the Toshiba Aurex brand in a charity shop. It’s called the AX-RP10, but just wait till you hear its catchier alternative name,  it’s a mouthful.

https://youtu.be/ehqi1YnflIc

I just managed to get this video in under the wire, as no sooner had it uploaded, than the broadband went down for my area. Apparently it’s only due to come back on after 9 PM. I suspect it was this video that caused the problem by being just too good.

I hope you’re doing well, take care and have a good week.

Old man messes with stuff

The delivery of a ‘new’ VHS tape provided the catalyst for twenty three minutes of loosely connected video nonsense.

https://youtu.be/PC94KQtNPWs

My videos often require a lot of stuff taking place off the screen to enable me to make the segments that get edited together. Videos like this one are especially weighted to the off-screen side of things. Driving to and from my storage facility, schlepping a variety of electronics around, rooting through boxes in the attic to find interconnecting cables I haven’t seen in years, charging batteries, ordering new stuff to make the old stuff work, messing with software downloads and updates - all for just a few seconds of onscreen footage.

The next time anyone asks what I do for a living, it would be more accurate to say that it’s Logistics or Admin rather than 'Global Internet Phenomena'.

Have a good one and take care.