I may have earned myself a reputation as being the person who has all
sorts of silly hardware; after all, I'm not averse to picking up a bit
of kit just because it happens to be in the dumpster. But I think the silliest bit of hardware I have is my colored LED light string. I'm
sure you've seen the sort; it's about three feet long, is powered from
USB and has a rainbow of lights to light up a room (or at least a
corner thereof). This one is special, though, because it changes
colors based on the other ambient light around it. This thing was a
bit of a craze five or ten years ago, and originally cost a pretty bit
of cash too, but now you can get similar kit from the corner store for
just a few dollars (or local equivalent).
But this particular investment is especially silly because mine
doesn't work. Oh, it lights up and all but if it synchronizes to the
ambient light I've never understood its logic. Every now and then it
/will/ switch colors, but it seems completely random, and certainly
doesn't seem to have anything to do with what else is going on around
it. So mostly I use it in 'dumb' mode (it has one of those cheap
plastic remotes) and every day I just set it to a random color. Today
is a "light green" day.
I don't really mind its inability to do the job as advertised though;
like I said, it cost me far less than a cup of coffee goes for these
days. And the bit of colored lighting in the corner still makes me
smile, plus I like setting the day's "mood". My only real complaint is
that it defaults to a "blink the colors really fast" mode when I first
turn it on, which I'm pretty sure will one day push me into an
epileptic seizure if I don't change it to a single color fast enough.
But overall, it's probably the silliest, most pointless and most
broken hardware I regularly use.
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:45:13 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
I don't have anything like that for my computer but I was thinking of
getting an LED strip light for the back of my monitor for a little bit
of ambiance.
I do, however, have an electric fireplace that I bought just for
ambiance. I have no need for the electric heat it can produce, I only
turn on the LED display. I guess it is pointless, but I like it.
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:45:13 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
I don't have anything like that for my computer but I was thinking of
getting an LED strip light for the back of my monitor for a little bit
of ambiance.
I do, however, have an electric fireplace that I bought just for
ambiance. I have no need for the electric heat it can produce, I only
turn on the LED display. I guess it is pointless, but I like it.
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:05:42 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:45:13 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
I don't have anything like that for my computer but I was thinking of
getting an LED strip light for the back of my monitor for a little bit
of ambiance.
I do, however, have an electric fireplace that I bought just for
ambiance. I have no need for the electric heat it can produce, I only
turn on the LED display. I guess it is pointless, but I like it.
During the holiday seasons, I always fire up the Windows XP computer
_just_ because it has one of those 3D screensavers of a
fireplace/hearth, which looks remarkably convincing on the big-screen
TV. And --thanks to the inefficient CPU and GPU-- it does a nice job
of warming up the room too. It's come to a point that family actually _complains_ when I don't have it running; "where's the fireplace?"
they ask.
The only problem is that it lacks the _aroma_ of a firepit. I'm
halfway tempted to see if they have some sort of spray that replicates
that smell that I can use when the computer is active. ;-)
.
.
.
.
.
.
Man, I miss having a real fireplace. Although not having to worry
about critters trying to nest in the chimney is welcome.
The only problem is that it lacks the _aroma_ of a firepit. I'm
halfway tempted to see if they have some sort of spray that replicates
that smell that I can use when the computer is active. ;-)
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:43:49 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
The only problem is that it lacks the _aroma_ of a firepit. I'm
halfway tempted to see if they have some sort of spray that replicates
that smell that I can use when the computer is active. ;-)
You know, I never even thought of that. I was always thinking that my >electric one did not have the crackling sound of a real fireplace. I
never even thought of the aroma that a real one would give off.
Erm... quick, let's bring this back to computer games. Umm... uhh...
best fireplaces in video games?
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
I kinda do. Some time ago I saw a kind of cool looking desk lamp, in
some renovation show and it was for a gaming desk. I looked afterwards
but didn't find anything and didn't remember which show it was. But
instead, I found a Nuka-Cola bottle shaped USB lamp, right out of
Fallout. It has a remote for changing the color and one of the colors is
near the bluish color the bottles have in-game. Downside, it's
definitely just something for ambient light, even if I set it to white
and max brightness, it's still too dim to use as a real light. Shame
really but all the more reason to find some decent desk lamp for actual >lighting.
Regarding led strips, I recently realized one of those *addressable*
kind would be a cool way to use as an indicator in a file server or NAS
to show which drive is which. Cooler than sticking labels on things.
Do you count HW that doesn't get used as silly? I've kinda been doing
this thing of buying HW things I haven't used much or at all. There's
this 10x 16-segment display I bought recently. And a smaller one that's
hat for a Raspberry Pi. And a solder it yourself desktop clock. Well,
one of these days I'll get to those... I did manage to fix the fan
control on my one currently running Raspberry Pi to my liking this
summer. Finally.
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:43:49 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
The only problem is that it lacks the _aroma_ of a firepit. I'm
halfway tempted to see if they have some sort of spray that replicates
that smell that I can use when the computer is active. ;-)
You know, I never even thought of that. I was always thinking that my electric one did not have the crackling sound of a real fireplace. I
never even thought of the aroma that a real one would give off.
I may have earned myself a reputation as being the person who has all
sorts of silly hardware; after all, I'm not averse to picking up a bit
of kit just because it happens to be in the dumpster. But I think the silliest bit of hardware I have is my colored LED light string. I'm
sure you've seen the sort; it's about three feet long, is powered from
USB and has a rainbow of lights to light up a room (or at least a
corner thereof). This one is special, though, because it changes
colors based on the other ambient light around it. This thing was a
bit of a craze five or ten years ago, and originally cost a pretty bit
of cash too, but now you can get similar kit from the corner store for
just a few dollars (or local equivalent).
But this particular investment is especially silly because mine
doesn't work. Oh, it lights up and all but if it synchronizes to the
ambient light I've never understood its logic. Every now and then it
/will/ switch colors, but it seems completely random, and certainly
doesn't seem to have anything to do with what else is going on around
it. So mostly I use it in 'dumb' mode (it has one of those cheap
plastic remotes) and every day I just set it to a random color. Today
is a "light green" day.
I don't really mind its inability to do the job as advertised though;
like I said, it cost me far less than a cup of coffee goes for these
days. And the bit of colored lighting in the corner still makes me
smile, plus I like setting the day's "mood". My only real complaint is
that it defaults to a "blink the colors really fast" mode when I first
turn it on, which I'm pretty sure will one day push me into an
epileptic seizure if I don't change it to a single color fast enough.
But overall, it's probably the silliest, most pointless and most
broken hardware I regularly use.
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:05:42 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:45:13 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
I don't have anything like that for my computer but I was thinking of
getting an LED strip light for the back of my monitor for a little bit
of ambiance.
I do, however, have an electric fireplace that I bought just for
ambiance. I have no need for the electric heat it can produce, I only
turn on the LED display. I guess it is pointless, but I like it.
During the holiday seasons, I always fire up the Windows XP computer
_just_ because it has one of those 3D screensavers of a
fireplace/hearth, which looks remarkably convincing on the big-screen
TV. And --thanks to the inefficient CPU and GPU-- it does a nice job
of warming up the room too. It's come to a point that family actually _complains_ when I don't have it running; "where's the fireplace?"
they ask.
The only problem is that it lacks the _aroma_ of a firepit. I'm
halfway tempted to see if they have some sort of spray that replicates
that smell that I can use when the computer is active. ;-)
.
.
.
.
.
.
Man, I miss having a real fireplace. Although not having to worry
about critters trying to nest in the chimney is welcome.
On Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:14:25 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Erm... quick, let's bring this back to computer games. Umm... uhh...
best fireplaces in video games?
I don't know about the *best* fireplace but there is one that is--
nostalgic for me. It was from my early days in World of Warcraft when
I would log my character out in the Kharanos Inn near the fireplace in
a wintery zone called Dun Morogh.
On 7/25/2025 9:45 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:[snip]
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
No, I hate lights on everything. Less and or less bright lights =
better. I do miss the HD wright light though that's practial.
I do have lights on my kb, but that's practical as I tend to keep the
lights off in the early morning or after dark.
My son's computer was a nightmare to set up because of the opposite
though, everything was black, even the case to mb cables, and power
cables. Couldn't see anything and it wasn't easy to tell which side was
+ or -. I didn't specifically buy stuff that way it was just the lowest price for apparently reasonable quality. Never again.
On 7/26/2025 11:03 AM, Mike S. wrote:
On Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:14:25 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Erm... quick, let's bring this back to computer games. Umm... uhh...
best fireplaces in video games?
Zork? Though that's just works, so probably doesn't count as a Video
Game.
I don't remember if it's just me remembering me imagining the one in
zork, but there was a giant one in some game(s) that had a secret door
in it. I love those.
Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 18:26 this Monday (GMT):
On 7/25/2025 9:45 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:[snip]
Do you have any kit that's equally ridiculous and pointless, whether
on computer or elsewhere?
No, I hate lights on everything. Less and or less bright lights =
better. I do miss the HD wright light though that's practial.
I do have lights on my kb, but that's practical as I tend to keep the
lights off in the early morning or after dark.
I like somewhere inbetween - like 3 or 4 lights for disk activity and
network usage and stuff. It's fun watching those blink faster as you
open programs, and its one of the things I miss on my new laptop.
My son's computer was a nightmare to set up because of the opposite
though, everything was black, even the case to mb cables, and power
cables. Couldn't see anything and it wasn't easy to tell which side was
+ or -. I didn't specifically buy stuff that way it was just the lowest
price for apparently reasonable quality. Never again.
Next time you could try getting some colored tape to mark them?
On Sun, 27 Jul 2025 12:45:08 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:
I kinda do. Some time ago I saw a kind of cool looking desk lamp, in
some renovation show and it was for a gaming desk. I looked afterwards
but didn't find anything and didn't remember which show it was. But >>instead, I found a Nuka-Cola bottle shaped USB lamp, right out of
Fallout. It has a remote for changing the color and one of the colors is >>near the bluish color the bottles have in-game. Downside, it's
definitely just something for ambient light, even if I set it to white
and max brightness, it's still too dim to use as a real light. Shame
really but all the more reason to find some decent desk lamp for actual >>lighting.
Oooh. I'm jealous; I want one of those now! ;-)
Regarding led strips, I recently realized one of those *addressable*
kind would be a cool way to use as an indicator in a file server or NAS
to show which drive is which. Cooler than sticking labels on things.
Only works when the hardware is working though, which is usually NOT
when you go looking at it. That's the advantage of stickers; no power required! ;-)
(PS. Also have one of those solder-it-yourself clocks. Also in pieces.
Mostly because, in this day when EVERYTHING already has a clock
attached to it, who needs another one... much less one you have to
build yourself? ;-)
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