Runbo H1

Thanks to Bill for the pointer to the Runbo Facebook page and the heads up about the H1:

"Faster, Safer and Smarter Hardware and OS With Quad Core 1.5GHZ CPU 64-bit architectures, H1 ran faster than ever before. It is secured with hardware encryption and Security Enhanced Android 5.0 Lollipop, providing a smoother and more secure computing experience.

IP67 engineered, H1 is resistant to water, shock, dust. It endures one meter drop to plank wood or even concrete in some case. Optional industry-grade 4.3” Capacitance touch screen is readable outdoor in sunlight, supporting glove/wet hand operation."

Game of Thrones - All 5 Books for $10 (Paperback)

So I thought $24 was a good deal for all five books in the Game of Thrones series... well, Wal-Mart has all five paperbacks for $10. (And that matches the best deal I've seen for the Kindle version.)

Via Kinja

Rigol DS1054Z Oscilloscope

Mike's got a new toy. I always tempted by adding tools to my bench... you know, something besides a screw driver and duct tape would be nice to have.

Go Big Orange

Via the Ham Radio forum at AR15.com:

Of course, being from Knoxville, I'm a fan of orange (and white).

And it makes sense that I would like the orange on the TERMN-8R.

Pofung GT-1

My car is in the shop and I'm sitting here playing catch up... so here's Hans on the Pofung GT-1:

"After being confronted with all the lies surrounding the Pofung GT-1 there’s no way I can justify a diplomatic way of saying things. The GT-1 is just old wine in a new bottle, the battery voltage / capacity is one big lie and so is the promised power output. 

The receiver is still disappointing unless you live in the proverbial ‘middle of nowhere’. To make matters worse the GT-1 is more expensive than a Baofeng BF-666S / BF-777S / BF-888S."

He recommends getting a UV-5R or ANILE-8R instead. (His review of the AnyTone Tech ANILE-8R is here.)

SnapPower Charger

I've looked at face plates that have integrated USB ports, but the SnapPower Charger is different in that it requires no wiring.

Via Uncrate

NOAA Alerts

Speaking of NOAA alerts, this RadioShack SAME Weather Radio for $7.99 was getting a lot of praise on the 470 repeater the other day.

AnyTone Tech NSTIG-8R and Baofeng UV-5R Comparison

The Baofeng UV-5R is a very popular radio. I don't have any real data to prove this, but anecdotally it seems to be a favorite of new hams especially. AnyTone Tech is making the case for spending a little more to get the NSTIG-8R - which clearly has better features than the Baofeng UV-5R.

True Detective Season 2

True Detective starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch premieres 6/21.

Docker and Windows

I'd been looking at Docker and saw this Slashdot post about a Windows container technology. As I was reading the comments, it made me think of how we used to setup a new Windows 3.1 machine. Basically, we got the machine on the network (with a PE3 if we had to problems!) and copied all the folders down. Change a few config/ini files and it was ready to go. Looks like I wasn't the only one thinking this way.

Jellomizer says in this comment:

"The is to solve the problem is simple. Keep the apps self contained. No shared libraries or dll. To move the package you just move the directory containing the app to an other location. Some will say that is how Macs do it. But I would go further and say that is how it was done in DOS. 

The shared library is an out of date concept, while sounds good when storage was expensive, today we are virtualizing full platforms just to prevent version incomparably.
What may be a little bonus is to give application/process level networking settings so you can just virtual network your app from the OS"