Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Geekery

Electrification

Categories Geekery, Technology
The new panels on one facade of the roof

We recently upgraded to an electric car. As we'd be using a lot more electricity, our plan was to also review our home energy use to take better advantage of Australia's (and particularly Brisbane's) wonderful solar-ideal sunny climate for our overall energy use.

Our house has had a ~ 3 kW solar system since it was built 12 years ago, but it was time for an upgrade to take better advantage of our roofspace and over a decade of efficiency improvements in solar panel technology.

On the list of things … Read more →

Building Pentium

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Technology
The finished build in place

It's been a long time between computer builds. Actually, it's been the longest interval since I started building my own desktop computers in 2007. My now-previous computer, Tetrarch, was built in 2017, so it's a 6-year gap between that build and this new one.

Continuing with the number-themed names, I decided to name this build Pentium, as it's the fifth build that I've done. The 'Pentium' name has always resonated to me since our first Windows 95 computer was a first generation Pentium MMX. It's All About the Pentiums is also one of … Read more →

Tweets for 2022

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life
Tweets for 2022

These are my tweets for 2022 (sans replies and retweets).

With all of the Elon Musk Twitter craziness over the past few months, who know if this might be the last time I do this! (FYI: you can also find me on Mastodon here: https://hachyderm.io/@lucascosti)

All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • PC vs console gaming 🧵 https://t.co/G0KDWHbHFa "When I manage to salvage an hour to relax and play video games, *that* is what I want to do. And it's really opened my eyes to why so
… Read more →

New Mobile: Google Pixel 7

Categories Geekery, Technology
Pixel 7 phone

Every two years, I have a budget from work to buy a new phone. My Pixel 5 has been a great phone for my usage, and for the most part, I've been really happy with it.

The only criticism that I did have at the time was about the screen size:

But I do kinda wish it was a tiny bit bigger.

And this did come up with some multi-day hospital stays that I unfortunately had to endure this year. Watching movies and TV shows from my bed had me wishing for a phone that had a bit bigger screen.… Read more →

New Watch: Garmin Vivoactive 4

Categories Geekery, Technology

I've worn a Pebble Time on my wrist since 2015. That's over 7 years with the same device, and probably the longest for any 'mobile' device that I've owned. Even after the Pebble company's demise at the end of 2016, it was still the most usable smartwatch for what I needed. Only now that its battery life is going to roughly 3 days have I needed to replace it, and it was a somewhat begrudging replacement.

Why it took me so long

It took me so long because none of the 'new' smartwatches would be more functional than the … Read more →

Working on a MacBook Pro (take 2)

Categories Geekery, Technology, Work

It's coming up on 3+ years that I've been working on a MacBook Pro, so earlier this year I was due for a computer refresh. I was extremely critical of the hardware of the 13" 2018 MacBook Pro that I received last time around, so I was very much looking forward to a replacement that would hopefully be better.

This timed well with Apple's migration from Intel chips to their own 'Apple silicon', but I was pretty sceptical of the architecture change. I worked in support when Apple migrated architectures from IBM PowerPC to Intel way back in the mid-2000s, … Read more →

Tweets for 2021

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

These are my tweets for 2021 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

… Read more →

Console Purchasing Wars: Xbox Series X

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Rants, Technology

Last week, I finally got an Xbox Series X! I say 'finally' because despite working for a Microsoft company (I even have a Microsoft employee ID and email address), I have no special access (or pricing) to any Microsoft hardware.

Like everyone else desperately trying to find one, I've had to watch Twitter stock alert accounts, ring around tonnes of stores, and do everything else to try and secure a console ahead of scalpers. Even though the scalping price on eBay isn't too exorbitant—roughly about 25-30% above the retail price—I've refused out of principle to take that easy way … Read more →

Tweets for 2020

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

These are my tweets for 2020 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

… Read more →

Converting my Flash Intros to HTML5

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia (RIP 😢) Flash) was once a staple of the web, but for various reasons (security issues, unnecessary software, etc.), it has almost been completely banished from the internet, with HTML5 animations now largely filling the gap.

Adobe is stopping maintenance of Flash at the end of this year, and this is definitely a good thing.

This site used a fair bit of Flash in the Web 1.0 days. The initial version even used Flash for the navigation buttons! 😱 However, the biggest (and most fun) use of Flash was when I made 'intro' animations for my … Read more →