SillyDog701

[Antony]

My latest new gadget:
[sdt=14876][/sdt]

(blog entry)

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[Don_HH2K]

I got a headset today... Sort of.



I got it for free in December of last year, except I couldn't use it with standard equipment since it used an RJ25 connector instead of 3.5mm heads. So today I got around to buying proper connectors at Radio Shack (to Antony: they were only $7.98), slashing the RJ25 connector off, and soldering the six wires to the 3.5mm heads. The duct tape is for stress relief, so that the individual wires won't come loose if I pull on the cable.

The vocal quality is pretty amazing, I have to say, but running music over these is out of the question. Still, everyone so far has said that these blow my laptop's integrated mic out of the water.

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[beanboy89]

New gadget:





Magnavox ZC352MW8 DVD Recorder.

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[Antony]

New gadget:





Magnavox ZC352MW8 DVD Recorder.

Nice new gadget. Just a suggestion, remember to convert (dubbing) you VHS tapes to DVDs. Although DVD is not lossless format, but it is worth the converting for the benefit of space saving and longer lasting.

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[Antony]

My new gadget bought about two weeks ago.



(blog entry)

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[iJohnE]

My new gadget bought about two weeks ago.



(blog entry)

Very nice, I got the White DarthVader PSP Slim for Christmas, and I was very happy.

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[Antony]

My latest new gadget...



Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit.

I know the Wii is nowhere as powerful as PlayStation 3, but the games are good.

(more photos in this blog entry)

(To Don: Antony is poor)

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[Antony]

A few accessories for Wii:






I guess I have more accessories for Wii than for PlayStation 3.

Still, I only have two video game consoles (PlayStation 3 and Wii). Don has three video game consoles. Antony is poor.

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[Mandrake]

Mandrake only has an Xbox 360 and PS2, not even connected via HDMI. I am too poor to buy an HDMI cable.

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[Antony]

My new gadgets:
1TB STAT hard drive:


and an enclosure (features eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 connections):


and the setup:

(the thinner one in front)

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[beanboy89]

New gadget: Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus.



And here it is next to my TI-89 (which I can not use in the Math Department here because it is banned).

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[Antony]

Nice new calculator. Why was TI-89 banned?

We were not allowed to use graphic calculators in the school and university. We simply learned to draw graph by hand in most math classes.

In Physics and Applied Math, we draw graph by MATLAB.

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[beanboy89]

Nice new calculator. Why was TI-89 banned?

Because of the TI-89's "Advanced Mathematics Software," most likely because of the "solve" feature which can be used to solve equations.

Enter something like: [tt]solve(4x+6=2,x)[/tt].

And the calculator will let you know [tt]x=-1[/tt].

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[Don_HH2K]

Nice new calculator. Why was TI-89 banned?

Because of the TI-89's "Advanced Mathematics Software," most likely because of the "solve" feature which can be used to solve equations.

Enter something like: [tt]solve(4x+6=2,x)[/tt].

And the calculator will let you know [tt]x=-1[/tt].

I think that even the TI-84 and even the TI-83 (same thing with less RAM and different casing) are capable of that on a lesser level, one of the main differences being that you need to set the function equal to zero first.



I don't know if the TI-89 is capable of solving for variables other than [tt]x[/tt] or if it's capable of handling more complex equations.

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[Antony]

When I did my university entrance exams (bursaries), they allow scientific calculators without graphic functions.

During my university years, some courses allows calculators in the exams, and some even supplied calculators (a basic scientific one). No calculators allowed in Calculus, I remember well.

In Australia and New Zealand, Casio is the most popular scientific calculators in schools. When you see students using powerful Texas Instruments graphic calculators, you can be sure that they are exchange students from States. (I discovered that when I was tutoring in the lab.)

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