Your frivolous purchases, stuff you don't need...

Your frivolous purchases, stuff you don't need...

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Martin_M

2,071 posts

226 months

Sunday 7th June 2015
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JonRB said:
Oops. Just accidentally bought a Hubsan X4 H107C



£38 inc Amazon Prime delivery. Not quite as cheap as it was in the Lightning Deal last week that I missed out on but only a fiver more.

Should be delivered on Saturday. Hopefully I won't have broken it by Sunday. But at least crash packs are very cheaply and readily available.
I know it's just a toy but it looks like a laugh and it's not going to break the bank at that price.

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 4th June 21:18
So is it any good?

richtea78

5,574 posts

157 months

Sunday 7th June 2015
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The Nur said:
mft said:
Really?! You're saying that your phone actively recorded your private conversation, Microsoft streamed and analysed that data, and then used it to serve very precisely targeted ads to you for the toys you'd been discussing? I find this too incredible to believe, frankly.

Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
I was sceptical too, until I had a go at testing it (again, with my HTC One). Basically me and a friend were talking about something ( I had my phone unlocked and in my hand) and when I went to google the topic of conversation I only had to put the first letter in and the full title of what I was looking for popped up in the autocomplete box. This is on Android, btw.
Nurse, one of them has got out again!

rolex

3,110 posts

257 months

Sunday 7th June 2015
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Having a test ride on Tuesday

http://www.50cycles.com/product/6235238010

NDA

21,488 posts

224 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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F3RNY7 said:
How is it working? Increased wifi range?

JonRB

74,398 posts

271 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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Martin_M said:
So is it any good?
As a quadcopter it's great. Like a slightly more grown-up version of my Revell Nano Quad (aka Hubsan Q4 Nano aka Estes Proto X).

The camera is crap though. It's only SD and the quality is pretty awful. There is an HD module you can get but it's around £20 which is half the cost of the copter. Also the SD camera module in mine is a little dodgy - if you crash you lose your recording. I think this might be "normal" though as the manual mentions it.

The battery gives you around 5 or 6 mins flight time. Fortunately the battery is replaceable and replacements are inexpensive (like a tenner for 4 + multi-charger) so I might invest in some of those.

I had it flying outside yesterday afternoon and despite there being a breeze it was very controllable.

Sway

26,070 posts

193 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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The Nur said:
mft said:
Really?! You're saying that your phone actively recorded your private conversation, Microsoft streamed and analysed that data, and then used it to serve very precisely targeted ads to you for the toys you'd been discussing? I find this too incredible to believe, frankly.

Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
I was sceptical too, until I had a go at testing it (again, with my HTC One). Basically me and a friend were talking about something ( I had my phone unlocked and in my hand) and when I went to google the topic of conversation I only had to put the first letter in and the full title of what I was looking for popped up in the autocomplete box. This is on Android, btw.
I am no techie, but I can confirm a few things.

Nipper's birthday was yesterday. We bought what my OH thought were all his presents last weekend, by actually going to shops rather than looking online.

I'd picked up a second hand BMX, again, nothing online about it. Needed a few bits, Thursday I went into Halfords to price up a few bits to get it nice for him. Saw that for twenty quid more I could get him a new one - they have a decent BMX for £65. Home Thursday night, told the other half.

Ten minutes of talking, and she wanted to see it before I bought it Friday. Opened Chrome, it refreshed the PH page I had open, and the top banner ad was for BMXs at Halfords...

Maybe a massive coincidence, but seems quite a stretch!

Sorry for off topic.

ManFromDelmonte

2,742 posts

179 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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Sway said:
I am no techie, but I can confirm a few things.

Nipper's birthday was yesterday. We bought what my OH thought were all his presents last weekend, by actually going to shops rather than looking online.

I'd picked up a second hand BMX, again, nothing online about it. Needed a few bits, Thursday I went into Halfords to price up a few bits to get it nice for him. Saw that for twenty quid more I could get him a new one - they have a decent BMX for £65. Home Thursday night, told the other half.

Ten minutes of talking, and she wanted to see it before I bought it Friday. Opened Chrome, it refreshed the PH page I had open, and the top banner ad was for BMXs at Halfords...

Maybe a massive coincidence, but seems quite a stretch!

Sorry for off topic.
Well it's likely that Google knew you were in Halfords due to the GPS, they could well also think it likely you have kids from previous searches and even a rough age, gender etc.

None of this is massively surprising to me, but if they were recording your conversations and targeting you with ads based on it I would be very surprised.

Hainey

4,381 posts

199 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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ManFromDelmonte said:
Sway said:
I am no techie, but I can confirm a few things.

Nipper's birthday was yesterday. We bought what my OH thought were all his presents last weekend, by actually going to shops rather than looking online.

I'd picked up a second hand BMX, again, nothing online about it. Needed a few bits, Thursday I went into Halfords to price up a few bits to get it nice for him. Saw that for twenty quid more I could get him a new one - they have a decent BMX for £65. Home Thursday night, told the other half.

Ten minutes of talking, and she wanted to see it before I bought it Friday. Opened Chrome, it refreshed the PH page I had open, and the top banner ad was for BMXs at Halfords...

Maybe a massive coincidence, but seems quite a stretch!

Sorry for off topic.
Well it's likely that Google knew you were in Halfords due to the GPS, they could well also think it likely you have kids from previous searches and even a rough age, gender etc.

None of this is massively surprising to me, but if they were recording your conversations and targeting you with ads based on it I would be very surprised.
Because 24hr continual cross referenced GPS tracking allied to an sophisticated algorithm on collated user search data is just SO much less worrying, isn't it hehe

For me though, I've had it where her and I have had conversations and chrome has been open in the same room, and the next day you find targeted advertising based on that conversation WITHOUT putting the subjects of that conversation into a search string.

Worrying much? For me, yes.

ManFromDelmonte

2,742 posts

179 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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Hainey said:
Because 24hr continual cross referenced GPS tracking allied to an sophisticated algorithm on collated user search data is just SO much less worrying, isn't it hehe

For me though, I've had it where her and I have had conversations and chrome has been open in the same room, and the next day you find targeted advertising based on that conversation WITHOUT putting the subjects of that conversation into a search string.

Worrying much? For me, yes.
You see, this sort of thing doesn't really worry me. All it means is that I see adverts for things I am interested in or likely to buy rather than adverts for hearing aids, tampons, kids toys etc.

If it ever gets to the point where I feel they know too much for whatever reason, I get a new gmail account and suddenly I am a 'new man'. Admittedly they could probably have a good go at linking the two email accounts and working out that I was the same person if they really wanted to but my betting is that they don't care.

Hainey

4,381 posts

199 months

Monday 8th June 2015
quotequote all
ManFromDelmonte said:
Hainey said:
Because 24hr continual cross referenced GPS tracking allied to an sophisticated algorithm on collated user search data is just SO much less worrying, isn't it hehe

For me though, I've had it where her and I have had conversations and chrome has been open in the same room, and the next day you find targeted advertising based on that conversation WITHOUT putting the subjects of that conversation into a search string.

Worrying much? For me, yes.
You see, this sort of thing doesn't really worry me. All it means is that I see adverts for things I am interested in or likely to buy rather than adverts for hearing aids, tampons, kids toys etc.

If it ever gets to the point where I feel they know too much for whatever reason, I get a new gmail account and suddenly I am a 'new man'. Admittedly they could probably have a good go at linking the two email accounts and working out that I was the same person if they really wanted to but my betting is that they don't care.
Hey, if you're fine with it, then more luck to you. Seriously. thumbup

When you say 'they could have a good go' though, believe me, it's not even a nanosecond.

I just don't like the intrusivity of technology, and the more I learn of it the less I like it. I'm a simple person at heart.

Give me ten years and I'll be the daft old sod living in a wood somewhere making my own electricity from a stream and a water wheel hehe

Surfr

629 posts

194 months

Monday 8th June 2015
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mft said:
Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
Or, more likely, you searched for birthday presents last year? Birthdays being nice and predictable for automated targeted advertising on an annual basis.

JonRB

74,398 posts

271 months

Thursday 11th June 2015
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Last night I accidentally bought a Corsair 512GB SSD to replace my existing perfectly good Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD primary boot drive.

Plan is to ghostzilla the old one to the new one, expand the partition to maybe 320GB, and then have a dual boot Linux partition on the remaining space. But since I actually have a standalone Linux computer anyway, this qualifies as a frivolous purchase.


Fattyfat

3,301 posts

195 months

Thursday 11th June 2015
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kapiteinlangzaam said:
Ignore the stupid RRP, but this is a nice little bargain:

£10.94!!





http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40PC-PRO-TAP-AND-DIE-SET...

<2 days delivery internationally too, free in the UK.

Havent used them in anger yet, but it looks good enough and amazing for the price.
I have one of these sets. About what you'd expect for a tenner.

fathomfive

9,876 posts

189 months

Thursday 11th June 2015
quotequote all
Martin_M said:
JonRB said:
Oops. Just accidentally bought a Hubsan X4 H107C



£38 inc Amazon Prime delivery. Not quite as cheap as it was in the Lightning Deal last week that I missed out on but only a fiver more.

Should be delivered on Saturday. Hopefully I won't have broken it by Sunday. But at least crash packs are very cheaply and readily available.
I know it's just a toy but it looks like a laugh and it's not going to break the bank at that price.

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 4th June 21:18
So is it any good?
I bought one before xmas as a gift to myself.

Quite a fun little thing to fly around the house. 5 to 7 minutes battery life, 1.5hrs to charge via USB / mains adapter.

Can't fall off for the price.

The Nur

Original Poster:

9,168 posts

184 months

Thursday 11th June 2015
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Heading in to Volume 2 soon!

Let the buying of uneccessary things continue long after we have all wandered off and become occupied with something else thumbup

Stig

11,817 posts

283 months

Thursday 11th June 2015
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Just bought another socket set. Seems normal enough....



..except it's 3/4" drive - so I can now service trucks/tanks etc. smile


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