Handy Tech Under $100 Episode 10 - Better than Ever!

handy tech under a hundred where I normally show you guys some cool affordable tech stuff you can buy is going to be a little different this time around all the items will be priced at over a hundred dollars and none of them are going to be useful so we're going to kick things off then with the Apple watch which I'm just kidding it's the usual thing Corsairs RMI series power supplies feature premium components for great performance with very low noise check out the link in the video description to learn more let's jump right into it no foreplay the first item for today is the kind of thing that I'd recommend ordering now and then putting away in a drawer somewhere for that day when you're running around trying to find a freaking notebook power cord and all you can find is the full-size PC ones adapters like this are available in the $5 range with shipping included if you have a prime account and can adapt from a variety of different power standards with some going as far as to also include a short cord so they can act as an extension now I'm aware that you can also just buy a bunch of c-5 power cords I did but a handful of adapters is lighter and more compact to take with you in a tech tool kit where you'll already be carrying a c14 cord or two our next item is one that i've wanted to make a video about since I did this unboxing of the Razer Ouroboros in my kitchen back in 2012 and was blown away by the space-age material that they put on the base station so I finally got around to getting my hands on some this pack from material sample shop comm includes three a4 size sheets of the material in point three point five and point eight millimeter thickness depending on what you want to use it for the basic idea is pretty simple you peel the adhesive on the one side stick it to the thing that you want to mount to something or hold in place and slap it down the way it works is this material is covered in thousands of tiny suction cups so the flatter the two mating surfaces are and the more contact area they have the better it can be used to mount pictures to flat relatively glossy walls or Windows stick guitar picks to your guitar create DIY seals or gaskets and even hold docks in place much like razer did with the Ouroboros the sky is pretty much the limit it is a bit expensive but when it gets dusty and cruddy eventually you just wipe it with a damp cloth let it dry out and whoops it's good to go I love this stuff finally my USB charging hub doesn't need to fall off my nightstand every night dragging my phone down with it next up is the Yubikey a two-factor authentication device that improves the ease security and convenience of managing your online accounts at least once you go through the gauntlet of getting everything configured the Yubikey itself is pretty straightforward it's a thin USB device about half the width of a port with a touch sensitive button and an NFC radio for use with NFC enabled Android smartphones but where it gets a bit complicated is in the configuration the tools and guides use a lot of acronyms and technical jargon with half a dozen different Windows applications for configuring settings and functionality on the Yubikey site depending on what you're trying to do something you may not realize until you've already downloaded it the good news is that for my purposes using it as an additional authentication factor you can learn more about multi-factor authentication here with LastPass and using it as a windows login key is a pretty basic config with everything in the personalization tool the one that you want to use pretty much left as default and then a quick edit within LastPass to get it set up so the Achilles heel of the Yubikey is also its greatest strength though because as complicated as it might be for new users it is extraordinarily configurable if you want to dive into it so you can make it so the physical key is enough to authenticate you can force the user to touch it no fingerprint ID yet unfortunately but I'd be surprised if that's not coming and you can force the user to have both a UB key and a password but don't worry it has backup and restore settings in case you somehow manage to damage it or lose your keychain or whatever else for our next trick yes this episode of Handy Tech has more than three items we've got the ass probe excuse me the amp probe battery tester it's a simple little gadget that tells you how much life is left if any in your batteries it works with all the usual 1.5 volt varieties triple a double a CD and with nine volts as well and while it really doesn't do anything you couldn't do on your own with a multimeter it's easier to use and presents the results in a way that my sister or my mom could understand and while I might personally really wish that it would tell me the actual voltage instead of just good or replace I can help you guys out by interpreting it for you replace is in the 1.3 volt range and if the needle bounces off the end you're sitting at about one point six volts now frankly I don't know if this is the best such device on the market but it sure helped me sort the batteries in the office into new still good remote control duty and recycle so I consider it a winner especially for the price and finally we've got the Xbox one wireless adapter controller dongle this time I am not recommending a cheapo third-party one they can be a nightmare to find software drivers for and I actually have one died last time around and when I ended up replacing it I realized well now I've spent so much I could have just bought a first-party one anyway and besides at this stage in the game Microsoft has the only one that's compatible with Xbox one controllers anyhow it supports up to eight controllers now twice as many as before for you know all those PC games that support eight-way multiplayer and works with the standard Xbox one controller as well as the fancy-pants elite controller that Luke reviewed here but it does not work with Xbox 360 controllers for that you will still need one of the last generation dongles cool device for sure but it does come with some caveats for some reason we're not quite sure why Microsoft has decided to use the wireless adapter as a way to force users to upgrade to Windows 10 and has refused to provide a software driver for Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1 users so beware of that which I guess concludes handy tech episode 10 except from my usual disclosure section which is pretty simple today because all of the items in today's episode were purchased by me from Amazon and material sample shop comm for use at home or around the office with no prior contact with any of the manufacturers which ties in nicely then to my usual reminder that while I frankly don't care if you buy any of these items if you guys are shopping at Amazon for the holiday season or or any other reason hey check out the guide up here for how to change your Amazon bookmarked one with our affiliate code so when you do shop there we get a small kickback it helps us out a lot and you know what else helps us out a lot today's sponsor Lisa an innovative and disruptive online mattress company and you might be thinking yourself ok well hold on a second mattresses online it's actually not that crazy they describe themselves as kind of like the TOMS shoes or Warby Parker for mattresses for every 10 mattresses they sell they donate one to a shelter and they've done away with all of that awkward mattress showroom experience that we've all suffered through at least I have where you're like you're like laying on the mattress next to your wife and you're just you're kind of like you're standing there watching us this isn't actually how we normally sleep like you normally her head would be on my shoulder or somewhere else or whatever and yeah so this feels really weird so they've taken all that away if you order it online they ship it for free to your doorstep compressed in a box about the size of a mini-fridge the mattress comes in all sizes and is crafted from three unique foam layers including two of memory foam and two of a really cool latex like foam called Avena that helps keep you cool the best part is that while the awkward showroom mattress experience kind of sucks at least it gives you the opportunity to try it before you commit to spend a bunch of money well Lisa's got you covered on that too you have 100 nights to try your mattress risk-free and they start at five hundred and twenty five bucks and as I mentioned before shipping is free but there's more the first 100 viewers link in the video description to redeem promo code line is 75 at checkout get 75 bucks off their order so check that out alright guys thanks for watching if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon I think I mentioned that already in this video buying a cool shirt like this one which we have a proper store now merchant Linus tech tips comm you can actually buy all the old designs or the other thing right direct monthly contribution through the forum now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top right to check out the channel super fun video where the team and I ride on those swegway things and just with each other it's pretty flippin sick

Channel: Linus Tech Tips

Views: 1,160,550

Rating: 4.8890266 out of 5

Keywords: adapter, cable, handy, tech, under, $100, battery, xbox, tape, suction, mounting, charging, useful, gadget, toys, unboxing, review

Id: mHzf-cy_ydk

Length: 9min 33sec (573 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2015