Teh Blarg » purchases

Spotting a Fake USB Drive from eBay

Raybdbomb — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:13:36 +0000

So I bought a “64GB USB FLASH DRIVE USB 2.0 PEN STICK MEMORY 64GB” from eBay for $23 shipped from China a few weeks ago, and it just came today. I was skeptical, because I’ve had experience with getting incorrectly sized flash memory from those Chinese eBay scammers.

I found this guide, which says

It’s one thing to be sold the wrong size drive, but these “hacked” drives which appear on your computer to be the right size, actually corrupt your valuable data to make it look like it fits on a much smaller capacity memory chip.

I followed their guide, and sure enough, my 64GB drive is closer to 20GB, or 21,850,329,088 bytes. The first file after this amount looks like this:

So I filed a claim on eBay, hoping to get this refunded. Turns out the seller’s account “no longer exists”. Meh. Moral of the story (which I should have already known): if it looks to good to be true, it ~~probably~~ is.

Edit: Ebay gave me a full refund. Hoorah.

16GB Runcore SSD purchased

Raybdbomb — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:55:13 +0000

Got sick of my SuperTalent 32GB SSD aka the slowest and cheapest 32GB SSD you can get for the Dell Mini 9.

So I purchased a 16GB Runcore aka the fastest 16GB SSD you can get, used from [H]. It might arrive before vacation, but I won’t plan on it.

Mini Upgrades

Raybdbomb — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:06:44 +0000

So, I bought the Mini 9, still about 3 weeks before it comes, but I knew I’d want to upgrade it. So I recently purchased:
Super Talent 32GB SSD and 2GB ram module to replace the 512MB ram module.
8 cell 77WHr battery, to replace the built-in 32WHr 4 cell battery.

I expect both of these to come before the mini, but that’s alright…

Dell Inspiron Mini 9n Netbook Purchased

Raybdbomb — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:08:46 +0000

I just sold my Wii, so I had money to burn. I was looking at ultraportable notebooks a few months ago (and by ultraportable notebooks, I really meant netbooks; the cheap linux based gutless systems, not the 8x-the-price fully fledged systems like the Macbook Air), and I ended up scrapping the idea, but recently I’ve been thinking of nice it might be to be able to take a netbook places, even just in the house. Sure I use a notebook already, but it’s even a hassle to disassemble it and move it around the house. I’d never take it from my living room to the bedroom, for instance, because it’s too much work to haul everything.

So, I just purchased what I would consider to be a very slick deal, a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook. The price was right,
$249 base
- $50 instant for EPP
- 7% for EPP
+ 9.99 for shipping
- 9.99 shipping discount for EPP
Final price: $185.07

Configured thusly:
Black chassis
Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
512MB DDR2 at 533MHz
8GB Solid State Drive
Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024×600)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
32WHr Battery (4 cell)
Ubuntu Linux version 8.04.1
1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

It’s not expected to arrive for about a month, but I’m pretty stoked. I plan to upgrade it and hax it out pretty heavily, and maybe even get hackintosh up and running on it (this is the only fully hackintoshable netbook).

Lamar Cruiser 163cm Snowboard purchased

Raybdbomb — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:48:07 +0000

Found a pretty good deal on a Lamar Cruiser 163cm Snowboard with M3 bindings and Airwalk size 14 boots (on flickr). Since I’m going snowboarding next week and I hate how pricey they are to rent, I figure that this will get some once-a-year use out of me for the rest of my life. Or then again, maybe I will use them next week, and never again.

Purchased a 2GB MicroSD for the Mogul

Raybdbomb — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:57:05 +0000

Bought a 2GB MicroSD card for my Sprint HTC Mogul, with hopes to install DCD’s stripped down WM 6.1 ROM, and eventually the Google Android work in progress. Hopefully to all wrap up by next week.

Purchased a 70-300m telephoto lens

Raybdbomb — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:45:42 +0000

When I went to Cleveland, I borrowed a buddy’s 70-300m telephoto lens for my Canon DSLR camera. I liked it a lot, so I wanted one. I just bought the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras, the price was right .

Bicycle

Raybdbomb — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:05:14 +0000

It’s a shame that I don’t ride a bike to work, as close as I live to my job. It now costs me $50 to fill up my tank. Even though it only happens every other week or so, I think that’s WAY too much money.

So I decided to substitute one tank for a bike, and ride it to and fro work all summer at least. I’m looking on Craigslist for a ~$50 bike, hopefully to have by the end of this week. Then I just have to buy a helmet and lock and I’m set. Hilarity ensues, stay tuned for hawt pix.

New Camera: Canon EOS 400D – Digital Rebel XTi

Raybdbomb — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:24:55 +0000

I FINALLY bought a new camera, the Canon EOS 400D, aka the Digital Rebel XTi. I bought it with the 18-55mm lens, new from Dell, retail price minus auto 15% and $70 from my laptop purchase, came to $609 shipped.

I took some (blurry) pictures of it, hopefully the last blurry pictures I take EVAR.

Compare that (or any of my pictures in the past) to these

Next step:
1) Get a flickr pro account (100MB/month = lame)
2) Figure out how to migrate from my gallery (gallery2) to flickr

Dell Vostro 1500 laptop purchased

Raybdbomb — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:18:58 +0000

I’ve been looking for reviews on the Dell Vostro 1500, and I finally found a few. It seems as though all around the board, it’s a decent system that is fairly bulky, has average battery life, and has the potential for great specs.

I’ve been saving for awhile, so, I committed to buying it today. I found the deal I needed on SlickDeals. It wasn’t any $750 off $1500, but it made the price good enough to take.

I bought the system at its base, with an upgraded LCD, graphics card, and warranty. Specs:

*Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Home
15.4 in Wide Screen SXGA+LCD Display w/TrueLife™
*1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Get $70 Dell Dollars w/3Yr Ltd Warranty and Next Business Day On-Site Svc

For $968.00 with free shipping. The items prepended with * are those which I plan to upgrade as time and money allows.

Now to sell my Dell Inspiron 700m. Most likely on eBay. It’s school season, eBay prices on laptops are inflated at least $100 .