Arashiyama and Sagano are towards the north-west outskirts of Kyoto and are a popular tourist destination for a number of reasons. Given this, you might be wondering why I left it to its own separate posting. Part of the reason...

It’s been quite a bit of an adventure so far in Kyoto – but it’s not over just yet. This will be the final post covering Kyoto and will look at Kyoto Tower, the Kyoto skyline, the Kyoto International Conference...

I don’t consider myself a flash-a-holic, but there’s something really useful about having a bright, reliable, robust, rechargeable flashlight on hand. A quality unit could easily set you back AU$200 (as some of mine did), but I found it worthwhile...

Seen enough temples and shrines? I certainly feel like I’ve been to way too many that it’s almost becoming a blur. But there are a few more that are worthy of note, so I’ll detail them here along with a...

The post series of sightseeing in Kyoto continues … looking back on some rather hot and sunny days in September of 2017 visiting various shrines and temples. Again, these are presented in no particular order, instead it was arranged to...

If you can’t already tell, I’m missing being on holidays, so I’m taking the opportunity to go back in time and share some of the (many) photos from my 2017 trip that have not been shared before. I continue my...

While doing some shopping online, I came across a relatively cheap AU$7 speed controller module that claimed to have a power rating of 4000W. This module also claimed to be an SCR voltage regulator, dimmer and motor speed controller. Looking...

Kyoto is full of temples, shrines and castles to visit. This post continues the run of looking at photos from my 2017 holiday, featuring some of the most photogenic sites in Kyoto presented in a rapid-fire manner. Enjoy the view,...

Since I have some momentum going on revisiting my holidays, in this post, I am looking at my time in the city of Kyoto. A mostly calm, quiet but historically significant place, it is the home of many UNESCO World...

This is the second and final installment which looks at the various other places I visited during my short stay in Singapore in 2017. Obviously, not everything could make it to the blog, but I try to at least have...

Seeing as my last post was about the wildlife reserves of Singapore and given my short stay in Singapore overall, I thought I’d start documenting my 2017 trip from here. It was my second departure from Sydney for the year,...

Earlier this year, before my “ill-fated” overseas holiday, I purchased a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB SSD (MZ-V7S2T0BW) during the Samsung SSD Year End Cashback promotion. Purchased from an authorised reseller, the proof of purchase said it was eligible for...

Seeing as I started my weekend on an animal-based theme, why not end it with another animal-related holiday post as well? I visited Singapore in July-August of 2017 for a couple of weeks, riding about on the public transport and...

After recently posting about the transportation options in Osaka, I remembered just how much I enjoyed travelling overseas and observing new and interesting things. Since that won’t be happening again anytime soon, I suppose it’s a good time to go...

Earlier this year, I went on a (very short) overseas holiday. In preparation for that holiday, I needed something that would charge the variety of Ni-MH and Li-ion cells I had with a minimum of fuss and additional baggage. That...

My previous postings about the Osaka Metro made reference to the multitude of transportation options in Osaka. This post will look at some of these briefly, along with some random observations made while on foot. Kita-Osaka Kyuko The Kita-Osaka Kyuko...

My journeys on the Osaka Metro continue in this posting, which looks at some of the things I’ve missed in the previous post (due to length), the newer lines and the sounds of the Osaka Metro. This post includes a...

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, overseas travel is almost a distant memory. But I’ve travelled quite a bit during 2017 and still haven’t yet had the time to go through all the data I had collected. I wanted to start...

Building devices that sense the environment around them is a very common theme for projects. Building such devices can be daunting, with individual selection of sensors, the “spaghetti” of wire that might come with individual modules and potential software issues....

Around two weeks ago, a friend of mine offered me some of their unwanted old technology. Among the pile on offer was a fax machine. My friend was surprised when I leapt at the chance to grab it – who...

The word “unprecedented” has been used to describe this pandemic more times than I can count and has seemingly lost all its meaning. Phrases like “we’re all in this together” have been used so often to almost no effect as...

For many years, consumers who had wired Ethernet devices in areas where there was no Ethernet connectivity had a few options. The simplest would be to snake a long Ethernet cable along the skirting board. While ugly and a potential...

The convenience and utility of remotely-controlled power switches is difficult to overlook once you’ve gotten used to having them around. Ever since the WeMo, I’ve realised just how useful they can be – for example, no more getting out of...

Something that might surprise my readers is the fact that up until very recently, I’ve never designed any PCBs to be sent off for manufacturing. Despite being an avid fan of electronics, I had a taste of making PCBs back...

If you are a user of the “Opal Travel” app on an Android device, you might have come across an update to the app some time last night: That is usually nothing out of the ordinary. But this week, in...