2015 - Page 5 of 6 - TBNI.Blog - The Official TBNI.Blog

Unboxing : Tech21 Special Ops Combat Case

May 12, 2015 by TomBoyNI

I was just going through some old folders and found a few unboxing of products that I didn’t get publishing. Time moved on, my tech moved on and these products got forgot about.

However some of these products do need a little bit of showcasing. The first one I will upload is a tough case for the iPhone 5. It is the Tech21 Special Ops Combat case. Tech21 do a full range of cases from the reasonably subtle right up to this one.

This case utilises 3DO – a great product that takes the bang out of impacts and in doing so should protect your gear fantastically well. Of course this case is big and bulky, but it is protective. It has a built in screen shield so if you already have a screen guard installed it may well cause water marking. That is the only issue I experienced with this case, but I would class it as a direct competitor to the Otterbox Defender and Griffin Survivor Range and if you keep your eyes out you can pick this case up now at a fraction of its original £49.99 retail price!

I was hugely impressed by this case, so much so that this was the final case I put my iPhone 5 in before upgrading and it remained in it for a couple of months.

It’s Race Week… Vauxhall International 2015 North West 200 – NW200

May 12, 2015 by TomBoyNI

Just a quick note to all the riders, teams, and spectators, have a great and safe Race Week! Keep an eye on my twitter where I should be live on Thursday and Saturday!

It’s gonna be great. And if you can’t get down there check out the BBC for live coverage of ALL practice and race sessions!

Let’s go Tyco BMW!

http://www.northwest200.org

Vauxhall International 2015 North West 200 - Race Week — Vauxhall International 2015 North West 200 – Race Week

Apple iPod Classic (7th Generation) 160 GB Unboxing

April 29, 2015 by TomBoyNI

As I am sure you are no doubt well aware Apple discontinued their iPod Classic Range towards the end of 2014 siting lack of component parts as the main reason. Since that announcement the price of any remaining iPod Classics shot through the roof so much so that a poor condition example would have easily fetched more than the cost of a brand new item when they were readily available. Mint in box / Sealed examples often fetched more than £1000 as Apple fans and annoying overly rich hipsters grasped out to shady resellers and greedy ba£$%!ds on the likes of gumtree who hoovered up all remaining stock and put these ridiculous price tags on the items!

This trend has now taken a turn for the better and Apple have begun to regularly issue Refurbished Items on their official Store priced at a bargain £162 GBP. The eBay traders are now having to wise up with their prices, but forget them, get yourself over to Apple and pick one up where you will benefit from 1 years Apple Warranty and the option of upgrading the warranty with AppleCare, which co-incidently I picked up on eBay for a mere £15 GBP.

The Refurb items will sell out quickly so have a look on your choosen AppStore for an app called ‘RefurbMe’ with this you can set up alerts to push to your phone the second new items come on the Refurb Store. In the UK this is normally around 2300 – 0100 hrs so expect a late night / early morning bing and be prepared to get ordering straight away.

I am not going to even bother with the likes of a review for the iPod, it is an icon and needs no introduction, just know that this beast holds so much music you’ll never listen to it all and it even plays videos. Oh and this is the old 30 PIN connector so hopefully you haven’t chucked out all of you old tech just because the lightning adapter appeared!

This article was written on 29/04/2015 and at this point Apple were regularly releasing Refurb’d iPod Classics on the UK Certified Refurbished Store. I placed my order on 02/04/2015 and they have come back into stock approximately 4 times since then. Obviously this could cease at any point without warning and let’s be honest it will stop sooner rather than later as I doubt many are returned and refurbished on the grand scale of things, so if you are interested in one get an alert set up and be ready to Click on Buy asap!

iPod Classic (7th Generation) 160GB Certified Refurbished Unboxing Gallery :

Pebble Watch Unboxing

April 29, 2015 by TomBoyNI

With my annual trip over to the Gadget Show Live, this year I picked myself up a Pebble Watch. With the imminent release of the Apple Watch at the time I was curious if a Smart Watch had a place in my life, but the price tag of £299 GBP was more than I was prepared to spend on a effectively what would be a trail.

As is plainly evident from this blog my watch of choice is a G-Shock, so moving to a delicate Smart Watch is a big move.

The deal on the Pebble Watch was great with a show special of £80 so I jumped on the Smart Watch ship.

Pebble Watch Unboxing Gallery :

Dakar 2016 Routes and Stages Unveiled… The Odyssey!

April 28, 2015 by TomBoyNI

Some day I will be doing this! Until such a time all I can do is follow it, and here is what I / we will be following in January 2016!

★OFFICIAL 2016 DAKAR ROUTE★

Today, the stages of the 2016 edition have been unveiled in Argentina:
3/01 – Stage 1: Lima – Pisco
4/01 – Stage 2: Pisco – Nazca
5/01 – Stage 3: Nazca – Arequipa
6/01 – Stage 4: Arequipa – Lago Titicaca
7/01 – Stage 5: Lago Titicaca – Oruro
8/01 – Stage 6: Oruro – Uyuni
9/01 – Stage 7: Uyuni – Salta
11/01 – Stage 8: Salta – Belén
12/01 – Stage 9: Belén – Belén
13/01 – Stage 10: Belén – La Rioja
14/01 – Stage 11: La Rioja – San Juan
15/01 – Stage 12: San Juan – Villa Carlos Paz
16/01 – Stage 13: Villa Carlos Paz – Rosario
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#‎Dakar2016‬

Grip Puppies Installation – BMW F800GS Adventure

March 31, 2015 by TomBoyNI

Grip Puppies are a well regarded, and cheap, addon for your bike that is designed to increase grip and improve comfort mainly by cutting down the vibrations that travel along the handlebars, through your hands and into your arms, often leaving you with that horrid tingling feeling when you get off the bike.

Coming in at a mere £15 they are definitely worth considering. I have had them on my bike for about 1500 miles and at this stage I can confirm that they absolutely increase comfort and decrease shaky hands at the end of a trip (or even earlier). For me they don’t eliminate the sensation completely, but they definitely cut it down and ‘recovery’ time is far less. That has to be a bonus!

There is one negative, if you have heated grips these will decrease the efficiency of them. The heated grips will still work but it will take noticeably longer for the heat to reach you and they will appear to have a reduced temperature.

G Shock GD-120-CM-4ER Unboxing

March 31, 2015 by TomBoyNI

The latest G-Shock to my collection, and a lovely birthday present, is the Red Camo GD-120-CM-4ER. With its large face (one of the XL sizes) and reverse display it has instantly become one of my favourite Gs. Also without doubt it gets the most positive reaction of any of my watches, so far with universal approval from everyone who has spotted it. Having worn it daily for almost a month I have no complaints, the strap has kept its design flawlessly, my only rather minor gripe is that the retaining band, like most gets stained, what starts out as a nice bright red quickly becomes dull and almost dirty looking. Thankfully it is a minor issue, and one that would rarely ever be seen. The important aspect being the strap so far is holding out flawlessly. One final thing, this is not a discreet watch, however Im pretty sure you already know that!

By way of information, in relation to replacements and repairs, a new strap and bezel will be costly, coming in at around £55 for both delivered from Casio.

Wear it, enjoy it!

Solar Eclipse : 20th March 2015 : Northern Ireland :

March 20, 2015 by TomBoyNI

The Solar Event of the decade is how it has been described and this morning from about 8.30 am until almost 10.00 am a partial solar eclipse occurred over our skies. The previous two days could only be described as glorious in relation to the weather so it was very disappointing to wake up to a grey, overcast and ultimately rainy morning.

Obviously the eclipse won’t stop on account of the weather however a small miracle occurred and just as the eclipse was reaching its maximum point a little break opened up in the clouds giving a good view of the event and even letting me snap a few photos :

I also put together a time lapse video, unfortunately the cloud cover is too much for my GoPro but it does show the difference in light quite nicely and let’s face it time lapse videos are cool! Check it out here : (The water does get dried off giving a proper view when the rain stops)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJKeaxNr-c]

PlayStation Mobile Store Set to Close July 2015 :

March 20, 2015 by TomBoyNI

PlayStation Mobile is/was a store for the PS Vita certain Android smartphones, which enabled the purchase and download of indie games and some PlayStation classics. Unfortunately in July 2015, Sony will completely close this service down. Playstation Mobile came to being in October 2012.

Sony has stated that as of September 10th, previously purchased games won’t be able to be downloaded again.

You will however still be able to play games you have downloaded as long as you activate your device. Details on how to Activate can be found on the Sony Website here : PlayStation website.

It’s believed that the shutdown is due to a poor adoption rate, and comes as no real shock as Sony dropped support for Android phones running 4.4.3 or newer in 2014.

The good news is Remote Play will be unaffected and PS Vita owners will still be able to mirror PS4 games when connected to the same network.

Looking further into this is seems this only affects the Playstation Mobile Stores – the store focused on Indie Games and PS Classics, so hopefully the full PS Store will continue to support new PS Vita games and the downloading of them! Hopefully?!?

TomTom Rider V5 Hardwiring to BMW Can Bus Port (Aux Port / Sat Nav Port)

February 18, 2015 by TomBoyNI

BMW very kindly supply you with a Can Bus Supported Auxiliary Port on a range of their bikes that means you can easily wire your Sat Nav into the bike, meaning it will be powered from the battery of the motorcycle, however when you turn the bike off the Can Bus System then shuts down the power to the sat nav a short time later resulting no power going to the sat nav cradle and no battery drain.

Well that is the theory anyway, however some users have experienced battery drain and blame this set up, claiming that the Can Bus System isn’t compatible with their Sat Nav. That may be and BMW won’t say officially if that may be the case, stating only that their ‘Sat Nav’ port is for use solely with their Navigator System, and why not if you want to be 100% sure that everything is going to work beautifully together then you need to hand over £700 for the privilege.

Disclosure :