Technology and Gadgets Thread

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donbosco said:
Any thoughts on this model? $34.99 seems awful cheap.

#2: "HP OfficeJet 200 Portable Wireless Inkjet Color Printer" Link --> Site Maintenance
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I see it as $289.99.

Also, that's a travel printer that you can take with you alongside a laptop. It may be what you're looking for, but I'm not sure.
 
SnoopRob said:
I see it as $289.99.

Also, that's a travel printer that you can take with you alongside a laptop. It may be what you're looking for, but I'm not sure.
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I agree with this assessment. These type printers were designed and built for a narrow, specific use, as described by SnoopRob. Unless that narrow, specific use is exactly what you need, you are very likely to be disappointed by it even if it was being given away, new in the box, for free.
 
Printing anything in 2025 is wild to me. The previous owners left us their printer when we moved into our new house almost three years ago. I was reorganizing my office recently and realized that I hadn't used the printer even once since moving in nor could I think of a time that it would have been convenient to use. It's now on the list for my wife to post in her Buy Nothing group and I have more desktop real estate available in my office.
 
JCTarheel82 said:
Printing anything in 2025 is wild to me. The previous owners left us their printer when we moved into our new house almost three years ago. I was reorganizing my office recently and realized that I hadn't used the printer even once since moving in nor could I think of a time that it would have been convenient to use. It's now on the list for my wife to post in her Buy Nothing group and I have more desktop real estate available in my office.
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Most of my use comes from (a) having a student who occasionally needs to print things and (b) occasionally needing to print things for work.

Rarely do I print things for personal reasons.
 
Good stuff on the printers...going to make a purchase very soon.

Got another question -- Is it true that a DVD can be converted to an MP4 relatively easily?

Assuming that is something that I can do then anyone have an idea if then THAT might be screenable over Zoom Technology?
 
Went to CES again this year. Really quite disappointed, felt the same as last year. We may have reached maximum consumer electronic density. The new 'cool' things just didn't really resonate. Transparent TVs? Why?
 
CRHeel94 said:
We don't print enough at home to justify it...at least that was the conclusion I reached last time I was at that decision point.
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That’s the reason you should use a laser. I print about once as month. The cartridges in my old ink jet would dry up between uses. It was costing me about $10 per page. That’s a non-issue with the laser

Correction - the ink jet was an Epson. The laser is a hp.
 
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donbosco said:
Good stuff on the printers...going to make a purchase very soon.

Got another question -- Is it true that a DVD can be converted to an MP4 relatively easily?

Assuming that is something that I can do then anyone have an idea if then THAT might be screenable over Zoom Technology?
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A friend recommends Handbrake for doing this type of thing. Anyone familiar?
 
donbosco said:
Good stuff on the printers...going to make a purchase very soon.

Got another question -- Is it true that a DVD can be converted to an MP4 relatively easily?

Assuming that is something that I can do then anyone have an idea if then THAT might be screenable over Zoom Technology?
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A DVD is screenable over Zoom. I did it so I know that it works.

I'm guessing your issue is either a hardware or hardware/software compatibility issue.

Converting the DVD to an MP4 may or may not solve the problem. It might if it brings the video to a source that works around the problem that the external DVD is experiencing. Or it may not if it trips the same unknown issue you're experiencing with the DVD.
 
chawkheel said:
Not sure Handbrake can rip DRM protected DVDs. Makemkv might be a better solution.
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I'm pretty sure handbrake cannot rip protected DVDs.

I've not ripped a DVD in so long, I won't guess at a good alternative.
 
chawkheel said:
Not sure Handbrake can rip DRM protected DVDs. Makemkv might be a better solution.
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I'm told that there is a file that I need to install in order to do the breaking. Trying to find out about that at present.
 
donbosco said:
So I watched this:



But I do not have a built-in player, will this work with the external one that I have?

And why is this stuff free anyway?
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Yeah, it should still work with an external one.

VLC is open source and has been the best media player for years. It will play just about any type of video or audio file.
 
chawkheel said:
Yeah, it should still work with an external one.

VLC is open source and has been the best media player for years. It will play just about any type of video or audio file.
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Thanks...after tomorrow (huge class load tomorrow) I'll give these things that you and @SnoopRob have suggested a try.
 
chawkheel said:
Have you tried playing the dvd with a media player like VLC?
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VLC is a good choice here. It's pretty flexible in working with a variety of other hardware & software and could be a good way to get around the problem if the issue is a software/software or software/hardware compatibility issue. Good thought, @chawkheel.

As to why it's free, @donbosco, it's a remnant of the old "open source" movement where folks would create internet programs just so that everyone had functional programs that didn't cost a bunch. You don't really see too much of them any longer as many have become outdated, but back in the day it was a big thing that a lot of lower-level or amateur programmer/coder folks did. There were tip jars that you could give the creators funds as appreciation, but you didn't have to.

I kinda miss that part of the internet as opposed to now when it seems as if everything online is owned by a large corporation and as much revenue squeezed out of them as possible.
 
I'm just going to put this here...

Teachers, Students, Education Lovers....ZOOM -- What it was, was ZOOM.

In 2017 I was part of a pedagogical and technological experiment through the Consortium of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) in which I co-taught a public history course focusing on local history. Six pairs of students from liberal arts colleges in MN, NH, TX, NC, MA, and MO met via ZOOM - a distance-learning platform mainly unheard of then but today a ubiquitous teaching tool with which millions have experience.

My students did research in the local archives and wrote about and created public websites that told a story of migration and immigration where they lived. Their work ranged from Congolese immigration to Missouri in the present to late 19th century Finnish migration to New Hampshire. Two of my students focused on how the building of The Blue Ridge Parkway was a factor in forcing, as well as facilitating migration in #WesternNorthCarolina. (#WNC). The pair of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts students zeroed in on the Irish who came to build the Hoosac Tunnel in the 1850s. The Texas focus was on the forced out-migration of The Wichita American Indians and in Minnesota a comparison of the migratory experiences of European Apostolics and Mexicans brought to light important data.

You can access the project and the amazing work that the students did at this link:
Cultural Crossroads: Migration and Community Transformation – A COPLACDigital Project, Fall 2017 (Only “The Finns of Newport” appears to have endured as an individual website: The Finns of Newport )

Distance-learning is now a hot button topic and that continues to heat up. Of course technologies like Zoom, Google Meet, and FaceTime greatly aided society to continue to function during the Global Pandemic. Some people have very strong feelings that those modalities should now be shelved - shoved back into the closet until such time - hopefully never - that they are needed once again. Some people just don’t like the platform. Others, how many is unclear, find them useful and for some things, even superior, to face-to-face meetings. For some others, again how many is unclear, find that these technologies make the otherwise impossible - because of time, distance, work or caregiver demands, disability, health compromises, or simply finances - possible.
Perhaps because of my own early experience with the COPLAC students and their coursework I support Distance-Learning options. In my own case, making the impossible - optimizing my time with my family - is also made possible by this way of teaching. With imaginative use of chat, break-out rooms, and debate formats I have managed to make ZOOM at least as interactive an experience as a brick-and-mortar classroom one. If I had one wish it would be that I could more strongly urge “Cameras On” during class time. Students who do engage with that simplest piece of the technology do better I would argue. But then so too do students that take advantage of office hours options.

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t prefer one over the other. I’m still the teacher in the classroom known for ranging back and forth and up and down through the aisles, using all the whiteboard space available, and prone to the occasional dramatic moment. But I try and bring that same spirit to the ZOOM room. Every teacher has good days and bad, or lesson plans that work or don’t, but that does not have to be tied to the model of delivery. I get it that Distance-Learning (or Teaching) is not for every person but for those with need and commitment this technology is a ready solution. The Article linked below is from 2023.

Read more at this link (And if you can’t access the article message me and I will share): https://www.chronicle.com/article/m...-Today_date_20230606&cid=at&source=&sourceid=
https://www.chronicle.com/article/m...-Today_date_20230606&cid=at&source=&sourceid=
 
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