Left 4 dead 1 and 2 STEAM sale

Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 are on sale on steam

$6.79 each or $10.19 USD for both.

LINK.


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one DNS is OK, doubling it is not ok

I have PLDT DSL plan 999. When I first got it, I had difficulty browsing. Its most prominent when I go to a website I havent been to before, like links from a google search. To actually load the website you have to refresh the page a couple of times. If the page has linked pictures from another site like imageshack or photobucket, the images also have trouble appearing. The solution is to use google DNS. IF you dont know what a DNS is, read this.

Right now I got a new Belkin router, a Belkin F6D4230-4.

 In the router configuration page, there is a DNS section. You can input the google public DNS there. However the previous problems resurfaced. I think I licked the problem by resetting the DNS on my PC back to "obtain DNS server automatically", using google DNS only on my router.

I'm still testing it but it looks ok so far.




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Synthetic tests like these can be inaccurate sometimes

Try different servers in different cities. Then try again in 5 min. Sometimes you'll get wildly different results

in reference to: Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test (view on Google Sidewiki)

Camelion FL3L2AA

The Camelion FL3L2AA. Here's a shot of the back of the packaging.




I found this in Marquee mall, Angeles city, Pampanga. Specifically the department store. Cost is PhP 79.00. At this price point I do not expect it to compete with the more powerful flashlights like the maglite.




Build quality is fair. Yellow plastic for the body. the switch is on the side, a sliding switch. The design of the switch and the body looks like this was based on an older model conventional flashlight and the bulb and reflector assembly was replaced by a LED one. Being a sliding switch, there is a hole in the side of the body. Hence this is not a waterproof flashlight.

It uses 2xAA batteries. One quibble is that the upper AA battery can wiggle around a little when you screw on the cap. So the positive end might not make contact with the positive end of the emitter.

The butt end is not completely flat so you cannot stand the light on it. It does have a swing out ring which you can use to hang the flashlight. The ring's hinge again makes a hole in the flashlight body so its not waterproof.




The 3 leds each come with their own reflector so the beam throw is kind of decent. Of course its less than a higher quality light like a maglite. Light intensity is rougly equal to the maglite's low mode.


Pictures of the beam with the camelion on the left, compared to the beam of a maglite on high on the right. You can also note the slightly bluish tinge compared to the maglite's warmer white.




For the price this makes an excellent flashlight for use inside the house. Dont expect it to last long if physically abused or exposed to water though. And dont expect very very long light throw.

I give this 4/5 stars, considering that its really cheap.


Link to official site with specs
link1
link2

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cheap 5x8 paper

SM supermarket sells cheap 4x8 paper. No lines (unruled). Bound with padding glue.

PhP 36 for ~ 500 sheets.

This may be of use if you want to print stuff this size like reciepts, prescription pads, etc but dont want to pay for professional printers. With refilled inkjet printers, it  might be much cheaper specially if the print run is small.

panther surge protector fix

This panther surge protector broke my router. Sa a background, read about my broken router here.

Now Here are pics of the surge protector. I've been using this for almost a year before it exhibited any symptoms.





This is the socket that has a problem.



Those sockets are designed for tool free assembly. They are designed to use solid wire instead of stranded copper wire. To assemble it all you need is to insert the solid wire into the hole and the spring loaded contact will grab onto it. Other designs have screws and you wrap the wire around the screw then tighten the screw.

Now lets look at the hole.

The left one is the hole in question while the right one is a normal hole. Unlike the normal gibbous moon shape, the broken one is a ragged crescent moon shape. So the tip of the contact is broken. This means the wire is free to wiggle around in the hole. This is what caused my problem. Unplug a plug from other sockets and this causes stress which pulls the contact away from the solid wire, causing a spark. The fix is simple



Move the wire from the broken hole (red arrow) to another working hole (blue arrow)

belkin F5D7231-4 internal pictures

I recently broke my belkin router <link>.

Since the warranty is already  over I thought I would post pictures of the inside.




  On the underside of the circuit board you can see some sand colored gunk but its probably not significant. An interesting note is that there is a second internal antenna.

In the pic below I have cropped the relevant area. The connection labeled  below the shiny chrome plated chip labeled CON 1 is where the external antenna is located. To the right of the chrome plated chip is a simple length of sheet metal. This is the internal antenna. Its labeled CON2 but the label is obscured in this shot.






Update: the culprit was my surge protector. Here's how i fixed it.