I delayed making this video for months. I really thought that installing XBMC would be a lot more complicated than it was. I anticipated that I would be fiddling about with settings and configuration files for hours, but in reality the whole process turned out to be a surprisingly simple formality.

If after watching this video you like the idea of having a Raspberry Pi powered media centre but still aren't confident about configuring your SD card (and you live in the UK) you can even buy a Pre-Loaded SD card.

I don't know if this is the cheapest way you can get XBMC on your TV...and at times the menus can be a tad laggy, but the features that make this configuration particularly appealing to me are the Airplay capability and the fact it can be powered directly from my TV. 

Total Costs: Under £45

Raspberry Pi  £28 for a Model B (512mb). 

Wifi Dongle £12 - All from CPC Farnell. (You can get other dongles for £5 on ebay)

Case £2.58 From Ebay

All the other items I used were already in the house (HDMI Cable, 1 amp USB Charger, SD Card, Keyboard Remote).

The Lenovo N5902 I used is overkill. An MCE Remote will be more than sufficient. 

By the way - I know there are a few continuity errors in this video which I'm fully expecting youtube commenters with way too much time on their hands to bring up....4GB cards becoming 32GB cards, WiFi dongles changing ports - references to keyboards and mice on the setup screens which don't appear in the video and vanishing ornaments. These things come from shooting a video over three different days, spread across two weeks....that and I had to let my continuity team have the week off (as well as the fact they don't exist anyway).

In case anyone is interested, the film playing in the video is 'The Brain', AKA 'Le Cerveau', a 1969 French caper movie with the dream cast of David Niven, Belmondo and Bourvil. 

In the video I mention that you can download a sample of the footage I recorded in it's new 1080p60 mode. CLICK HERE to download this file from Dumptruck. 

You can see from the comments posted under my previous AS10 vs White video that people can get very excitable about action cameras. They'll defend a particular manufacturer's range as though their life depended on it. So for those individuals, I'd like to reiterate,  I'm not saying this is better or worse than any other model from any other manufacturer. The world isn't that simple. Decide what camera you want....but don't try and tell other people that it's what they want too, that's something for them to decide. 

I broke away from doing this review when Blackvue and Hetai sent me their latest dashcams but now that those reviews are complete I've finally found the time to finish this video.

In the meantime I've found that this camera is a knock-off of the real GSE550 made by DOD. I'd imagine that the original DOD version is in a completely different league from this camera. 

I was very tempted to just delete the project off my hard drive, and start on something more interesting….but after spending £68 and countless hours, I wanted to have something to show for my efforts, so here it is, a review of a camera that really wasn't worth reviewing.

If you like the design of the camera, but would prefer a version that works properly - then this link will take you to both auctions of the real DOD GSE550 and the knock-off version I bought and reviewed. 

A few weeks ago SpikenzieLabs sent me over their Calculator Kit. Unfortunately it arrived just before I took a few weeks off so this review has been delayed somewhat.

I'm old enough to remember when pocket Calculators first became affordable. I recall getting a £30 Commodore Calculator with a red LED display in 1977. A young child doesn't have much use for a calculator…but it's something I desperately wanted at the time.  

Over the years calculators have become disposable items. The last one I bought came from a pound shop, It's very poorly constructed, but it does work.

This SpikenzieLabs kit brought back some of the feeling of wonder and excitement that I would have felt all those years ago when I unboxed my first calculator. The bright red segmented display, solid chunky construction, and large responsive keys reminded me that cheaper isn't necessarily better. 

The work that goes into designing and manufacturing a kit like this doesn't come cheap. However if you've bought any Lego recently, you'll know that quality and precision always come at a premium price.  

You can buy this kit direct from the Spikenzielabs website. 

WIN A FULLY CONSTRUCTED CALCULATOR KIT (Closing date 31 May 2013)

One lucky individual can receive a fully assembled calculator free of charge. In addition to the model that I assembled in the video I was also sent a kit with a board soldered professionally by the chaps at Spikenzielabs, I've assembled this one too and am now giving it away.

To win it…all you have to do is tell me the Make & Model of the item I unbox in my Unboxing with a twist...guess the contents video from May 3rd.

Follow me on Twitter and send me a tweet containing the answer (You'll see my Twitter feed in the blue column on the right) and I'll get in touch with the winner on the 1st June 2013 to arrange delivery.

This video explains the purpose of car cameras, what features are useful and which ones are unnecessary. 

Feel free to send this video link (below) to any friends or relatives who want to know more about 'those car camera things'.

http://youtu.be/HQ0Tm9FFpKM

I'm always on the look out for the cheapest decent-quality action camera and this is definitely one worth considering. It's smaller and cheaper than Chinavasion's Crocolis and Xdreme cameras that I reviewed previously from Chinavasion.  If you like the look of the Proview and want to buy one then please CLICK HERE.

I mentioned in the video that the clips from the camera look a bit jerky in the review - they don't look jerky if you play back the original clips from the camera, and I'd recommend you DOWNLOAD MY ORIGINAL CLIPS FROM HERE. (Note most of these have been trimmed for length - but not re-coded in any way). These clips are stored on Dumptruck- this is a site that takes a few seconds to load up initially, so please be patient.

I am still searching for the elusive sub £50 water-resistant HD action camera with a microphone-in socket (this isn't a feature included on this camera). A lot of people like the idea of a helmet side-mountable camera with a microphone socket that can also survive a rain shower.  This is something I receive a lot of emails requests for, so I should re-iterate here that I haven't found a camera that fits these requirements yet….but when I do, I'll be sure to review it.

Apologies that my voiceover is a bit blown-out at times at the beginning of this video…I accidentally nudged some settings and thanks to everyone who sent me messages during my enforced absence and I'm sorry that I couldn't respond to them all. Hopefully I can get back to my usual irregular update schedule now. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE - Contrary to what I mention in the video, the lens does rotate. This allows it to be twisted either 90º or 180º. The reason that this is important is because it means the camera can be mounted on the side of a helmet using the clip on the base and then the lens rotated at 90º. This also resolves the upside-down timestamp issue. 

However when a large interesting-looking box arrived from abroad...I couldn't resist sharing. I've added a twist to this unboxing though, see if you can figure out the parcel contents from the clues I give, before I've finished unpacking it.

This video was just uploaded as a bit of fun. The real reason that this clip exists is a little more mundane. I had my camera and tripod nearby and thought it would be a good idea to record the unpacking if I needed proof that the fragile contents had been damaged in transit so I could claim on the parcel insurance. As it was, the packing job was one of the best I've ever seen and the contents were in perfect condition.

In future I'll continue to quickly skip past the unboxing steps of any product demonstration and get on with the review. I'll leave unboxing videos to the 'experts'.

The reason I'm telling you this is because afterwards I'm going to take approx 10 days off and therefore won't be updating the site or responding to comments, messages or emails during this time.

Making decent quality voiceovers will be impossible until things heal up, so apologies to anyone who has sent me items to review - I'll get to these as soon as I can when I'm back up and running properly.

(UPDATE - Surgery was successful, but recovery is likely to take a while - next site update -  May 2013)

To give you something to do in the meantime... here is another in my occasional series of Trips Down Memory High-Street.

Below is a Christmas 1985 Catalogue from the UK High Street Electrical Retailer Laskys. Laskys was less common than Dixons (in more ways than one). Their product line was a bit more upmarket and aspirational, for example they sold HiFi separates where Dixons preferred ready assembled Mini Systems.

I remember the Laskys in Manchester's Arndale Centre as being a long dark cave filled with flashing LEDs and VU meters. When I started working in Manchester a couple of years after this 1985 catalogue was printed, I regularly visited their shops to lust over the CD Portable Boomboxes which would have cost me well over a month's wage at the time. This catalogue is interesting because it claims to feature the "Worlds First" portable Compact Disc Stereo, which cost £399, the CD555 from Philips.

Another very strong Laskys memory I have from around this time, probably the same shopping visit where I picked this very catalogue up, was seeing an demonstration of an Atari ST and its High Resolution SM124 Monochrome Monitor with the (at the time) impressive resolution of 640x400 at 71.2hz. It was the first time I'd seen a computer display that didn't flicker and looked to my eyes then, as sharp and white as a piece of paper.

Other things to look for in this catalogue are the Sony WMW800 Back-to-Back Tape-to-Tape Walkman, an Aiwa Personal Stereo with a wired Remote Control - something I remember being desperate to own, a Panasonic 'portable music system' with a slide out turntable, the last of the Disc cameras, a Casio B&W pocket TV, the Nintendo Donkey Kong 3 Micro Vs LCD Game, and the popular James Bond Musical Alarm LCD watch. CDs were already well established by the time this catalogue was printed with various players available, including a twin disc model and portables including the D50 from Sony.

The competition to win the Golf GTI has expired now so don't bother entering, I think the car has probably been scrapped by now too. The thought of getting the sum of £50 spending money for your free holiday made me smile.

Laskys was bought out by Comet in 1989, and the branches disappeared completely, but the name was resurrected in 2006 as an online retailer, which then disappeared when the Comet chain closed in December 2012.

My two previous experiences with iPad keyboards had been less than satisfactory...but it seems like things have moved on in leaps and bounds since then. One of my main objections to using a physical keyboard with the iPad in the past was the constant need to revert back to touching the screen to do things like move the cursor or use cut and paste. Now I don't know whether Apple has revised the way that the iPad can interact with a bluetooth keyboard - or whether the previous keyboards I used were just particularly poor - but it transpires that functions like these can now be accessed directly from the keyboard itself. This makes a physical keyboard a much more attractive and useful proposition. I didn't demonstrate it in the video - but Command X, C, V also work for Cut, Copy and Paste and B, I and U operate Bold Italic and Underline as expected.

Now as this was a pre-production version I was advised that there were a couple of things that are being tidied up before release - the open to wake function has yet to be implemented and the rubber pads to protect the iPad are not the finished article. The case is due out in a few weeks and I can see it being very popular with people who like to travel light and type everywhere. 

I post these blog entries from a laptop - if I had to type them on an iPad screen it would be torture. The Belkin Ultimate Keyboard case would make jobs like this a breeze, even in the cramped conditions of an economy (coach) seat on an airplane. The price is right at the top end - but people who make their living from typing will appreciate the true value of a quality product like this.

One thing I didn't mention in the video was it's weight, it's probably lighter than my normal iPad case - according to the Belkin website it's just 17 ounces or 481 grams.

More information is available from Belkin themselves - links below

Belkin US

Belkin UK

This is a fully featured, highly specified, yet easy to use device which warranted a very complicated review. With the built in GPS, WiFi and supplied software there was so many things to demonstrate that I that I ended up creating what is possibly one of my most detailed (and quite probably long winded) videos yet.

Normally once I complete a review of a car camera I immediately remove the mount from the car so I can move on to the next one... but with this one I've left it in place. That's because I hope to be able to revisit this one again if a firmware update is released which resolves the issues I experienced during my week of testing.

This specification of camera commands a premium price (£250-£300) and the best place to obtain one appears to be eBay.

I have uploaded a zip file containing original 1080p & 720p clips here.

Update - Thanks to Stefan Leone in the youtube comments for providing the fix for the GPS mislocation bug. This is resolved by downloading the latest V1.001 of the Player software from the Blackvue website here.