More Accessible Gaming Audio

My Concern

It’s not well known but I have a speech processing issue. I have a really hard time decyphering audio for voice communication. It’s so bad I rely on sub titles to watch video content with speech as well as read lips in meat space when with others.

My problem works like this: my hearing is good (I hear noises just fine) but I cannot hear people speak in terms of words. That seems odd, correct. I know a human is talking at me but all I hear is the sound of their voice, not words. It’s like hearing a guitar in a song, it’s noise but not words (speech).

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Tech  Gaming 

Death of the Laptop

A Surface Duo foldable phone connected to the NexDock and a PuckBuddy ready for use as a laptop

Figure 1: My initial desk setup

Changelog

2023-02-18
Add note about device swaps and Android 13 upgrade issues

Update 2023-02-18

As of 2023-02-18 I no longer use a OnePlus 8T or Microsoft Surface Duo, both of which are described below. The OnePlus 8T received an Android 13 update that was so buggy for desktop mode, it was unusable. The Surface Duo received an Android 13 update that forced desktop mode to only allow using Remote Desktop for some kind of ‘convergence mode’ that isn’t officially announced or released as of this writing.

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Smart Coffee Mugs – Seriously

The Ember mug on my desk next to my water bottle, microphone and keyboard. It's on the left hand side of the desk.

Figure 1: The mug on my desk

TLDR

I was recently whining to a friend about how my Honeybush Tea always ends up cold and I end up always going back to warm it up over the course of a day. They mentioned they were gifted an Ember Mug (link) recently and suggested it is actually worth looking into. Despite my initial hesitations, I’m not upset by the purchase. When the nerds that avoid smart tech admit they were wrong, it’s something worth looking at closer.

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Cyber Decks and KISS

A Surface Duo folding phone, Elecom Bitra trackball, 7skb keyboard, The Paintbrush keyboard shown setup how I might use them day to day

Figure 1: The Hardware

How I came to have a cyber deck that gets out of my way and allows me to focus on creation, not consumption

Prelude

For years I have seen posts about cyber decks and always wondered why people build them. I think I finally “Get It” while also not at all understanding why people build the decks I see posted online.

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Music Galore

A FiiO m11, 2 sets of FiiO UTWS1's, 2 Shure BT cables, 2 balanced headphone wires, DAC, hearing protection, molded ear pieces, standard ear pieces, broken Sure ear buds

Figure 1: The Kit

Full Disclosure

I am NOT paid or affiliated with any of the productions linked/mentioned/etc in this post. I did NOT receive review units, perks or any contact from these companies ahead of writing this post.

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Organizers [Universally Stink]

Good Intention, Failure Imminent

I intended to write a post about all the systems and ideas I’ve tried over the years. Instead it was more appropriate to call bullshit and tell you it’s a brain wiring problem and until you find something that ‘clicks’ it’ll just be failure after failure and soul crushing.

This post is meant to inspire you to think about organization systems and let you know that you’re not alone with this topic. It’s a non-trivial concern for people and it can take a long time to find a good organization system tuned to an individuals needs. Don’t worry: I’ll let you know what works for me but it’s not dogma, gospel, the best or anything else. What I use to stay organized works for me, I have no illusions it’s a strange system that won’t work for most humans walking the planet.

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IPFS | Data Persistence For Web Content

What Is IPFS?

IPFS (link) is a distributed filesystem. It’s basically a peer to peer, global storage engine that allows content to be stored and cached globally.

Think of a large website like Amazon that stores copies of their files in multiple locations all over the globe. IPFS does something similar and can be used by anyone, not just one of the largest companies on the planet. This allows your content to be served by a globally distributed network and without having to run a massive amount of your own server infrastructure.

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Tech 

Pocket Notebooks and Every Day Carries

Forward

Let’s get this out of the way up front, shall we?

There is a ton of information on how to build an EDC (every day carry) notebook setup on the internet. Like most things on the internet it’s not all great info and more than a few holy wars can be encountered. I’m a programmer by day and enjoy analog writing as a hobby. To say I’ve seen the holy wars erupt and turn decent people into toxic mushrooms feeding on feces would be understatement.

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FiiO F9 Pro Mini Review

The FiiO F9 Pro box and its contents sitting on a desk

Figure 1: What I Bought

In short : I could have bought the FiiO F9 Pro’s instead of the Shure SE215’s.

I recently had both of my Shure ear bud / in ear monitor setups break on me. To say I was a bit pissed off is great understatement. Thankfully they are within the warranty period and I shouldn’t have to pay for fixes. I’ll be posting about that later hopefully.

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Satisfactory (A Game Review)

A screenshot showing a very large area of storage containers as well as a large number of advanced machines

Figure 1: A screenshot of my day to day factory

Full Disclosure

I am not affiliated with any company, website, organization or similar behind the items in this post.

I found the game Satisfactory through my Steam recommendation queue, thought it was worth trying and ended up playing it for a week.

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