Product review: Car Window Shade Sun Shade To Protect Your Baby in Rear Seat

On long trips where I am the passanger in the cat I have been using a plastic sun shade held down by suction. These shades are typically used for babies but I have been using it on the passagenger side window.  Suction cups do come off every now and then and a fabric door sleeve sounded like a better idea in theory.

I have tried it on the doors of small size SUV and a small size sedan.  The sleeve I shaped to the car door shape, sloping on one side, taller on the other.  It fit on the rear door of both cars.  It was too small for the front door of wither car.  However, even though the shade is not larger enough to fit over the front door that actually works out fine because it leave the side mirror uncovered and it does not obscure the mirror from the driver's view. 

This sunshade is made out thin nylong fabric. The sun shade does not totally block out the sun, it dims it.  In attached video I show a few comparison with and without the sun shade so you can see the difference.  It does obscure the view through the window, you can see things but not clearly.

If you are using it for a baby in the back seat it works better as you don't need to worry about exposing the side mirror, shaded view out of the window.

The shade size is 20.5" x 31"


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★

Food review: Barber stuffed chicken breasts - Creme Brie Apple

This is my first experience with Barber Foods and I bought Creme Brie and Apple because it sounded like a unique combination of flavors that I am likely to like.   I was not disappointed!  The chicken tasted fresh, the stuffing was creamy and slightly sweet with cranberries adding a bit of tartness.

Making it could not be any easier - just unwrapped and put in the oven.  35 minutes later it is ready to eat.  Each box contains 2 breasts, each breast is 270 calories.  I really liked the flavor and I will be trying other stuffing as well.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: AT&T 1740 Digital Answering System - video review

I purchased this AT&T answering machine for my elderly mother. I had two key requirements: simple to use and something that could be made  totally silent when the caller is a recording a message.  Apparently the silent mode was removed on this answering machine at some point in time as some reviewers reported, however the unit I purchased in January of 2017 can be silent as I demonstrate in attached video.  The sound is recorded clearly, not garbled in any way.

The answering machine is fairly simple to use.  The set up is simple, the minimum set up requires just setting the clock.  You can optionally record your own greeting but the default one is very reasonable as well.  The answering machine hook up: the answering machine is plugged into the wall, the phone plugs into the answering machine.  The phone is not needed for the answering machine to work, but we have the phone plugged in.  The answering machine does not ring as a phone would, it does make a beep when it starts recording. You can see how this works in my video. Note that the incoming call ringing comes from my phone that is hooked into the back of the answering machine.

If you have caller id it will announce the phone number (not the name) of the caller. If you are using the phone and another call comes in the answering machine will not record. Call waiting function works as before the answering machine was attached. The answering machine can hold 60 minutes of messages.  The old messages can be deleted one at a time (as you listen to them) or all at once.

The answering machine comes with AC adapter. It has a built-in backup battery for the clock. When I unplug the answering machine to move it to another location the clock remains set.  But this battery works only for a short period. When I left the answering machine unplugged for a few days it forgot the date and time. 

There are two small things I don't like: (1) the phone cord does not plug into the machine, it is built in.  So if the cord tongue breaks you can't easily replace it. (2) The play button is the large silver area near the display, it does not look like a button and it is not clearly marked as "play". My mother had trouble finding the play button is on her own. All other buttons are better marked.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Solar Radar Motion Sensor Lights, 48 LEDs

This is a fairly bright solar light. It has three settings off, dim light when no one is around, and bright light when motion is detected.  The unit is sealed and the batteries cannot be replaced or recharged outside the unit.

It  has aluminum alloy finish and has a silver finish. It looks more attractive than black plastic that is common and I have used in the past.

To turn the light on you need to use a pin (included in the package along with hanging hardware) and push it into a very small hole at the top part of the plastic lens covering the LED lights.  This needs to be just one when you want to activate the light.

The template for mounting the light is included in the package as well as the mounting hardware.  It is a nice light but does not have my favorite mode of operation "On only when motion is detected" which uses less power and works better in New England climate as we don't always get long sunny days to fully recharge the battery.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: EKEN H9, Ultra HD 4K Waterproof Action Camera

The colors are excellent during the day when not shooting directly in sun.  Shooting in the sun is a challeging situation for any camera and this camera like many other overexposed the video if the sun is shining directly into the les of the camera. In attached video you can video taken with the camera during the day and at night. Night time video does not have a lot details in total duckness but with a little bit of light you can see what is going on.

This is a 4K camera.  On a 1080p monitor you cannot tell a difference between 1080p and 4K video, but if you own a 4K TV/monitor then you can take full advantage of 4K video.

The colors in the video are bright and accurate. Keep in mind that I am posting compressed video due to size limitation for the video pots, so viewing it as a thumbprint gives you the best approximation of the real thing.

The camera has an intuitive menu-driven interface, it also has WI FI that allows me to see what the camera sees on phone.  The name of the app that is compatible with this camera is EZ iCam App which is available from GooglePlay. There is also an iPhone version of the app which I did not try. The name of the hot spot is "ICAM-Hg(R)". The camera is exactly the same size as GoPro camera and accessories designed for GoPro fit it.

The camera is comptable with 16G and 32G micro SD cards, and I am using 32G class 10 card.  The card is my own, micro SD is not included in the package.

To recharge the camera takes about 5 hours from empty, I am getting about 3 hours of video on one charge.  The camera can take video while charging if it is switched to the "auto" mode, so it can be used as a dash cam on a long drive.

The package includes a large number of clamps and holders as well as a waterproof case.  My video shows close up of all accessories.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Cat7 Shielded Ethernet Patch Cable 100ft Black

I am using this cable to run the connection from the server room on the second floor to the lower level in the house. Cat 7 cable is best for such long distances.

Before running the cable through the wall I ran several tests to test cable's reliability. I ran iPerf which is a Linux utility that measures TCP/IP bandwidth. I ran it in bidirectional mode for 60 seconds between two Linux systems via a 24 port switch. I used ethtool, which is the Linux Ethernet adapter configuration tool, to determine if any errors occurred and the test showed no errors. The cable works reliably. At the end of the review I am including the details from the tests for those who are interested in the details.

Some of my non-techie friends sometimes ask me if the length of the cable matters. In general CAT7 cables are rated for Gigabit Ethernet for over 100 meters, CAT6 is rated for 100 meters, CAT5E is fine for shorter distances such as 35 feet. However the longer the cable the higher are the chances of errors. TCP/IP protocol used over the Ethernet connection is written in such a way that it expects errors and corrects them so as an end user you are likely not to see any problems but correcting errors takes extra time. The general rule is that you want the shortest cable that will work for you.

CAT7 is designed for as a standard for Gigabit Ethernet over 100m. It is considered more durable and provides better shielding for its twisted pairs than CAT6.

One other thing I look for is the construction of the clip on the end of the cable. I like the clips with a catch to prevent snagging the clip and to reduce the chances of it being broken off accidentally. This cable has a nice catch, firm but not too firm that it is difficult to operate.

The package also includes four Velco strips and some hanging hardware.

This cable was provided for me for evaluation and running some Ethernet reliability tests. If this makes you skeptical about what I say examine my record and you will see that I have a long history leaving critical reviews when products deserve it. The bottom line is that the cable performed well in my tests.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Technical details from the cable reliability tests:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
iperf -t 60 -c servername -d
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 85.3 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to servername, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 289 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 5] local 192.168.1.6 port 47070 connected with 192.168.1.73 port 5001
[ 4] local 192.168.1.6 port 5001 connected with 192.168.1.73 port 51212
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.0-60.0 sec 6.51 GBytes 931 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 0.0-60.0 sec 6.48 GBytes 928 Mbits/sec

On the Scientific Linux 6.8 system that is connected directly to the test cable,

ethtool -S eth1
NIC statistics:
tx_packets: 6197000
rx_packets: 5957289
tx_errors: 0
rx_errors: 0
rx_missed: 0
align_errors: 0
tx_single_collisions: 0
tx_multi_collisions: 0
unicast: 5956399
broadcast: 219
multicast: 671
tx_aborted: 0
tx_underrun: 0

On the Fedora 24 system that connects via the switch,

ethtool -S enp0s31f6
NIC statistics:
rx_packets: 6190843
tx_packets: 5947836
rx_bytes: 8560555338
tx_bytes: 8564916288
rx_broadcast: 407
tx_broadcast: 8
rx_multicast: 167
tx_multicast: 63
rx_errors: 0
tx_errors: 0
tx_dropped: 0
multicast: 167
collisions: 0
rx_length_errors: 0
rx_over_errors: 0
rx_crc_errors: 0
rx_frame_errors: 0
rx_no_buffer_count: 0
rx_missed_errors: 0
tx_aborted_errors: 0
tx_carrier_errors: 0
tx_fifo_errors: 0
tx_heartbeat_errors: 0
tx_window_errors: 0
tx_abort_late_coll: 0
tx_deferred_ok: 0
tx_single_coll_ok: 0
tx_multi_coll_ok: 0
tx_timeout_count: 0
tx_restart_queue: 0
rx_long_length_errors: 0
rx_short_length_errors: 0
rx_align_errors: 0
tx_tcp_seg_good: 125498
tx_tcp_seg_failed: 0
rx_flow_control_xon: 0
rx_flow_control_xoff: 0
tx_flow_control_xon: 0
tx_flow_control_xoff: 0
rx_csum_offload_good: 6190756
rx_csum_offload_errors: 0
rx_header_split: 0
alloc_rx_buff_failed: 0
tx_smbus: 0
rx_smbus: 0
dropped_smbus: 0
rx_dma_failed: 0
tx_dma_failed: 0
rx_hwtstamp_cleared: 0
uncorr_ecc_errors: 0
corr_ecc_errors: 0
tx_hwtstamp_timeouts: 0

Product review: 46 LEDs Waterproof Solar Powered Motion Sensor Lights

This is a very bright solar light. It has three settings off, dim light when no one is around, and bright light when motion is detected.  The unit is sealed and the batteries cannot be replaced or recharged outside the unit.  I opened it up out of curiosity and including a photo so you can see what it looks like on the inside.

To turn the light on you need to press a button near motion detector and hold it down for a few seconds.  This needs to be just one when you want to activate the light.

Mounting hardware is included in the package.  It is a very nice light even though it does not have my favorite mode of operation "On only when motion is detected" which uses less power and works better in New England climate as we don't always get long sunny days to fully recharge the battery.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★