I wonder if one of these, intended as a novelty toy, would be worth having continuously plugged in to a USB port of one's computer for practical use in case there are power cuts. Would it then run off the computer's battery?

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p … /311683648

William

I have now noticed that the picture on the box of the vlogging kit has smartphone vlogging kit.

Yet there seems to be a USB connector, one of the basic type.

So as no brand of smartphone is mentioned I am wondering if everything is to some common standard as there are I think several different operating systems used for smartphones.

I only have a basic smartphone, rarely used, I just got it to try to learn a bit about smartphones.

I wonder if the Vlogging kit would work with a laptop computer.

William

So is it that one records on some device using the microphone without the earpiece being involved, then playing it back on the earpiece without the microphone being involved?

Well, it doesn't necessarily need to be used for video blogging.

Like, for example, Papier marketing photo greeting cards to send to someone else, but I used a jpg file of my artwork from my computer for the picture on the front, used the "greetings" space inside to add descriptive text, my name and the month and year, had sent the printed card by Royal Mail to myself and framed the result in what Tesco sold as an oak effect photo frame.

Though I would need to think for what else it could be used.

William

I watched the following video yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53FdS5dNIcE

The vlogging kit has now arrived. The box is about 6 inches or more tall, not quite as wide, and about an inch thick.

I have not opened it yet, but I did have a quick read through the notes that are on the back of the box, but I had the rest of the grocery delivery to put away so it was just a quick read through.

I have just watched the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5274yDqpz2s

204 views so far. It seems that the vlogging kit featured might be possibly similar to the one I have bought. I suppose that it is possible that it is identical but in a different box.

On the vlogging kit that I have, the light will need two batteries.

There is included a cable that is said to be 10 cm long and has USB C on one end and a 3.5 mm audio plug on the other. The picture shows one of those round cylinder plugs that has black and silver rings on it and a rounded tip.

It says that the audio is compatible with most Samsung and Apple phones.

Now that plug looks very much like, though I am not certain that it is identical, but it might be, to the plug on the earphones things that can also be used as an aerial if the phone has a built-in radio receiver.

I have three mobile phones, a basic red Nokia, a white IMO Dash and a gold (colour ) IMO Q2, all obtained at various times. I habitually carry the red one and the white one in case I need to call for help. I have previously sent still pictures from the white one to my computer by email. I think it also has Bluetooth and I think I got it to work direct to the computer at one time but it was awkward setting it up, but the email is easier to use, though it does cost money off the stored pay as you go money credit in the phone whereas using Bluetooth does not.

The red phone and the white phone each have one camera on the back. The gold (colour) phone has two cameras, one on the back and one on the front, though I note what the gentleman in the first video said about for his phone that the camera on the back is a better camera than the camera on the font.

So can we discuss the audio please?

It seems that at the very least I can have a stable stand for the mobile phone when it is recording using its internal microphone, and the light.

Which is worth having, even if I can't use the vlogging kit microphone with my mobile phone.

Yet I am wondering if I might in fact be able to use the vlogging kit microphone with my mobile phone.

So I do not have either a Samsung phone or an Apple phone.

So I am wondering whether using the external microphone will or will not work with my phones.

Does the question really come down to "You know how a USB socket goes to an internal system such that it can be used for a variety of things, like an external full size keyboard such as I am using to enter this text, and also an external CD disc drive - well, does one of those sockets act in such a way that it could be used for the aerial of a built-in radio receiver, a link to earphones, and also as input for an external microphone when recording a video?

There was also something at the end that I did not take in that said something could be done using some sort of cable (not supplied)

By the way, the lens kit arrived the other day, at second attempt, at the first attempt it had been out of stock. There are some images and some explanatory text on the back of the box.

William

I have found the following web page.

https://www.trust.com/en/product/18679- … deo-webcam

William

That seems unlikely! An earphone socket is an output socket, but for a microphone you obviously want an input socket. Although it’s possible that the device is designed to make use of the built-in microphone in your phone, I haven’t investigated and therefore can’t say how realistic a possibility that is.

Thank you.

I think that the idea is that when one is recording a video on the smartphone, by default the smartphone uses its built-in microphone for the sound, but, provided the smartphone supports doing it, if one plugs in the external microphone, which is, probably, a more directional microphone than the smartphone's built-in microphone, and is possibly of higher quality that the smartphone's built-in microphone, then the built-in microphone is not used and the microphone of the vlogging kit is used instead.

So hopefully improving sound quality on the video.

But perhaps it is at least to some extent the romance, cachet and the je ne sais quoi of having a fancy-looking microphone like television news crews.

I note that that is not quite like plugging an external keyboard into the USB port of a laptop computer as one can in that case use either keyboard.

William

With my red Nokia phone, I used to listen to the radio sometimes. Notionally I was supposed to stick the earphones in my ears, but I never did, as I found that I needed to have the earphones and their cable plugged in as the cable provided the reception aerial, but there was an option in the radio app to use the loudspeaker.

It all ended as the earphones were flimsy and broke. I got some more but they broke too. I really wanted just a plug-in aerial without the flimsy bit but I don't know if they are available.

But anyway, if someone were to use it with earphones, that would seem to imply that the audio was two-way in some manner, receiving the signal to feed into the phone and then sending out an amplified version to go to the earphones.

I don't know anything about the type of electronic systems where there are signals going in both directions along a wire, the electronics I did all sent signals in just one direction along a wire.

William

I got a publicity email from Tesco today with a list of offers including 25% off with ClubCard.

So I had a look and one of them was the following.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p … /296508569

I am wondering what it is about and how it works.

I wondered at first if it was like those 1950s "magic" painting books where one painted with water and various areas came up in various colours.

But there appear to be five pens or markers.

William

I wonder if it is like some titration solutions where colour varies with pH.

I remember that one was clear for one of acid/alkali and pink for the other.

So maybe the paper has been treated with dilute citric acid or something and the pens contain slightly alkaline titration solutions or something like that (or the other way round for acid/alkali) and drawing with the pen causes the colour to show.

William

When I was a child, one could get colouring books where the paper contained invisible dyes that were revealed when painted with plain water. Only a few fairly dull hues, but exciting nevertheless.

Some readers might like to know that Tesco has frames of various sizes available at a Clubcard Price of about 25% off until 27 November 2022.

William