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Thursday 12 July 2012

3G mobile sim cards in France

Having recently spent some time in France, one of the first things I did was attempt to acquire a 3G data SIM for my phone. Having a local sim makes it really easy to get around using various smartphone apps (eg maps, train timetables and general internet goodness).

After a fair bit of research, I realised that there are no official mobile carrier outlets in the airport. So there is no easy option. Buy you can get a limited access sim from a newsagent..

I got to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and discovered that the SIMs can be purchased at the "Relay" newsagent stores there. I got mine from the outlet in the car rental hall. There is also an outlet near the arrivals gate at 2D, though I don't know if they also have SIM cards.

Friday 27 April 2012

Bluetooth receiver hack

After installing an AUX input to the radio of my Mini a while back, I got sick of continuously having to plug my phone into the cable I wired up, and needed to go wireless.

Bluetooth A2DP receivers allow a phone to send music-quality audio to a receiver device, and this is the way I wanted to go. But for a while, they were just too expensive - around $50 for a receiver, so I put it off...

Until I discovered this cheap module on DealExtreme. At only $14, it's hard to go wrong!

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Quick drill bit holder

My drill bits come without any holder, just the usual blister pack. So using some scrap aluminium channel and a block of pine, I made something to hold them in (click for larger):


Beats picking through a mixed pile of bits...