Have you ever deal with those of the bloatware apps (or sometimes games, albeit rarely) that comes pre-loaded with any of your Android devices since your childhood? If so, because I wasn't the only one who used to deal with them per each of the Android device(s), though I couldn't able to take some serious actions with them except for simply disabling them by default. Without further ado, let me list various of my Android devices that particularly have/had some of those bloatware apps that comes/came pre-loaded with each of them.
Note : Those of the Google apps that come/came pre-loaded with some of the devices aren't/weren't count, because most of them are indeed highly crucial for each of the Android devices themselves (most importantly GMS and GSF), unless most of them are now no longer supported especially for those ones that were existed since more than a decade ago. This exact trait also applied with some of the Meta apps as well, except I only use few of them for now.
A. Samsung Galaxy Y (2011)
From what I remembered, it only had QuickOffice. Not sure for the rest of them though.
B. Advan T1C and T1Ci tablets (2012-2013)
SlideMe Market (a some sort of online app vendor that roughly resembled Aurora Store),
Notepad (unknown developer), and
apkInstaller (unknown developer)
C. Asus Zenfone 5 (2015) and Asus ZenPad C (2016)
certain useless proprietary Asus apps (Party Link, PC Link, WebStorage, What's Next, etc.),
MyAsus,
Amazon Kindle: Reading App (Amazon Mobile LLC),
Clean Master (Cheetah Mobile)*,
Omlet (a social media app that vaguely resembled those of the popular ones like WhatsApp, Instagram's DM chat, Line, Telegram, BlackBerry Messenger [now defunct], and so on [albeit this exact 🍳 one wasn't so popular]),
Zinio, and
Data Transfer (FutureDial)
*means it is now completely defunct due to security breach issues that was occurred
D. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (2019)
MyAsus, and
Babe (Baca Berita, some sort of Indonesian news portal app that resembles Google News)
As for the bonus, I also recently have a 2019 Realme C2 which also pre-loaded with some bloatware apps in there, though I was able to remove them carefully using command-line ADB tricks on my 💻. Just for the heck of it, here is my short list exclusively about it for bit of fun comparison:
Opera browser (regular one, not the Mini one if I'm not mistaken),
J&T Express mobile app,
Jakarta Baca Lite (similarly to Babe, another Indonesian news portal app that resembles Google News if I'm not mistaken),
Lazada, and
Vova
If you have your own short stories related to this in each of your Android devices since your childhood, feel free to mention those of the bloatware apps that came with your Android devices in the comments section below if your memory still serves it right. That's basically it for what I could particularly say to this, and as always, thanks for reading this (rather short) article.
Back in ~2012 when I used to be an enthusiast with the Angry Birds franchise as a whole, I used to do so by various things apart from playing those old games themselves using some of my bad old Android devices that I used to have (which almost all of them were now omitted from Play Store [or App Store if you're an iOS user], unless if I have to resort on those of the old .apk files of themselves through certain websites), which those were collecting those of my old Angry Birds toys, purchasing a single plush of it (albeit it wasn't in-game accurate with one of the bird characters that I wanted [for this case, it was Chuck]), and purchasing two of the very cheap pirate DVD of themselves... Yes, I actually used to purchase two separate pirate DVDs of themselves from two separate cassette stores, and believe or not, it turned out to be just the compilation of old YouTube videos instead of the actual "movie" of it, though the actual Angry Birds Movie itself existed few years after that year.
Since I purchased both of those aforementioned pirate DVD of themselves from then, which means this was also occurred right before those of the Angry Birds Toons series were existed specifically in the next year. As for the old YouTube videos of themselves, here is my list of one of the compilations that was available on both of them, though I still couldn't remember the correct sequence of which videos that they usually pirated there, as I listed them here below:
Angry Birds Rio - Nigel Mashup (Brazilian version)*,
Angry Birds Rio Trailer*,
angrybirds 3d movie (Graphic Fantasy),
Angry Birds feat. Transformers 3**,
Angry Birds feat. the animal farm(s)**,
Ball Games with the Angry Birds**,
Angry Birds feat. Plants vs. Zombies**,
Angry Birds Bing Video - Episode 1*,
Angry Birds Cinematic Trailer*,
Angry Birds & the Mighty Eagle*,
Angry Birds Presents: Summer Pignic*,
Angry Birds - Hungry, Hungry Piggies - 3D Animation (TomLG1992),
Angry Birds VS Mario (A fan made Animation) (Yudhaikeledai), and
Angry Birds No Speak Americano (jold profile)
* means it is from the official Angry Birds channel itself **means it is from FunVideoTV
There's also another batch which I include them here below, but again, I couldn't remember the correct sequence of themselves:
Angry Birds Rio - Nigel Mashup (English version)*,
Angry Birds Seasons | Ham'O'Ween #Halloween*,
Angry Birds Wreck The Halls animation*,
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon Animation*,
Super Hero Angry Birds**,
Angry Birds feat. Harry Potter**,
Angry Birds Mission Impossible Adventure : Claymation movie (Mina K [except it has unoriginal audio now]),
Angry Birds Seasons (Valentine's Day special)**,
Angry Birds feat. Spongebob Squarepants**,
Angry Birds feat. Sonic the Hedgehog**, and
various of those unrecognizable ones (including the ones from FunVideoTV), though most of those ones from the first batch are included in this list, if I'm not mistaken
* means it is from the official Angry Birds channel itself ** means it is from FunVideoTV
If you remembered all of these old Angry Birds videos on YouTube (unless if you got those of the newer ones with Angry Birds Toons or those of the actual Angry Birds Movie ones), feel free to share your own short stories about it in the comments section below. That's basically for what I could recognize them back in those days, and as always, thanks for reading this nostalgic "elite ball knowledge" article.
As you may know, I actually keep this particular old 2018 Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus 📱 (3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal eMMC storage), which specifically has it's own strange problem where it only blinks it's own white LED notification indicator light every single time I plug it into the power outlet using any 📱 chargers. Even if I actually know about the actual problem itself judging by how both of my parents told me if I recklessly bring it to any 📱 service center around my hometown (including that one repairman that I know since my childhood, because he was one of my neighborhoods of my childhood 🏠), that will cost similarly to purchasing a brand new modern day Android device. In the meantime though, I ever attempted to "fix" it by myself specifically using my 💻 with two of those separate programs, which those were Mi Flash Tool and QFIL, but of course they both ended up failing for obvious reasons that I couldn't able to do them by my hands.
Before I explained about my failure of me "fixing" it, let me tell you about the background story about the entire device itself. Back in those days, my mom purchased this particular 📱 in order to replace her old white Oppo Neo 7. This was her daily driver device that lasted about 3 years, until she decided to replace it's job with Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro. Upon she replaced it with the Redmi Note 9 Pro, she gave it to my dad by replacing his old black Oppo Neo 7. It was lasted for 2 years until the aforementioned problem itself suddenly occurred on him. After the said problem itself occurred, my mom immediately gave her Redmi Note 9 Pro to him, and replaced it with her current Oppo A77s (?). Since then, the Redmi 5 Plus itself remains in that exact state, even if I ever tried to bring it to service center for multiple times, but the repairman always refused me to do so for that exact reason that I mentioned earlier.
Now, as for the way how I tried to "fix" it by simply connecting it to my 💻, I had to ensure if the device itself must be detected as "Qualcomm HS‑USB QDLoader 9008 (COMnn)" instead of "QUSB_BULK" on my Windows 💻's Device Manager, specifically on "Ports (COM & LPT)" section. After I did several tricky steps in order to connect it properly to my 💻 (including the way how I installed the correct Qualcomm driver on my 💻), I attempted to "resurrect" it with two of those programs that I originally meant to do so, which those were Mi Flash Tool and QFIL, respectively. Even if I also downloaded the correct official stock Global Stable Fastboot ROM itself, unfortunately they both simply failed after several seconds right after I clicked the "Clean all" button on Mi Flash Tool or "Download" button on QFIL. They both failed due to their respective reasons, which those were Mi Flash Tool's timeout error and QFIL's Sahara fail... Either because of my USB cables were underpowered or other causes that are related to it, I obviously have no clue for troubleshooting it specifically on my own, even if I actually know about the way how the entire device itself suddenly got that exact problem since then.
Well then, there's not much else that I could particularly say to it apart from the fact it still remains limbo after all these years. I feel like I want to actually fix it, but since I already discovered those issues on both of those programs that are installed on my 💻 which meant to do so, I doubt if I can try that again later for sure. If you have one (or some) of your Android devices which has one of those problems, feel free to share your own story particularly in the comments section if your memory serves it right. Anyway, that's particularly it for what I could say to it, and as always, thanks for reading this particular article.
This isn't inspired directly from that one ElectroBOOM's video on YouTube where he clearly explains about his own shocking life stories with various electronic devices that he used to deal with (specifically back in his good old days), which was the reason about how come if his YouTube channel itself is now existed since his first video where he shocked himself for very first time on camera with that ESD device... In relation particularly about him and his shocking life stories though, I also have plenty of my own shocking life stories which involves various electronic devices, including electric fans (though I already explained them in one of my older Blogspot articles about it, so I decided to list them again). Without further ado, let's take a look at my own list of my own shocking life stories, shall we?
(this wasn't the same night light that i was referring below [👇], because it was occurred in my childhood house...)
I was once tried to plug a mini night light on the power outlet, and there was an earphone cable hanging RIGHT in front of the power outlet. I recklessly plugged it in, and BANG!!! My childhood house's entire power got cut in that evening!
One of my family's relative's from my mom's side was attempted to reuse one of the unused old E27 light fixture that was laying around since the last usage of it (which was from several years ago). He tried to use it in order to add the additional light in the kitchen of my childhood house by installing a random low wattage CFL bulb on it, and it suddenly BANG!!! My childhood house's entire power got cut in that evening!
During one of the class sessions in my old primary school, there was a moment where one of the teachers brought an accumulator as a part of the study itself. I touched the top part of accumulator itself, and I immediately got shocked.
(this wasn't the same vintage fan that i explained below...👇 [since this one clearly had completely different brand])
In one of neighborhoods of my childhood house, there was a vintage Sanyo (❔) desk fan running on 110v of voltage rating, which it used to work just fine since it was connected to step-down transformer (if I guessed that right). I decided to move it to another spot, which I stupidly connected it to the power outlet with standard 220v/50Hz of power rating, which caused the fan itself release some smokes out from it after several seconds later.
I was having fun with that one AC 220v cooling fan that I used to have, which I purchased in 2014. Somewhere from almost a decade ago, I was stupidly had fun by playing around with it due to some boredom that happened to me at the moment. Then, it suddenly decelerated yet it also produced some burning smells, and then it POPPED! The fan just stopped working due to the sudden burnout that suddenly occurred, yet it also popped my previous house's MCB. After all of that occurred, since it wasn't working anymore, I obviously trashed it away, and that was basically it.
A ceiling light socket in the TV room of my previous house used to trip the MCB plenty amount of times every single time I turned it on by flicking the light switch that was connected to it, especially when it used to equip any CFL bulbs on it regardless of the amount of wattage that they used to have. I decided to replace it with the LED bulb, and it did work just fine, except with some flickers every single time I turned it on. However, a repairman already replaced the light socket itself with a better one later on, and the old light socket itself also caused the small portion of the ceiling where it used to be installed got torched slightly.
My current house's indoor MCB used to trip the entire house's power several times due to it was faulty by all of the sudden specifically in that night, so I had to call a repairman in order to replace it with a better one.
If you have your own shocking life stories with various electronic devices that you ever experienced, feel free to share your own story specifically about it in the comments section if you're able to. That's basically it for what I could particularly say to it, and as always, thanks for reading this particular article.
Since the AI itself is now become a thing since last couple of years in particular, how about my experience of me using any of those AI playground apps that are now available out there? Well, I actually did use bunch of those AI playground apps for fun purposes, and I already doing so with two separate instances about them, which both of those are ChatGPT and (recently) Google Gemini,respectively.
Before I continue, I actually don't use either one of them quite often apart from the fact I sometimes having fun with certain stuffs that I want to tinker with them through all of those specific prompts that I typed into each of them (for this case, it was me turning some of my own pictures into something different that are related to them). As for others besides me with those pictures, I also occasionally use them for various other things, such as casual conversation with them in general and so on, albeit still way less frequent compared to everyone else out there.
As for both of those AI playground apps that I ever used there, here are my specific use for them, so those are:
1. ChatGPT
I ever used it in order to turn bunch of my pictures into that Ghibili anime style that were once popular back in those days. Not sure if I actually did it with something other than my own collectible items instead of people's models like everyone's else did back in those days.
I ever attempted to check a YouTube video link that was once existed back in those days until it got deleted later on. However, instead of doing so like how Wayback Machine or Internet Archive would work, it introduced me with something that had nothing to do with the link itself (though those people behind Wayback Machine or Internet Archive themselves didn't retrieve several of those defunct YouTube links in the first place).
2. Google Gemini
Similarly to ChatGPT, except with major differences between the two, so those are:
I used it recently for having fun with several of my pictures (or sometimes someone's else pictures) in order to turn them into AI mini figure styles that are popular since last two months (as of the time when I clearly created this particular article). Not sure about other styles like Polaroid or others since I still centering around with my own collectible items instead of people's models like most people recently would do.
I attempted to check a YouTube video link that was once existed back in those days until it got deleted later on. Instead of showing some of the irrelevant results, it literally showed me with the true reason about how come if that particular YouTube video itself is now gone.
As for the honorable mention, there was also a Bing AI which I also used for very short amount of time compared to those two that I mentioned there, except I only used it for casual conversation with it just for once.
Even if those of the AI playground apps do exist nowadays, I already understand about the ethics of me using it general, so that means I obviously NEVER misuse them for certain horrible stuffs that are associated with them, for example (because why not, some people out there are way advance enough to use AI stuffs for bad stuffs, such as deepfake, scamming, and so on [which those are literally existed even before AI playground apps themselves are really a thing]). Well, if you have an experience of using one of those popular AI playground apps, feel free to share your own story in the comments section. Anyway, that's basically it for what I could particularly say to this particular article, and pay full attention when it comes to using the AI playground apps in general, otherwise you'll end up having a major problem if you use them incorrectly.
Believe or not, I was an ex-marching band player. Although it only lasted only on 3 schools where I used to study in each of them which had their own marching or drum bands, such as my 2 separate kindergartens, and my old primary school. However, I'm not gonna tell you about how come if I decided to stop doing so during I was in my primary school by all of the sudden, it's because that would be my "top secret" to totally expose the truth about why... Speaking about the marching/drum band in general though, I also had lot of experience of watching marching/drum band displays or parades performed by various schools (or certain institutes, albeit it is insanely rare to invite at least one of those particularly in my hometown where I do live since I was born in here), until all the way about how I simply watch any of them on YouTube. Without further ado, let me categorize into 3 different sections, which are from those of my old schools, watching parades or displays in person, and watching many of those YouTube videos of them.
A. Marching/drum bands from your old schools? 🥁🎺
As what I clearly stated just earlier, I was an ex-marching band player from those 3 aforementioned old schools where I used to study back in those days per each of them. Except, I used to wield one of the percussion instruments only, rather than certain of those melodica or brass instruments though. As for the percussion instruments that I was referring to, I only used to wield mainly snare drums, simply because it was an easy percussion instrument that I ever played since those of my childhood days in my very first kindergarten until those days in my old primary school IMO (albeit the one in my primary school was obviously more advanced for sure).
As for the display and parades from one of them (for this case, my old primary school, because why not), here are both of my notable moments about each of them both:
Display : I remembered that time when I and several of my old friends used to perform our drum band display that was held in someone's senior high school in order to win a display competition against many other marching/drum bands from various other primary schools around my entire hometown. Even though we eventually got the second place, but it was highly amazing experience to say the least.
Parade : The word itself is pretty much self-explanatory in general (because this one was obviously more common than the display), although I remembered the time when I was totally exhausted while the parade itself was on-going, I had to take a break by sitting on my school's janitor's pedicab that was ridden by himself, alongside with the snare drum itself that I used to wield it with me for a moment (yep, the snare drum itself was somewhat heavy to me).🥁
B. Marching/drum band parades around your hometown? 🥁🎺
Moving on to how I watched various marching/drum band parades around my hometown, specifically performed by various schools (such as kindergartens, primary schools, junior high schools, and senior/vocational high schools). Even though those were much more common to encounter them per each of them since my childhood per each of those days where the whole government used to host each of the aforementioned parade events themselves every once per year, but I remembered if our whole government from our hometown used to invite two special guest military style cadet drum bands into my hometown, which those were both Indonesian Naval Academy and Institute of Home Affairs, respectively. However, I didn't even watch the Indonesian Naval Academy's cadet drum band in person though (though they used to invite them twice), instead I used to briefly watch the Institute of Home Affairs one from more than a decade ago. The aforementioned drum band itself was exactly what I highly excited for, more so than those of the common marching/drum bands that were performed casually by various schools around my entire hometown (except for few of them that looked great IMO). Overall, I'm glad if I used to watch at least one of those cadet military style bands in person, but I highly doubt it if our current government from our hometown will able to invite another one of those anytime soon for now.
C. Marching/drum band videos on YouTube...🥁🎺
Of course if I ever watched many of those marching/drum band that were performed by various schools around my hometown where I do live, I also watch many YouTube videos of themselves too! However, I actually watched them since my childhood, back when I specifically used to briefly watch them from my old laptop or my very first smartphone. Even though it was painfully difficult to connect them both to the internet to begin with, at least I was able to watch my very first marching/drum band videos on YouTube, which were various marching/drum band parades from various schools in Rantepao, North Toraja, South Sulawesi (unfortunately, all of those old videos of them were deleted already, although I was able to download them though when they were available online from back then).
Surprisingly, right after roughly more than a decade without watching those YouTube videos of them, I decided to watch even more of them due to my boredom against all of my own stuffs that I'm currently enjoying them these days. Anyway, the list of the videos of them are:
Various videos of popular cadet military style bands from our whole country (such as Indonesian Armed Forces Academy,Indonesian Naval Academy, Indonesian Air Force Academy, and Indonesian Police Academy). Others such as Institute of Home Affairs do count for this category, and so for many more cadet military/marching bands from certain other academics, polytechnics or universities (such as merchant marine polytechnic[s], land transport academy, defense university, etc.).
Various videos of certain military style bands that are "inspired" their styles from those of the aforementioned popular cadet military bands from our whole country, including those that are from the senior cadet high schools and those of non-civil institutes.
Many videos of those marching/drum bands performed by various schools around my hometown, although majority of them (except for kindergartens and most of the primary schools) are now using modern marching style bands instead of the classic ones.
Some of the "cheapo" marching/drum band groups performed by certain small communities or simply by a small group of people, including those from my hometown where I do live.
More videos of various marching/drum band parades and displays from various schools around the eastern part of our whole country (for this case, Rantepao [North Toraja, South Sulawesi], Baubau [Buton Islands, Southeast Sulawesi], and so on).
Those of the "dance-able" marching/band groups, performed by bunch of those performers per each of the groups from rural areas in entire regency of Sukabumi (excluding the Sukabumi City), West Java.
Some lyre cover videos, both from our country or outside our country. Heck, one of them used to cover my favorite video game's soundtracks too (for this case, some of the original Plants vs. Zombies soundtracks like Watery Graves [Pool level], Graze the Roof [Roof level], Brainiac Maniac [Dr. Zomboss battle], and Cerebrawl [Puzzle mode, both Vasebreaker and I, Zombie levels]). Not sure for any other videos with different melodica instruments besides lyre though (as for now).
Bunch of marching/drum band groups performed by any foreign people who lives in their respective countries that aren't from our country, albeit I rarely watch them though besides most of those lyre cover videos that I mentioned just earlier (as for now).
Well, there you have it for my own story about the marching/drum band stuffs in general, ranging about how I used to perform in each of the marching/drum bands in those of my old schools where I used to study back in those days, then I used to watch all of those marching/drum band parades in my hometown where I do live, and how I still watch many of those YouTube videos of them since those good old days too. If you have your good old memories regarding to this exact topic (such as performing at least one of those in your own school[s], or probably remembering the time when your hometown's government used to invite one of those special military style cadet drum bands [if any]), feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you still recognize them though until today. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this short article.
Being an electric fan enthusiast, pretty sure if I already visited some sites that literally explained about vintage ceiling fans, right? Well, yes, but only two of them that are recognizable specifically in my own mind, since I literally visited both of those sites, but now only one of them that are still remains, even if most parts of the remaining entire site itself is now no longer accessible like one of them would for some reason. Without further ado, let me particularly explain two of those vintage ceiling fan sites, shall we?
Note: Even if I recognized both of these sites, I never log in to each of them both. Which means, I only visited both of them purely for viewing purposes only.
A. vintageceilingfans.com (Adam D.)
"vintageceilingfans.com" main page
Started off with my most recognizable vintage ceiling fan sites that I ever visited, which is the "vintageceilingfans.com", owned by the legitimate owner himself who also owns his YouTube channel of the same name as the site that he made there... Believe or not, I visited bunch of his sites through 3 different sections of his entire site many times, ranging from visiting his own gallery of his own vintage ceiling fan acquisitions, until all the way to checking his entire Proboards forum of it, consists of discussing anything about it (and certain other things such as vintage portable fans) from various fan enthusiast members around the world through many of those forum threads since more than two decades ago, which majority of them are from the US and Canada (with few exception such as that one fan collector from UAE and certain others).
Even though this particular website still exists after all these years, I already encountered some flaws while I'm visiting some of his own sites in general. Those are:
Majority of the fan enthusiasts and collectors who posted in his entire Proboards forum of it, hosted their own pictures using Photobucket. Because Photobucket recently doing their own mega pay-to-win features, they decided to delete them later on. Some of those pictures that are still remains in there do have their obvious Photobucket watermark on each of them.
His separate member galleries site is now no longer accessible since a while ago. I tried to access it (as of nowadays), and it leads to a 503 error code.
I tried to visit each of the member's personal forum threads in his entire Proboards forum site of it in order to check their own threads, it didn't allow me to do so if I didn't log in to there yet.
B. DT Vintage Fans (Zachary Yarnes)
DT Vintage Fans main page
Another vintage ceiling fan site that used to exist alongside with that "vintageceilingfans.com" site that I mentioned just earlier, which was DT Vintage Fans, owned by a YouTuber nicknamed Zachary Yarnes. It had roughly similar fashion just like that "vintageceilingfans.com" site as a whole, but with some differences between this and that one, those are:
Unlike"vintageceilingfans.com" which had 3 sections of the site itself (such as main site, separate member galleries site, and forum site), this one simply had 2 sections, which only consisted of just main site + galleries combo and forum site (which he also used Proboards too), respectively.
Unlike "vintageceilingfans.com" which prominently featured almost all of the fan brands around the entire world in that separate member galleries section of that site, this one only featured various fan brands that were available exclusively in the US and Canada in his own member galleries of the main site itself, including certain overseas brands that were made their way to both of those aforementioned countries too (for example: SMC, Matsushita brands [KDK, National or Panasonic], Sanyo, Mistral, Hitachi, etc.).
For some reason, the entire site itself just suddenly vanished from the internet. Simple as that, and I really had no clue about what was wrong with the entire site itself. Before it occurred, I used to visit the main site itself casually, specifically checking for various galleries of themselves through their respective brands in general without any issues. I also remembered right after the entire site went vanished, it literally redirected into a random site that had nothing to do with the URL link itself (specifically about how the "www" on the address bar just immediately changed into "ww7" for unbelievably odd reason). Not too long after I visited that particular random site that used this exact URL link, all I got from that URL link is now blank site............ although you could able to see the remnants of all of that stuffs from it using Wayback Machine.
Well then, there you have it for my short story of those two vintage ceiling fan sites that I recognized the most, although only one of them that still remains until today. If you have your own memories of visiting both of those sites online, feel free to share your own story particularly about it in the comments section if you're able to. Anyway, that's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this article.
Pretty sure if all K'NEX products of any kinds were supposed to exist exclusively around certain countries like those countries on North America region, right? Well, apparently no. Even though those were used to be common everywhere on those countries of that particular region, but they also made their way to more countries like United Kingdom and certain other countries within whole continent of Europe, for example... However, those products also shockingly made it's way to even more foreign countries besides those ones that I mentioned just before, being one of them is specifically from our country (Indonesia).
Before I begin, obviously I'm not mention myself with all of those K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures that I own... Instead, I will mention some people who used to own or sell those K'NEX products of any kinds, which majority of them are just mini figure sets and certain K'NEX building sets with their licensed franchises that they used to license them like so. Without further ado, here are bunch of my mini lists about them, right away:
An online seller from Bandung, West Java used to sell K'NEX The Beatles Yellow Submarine mini figure set, packed inside it's own original blister. It was sold to someone else already.
An online seller used to sell pair of loose K'NEX Super Mario mini figures, which both of them were green Yoshi. Both of them were sold to two separate people already.
Somebody from Batam, Riau Islands, used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Wild West Skirmish Set in his/her account of an online marketplace. Don't know what happened to it though, because right after I checked it few times, it suddenly disappeared later on.
A guy from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Wild West Skirmish Set in his account of an online marketplace. It lasted for few weeks until somebody purchased it later on.
Somebody from Jakarta used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3 blind bags on his/her account of an online marketplace. I asked to his/her account through the direct message chat of the marketplace itself, and turned out if the items themselves were still stored somewhere in the US, judging by how fairly costly it was per one item. However, the listing itself just disappeared by itself later on for some reason.
A random world traveler guy owned certain K'NEX mini figures, which he prominently featured them on his Instagram account. Those characters were certain Plants vs. Zombies characters (such as Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Basic Zombie, respectively), and that green Yoshi from K'NEX Super Mario. However, he captured the picture of his K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Sunflower mini figure somewhere in Austria though, which indicated if he acquired all of those mini figures during one of his random world trips from somewhere else in any countries within the whole continent of Europe.
Well then, that's basically it for what I could particularly say about this topic in general. I don't think if I actually encounter even more people who own or sell them besides myself and those people that I already mentioned there in general, considered if majority of the people from our country would highly prefer many of those cheap mini figure sets from those alternative (or bootleg) brands that are "inspired" from it instead... Anyway, that's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this article.
Well, it's time to share some of my own stories particularly about my good old days with one of the members from my entire family (preferably from my mom's side) that was once existed since I was born, and then he recently passed away due to the fact he suddenly got a fatal disease. Without further ado, let me share my own stories particularly about my good old days with him in general, ranging from those days when I was a kid, until all the way to final moments with him before he passed away...
A. My childhood times with him...
Back when I was a kid, I was hanging around with him for roughly many times, including my grandma that was also once existed back in those days. Those were the sweet times overall, with an exception about how come if I ever broke his old Sony Ericcsson feature phone with monochrome screens that he newly purchased it in ~2006 by slamming it to the floor of my childhood house, especially when there was an incoming SMS with it's own ringtone. Sure, I was once got annoyed by the ringtone itself, but thankfully, he didn't feel really that mad on me when I particularly did that though.
Although I was able to meet him many times in my childhood house, he was once had some random jobs somewhere in Malaysia for few years right after roughly two years after that time where I broke his aforementioned phone, until he decided to return back into Indonesia, specifically in my hometown where I do live. He decided to do so in order to marry his wife in 2011, and then they both took a birth of their first children several years later, followed by how they also took a birth to their second children right after the previous one several years later too.
B. In relation of my YouTube channel of fans...
When it comes to the relation of my YouTube channel of fans, there's not much else that I could say to him apart from the fact he had fairly good treatment with all of the electric fans that they own around my entire family since past several years, specifically from mine and those that was once used to be in my childhood house (back when my grandma used to exist). He was also a relatively good helper when it comes to installing certain of my fans, including some of my mini ceiling fans that I ever installed in the back porch of my old house (and so for that one [not so] mini ceiling fan that he also installed it in my current compact house where I'm currently settling in nowadays since almost a year ago). Overall, he was a reasonably crucial person when it comes to this in general, and so for how he somehow able to fix some broken fans with his own hands quite well too.
C. His local jobs...
Believe or not, he also had another job during he decided to settle in my hometown where I do live since I was born, which was making lots of homemade TV antennas out from metal sticks, metal sheets, and PVC pipes... FYI, he used to work in a large house that was once owned by a Chinese couple, although his legitimate wife was passed away firstly in 2014. During those times, he made lots of those TV antennas in order to sell them for relatively cheap price to the legitimate owner of that particular house. Even though he didn't earn that much bucks from those, but it was worth his job in order to satisfy some customers who used to buy those TV antennas that he made in there, and so for how he was able to find some bucks for his own mini family too... 📺📡
After the aforementioned owner of that large house was passed away in the late of 2023, he obviously lost his aforementioned job for a moment, and then he decided to switch his job into stone worker, which unfortunately earned way less amount of bucks compared to his previous job. Because of that, his mental suddenly felt out of control, which led to his disease which just caused from all of his mental stresses that he had in that exact state, unfortunately.
D. Final moments with him...🥀
Unfortunately, this particular section clearly explains about how come he passed away due to his fatal disease that he had... Before he got hospitalized, he suddenly felt some pain on his heart (and followed by how he felt really hard to breathe most of the time), and he decided to visit the hospital by himself with his own motorcycle. Then, after he entered the emergency department for few days, he immediately got sent into surgery room in order to have some surgery to his heart. After he did the aforementioned surgery, he eventually got sent into the ICU room for additional recovery from the said surgery. However, things weren't look and sound great when it comes to recovering him in general, although he used to look quite normal at first, considered if he had to wear an oxygen respirator right in front of his nose all the time during he took a long rest in that particular room. 🏥
Things were getting much intense once he had unexpected actions during he had those of the aforementioned recoveries of his health in that room, especially about how come if he was able to recklessly REMOVE the aforementioned respirator bunch of times by himself specifically with his hands, resulting in his worse condition of his health overall. This was occurred due to the fact he wanted to go home quicker, especially about how come if he would want to see his wife and all of their beloved little children too after this particular disaster occurring on him... It also made the matters worse, every single time certain visitors from my entire family (including my mom) were attempted to consume certain food and beverages on his mouth in that exact state, he would eventually threw up numerous times, thus it led to even worse condition of himself that totally harmed his health entirely. 💉💊
After almost two weeks of him being hospitalized, my mom and I got a bad news from most of those doctors who works in there. They said if he ran into a fatal state where he had some sort of heart stroke, followed by how his blood just clumped into his brain, which they also concluded if they were totally impossible to revive him back to his former state... Not too long after my mom visited him in THAT particular deadly state (along with my dad, my uncle, my aunt, and some members of my entire family)............ they also said if he eventually passed away................ After he passed away, they brought the corpse of himself into his funeral home using a corpse car from that hospital. Lastly, I, certain members around my family, and many of his neighborhood around that village where he used to live were brought and buried his coffin contained his corpse to the graveyard nearest from their current house where they're currently settling in. 🥀⚰
My deepest condolences to that particular section of my entire family who recently lost their dad, but that also throwbacks me to those times where I suddenly lost my grandma in 2017. She also hospitalized in the same place as him, except she had completely different disease before she lost it's life. Even then, she also even got hospitalized in different hospital in around the late of 2016 before that one occurred few months later... This is also one of my highly traumatic moments in my entire life ever, especially about what if it'll also occur to both of my parents anytime and anywhere soon, considered if my mental is still not ready for basically everything that I must do in the future for now on. 🥀
As what this particular article's title literally said, I'm gonna share my own childhood memories particularly about random old school tech devices that I ever used back in those good old days since I was born. Those tech devices that I'm talking specifically about were mainly those of the old school feature phones, and certain other old school devices (such as those of the old game consoles, those analog cameras, and so on). So, without further ado, let me explain about each of the random devices that I ever used back then, ranging from the simple ones until to the most advanced one that I ever dealt.
a. Basic feature phones with monochrome screens...
Started off with some of those aforementioned mobile phones. "Pretty sure if you used to have Nokia 3310, right?" Well (jokes aside), close enough, except for the model number. Not only just that Nokia, I also used to have that old Sony Ericsson phone with roughly exact same trait as that Nokia. Nothing particularly special about it since back in those days when I was a kid, apart from the fact I briefly hanging around with them, including how I was able to play simple games briefly on them too.
FYI, back in those days during I owned those old mobile phones, my uncle used to have that Siemens phone, which also had exact same traits as those of the said phones, except for the color of the backlight (which was orange instead of yellow).
b. Basic feature phones with color screens...
my old D-ONE phone (Chinese phone that was just a loose knockoff of Nokia E63)
After I experienced with those of the feature phones with monochrome screens, I decided to use any of these types of feature phones that I ever used, except they were in color. There were plenty of phones that I ever used that were fell on this particular category, so here are my list about what kinds of phones that I ever used, right away:
Bunch of those basic phones without camera (mostly Nokia ones),
Nokia 1nnn (couldn't remember the model number, and it had a camera [which you could only take pictures only]),
Nokia 6630,
Nokia X2, and
D-ONE (Chinese phone that was just a loose knockoff of Nokia E63]
my old Nokia X2 (with mixed parts of it's own casing itself)
As for anything around my entire family, they also used to have their own feature phones that were fell on this particular category too. So, those phones were:
Nokia 7250 (if I guessed the model number of this one right),
Sony Ericsson K310i (if I guessed that right, and it only had 12 MB of internal storage),
Sony Ericsson K350i (if I guessed the model number of this one right),
Sony Ericsson K810i, and
random Chinese feature phone that had touchscreen and analog TV
Now, how's your experience when it comes to dealing with those phones then? Well, here are the moments of how I experienced with each of them:
Every single time when an incoming SMS on that old Nokia 1nnn phone appeared, I sometimes threw it to the floor due to the fact I couldn't even stand with the ringtone itself. That phone survived just okay, even if the battery just popped off from the case sometimes.
I stupidly formatted the Nokia 6630's entire system bunch of times, especially when there were lots of saved data (of all kinds) stored in there. This was occurred due to the fact I opened the "Memory card" app, then I selected "Format" for no reason.
Some third-party apps that were installed on Nokia 6630 that were existed. I decided to open them, it turned out if they weren't installed yet, despite their existence on the menu screen.
Playing games on most of those phones were memorable (which majority of them were Java games, excluding those that were on basic phones without camera, which they always worked just well without any issues). However, there were bunch of games that weren't work properly in certain forms.
c. Old game consoles...🎮
Ah yes, old game consoles, except I only had 5 of them. Two of them were the bootleg consoles, and the rest were the original units. Those were:
PlayStation 1 and 2,
Certain cheap brick games and any of those "Pop Station" handheld games,
Fake PlayStation 1 (Famiclone), and
GameBoy Advance (the OG, not SP or Micro)
For the games that I ever played on each of those game consoles, here are lists of what kinds of games that I ever recognized the most (except for those that were from cheap brick games or those of the "Pop Station" handheld games):
RC Helicopter (PlayStation 1),
That airplane flight simulator that I couldn't remember the game's title of it (PlayStation 1),
That BMX game that I couldn't remember the game's title of it (PlayStation 1),
Eye Toy (PlayStation 2),
Some random PlayStation 2 golf game,
Mario Golf Advance Tour (GameBoy Advance, if I guessed the title of the game itself right),
Spiderman (GameBoy Advance),
The Incredibles (GameBoy Advance), and
plethora of pirated NES games that I ever played on either that Famiclone (including their multicarts), or those of the pirated GameBoy Advance cartridges, or even that pirated Playstation 1 disc that contains themselves too.
d. Other old school devices...
As for the other old devices besides those that I already listed above, here are random old devices that I used to have back then (which one of them is still in use after all these decades):
Old Sharp CRT TV that both of my grandparents from my mom's side purchased it back in the ~90s.📺
Old VCD players and old boomboxes (yes, both of my parents still keep that vintage early 80s Sanyo boombox, and it's still works well after all these decades, except for the tape deck).📼
Sony Walkman (purchased back in ~2008, couldn't remember the model number of it though, yet I even used to have a cheaper alternative of it before).🎧
Some of my old analog cameras that I used to have, except I didn't even attempt to use them with their own film rolls. I remembered if my mom used to take some pictures of myself during I was in the kindergarten using one of those cameras.
Some sort of scientific calculator that shaped like a mini laptop. It even had some games on it, such as Bingo, Tic Tac Toe, and typical snake game, respectively.
Well, there you have it for my childhood tech memories in general. "Wait, how about certain devices that were much more advanced than those, such as phones with touchscreens and computers or laptops?" For those devices, I already explained in several of my articles that I made somewhere in this entire Blogspot, so feel free to check them out if you still don't recognize yet, albeit not all of them that I explained though... If you have your own good memories when it comes to certain old school devices like so, feel free to share your own childhood story related to this article in the comments section if your memory still serves it okay. That's basically it for what I could say to this particular article, and as always, thanks for reading this specific article.
Are you still watching TV nowadays? If so, it's because I'm not only the one who constantly watch any kinds of TV programs after all these years since my childhood, even if you definitely have a better option to watch anything deeper than just TV like I do these days... However, I'm not talking about any kinds of TV programs from various TV stations that I usually watch since my childhood though. Instead, I'm gonna tell you about how come if our country's whole government finally decided to shut down the analog TV stations, then they decided to switch over into digital TV terrestrials, including around my area where I live. Without further ado, it's time to share my own story about my final days with analog TVs, until all the way to how our country's government finally decided to shut them down forever. 📺
A. Final times with analog TV...📺
Back in those good old days since my childhood, I obviously watched all kinds of TV programs from those TV channels casually using the analog TV from any of my old CRT TVs that I ever owned, even if I ever watched them briefly using those of cheapo Chinese modular feature phones with built-in antenna, which those weren't mine anyway. This was the only way to watch them, because that was the only reliable source to do so for roughly 2 decades since then. Even though it obviously didn't have a good picture, sound, and signal qualities, otherwise it would sometimes ended up in just "snowy" pictures (or even a plain blue screen), it didn't matter for me though to watch them without any kinds of problems, and this particular trait also applied to the analog FM radio with their respective radio stations around my hometown too.📺
Source : Pixabay
Those were the good old times of me watching all kinds of TV programs from various TV stations in general. Until somewhere in 2022, all TV stations around our country literally warned us in order to switch over from that old analog TV to digital TV terrestrials, including me. Even though the analog TV still existed back then, I just decided to buy one of those run-of-the-mill set top boxes from an electronic store, then I hooked it to my old small CRT TV by connecting the AV cable into it.📺
B. Dealing with it using my set top box and my old CRT TV...📺
Even if I already own that set top box, I actually used to have another set top box that used to exist roughly in 2017-2018, except it was provided by one of those famous internet service providers that also existed in my hometown. I ever experienced with it, and the result of it was mildly okay, depending on which TV stations that I watched. Yes, that set top box did have an option to connect it into my old house's Wi-Fi access point yet it had plenty of video streaming apps too, including YouTube. Sure, I would love to login both of my Google accounts on it, due to the fact it was connected to my old CRT TV, it was painfully difficult to read all of those texts, thus I just didn't bother to do it anyway... As for the main feature itself (which was the digital TV that came with it), it did work just okay, and it had it's own common problems where most of the TV stations just stuttered every certain amount of seconds or minutes, or on the worst cases, it led into "no signal" screen, despite it was clearly connected to one of my Wi-Fi access point's Ethernet ports (not coaxial cable). After I had some enjoyment with it, unfortunately I had to stop using it by returning it back to the provider themselves due to severe financial issues that occurred back in the day (along with the Wi-Fi access point that came with it), which means I had to watch all kinds of TV shows back using the old analog TV for next 4 years, and so for how I replaced that good access point with more s***** one later on.📺
Now, back to my run-of-the-mill set top box that I owned there, connected to my old small CRT TV. Yes, it worked just okay, but it also had the same problem where most of the TV stations just stuttered every certain amount of seconds or minutes, or on the worst cases, it led into "no signal" screen too. No matter if I ever tried to fix it by re-scanning the available TV stations that are broadcasting 24/7 around my area, or fixing the coaxial cable connection and the connector that connects into the unit itself, or even tweaking certain options in order to make it less occurring, those common problems are sometimes come back, which caused me to switch between digital TV terrestrials using it or just the classic analog TV. Unfortunately though, even if I also owned the loop-over connector that connects between my set top box and my old CRT TV, the analog TV was finally got shut down in the last year around my area exactly in the meantime I tested it, so that means no more of me watching them using analog TV forever indeed.📺
C. Dealing with it using my smart TV...📺
Box of my current flat screen smart TV that I own...
FYI, I recently purchased my own flat screen smart TV in order to install it in my current compact house, it's because that old small CRT TV would occupy some space and it would also draw more power that might trip my whole house's MCB. Instead of using both of it's own "legs" that came with it, I decided to install it on the wall using the bracket, in order to avoid all kinds of accidents of me using it in general. Yes, it does have roughly similar features just like that set top box, with an exception about how it has much more content compared to that. For example, it obviously have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, yet it also has bunch of apps that comes with it, including certain online video streaming apps (YouTube, Prime Video, Vidio, WeTV, etc.). Watching all kinds of videos on YouTube on this is pretty much exactly as what I expected for, and I even logged in both of my own Google accounts on it just alright, as long as it still connects to my house's Wi-Fi access point 24/7.📺
Now, how about the main feature itself though? Well, the results when it comes to me watching digital TV from various TV stations are exactly in similar fashion to how I watched them before using my old CRT TV, equipped with that set top box. Yes, it still has it's own common problems where where most of the TV stations just stuttered every certain amount of seconds or minutes, or on the worst cases, it led into "no signal" or "invalid service" messages, even if I tried to fix it by re-scanning the available TV stations that are broadcasting 24/7 around my area. Unfortunately though, there is no specific option in order to make it way less occurring, apart from all of those basic options of the whole smart TV's settings itself. FYI, it also has 5 different sources to watch anything on it though, such as 2 different versions of digital TVs (both DVB-T2 and DVB-C [which the latter one still didn't have any at the moment]), analog TV (which obviously no longer existed anymore), AV, and 2 HDMI ports.📺
D. The common problems...📺
As what I clearly stated there, you probably think if watching any digital TVs will work flawlessly as you expect? Well (specifically around my area), no. It's because I have to deal with those of the common problems that usually occur every single time I watch them. When this particular problems gets worse, I have to fix it's own coaxial cable that connects between the TV and the outdoor antenna itself by fixing it's own connector in order to make it less occurring, which still doesn't even fix it most of the time (unless I will get the indoor antenna booster to rectify it though). As for the common problems on the digital TVs that I was talking about, here are the signs about them:
It occasionally producing bit of squeaking or popping sounds, followed by how the picture also occasionally stutters, pauses, or glitches by itself for a rapid moment. This is easily by far the most common problem that always present to encounter it every single time I watch them through all of the TV stations that are available on it (results may vary per each of the TV stations).
It also suddenly stops the TV broadcasts by itself from certain TV stations that I watch, then it immediately leads into "no signal" or "invalid service" screen.
Those common problems do occur probably due to these reasons below:
The connection between both my TV and the outdoor antenna are might be loose (most commonly occurs on it's own connector that connects directly to the TV, especially when it heats up after certain amount of time),
My old outdoor antenna probably doesn't receive any signals from nearest TV station transmitters very well, even if I already mounted it using that long a** pole for really that up high (unless if I already have my better one or improve it using an indoor antenna booster to rectify it for a bit, but I still didn't upgrade it nor acquiring the booster itself yet),
Any forms of technical difficulties that might occur on each of the nearest TV station's transmitters (specifically about how they sometimes change their TV channel index numbers and their respective frequencies), but that might not be the case for the nearest TV stations in my hometown (which I guarantee if they will work fairly flawlessly).
Any condition of the weather around my area that definitely cause all of those common problems usually occur (for instance: my outdoor antenna wobbles due to the strong wind, there are some lightning outside, etc.).
Well, there you have it for my experience about how I deal with digital TV terrestrials, particularly from anything around my area. If you have your experience from your own specifically about it and the common problems that usually occurs on it, feel free to ask anything particularly about them in the comments section if you're able to. That's it for what I could particularly say about this article, and pay attention when it comes to dealing those problems that usually occurs on them............ otherwise you would end up raging.
