Baryn

As it turns out, my assumptions about this problem were totally wrong. My contacts weren't terribly damaged, only slightly scored. The reason I perceived the contacts as the problem was because the earbuds were turning on while charging, which shouldn't happen. The REAL problem was that little magnets stored in the underside of the buds' "cradle" had come ajar from dropping the case numerous times. Still a design flaw, but a pretty easy one to fix quickly! Can't believe I'm saying this, but: thanks, Reddit!

My true-wireless earbuds seem to have a glaring design flaw that has only become apparent a year later - their copper charging contacts have become a little bent from the pressure of being pushed into their charging case over and over. I've tried the usual iso alcohol on a cotton swab, but the metal itself is slightly warped, so it's only of little help. Any protips for this issue? Any help at all is greatly appreciated.

The HP Omen X 65 Emperium (their Big Format Gaming Display) is "out of stock" everywhere. I would have expected a little more commitment after all the delays. Asus's BFGD is the same tumultuous story so far, and, if LTT are the only ones who can afford it, then I expect BFGD to join 3D Vision and Shield Tablets on Nvidia's island of lost toys. Speaking of islands, no man is one.

Right, I neglected to mention that I have been cannibalizing cables for my oft-used items from other things. For example, the Vive VR headset doesn't get a lot of use from me anymore, but it came with several very premium Micro-USB cables. It's kind of weird to think about. "Premium USB cables."

I haven't really had a USB cable fail on me since... USB became a thing. However, in the last 2 years, I've had a handful just kick the bucket. Both Mini-USB and Micro-USB. I'm not going on the road with my cables often, so they're not getting roughed up. In fact, one of the failures was the cable for my charging stand, which never even moves. Anyone else notice this? And, could it be related to global manufacturing standards getting cheaper (and worse) for commonly-packed cables?

Ugh, I just got a couple pairs for bumming around.

Is there actually anything interesting out there for tech people?

Okay, so HDMI 2.1 includes VRR support and Nvidia only supports 2.0 right now. This article from just this week makes me feel like it’s still a bit premature and big-screen VRR might simply need another year in the oven. https://www.anandtech.com/show/14535/realtek-demonstrates-rtd2173-displayport-14-to-hdmi-21-converter

Even despite Nvidia’s announcement that they’re conceding to FreeSync support?

Found this list. Apparently Samsung is going all-out on FreeSync. https://www.amd.com/en/products/freesync-tvs

Cool, who’s making them? TVs especially.

My current display is 8 years old and suffering from a ton of light bleed - it’s really getting ready to be replaced. I decided that VRR is important to me, but screw the HP Omen X Emperium 65 (paying $5000 for LCD is just a rip-off). What’s out there right now, and what do we have to look forward to? thanks guys

Well that's why I wrote a lot of stuff. To clarify, I think this offers (right now) the best nexus of portability, features, call quality and audio quality, which makes it great for people like me who use it for business and pleasure alike.

What I love The mic quality is as good as I’ve heard in an earbud. It has two mics per bud for better background noise cancelling. The audio quality is fantastic. I even game with these instead of my Sonos setup most nights. Windows Sonic works really well with this, delivering extremely convincing positional audio in games that do that. Water resistance. I dropped the main bud in the bath while washing my toddler and was amazed it worked completely fine later. Amenities like audio passthrough for letting sound in, and focus mode for keeping sound out while playing relaxing white noise of your choice (ocean waves, etc). What I envy AirPods allow you to share audio with someone else. It is shitty that every wireless headphone doesn’t do this, and I really hope this changes soon. Galaxy Buds have way more customizable controls. I hardly use the hardware controls on the Jabra, because I just don’t like how they work. This might be the only Bluetooth headset that doesn’t allow you to mute yourself on a call at the touch of a button. If you want a high-performance option that isn’t seemingly bound to an ecosystem like Apple and Samsung’s offerings, the Jabra Elite 65t is the best way to cut the wire yet.

Thanks guys, because of your replies, I was able to find a good solution... that I already owned. I noticed that Bluetooth and WiFi seem to come bundled together in a lot of adapters. So, I installed my motherboard's massive WiFi antenna (I've never used WiFi for my PC's connection). Lo and behold, my motherboard's own Bluetooth 5.0 range went from about 3 inches to approximately one million miles, even tucked behind my case like a mutant half-sibling. Sorry if this is cringe and noobish to anyone reading. This isn't my first time at the rodeo, but never have I seen any human nor documentation state that the "WiFi antenna" might also be used for onboard Bluetooth.