Techmoan Video Odd-cast March 2020
Video version of the March Patreon-only update.
Links to things mentioned in the video
Coturn portable record player on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coturn/coturn-portable-record-player
The RTM cassette player that I didn’t feature: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rtm2020/mystik-a-next-generation-portable-cassette-player
Comments (73)
"compromised immune system" Here in the USA surprisingly few asthmatics are showing up in the hospitals with Covid-19. I'm of the opinion our "overworked" immune systems cope with this virus quite well. Immunosuppressants are even starting to be used as an early treatment for Covid-19.
I started writing a comment here, and it was about a mile long rant. Suffice to say, I agree with your points. Glad to see more of these monthly reviews. Thanks for all the content. I'd not be opposed to one of these monthly videos being a 'making of the moans'.... That'd not be flagged as for children....
"in a month i'll be going on holiday" - ah if only we could turn the clock back and be optimistic about the future and the thought of holidays abroad, Now even a trip to the shops seems to be a trip too far.
"THERE GOES YOUR CAR!" ... I loved the ad reviews and would love to see some more in the future. And while I love the puppets (and have the Flippin' Eck mug to prove it), I understand if they need to take a sabbatical!
Those cops need one of those flashlights to blow the bad guy's tyres!
i can remember when most Cassette Machine Mechanisms where made by Nakamichi
Oh Gosh! Why did I laugh when you said: "If the videos suddenly stop . . ." ? As usual, far too many things to comment on, Mat, except to say we just cancelled a holiday we had booked to Budapest in May. You might like to think of doing the same. Don't risk it if the virus is going to be at its peak. Just stay healthy we need our weekly dose of Techmoan - and with or without the puppets - either is fine.
Youtube is run by fun haters now.
I think they’re just under pressure from all corners - the music industry, local law makers - its an impossible situation to deal with things on an individual basis, so they have to implement these very broad rules that cause loads of problems for specific fringe cases.
I'm in exactly the same boat, very high risk group. Pacemaker, two heart valves replaced. I've had to cancel a trip to London to see a friend... from Italy!!
You’re definitely doing the right thing. If I was twenty years old I wouldn’t have any concern about shaking something like this off in a few days. You’ve got to use your own common sense, you know when something is a bit of a risk.
Make sure your account passwords are sealed with your LW&T, Matt, and you can have your solicitor do a final puppet "outro" for you.
Great video. The 8 track player behind- the plunger reminded me of crazy Harry in Muppets blowing up everything. I love gadget show especially retro section. I don't even know you but feel I do because of your videos. Keep up good work and stay safe
Thanks for another great video and I'm glad you mentioned Covid-19 at the end as I was worried about you but I know you are sensible enough to call for help if you do become sick. I'm not worried about the virus but a YouTube without Techmoan is a scary concept!
I consider myself a boring old man and a member of the Underlying Health Problems club (annual flu jabs, asthma, heart attach, pacemaker, 50% lung function etc, etc). but I shall enjoy your videos (muppet free or not) until my dying breath. BTW self isolating is a bit difficult with a family at home and a spouse who works at the local hospital now known for the UK's second death. Double BTW spouse is Italian and her parents and brother are in Milano. They are in their 80's and he has MS. Advise, enjoy every moment.
If this were health risk top trumps you’d have definitely just taken all my cards and won the game. Well best of luck to you too. The only downside to the isolation bit is that I’m probably more likely to do myself in falling out of the attic while the Mrs is at work. Ho hum.
My favorite color is green so I like the muppet videos. They are short enough so they are fit in my compact schedule.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Techmoan Advert review.
There's absolutely no way the "tracker" in that ad works as advertised. GPS would be required for the position accuracy shown, and cellular would be required to send the position out. But the battery in that thing must be tiny. If it did have those two things, it would be dead within hours. If it works at all, it's probably a bluetooth Tile-style tracker, which requires it to be within bluetooth range of your phone, and even then would only tell you that it was "nearby" - you wouldn't get a map position at all. Also I'm pretty sure the mountain clip and the forest clip in the flashlight ad are from a YouTube video demonstrating a completely different, home-made, high-power flashlight, that was considerably larger than the flashlight shown. So that probably doesn't work as advertised either.
Enjoyed it all; thanks Mat! One can only hope that you have a wonderful holiday, you don't catch anything, AND you get some inspiration for more Moans videos!
YouTube users should mobilise and start uploading clips from Crank Yankers and live performances of Avenue Q. That might convince the muppets at YT that puppets ≠ children's content.
I was just thinking about the Muppets, which all the American networks refused to fund as they didn't believe Adults would want to watch puppets. Luckily Lew Grade (a British TV Mogul) saw the potential. On the plus side it was recently announced that Spitting Image is coming back. They were in the same league as Team America.
Just noticing something strange here on (at least) this Patron page/posting: I've "Liked" (hearted) several comments above but then I load more comments and my Liked comments aren't Liked anymore...but others I hadn't even read yet WERE Liked already!
Boring old man here. Keep the videos coming! :-)
Sad to hear about about the Moans and hope they are able to return in future. I, too, enjoy using my Flippin' Heck mug. I completely understand the why even if I don't like it. Everything is turning to rubbish now so why should YouTube -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Google which has been rubbish for some time - "don't be evil" my ass -- be any different.
Matt’s attitude alone with inoculate him from the Corona Virus.
So, the Moans may be gone, you might die, and even if you don’t, you may have a YouTumor. Thank you, Mr. Underlying Health Issues.
Yea, funny you mention the RTM Walkman, I follow another couple of channels where they did reviews of a early production unit with a demo. It appeared from the videos this thing is complete garbage. Dreadful wow and flutter and a horribly noisy analog output. Yet these channels seemed to sing its praises which at the time I thought was a bit odd but thought nothing more of it .... until now you bring it up.
I think I’ve seen the same videos and I understand the awkward situation they’ve found themselves in. Just glad it’s not me.
Excellent video and update. Really appreciate it. Your YouTube channel is by far my favorite online diversion. Please keep the new content coming. It just pains me that I purged most of my interesting electronics in my last two international moves. Now I'm slowly buying them back.
Well thanks - at least second time around you can really buy the things you originally wanted but were just a bit too expensive.
After seeing this great video, I am confident that you are the right person to advertise my new vintage lookalike portable ultra-cheap automatic record cleaner, just launched on "nonstarter". It's running on a refurbished Tanashin mechanism, and it comes with two sets of rusty needles to erase those microgrooves. The number of scratches is displayed on three wobbling Nixie tubes. The provided lightweight power supply can also be used as an endless lighter. The dinking functionality does only work over Bluetooth, which is not integrated. My prototype has already been shipped to you. Don't be afraid when the postman rings! ;-)
I pretty much stopped doing all reviews of anything sent to me, with the exception of TheC64 Mini and Maxi.. and I would have reviewed those even if somebody hadn't sent them to me. But except for those, every video I have done on something like that was totally not worth it. Not only were the gadgets not terribly interesting to me, but the videos have a very short lifespan. So they made a little money and then nobody watched them ever again. I really like to make content that people can enjoy today, tomorrow, and years from now. Sorry to hear about the Muppet situation. It seems like it becomes harder and harder to stay within the guidelines on YouTube every day. I am sure you know I recently made a video "for free" because I haven't earned a cent from it due to a copyright claim on a 60-second part of my video where I demonstrated a keyboard and played a song that was copyrighted. I'll never do that again.
It does seem like the walls are closing in on what’s possible. I can continue to make videos that fall within the guidelines - but when playing a 100 year old record is a problem - it’s rather limiting when I want to demonstrate audio equipment
Pity, I love the puppets.. I’ve watched all of them multiple times.. But I suppose I have a peculiar sense of humour.. And please don’t die.. I like your videos too much.. And I’d have to find someone else to support... It stresses me out just thinking about it! Oh, I’m also one of those allergic to everything type of blokes, so perhaps then you can start a channel in heaven .. Perhaps about older high end harps... 😂 Sorry, weird Dutch sense of humour, not meant to be offensive..
One of your best "Rant" videos. Really enjoyed it. And as always, thanks for making it.
I always knew "The Gadget Show" were an absolute shower! ps. Personally I absolutely love "The Moans", my Moans merchandise mug is a much loved item, even my 4 children like using it!
Haha, The Gadget Show. They've been in touch with me several times now seeking various favors. I've never shipped them anything, but I did send them some video footage from a few LGR episodes. Apparently I've been in three of their segments now? I dunno, I can't watch the show over here and no one has ever got in touch saying "hey I saw you on the show!" So yeah, I'm with you in thinking no one watches it.
I don’t think you’re missing much. I’m not sure even the presenters are aware it’s still being made.
What annoys me about the COVID-19 scaremongering is that experts are stating that an N95 mask or the Chinese style face masks are pointless and don't help. But then in the same breath they are saying that you shouldn't touch your mouth or nose. I get that the masks don't filter down far enough to stop viruses but they are a physical barrier so you can't touch your mouth or nose. Unless an infected person coughs or sneezes directly into your mouth, the only way you are picking it up is by touching an infected surface and touching a mucous membrane on your body. So, don't touch anything with your hands and use sanitiser regularly. It's hard to program yourself not to touch your face but when you have a mask on, it's 2nd nature to leave your face alone. Or like me, work on the railway then you very quickly learn not to touch your face. As for this panic buying of bog roll, none of the effects of COVID-19 are "the shits" so why are they stock piling?
In the video you’ll see me touch my face about a hundred times - I seem to have itchy face syndrome. I think Michael Parkinson had the same thing.
Have not watched the gadget show since suzie perry left 😂
I like your muppet sketches a lot actually, if you get some ideas in future, you could post the vid on Patreon only perhaps?
It’s certainly a possibility.
To prevent people from hijacking your account, try setting up 2 actor authentication. They may know your username and password after phising, but they would still need to break the 2 factor thing. And I too have a very much reduced immune system due to medication for my auto immune decease. I like travelling to Japan...but that's not happening this year. Just keep an eye on how it's going, but don't even tempt fate by travelling if the "Beer brand" virus hasn't stopped being a threat yet.
Oh trust me I've got two-factor on everything...and not with SMS wherever possible.
RE: Muppet videos. Just in watching this update, I think you could shoot Muppet outros based on fake Amazon reviews, low-production-value adverts and something, something meta about the hazards of including comedic puppet sketches in YouTube videos. Maybe if you include a very dark sketch regarding Covid-19 it would be sure to be flagged as Not For Children. Anyway, it must be difficult to deal with all these YT related issues like copyright restrictions, possible channel hijacking and child endangerment issues. Carry on Mat!
It's not a bad job though - I've had thoroughly miserable jobs that have made me suicidal, being a Youtumor is a walk in the park in comparison.
I dont know about you guys, but I could easily chip in an extra dollar a month to get the "false start blabbering videos" as well... I love those derailed from topic rants of 20 + minutes
It really wasn't worth listening to - for a start I kept referring to the Kodak camera as a Polaroid - most things that get deleted deserve it.
Your "just talking" videos are always a highlight. I just like to listen to it. Talking about the virus: Consider cancelling your vacation trip - at least until summer. I am far from being an overreacting person but people with weak immune systems should be careful. Hot, sunny weather makes a virus very unlikely to survive so at least do your trip in August and not in May.
The only problem is that I've already paid a few thousand pounds for the holiday and it's a lot of money to throw away. I know people will say that money isn't important, but when I've saved up all year for a one week holiday, to throw all that money away on a chance of getting ill/dead is still difficult - when it's quite possible I'd get ill visiting the shops anyway.
For more on this topic, check out VWestlife's recent video on fake Amazon reviews.
FIVE STARS!!! Great Video. Very innovative functionality in a classic look! Sorry, I couldn't help it, I just had to get that fake review in before I can watch the rest of this video, so I'll just shut up and watch it.
Definitely not compact though.
The ad reviews filled me with joy. Sometimes, it bothers me how much of the internet is fixated on tracking their ex-girlfriend's car and then incinerating her with a big hard flashlight, so it's nice to feel like I'm not the only one who finds that a bit silly.
Thanks, Mat - great video as always. So nice, just like having an old friend drop in for a chat. Have you seen the price of Purell on Amazon at the moment? I hope your dispenser is full! Have a great weekend and take care.
Unfortunately this whole thing kicked in just as I was about to order a refill - so I had a look and they were all out. Still got half a bottle in the machine though so that’s good for a while.
I watched an episode of the Gadget show and I got the impression it was following in the vein of Top Gear in that a lot of it was based on testing things to destruction. e.g. who has a tank that they will drive over a laptop. Thanks for the update, I too have a compromised immune system. Keep the videos coming and I can still enjoy your videos without the puppets. Keep well and have a good holiday unless the whole world grinds to a halt through the corona virus.
I understand why they do what they do - my kind of videos just wouldn’t work on TV - things have to be bigger. They’ll get many more viewers than I do - so it’s working for them, but it’s just not my thing. Same with Top Gear and Fifth Gear, looking at the boot space on a car and how the rear seats fold down is a thing of the past. As far as the cars go though there are some excellent car review channels on YouTube...so even if TV wanted to get back into doing old school family saloon reviews, they’ve lost their audience to a more immediate media.
Thanks a lot for the update Mat! Wish you a good health, indeed, your normal health situation probably makes you vulnerable, but your lifestyle fortunately not, I have a good feeling that we can continue to enjoy the moans of technology (and maybe also the puppets again, Mr. Puppeteer ;-)). BTW: the tracking device: country might be The Netherlands: abundance of bikes, the way the street is paved and the brick buildings...
I was thinking the Netherlands too...imagine tracking that car all the way to the US though where it got totalled. That’s a kicker.
Thanks for the update, Matt. On the topic of child-friendly videos: I believe the whole internet will have an awakening at some point whenever some government decides to enforce proper child protection regulation. The internet wasn’t made for kids and the oligarch companies need to stop profiting from them. It’s unfortunate that YouTube is set up the way it is which means that you as a creator feel the pain first. Here’s me upping my Patreon spend to wish you a nice holiday trip.
Well it’s very kind of you - but please don’t feel a need to pay any more - by being a Patreon you’re already going above and beyond even at $1.
I do enjoy the puppet segments for one, but no stress over having to produce them for the sake of it. Best wishes on the whole virus situation, and take care of your health.
Thought that was a lot of interesting blabber and total rubbish! Keep it up! Also, just get the regular Corona please if any, the one in the glass bottle. ^_^
As you are our favorit grumpy Youtube-man I think we all say: Take care now!
I’ll just keep on keeping on...oh and washing my hands too.
I really hope you can sort getting The Moans again! I really enjoy watching them and the thought of them being permanently binned is heartbreaking. I’m 49 and they have never triggered children’s content for me.
Well let’s just say they’re on extended hiatus. If anything I’m glad of the break, it takes a lot of pressure off. I’ve often lay awake in bed at night desperately trying to think up ideas for them.
The Gadget Show seem to work like this. I saw a post recently and they wanted someone to bring a Sinclair C5 to Birmingham, in 2 days time. Not sure they were paying expenses... Regarding your advertising co-incidence - “great minds think alike”. Or as they say in Germany “two fools, same thought”! Keep up the good work and thanks for the update.
I’ll go for the German version.
Thanks for brightening my Sunday morning :-) Please keep doing what you're doing :-)