Robert Heron
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rob7.bsky.social
Robert Heron
@rob7.bsky.social
A technologist at heart.

https://www.robertheron.com
Seeing Zork I, II, and III go open source warms my heart. Classic text adventures for everyone to poke around with 😎

opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11...
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
There are a few of these in the United States, but the nerd in me cracks a smile every time I'm driving on Disk Drive in San Jose, California 💾😎
November 19, 2025 at 11:43 PM
If you are a PowerToys user on Windows 11, you may have noticed that recent OS updates have caused the dark mode theme setting to revert to a light/bright setting.

I don't recall enabling the Light Switch function, but the fix is to turn it off and reboot ;)

learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answer...
October 23, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Ignore the power lines and I managed a decent picture of the Milky Way's thick part 😎

That image makes me want to find an even darker part of California for better stargazing 🌠
October 11, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Friend's DirecTV dish was misaligned enough to prevent the tuning of HD channels. Half of the transponders were ~69% signal strength and the others were ~86%. Tweaked the fine-tuning knobs and got everything to ~95% 😎

#MiddleOfNowhere
October 8, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Spent a week with an MSI MPG321CURX on my desk - 4K240 @ 32" is nice, albeit a bit too big for competitive FPS gaming 😎 Decent factory calibration, but improved with a quick/dirty custom ICC profile - sRGB before/after pics.

Didn't appreciate MSI software asking to install Norton 🫤

#QuantumDot
August 7, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I find it difficult to decide whether I prefer building a new PC or stress testing its optimized settings 😎
July 22, 2025 at 7:23 PM
I appreciate Ubiquiti's gateway products for alerting me to this one security camera that was pinging at least four IP addresses around ten times every minute. Easily blocked until I can replace that camera (w/something NDAA-compliant) later this week 😎
July 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The latest quantum dot electroluminescent (QDEL) display demo from Samsung Display has doubled the longevity of the blue emitter and increased light output by 60% compared to last year's demo!

Still, there are a few more years to go before commercialization.

#DisplayWeek2025
#SID
May 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I picked up an inexpensive UV light to highlight leak-detection products, and I'm now checking every ID and document for interesting UV-activated holograms and watermarks 😎

This eagle is the coolest one I've found so far!
May 9, 2025 at 12:33 AM
I appreciate mobile device options that limit battery charging to ~80%. Our tablet is almost always plugged in, which should help extend its battery life over the long term. I also do the same setup on my phone when it is regularly resting on a wireless charging stand 😎
February 20, 2025 at 12:13 AM
My HDHomeRun ATSC 3.0/NextGen 4K quad-tuner is connected to the network and streaming to the app on my Roku Ultra. I believe my local Fox affiliate enables DRM, so I'm curious if I'll be able to see the game in Dolby Vision/Atmos - probably not.

@silicondust.com
February 9, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Here are pictures of the Samsung and TCL QDEL prototype display placards. Display Week 2025 is coming up, and I'll be curious to see what advances have happened over the last year - the blue emitter material was short-lived.
February 6, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I did not (sadly), but I did see it (and others) demoed earlier in 2024 at Display Week. The pictures are of the Samsung (monitor) and TCL (laptop) QDEL prototypes. My current/best guess is that products will not be available until (at least) 2027.
February 6, 2025 at 10:57 PM
This TCL Q6-series 4K TV lacks local dimming and has limited peak light output for impressive HDR reproduction. However, it does have good color, 144Hz VRR/ALLM, and a whopping 98-inch screen size for less than $1400 😎

*5-year warranty, too!

#CostcoTemptations
#LCD
#QLED
January 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Adding the Hisense 116UX and TCL prototype RGB LED-backlit LCD televisions on display at CES 2025 😎
January 9, 2025 at 5:28 PM
CES 2025 - the ultimate RGB LED display
January 9, 2025 at 2:28 AM
TCL and Samsung also demonstrated RGB LED backlit prototypes...expect a flurry of these to arrive 2H 2025.

*Samsung 8K prototype pictured
January 9, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Preorders are available for LG's bespoke SIGNATURE OLED T - a transparent television with wireless AV connectivity.

The demonstrations from a year ago showed good transparency and brightness 😎

www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-ol...
December 29, 2024 at 4:50 PM
If you bring a supersized TV home this holiday season, please keep it upright during transit. Transporting those monster screens on their side is inviting potential damage 😎
December 14, 2024 at 7:43 AM
I have moments where I feel like a perpetual beta tester for Calman, but its Direct Display Control feature (with supported TVs) saved me a ton of time when working on a 20-point grayscale correction for a 2019 Samsung TV.

*TV's menus interfered with measurements 😎
October 26, 2024 at 6:51 PM
Before assuming a broken device, test a power supply (when possible)!

A $10 replacement part restored my pristine UHD disc player to working order - the working replacement part pictured 😎

#DIY
#FixIt
October 19, 2024 at 12:13 AM
It's good to see supersized TVs at relatively affordable prices. Still, this 98-inch Samsung DU9000's virtual (fake) local dimming gives me pause - rather have full-array local dimming + at least 1000 nits like the less expensive 100-inch U7 series from Hisense.

#Costco
September 24, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Had the opportunity to work on LG's best OLED again, and the ability to program its lookup table allows for superb color accuracy 😎
September 16, 2024 at 6:07 PM
My local #Costco offers an arcade-grade pinball machine and multi-game arcade-lite cabinets 😎

#YesPlease
September 10, 2024 at 11:47 PM