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BenQ TH575: FirstLook/FirstUse

Now that really large TV screens are coming down in price, we considered replacing our workhorse 46″ Sony Bravia with something bigger. However, with LED TVs, the [...]
Projector Screens: Motorized, pull-down, hung.

We have been working out the details of the projectors and screens over the past month. We have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t by watching the NBA finals [...]
Summer Reading List

The summer of 2026 is fast approaching, and we have a few very interesting books on our reading list! Four of them are new to us, but one of them we are re-reading. Why? [...]
Boxster Rear Speakers Rebuild

Way back in 2004, we found ourselves inspired by Rob Sampson, and so we built ourselves a set of rear speaker enclosures for our 2000 Porsche Boxster using PVC pipe fittings, [...]
Onoayo LED Mini Projector: FirstUse

The World Cup is upon us once again, and this time we wanted to be able to watch it while comfortably sitting on the couch. We wanted the “stadium experience,” [...]
Onoayo LED Mini Projector: FirstLook

It’s been a long time since we took a look at projection technology. One reason is that prices of large-screen TVs have been dropping like a rock. Projectors, with [...]
Reolink All-in-One Solar Floodlight: Install

The Reolink All-in-One Solar Floodlight is a self-contained security camera. The installation process is straightforward, but the camera needs to be powered up, initialized, [...]
DropLit LED Umbrella: FirstLook

The umbrella has been around for a long, LONG time. Earliest examples have roots in ancient China and Egypt, sometime between 2450-3500 BC. It was originally used for sun [...]
MA-AI/Google online training: Week 01

Here at RainyDay Magazine, we are no strangers to technology, and while we have the right technical background, the tools and capabilities of AI are changing so fast that we [...]
Clapp, meet Bartlett :-)

Our “Clapp’s Favorite” pear tree made it through its second New England winter! The tree started budding at the beginning of April, but a last-minute cold [...]
Reolink All-in-One Solar Floodlight: FirstLook

It’s always exciting when we get something from our Reolink friends! What made their latest delivery more exciting was that the outside of the package gave us no clue [...]
Buffalo Leather Work Gloves: DIY Repair

Those who know us know that we like things that: work, last for a long time, and if/when they “break,” we can fix them ourselves (if we can). Recently, while [...]
Celestron NexImage 10: FirstUse

We posted a FirstLook on the NexImage 10 a while back, and had intended to follow up with the FirstUse a few weeks later. A few of our RainyDayScience readers called us out [...]
Addonics RAID Tower III: InTheWild

With inexpensive cloud storage widely available, does anyone still use local RAID storage for backups? Surprisingly, RAID (aka Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) remains [...]
AirTag Cat Collar: InTheWild

Precision Finding (PF) is an AirTag feature for iPhone 11 and later (excluding SE), that uses Ultra Wideband (U1/U2 chip) to show precise distance and direction to a lost [...]
Vintage Audubon Nature Encyclopedia

The Audubon Nature Encyclopedia is a 12-volume, lavishly illustrated vintage reference work, often praised for its detailed, accessible articles on flora and fauna. This [...]
ARRIS Graphene Heated Jacket: FirstLook

When we took a FirstLook at Graphene-X’s new ThermAdapt Heated Jacket, readers asked a LOT of questions. The most frequently asked one was “Why does the [...]
AirTag Cat Collar: FirstLook/FirstUse

It has almost been a year since Reese, our new RainyDayIntern, joined us. He has grown from a wee kitten to a large and muscular cat. Trying to keep track of his whereabouts [...]
Modernist Cuisine: FirstLook

We attended a talk at the Museum of Science back in 2014 given by Nathan Myhrvold, the lead author and founder of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. He is [...]
Schumann Wave Generator: FirstLook

What is the Schumann Frequency? The Schumann Resonance was mathematically predicted by physicist Winfried Otto Schumann in 1952. The Schumann Resonance is a set of spectral [...]
Super Bowl BBQ Pork Ribs

The New England Patriots are BACK in the Super Bowl after a brief (“wicked brief,” if you’re an actual Bostonian) absence. They are playing against the [...]
Graphene-X ThermAdapt Heated Jacket: FirstLook

A timely item arrived just as many/all of us in New England settled into a deep freeze this week: the Graphene-X ThermAdapt Heated Jacket. This Graphene-X jacket is made [...]
Reflection Frame: FirstUse

We were going to find a place to hang the Reflection Frame (RF) before posting the FirstUse write-up, but since so many readers asked what we thought of the quality of the [...]
Teren Daily Driver Pants: FirstLook

Chinese New Year Traditions Explained…. “Trousers” sounds exactly like the word for “wealth” in Cantonese, so buying a new pair of trousers would be adding [...]
Reflection Frame: FirstLook

The first week of the year was the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is also when super cool, fun, cutting-edge stuff shows up at the RainyDayMagazine office. [...]
RainyDayMagazine Year In Review: 2025

In 2025, we looked at a lot of cool gear, did some fun DIYs, and went to many interesting places. As we are about to ring in a new year, we thought we would look back on our [...]