Month: November 2022

Categories
Technology

Wireless Chargers for Geeks

In this day and age wireless chargers are not only convenient but likely going to become required with phones already removing expandable storage slots, headphone jacks and even physical sim cards. The only thing left is the charging port.

After trying out several wireless charging pads from Five Below I realized I needed to spend more than five dollars. Since I am already spending more than five dollars I might as well have a wireless charger that meets my personal aesthetic taste.

Different companies use different terms for marketing their wireless chargers. I have seen the terms “wireless charging pad”, “wireless charging dock”, “wireless charging phone holder”, “wireless charging stand”, and many more variants. In this article I am going to refer to two types. What I call a “wireless charging pad” I define as any wireless charger that lays flat on a surface and you lay your phone flat on that wireless charger. What I call a “wireless charging stand” is any wireless charger that can hold your phone vertically or horizontally at an angle.

Yootech Wireless Charging Pad and Stand

While this particular wireless charging pad doesn’t have a direct sci-fi or fandom connection it comes in at a great price for a sleek design. The pad charger is shaped in a circle and has a green LED that goes around the edge which lights up when charging your device. It also includes a wall adapter which is important to get the full 10 watt charging on the latest devices.

For not much more you can get a nice bundle of a charging pad and a stand. which is really nice for when you are wanting to have your phone charging while watching something. I find this nice for at a computer desk.

If you care more about geeky functionality rather than a geeky look then I would say this charger is for you!


Star Wars: Millennium Falcon Wireless Charging Pad

This Star Wars Millennium Falcon wireless charging pad may not look like much, but it’s got it where it counts. At least that is what Han Solo would tell you and then he would tell you about how it can wirelessly charge at 10 watts. Plus, there are two modes for the LED engines. The first mode only lights up when charging and the second when on will light up the LED engines all the time.

While it does come with a USB-A to USB-C cable and a wall adapter the USB-C plugs right into where the LEDs light up which can detract from the aesthetic. However, if you get a blue LED cable then you can have a wireless charger that even the emperor will be jealous of.


Star Wars: Mandalorian Wireless Charging Pad

This Star Wars Mandalorian wireless charging pad is the way. It can wireless charge at 10 watts and the T-Visor lights up when charging. It does come with a USB-A to USB-C cable and wall adapter which plugs into the top of the helmet.

If you really love the Mandalorian then you may want to buy a Grogu USB Cable to go with it so that the child can sit on Mando’s head.


Kitchen Suitable Wireless Charging Pad

This lemon slice shaped wireless charging pad perfectly blends right into your kitchen making it an adorable fun addition. Plus, it charges at 10 watts and comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable, but it does not come with a wall adapter. So, you may want to also buy a GFCI outlet that has USB ports or maybe a colorful wall adapter that matches the color of your wall.

Doctor Who: Tardis Wireless Charging Pad and Battery Pack

As you travel through time and space you no longer need to worry about being near a wall to wirelessly charge with this Doctor Who Tardis wireless charging pad that doubles as a battery pack.

It has a 5000mAh battery capacity and wireless charging of 5 watts. Comes with a short USB-A to Micro-USB cable but no wall adapter. So, you better hope The Doctor has one you can borrow to get this charged up but once it is, you can keep charging your phone on your adventures!

Doctor Who: Weeping Angel Wireless Charging Pad and Battery Pack

Don’t blink and run! Which you can do with this Doctor Who Weeping Angel wireless charging pad that doubles as a battery pack.

It has 5000mAh battery capacity and wireless charging of 5 watts. Which will allow you to charge even while running from Weeping Angels. It also comes with a short USB-A to Micro-USB cable. It doesn’t come with a wall adapter, though, so you’ll have to look away long enough to get your own.

Star Trek: Starfleet AcademyWireless Charging Pad and Battery Pack

The perfect Star Trek: Starfleet Academy wireless charging pad that doubles as a battery pack. You can make sure you get to your classes on time by charging your phone at your desk since this has 5000mAh battery capacity and wireless charging of 5 watts. Comes with a short USB-A to Micro-USB cable but no wall adapter, I am sure that you can borrow one from one of those Red Squad cadets. They will be impressed with this charging pad they will want you to join their ranks!

Star Trek: Starfleet Insignia Wireless Charging Pad and Battery Pack

No matter if you consider it the Starfleet Symbol, The Arrowhead or the delta emblem, this colorful version of the Star Trek: Starfleet Insignia wireless charging pad also doubles as a battery pack. No matter the class of your ship or where your missions take you, with this charging pad you will be able to charge your mobile communicator on any away mission with its 5000mAh battery capacity and wireless charging of 5 watts. It also comes with a short USB-A to Micro-USB cable but no wall adapter. So, you will have to replicate one of those yourself.

Star Trek: Starfleet Command Wireless Charging Pad and Battery Pack

May you live long and prosper with this Star Trek: Starfleet Command wireless charging pad that doubles as a battery pack It has a battery capacity of 5000mAh and wireless charging of 5 watts allowing you to go to maximum warp without worrying if where you are going will have a charging station. It comes with a short USB-A to Micro-USB cable but no wall adapter. However, that is a minor obstacle to a Starfleet officer like yourself; you can probably just requisition one.

Back to The Future VHS Wireless Charging Stand

Great Scott! This is a cool Back to The Future VHS wireless charging stand that will hold your phone and charge it at the same time! I am not sure how many gigawatts of electricity it can handle but it does come with a USB-A to USB-C cable. Still if you want to try out this temporal experiment of a charging stand and find out how precise it can charge you will need to find your own wall adapter.

E.T. VHS Wireless Charging Stand

Always be ready to phone home with this E.T. VHS Wireless Charging Stand keeping your phone charged. While it is charging your phone E.T.’s finger lights up just like in the movie! It also comes USB-A to USB-C cable, but you might have to trade some Reese’s Pieces for a wall adapter.

Ghostbusters VHS Wireless Charging Stand

You will always be ready to call with this Ghostbusters VHS Wireless Charging Stand. Just place your phone on this detailed stand and it will keep your phone charged and ready to call the Ghostbusters if you spot The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man out on the prowl. Note that a USB-A to USB-C cable is included but no wall adapter.

SEGA: Sonic The Hedgehog Wireless Charging Stand

Gotta go fast with this SEGA: Sonic The Hedgehog Wireless Charging Stand! It is a retro packaging of the classic SEGA Mega Drive Sonic The Hedgehog game cartridge that has sprung to life with some Sonic arms and legs!

When you place your phone on the stand a golden ring lights up to indicate charging, and just like in the game, you know your phone is not going to die. In order to get this magic working they provided a USB-A to USB-C cable but it’s up to you to provide the wall adapter.

Jaws VHS Wireless Charging Stand

This Jaws VHS Wireless Charging Stand won’t take up too much room on your boat, even with the included USB-A to USB-C cable. Just don’t go in the water until you’ve fished out a wall adapter for it, as it’s the only thing you’ll need to provide yourself- besides the phone!

Pokémon Pikachu Wireless Charging Pad and USB Hub

You can choose this adorable Madcow Entertainment Pokémon Pikachu Wireless Charging Pad which is not only a charging pad but also a USB hub! You do not need to worry about this Pikachu doing a thunderbolt move on your phone as you can easily see when it is charging your phone because Pikachu’s cheeks will light up! Plus, you can charge up to 3 other devices via the 3 USB charging ports.

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Categories
Game Design and Development Unreal Engine 5

Toggling cursor visibility, mouse capture mode and locking to a viewport inside of Unreal Engine 5 via Blueprints

I will be honest, I feel like in Unity you can easily Lock, and Unlock your cursor but I really struggled for a while with this issue inside of Unreal Engine 5. I looked all over the web using search terms like “UE5 Lock Mouse to Viewport Issue”, “UE5 Show Mouse Issue” and of course switching out the term “issue” with “problem”. I did find a lot of posts out there but most of them only solved for one part of the problem. I believe I have figured out solutions to the issues I was running into. I even made a video talking about the solutions, but I also have gone ahead and written this article to help those who just need a refence point or for those who have watched the video and want stills of the Blueprints.

Fill free to watch the video on YouTube or stay on this page watch the embedded video.

If you don’t want to watch the video you want to have visual reference, I have broken down the blueprint below.

Here is the whole function end to end that I placed in the level blueprint.

Blueprint how I was able to Show/Hide Mouse Cursor Toggle while disabling camera control from mouse movement.

First, we have a trigger event you can have assigned to a key or button on a gamepad.

Next, we have a flip flop which will do first trigger the “A” path the first time that trigger event is fired and then the next time it is fired it will go down the “B” path. You will notice in both paths and all functions in these paths we are always targeting the same player controller.

Using SET we can show or hide the mouse. Since when the game runs our mouse is already hidden, we know that we want the first time someone triggers the event for it to show the mouse.

Next, you will notice that for path “A” we are setting the input mode to both game and UI. The reason for this is so that the mouse can be listened for on both UI objects and the game world objects.

Lastly, we have the look input function either ignore the mouse data or reset.