Suddenly, here we are, 2021! And what a hideous year 2020 was what with coronavirus, insane politics both sides of the Atlantic, a climate emergency and a world turned upside down. I could use all that as an excuse for seemingly abandoning Planet Keef, but that would be too easy. I was actually very busy in the shed in 2020 and started many projects. I just didn't manage to finish any of them as videos. Here's a little rundown of some of the videos that I started but haven't (yet) finished. A SMALL LED VIDEO LIGHT This was intended to be a quick and easy project using an Anglepoise desk lamp as the adjustable stand with a square biscuit tin fixed on as a reflector. My plan was to stuff 10 metres of LED strip inside this, and then cover the front of the tin with some kind of diffusing material. Unfortunately I only got as far as removing the old light and its shade from the stand. I wanted to 3D print a bracket to connect the tin to the stand, but the printer was out of act...

As you may know, I'm a big fan of camera sliders - even made my own a few months ago. So when Neewer got in touch to ask me to review one of theirs, I jumped at it. The slider comes in a decent carrying case, and the internal zipped pocket contains a few bits and pies - an Allen key for if you need to tighten anything up, a couple of rubber buffer studs that stop the slide plate crashing into the end frames (I can't imagination under what circumstances you'd need to replace the ones it comes fitted with), and a ⅜" to ¼" threaded adapter. Neewer's slider is liberally equipped with both  ⅜" and ¼" threaded holes. The actual spindle for attaching your camera or a quick-release plate is ¼". The slider is constructed from a metal alloy, apart from the slide rails which are carbon-fibre. So the rails are super-strong, and super-light. The actual sliding mechanism is a bit unusual - most sliders use linear bearings that fit over the rails, but ...

When it comes to streaming TV and Video On Demand, I'm a bit late to the party. Sure, I watch YouTube videos on my computer, iPad and phone, but never before on the actual telly. And the reasons for that? Well firstly I'm not a big consumer of TV - I might watch an hour or two each night, or none - I'm just as happy to read a book. And secondly, we don't have a smart TV and I really didn't understand how it works. But here we are, just getting used to the idea of it being the 21st Century, and now the proud owner owner of not one, but two streaming TV devices. You might think that's a bit excessive, and so do I. Here's what happened... Many moons ago now, Amazon announced it had commissioned a 6-part dramatisation of Good Omens by the late, great Pterry Pratchett and the admirable Neil Gaiman. Others have tried to bring Terry's novels to the screen, but missed the mark by about a million miles - somehow the people involved just didn't get it. B...

If you're familiar with the German-owned supermarket chain Aldi, you'll know that every week they offer Special Buys, and quite often these things are absolute bargains. At £12.99, this little cordless screwdriver definitely falls into the 'bargain' category. I haven't used it in anger yet, but I have tested it on pine and oak, and it performs extremely well. If you do a lot of screwing (stop sniggering at the back), this is the perfect thing to use alongside a cordless drill - the time saved in changing bits totally justifies the cost of this chunky little tool. Highly recommended.

Assembling the Rage 3S Until a few months before I bought this machine, I had no idea that such things as sliding mitre saws existed. Sure, I'd seen them in DIY stores, but had no idea what they were, and still less idea that I needed one. But after trying to make a picture frame with mitred corners I started looking for decent mitre blocks, and I had a distant memory of using a hand operated mitre saw in woodwork classes at school. Searching online for those things threw up results for lots of Sliding Mitre Saws and I realised that was exactly what I needed. The Evolution Rage 3-S seemed to be a good bet for me. It was a great price, about £100 from Screwfix, but there's always the possibility that something so cheap will be badly made and unreliable. And although it's made in China (isn't everything these days?), it's designed in the UK and it had great reviews on various websites I looked at. So I bought one. Cutting wood The machine comes in a bi...