Last Viewed Technology Blogs (217)

Upgrades come under a few headings. Do them or ignore them as it's not broke so I don't have to fix it. At some point in time I have to do an upgrade or two and the time is nearing.

I bought a few refurbished computers over the years and they appear to be okay for my normal use. My business computer was purchased new years ago with an older system using Windows 7 and some of the software I'm using requires Windows 10 to get all the features out of them.

The latest version of Google Chrome is like the kiss of death and email drags, times out and sometimes requires a refresh to function.

Time for an upgrade I've been putting off for a while. I bought a refurb and I'm busy migrating all my data and programs from the older computer to the new one. One main program that handles my PDF documents similar to Adobe cannot be moved. The company offered an upgrade that was half price, so I'm in the process of installing and setting up the environment that will take a few hours to accomplish.

Upgrades, sometimes you've got to do them!

You know - like that legendary T.V. guy who can make/fix anything with nothing but a hairpin.

My house was built circa 1890.
Many of the fixtures are original - 125 years old.

A while ago, an original door lock went hawire.
I figured it was busted, so taking it apart couldn't hurt...what the hell, I might even be able to fix it.
Also, I'm rather fond of old things & like to keep them functioning.

A flat spring in the mechanism had broken.
I figured going to a hardware store asking for a spring for an antique lock would result in...
So I laid it aside for the time being.



A few days ago, I figured I might be able to cobble in a spring from a ballpoint pen.
Rummaging through an odds 'n ends bin, I found (are y'all ready for this?)
a...HAIRPIN!
Yes. Really!!

I figured it was just springy enough, and exactly the right size to snip & bend into a suitable flat spring.

VOILA!

Yep.
It fit just like it was custom made for the mechanism...which I guess it was, come to think 'bout it.

As long as it was disassembled, I also oiled up the whole mechanism.
It now works like everything's moving on jeweled bearings...far(!) smoother than it ever did since I've owned it...probably smoother than it has in fifty years.
Maybe a hundred years, even.

Pretty cool, huh?

Mic Guyver

Two coworkers were talking about an expensive diamond ring purchased while on a cruise to the Caribbean. I asked if there was a chance of fraud and they both agreed no, because the diamonds where etched with serial numbers.

I'm not into jewelry and wasn't aware of the practice, but I do recall scratching my social number on the frame of my 10 speed bike back in the 1960's

Same concept!

Perfect Woman

I'm at my home house in Miami for the weekend.
Plans include sorting through 2 closets and 2 dressers of clothing to determine what I get to keep, what gets donated and what becomes rags for cleaning.

My laptop came for the ride and I've got a Wi-Fi hotspot signal from my phone to get internet.
I've done this lots of times, but today the bandwidth was crawling and I cannot link to my computer in the office to do any work. I switched to my tablet that also has hotspot capabilities and it was streaming along very well.
So, I switched back a forth a few times checking bandwidth with a few services and called my cellphone provider to complain.
My phone has unlimited 4G, but 3G if I set it in hotspot mode. The tablet gets 4G with a 2gig ceiling and drops to 3g... or slower depending on conditions.
For $10 I can upgrade the plan so my hotspot has 4G with a 10gig ceiling then drops to 3G. I can add or remove the plan as needed with no penalty.

I was told it would be about 2 hours for the system update and to reboot my phone for it to take effect. I rebooted and about 15 minutes later I had a 4G hotspot out of my cellphone. The bandwidth was so good it, out performed my Comcast internet at my condo.

Not sure how long 10gig will last if I play a YouTube movie, but I can set it on low bandwidth and see how that goes.

Crime doesn't pay or so they say... If you don't get caught it probably does pay and that's why so many scammers are making careers out of cheating people. As we deal less with cash & checks and more with debit & credit cards the chances of getting scammed become greater.

I was coming back from a project in downtown Miami and stopped for gas. I paid at the pump with my business debit card and bought lunch & a drink with my personal debit card. The attendant had a smile on her face as I swiped the card and entered my PIN. It did seem odd why she was smiling. Two days later my bank phoned as I was overdrawn and they wanted to verify some recent purchases. $7 at a convenience store, $25 at a fried chicken restaurant and nearly $2,000 at a grocery store. the $7 was me and the other 2 were fraud. My comment was who can buy $2,000 in groceries without drawing suspicion? Both purchases were in the downtown neighborhood.

Chip cards have reduced the amount of ATM or POS fraud, but not all businesses use them. Typically, a thief will install an overlay to the existing card skimmer that reads cards before the real card reader. There is a 2nd add on device with a tiny camera recording keypads to see what the user types for the PIN. The thieves return to retrieve their equipment and use the data to steal money from the people who used the ATM's while the devices were installed.

The video attached shows surveillance how quickly someone can install a credit card skimmer.

Today at 3:30 PM EDT (12:30 PM PDT) from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with live stream expected to kick off around 3:15 minutes prior, SpaceX is putting 60 broadband satellites into orbit as part of their Starlink service to a total of 418 satellites making them the world's largest private satellite operator.
Later this year, Starlink broadband service will be online for customers in the northern U.S. and Canada.

Modern life would be very difficult without the use of batteries. Over the years battery technology had changed greatly with more power and less weight. Consider how hearing aid technology fueled smaller devices, iPhone ear buds go for hours on a single charge.
Probably the least improvement is the automotive standard 'wet-cell' car battery. Heavy, but supplied lots of high current.
Lithium-Ion and lithium-polymer batteries appear to be everywhere powering all types of electronic devices... especially cellphones.
The problem is they are volatile if mishandled. Overcharging a Lithium battery can cause an explosion with the battery emitting toxic fumes. A while back I read a story about a girl who shipped her phone between the mattress and pillow. This insulated the heat dissipation while charging. She was lucky it only smoked the phone and pillow. Other devices actually explode.
I order lots of batteries and the packages have warning labels on the box.
Airlines have restrictions for traveling with batteries. New generation cellphones are sealed, so you cannot tamper with the battery, but proper charging care is essential.

Info junkie stuff, pretty informative vid,

Dear CS pals. The Aa cyber girl is ill. Letters # 13 & 14 out. So please just supply these for texts where appropriate till repair effected. Thaks uchly. Aa.