Last Viewed Technology Blogs (217)

I've spent most of my working life in finance and yet I can't get my head around bitcoin / digital currencies / cryptocurrency. It's, like, electronic, you can't actually see it, touch it or spend it, but it gets more valuable all the time - wha?

Am I being super thick? Can anyone explain it without posting in links to sites I've already given up trying to understand?

I didn't even know whether to classify this blog as gaming or technology

My home has a modern high efficiency furnace only a few years old and of course troubles so being the diy i am I made a go at it after studying the things sensors for flame on vacuum on excessive heat induction motor the condensation hoses from the heat exchanger to various routes and then sensor for vacuum so after a fast course in HVAC online utube I realized it was my pressure switch a vacuum sensor / exhast fan sensor basically a rubber band with a cord (like a cord plug into a electrical outlet)was bad as it stuck open and closed so I ordered one saving big bucks then of course same thing as I watched it start up I realed a vacuum line connected to it from the heatexchanger to it was the problem after I double checked my install the gas line ignition set a backpresure throwing off the vacuum pressure thus sending a signal to the control panel the fan was off due to no vacuum detected but in fact the fan was running but soit kept trying to restart and programmed to do so four times before the system shuts down so after a minor adjustment for that backpresure it's game on and another skill mastered .

I used to work for a company who manufactured upholstered furniture. They processed raw lumber to make the sofa and chair frames. Deliveries came by flatbed trailers and stored outside under the cover of an aluminum roof. 20-30 boards were brought into the wood shop as needed and cut to size to fit the specifications required to make each order.

My boss found that a new delivery had insects living in the wood and sent a letter to the supplier to pick up the material and deliver a fresh load that didn't have 'wood borers' nesting in the lumber.

That was the first time I had heard the term wood borers and as a resident of South Florida being a hot and humid climate, termites were the main insects found eating wood. There are also some variety of beetles that manifest themselves in lumber and appear years later... sometimes after the wood has been made into furniture.

A client of mine found a beautiful grand piano in a warehouse and had it delivered to her home and set up. Not long after, she noticed mounds of fine dust-like particles appearing on the carpet... that was the work of termites. The piano had to be removed and taken to an exterminator with a fumigation chamber designed for furniture and large items.

I have my house tented for termites every 6 to 8 years as that is recommended because whatever brought hungry termites into the house is still there. The wall construction, roof trusses and planking is raw wood. It's on my 'do list' of things for this year.

Every time it's fumigation where they cover the house in heavy tarp and fill the space with gas that displaces the oxygen killing the bugs... all the bugs.
Soon after fumigation, carpenter ants come to eat the dead termites. According to the exterminator, they don't eat wood. Their only interest is the termite dinner.

I found another company who does a different type of extermination where they spray the wood with a chemical coating to create a barrier. If the termites eat that, they die. The process requires them to drill holes in obscure places to spread the chemical, but they guarantee 100% kill.

The negative part of tent fumigation is termites can return within days as there is no poison to stop them and the chemical process stops their return and is cheaper.

After all these years of conventional termite treatment, I'm inclined to try the new technology method.

So much for a boring blog!

Thanks for reading...

All we are doing is switching pollution. Bottom line is solar power and wind power are barely making a dent in where electricity is generated from. Same idea with getting rid of coal fired power plants.
No matter how a power plant generates electricity using fossil fuels, it still is polluting.
Nuclear plants are few and hated. And there we have the issue of where to go with spent rods.
Cali wants to ban the sale of all new cars that aren't electric. We already have a power grid that is hanging on by it's eye teeth. Black outs and brown outs in the making.
Now everyone is supposed to plug in their electric car batteries to re-charge. Kick up that old power plant folks and burn some more coal or gas. Get that fracking going, sorry about those earthquakes and water
pollution.
All the solutions seem to be is swapping bad for bad.
People don't seem to think about where that electricity comes from they use. Nor what will happen to those batteries when they die. Or what pollution is being done manufacturing them.
Gasoline has improved, mileage has improved. Public transportation has not. The best solution is less flying, less driving. That is the point covid has made.
Cut out driving to a gym to run on a tread mill. Make a shopping list and get it all instead of making a breakfast drive to the store and then an evening drive to the same store.
I make few trips to shop. And when I do, I take my list, hit 8 stores in one afternoon and get everything I need or think I will for weeks. Get home tired, but so what.
How soon before the landfills are polluting with dead batteries. Do you recycle them? I know I don't. No place takes them around here.

I read a story today that people who charge their cellphones in public places are at a high risk of being hacked... especially if the charging cord or charging adapter isn't theirs.

Hackers have found a way to manufacture iPhone charging cords with microchips embedded in the USB connector. They look like normal cords, but If you plug your phone to charge from one of these cables it can compromise the security of your phone and allow someone to hack into your phone.

One version gets into your phone while it appears to be harmlessly charging the phone. then via Wi-Fi signal a hacker nearby can capture your password, unlock your phone, change the password and steal sensitive information from your phone. All within a few minutes.

Another version uploads an app that essentially does the same thing via your data signal hacked to anywhere in the world.

Rule one. Don't buy charging cables from unreliable sources like a booth at a flea market or convenience store. Typically, they are low quality that you should avoid, but it's an easy way the hacker cables make it into the marketplace.

Rule two. Don't borrow a charge cable at the airport or coffee shop, use only the cable and power supply supplied with the phone.

If you must charge on the go, use your own wireless charger or a 'Power Bank' portable battery charging system.

Houston, we've got a problem. Could be a glitch. I'm working from my cellphone right now and parts of the website aren't working correctly.

Blast it skype insisted on doing another of its interminable updates recently and I've just found that I am no longer audible. Checked both my skype and pc settings and can't fix it.

Can anyone give helpful advice?

I skype on my desktop computer and up to now, never a problem. The webcam is a plug-in and doesn't do audio, just video

(This luckily doesn't affect teaching, which I do on another computer, but damnit I enjoy my occasional skype calls)

Yesterday, my cellphone carrier pushed through another update, from OREO, Android 8 to their current version PIE, Android 9.

Maybe you're familiar with some of their previous versions... they all have to do with something sweet. Names like Donut, Eclair, Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Marsmallow.
Typically, when a new version is available, Google will release a BETA version that goes out to select groups for field testing. After the bugs are worked out (notice things with sugar often attract bugs) they release them to the carriers who decide what to remove or add to the 'Pure Google' version to the (slightly) altered version that's installed in your Android device.

It wasn't broke, so why are you fixing it? I asked that to a technician and his response was not all phones running Android react the same way. When a new release gets installed they are already working on 'patches' to fix problems not encountered in previous releases or to resolve issues with different models. One (major) flaw is that applications (APPS) must be updated so they can work with new operating systems.

This is the way things are. Implement a new O/S and spend months updating apps to correctly work under it.

Back to the update...
I first noticed the icons have changed appearance. The top row of clock, battery power, Bluetooth messages got moved around a little. Many of the screen backgrounds are (battery draining) white. When will they learn? I had to put the phone in night-mode to get a black background. Text message banner now uses 40% of the screen to tell me I have no new messages. Colored dots appear in front of all my contacts. I haven't checked to see if they actually have meaning or just random colors. I could do without the dots.

The biggest drawback for me is connecting everything to 'clouds' and social media. I don't want to share what's on my phone with the world. Every time I open a photo viewer I'm being asked to sync (synchronize) my photos somewhere else (group messaging and friends list, etc.) and tag locations with story lines. Thanks, but no and I'd like not to have to decline every time I open the app.

It would be nice to see a menu option 'don't bother me' as I don't want to update all my apps monthly because some new data sharing service becomes available.

Category is Technology but the new update is leaning to lifestyle.

More later...

There seems to be some politics going on with app stores Apple and Google and their relationship with Twitter. Maybe a threat or dare if those stores no longer support the Twitter app.

Elon Musk dreams up manufacturing his own alternative phone if "...there is no other choice"

Google says there are over 200 million smartphones in America... Does Elon think introducing a new phone to support Twitter to be a viable enterprise?

What percent of America would run out and buy an "alternative" $700 MUSK phone that isn't compatible with all the existing Apple and Google apps just to run Twitter?

Elon, take a hint... offer your own app that supports Apple and Android, available via Twitter. That's got to be a viable solution as manufacturing and distribution of an entirely new product could be light years into the future!

The IT department of the last company I worked at had more than 30 computers connected to their intranet that synchronized with a remote service over a fiber link. Huge amounts of data passed through their system. At the end of each business day it did an offsite backup that took nearly an hour. If you needed to use the system during that time you were guaranteed to wait for information stored on the server.

The technician warned everyone who streamed music that only low bandwidth services were ( like Pandora ) were allowed. That didn't stop employees from downloading YouTube videos. That presented two problems... the employees were watching videos and not working and the overall bandwidth use was very high.

The place I'm at now does the same thing on a smaller scale. Streaming music and videos. While some are out on appointments and client meetings, the music on their computers plays on endlessly. One coworker plays movie soundtracks and goes off to meetings. Knowing he's out, I stop the music. I'm there to work and not entertain myself.

In the old days there were bandwidth caps where the service was reduced to a crawl and you had the option to pay for more monthly bandwidth or be frugal and choke your business data because some plans had crazy up-charges for exceeding your quota.

I'm thinking what could happen when more people update their cellphones and get 5G models with 50 times the bandwidth capacity. 5G is advertised free but what happens when excessive use reaches your plan limits. It's time to call and up your limit... or end wasted bandwidth and save your money.