My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 11, 2024

So far I can endorse a couple of inexpensive “non-charging” Magsafe “magnetic” car mounts for our two iPhones (iPhone 14 and iPhone 16 Pro Max). Both were purchased together on Amazon with a minor discount for 2 items together … and for the low-price, I expected to be disappointed. Nope, I was not.

The magnets are super strong and easily hold our phones with an Apple branded silicone case (others might be different). I would have preferred to have them also charge while driving, but that is not as critical these days.

Here are a couple photos mounted in our older vehicles: A 2010 Acura RDX above (vent mounted) and my 2010 BMW X5 35d below (CD mount as my previous homemade version).

Category: Acura, Advice, Automotive, BMW, Cellphone, Shopping, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: acura, amazon, BMW, car mount, iphone, magsafe, rdx, tech friday, techfriday, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on October 10, 2024

All of the smartphones I’ve owned since the 2000s have held a soft spot in my heart and the same could be said after seeing a Palm Treo photo in a “Year(s) Ago On This Day” link this week. It sort of makes for a worthwhile Throwback Thursday #TBT kind of subject … along with an iPhone 16 Pro Max photo fitted into the Apple Silicone case?

Back in 2007, I was a fairly happy Palm Treo user and advocate of the physical keys for tactical typing. After having a couple of Treo models … and Brenda using the Palm Centro … I was early to pick up the Palm Pre (slide out physical keys). Eventually after HP bought Palm and their WebOS … the nice smooth pocketable Pre was killed off. It was depressing. 

A couple of great feature besides the thumb-boards were the ability to use apps on an SD card and have extra storage … handy for saving of photos. The “cloud” and high-speed wireless connections were not a thing yet. 

The Palm Centro keys were even tighter together than the Blackberries of the day and Palm Treo so I wasn’t initially fond of it … but by the time I starting using the even smaller Palm Pre, I was “ok” with it. The same could be said for moving from physical keys to typing on an iPhone display. Amazing how easy it was to adapt … just like forgetting what the iPhone “HOME” but was!!! 😊 

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Photos, TBT, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: centro, iphone 16 pro max, palm, smartphone, TBT, treo

Posted By RichC on October 9, 2024

It has been quite the improvement when it comes to the camera, especially in switching from the iPhone 7 Plus (a great smartphone) to the new iPhone 16 Pro Max. I’ve really yet to learn how to best use the new features, but “out of the box” it just takes excellent photos (that link means little after 8400 posts and most with photos). 😊 

An immediately noticeable change is when in low-light settings. The better normal 1x camera lens, vastly improved sensor and “magic,” when it comes to digitally processing the photos in the iPhone itself, is like night and day. Above is a driveway Sunday night photo while taking out the garbage. It was a quick point and shoot to see how well it captured a dark scene. I’m impressed.

Then next two “lunch” photos were manually controlling the f-stop of the lens … the one on the left being fully open (as in low light or selective focus) and the one on the right fully stopped closed (maximizing the depth of field). Again, very impressed and love having control rather than trying to fool the iPhone using “portrait mode” or the longer lens. My only “immediate” gripe is that the new touch sensor camera control button is challenging to operate. I would not want to be trying to quickly change settings while taking photos — but as with touch-a-glass-display typing, perhaps it will grow on me and I can improve?

For now, it is nice to have the photography controls again — back to my old hobby. 

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Hobby, Photography, Photos, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: camera, control, depth-of-field, experimenting, iphone 16 pro max, low-light, selective focus, smartphone

Posted By RichC on October 8, 2024

Once again, the second half of the hurricane season is brewing up what looks to be another monster storm in the Gulf of Mexico (post after Hurricane Helene). This one is named Hurricane Milton and has quickly spun up to a category 5 storm as it starts moving from west to east across the gulf. Most forecasters have at least the wind speed dropping a little before it comes ashore. This one could be one of the states bigger storms. Let’s hope ALL are preparing to move out of the way.

The hurricane was expanding and intensifying quickly Monday while tracking eastward over warm Gulf waters, with the latest growth happening much faster than forecasts suggested. Milton is expected to bring life-threatening conditions to parts of Florida, on Wednesday with the outer band potentially as early as Tuesday.

Milton’s winds surged to 175 mph Monday, exceeding the threshold for Category 5 by a significant margin, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm’s wind speeds more than doubled in the last 48 hours.

LINK

At this point forecasters are unsure exactly where it will come ashore, but it will be damaging no matter where it comes ashore. Most models have it late Tuesday night or on Wednesday somewhere around Tampa. The storm surge is expected to be up to 12 feet and will easily flood thousands of homes and businesses in the west coast of Florida area.

There once was a day I wanted to live in the Naples – Marco Island area (when Christmas vacationing with my college friend Dallas and dreaming about where I wanted to live someday), but development and prices pushed real estate prices way too high … besides, I don’t mind summer in the midwest. 

Never the less, I do feel for those who just experienced Hurricane Helene a couple weeks ago and now are facing yet another big storm. So much for insurance rates coming down after all time highs — I’m not sure how the average family in America can afford to own a home or cars anymore?

Enough doom and gloom … last week was also the Oostra’ s annual Apple picking  or pumpkin patch weekend. They have been doing it for several years now and always send a great family photo. I definitely know what my parents felt when watching grandchildren growing up and getting older. Yikes! 

Category: Personal, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: apples, family, florida, hurricane milton, oostra, tropical storm

Posted By RichC on October 7, 2024

So let’s just say that I’m impressed with the ability to use Google’s “experimental” AI NotebookLM to not only summarize articles, but also to create fake podcasts (“fake” in search of a better word?)

So after preparing a post for Sunday, I mentioned the AI software experiment to my daughter and ask for an article she might recommend (Gospel Coalition)  … and then also to my friend and cybersecurity expert, Jeff (we sometimes discuss a Foreign Affairs magazine article over lunch). 

Within 15 minutes I not only had a summary, an FAQ sheet and study guide quiz … but also a “Deep Dive” podcast on the articles. I’m still amazed at how far artificial intelligence has come! (listen below) (more…)

Category: AI, Audio, Productivity, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, google, mp4, notebooklm, podcast

Posted By RichC on October 6, 2024

In September, I read a couple of articles (1 and 2) in the Wall Street Journal talking about coyotes in our suburban and urban America and sent a copy to Drew and Katelyn (their camera just picked up a coyote walking by the girls playhouse – click for video). Anyway, we’ve been seeing them for years in our neighborhood, but just figure we’ve been inching into their areas with development and to expect them?  Obviously that is not so, as they seem to be thriving and seeking out areas one would not expect — like in cities like San Francisco. 

But coyotes … as interesting a topic as it is … is not the subject. It is how Artificial Intelligence or AI is becoming more difficult to detect from reality. Last week I wanted to see just what Google’s experimental NotebookLM could do with one of the Wall Street Journal articles above. I expected a quick summary (below) BUT was shocked at the AI podcasting hosts discussing the topic “naturally” in about 5 minutes. AMAZING discussion based on the article all done by AI actors .. even slang, laughs and jokes!
 

(more…)

Category: AI, Audio, Environment, Nature, Productivity, Technology, Video | No Comments »
Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, coyote, google, m4a, notebooklm, podcast

Posted By RichC on October 5, 2024

In case you are looking for guidance when it comes to who you elect to run your city, county, state or country … put this thought in the back of your mind when it comes to who has been putting their thumb on the scale (think lawfare) and which political party “might” … no guarantee these days … do a better job?

When it comes to your family’s safety and when spending your tax dollars … Democrats running most cities are really, REALLY bad at it. And while it is true (at least from my perspective), almost all politicians do a lousy job of governing, passing and enforcing laws, securing our borders, managing “legal” immigration and wisely spending tax dollars (and borrowing from future generations), those with a “D” behind their name have turned our biggest cities, biggest states and much of our country into places we no longer want to live.

It is time for some sweeping changes, so when in doubt, at least vote for a Republican who claims they want to change it, not those who prefer the status quo.
  

Category: Advice, Politics, Video | No Comments »
Tags: cities, democrat, elected, governor, mayor, mismanagement, mp4, Politics, representative, republican, senator, troy nehls