RichC | April 3, 2020
Above is a graphic sent by a friend, who knows of my long time Apple addiction … and it had me pondering the Steve Jobs vs Steve Wozniak struggle when trying to grow Apple Computer back in the early days (watch the Danny Boyle movie called Steve Jobs). One of the founders was an advocated […]
RichC | March 6, 2020
My buddy Jeff Pitts, who has recently moved from IT to a job focused exclusively on cybersecurity for a worldwide company, tends to error on the side of caution when it comes to privacy practices. He has moved entirely to the Mac (we used to have a fun debate when he was a 100% PC […]
RichC | February 21, 2020
If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time (post from 2007), you have likely used, or been marketed VPN services, as a way to secure your Wi-Fi connection (especially public hotspots) away from the office or home network. I’ve pitched them as a security precaution to my customers and use them when […]
RichC | February 12, 2020
Here’s a tech tidbit for those noticing a high CalendarAgent CPU demand on your Apple Macintosh computer. For me, the process cranked up the CPU to 60-70% trigging high fan speeds and this process continued without finishing. I noticed slightly sluggish behavior AFTER a recent MacOS software update, although might have happened prior to that? […]
RichC | January 18, 2020
While working on post highlighting the DJIA crossing 29,000, I realized that the stock market has blown through that milestone and is rocketing towards 30,000 and that I’ll have to start over (probably a “worry-wart” post is coming). One of the big contributors to this Dow Jones Industrial Average is Apple ($AAPL). It just continues […]
RichC | January 17, 2020
Back in the late 1980s when I was starting in the commercial printing and eventually ‘small time’ publishing business (Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co), I didn’t realize how far ahead of the game we were when focusing on the subscription model. Early on we were able to capitalize on few people in the printing industry […]
RichC | January 13, 2020
While Freddy Fender was not on my music palate back in the 1970s, it is hard not to recognize his timeless music … so for today’s Music Monday AND semi-painful iMac macOS postponed update to Apple’s Catalina here’s the 1975 song, Wasted Days And Wasted Nights. For those who maintain computers and struggle to know […]
RichC | November 29, 2019
With the advent of decent quality inexpensive home security products and cameras, it has never be easier to keep an eye on “motion” that happens around a business or home. The key for most of us is to find the least expensive quality “small” product … in our case the Wyze cams have beat out […]
RichC | November 22, 2019
So … you’ve survived pretty much unscathed after a couple decades of identity theft, credit card fraud and everything moving online … but at some point, you realize that you’ve been lucky. Most of us are pretty lax when it comes to locking down our data, securing our digital access points and devices. So perhaps […]
RichC | November 21, 2019
Hello World! It is frightening to think that I’ve been using computers for FORTY years and have used and have seen the slow evolution in input devices clustered around a device called the Computer Mouse. So for ThrowBack Thursday #TBT this week, the above is a photo of the original “mouse” in 1964 by Douglas […]
RichC | October 12, 2019
It isn’t easy to see this little magnetic bracket I made to hold my new Amazon Echo Auto low on the dash of the BMW X5 35d. I opted to make a little aluminum bracket that straddles the pushbutton switch blanks to the right of a few other buttons. It is fastened with automotive trim […]
RichC | September 20, 2019
Today’s Tech Friday tip is something that has changed in recent weeks likely due to an update that is suppose to make reading on devices easier on the eyes. Based on lighting conditions, automatic settings will filter out blue light — a lot more when the room is dark. The problem is that this can […]
RichC | September 6, 2019
Perhaps it is just me, but I’m growing tired of the software development trend to make every piece of software resemble a smartphone app. I spend a significant amount of time using a desktop computer with plenty of display real estate, yet apps and webpages are all trying to make their mobile apps, notebook computer […]
RichC | August 23, 2019
Some excellent and “do-able” ways to maintain reasonable password security in this Lifehacker article: One of the best things about having a solid password is that you don’t have to change it. If it’s strong, unique, and hasn’t been compromised by an attacker, you gain no security benefits by modifying it according to some arbitrary timetable. […]
RichC | August 14, 2019
Our current NetGear Nighthawk R7000 router has been exceptionally stable considering the issues I’ve had with cheaper routers and networked devices in the past. I’m pretty happy with it, but in order to get solid coverage, had to add a WiFi Range Extender to cover the detached garage and poolhouse (and yet still have weak […]
RichC | August 9, 2019
Currently, I pay for a few subscriptions. Some pricey (Wall Street Journal, Barrons, etc) because I avidly read them. Others, like monthly magazines, I continue to pay for and rarely get around to reading, especially online only subscriptions. Several others, I occasionally receive a link or click on one from those annoying “reader apps” that […]
RichC | August 2, 2019
Even if you don’t regularly using cloud storage services (likely your smartphone is), most of us are at some point backing up data from our computers or using services online that store our data on major cloud storage companies. I’ve personally had a growing concern over the race for quantum computing which eventually will make […]
RichC | July 26, 2019
The race for quantum computing superiority has been on my mind and in my discussions lately. State actors like China, North Korea and Russia are all running projects sponsored by their governments to be the first to harness such computing power that will make today’s encryption nearly worthless. Here in the US, our biggest tech […]
RichC | June 16, 2019
My good friend Jeff Pitts, a network and IT expert, and most recently IT cybersecurity expert, constantly update me with the latest threats to computer servers. He manages the computers and networks for a Cincinnati-based international company that is constantly under bombardment from hackers. Most of the attacks are directly from China and according to […]
RichC | June 15, 2019
Brenda and I watched the movie Interstellar (2014) once before, but we watched it again this past week, and as often happens, we picked up on a few more interesting facts that made our brains hurt … well at least mine: General relativity, The Science of Interstellar, Black Holes and Time Warps. Thankfully I could […]
RichC | May 31, 2019
If you are using Apple’s Photos app, you’ve probably noticed the software attempts to identify faces of people (not just Apple either). This can be helpful for “you” to sift through photos, but also seems a bit nosy when the app also builds a pile of “facetile” photos on its own. Most people likely will […]
RichC | May 23, 2019
It is time to work on a few long in the tooth server updates and one of them isn’t compatible with my “old” WordPress video plug-in – it is no longer supported. There are several options that I’m testing both for my site as well as customer installs so am testing one of them with […]
RichC | May 17, 2019
Intel chips are presenting a huge problem for nearly every computer user with chips since 2011. These Intel chips have vulnerabilities that if exploited can be used to steal sensitive information directly from the processor. According to published articles from security experts, "the bugs are reminiscent of Meltdown and Spectre, which exploited a weakness in […]
RichC | May 16, 2019
After struggling to keep our network and Internet connection alive earlier this month, I started to question my relatively expensive Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router and “way too many” devices were the problem? After resetting everything several times, calling Cincinnati Bell Fioptics (our ISP) and shrugging my shoulders, I left town and instructed Brenda on how […]
RichC | March 22, 2019
There is isn’t anything wrong with my current 2014 Apple iPad, it is just getting older as far as technology goes, and is a little sluggish (or so it seems). It is still the single most used tech device that I have … and the reason I’ll likely replace it with another when the time […]
RichC | March 15, 2019
Just upgrading blog to WordPress 5.1.1 and needed a little text copy to try out the new editor (below). It does seem a bit snappier? BTW, did you know WordPress now powers over 1/3rd of the top 10 million sites on the web? Site Health With security and speed in mind, this release introduces WordPress’s […]
RichC | March 15, 2019
I enjoy receiving the occasional email on words from Science Diction (Science Friday folks) and this one from the word emoji was a good one. READ the full history here … or on the archived WaybackMachine LINK
RichC | March 8, 2019
Chromebooks are not my preferred devices, but they are excellent for those with more limited computing needs. For the most part, they are relatively inexpensive, easy to update, very reliable and frustration free. They boot/start quicker than most devices and data, apps and setting are easily backed up on Google’s cloud … so as long […]
RichC | March 1, 2019
This is an unusual Tech Friday post, but after being frustrated this week in clicking a dead link to an article that disappeared after a website was updated, I decided there must be a better way to ensure information, links and websites remained useful … WITHOUT having to archive them entirely on my computers, servers […]
RichC | February 22, 2019
TechFriday advice for those of us who enjoy using virtual assistants like those from Google, Apple or Amazon: 1. Change the Default Password on Your Wi-Fi Router 2. Set the Voice Lock 3. Decide Whether You Want to Shop By Voice 4. Understand that Privacy Rights in the US Are on the Way – but […]
RichC | January 21, 2019
It has been a morning of computer server problems after updating Certbot on one of my Linux servers in order to keep the Let’s Encrypt certificates updating properly (the email warning below). For customers on Consolidated Printing and Publishing servers, there will not be a problem as the certs are commercial … but for my […]
RichC | January 18, 2019
The recent price increases rumbling through the economy are starting to be felt in the products we all use and have learned to appreciate. One of the services I’ll likely eliminate before the monthly price increase is the streaming service Netflix. We did this once before, but with all the new added content and lack […]
RichC | January 8, 2019
No matter who you talk to, running the processor at water’s boiling point is too hot and not healthy for a computer chips. After replacing my iMac’s power supply board … and hard drive … I thought my problems were over, but probably not. It looks like I’m going to have to clean the old […]
RichC | December 28, 2018
Those of us who manage our own computers likely do our share of “desktop” cleaning and are regularly warned by our anti-virus software that we need to do more than prevent viruses and hackers from accessing our computers. The current “free” anti-virus companies all push to sell their paid software … and regularly highlight registry […]
RichC | December 23, 2018
After my recent issues with my overheating iMac, I’ve become a lot more fastidious about what software I keep running and tax the quad core 3.4 GHz i7 chip. Frankly I still don’t think the relatively light computing demands asked of this aging Mac are all that much, but Apple has sardined in a lot […]
RichC | December 15, 2018
Although Brenda and I are making steady progress in getting things ready for Christmas, the iMac surgery mentioned yesterday did not go as smoothly as planned, but at least I do have backups to rebuild things from. Currently the “way too many” cloud services that I’m using are working overtime as my Time Machine archive […]
RichC | December 14, 2018
"Hey Rich, should I wait for a 5G phone … and by the way, what is 5G?" One of these days I’m just going to say, "I don’t know," but until then, I bump along pretending I know more than I do … that is until I get in too deep to walk away. This […]
RichC | December 7, 2018
A couple years ago I added Simple Slideshow Manager to MyDesultoryBlog as a way to include a series of photos in a single post. Having "attempted" different approaches that fail in one OS, Browser or device before the above plugin seemed to work … that is, until it didn’t. Having posted to the forums, trying […]
RichC | November 27, 2018
This may be the end for Freedompop, the low cost wireless "backup" hotspot service I’ve been using for years — at least it probably is for me (started with the Photon back in 2010). For the most part their hotspot service has been a decent value for me while traveling and giving me LTE connectivity […]
RichC | November 9, 2018
Having used a Brydge keyboard with an iPad from their first introduction, I can say that IF I were to update my current iPad Air2 to the 2018 just introduced iPad Pro that I would seriously consider waiting for the 2019 Brydge keyboard … they are that good. But with all current Apple updates to […]
RichC | November 6, 2018
This year Brenda and I voted absentee … or by mail. I knew it was an important mid-term and wanted to be sure our votes counted, but do miss the feeling of standing in line with others and waiting my turn at the polls. That said, minus the hiccup with our verification system (missing digits […]
RichC | October 31, 2018
It is a favorite time of year for those who enjoy seeing the new product coming online from Apple. iPhones in September,new iPads and Apple Air notebooks this week and even a new Apple Mac Mini (used an older Mini for my desktop next to a Windows machine for years). This year it seems even […]
RichC | August 31, 2018
Tech news this week highlighted Yahoo and AOL brand email services. There are still plenty of users still using them and unknowingly being spied on (including me since I still use Yahoo for "junk" mail — I started with AOL & Yahoo in the early 1990s kept the simple rdc2@ addresses). The search algorithms and […]
RichC | August 24, 2018
What’s new with the popular and well loved Apple MacBook Air? Nothing yet, but this week heated up with rumors that 8-year old Air is getting a big makeover for the end of 2018 (2017 CNET review of last years Macbook Air). First on the "hope for rumors HAS" list is that the device remains […]
RichC | August 2, 2018
I have, and do, support a few crowd funded projects — I’ve placied preorders taking on risk and see it as taking a small scale venture capital risk (without much reward). A couple bigger investments have been Elio and MagFast. The latter posts weekly, and relatively personal updates via YouTube video, on how the process […]
RichC | July 31, 2018
I’ve mentioned GroupBibleStudy.com before as a website I work on and have helped develop for my friend Pastor Keith Thomas, but didn’t realize I’ve been doing it for 7 years — shocker. It is now time to hand it over to a new volunteer … and I’m finding it difficult to relinquish control, but also know Keith would love […]
RichC | June 22, 2018
It has been a while since posting on “what’s new” with Apple. As we approach the convergence of mobile operation systems and desktop, the maturing lightweight phone OS on all platforms is growing in power, size and use. The writing is on the wall. Microsoft has announced Windows 10 will be the last Windows operating […]
RichC | June 15, 2018
My good friend Jeff works in IT and has been programming and running networks for 30 years; after attending a cyber security conference a few weeks ago to help hardening his company’s network and systems, he asked me what VPN service I was using? “Online privacy experts such as privacytools.io recommend staying away from VPN providers based […]
RichC | May 25, 2018
Noticed a blog post from 12 years ago discussing “portable” computing and how things have changed. In 2006 the average laptop weighed about 7 pounds with batteries, compared to 20 years prior where my Compaq was 28 pounds … and required 110VAC power. LINK to post Now an iPhone or iPad can run circles around […]
RichC | May 18, 2018
Like most longtime savvy Internet users, I use Google more than I would like to admit. I try not to depend on them for everything, but just like with online shopping using Amazon … Google is simply the best at what they do: Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Drive/Cloud Storage. The latter has been a […]
RichC | April 20, 2018
Google today launched Chrome 66 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The desktop release includes autoplaying content muted by default, security improvements, and new developer features. You can update to the latest version now using the browser’s built-in updater or download it directly from google.com/chrome.With over 1 billion users, Chrome is both a browser […]
RichC | April 6, 2018
Since my desktop computer has always been an Apple Macintosh (too many to count since the Mac SE), it is interesting how the trend has changed. In those early days, having something upgradeable was a big deal, but nowadays who really does their own upgrades? A bit less than three in a hundred users even […]
RichC | March 23, 2018
Here’s some advice from someone who as blogged daily since 2005 — AVOID using data, photos, video, etc archived on other services. Over the years, I have been frustrated by “what seemed great at the time” using services offered by companies who specialize in hosting data for users. A little history: It started for me […]
RichC | March 14, 2018
After switching from TWC/Spectrum one year ago, Cincinnati Bell’s Fioptics (Fiber) delivered television video and Internet to our house as been excellent. Their Internet speed continues to rise (currently checking with DSLReports/speedtest). Last year I was happy to have my speed increase to 100Mbps down when switching to CincinnatiBell, but then after losing promotional perks […]
RichC | February 28, 2018
What a pain. I had a major crash on my iMac and wiped out my Parallels install (corrupted the virtual hard drive). One would think this would be an easy fix, but it wasn’t. I spent about 6 hours attempting fix after fix to restore a back up version of the virtual disk (Apple’s Time […]
RichC | January 19, 2018
Besides my personally server and fading Raspberry Pi server projects (just too small), I been using several different companies to host Internet connected servers for Consolidated Printing and Publishing’s customers – traditional servers and virtual Droplets. Having used a variety of dedicated servers and virtual shared machines over the years since first getting into archiving […]
RichC | January 12, 2018
Testing and tweaking the Handbrake software I use for video encoding and am hoping to improve the .MP4 compression settings for MyDesultoryBlog and others. The test video is an 18 sec knife sharpening iPhone clip and the new setting should average about 25-30 MB per minute at full 30 frame/sec at a reasonable 1280 x720 […]
RichC | January 5, 2018
In order to improve efficiency on WordPress sites (my customer installs) I often experiment with updates on my personal MyDesultoryBlog first since very little on this site really matters for paying customers. So over the Christmas and New Years holidays I fiddled with a few highly recommended updates to the LAMP server and WordPress installs. […]
RichC | December 31, 2017
After installing Cloudflare in hope of adding another layer of security to WordPress blogs, I noticed a couple issues with sluggishness compared to my own DNS. I wish it were quicker, but something isn’t right since instead all aspects seems slower after switching. Even after bypassing the caching feature things continued to run slow. Once […]
RichC | December 29, 2017
In the world of community supported software and Internet applications, there are few better than those associated with the Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects … like Let’s Encrypt. The latter provides HTTPS certificates that are perfect for lightweight Linux OS webservers and it operates on a "donate" for certs services basis. This month Let’s Encrypt plans […]
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