Music Monday: Pandora streaming on the Brave Browser ad-free?
RichC | April 13, 2020
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Protecting privacy with a web browser – a BRAVE new world
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 […]
TechFriday: VPN yay or VPN nay? Free or paid? Which service?
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 […]
High CalendarAgent CPU use on Apple MacOS Catalina 10.15.3
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? […]
Tech Friday: The subscription models and the 180K threshold
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 […]
Music Monday: Wasted Days and Wasted Nights – iMac OS update
RichC | January 13, 2020
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Tech Friday: How is your Cyber Awareness?
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 […]
Tech Friday: Lenovo, Eye Care and Snipping Tool backgrounds
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 […]
Politics and Google – Dr Robert Epstein and Mark Levin #video
RichC | September 12, 2019
No matter your political ideology, everyone who values integrity in our elections and in political campaigns, should be concerned with how information is disseminated and prioritized. Nowadays we depend no a very few sources that we hope are unbiasedly sifting through and helping us search information and news. For the past decade or so we […]
Tech Friday: The overused Hamburger Menu for desktop apps
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 […]
Tech Friday: How safe is data with cloud storage services?
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 […]
Tech Friday: Quantum computing and cryptography
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 […]
Call me paranoid, but it feels impossible to secure computers
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 […]
Tech Friday: There is a problem with live GPS rerouting
RichC | June 7, 2019
A pitfall in real-time GPS mapping services is that, although they “can” highlight road construction and closures, they are not always accurate or give appropriate advice for detours or “route arounds.” This was apparent on a 16 hour drive back from Florida (see comment) and more recently for a road closing leading to our development […]
Tech Friday: Your photo apps are making a lot of “facetile” images
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 […]
Server updates, out-of-date WordPress plug-ins and a test video
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 […]
WordPress update to 5.1.1 – testing the Editor Performance
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 […]
Tech Friday: An update on the Samsung Chromebook Pro
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 […]
Tech Friday: Simple advice IF you must use a virtual assistant
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 […]
Tech Friday: Had some new iPhone envy so downloaded Focos
RichC | February 15, 2019
Same photo with min aperture option and maximum. Note Bokek effect. On a recent trip, I happened to break my favorite pair of polarized sunglasses, so am using them as one last prop before tossing them in the trash … they have been epoxied and “jerry-rigged” (correct use of the term) together one too many times. […]
Server problem test post – Blood Moon for January 2019
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 […]
Tech Friday: Options to subscriptions services raising prices
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 […]
Tech Friday: The best TECH life-changers in the last couple years
RichC | January 11, 2019
The Amazon Echo in Kitchen/Great Room and the new Echo Dot 3rd Gen in my workshop Not a day goes by without Amazon’s Echo devices doing something for us in our home … and it is only a matter of time before “she” (Alexa) will be assisting me in the car too. It is almost […]
Tech Friday: Are Windows registry cleaners hokum?
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 […]
Added TimeMachineEditor to iMac after Mojave update issues
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 […]
Christmas prep and my iMac is still recovering from surgery
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 […]
Granddaughter pleasure and driving with Waze GPS Navigation
RichC | November 21, 2018
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Heavy ice in the morning and snow tonight …
RichC | November 15, 2018
Winter is here as the ice came in the morning bringing down branches and knocking out power all around Cincinnati … and just when I thought it was over, the Dark Sky app indicates the heavy snow is beginning in Liberty Township. Ugh! (I’m also playing a little bit with the slow-motion settings on the […]
Veterans Day – 100 year anniversary of the Armistice ending WWI
RichC | November 11, 2018
The "Bells of Peace" will ring out nationwide from smartphones on the "11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" to mark the centennial of the end of World War I in November 1918 – click for app On the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month … one hundred […]
Preparing HTTPS server and site security for the eventually day
RichC | July 25, 2018
While doing a bit of server housekeeping on the CPP servers and preparing for the eventual push to make all websites secure for users, I ran across a helpful Qualys SSL Labs site to check on certificates, etc. If you are working to get websites updated and compliant for the day ALL site will need […]
Tech Friday: Time for an Apple iOS 11.4.1 security update
RichC | July 13, 2018
Apple has been updating their iOS iPhone and iPad mobile operating system regularly and they seem to take far longer than in the old days (a couple years ago – HAHA). This latest update will not be appreciated by law enforcement who often want to gain access to data on a suspects phone. This recent […]
Tech Friday: Adding security and privacy with a VPN
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 […]
Tech Friday: Handbrake video compression testing
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 […]
Tech Friday: Played with AMP plug-ins for blog but gave up
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. […]
Tech Friday: Wildcard Certificates coming to Let’s Encrypt
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 […]
Apple fixes MacOS High Sierra and a faster Firefox browser
RichC | December 2, 2017
After updating my iMac to the latest High Sierra MacOS, a root log in security flaw was discovered and had users scrambling for a temporary fix. I followed the advice on 9to5Mac, but Apple quickly sent out a security update. Safe again? Another install has been a major update for Mozilla and their popular Firefox […]
WikiBuy and a frustrating Cyber Monday of shopping
RichC | November 28, 2017
As someone who is relatively comfortable with ecommerce and shopping for the best deals online, I don’t think I’ve ever been as frustrated as I was on Monday. Brenda and I had semi-planned to do a little more shopping "online" this year and since Cyber Monday is generally a "good deal" day to shop for […]
Tech Friday: Am I out of my mind upgrading to High Sierra?
RichC | November 17, 2017
I have a perfectly functioning iMac and against my better judgement spent this morning upgrading the OS to macOS High Sierra (release about 1-1/2 months ago). Hopefully that was enough time for quick fixes because I’ve upgraded Macs too many times over the years and have often regretted the decision. Usually software and hardware requires upgrading […]
Tech Friday: Be sure old CCleaner versions are removed
RichC | October 27, 2017
Just seeing Windows Defender "alerting" me to a backdoor threat on my Lenovo Yoga notebook computer is enough to make me move to a more expensive Apple MacBook Pro the next upgrade cycle. I knew about the Crap Cleaner (aka: CCleaner) vulnerability but had hoped a removal and upgrade by the software maker/distributor would have […]
Tech Friday: Another security breach along with a price increase triggered my reevaluation of Lastpass, SmallPDF and Evernote
RichC | October 6, 2017
As a free user and then paying Premium LastPass customer for years, the 2017 price increase inched out of my comfort zone this week. It is not that the password managing product with added features is bad, it is just that the significant price bump ($12 to $24/yr) leaves a sour taste in my mouth. […]
Semi Music Monday trying iOS11 iPhone screen capture
RichC | October 2, 2017
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It might be time to update to Apple iOS11 on your iDevice?
RichC | September 20, 2017
If Joanna Stern (WSJ) moves too fast, check out this longer list of iOS11 features by David Pogue at Yahoo.com.
TechFriday: Twitter updates their mobile look
RichC | June 16, 2017
We’ll see how the new iOS Twitter update is received by users, but since it is my go-to social network for all things news, I’ve download the hefty update to my aging iPhone5s and will see how bogged down it feels (very sluggish of late on most apps). Hopefully it will continue to run reasonable […]
TechFriday: Apple announced iOS11 at the WWDC17 conference
RichC | June 9, 2017
Along with all that is happening with hardware and innovation at the Apple developers conference — WWDC — one of the more anticipated upgrades to the mobile operating system was announced. Along with the likely "millions" of suggestions from daily users, my iOS11 suggestion/request was probably lost in the shuffle … although I’ve made the […]
TechFriday: Apple iPhone8 and iOS11 as WWDC 2017 nears
RichC | June 2, 2017
Who doesn’t love anticipating "the next big thing" when it comes to tech, especially the mobile tech we used everyday? I for one am ready to replace my iPhone5s with some new hardware — if for nothing else, a snappier interface (it just feels slow). The plan for about a year has been to wait […]
TechFriday: A simple thing – Google Calendar Scroll Disabler
RichC | April 7, 2017
At one time or the other, we have all started to pull our hair out while on the computer and said, “this is ridiculous, why doesn’t someone fix this!” Well after literally years of waiting for Google to do something about the “sensitive scroll feature” (or curse) when moving through the months in Google Calendar, […]
So much for economical tax preparation software this year
RichC | March 26, 2017
Two years ago, Intuit’s Turbo Tax software tried their "money grab" in attempted to strong-arming their long-time and new customers into paying substantial more to use their software to file their 2014 taxes. The CEO took to the Internet and made an apology and stepped up to Intuit’s greedy "mistake." One would think that competitors […]
TechFriday: Open Live Writer to WordPress plug-in problem
RichC | January 13, 2017
Twice now I’ve found myself unable to post to my WordPress blog. Once a few years ago using the windows based Microsoft Live Writer (now defunct) and recently using the open-sourced Open Live Writer. The “Invalid Server Response – The response to the blogger.getUsersBlogs method received from the blog server was invalid:” error pops up. […]
TechFriday: Spending a few hours installing old software
RichC | November 25, 2016
It is easy to forget just how much software one ends up with after 9 years using a computer. There was everything from odd ball utilities to a variety of outdated Adobe Creative Suite design software that I occasionally need. These were all versions installed from CD and are not openly supported anymore. Unlike my […]
TechFriday: The New Raspberry Pi OS Is Here and it looks great
RichC | September 30, 2016
The Raspberry Pi’s main operating system, Raspbian, just got a brand new look from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Dubbed PIXEL, it’s a skin for Raspbian that modernises the interface, adds some new programs and makes it much more pleasant to use. Click for a full review from Lifehacker Australia: The New Raspberry Pi OS Is […]
The Raspberry Pi 3 is up and running with a LAMP stack
RichC | April 6, 2016
After buying a new 64GB Samsung EVO+ microSD card and imaging Raspian on it, I started the Raspberry Pi 3 in my home office. It is now time to start installing software and updating it to make it a proper "micro" webserver … although I already have WordPress and American Pi running on it (even […]
Campaigning, mud-slinging and dirty politics #photoshopped
RichC | February 18, 2016
All is fair in love and war … AND POLITICS … or is it? In the campaign for president this year, candidates have pulled out all the stops and are turning to deceit. In the above Ted Cruz ad, his campaign put together an ad that portrays Sen. Marco Rubio shaking hands with President Obama […]
Updating TWC Internet and the iMac virtual to Windows 10
RichC | December 18, 2015
A couple improvement to our Internet connectivity at the house this past week as I quarreled with Time Warner Cable yet again about our service and our bill. Of course they once again wanted to schedule a tech to come out and look at things to determine why our paid for turbo speed was only […]
TechFriday: If you use the Firefox browser, be sure to update
RichC | August 7, 2015
If you are a Firefox browser user, be sure to select the “About” menu and apply the latest update. Yesterday morning, August 5, a Firefox user informed us that an advertisement on a news site in Russia was serving a Firefox exploit that searched for sensitive files and uploaded them to a server that appears […]
EAA 2015 Airventure app is available for smartphones
RichC | July 11, 2015
For those aviation “nuts” who flock to Oshkosh each July for Airventure, EAA has a couple smartphone apps for you. I am told (thanks Bob) that version are in both iOS and Android so both major mobile operating systems are supported. I've just download myself so am not sure how helpful it will be, although […]
TechFriday: No FREE Windows 10 for Parallels on the Mac yet
RichC | July 3, 2015
So much for “considering” Windows 10 on my iMac (Parallels). And here I was thinking that upgrading a couple of Windows machines wouldn’t be as expensive as in the past … with Microsofts FREE upgrad offer and all. (Parallels is working on a solution) Microsoft is making Windows 10 available as free upgrade for qualified […]
App users help @Periscopeco with their Mad Libs update
RichC | June 20, 2015
Users had some fun with a few of the Twitter Periscope programmers this past week in participating in their Mad Libs update copy for the App Store. In keeping with geeky humor (see the “Peter” joke), the jovial staff decided to include 900 of their users in the live update of Periscope Version 1.1.1. Each of […]
Reading The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
RichC | May 22, 2015
Out of sight, out of mind. Unlike a hard copy book sitting on my reading table, ebooks are easy to forget about … that’s one of the disadvantages of receiving the gift of an ebook (as is having multiple e-reading apps). My friend Jeff gave me David McCullough’s new book The Wright Brothers for my […]
Debating the Apple Store App review process – Medium article
RichC | April 13, 2015
An article in published in an online story on Medium this past week shared the growing discontent from software developers over Apple’s dominance and authoritative control over “app” reviews. Dave Kushal believes that the slow review process hurts the reliability as well as “impedes the pace of innovation.” While I’m somewhat in agreement with Dave, […]
Impressive sky after the thunderstorms passes tonight
RichC | April 8, 2015
The spring thunderstorms are right on time now that we’re into April and decided to give the new LIVE broadcasting app called Periscope a try. Unfortunately capturing lightning on an iPhone is not as easy as one would think. Below is a file save from the short live broadcast stream.
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.