My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on 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 Are Not Law Yet

5. Be Smart About Where you Locate Your Devices

6. Be Aware that Smart TVs Come With Digital Assistants

LINK     See DARKReading

Category: Alexa, Apple, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: $SIRI, Alexa, amazon, apple, assistant, dark reading, echo, google, network, security, tech friday, techfriday, virtual

Posted By RichC on February 21, 2019

With nearly all states offering concealed carry permit reciprocity with Ohio, I’m no longer going to renew my Florida CCW license. It seems like just a waste of money and  bureaucratic duplication. Florida always did work well with an Ohio CCW, but there were a combination of states that I drove through between Ohio and Florida that were not onboard yet. Now my original reason for applying for a Concealed Carry Weapon license in Florida is no longer is necessary.

The process of renewing also requires additional fingerprinting and photos and $87 in additional fees to renew a non-resident permit. It just doesn’t make sense any more.

Category: Advice, Misc, Personal, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: ccw, expiration, florida, license, ohio, reciprocity

Posted By RichC on February 20, 2019

Just an ominous filler photo that you probably don’t want to be looking at before going for a swim in the ocean. The Great White Shark can definitely give you nightmares.

EDIT 2/22/2019 with an image from a Twitter friend: Let’s just hope sharks don’t like the crunchy texture of surfboards?

(more…)

Category: Blogs, Environment, Health, Nature, News, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: filler, great white, ocean, photo, shark, sharks, sharkshares

Posted By RichC on February 19, 2019

After working on both the condo guest bathroom and kitchen last year in Delray Beach, Florida, I’m hoping to work on the master bathroom when we vacation this year. Our renters have emailed just how pleased they are with the new updates and suspect they will rent again in 2020?

At one time I planned on fixing up only the kitchen (photo) in order to put condo1718 on the market, but after making the improvements last year, Brenda talked me into keeping it another year and remodeling the master bathroom this year. Since I enjoy stretching out a weekend here and there (and have that flexibility) … I gladly agreed adding a little more sweat equity. It might only improve the salability, but who knows, it might add a little equity IF I can keep Brenda from picking higher cost tile, mirrors, decor, etc.

Currently the master bathroom has only a single sink, toilet and fullsize tub. I plan to keep the tub and toilet (I replaced it years ago). The plan was also to build my own custom sized corner vanities in order to fit a his and her sink in the small space … but after working the numbers and found something that might work better and just take a little tweaking (saving me some work too). This week the order of well package boxes arrived from Southern and so I assembled and started to figure out the best way to fit them appropriately. Hey Brenda, start thinking about mirror options – yikes, corners are tricky.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: 2019, bathroom, brenda, condo, condo1718, delray beach, florida, master, planning, sink, vanity

Posted By RichC on February 18, 2019

This content is restricted.

Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: calling all angels, drops of jupiter, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, patrick monahan, train

Posted By RichC on February 17, 2019

Impressive safety advancements in car safety as a crash near the end of the Daytona 500 wiped out 12 cars. All drivers were fine and red flagged race has Toyota cars leading strong Ford and Chevrolet Cup cars waiting for a restart with 9 laps to go.

A long slow ending … but great 2nd Daytona win for Denny Hamlin. (more…)

Category: Automotive, Entertainment, Photos, Video-TV | No Comments »
Tags: crash, daytona500, nascar, racing, wreck

Posted By RichC on February 17, 2019

Like clockwork, it was time to either renew or cancel SiriusXM (again). I refuse to pay the month to month rate with them or the very few newspaper/magazine subscriptions I still use that does the same thing. Thankfully I marked my calendar with a notification as to the last day to cancel service … otherwise the subscription contract automatically renews at the higher rate (something I know from experience) … and then as expected they extended a better offer so as not to lose a customer. It would be nice if Amazon Prime and Netflix will do the same, or for that matter, Internet/Cable TV providers!

Now, I do use the service in my car and more than ever on the iPhone with my Aftershokz headphones… and most recently on the Amazon Echo devices … to stream the FoxBusiness channel (as well as occasional music channels).  As expected, SiriusXM offered an extension of their current promo, but this time it came with an unexpected surprise … a free Amazon Echo 3rd Gen device ($49.99), plus shipping and handling as indicated by the promo disclosure. To make this even a bigger surprise, after plugging in the promotional code to my Prime account, the shipping was $0.00. Such a deal … if you need another Echo device (Hm, maybe I’ll take it to Florida)? 

Category: Advice, Alexa, Audio, Cellphone, Entertainment, Music, Shopping, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: Alexa, amazon, deals, DOT, echo, prime, promo, siriusxm, streaming, subscriptions

Posted By RichC on February 16, 2019

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, babysitting, bompa, brenda, drew, family, fort, katelyn, mp4, oma, perrysburg, richc, valentine's day

Posted By RichC on 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.

The advanced camera available on the new iPhone Xs and Xs Max has my iPhone 7 plus feeling a little old in the tooth. One of the neat A12 chip plus new software features is the ability to modify the blur of a background (selective focus in traditional photography) after the shot — Apple calls this Depth Control.

So instead of coughing up over $1000 for a new iPhone, I opted to download a new app: Focos. The app enables a few more DSLR feature for a bokeh effect.

The Focos app has a free version and a paid version ($11.99) that gives older iPhones with duel cameras to edit photos taken in the “portrait mode” to be aperture adjusted.

Currently I’ve only downloaded the free version and edited a couple previously portrait photos, but  will have to see a bit more from it before I purchase the paid version.

Category: Advice, Apple, Cellphone, Photography, Photos, Software | No Comments »
Tags: app, apple, drew, focos, iphone, iphone7plus, katelyn, mode, portrait, testing

Posted By RichC on February 14, 2019

It may be a quirky Valentine’s Day gift, but Brenda tossed our alarm clock of 36+ years into the trash a couple months ago saying, “I don’t trust it anymore.” I was relatively happy to see it go since the “honk, honk, honk” of the alarm was the most annoying alarm ever.

Besides, I’ve been using my phone for years now and we both agreed that we much prefer waking up gently to music over the “honk,” but depending on how she sets hers, it occasionally is muted or the volume is set too low.

So … since we’ve already opened our house to Amazon’s virtual assistant platform with a few Echo Dots and one bigger Echo … I reluctantly decided to go the next step and use Alexa as our alarm clock. I shopped and found a new  iHome iAV2B Alarm Clock for $35 on Ebay and we will see if it passes for a Valentine’s Day gift? (FYI … I know better … it won’t) 

Category: Alexa, Audio, Holiday, Innovation, Personal, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: alarm, Alexa, ani gif, clock, echo, ihome, nightstand, valentine, valentine's day