Author: DOuG pRATt

Assault on Battery

With my Pixel 4a’s battery at 35%, I attempted to manually take the battery update.

After charging the phone the update completed.

Now I will watch for changes related to this update, while waiting for Google to send me the promised code for the $100 discount on a new Pixel phone. If they’re recommending the battery be replaced, how can I not be eligible? In the past, something like this would have been considered a First World Problem, but that’s no longer true.

Update: So what has changed? The battery meter is locked at 100%, which can’t be correct. Having no idea when the battery is about to die means Google has effectively broken my phone.

Update Update: After sitting at 100% all day, the battery is at 94%. Most curious. Maybe I’ll resort to checking a 4a forum to see if anybody else has taken the update.

Flames On!

These fires are catastrophic and unprecedented in my lifetime. Trump is blaming the inability to control the fires on Governor Newsom, rather than expressing any sort of concern or promising to offer support after he is inaugurated.

There’s no reason to hold back from belittling and insulting Trump. We know that when he’s confronted with a real crisis, as he was with Covid, he’s going to screw up. It’s a certainty that by the end of his term, Trump’s reputation will once again be in tatters and many will wonder why they voted for him.

Speaker Up for Denmark

Denmark is well-known in audio markets for its brands of high-quality loudspeakers. These companies would be harmed by Trump imposing import tariffs on Danish goods in his mad wish to take possession of Greenland.

The granddaddy of Danish speakers was the now-defunct Dynaco, which also made highly regarded amps. I am the proud owner of a pair of beautiful Dynaco A25 speakers, now over fifty years old.

Dynaco A25 with “Aperiodic” port behind the non-removal grill cloth.

Here are present-day Danish manufacturers of premium loudspeakers that Trump is unknowingly threatening. Bang & Olufsen is a brand, now 100 years old, that you may have heard of before.

Bang & Olufsen
Dynaudio
Dali
Jamo
Buchardt

Also based in Denmark is a leading manufacturer of raw speaker drivers that other companies incorporate into their designs. Its woofers and tweeters were used in the original line of Dynaco speakers.

seas

And, oh yes, let’s not forget Denmark’s Ortofon, my favorite phono cartridge maker. Will Trump follow through on his reckless threat?

Ortofon Super OM 20

Post-Washington Post

Ann Telnaes quit The Washington Post after a cartoon idea she submitted was rejected by the Editorial Page Editor. The cartoon is on Ann’s Substack post about her resignation.

https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post

The rejection served only to widen the cartoon’s exposure, of course. The paper seems to be on a downward slide since Marty Baron retired.

At this point, Bezos may as well sell the Post for whatever he can get for it. If he hangs into it, and the editorial content starts turning in Trump’s favor, that will be the end.

Oh, look! Someone else is wearing Audio-Technica ATH-M20X headphones.

My take on the cartoon is that it’s far from the best work by Telnaes. The idea behind it is more obvious than it is clever. I would have rejected it for relying on the old “bags of money” symbolism.

I’m Pixelated

My Google Pixel 4a is four years old. Software support ran out something like 18 months ago, but that wasn’t enough to motivate me to get a new phone. Today, this message came in from Google. 

Hi Douglas

We wanted to let you know about an upcoming software update for your Pixel 4a that will affect the overall performance and stability of its battery. Pixel phones, like other smartphones, use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that, over time, may experience performance, capacity, or runtime degradation.

In the coming days, your Pixel 4a will receive an automatic software update to Android 13 that introduces new battery management features to improve the stability of the battery. This update will reduce your battery’s runtime and charging performance.

To address this, we’re providing some options to consider. Please take a look and choose which one works best for you.

More details related to this change are available here. Eligibility criteria and other terms will apply.

Thank you,
Pixel team

Argh. I’ll take the update manually when it becomes available in a couple of days. There’s no point in putting it off. Once I see the effects of the change I can decide what to do. Maybe it just limits charging to 80%. That’s becoming a thing now.

Update: I called up some special 15-digit number from my phone and submitted it to see if I’m eligible for a $100 discount on a new phone from the Google store. If so, I’ll order a Pixel 8a.