Category: Tech

App Hazard

Another First World Retired Guy complaint. Everybody who has more than one Internet device knows that online services have different options, depending on the application playing them. For example, SiriusXM on a Web browser isn’t that same as on Roku, and the Roku app has a “view all segments” option I haven’t noticed before when playing a podcast.

It’s called a segment but also called a chapter, which shows a lack of consistency. Worse, when using the segment feature it’s easy to lock up the app. This is my big complaint about new features. They are often added at the expense of stability and, worse, security. “Let the users be the beta testers” has become standard in the industry.

Oh, well. Back to the Web browser. It’s proven itself to be solid and reliable…

… and it works with Chromecast.

Tech Tidbits

A some point, back when Windows XP was the standard system, it became standard practice that to fix a problem on one PC, a second PC was needed for research. Technology was becoming ubiquitous. XP was introduced in October, 2001. At that same time, work on remodeling my kitchen was wrapping up.

Thanks to tastewar lending me his toolkit, I had wired two of the bedrooms with Ethernet jacks. The way the basement is arranged made that an easy project. Installing Ethernet in the kitchen? Not so easy. There had been some trouble with the electrician the general contractor was using, so I dropped the idea.

Not too many years later my concern about kitchen connectivity disappeared when Wi-Fi replaced the need for Ethernet. These days in the kitchen I use a Fire HD 10 tablet, which has an excellent screen. Amazon has occasionally put it on sale for half price, $75.

Those headphones hanging on the book holder are the Sony MDR-W08. I bought two pairs in 2011 for $15. The MDR-W08 has a large following, but I can understand why Sony discontinued it. The market has, regrettably in my opinion, moved away from wired headphones for portable use. For that matter, portable headphones have fallen out of favor compared to earbuds.

https://us.community.sony.com/s/question/0D50B00004IKvxTSAT/why-discontinue-the-mdrw08l-headphones

A hardcore fan of Sony’s gone-but-not-forgotten product had this to say recently.

https://mrmarc.com/the-venerable-sony-mdr-w08-headphones/

On the subject of headphones, in my post about WION a couple of days ago, I mentioned that as a radio DJ I used my AKG K-140’s (that I no longer have). I had a LOL moment when spotting a pair of AKG K-140’s in the WION broadcast studio.

Extreme AM

Radio station studios and transmitters are only somewhat the same as they were when I was in the business. This hour-long video tour of WION, 1430 AM in Ionia, Michigan, scratches a major itch.

What’s missing? Russco Cue-Master turntables with Micro-Trak tonearms, fitted with Stanton 500 cartridges!

Time-Tested Tables and Tonearms

Back when I was sitting in the DJ chair at a commercial AM station, I’d sometimes switch my AKG K-140 headphones to monitor the on-air signal. With the transmitter tower in the field next to the station house, the sound was almost as good as monitoring directly from the control board. AM at its very best can be heard on WION’s online stream, which is sourced from their AM stereo broadcast signal.

This image, with Russco/Micro-Trak turntables, is from a PBS documentary that aired in November. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/taken-hostage/.

Spamalot

Let’s see what’s in today’s spam mailbox. Yep, it’s the same, old stuff, but it’s being updated by somebody, as indicated by the reference to Southwest Airlines.

This is only a screen shot. Safe to click/tap.

These messages are obvious phishing attempts. I started receiving them a long time ago, after a friend’s contact list was obtained in an e-mail hack.

I use various e-mail addresses, over half a dozen of them, for different purposes. This particular collection of spam arrives in my primary account for personal communication. The source of the spam seems to come and go, and every time it disappears for a few weeks, even months, it reappears. I may delete this account, but it will take a while to migrate everybody who writes to me at that address.

The Place Where Nothing is Real

Glass Onion the movie is, of course, a reference to the song “Glass Onion” on the Beatles’ so-called White Album. The movie is a lot of fun, with Daniel Craig reprising his role from Knives Out. A parallel between Craig’s character, consulting detective Benoit Blanc, and Sherlock Holmes, is revealed in a cameo appearance by another British actor.

The premise of the movie borrows from Agatha Christie’s famous story “Ten Little Indians,” which was retitled “And There Were None” in the United States. The reference to “Indians” was itself changed from something else, as explained in the Wikipedia entry for the story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None

The movie also borrows from the video game Myst, which is coming up on its 30th anniversary. The comparison is made explicit in a 3D tour of Glass Onion Island.

The island doesn’t exist, but the special effects making it seem like a real place are utterly convincing.

Taking the virtual island tour doesn’t require a Netflix account.
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/glass-onion-knives-out-island