I was assigned my callsign from the FCC last night so now I’m officially an amateur radio operator! I already made my first contact with somebody off a local repeater station. He’s located about 20 miles away from me. The cool thing is that he’s been into contacting the ISS and other orbiting satellites which is something I’m interested in too.
I’m sure we’ll have more to come on the radio topic!
UFO hearing features historic testimony from Pentagon officials – Washington Post
For All Mankind sets its alternate timeline sights on Mars in S3 trailer – Ars Technica
Grubhub’s free lunch offer in NYC crashed its website and app – Engadget
At 9 a.m. eastern time today the House Intelligence Committee will host the first public hearing on UFOs (now known as “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAP) since the 1960s.
There will likely be a classified portion of the hearing that will have more details but I am interested in hearing what comes out during the public portion. According to Politico there’s some tension internally between the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and Congress. Here’s what one anonymous official told reporter Bryan Bender:
“They fetishize their secret society,” the official said. “It’s kind of a Skull and Bones-type vibe. They take it seriously but they have no accountability. Zero. There is a whole group of us that know in great detail this subject, a lot of which has not been reported to Congress because of security issues.”
The hearing kicks off at 9 a.m. eastern. It will be livestreamed to their committee’s website.
So I took my technician test and passed it with only two incorrect answers out of 35. Now I’m waiting for the FCC to process my application and assign me a call sign. I won’t be able to start transmitting on my radio until I show up in the FCC’s database a little later this week or next.
On the Weekly Wrapup this week I talk about a few of the things you can’t do on amateur radio bands:
There will of course be more to come on this topic! Stay tuned!
This computer ran for 6 months powered by nothing but algae – BGR
Verizon Raises Administrative Fees for Consumers, Adds New Fee for Business Lines – CNET
Former NASA leaders praise Boeing’s willingness to risk commercial crew – Ars Technica
Unreal Tournament over 70cm Amateur Radio Band – Signals Everywhere
‘A Skull and Bones-type vibe’: Spy agencies grapple with how much to share at UFO hearing – POLITICO
Zoom is worth less than it was before the pandemic – Quartz
Elon Musk says he might try to renegotiate $44B Twitter deal for less – Washington Post
I used to dread Mondays back when I was working a regular job but now I kind of look forward to them. There’s always something I look forward to working on even if it’s a mundane tech product or topic.
Here’s what is preliminarily on the docket for this week. If you are receiving this as part of my digest email hit the reply button and tell me what you’d most like to see first. If you’re not the list sign up via the link or on the left hand side of the screen!
Of course my week is subject to change based on what comes in. Sometimes a shiny object might appear and that’ll take me off course :).
The problem with social media as I see it is as follows: attention seeking narcissists troll other narcissists who then air grievances seeking attention from their followers who in turn amplify the original attack in the hopes of being noticed by the aggrieved for doing so.
It’s a self perpetuating cycle that unfortunately the social engines are tuned to promote and profit from.
Blackmagic makes great production gear that works well in low budget operations like mine but also at the professional broadcast level. I use a lot of their stuff for my day-to-day operations.
One of their newest products is this oddity called the “Cloud Pod” (compensated affiliate link) and is the subject of my latest video.
The Cloud Pod is a very simple network attached storage device (NAS) that allows for two USB-C portable SSDs to be connected and turned into network accessible drives.
It uses a 10 gig network connection (see my multigigabit coverage here) but it also appears to step down to slower speeds including 2.5 gig connections. It’s hindered by the slower USB Gen 1 speeds that max out at 5 gigabits per second. Most portable SSDs these days use faster Gen 2 connections that can achieve 10 gigabits per second. The result is that your drive on the Cloud Pod will perform at half the speed it does when directly connected to a computer. That said the USB ports don’t share a bus so each can deliver its full performance simultaneously (about 400 megabytes per second each).
The Cloud Pod has no security – no usernames, no passwords, nada. So devices on the same network that have SMB support (like everything) can access the Cloud Pod and read and write data from it. You can limit the device to read-only but it applies that rule to both drives.
It has a really cool status screen that it outputs through an HDMI output on the back to a display. Oddly there is no web control panel to monitor the device – you’ll only see status if you plug a monitor into it. The HDMI is an output only for the status screen – it doesn’t support ingest.
I was able to edit a 2 camera 4k 60 multicam project over a 10 gig connection with about the same performance I get when directly connected to the SSDs. But I was maxing out the connection with original media so a third camera angle would have created issues unless I switched to lower res proxy files. It supports syncing to Dropbox which might be useful for sending proxies to remote users. It says it supported Google Drive on the box but the software doesn’t yet support it.
The target market for this one is quite limited but I can see it being useful for a small production team. Just be super careful who has access to your local network because there is no way to restrict who can read, write, and change files on the drive.
This Bonkers 115-Foot Submarine Was Designed to Host Parties Underwater – Yahoo Sports
Chair of First UFO Hearing Since 1960s: ‘Someone Has to Do It’ – Bloomberg
Zyxel Firewall Unauthenticated Remote Command Injection – Rapid7 Blog
Just passed my amateur radio technician exam ! Once the paperwork is in with the FCC I can start communicating with technician privileges.
I’ll talk more about that on Monday’s wrapup.
Hmm I wonder if viewers would be into me cutting a 34 year old battery out of an Apple IIgs .. guess so!
Star Trek’s FX team really upped their game with Strange New Worlds. Looks great in 4K / Dolby Vision.
Second episode was fantastic – who would have thought returning to the planet of week formula makes for good Trek?
In today’s video we’ll be taking apart my Apple IIgs and doing a little preventative maintenance. A video LGR posted on his channel this morning of his Apple II collection reminded me that I had to snip out a ticking time bomb inside my machine.
Many old computers have batteries that power volatile RAM for keeping time, saving system settings, etc. Over time those batteries tend to explode and leak their contents which often results in damage to the computer’s motherboard.
I was afraid of what I might find in my Apple IIgs when I cracked it open today. Thankfully my battery was a newer version that was more robust than some of the earlier IIgs batteries. But I snipped it out anyhow for good measure. My system won’t retain any settings until I come up with a replacement strategy but it is no longer at risk.
My IIgs is currently out of operation because of another widespread issue – exploding RIFA capacitors! Mine blew out when I was recording a video about my IIgs back in 2016. One of these days I’ll get it repaired and make another video about this beloved classic computer.
From dial-up to live blogs: How ABCNews.com helped transform online news over 25 years – ABC News
Scientists grow plants in soil from the Moon for the first time – Engadget
John Romero Releases Memoir – CALL A.p.p.l.e.
Netflix’s Bad Habits Have Caught Up With It – Vulture
Ex-eBay exec pleads guilty to terrorizing couple with spiders and funeral wreaths – Guardian
I speculated about this in my May 2nd Weekly Wrapup video and now it appears as though it’s coming to pass:
Elon Musk today announced that the Twitter deal was “on hold” until he could verify the company’s claims that fake users account for only 5% of their overall user figures.
Any acquisition has a period of due diligence to ensure that the company being acquired is worth what the owners say it is – and in the case of Twitter the number of users is the foundation of Twitter’s value proposition.
As a mostly free service Twitter relies on advertising and advertisers want large audience numbers with some assurances that the audiences Twitter serves are actually real people.
Twitter has long struggled with calculating the exact number of unique users on their service. In fact they disclosed that they had been overstating user numbers from March 2019 through the end of 2021 according to their most recent quarterly results:
In March of 2019, we launched a feature that allowed people to link multiple separate accounts together in order to conveniently switch between accounts. An error was made at that time, such that actions taken via the primary account resulted in all linked accounts being counted as mDAU. This resulted in an overstatement of mDAU from Q1’19 through Q4’21.
This overstatement alone accounted for 1.9 million duplicated users. If Twitter is overstating users that they know are humans behind the keyboards how can anyone be confident in Twitter’s claims that fake users are only 5% of their user base? Given the company is incentivized to demonstrate user growth they likely did not invest the resources to detect fake accounts and remove them.
Musk is in the driver’s seat now. If he walks away from the deal the stock tanks as it will erode confidence in the validity of Twitter’s user numbers. Twitter’s Board of Directors will likely feel some pressure to reduce the $44 billion price tag to get the deal done.
Why We Collect – NYTimes
Google removed this Pixel 6A feature (the headphone jack) after blasting Apple for doing the same thing – iMore
iPod Touch Completely Sold Out in Apple’s US Store Just Days After Being Discontinued – MacRumors
Unity Software loses $5 billion in market cap as privacy workaround fails – Apple Insider
Epic is going to release the Unreal Editor for Fortnite in an attempt to out-Roblox Roblox – PC Gamer
Tesla Model 3 becomes a 6-ton electric tank with giant chain tracks – Electrek
Achtung! How Wolfenstein 3D Shocked the World, 30 Years Later – How-To Geek
Norm Macdonald Shot Secret Final Netflix Stand-Up Special Before Passing – Hollywood Reporter
Elon Musk: “Overzealous DMCA Is a Plague On Humanity” – Torrent Freak
Here’s an interesting smartphone – forget your fancy OLEDs how about an e-ink display? I bet the battery life on this unit will be very, very good. Just don’t expect to watch any video on it.
It’s called the Hisense A9. Read more about it at Liliputing.
I got in the Sensibo Air (compensated affiliate link) a little while back for review free of charge from the company and finally got around to setting it up. This will integrate most dumb AC units or ductless split systems into your home automation system. It supports the trifecta: Amazon Alex, Google Home, and Apple Homekit. Check out my full review on Amazon.
I tested it with my LG split system that I use for heat and AC down in the basement studio. I haven’t touched my LG’s remote since. It’s super simple to set up – in my case I just needed to point my LG remote at it and hit the power button. After that I had full control from my phone.
They have a lower cost version called the “Sensibo Sky” (affiliate link) that has many of the same features. The Air adds homekit compatibility, a faster processor (presumably for future feature releases), person sensing when paired with one of their room sensors, and it can be placed flat on a table. The Sky needs to be vertically mounted.
Both Sensibos have a built in thermometer and humidity sensor that can be used like a thermostat. It can turn your AC on and off based on temperature, humidity or a combination of the two.
It’s a little expensive for what amounts to be an IR blaster but its simplicity of operation will have you very quickly configuring your AC to consume a lot less power. I’m quite pleased with this one. Just be sure to check their compatibility page to ensure it’ll work with your unit.
I attended a Google event in New York city to watch the Google I/O keynote. Here are the things I found most of interest:
Google will be releasing a new low cost phone this summer called the Pixel 6a. The new 6a, like the prior models, incorporates many of the features of their flagship phones. This one will get the same Google Tensor processor as their flagship Pixel 6 phones along with what will likely be a great display and camera system. It’ll sell unlocked for $449 in July. If you like pure Android phones but don’t want to spend more than $500 I think this will be a winner.
Oddly they also announced a Pixel 7 phone even though we’re only a few months into the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. The new phone will have a second generation Tensor processor.
You can see all of my prior Pixel device reviews here.
Google also announced the much rumored Pixel Watch that will launch around the same time as the Pixel 7. It’s a sleek Wear OS device designed to pair up with Android powered smartphones.
I’ve always found smartwatches to be big and clunky – and that includes my beloved Apple Watch which has largely followed the same design as the original from 2015. The Pixel Watch looks like a real improvement in overall smartwatch industrial design. It might very well be the nicest looking consumer product I’ve seen Google put together. I’m eager to see how this performs and looks in person.
After abandoning Android tablet devices a few years ago, Google is getting back in the game. This includes releasing a new Pixel Tablet and also redesigning their core Android apps to work better on tablet devices. Those tablet app updates are apparently rolling out at the time of this writing. The Pixel tablet, however will not be released until sometime in 2023. It’ll be powered by Google’s Tensor chip.
The last thing that intrigued some of my fellow watch party attendees are these new translation glasses that were teased at the end of the presentation. The glasses will project a translation from a speaker into the lens for the wearer to read.
No doubt this is something that was iterated from the ill-fated Google Glass project from a decade ago. This use case seems to make a lot more sense. And these actually look like glasses! See my original coverage of the Google Glass here.
Google also had a bunch of other software feature announcements including continued work on their AI systems which are getting better and better each year. They will soon release an app called the “AI Test Kitchen” that will demonstrate the progress they have made with natural language interaction. It’s really fascinating stuff.
Hopefully we’ll get some of these things in for review!
Boost Mobile is a prepaid wireless carrier here in the USA owned by Dish Network. They are introducing a new program that will let you bring your monthly bill down to nothing – but you have to sing for your supper by earning “Boostcoins.”
Here’s how the company says you earn them:
Boost Mobile’s BoostOne app allows users to earn blockchain-backed “Boostcoins” by playing games like “Spin & Win,” watching videos, and engaging with thousands of partners to complete offers to earn coins that can be redeemed for discounted and free wireless service.
These Boostcoins are of course “blockchain-backed” but have their value pegged to the dollar. According to CNET it looks like 100 boost coins equals about a dollar.
