brianjo

About

Username
brianjo
Joined
Visits
34
Last Active
Roles
member
Points
401
Badges
1
Posts
67

Reactions

134Like3Dislike34Informative

  • Microsoft blew $8.5 billion on Skype only to spend 14 years killing it

    brianjobrianjo
    From an IT standpoint, Teams has an advantage that it's simply integrated within the Microsoft 365 platform. User and access management then is handled in one place. Add Zoom, now you have more accounts and logins to deal with. Unfortunately, Teams has turned into a hot mess. In Microsoft fashion, it tries to do everything for everyone, but is sloppy at best and just ends up being unusable kludge for most. Even as an experienced computer user, it gets so confusing, I can't imagine how non savy individuals are able to navigate the system.
    sconosciutostevedownunderdewmechasmDrishmungronnrandominternetpersonwatto_cobra

  • M4 Mac mini rumored to get a redesign making it smaller than ever before

    brianjobrianjo
    PLEASE! No external power supply required.  It suck on the iMac, and would suck way more on the mini.  The old mini had a stupid external brick, and they made it awesome with the current design.  The size is great because you can put a pair of them in a single rack space easily.  Make it smaller so you can put 3 might be interesting, but too small and you can't have enough ports to be useful.  A smaller computer that needs dongles and adaptors is NOT an improvement!

    Now, if they offered a DC power supply jack alongside an internal power supply, THAT would be appealing.  Probably not likely though.
    sphericmattinozdewmeVictorMortimerwilliamlondonwatto_cobrabaconstang

  • Elon Musk orders Twitter to charge $20/month for verification

    brianjobrianjo
    Not everyone needs verification.  Verification is for those that are celebrities, politicians, etc, where it's likely that others would create accounts to pretend to be them.  For these people, $20/month is very little money.

    What this does is make it a financial burden to scam the verification system for someone that figured out how to trick the verification process.  Now that 'fake' account you create requires a payment which then creates more of a paper trail as to who is behind the fake account.

    Makes total sense.
    williamhJapheybaconstanganonconformistwatto_cobra

  • macOS Sonoma beta review: Few major updates, but very welcome

    brianjobrianjo
    Sharing passwords (especially in a business environment) is a major security issue. It's amazing that they are making that EASIER.

    Of course, there are plenty of websites that haven't taken the simple step of letting businesses create business accounts that can have multiple sub users each with their own login, so I see why people still do it.  Still a major problem in many ways!
    williamlondonforgot usernameFileMakerFeller

  • How to make an external bootable drive in macOS Sequoia

    brianjobrianjo
    You can also use disk utility to create a bootable clone of your current system.  I generally will do that prior to a major OS install so I have an easy fallback plan to get back to exactly where I was before the upgrade.  I find that much more reliable and complete than relying on reinstalling and older OS and using Time machine to restore.
    OctoMonkeyxyzzy-xxx

  • iMac 24-inch M3 review: A clear sign that Intel Mac support is ending soon

    brianjobrianjo
    Since they are committed to the stupid power brick, it would have made sense to add a couple USB or thunderbolt ports there as well, tidying up the desk workspace.

    Hell, even better would be to move all of the brains into the brick and calling it a Mac Mini, thus making the display just a display, allowing you to upgrade the machine by replacing the brick instead of the whole machine...
    OctoMonkeywilliamlondonAlex1Nroundaboutnowappleinsideruser

  • New 12.9-inch iPad Air may not be a large-screen bargain

    brianjobrianjo
    retrogusto said:
    The current iPad Air is kind of awkward in the lineup, given that the $599 base model only has 64gb of storage (which probably isn’t enough for most people, especially at that price), and the next level up only costs $50 less than an iPad Pro 128gb (which is enough for many people). And that $50 gets you a lot of extra stuff. It’ll be interesting to see the base storage for the new models—it’ll make a bigger difference for most people than a screen upgrade, unless the screen also makes the device significantly sleeker and lighter. 
    Apple's iPad strategy seems to be to offer an iPad at every possible price point.  There's no clear line or jumps to next levels.  Everywhere you turn, just add a couple more dollars and you're at the next level.
    williamlondondewmeAlex1Nwatto_cobra

  • Apple enables direct Thread control for smart home devices with iOS 18

    brianjobrianjo
    A crappy thing about homekit is Apple doesn't give you an easy way to see where data is going. You just have to trust it.  I get it from the 'make it easy to use' side of things, but it really sucks from a troubleshooting standpoint.

    It would be awesome if they had log files available with things like protocols devices used, hops the signal went, etc.  It would make it much much easier to troubleshoot and determine why things aren't working as they should.
    forgot usernamewatto_cobranetrox

  • Apple all-in on struggling Matter, to the detriment of HomeKit Accessory Protocol

    brianjobrianjo
    They only need to slap the Matter version number under the Matter logo.

    Basically every other spec has multiple versions, like Thunderbolt. USB, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, etc.
    For example, Apple doesn't yet support Matter version 1.2 which was announced in October of 2023. This update brought many new device types, including robotic vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, fans, and air purifiers.

    This fall with iOS 18, Apple will be adding support for robotic vacuums but not the rest of the spec. That makes it very confusing because there are existing Matter air purifiers on the market.

    So, no, just using the version number supported isn't enough.  You'd think that it should be, and if you're going to support part of the spec, you support ALL of that spec.  There lies the problem.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra

  • NordVPN review: An extensive VPN privacy package

    brianjobrianjo
    Pema said:
    I concur with the two above posters re: NordVPN. The product often comes out in the top five of recommended VPNs. That said it just did not work for me. It was easy to set up and connect but with the exception that every site that I was blocked out of due to geographical boundaries I stayed blocked out of. I would connect to a site, sign in and within seconds I would be advised of a error along the lines of 'We can see that you are using a VPN, please disconnect and try again'. 
    And this went on for nearly every site excepting the ones that I could log into and access with/without a VPN. 
    There is one program that I eagerly wanted in 4 parts for my PhD research. No way I was able to login. And this was via a major streamer!
    Eventually I located the program on a local site and happened to feature the 4-part series. 

    When I attempted to explain all this to nordsec b.v. they were completely disinterested. All they could come back with is 'your money back guarantee expired last week. sorry'. 

    You would think that a company of this size and spread would be very keen to work with me to fix the issue. Nope. They kept coming back with some lame excuse as in, 'try this server, try that server, try this server, try that server'. I don't have all bleeding day to sit around and f**t arse around trying over 1200 servers as far as the Kingdom of Mongolia to finally land on one that may/may not work 

    I would have thought that their tech support would have come back and asked me for the URLs and they would at least attempt to debug the issue. 

    In the end, after a great deal of lengthy arguing they relented and gave me a full refund. Not a good company if you should happen to run into problems. 

    There mantra: give us your money and don't bother us. 

    If I had to give them a review, it would be 2 stars. Easy to install and setup but of no value if you should happen to run into problems. They are plainly not interested. 
    This is because many websites use other tools to determine your location other than IP address.  It's pretty simple for them to determine you're using a VPN to try and disguise your location and as such will block access.  A decade ago the VPN trick worked.  Not so much anymore.
    dav