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Revisiting the Chromebook Challenge

English: An Acer Chromebook showing the introd...

Back in January of 2013, I took a Chromebook challenge, and invited several other members of the Gadget Wisdom family to try the thing out.

This was the $199 Acer C7 Chromebook. This set up Chromebooks as the successor to the old netbook market…the small portable device you took along for productivity, but was not your primary driver.

At the end of that, I concluded it was a solid investment.

So, has anything changed in nearly two years? More manufacturers are making Chromebooks. The gambit runs from the cheaper ones to the ultra-expensive top of the line Pixel, with regrettably, few options midrange.

While the apps aren’t there, Chrome OS does support native apps, and Android apps are starting to come over. With time, the ecosystem will continue to mature. More on this to come.

 

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Published on November 18, 2014
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NYC to Replace Payphones With Hotspots

LinkNYCMy hometown of New York City has announced a plan to replace thousands of payphones with wi-fi hotspots. The Link(as it is called) will provide free public wifi, free phone calls anywhere in the U.S., a touchscreen interface to city services and directions, easy 311/911 access, free charging for mobile, and digital displays for advertising and PSAs.

The wi-fi will be encrypted, which is not common in public hotspots, and some locations will be gigabit.

On a practical level, this modernizes the payphone. It still has the important aspects…the ability to call for emergency services, make telephone calls when needed, etc. But it adds in the services that we desire in the modern age.

I am a bit concerned about a few things. One, this is a ten-foot tall spire with ads on the side. The ads are by necessity. That’s what is going to fund this. But I worry about the intrusiveness of these things. But it will likely be no more intrusive than other ads. Also, imagine a group of digital nomads clustered around this spire with its internet and charging station.

A ten foot tall device actually could blanket a wider area than just immediately around the device. It is tall enough to theoretically stretch down the street. It could change a lot.

 

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Published on November 18, 2014
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Square Launches Chip Credit Card Reader

A diagram showing the front side of a typical ...
A diagram showing the front side of a typical credit/debit card. (1) is the bank logo. (2) is the EMV chip (commonly referred to as ‘Chip And Pin’) (3) is the Hologram (4) is the 16 digit card number (5) is the logo of the card type (6) is the expiry date (7) is the name of the cardholder (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Square has announced they will be launching a mobile phone chip credit card reader for $29. The current magnetic swipe reader for mobile phones is offered as a free item.

Chip technology in credit cards will be mandatory in 2015. The chips make the cards more difficult to clone and have been successful in reducing fraud outside of the U.S.

VentureBeat notes in their article that Square will be supporting chip and signature, not chip and pin transactions, but this may merely be in the initial stages.

Chip and Pin is the most secure of these new technologies. It requires something you have…the credit card, and something you know…the Pin. Chip and Signature makes the card harder to duplicate, but as I rarely see people checking signatures now, which they are supposed to do, it eliminates the second factor and makes it less secure than otherwise.

So, despite the push for these new cards, the credit card industry is weakening the effort and will hopefully move to the more secure technology later on.

In the meantime though, Square is ahead of the curve by offering this in an inexpensive manner as part of their continued attempts to expand their presence as a payment processor.

(Via Venturebeat)

Published on November 13, 2014
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And We’re Back

After a hiatus, I’m trying to bring this site back and commit to regular contributions. You are going to see a variety of different posts as I try to figure out the best combination of stories to generate a unique spin on things.

There are a lot of technology themed sites out there, and there is certainly a lot of room in the space. Looking forward to more.

In the meantime, why not subscribe, follow, like….whatever works for you. And if you have any comments or ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Published on November 12, 2014
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Need a Portable Battery to Charge Your Electronics?

Anker Astro Mini

The Astro Anker Mini is on sale over at Newegg for $10.99 with the coupon EMCWWWW33 until 11/13.

Newegg Link

This 3000mAh battery is small, portable, and in a durable metal case.

There are higher capacity batteries, but the combination of form factor makes this a good choice for emergencies.

I keep two of these in strategic places for emergencies.

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Published on November 11, 2014
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Amazon Announces the Echo

Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo

Amazon has had an interesting run this year. The Fire Phone, their attempt at a smartphone with their forked Android OS resulted in a significant writeoff. Meanwhile, they apparently press on and have unveiled their latest toy…the Amazon Echo.

The Echo is basically a speaker that also has a voice recognition mode, so you can ask it questions, in the same way you would Siri, Google Now, etc. Echo, aka ‘Alexa’ (the default codeword)  is always listening, and is always able to answer your question.

Echo is being offered to a limited set for $99(for Prime Members) or $199 for everyone else. I’m not sure the utility of a talking bluetooth speaker. They also have an app…so I can do the same thing with the phone I have, assuming I don’t like the software already trying to do this.

But what do you think? Is this an attempt to make it easier to shop at Amazon? Another moonshot like the Fire Phone? A possible flop?

Alexa…tell me why you exist.

 

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Published on November 9, 2014
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Reconsidering Powerline Networking

Years ago, I tried powerline networking, and it never quite worked for me. But, a recent dead spot in my residence caused me to give it a shot again. Wiring to connect the two locations where I needed network access would be an involved process.

Powerline networking adapters are simple square boxes with a network port. You plug your network into one end, and it comes out the other side. Some of these adapters also act as wireless access points.

It worked surprisingly well, although I was only able to get 2mbps…but this was plugged into an extension cord. The adapters tend to have degraded performance if not directly plugged into the wall.

The adapters I used were an inexpensive set of TP-Link AV200 adapters I got for $25, but there is a faster standard…AV500. On the far end, I hooked up a wireless access point. I have the option of adding a switch in order to wire in items.

So, if you haven’t considered powerline networking of late…you may wish to. A wire is still better, faster, and more reliable, but it is not always an option.

Published on November 9, 2014
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Nginx FastCGI Caching

English: Nginx Logo Español: Logo de Nginx
English: Nginx Logo Español: Logo de Nginx (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of work trying to speed up the sites on my server….perhaps to the detriment of this site, Gadget Wisdom.

Gadget Wisdom runs on WordPress on a Nginx web server. To run PHP on an Nginx server, you need to pass requests to a FastCGI server.

Nginx supports caching the responses. So, WordPress generates a page dynamically, Nginx caches the response and can serve the cached version on request. Since the resource intensive part is the application, and most people don’t need a changing page, it works for the majority of issues.

For the last few years, refreshing the cache has been done by sending a request with a specific header. This has the effect of telling the system to generate the page again and store the result. A recent upgrade added in the optional Nginx Cache Purge module. This allows a purge of a specific page using a simple URL scheme.

The net difference between the two in effect is that the purge function removes the cached version to be regenerated on the next load. The header option generates a new version of the page which is stored in the cache. The disadvantage of the Purge module is you have to custom-compile Nginx…which means you have to manually keep up on security bugfixes.

Either way, once you decide on methodology, you also have cache validity. For example, many people opt for a microcache solution…where the cache time is very short, measured in seconds. This means that only when the site is being hit will people be served ‘stale’ pages.

The alternative is a very long cache time…measured in hours/days. As long as you have a cache refresh function available, such as the options mentioned above so you can remove the stale pages on demand, you can keep the pages around for longer periods of time.

Right now, my cache validity time continues to rise over time. You also have browser caching. Right now, images are instructed to be cached by your browser for days. I don’t usually change my images much after posting…or at all.

So, this post hopefully covered the basic decision making process for FastCGI caching on Nginx. In Part 2(if I get to it), we’ll cover some of the settings to allow this, as well as some of the considerations you have to make while coding this.

Published on September 16, 2014
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The New Home Theater Rack

The Storage of Electronic Components is always a hard thing. For years, my audio components have been housed in a Ikea Besta Media Cabinet with ventilation and wiring holes cut into the rear panel. This created some support issues, as the cabinet wasn’t designed for the function I was using it for.

I could have hacked the thing more, but opted for replacement, as the color Besta I use was discontinued, and thus replacement parts weren’t going to be an option in the future.

All of my home networking equipment, cable modem, router, etc, happen to converge under my stereo system, which contains a receiver, Blu-Ray player, DVR Cable Box(under protest from the cable company), etc.

I needed something that was structurally strong, open for ventilation, and easily adjustable. I looked at a variety of commercial media cabinets, relay racks, etc before deciding on Elfa.

Yes, Elfa…I switched from Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings company, to Elfa, a Swedish shelving company. Elfa is owned by The Container Store, which happened to be having its annual Elfa shelving sale.

So, why Elfa? While they offer the traditional easy hang closet type shelving, they offer a freestanding option, which is what I used. While I went for ventilated shelving, they offer solid shelving as well as decorative pieces.

I did go for a simple industrial look, but I didn’t have to. I found examples online of people using the same shelving for TV stands and other functions as well.

In the end, Elfa, even with a 30% off sale, was more expensive than the Besta solution I had, and comparable to assembled media cabinets. I could have gotten a pressboard or glass cabinet of similar design.

But what appeals to me in design is modularity. I will replace a component, need to adjust the height of shelving, need to replace wires…a modular layout permits me to do this. A fixed layout means I am limited.

What solutions have you come up with to solve this sort of problem? What do you think of this one?

Published on March 3, 2014
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The Pebble: A Review

Pebble
Pebble (Photo credit: the waving cat)

It was back in October that I commented on the ideal smartwatch: “Imagine a watch that contains a multicolored led notification light, a vibrating alert, and less bulky/blocky shape to the Pebble. Bluetooth 4.0 LE by default.”

So, here we are a few months later, and I saw a great deal on a Pebble and decided to take advantage of it. This was shortly before Pebble announced the Pebble Steel. The innards of the steel and the software is the same, but the design is a bit more stylish and professional looking. There is an LED light, and it may or may not be software controllable. It is also over $100 more.

Bluetooth 4.0 LE is not supported. In fact, the Android app for Pebble uses the Accessibility system rather than the Notification listener added in 4.3. Using the Notification Listener requires a third-party app that supports it.

Pebble has an Android app update in beta that includes their new watch app and face store, which organizes apps and watchfaces in a single place. This was previously something that was offered by third-parties as opposed to Pebble itself. It is slow, but it is still in beta. I opted to upgrade, rather than waiting. As I do not have an iOS device, I can’t comment on that experience.

So, how does the Pebble stack up? Well, first the band that came with it was too small, but the Pebble uses a standard 22mm watchband, so I was able to replace it with a longer one. The actual device, the watchface, is bigger than some watches, but I’ve been able to get used to the size.

The main purpose of the Pebble for me is notifications. It vibrates and flashes notifications on the screen. One of the biggest problems I’ve always had, is when I put my phone away, I miss calls and other information. This is especially an issue in crowded places.

With the Pebble, the watch vibrates and I can see the message on the screen without having to take the phone out. I saw one argument from a user that while the connection to the Pebble costs in battery life, it could actually save battery net because the user would not be turning on the phone screen to read messages.

The device is at least as rugged as any other watch, and so far I’ve had no failure with it.

The Pebble is still disappointing on the app front. It is getting there though with the new Pebble App Store and Version 2.0 of the firmware/SDK. The new firmware supports retrieval of information from the Internet, something not natively supported prior. This allows for dynamic information such as weather conditions to be added to a watchface.

There is little interactivity I can think of that I’d want with the buttons of the Pebble, other than music control and other simple items. Pebble supports basic music control, which I supplement with Music Boss, which adds additional features.

There is more coming from Pebble on the software front, and from 3rd party developers offering additional features. I’ll be interested to see what’s next.

 

Published on February 11, 2014
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