Is the headphone plug obsolete?
I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while. So yeah, I missed out on a lot of the furor when Apple announced a phone without a headphone jack. Apple has done this sort of…
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Leave it on or turn it off?
Which saves more energy… turning it off or leaving it on? At first it may seem obvious. Turning off a device saves more energy now. But, traditional wisdom tells us that turning a device on and…
Bluetooth 5.0 has been released, so now there’s that
I guess I picked the wrong week to talk about how Bluetooth hates me. In a recent editorial, I complained that my 14-year-long experience with Bluetooth has been anything but smooth. Bluetooth hasn’t always performed as promised for…
EDITORIAL: I hate Bluetooth, because it hates me back
That’s right, I’m coming out as a Bluetooth hater. And it’s not just because of its mid-2000s use as an ostentatious piece of ear-jewelry for the jerk-ridden elite. Let me tell you my story. I was…
Is this the “Golden Age” of wireless?
Anyone else remember this record? It’s actually one of the first actual CDs I bought, back when buying a CD was an incredibly forward-thinking thing to do. But that’s not the point of this article, not…
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Voice Assistant rants
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Today we are surrounded by voice-controlled assistants. Siri and Google were just the start; today we have Alexa, Cortana, and others I can’t even think of. I’ll be honest, I…
Should you be afraid of the “internet of things?”
Just a few weeks ago, large chunks of the internet went down because of an attack. This in itself isn’t a huge news story, although for a short time millions of people were affected. The real…
Wi-Fi in an RV?
It’s possible, but why? OK, I understand the idea. If you’re RV’ing across the nation, you want to take advantage of wireless hotspots when you’re stopped. But is there a good answer? One idea that wouldn’t…
NICE AND EASY: Do you need wired internet for DIRECTV Ready Smart TVs?
Look, I can see where you would get confused. I could tell you a whole big story but really let’s start with the facts. You can’t use the built-in Wi-Fi on your TV and have it…
How many people can stream HD in the same house at the same time?
If you’re thinking about upgrading your internet you’ll really need to think about what you need. There are a lot of choices and most internet providers will try to push you to the fastest. Do you…
Time to think about backups
So about once every quarter or at least once every six months or so, I end up writing an article about the stuff you should be doing and you’re not doing. Like, inspecting your cables, or grounding, or backing…
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Funny old web pages
It’s not just us. Yeah, SolidSignal.com looked pretty goofy in 2002, as you can see here, but let’s be honest, a lot of other very well funded sites looked pretty bad too. Take a look at the…
OPINION: Passwords are broken and I don’t know how to fix them.
I know a guy, I won’t tell you his name, but for the last ten years, his username for everything has been his first name and his password has been his last name. If he’s at…
THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Intel iPad?
It’s one of those stories that is destined to float around for years. Of course we all know that there were tablets in movies before Apple invented their iPad, and there were tablets in real life. You may…
Slow internet? Blame the neighbors.
OK, it’s not all their fault. But if you’re not getting the internet speed you paid for, the culprit may not be the internet company. OK it’s still sort of the internet company. It’s confusing. Maybe I should…