I’m usually an early adopter regarding tech, especially new devices in a new or existing category. I love gadgets and tech, and I’m not afraid of change. I ordered an Apple Vision Pro on day one. Here’s my initial review for reference. When I did my initial review, I had not taken Apple Vision Pro on the road yet.
Recently, I had a business trip to LA and back. This is a five-hour flight from Atlanta. I usually use the time on flights to get some writing done, plus a movie or two. Working on a plane can definitely present a couple of challenges. The first is when the person in front of you leans their seat back, making it harder to open your laptop to a comfortable viewing angle. The second challenge is keeping the prying eyes of your seatmates off your work. Some privacy screens make it harder to view your screen from an angle, but I haven’t used one in years.
Apple Vision Pro Elevates In-Flight Productivity to New Heights
Time flies when you’re no longer troubleshooting your WiFi. Last February I made the decision to upgrade away from my Linksys Velop WiFi system and take the advice of so many, and move over to Unifi from Ubiquiti. At the time, I came to grips with the fact that I had outgrown consumer networking equipment and needed something more robust and could handle the sheer number of devices I had in my home. My switch to Unifi solved all my networking issues, and honestly, I’m back to not thinking about it anymore (as it should be).
Unifi is like a drug
Although I started with just the Dream Machine Special Edition, U6 Enterprise and U6 LR Access Points, I have added a significant amount of new switches and access points since last February.
Like anything that works and makes life easier, you tend to want more of it. While my initial investment in a Unifi Dream Machine SE (router) and two Unifi Access Points solved all my WiFi woes, I couldn’t stop there. I started looking at everything that made up my network and wondering if replacing those items would be even better.
People have been cutting the cord from their cable TV provider for years. With the explosion of smart TVs and streaming services, it’s pretty easy to get by with just internet service and stream the content you want on your TV. I’m late to the game, but earlier this year, I finally decided that I no longer needed and barely watched Cable TV anymore.
There are multiple ways to cut the cord
Some people opt for a digital antenna to pull in their local channels. Others forgo having local channels, and people like me who still want to have local channels but don’t need them from their cable providers go with a different streaming service that offers local channels.
YouTube TV was the one I chose
I figured YouTube has been in the video streaming business for decades, and if anyone could get streaming TV right, it would be them. They didn’t disappoint. I signed up for the trial, which lasts 21 days. I initially planned to go through the whole trial before dropping my Xfinity TV. I ended up canceling Xfinity TV the next day. I saw no reason that I would need to go through the whole trial period.
Calling to cancel your existing service can be a lot of pressure
Apple Vision Pro is Apple’s entry into the world of spatial computing. While people will be quick to compare it to all the existing VR headsets, that’s like comparing all 2007-era cellphones and early smartphones to the original iPhone in 2007. They are not the same. Apple Vision Pro is a different device with some VR features and capabilities just like early cellphones could make calls, text, and browse the internet. The iPhone did these things in innovative ways. I’ve spent the last four days taking the Apple Vision Pro through its paces.
No matter which reviews you read or watch about the Apple Vision Pro, they really can’t do it justice. It would be like describing what it’s like to go to the beach to someone who has never been on a beach before. You can describe the feeling and even show them pictures and videos, but they won’t know what it’s like until they experience it. Apple Vision Pro (AVP) is like that. Rather than trying to describe it in words, I recorded my review and demo here:
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It’s that time of year! It’s time for my Top 23 Gadgets of 2023. In no particular order, I’ve listed the best gadgets I’ve gotten in 2023. Each product is linked below.
For years, I’ve enjoyed various Bose sound systems. I’ve used Bose for my home theater as well as my whole house music system. When I moved to my new home in 2016, I built a whole house music system based on the now-discontinued Bose SoundTouch system. I had the Bose Soundtouch 300 soundbar with the small cube rear speakers and Bose subwoofer. I also had various SoundTouch 10 and 20 Series II WiFi speakers around the house.
Besides the sound, what I loved about the SoundTouch system was that I could use their mobile App to control the system. They had integrated with popular music services such as Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music. I could choose any speakers and play playlists or music stations to them and then put my phone away. Since the music was being played directly from the speaker’s WiFi connection, it didn’t matter if my phone stayed on or in the app.
For years, this worked quite well, and then Apple introduced AirPlay 2. Although it’s great that the speakers could play the music directly from the various music services, it was an isolated system. If you want to stream music from your Apple computer, iPhone, or iPad device, you would want to use AirPlay 2. This would also allow you to stream to your other speakers at the same time. For a couple of years, Bose promised to deliver a software update that would enable AirPlay 2, and in 2020, they finally kept their promise. This made me even happier with my system. However, they managed to implement AirPlay 2 in a half-baked way. If you put two speakers in a stereo pair, then you lost the ability to use AirPlay 2 on those speakers. You had to choose between AirPlay 2 or having stereo. The handwriting was on the wall as Bose had discontinued the SoundTouch system and started selling a new system called “Bose Home Speakers.”
If you say, “All water tastes the same.” You can stop reading this and go on about your day. There’s nothing I can do or say to help you. All jokes aside, I’m pretty picky regarding the taste of water. I’m originally from Detroit, and I believe Detroit has some of the best-tasting tap water in the country. When I moved to Atlanta, I could definitely tell the difference. Atlanta’s water is OK, but nowhere near as good as Detroit’s water.
All tap water has stuff in it that should be filtered out. Depending on the location, the pipes and plumbing have manganese, copper, and lead, which can corrode over time and leach different metals into your drinking water. Acidic water (i.e., water with a pH below 7) causes pipes to corrode quickly, giving the water a sour, tangy, or metallic taste.
Bottled Water
I had become more reliant on bottled water; even different bottled water brands have different tastes. I’m about to list some brands; some of you will agree, while others will disagree, and that’s fine. It just proves my point that water definitely has a taste, and because of these different tastes, different brands will appeal to some while completely turning others off. It’s usually the purity and mineral count that affect the taste:
When you sign up for an internet plan with your ISP (Internet Service Provider), you typically sign up for the speeds you need to work and/or cover your entertainment streaming/gaming. However, if you run a speed test right now, chances are the results will be lower than what you signed up for.
I’m on the fastest internet plan available in my area.
This means that my internet speeds can be as high as 1200 Mbps down and 35 Mbps up (geez, this upload speed really needs to be improved). However, up until recently, I never saw that download speed. Like never!
There can be many factors affecting your internet speed. I’m going to cover the top three reasons:
Unifi Protect G5 Bullet POE Camera under my front awning.
I’m a fan of having security cameras around my property that allow me to look at my surroundings at any time, day or night, and best of all, when I’m traveling. I’ve used various cameras/brands over the years, and at one point, I had cameras from Ring, Google, Logitech, and Eufy simultaneously. While I had each camera for a different reason and feature set, it was really a mess. Of course, each camera had its own app, and the only thing that made this setup bearable was that I could bring them all into Apple Home to see them all simultaneously.
In My Experience, Event-based Cameras Suck!
Ring Floodlight Cam Events
The first cameras to get booted were the Logitech Circle View cameras. While these cameras tend to work well most of the time, they were the flakiest when it came to staying connected to WiFi. They required regular reboots because of regular WiFi disconnects. The second problem is that while they worked natively with Apple’s Home and HomeKit Secure Video, this means that they only recorded if they thought an event was taking place. This sounds reasonable. If something triggers the motion sensor, it should start recording. The problem with “event-based cameras” is that sometimes they miss events. In other words, when you go back to look at the footage at a time when you know something happened, the clip is nowhere to be found because it didn’t record.
A prime example of this was when a very large package arrived at my house by mistake, and it was for a neighbor. I informed my neighbor that their package was next to my garage and that they could pick it up anytime. While my neighborhood is relatively safe, I still wanted confirmation that the right person took the package. When I went to review the footage from the Ring cam, the package was there one second, and the next, it was gone. There was no recording of the package actually being taken. This package was so big that it would have taken two people to carry it. So it’s not like it didn’t record the event because it was grabbed quickly. This is when I realized just how much event-based recording sucks! They are hit-and-miss.
