Technology Ramblings

On Oct 2, MS made the formal release of Windows 10 1809 Update available to the public.  Like many that day I updated three machines that my family members use as their daily drivers - all of which were NOT part of Windows Insiders - so where running the April creators update.. I was lucky in that all 3 machines updated successfully.   One took nearly 3 hours - but updated.  My luck may have been due to the fact that for each - I logged in using my MS account versus my wife's, daughters and grand-daughters account which had no real data on the device expect for a few downloads. But many were not so lucky.  Soon after the release users began reporting that all of their data files were missing after the update.  From Documents, to Downloads, Photos, Music, etc.  Basically everything in their users/login folders. The issue became bad enough that MS formally pulled the 1809 update from Windows Update.  Luckily it appears as though via a KB repai...

With the Sept 24 release of Windows 10 build 17763 - MS reached the "RTM" milestone for the Redstone 5 branch.  This is the 7th major release of Windows - we had Threshold 1 - the initial Windows 10 release in July of 2015, followed by Threshold 2 in November of that year.  Since then we've been on the Redstone branch following the twice per year rhythm of releases - typically in April and Oct. Has Windows 10 improved ?  Certainly it has.  We've seen continued improvements in areas like Touch, Pen and Windows Hello support as OEMs continued to update their hardware to support it.   We've also seen more and more control panel functions move to the new Settings "app".   We've seen some improvements in stability and I argue that most of the performance improvements are the result of better hardware - not the OS.   But to me the overall UX is still a hot mess.  Some UI components date all the way back to Windows 2000.  MS sti...

Sept 12 was 2018's "iPhone Day" - Apples annual event where they announce their new devices. This year we saw 3 new iPhones - the Xs, Xs Max and Xr.  All 3 had various updates to the core technologies that make up an iPhone as screen size increases.   What we also saw was a price increase at the top end.  So if you buy an Xs Max with 512GB of storage it will set you back $1,449 + tax - so effectively $1,500+.   In a recent interview - Tim Cook - Apple's CEO stated that Apple can justify these prices because it "replaces every other gadget consumers might need".  So Tim is referring to things like digital camera's, video recorders, music players, etc. But does it really ?   And Apple has been kind of on that band wagon for years back when their flagship iPhone 7 for example was about half the price. My point here is this.  While Apple has always placed itself in a leadership position in the Smartphone marketplace and has positio...

It's been over a month since I've posted anything regarding Windows 10 - either the upcoming Redstone 5 - 1809 release or the 19H1 builds... So two reasons - first on the 19H1 side there have only been 3 builds released in the last 40+ days and to be honest they've all been kind of a yawner as MS have been focusing more effort around the RS5 release builds. I tried my first RS5 update in a while on my Dell Venue 8 Pro and I really can't report on anything - because it won't install.   I had previously been on Build 18219 of 19H1 and the Venue continued to fail to install the latest 18234 build. So this morning I downloaded the production RS4 - 1803 build and performed a fresh install - then joined the Fast Ring.   While the latest RS5 Release build 17755.1 update showed up immediately - it failed at the end of the download stage - not moving on the Installation phase with a 0x8844018 error.    To me this kind of reinforces the issues with Windows 10...

When it comes to automating your home there are a lot of choices out there.  From the early days of things like X10 and Powerline (PCS) to today's mix of Zigbee, Z-Wave, Insteon and WiFi. So how do you make the right choice ?   Over the years I've purchased and installed dozens of different home automation devices from lighting to thermostats to cameras, doorbells & locks, irrigation, fireplaces, etc.  You name it I've probably installed it. So here's my take on the current state and how I'm making my purchasing decisions. First - you need to make some decisions on what you really want to automate.  Is it lighting, security, HVAC, Water mgmt, whatever.  The good news is there is a broad choice.  The bad news is there is a lot of crap out there. The one common ground you'll find is that for the non-WiFi systems to work you either need a "gateway" or "bridge" device that then connects to your home network - sometimes wired - somet...

Whole Home Audio systems are just a cool thing.  The ability to fill a home with music whether from a single source or playing different content in different areas of the home is just a nice thing to be able to do. And while these systems have been around for a while, new technologies in terms of the content choices, control of the systems and how you distribute around you home can raise questions on the best approach for your budget. The following is a discussion on key use cases and design criteria that will help you make a decision.  I have designed and built several systems over the years and am preparing to do a new one - so I'm going through the very process I am going to describe. To me there are three key design criteria that you have to have a clear decision on in order to build the system that best meets your needs. The first criteria is content - basically what do you listen to.  Is is over the air (OTA) content like AM/FM or Satellite Radio ?  Is ...

IDC released it's 2018 Q2 Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report yesterday and there is one interesting change to note. First WW sales in Q2 of 2018 were down 1.8% to 342M units in Q2 with the biggest drop being outside the top 5 in the "others" category where sales fell 18.5%. Samsung is still #1 WW but saw year over year unit sales fall 10.4% to 71.5M units and a 20.9% market share.  Sales of the new Galaxy 9/9+ are not as brisk as expected.  But the big news is that Huawei surpassed Apple as the #2 WW OEM with a whopping 40.9% year over year sales increase to 54.2M units and a 15.8% market share.   Even with the rejection by US Telco's - that's a remarkable feat and shows that the growth potential outside the US is still huge. Apple sales were nearly flat @ 41.3M units a 0.7% increase over 2017 and carry a 12.1% share.    The other Chinese OEMs did well also - #4 Xiaomi saw a 48.8% sales volume increase to 31.9M units and at that pace ...