TV Solutions with Smarthings

I remember when we just had BBC1 and ITV. We were used to just that, until a thing called Sky dish and cable TV came around. Then we had internet. No one thought that internet was going to take over. We just sent messages and looked up stuff using Netscape. The physical world ruled. We all got the new films from Blockbuster VHS tapes. I loved going to Blockbuster, to decide what we were going to have. Then came CD's. 

A revolution took place. CD's were taking over. Lovefilm said just order it and we will send the CD it to you. Suddenly CNN and MTV hit us with cable TV. It was a tsunami. BBC and ITV were seriously hit. That's what we defeated. No more news manipulation by these two juggernauts. Internet and Cable TV and Satellite TV was our world. Now it's 2024 and all of that has disappeared. It's all streaming to you. I decided to get a Samsung 27" monitor with Bluetooth. I got my old Samsung Note backup phone to get all the apps and sites with great TV. Boom I got away from the old TV systems. No more anything to do with TV apps and connections. Just get a cheap Samsung TV with Smarthings and you are done. I have an old phone that is now a controller and connector to allow the apps and websites and extra tools that give me the stuff I need. 

Those extra tools are things that are not allowed on TV internet connections. For example there are special browsers, that connect you to special sites and block unwanted things. I am not going to go into details. If you use them on your mobile, or on your laptop, then you know what I mean. The great thing is that you can clean your mobile and be updated. You are free from the TV operating system. 

Dumb AI

Dumb AI: Guess what, AI is not that intelligent after all. How dumb can you get for goodness sake? You would think fighting cybercrime would be the first thing AI would be used for. Apparently not. They are "selling defensive tools for a problem they are helping to create".

I began selling IT as a simple salesman at Currys. We were told to sell antivirus software, or else our jobs were on the line. You would have the typical scenario, where a person would come to the store and look at the cheapest laptop. I would approach them, and ask whether they could tell the difference between the different ones. They would look at one good specification in one, and see another different good specification in another. They would get more and more confused. Choice was not helping them. I then would tell them that the cheapest one, would not be able to run the best antivirus software. Would they like to see a demo of that? There was this awesome video, of how long it would take for someone to take over your computer, if it had no or poor protection. At that point they would immediately know what feature was the most important, and would buy the most expensive one with the full blown top antivirus software.

So many people buy Apple just for this reason alone. This is the best commentary in Apple's defense. But you can't clean the files yourself and see exactly what the change is in your Apple device. You never know when it was cleaned. It's like having a professional cleaning service come around and you always think to yourself, "did they really clean that part of the room?". So I roll up my sleeves and get it done with a specialist tool. You have to learn to maintain your device. No one can wash your hands for you. Simple.

One thing that really gets me on Apple software, is that you can't shut down all the windows in one go. Also Apple will always remember where you were last. Well I don't want it to know where I was last. As convenient that may seem, it is actually a privacy issue. So be careful when you are using an Apple. I always reboot my iPad after I have used it to watch Apple TV. 

Apple TV is actually really useful for exactly the same reason. It remembers what I had glanced at. Which is great if you want to backtrack, or be told that there is a new episode. That's why it's becoming the streaming consolidator's choice. As time goes by Apple TV will be the best one stop shop. But, and there is always a "but", it doesn't keep Netflix shows in its watched list. You need Google TV for that. But then it doesn't keep tabs on everything else that well. So the war is on between the streaming and TV consolidators. What you are looking at is what they want to know about. 

I find that telling Netflix or Prime or Sky how much I liked something, really helps in getting the system to recommend entertainment. I do the same with Facebook. I click on stuff that I want it to send ads to me for. Use Duckduckgo browser, unless you want Facebook to find products for you and place ads in your feed. So the bottom line is, get the cyberspace snooper work for you.

Can of Worms

It's August and it's Samsung upgrade time. Samsung bring new phones out twice a year, January and August. I open the new Samsung store app, and look around. Mm.. nice. Wow, I love this new Samsung Fold 5. They have got the hinge sorted and it closes well. Ah, but I will stick with the S23.

So I wondered away from it. Then one day I noticed, that the case for the S23 is peeling on the edges. In all these years, that I have been using the Samsung phones with stylus, I have never had this issue with their cases. I started looking for other cases, but none have the Smart View.

You spend all the time in the world, looking at specifications, but you never think, how does the cases's corners wear out? 

JerryRingEverything goes on about his cases, but I bet, he has never looked at the simple fraying on the edges. None of their cases deal with the Smart Window.

The old LED cases never wore out. This one is awful. It has a very rubbery feel to it. But you are stuck with it, because it has the Smart View, to show you the analogue clock and more importantly the messages. 

I said, forget the window. I bought a cheap leather one. Guess what? The stylus wouldn't work. The leather or some insulation against waves blocks the signal. So back it went.

Now I am more annoyed, about the bleeding cases (literally, it is bleeding), than the phone. Madness. Can't sleep. Distrubed emotional balance etc.

"Is it in the Stars Ali", you are shouting at me.

Well yes it is. 

"So, how come you didn't prepare for it, using your positive thinking etc"?

Sun opposition to Saturn. It happens once a year. This year it is all about detailed, fussy, finicky, stuff you handle with your hands, because Sun is in Virgo or Shahrivar شهریور ♍. 

Saturn is in Pisces or Esfand اسفند ♓, on the other side, which deals with imagination, art, visualization. 

Below is the situation right now with Moon making a perfect Square.

Designing images for Astrology diagrams, can get very taxing. You can feel the tension between the Sun and Saturn. Saturn is making life hard enough for us, going slowly through Pisces or Esfand اسفند ♓. So having the Sun opposition as well, does not help.

I kind of said, "that's ok, I can swing this". The rule is, see the forces and rise above them. Think outside the box, as it were. Go back to the Samsung shop app.

I went to the shop, to look at the cases for Samsung Fold 5. It is a one piece plastic. It won't fray and bleed. Let's see what Samsung will give me for my S23. Wow they would give a lot for a trade in. 

I got excited. I have cracked the conundrum. At the check out, I realised the colour of the phone and case didn't match. So I went back and changed the phone. Got the stuff the next day in an unbelievable delivery speed. 

The new phones were synchronized, and then realised that Samsung hasn't sent me the return details for the trade in. 

So I called them up. They said I didn't get the discount. I told them what I did with the colour change. They said I need to return it and repeat. She sent me the email with the return label. Cool I will print it. Cinch.

Like most people, I rarely use my printer. In fact, the only time I seem to use it, is when I have to return something, because it is faulty. The irony is that, the printer is of course faulty as well, because I rarely use it. With all the upgrades to software and hardware, these devices rarely get updated - so the network just doesn't recognise them, and of course, the cartridges have dried up.

What began, as a simple curiosity journey for a case for my existing phone, has ended up with a massive replacement for a new phone, and a new printer. 

Why a new printer you ask? Because it is cheaper to buy a new printer with cartridges, than new cartridges. 

Luckily I managed to get one decent print after ten test pages, somehow Windows troubleshooter spat it out. 

Wow. What a crazy story eh? Talk about a can of worms. I sort of saw it coming, but it was hard work with all the astrological aspects. 

How to promote toys and morality at the same time.

Obviously we all know about the feminist movement around the world. As an expat we have seen it take on the Ayatollah Regime in Iran. But how do the women in United States get justice? 

The one movie, that immediately comes to mind, is of course Barbie. Personally I found any comment made about Barbie, was totally destroyed by sour political activists. That's how potent this whole affair has become. They need to make a movie about, the activist's abuse of power in social media.

Anyway, moving on, I thought I would turn on my Apple TV last night, to see what's new, and I came across this movie. It seemed goofy on the face of it. So why not just enjoy a bit of light entertainment? I liked some of the actors and actresses in the description. It should be good then I thought.

And it is good at the beginning. I could identify with the challenges, of convincing the world what invention you have. You are on his side. Then suddenly, you see him get a huge telling off, by a single mother (with of two girls) business woman, like you have never seen. 

He is then humbled, and desperately tries make amends to her family. He is funny. In the process, he gets great ideas from little girls, and makes it big time. He is empathic. But the key, is how he just never gave credit to who or what helped him to promote himself?

How do you promote yourself? It was really hard in those days, before the internet. He hears a South Asian student intern, give ideas and he is impressed. If he was given the same advice, by a hot shot from a massive ad agency, he would have given them more credit. 

This is where morality gets involved. It is all about, how he has used two little girls ideas first, and now an Asian student. No one mentioned any of this, in the reviews I read about the film. They all go on about, mature American women, getting back at men so righteously. But something goes wonky. To sort all that out it, it goes into a time warp, to give them a second chance, of how to conduct business deals with crazy selfish men.

I don't want to spoil it, but you should get my drift. You need to watch it twice, to understand the time shifting.

The best part of the film, is that it shows what an Internet business can do. They were the first one. You can see what an eBay auction can do. 

Very funny and more comical than Barbie, and a lot more entertaining, than watching a commentary on marketing on TED on time shifting and reflection.

Transition from Landline to 5G Mobile Broadband - how to easily test your signal.

I have ignored this blog for too long. So I am reviving it, with this, the latest addition to my household. This is an amazing piece of kit is called SMART 5G HUB. As usual with me I will give you the whole journey, because I talk and write a lot.

Where shall I begin? Well, as the kids will tell you, I have been in the game of IT, from the days I got windows one. As an astrologer we probably write and draw more than most. Our wheels are like a weather maps. So they are updating non-stop 24 hours a day. Communication then is vital. I remember trying to do this with a premium fax line in the first days of Citystats, my stock market astrology service. People paid to get the reports.

Technology is then part of my DNA, and it is part of Astrology. For example I am using the Sun transit my Uranus in Leo to do all this. Look up your astrology at astro-seek. 

Here it goes. My contract with EE is expiring so I got cracking. Lone behold, EE have been working on the terrible situation with getting everyone on the internet. Some rural areas are not able to have wires or cabling put in. With emergency and banking all on the internet, it has become critical. So they created 4G broadband in 2018.

You probably are a bit confused. If you are reading this on your mobile, then you probably are using a free broadband connection. Most probably, it is first connecting via a WiFi signal to your phone. That box then takes your signal and pumps it down the old copper wire to the telephone exchange who then do the rest. 

But imagine that the journey was changed. I am putting in simple terms, as that is what I do. That is why I am a salesman. I simplify. So what happens to your signal with this new box? It gets your WiFi signal and sends it to a very fast tower not too far away. 

The speed that the signal goes from this box, to the new 5G masts, as they are called, (and they aren't as ugly as the old towers), is the main issue. The problem is that when you look up the signal in your area, it can't tell you what is going on inside your home 🏡. 

I want you to try this. Disconnect from the WiFi right now. Wait and see the signal from your mobile service to show. If it shows 4G then you are in luck. If it doesn't, move away from a thick wall. Stand next to the window. You need to check to see if you get what they call 4G. The term 4G is a marketing word. 

If you have 4G showing, then you need to check how fast it is. Download or Google, Speed Test. I use Ookla Speedtest. This app will tell you exactly what the speed is. There is a speed guage ⏲️. 

This is where EE and other providers don't get their messaging right. I told them this morning to ask all their sales team to do this. Once the user sees that they have 50 megabytes per second or mps, then your location is awesome. It means you can get this box. 

What the box has done for me, is it has made me future proof all the way from 50mps (megabytes per second) to 5gbs (that 5 gigabytes per second). 

A film is about one gigabyte of data. So yeah that is unbelievable. But if you have ten people or ten gadgets accessing 500 mps each, as streaming games and other things, then you will need that. 

Most people will never need it. But it's nice to know. Also there is the WiFi signal in the house. This box gives you WiFi 6 signal. So all your new laptops will be able to use it. The WiFi signal is as important. 

I don't know whether you realise this, but it's obvious what the next thing that they want to get people buy, will be to have 5G to manage everything from your car signals to what is expiring in your fridge and medicine cabinet. The new packaging will send signals to the box. They call this, The Internet of Things. That means the internet will connect all the other non computer devices or things to the network. 

So you need to get this box. If you don't, you will basically not get security updates quickly and worry about all that. I actually managed to pay less than my existing contract and reduce it to one year. So to sum up, switch off the WiFi on your phone. Measure the 4G. If you have it inside your home, then Bob's your uncle 👍.

Link to Speedtest

Link to EE

So much Freedom with just one Gadget

Samsung Galaxy Note II - Discover - Three

It is not too often these days, that you can buy a device, that throws out a lot of clutter. The combination of the new Samsung Galaxy Note II, and a 3 network One Plan is just that.

Have a look at this video first



Save Money
I have gotten rid of Sky monthly. I have basic Sky Freesat to get excellent pictures, it cost just £170 once for a lifetime. I have a Panasonic 3D LED TV with Wifi and a Sony 3D Blu-Ray player. That means I can get both LoveFilm and Netflix (total £10). They come from the Samsung Galaxy Note Wifi Hotspot feature which is like the router. To get a film plan from Sky you need to spend £80 and have a year contract. I spend £40 for my phone, internet, and a lot more.

Hacker Safe
I actually have other old androids in sync, or tethered, all over the place, as radios, diaries. This unlimited tethering and internet Plan, and Note gets better when you realize that you can disconnect it all from the net very easily. It is really funny as all the gadgets turn off as I leave the house because the Wifi does not reach them. So I have no hackers turning on my PCs as they used to with a land line connection. Also I have a random IP address. So it is very safe.

Non Stop Free Streaming
No more annoying talk and ads. I love 70s music and I get it all free. I listen to Sky.FM, and get exactly the tunes I want in my car, non-stop with literally one ad an hour. What is really awesome, is that the Note will turn down the music volume, everytime the Google SatNav gives you turn by turn instructions, in eloquent Oxford English. That is great.

Beats a Hasselblad anytime
It gets better. You will see how easy it is to put stuff on the net, when you clip with the pen, or use the Twitter Apps like Seismic and Instagram. All that Astrology stuff and news I write, is done when I am out and about, with the Blogger App. I am not stuck behind my PC that shouts "you have to do things my way". I am usually inspired in bed, or odd places, like the toilet. I type it with just one thumb. It is fast and very efficient. It is so thin and light I have room for a spare battery in my pocket. Nothing, literally nothing else does this. You want to take a picture, you get a massive preview screen much bigger than a Hasselblad ever had. It is fantastic. And in one second it is all on the net. No Leica or Nikon or Canon does this.

Best Browser in the World
But for me the best tool is the Dolphin Browser. It has a free addon that makes it stay in full desktop browser mode. With the Note you do not need a mobile browser. You see it all just like a PC browser. You can literally have a nice big screen you can comfortably put on your lap, and not get sore arms like you do with the tiny screens on other smaller phones. If you have bad eye-sight or need to do a lot of photography and image manipulation nothing touches the Note.

Take notes on a Phone Call
But the easiest most practical use is taking someones phone number whilst you are on the phone. On the Note you just hit the memo and you literally scribble it on it like it would be a piece of paper and the person is on the phone at the same time. It is really handy in the rain.

Windows Security and IBM T60 Titanium vs Samsung Galaxy Note GT-7000.

I was using Windows from the day it was launched. Yes I am 55. We have come to a point nowadays that Windows has become useless.

You know when a device is useless, when you use another device, to write about the old device. And I am using my Samsung Galaxy Note or GT-7000 to write about Windows.

Perhaps the best Windows device was the IBM T60 made of Titanium. It is light, and like and old Rolls Royce, timeless. I put Windows XP on it and it is perfect with MS Office. That is as far as Windows is good for. You can buy one for £100. It was £2500 in 2006.

But what is annoying with Windows is security. I have tried them all. SuperAntispyware gave me a lifetime update licence. And guess what it finds? Look at the photo. It is Google's tracking cookies. Even with Chrome Ad Blocker they are there. But Internet Explorer with SuperAntispyware does not let them in. And that combo works.

With Windows you feel insecure all the time. To make it super safe, I just turn off the WiFi, by sliding the switch in front of the IBM T60. I tether it to my Samsung Note. And I switch the tether off. There is no way anything can get into Windows then.

This way your PC does not just turn on out of the blue, via your land line connection. So no more paranoia. When was the last time you disconnected via your pc? Get a T61 and just breathe.

To block ads use Internet Explorer with SuperAntispyware's Ad blocker. It is faster with no ads, as you get fantastic surfing. Microsoft does not follow you. Chrome or Google do, and they put trackers in. SuperAntispyware removes them. Chrome or Firefox's Ad Block, block ads, but Google still follows you and sells that info to ad companies. Very sneaky.

So after all these years, and loads of desktops and workstations, I have a good old trusted very affordable IBM T60. It does what Windows can do (which is not a lot) admirably. Social networking and photography on the fly, it does not do.

Samsung Galaxy Note, and all those social networking and photographic and video editing tools via Google Play, are far more superior and easier to use. Take it out of your pocket, surf and share. Easy.

Just look at this report. I took the photo with the camera in Samsung Galaxy Note. Then selected share, and put it in the Blogger app and typed this in. Simple and clean. Job done. And of course it is fast and secure. The share feature in Android, makes all sorts of concepts possible. That is where Windows lost the game.