On Dealing With USB-A-to-C Charge Cables

UPDATE: A Mastodon friend grabbed one of the noncompliant devices and did a deep analysis. See the “More Technical Detail” section, below, for those details. UPDATE 2: Adafruit has an upcoming adapter that will solve this very problem. I own about a half-dozen rechargeable devices that have “USB-C” charge ports. You’ll note I put that … Continue reading On Dealing With USB-A-to-C Charge Cables

On the iPhone Gonzo Divination

In the past few weeks, partly out of silliness and partly out of artistic creativity, I’ve been posting a #GonzoDivination image to The Socials each morning. Pre-hashtag, it started with taking a semi-traditional tarot spread, but using a combination of divination and inspirational cards, instead of using all cards from a single deck. Over time, … Continue reading On the iPhone Gonzo Divination

Living With USB-C

I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a little over 6 months now. It’s the one with the touchbar and only USB-C ports. I was worried that those ports — no “conventional” USB ports nor an SD card slot — would be the most difficult part of the laptop. (It turns out that the most difficult … Continue reading Living With USB-C

I found a different kind of egg on Easter

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to travel. I have two lists I perpetually maintain for trips. One is a packing list of everything I will need (clothing, toiletries, chargers), stuff I might need (swim trunks, sunscreen, Fire TV Stick), and a separate appendix for camping. Overall, it holds almost 200 items! The other list is full … Continue reading I found a different kind of egg on Easter

A Fire TV in an Apple Household

A few months back I picked up an Amazon Fire TV. I’ve had an Apple-centric household for many years and have been a strong supporter of the Apple ecosystem, but a couple of things changed that caused me to evaluate the Fire TV. First, iTunes is where all my media lived. This used to be great. Everything … Continue reading A Fire TV in an Apple Household

Developing For Alexa

I got a new Amazon Alexa a few weeks ago. [Full disclosure: I work for a company that’s owned by Amazon Web Services.] I find the technology a fun novelty, but I’m not sure it’s mature enough to be promoted to a central part of my home life beyond a music player and todo-list maker. That … Continue reading Developing For Alexa

A WiFi Thumb Drive for Travel

In less than a week, I’ll be traveling the world, living out of a backpack. I’m going light on the tech this trip. My “laptop” will be the iPad, probably living in the location’s base of operations (hotel or hostel), with the phone as my everyday-carry communicator. Although I have both iPad and iPhone with … Continue reading A WiFi Thumb Drive for Travel

Classic games on the Apple TV with Provenance

I recently learned about a classic game emulator for the Apple TV called Provenance. I’ve toyed around with emulators attached to the TV before, for instance see my post on the RetroPie. One thing that particularly interested me about Provenance was its ease-of-access. Instead of hooking up the RetroPie, flipping the TV over to its input, waiting for … Continue reading Classic games on the Apple TV with Provenance

On distraction-free writing with the iPad Air 2

The laptop is in the shop (bad video chipset, SD card slot that fries cards, and they volunteered that the battery is subpar for its age). This has given me (nay, forced upon me) the opportunity to do a lot more with the iPad and keyboard. The iPad is certainly lighter than the laptop, but the keyboard … Continue reading On distraction-free writing with the iPad Air 2