Tech in the Trenches

Carl T. Holscher fights for the customers.

Month: January 2022 Page 1 of 3

Why does turning a device off and on again fix most technical problems?

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On January 31, 2022

In Links and Quotes

This is possibly the best answer to this question I’ve ever seen. Found via @SaraBWarf on twitter via the excellent Labnotes newsletter. Embedding the Reddit response below and the plain text in the event it disappears in the future below.

Comment
byu/Alkazei from discussion
inNoStupidQuestions

Imagine you live in a huge, ancient city with winding streets that have many twists and turns. You want to get from your house to the grocery store. Somewhere along the way, you aren’t paying attention, and take a wrong turn.

Now you’re lost. You don’t recognize any buildings. What do you think is more likely to help you — going around and around in circles, or magically teleporting back to your house and starting again from the beginning of the route you already know?

That’s what power cycling does. It takes a device that’s trapped in some kind of problem, picks it up, and puts it back down at the starting line again.

“Ah, the starting line,” it says. “I know what to do from here.”

KDY_ISD on Reddit

Two weird, wonderful newsletters I can’t miss

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On January 31, 2022

In Links and Quotes, Read Watched Tapped

👋 Labnotes (by Assaf Arkin) and
Garbage Day | Ryan Broderick sit as sort of a Yin and Yang in my newsletter life.

I love Labnotes because it scratches a nerdy itch. Much of the developer/coder content goes over my head but there’s enough of that world I find enjoyable. I love reading this newsletter because it’s a fun mix of neat web sites, good jokes and interesting ways to think about tech.

Garbage Day is bathing in the weirdness of the digital world. The content farms and weird stories that resonate. It’s a toe into a pool in spots and other times a deep dive into an ocean of weird. It’s the best of weird Tumblr and weird Tiktok memes. It’s access to those who think deeply about the mechanisms of the world we are experiencing online.

I look forward to reading each of these newsletters because they scratch the same itch but in different ways.

How to watch HBO Original on Roku in 10 easy steps

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On January 21, 2022

In Movies & TV

Watching HBO content on Roku is so easy. Just follow this simple process.

  1. Resume Search Party.
  2. Press play. Fails to play .
  3. Get sent back to the same screen.
  4. Restart Roku.
  5. Resume Search Party.
  6. Fails to play.
  7. Check HBO app for updates.
  8. Try to play Search Party.
  9. Remove HBO app.
  10. Reinstall HBO app.
  11. Resume Search Party.
  12. Enjoy Search Party.
  13. Question how HBO’s app is so bad this is the process to use it every time I try to use it.

As bad as Hulu’s app is to use, at least it works. Some content from HBO is available there and works on the first try.

It’s the Original content, which is very good, that requires using the HBO app that absolutely fails to play without manually updating the app, rebooting the Roku device, or removing and reinstalling the HBO app.

Read Later?

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On January 18, 2022

In Apps

Instapaper feels truly dead. Where are people going for read later services?

My main use case is filtering my RSS feeds to a place that’s not an open browser tab. Android + Web is ideal. I’m on Mac/Ubuntu most of the time.

I don’t care for Pocket’s focus on sharing but it’s fine.

I want a place to throw articles to then read later.

I’m looking forward to Readwise’s Reader when it gets released. Matter is iOS only.

Pinboard? Wallabag?

Internet of Grift

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On January 7, 2022

In Observations

In the end, what do NFTs stand for? Images that you have a fairly convoluted way of proving you own? Except you don’t own the image, you own URL to an image. It’s like a joke that you have to explain every element of as you go – by the time you’ve reached the conclusion, the person in question has tuned out. And really, what normal person is going to do these mental gymnastics to agree that your digital art is worth something?

The Internet of Grift

I listened to two people talk about NFTs and possibly making their own. And how it’s an investment or can make them money.

NFTs are an MLM scheme.

The people at the top are pumping money and hype into the economy. Everyone else looks at the huge sales numbers and media attention warranted by the few large sales.

But what are you buying? A Hyperlink to an image file.

Buying a link. That you hope will remain working. Either because the companies hosting stay in business. Or IPFS which is Napster for Web3.

At least with Beanie Babies you had a cuddly stuffed animal.

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