Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

OK, this was a strange problem I hit today, suddenly, when using WordPress, JetPack could no longer see the custom site. Even running the diagnostics led to an unknown error. I saw a fleeting message about invalid SSL certificate but this never appeared again. But when I went to Safari and click on the lock icon for…

OK, as a poor man’s burglar alarm, we’ve been trying to figure out how to use HomeKit Secure Video and also have night lights go on in various vacation and summer homes across an extended family. It turns out that it is pretty tricky to do (and we have one outstanding issue), but here are…

We went crabbing yesterday and I was reminded how nice automatic inflatable life vests are. They are way less bulky that and don’t smell like rentals. There are lots available and the big things to figure out is whether you want an automatic inflatable (that is when you hit the water, they just inflate, which…

Well, we are about halfway through getting Dishy McFlatface to work and here are some notes. First of all getting it at all: To get it, you got to https://starlink.com throw in your address and pay the $99 deposit It then estimates when you can get it. Right now, for rural areas it’s pretty easy…

OK, I’ve had some pretty bad luck with third party USB C adapters. For some like the Satechi, they don’t connect reliably, but for the Geddie which thankfully is unavailable, but I’m sure it is just being used by a new low cost manufacturer somewhere. These are things that take a single USB C connection…

OK, well, Seattle just suffered a historic three days of high temperatures (in June?) of over 100F. Portland hit a record 117F. To give you a sense of how hot that is, the Las Vegas record is 117F/48C so that is awesomely high. So what can you do in this kind of temperature. In Seattle,…

OK, we have two of these Facebook Portals (and yes, I put a blanket over it when I’m not using it :-), but it has been a decent Zoom device and also for meetings because of the automatic zoom feature. If you do have one of these though, beware that they do silent updates of…

Nothing like pretending like it is Hawaii in the Pacific Northwest, our little neck of the woods hit 107F or 42C which is really unusual, but that doesn’t stop the work, so I hit a bunch of git lfs bugs again. As a reminder, if you get the dreaded “files should be pointer but weren’t”…

Well, there are a few tricks here that these hots days in Seattle (99F/37C) yesterday and a projected (102F/39C) today have taught me about making WiFi work well enough outside the house. The main trick is that inside our house, I’ve been using minimum RSSI. The idea is pretty simple the so called Station (we…

OK, I really don’t get Bluetooth pairing for this Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro. I just tried to repair it with a different laptop and no matter how many times I powered it on and off it just never worked. I even tried what they claim is a reset which is holding the middle button…