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

Wow this latest version of iTunes reminds me how much it is an anachronism.  Before iPhones went total direct, you had to dock to get your music. And now with streaming music services, who ever needs a real MP3 anyway. Plus the interface has gotten hard to figure out. For…

Covered elsewhere but you no longer get 5x points on Ink Plus/Cash on eBay using Paypal Digital Gifts. Also does  not work with giftcardmall.com anymore, although giftcardmart.com still works. But most reliable way is to: Right now on chase, there is a 4x bonus for using chase mall to get to…

Even as airlines relentlessly devalue their points (United alone has gone from 2.4 cents/mile to 1.4 in the last five years), there is one thing to try. As all airlines are trying to recruit companies, if you have a small business (or a large one), you should sign up for…

Ok the many oddities of a complex car, but here are some simple things I didn’t figure out until I RFMed: The Tesla X trunk memorizes a particular open position. This is so if you are short the tail gate will be in reach. It also uses the center beam…

OK this has to be the most undiscoverable thing ever. When will someone say that every option needs a visible menu item. Anyway, if you hate the complex “grid” view on your watch, then in Apple Watch, you hard press on the grid view and you can change. And another…

I can’t believe how hard it is to figure out how iPhone and iPad charging work. The mysterious parts are what cables and what chargers work where… Here’s a quick summary The original USB standard was 5V and 500mA. This is why when u plug a phone into old computers…

How sad is that. The 2018 is though so if you fit your phone into that little slot it will work there. Sad to say I’m not sure why they made it a spot rather than a tray. The 2016 Prius has it about right although as a tray underneath…

Ok this is actually pretty hard to decipher but here’s the scoop: Apple finally supposed USB C Power Delivery. This means that with a USB C to lightening cable it can vary the voltage and amperage. The shipped system is a USB A to lightening cable and adapter that charges…

OK, I love Veracrypt, it is a very nice tool for running encrypted volumes on your system. On the Mac though, it uses MacFuse underneath and you can run into not having enough file system slots to run it. You will get a cryptic message like: mount_osxfuse: File System is…