Free Apple Music!

My carrier offered my family free use of Apple Music.  I usualy don't check the monthly perks that Verizon throws my way, as much of it is junk that is free for a month of use.  Not in this case.

I used a free trial of Apple Music when I first bought the phone last year.  I liked it a lot but wasn't willing to pay monthly for it.

My wife was checking our account's perks back in November and saw that Verizon was offering Apple Music for all phones on the account.  I immediately wenth through the process of committing to enrolling.  Luckily, my wife saw the notice maybe a week before the offer expired.  I enrolled my phone, her phone, and one of my kid's phones (can't remember which of the three kids' phones I enrolled, but two of them didn't want it when I asked them).

I also recently canceled my Sirius XM subscription, too.  I've been working remotely since Covid hit the US, so I no longer commute to work, and Sirius XM is not cheap ($29 a month?).  The past two trips back and forth to my parents' home, I used Apple Music in place of Sirius XM and Apple Music was great.  There are enough radio stations so that I'm not bored during the 6 hour drive.  There are podcasts.  I can listen to my personal music through the Apple Music app.  

I travel up/down the I-95 corridor, and cellular broadband works without gaps in service.  With Sirius XM, there would be micro interruptions of service whenever I would go under bridges and over-passes.  If it were cloudy, I'd have service gaps.  If I were riding parallel to rocky hillsides or cliffs, I'd experience service gaps.  I had none of that when using my phoned as an entertainment conduit via cellular broadband.

Solved - Macbook Would Connect to Wifi but Has No Internet Connection

I'm currently visiting my parents in another state.  I last visited them two weeks ago.  The last visit, I was able to connect all of my Apple devices to their wireless access point (WAP) without issue and have been doing that for years, without issue.

I attempted to connect my Macbook Air to their WAP and it connects but I couldn't browse the web.  The browser client was saying that there was no internet connection, yet my mother's MBP could connect.  My Dell G17 could connect.  My iPhone Pro Max could connect.

My parents' router was working with all electronic appliances, with the exception of my MBA.

I used Google to search for "macbook connected to wifi but no internet".  The search results are here.

I focused on this web page - Solved: Macbook Connects to Wi-Fi but Has no Internet Connection - AppleToolBox.

I tried the steps that were recommended and all failed until I reached Step 4, "Change your Mac's Domain Name System (DNS)".

When I changed the MBA's DNS settings to use the Google DNS IPs, I was immediately able to reach Google.com when testing for connectivity.

I'm still not sure what was causing this issue.  When I checked the MBA's DNS settings (before I changed them), the MBA was pulling the DNS settings from my parents' router without issue.  The DNS IPs weren't resolving names, though, and the issue was only affecting the Macbook Air.  It was a very odd issue.

I thought I'd share this issue and fix so that when folks had this issue, they'd have a potential fix.

Solved - Apple Watch Stopped Charging

My Apple Watch stopped charging three weeks ago (first week of March).

I couldn't determine why.  I only had the one charging cable that came with the watch (there was no need to have more than the one that it came with).

Keep in mind that this watch is relatively new.

It just ran out of juice, which made it difficult to troubleshoot.

I ordered a new (Apple brand) charging cable on 13 March, and it arrived 14 March.  It immediately started charging.

So, the cable went bad.  I've no idea why.  I didn't abuse the cable.

It was very frustrating because the reason I'd bought this watch was because the Fitbit Sense had a similar issue, and then died (due to a battery issue).

This watch was NOT cheap.  This post is a reminder that the "you get what you pay for" mantra doesn't always apply.

iPad 2019 (Gen 9) 10.2" 64 GB - Bought!

I've just purchased my 3rd iPad.

The first was the 1st generation iPad (32 GB).

A few years later, my wife bought me a 64 GB 1st generation iPad Mini.  I was still using that, up until today.  I got 10 years of use out of that Mini!

Today, I bought a 9th generation iPad with 64 GB of storage space.  It will replace the iPad Mini.

I'd use the iPad Mini but it hasn't been supported in quite a while (the last updates were at iOS 9.x).  I can only use it as a music player or a reader/browser.  I won't get much by selling it.  I suppose I can use it in the garage when I'm working on my car or motorcycle (as a music player or display for online service manuals).

With the new iPad, I'll be able to use the Apple Pencil.  I plan to use the tablet as a drawing device as well as a reader.  I can also use it to edit video footage.

I've quite a few options in the usage of the new iPad, since it can be used as a webcam or additional display (when using my Mac Mini M1, for example).

What I do NOT like so far about the tablet is that there's built in swipe texting but it can only be accessed on the tablet by pinching the virtual keyboard.  I've installed Microsoft Swype but hate it because you have to give it full control in order for it to work.

I'll (try to) document my usage of the new iPad.

UPDATE (5/24/2024):
If I had to do this again, I would not get the least amount of storage space...64GB isn't enough.

I've Retired My 2009 27" iMac

The iMac that I bought in 2009 has been retired.

A few months ago, we had a power outage and it didn't recover itself when the we regained power.  I could not determine why it was having issues, but it would never fully boot up.  It would take forever trying to get to the login screen and IF it would reach that point, would show the desktop but never fully log into the user account (beach ball was spinning and never stopped).

I was even having difficulty getting it into recovery mode.  When it finally reached recovery mode, I found that a file was corrupted and wouldn't repair itself.  I performed a drive check and it stated that there were errors and the errors were hindering the drive check.  I opted to reinstall the disk using the recovery drive and it worked.  There are no longer drive issues, but the drive has nothing on it.  

I couldn't use it as it was and had an extremely difficult time even getting a copy of Mac OS.  High Sierra was the highest supported version for that particular hardware, and since the system wasn't working properly, I couldn't use recovery mode to pull and reinstall any OS versions.  It wouldn't see my older disks (I had two optical disks of Snow Leopard), either.  I was not successful with creating a USB install disk using High Sierra, either.  I tried creating a USB recovery disk using the App Store, but needed an Intel version of Mac OS, which I wasn't allowed to download using my Apple siliconed Macs (I tried with both the Mac Mini M1 and my Macbook Air M1 - it wouldn't work).

Since I was at my wit's end and since the system was 14 years old, I retired it.  I've removed it's hard drive (a 1-TB Western Digital HDD) and will be putting it on the curb for rubbish removal this coming Monday.  I'll put it within it's box in case anyone that wants to try to get it working can just take it home.

Fitbit Sense & Apple Watch

I'm not going to lie.  I sort of miss my Fitbit Sense.  It's interface and capabilities are less complicated than the Apple Watch, which leads to better ease of use.  I feel that Fitbit's health monitoring capabilities are better - my Sense counts steps and stairs more accurately than my AW.  I'm sure it monitors sleep patterns far better than anything Apple produces, too.

I'd have stayed with Fibit if they'd make their products more reliable.  They're cheaper than Apple Watches but not by much - and they certainly aren't so cheap that I'm willing to buy a new one every thirteen or fourteen months.  Even if they died before the 1-year manufacturer warranty, it took Fitbit nearly two months to get me a replacement.

AW S8 - Battery Tracking; Activity Tracking

So, the AW's battery got as low as 20% today, before I decided to charge it. Between the last time I charged it and this afternoon, I changed the display settings:  I enabled AOD and allowed the display to show full-time.  I noticed a sharp drop-off of charge capacity between this morning and this afternoon.  Still, I got 2.5 days of use out of it before it needed charging (and I didn't run it down to 0% charge).

I charged it to 95% before I had to take it with me on a walk this afternoon.  I enabled Activity maybe 5 min into the walk (I hadn't messed with it until today).  10 min later it detected the walk and had already had the timer set to 10 min.  I enabled it to continue tracking and when I was done, I stopped the tracking.  I got really good feedback from that 20 min walk!  I will have to do this more often.

I'll also charge the AW again tonight then track how long the charge will last with AOD enabled the whole time.  I will then charge the AW and disable AOD and track how that charge's duration.

AW S8 - The First Few Days

I charged up the AW for the first time yesterday morning.  30 hours later, I checked it's battery level and it's at 48%.  That's not bad at all.

Keep in mind that I have the GPS model (probably uses less power than the cell/GPS model).  I also have AOD (Always On Display) enabled, with Wake on Wrist Raise and Wake on Crown Rotation.

One problem I've noticed is that the AW won't wake upon raising my wrist.  I'm not sure what's up with that.  I'll need to look into that.

I like how I can manipulate music that's playing on my iPhone, too.

I've settled on a watch face.  I've chosen Modular and edited it to show white lettering on black background:

This watch has soooo many configuration options, some that I'll probably never use.

One thing I didn't count on was choosing an AW with the wrong size wrist band.  I didn't even see that option when purchasing, and ended up getting the small band.  It fits but I've to use the last or 2nd to last hole in the band when wearing the watch.

As well, before purchasing, I had a bad time choosing a watch color.  At first I selected Midnight Blue but then changed my mind, as I remember folks complaining about their Macbooks losing paint easily (scratches and wear marks).  I chose silver and I'm OK with that.  It looks similar to my Sense in that regard.

Why didn't I get the stainless steel version?  If I did that, I may as well have purchased the Ultra...they aren't far off in price.  I already know I'm going to get bent over in trade value, so I definitely didn't want to spend $700 on ANY watch.  Stainless steel looks good, but I don't want SS so bad that I've to pay $700+ for it.

Will I get a screen protector?  Probably not.  I'm more than likely going to get AppleCare+ and just use the watch without worry.

I Bought the Apple Watch Series 8!

I was supposed to wait a while before purchasing an Apple Watch, and it was supposed to be a Series 7, but I saw that Amazon was having a sale, specifically the Amazon Prime Early Access sale that occurred on 11-12 October.  I wasn't even aware of the sale until 12 October at maybe 9 PM.

I ended up purchasing a Series 8 45mm GPS model in silver aluminum, for $379.  That price was good enough to where I decided not to pass it up.  I didn't want the steel version, as there's no way I'm going to spend $700 on ANY smartwatch, which also left out the Ultra.  NO SMARTWATCH IS WORTH THAT MUCH.

I ended up ordering it the day before I went on vacation to New England.  It's already been delivered at my home and it's awaiting me to open it.

Yes, I deviated from my plan of purchasing the Series 7, but that watch would've been refurbished if I'd chosen to buy it from Apple.  I'd thought to buy the Series 7 through Amazon, but didn't want to worry about Apple not offering support with refurbished Series 7s and didn't know if I could find new Series 7s on Amazon.

I really didn't want to worry about support (if the watch ever had an issue) and wanted the max support duration possible, so Series 8 was the best choice.  I'm also tired of always getting older tech equipment, so this time I bought something that's been recently released.

I'll eventually be buying a watchband for this watch.

The Fitbit Sense will be used at night only (it has good sleep tracking) and maybe for workouts (it has great workout detection and tracking - probably much better than the Series 8).

I'll document my experiences with this watch on this blog.

Fitbit Sense Replacement

As you've previously read, I had problems with an 8-month old Fitbit Sense - it refused to restart and was stuck in a reboot loop where it would never progress beyond the Fitbit logo screen.

Fitbit, after spending 8-10 days evaluating the broken Sense that I'd sent back to them, sent a replacement.  The replacement arrived 2 days early, which is surprising since it took so long in being delivered from my address to Fitbit's return facility.

The replacement Sense appeared to be prepackaged in a plastic bag with standard Fitbit labeling.  I received nothing other than the pebble itself - no watchband, no charging cable or any other accessory.

It started without issue.  I immediately installed my third party metal band.  I then synched it to my phone using the Fitbit iPhone app.

It came with a 70% charge, but I wanted it topped off.  The charging cable that came with the original watch is not working properly, and I found that out during troubleshooting of the broken watch (this is a known issue - the spring-loaded pins on the charging cable loses it's "spring" the pins no longer make contact with the watch).  I'd ordered two new ones from Amazon.com a few months ago.  I used one of  them to charge the watch.  When I connected it, the watch black-screened.  My first thought was that this watch also died, as the first one die.  I watched it go to the Fitbit logo screen, thinking it would loop back - it started without issue.  I'm not sure why it crashed.  I'd just received it less than an hour prior to that.

This watch brand is very much untrustworthy in the extreme.  While I'm glad I've another Sense, I'm waiting for this one to stop working.  I do not want to go back to my Samsung Watch - while it is nice and it works, this Sense should also work (and stay working).

This Sense will soon be replaced.  I conducted some research the past few days and decided I do not want another Fitbit.  

At first, I was considering the new Sense 2 but Google appears to have severely nerfed it - whereas the Sense is a legit smartwatch, Google has removed a lot of the smart aspects of the Sense technology from the Sense 2, intentionally neutering it so that their new Google Pixel smartwatch can be better competitive.  That is sad as hell.  The biggest changes to the Sense 2 is that the watch is no longer capable of controlling music (which most folks use on Senses when working out) and they've disabled WiFi.

As well, the Google Pixel is not compatible with iPhones, so both the Sense 2 and the Pixel are not options for me.  One of the things I love about my Sense is that it's not locked to a specific OS. 

Garmin isn't an option, as it's fitness and health technology is the least robust in the smartwatch industry.  I want a versatile watch and Garmin appears to be tracking-centric.

Samsung isn't an option, as it's software is WearOS (Google and Samsung are joint developers of WearOS), which is not compatible with iPhones.

It appears I may be locked to Apple's Watch.  Apple Watch isn't a bad platform at all, but I'd prefer to not be locked to any particular platform - the industry is becoming silo'd and that's not a good thing for a consumer that wants options regardless of the phone brand he/she is using.

Of the Apple Watches, I want something that's supported and do not want to worry about Apple dropping hardware or software support any time soon.  That means I won't be getting any legacy Apple Watches.  I'll be focusing on either the Series 7 or 8.

In comparing the 7 and 8, the 8 may be newly released but it doesn't offer a lot more tech over the Series 7. The best thing about the Series 8 option is that I would have even longer support.  The con of the Series 8 in comparison to the 7 is that it'll cost more for not-so-much tech advantage.

I'm trying to keep costs low and I think I will look at refurbished Series 7 Watches.  

I looked at Best Buy's refurb Series 7s and their prices are high. As of 10/8/2022, the price for a certified used S7 45mm GPS Watch is $389!  They also offered taking trade-in watches, and I was curious so I checked what they'd give for a new Sense, but they only offer $25 for Senses - WTF.  This is what I hate about the technology world and why I keep everything that I have...all they're going to do is take your $25 trade-in and sell it to someone or sell it themselves for $100.  F that.

Amazon sells Series 7 re-certified Watches, but I've been told that Apple will sometimes not honor warranty claims on watches bought from Amazon.  The pricing on those phones weren't bad, though, so Amazon would've been a good option (while also buying 3rd party warranties through Amazon, which I should've done with the Sense when I bought it) if I hadn't have found an even cheaper option.

Note that I'm looking for a specific version of Series 7 Watch:  45mm, Space Gray, GPS variant.

I found that Apple carries Series 7s on their Certified Apple website.  I found what I wanted there and the cost is $313.  I don't have the money now, but I might have to do something soon because Series 7s are pretty much the rage at this point in time, as the public is now aware that the Series 8 has no huge advantage over the Series 7, and now folks with older than Series 7 Watches are now trying to buy Series 7 watches.

The plan is to get a 45mm GPS variant Series 7 within the next few months, whenever money comes in, but if I find that I can no longer find Series 7s on the Apple refurb website due to high demand, I'll just have to get the Series 8.

Fitbit - Replacement on the Way; Fitbit Support is Iffy

I've been without a functional Fitbit Sense since mid-July.  It is currently the end of September.  I'm only now getting a replacement.

I paid a good deal of money for this smart watch.  No, it's not an Apple Watch or Garmin product, but damn...since when is $200+ not a decent chunk of change?  I think most folks have lost their money sense nowadays.

If I'm paying that much for a product, I expect it to last more than 8 months.  I didn't get through 365 days before the watch stopped functioning.

The replacement watch will be at my door next week (Oct 5).  That's very close to 3 months wait time.  Granted, I didn't immediately escalate the issue to Fitbit, as I kept troubleshooting the issue, because I kept seeing Fitbit support posts making recommendations and I kept trying different solutions (none of them worked).

Fitbit support was extremely slow in all parts of the return process, almost as if they were reluctant to address the issue and were intentionally slowing the pace of things.  Even after they had received my watch (they wanted me to return it to them, and I did), they held onto it for close to two weeks before notifying me that they've initiated the replacement process.  I don't understand why it would take that long to assess a replacement for a watch that is locked to the bootup screen.  What part of this process would warrant two weeks of process time?  Yeah, we're still experiencing the negative affects of COVID-19 - I get that, but damn...

I'm very tempted to sell the replacement watch.  I no longer want it...what's to prevent the replacement from exhibiting the same issue?  I'm dreading trying to sell this thing, though - it's going to be a pain in the ass and I'll end up losing money in the process, since the Sense 2 was recently released.

I'm soooo tired of buying smart watches that aren't dependable.  I'll probably keep the Sense but only buy top-end smart watches from now on.  I know for a fact that Apple wouldn't have taken almost 3 months to replace a broken Apple Watch.  Even Samsung has better support than that (but that's not saying I'll buy another Samsung watch, either).

PC Gaming - GHPC, Steel Beasts Pro PE, and VTOL VR

 This past summer, I've been trying different types of PC games.  Yes, I bought Battlefield 2042, but I've done Battlefield games since the original (BF 1942)...it gets old.  

Prior to this year, I was playing War Thunder, mainly Air - arcade battles mode, Air - realistic battles mode, and some dabbling with air- simulation battles mode, which requires a stick, a throttle, and head-tracking.  Sim battles is also VR-compatible and I've also done that - it's fun!

I quit playing War Thunder last fall.  In trying to fill the void, I started playing IL-2 Stumovik: Battle of Stalingrad and it's different maps/campaigns, and also bought some premium planes.  That game is also VR-capable, but is more difficult to configure for VR, but it flies extremely well with TrackIR too.

This summer, I saw a game being advertised called Gunner, Heat, PC!  It is a moderate level tank simulator.  It's not quite easy and not quite difficult.  It plays better than War Thunder's ground battles model.  I liked it so much that I decided to become one of their Patreon members, helping to report bugs and donating funds to help the game grow.  In being a Patreon member, I was able to play their Patreon version of the game (which was available before the game made it to Steam).  September 2022 was the Early Access release date, so you can get that game on Steam now.  It's in an alpha state, so there are bugs but the devs have created a roadmap for the game, so it'll be growing over time.  It's a great game - I highly recommend it.

Lastly, I've been playing a hardcore tank sim called Steel Beasts.  I've actually been playing versions of this game for a very long time, close to 20 years.  I bought it around the year 2000 when it was being sold on a CD.  I still have that disk, too.  The game has evolved over time to be quite hefty.  The consumer version of the game is called Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition (PE).  It's an expensive game now (it was also expensive 20 years ago, too).  The game is $115 if you're purchasing the unlimited license.  You can buy limited licenses (1 month, 4 months, and 12 months, at $9.50, $29.50, and $49.50, respectively).  With unlimited licenses, they send you a USB dongle that houses the license, which is required to use to play the game.  As well, every three years, there are major version changes, which requires licensing updates, which costs $40.

Steel Beasts is over-the-top sophisticated.  Up until recently, it had this very convoluted install process that was straight-up painful.  With the latest version, released a few months ago, the install process is a lot more simple.  As well, the difference between v4.1 (which I'd been playing a lot the past 2 years) and v4.3 (the latest version) is drastic!  The game appears to be better optimized (plays smoother and loads faster) but the graphics are actually stunning.  There's now heat blur and haze.

I've also recently been playing with the mission editor as an attempt to learn things about the game that I've not yet tried.  Creating/editing missions is tedious but the reward if you create a good mission is astoundingly satisfying!  I'm just dabbling in mission editing and created a mission where I've a US tank battalion pitted against a dug-in Soviet tank company, where the US tank battalion is forced to funnel it's forces into a kill zone.  The enemy is out of reach when the US unit comes out of a valley and there's no cover (it's a desert map), so you've to plan a way to get within range of the Soviet tanks without losing all your tanks.  Not only are the  Soviet tanks dug in, they're hiding behind small hills.  It's a works in progress but it was fun building the mission and was also fun playing it. 

I'm having so much fun with Steel Beasts that it will probably quickly replace War Thunder as my favorite game.  Note:  Steel Beasts is more of a training aid than a sim.  There's a lot to the game and you'll not be able to play it without studying up and running through it's training guides.  It's not something you're going to be able to play in 30 minutes, unless you can find user-created missions that are strictly designed for short duration gameplay.  The manual is close to 250 pages, so if you're interested, be prepared to study.

I also play VTOL VR, a VR PC flight sim that is flown using the VR controls!  The graphics fidelity is a turn-off for some folks but the game is highly immersive, mainly because the cockpit can by manually manipulated (ie, cockpit buttons can be actuated virtually, using your VR controls).  The game is also extremely popular.  There are three planes you can choose to fly, as well as a helicopter. 

I don't have a lot of footage of VTOL VR because it taxes my system badly.  With VR PC games, the PC renders the game footage, and also pipes it to the VR display.  The gameplay isn't bad in itself but playing the game and also recording it puts huge stress on the system.  I'm currently researching ways I can offload recording to another system (USB recording hardware).  Initially I flew this game while the VR headset was tethered to my gaming laptop.  I later determined how to play the game without a USB cable (I use Virtual Desktop, which enables me to play it while wirelessly connected to the gaming PC).  Flight footage of this game can be found on my Twitch channel.

My VR headset is an Oculus Quest 2 w 64 GB of storage.

My Twitch channel that I stream to -  unixfool - Twitch

I also have a YouTube page that has some recorded War Thunder gameplay:

War Thunder RB - Full Matches - YouTube

War Thunder - My ace matches - YouTube

iMovie & Mac Mini M1

I've a YouTube channel. Who doesn't, right?

Well, I did something I haven't done in awhile.  I recorded footage using my Logitech C922 Pro Stream, but using Photo Booth on my Mac Mini M1.

I've used Photo Booth in the past to capture footage but it was on my iMac 27" Core 2 Duo system...was decently fast in the day but always generated a bit of lag when recording footage that was long in duration - lag meaning that an audio delay developed.  The audio wasn't matching what was occurring on video.

I also used iMovie for the first time on the Mini M1.  It was super quick in rendering footage as I edited.  I did nothing complicated, though, but there's quite a bit of YT videos showing how well the M1 SoC works when manipulating video, so that's no secret and I won't get into the technicals.  The video footage was recorded as 1620 x 1080 and was 1.65 GB (18 min in duration).  iMovie encodes to YouTube as 1920 x 1080, so it crunched down the resulting YT video a tad.  I cut maybe 10 min of footage off the backend, added a title page, added a transition between that page and the video's beginning, and also added a fade to black at the end of the footage.

The iMovie process was super easy, but no different than that I remember - again, though, what made it a great experience was that there was zero lag when editing or rendering the video.

I will try to work more with iMovie.  I wouldn't mind buying something with more options/frills, but I need to be able to justify buying nice video editing software from Apple, since that software isn't cheap.

Apple Certified Refurbished Products Site

For those of you that want certified refurbished Mac hardware, the following is Apple's site for refurb items:  Certified Refurbished Products - Apple

I've been thinking of replacing my iMac with a Mac Studio (which would require me to find another display or use some type of monitor switch). 

I've also been thinking of a higher end Macbook.  MBPs are expensive and I want a decent amount of drive space (natively), so a decently spec'd MBP is going to run probably $1700, even refurbished, so I probably won't go that route.  Another option is to buy the latest M-variant of the MBA, with 1TB of drive space, which is doable.

I'm not sure which I want yet, but once I do, it will be bought from the Apple refurb site.

Back to Wearing My Samsung Watch (SM-R800)

I've a Samsung Galaxy Watch that my wife gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  It wasn't a new product when she got it for me (I believe the next version was released less than a year later).

This watch sits between their S3 and Watch 4 - they botched the naming convention for this watch and just named it Galaxy Watch, which is confusing as hell!

It replaced my Galaxy Gear S watch, which was a cellular networked watch.  That watch was functional but dated when I got it, as well.  I loved taking calls from that watch, though!

This particular watch is the 46mm BT version of the Galaxy Watch.  It works well enough but stopped being fully supported maybe a year ago (it runs on the Tizen OS, which has been depreciated).  Well, let me rephrase:  the watch is still supported; it gets occasional updates, but nothing like the current Samsung Watch products (because Tizen OS isn't supported anymore - it will eventually die).  The last update I got was 8/18/2022, a small update that enhances GPS stability.  The update prior to that was 11/2021 and was probably the very last large update.

I'd replaced this watch with a FitBit Sense, which is equivalent to an Apple Watch Series 7, but the Sense stopped working maybe a month ago (it won't charge).  I'm in the process of RMAing the device.  They'll send me another one once I send mine back to them.  

I bought the Sense using employee stipend funds (bought it during the thick of Covid - the employer gave us funds to use to stay healthy at home).  I should've just bought a damned Apple Watch instead, because Fitbits aren't really dependable/durable.  There's a chance I'll eventually have issues with the replacement.

To be honest, I may just sell the replacement and use the funds to buy an Apple Watch.

So, for now, I reverted back to my Samsung Watch and am liking it.  I love it's heft and it's UI is easy to navigate.  It's also GPS-capable, so it should be able to track my runs and other physical activities (using tethered software, I assume).  It's doing a lot of what the Sense does.  The only thing the Sense does that this Samsung Watch doesn't is sleep tracking and heart monitoring.  

Continuing to use the Samsung Watch even once I get the Sense replacement, wouldn't be the worse idea, I guess.

We'll see.

The Apple Watch Series 7 is still on my radar, too.

Comply Premium Earphone Tips & Spigen Ultra Hybrid MagFit Case

I posted about buying Airpod Pros earlier in the year.

One thing I absolutely hate about them (and all AirPods) is the fact that they won't stay in my ear.  I shouldn't have to spend this amount of money for ear buds that won't stay put.

Now, I'll say right now that my ear canals are hairy.  I'm not a hairy guy by any means.  It took me YEARS to grow a fully fleshed-out mustache and I can't grow a full beard (I have no problem growning a goatee).  My legs aren't extremely hairy, nor are my arms or chest (or armpits).  My ear has a good amount of hair growing from the ear canals, though.

At first, I tried clipping my ear hairs, and it works, but it's a bit tedious and I don't like the barbed feeling of the ends poking into me when I insert the Airpods.

I was close to selling them and getting a pair of Beats instead, as I heard they're much better at staying in place.

I was reading the MacRumors forums this week and saw that someone mentioned that they used a product called Comply premium earphone tips.  I ordered a set two days ago.

They arrived today and while sitting on my patio drinking a beer, I tried them.

OMFG.  They work. They work very well.

I'm using the medium set (these came in a set of three, sized small, medium, and large).

I also bought a magnetic ear buds tether, as well, but I think I was overly redundant.  Honestly, I wouldn't have known these would work, because I've tried at least 5 other sets of ear bud tips - only the sixth set worked.

It's time to wear out these AirPods!

Note:  I also bought a Spigen Ultra Hybrid Mag (MagFit) clear case.  I want to get a MagSafe battery, but at $99, maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list.  

Some Mac-specific Questions

 I've some Mac-specific questions.

1. I added keywords to many of my pictures and videos in the Photos app.  I've created smart folders on my MBA.  The photos and videos are stored in iCloud for sharing with other Mac hosts.  When I view those photos on my Mac Mini, I can see the keywords but the smart folder criteria was never copied/synched to iCloud.  I'd rather not create another set of smart folders on the Mini.  The question is:  is there a way to copy/export smart folders from one system for import into another system?  This might also be a good iCloud feature request for photos.

2. Can smart folders be shared across a network?

I'll attempt to answer these questions myself via research and trial/error, but I wanted track the research here.

UPDATE:

I ended up enabling iCloud photo sharing on my Mini, which copied all my photos and videos to the Mini.  I just noticed that all of my created smart folders were copied over to the Mini, too!   There's no need to delve into question 2.

UPDATE 2:

Sometime in December 2022, I disabled iCloud photo sharing on both the Mini and my MBA, as the pictures had consumed my 200 GB of iCloud space.  They are backed up, which is good, but I can't currently view the photos as active photos.  This is a major reason why potential Apple device owners should carefully evaluate drive space options when considering the purchase of Apple appliances.

Browser Extension - Workona Tab Manager

Since I've been using the Mac Mini and Macbook Air, I've migrated my browser usage to Microsoft Edge.

Why?  I like the way Edge manages tabs.  I can have many tabs but the tabs that aren't being actively used are disabled until you begin to use them (they're on standby, using minimal memory).

I decided that I wanted to use the same browser and tab manager browser extension combination on my gaming machine, which runs MS Windows 10 Pro.

The results were disappointing.  While the browser extension works, it also apparently kills YouTube audio.  No matter what "fixes" I applied, the only solution that allows YouTube audio is removing the Workona Tab Manager browser extension.  When I removed it, I regained audio.  When I reinstalled it, I lost audio.

I left the following review for the Workona folks:

So, I can either continue to use Workona's Tab Manager on the Macs and find another for the Windows box, or I can find a good one for all three.  I haven't decided what to do yet.

UPDATE:

I decided to stop using Workona's products.  I've been using Tab Session Manager the past 3 months.  It's simple enough to use and doesn't have any bad side affects.

UPDATE 2 (12/10/2023):

I noticed maybe 3-4 months ago that Microsoft Edge has something that is very similar to Workona, called Workpsaces.  I'm able to use the workspaces based on the types of projects I'm working and can swap from one to another at my whim.  I'm using this in conjuction with Tab Session Manager.

UPDATE 3 (5/24/2024):

Noticed awhile ago (maybe 8 month ago) that, if I switch to another Mac and use MS Edge, the workspaces I created and use on one Mac is accessible fron other Macs.  I basically no longer lose track of browser tabs.

Photos and Duplicates - Grrrr!! But Hours Later, Success!

 I've been playing with Photos and smart albums.  I like smart albums a lot, but I'm running into an issue where I'm seeing LOTs of duplicates within the Photos app.

As mentioned in the prior post, I've made a backup (and I've removed the duplicates).  I think I'm going to delete everything that's in my Photos app and then import all of the photos that is in my backup archive.  I'd have to start over with my attempt at organizing using smart folders, but that's OK.

You'd think that Photos would have a built-in duplicates management system.  Supposedly, iOS does, but I didn't see the feature in my Photos app on my iPhone 13 Pro Max (using v15.6).

I haven't taken any pictures or videos in maybe a week, but I'll be sure to check and backup any recent videos and photos before I commence with this project.

UPDATE:

From my Notes - 

8/13/2022

I started playing with smart albums in Photos on my MBA.

I ran into the issue of many pictures having 3+ duplicates.

I want to start fresh (I’ve a backup of my photos, and the backup has zero duplicates).

I deleted the photos that are in the Photos app on the MBA, then went to disable Photo in iCloud.

Since iCloud will wait for 30 days to delete the photos, I logged into iCloud from a web browser, and am currently deleted them all manually.  iCloud won’t let me delete more than 1,000 pictures at a time, and waiting for the deletion to complete takes a few minutes.

UPDATE - deletion is done.

I had to wait until iCloud registered that there were no more photos/videos being stored (I waited for the iPhone to show no files in Photos as well).

Importing the photos from my backup drive was trivial.  I went from 2500+ files to 1,586!

I re-enabled Photos in iCloud (in the Settings configuration panel on the MBA).  I’m currently awaiting for the iCloud backup/sync process to kick in now.

I deleted all the tags I was using, since there were duplicate tags too (some were all lower case and some had the first letter capitalized - gahhh!!)

I kept my smart folders, though…there was nothing wrong with those and I can edit the filters easily.

This refresh worked better than I’d thought!

One thing I need to ensure of is that I positively need to backup my backup (I’ve a beefy NAS).  It’s already holding my iTunes music (which I also cleaned up - it had a ton of duplicates too, and wasn’t well organized).

It’s late right now (3:30 AM).  I’m waiting for tomorrow to finish up this project and for iCloud to backup the photos I’ve just restored.

————

It’s now 4 PM.

I checked at 12 PM and iCloud had just finished backing up all the videos and photos.  That took quite a while and the dataset wasn’t all that large, either (27 GB).

I spent the last 2 hours creating keywords and assigning them to the photos and videos.  Since I’d kept the old Smart Folders, I just had to adjust them to use the new keywords I’d created.

This is REALLY nice.  As well, the keywords that are assigned to the photos appear to be synced with my iPhone, as I can now search the photos on my phone using the keywords that I created and and assigned.  I’m wondering If I should do another backup now, to solidify those keywords - I do NOT want to have to create and assign keywords again.

MacOS and Smart Folders

Below are my notes from learning a bit about smart folders in MacOS.

Copied from a Notes entry:

8/3/2022 - Smart Folders

I want to better organize my photos and videos (that are stored in Photos and currently shared to iCloud).

I also wanted to try using Smart Folders.

I’ve also never backed up my photos, so I got the idea that I could save my photos as a backup, while also sorting them (Photos contains both videos and photos), and also removing duplicate photos.

• I copied all of the photos and videos to my Extreme Pro SSD
• I copied all the files to PNG format.
• Several of these files are actually videos (.mov), which I coped as well.
• I then created two smart folders
• A smart folder for images (PNG)
• A smart folder for movies (MOV)

One thing I had a problem with is determining how to get the smart folders to only search a certain drive.  By default, when created smart folders, the criteria is set to search the native SSD.  I couldn’t find a way to change this to search against the Extreme Pro.

I decided to cheat by assigning all the files on the Extreme Pro SSD the following tag:  Extreme Pro.  If they were photos, I added the “photos” tag and if they were movies, I added the “movie”, “quicktime”, and “video” tags. 

I noticed that there are many duplicates of photos (they’re appended with (1), (2)…).  I need to study up on how to use smart folders to eliminate the duplicates (if possible).

https://osxdaily.com/2020/09/17/how-find-duplicate-files-mac/ can help with this.

Once I get the duplicates removed, I’ll need to go through them and get rid of any needless photos/videos.  The plan is to archive them all, as well as not have them taking up iCloud space and hard drive space on both the Mini and MBA. 

I also couldn’t find a way to refine an existing smart folder’s name, so I created a new one and gave it the name I needed, then saved it.  I then had the problem of having the original smart folder and couldn’t find out how to delete it.  The following URL helped to delete that folder:  https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-an-Item-from-the-Finder-Sidebar-on-a-Mac.

8/4/2022 - Smart Folders 2

After watching a few videos on Youtube about how to create searches and saving the searches as smart folders, I did the following:

1. Opened new Finder window
2. Used Cmd+F (to find files)
3. Chose the following as “Search:” - Extreme Pro
4. Searched for File extension =  PNG
5. Saved as “Photos - Extreme Pro”
6. The above resulted in saving the search as a smart folder.