Technology

Please Take My Money Target

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CVS POS Terminal

One Saturday not to long ago we went to Target to spend some gift cards that we had lying around that we need to use before we moved. While I was there I wanted to grab a coffee at their sort of Starbucks. You know it’s says Starbucks but it’s not. I know it’s not since I can’t use my Starbucks card.

While I was at fo-Starbucks I noticed they had a tap to pay/NFC reader on their point-of-sale terminal. Since I try to use Apple Pay everywhere I can in hopes that one day I won’t need to really carry a wallet.  I was happy to try to use it.. Then I tried. The checkout clerk said oh it’s Apple it won’t work. The machine only takes Samsung Pay. I didn’t really want to argue the technical details of NFC payment terminals with a fo-Starbucks Clerc.  To be clear however what he said is not entirely true. Apparently target is deliberately limiting their system to Samsung pay or simply telling people anything else will not work. And NFC chip is an NFC chip. If I had one in my credit card I should be able to just tap it on their system.

I find it frustrating when a retailer is misleading customers about their deliberately limiting their choice at the same time. Let’s face it there’s nothing stopping them from doing it. And I don’t think it’s a legal issue however it’s a bit shady to tell me it just doesn’t work.  As it turns out Target cannot use the failed CurrentC.  However they decided to use their own app to make payments only.  That way they keep the loyalty information and save prices on credit card transactions.  That credit card transaction savings is a good thing.  A good thing for them since they are not passing the savings on to the consumers. On the plus side this entire engagement reminded me to be thankful that CurrentC was a complete and utter failure.

I sadly paid with my chip and PIN (only using a debit card since the US hasn’t figured out PIN’s for credit cards yet) and still enjoyed sipping my Cappuchino while pushing the girls in the shopping cart.

Photo is from a CVS POS were likely I had the same issue.

My Half Baked Review Of My iPhone X

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I got lucky and my iPhone X arrived on launch day va the original 1-2 weeks late.

Initial feedback I have is good. The size was the main reason I wanted it. For this size screen in this size phone it makes it totally worth it. Notice the size in both photos. The X is the middle phone. Barely noticeable difference to the 6S and super small vs the 7+. Feels really food to hold vs the 7+.

Most apps worked without any issues. Several I use do not have an Z optimized version so things look smaller for now. For launch day I was pleased by how many apps were optimized for the new screen size. My only major app issue is Airwatch that I need for work apps. It would not work and would keep looking me to authenticate. I had to remove the app and reinstall it and everything was fine.

The cheap old Wireless charging pad I had did not work even if it was supposed to. The iPhone saw it but after about 30 minutes I saw no difference in charge. I need to investigate getting a better one. I will likely wait till I am in London for that so I don’t have to deal with her another power plug converter.

For my most expensive iPhone yet I am pleased with the upgrade. Now I have to prepare and ebay my 7+. I will not miss the hearty device.

Better Late Than Not at all: iOS 11 GM

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I am becoming terrible with drafts and the blog. I wrote this in mid September (this year at least) and never published or scheduled this.

It is that time of year. The time after the Apple announcement listing release dates for iOS and when it actually is available for the general public. The thing is if you are in the beta program you can get the General Master version now. I dabble in the beta versions but so not put them on my iPhone. With the GM out it is always a question of do I install it on all my devices. It is always a question yet I usually do install it.

So far in the past 24 hours I have installed it on my iPad Pro and thought it was great. That got me to install it on my work iPhone. Once I knew that was stable in installed on my personal iPhone. Now either everything will stop working together or I am set!

Next up do I play with a late beta of macOS on my laptop?

This isn’t so topical anymore since the final versions of iOS and macOS have been out for a while. I didn’t want my writing to goto waist.

I get up at 3 AM for only a few things…

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There only a few things that will get me up at 3 AM. The two main reasons are A and T. They do that more times than I would like but overall they are great kids.  Other things might include a flight that I really couldn’t get at any other time but first thing in the morning. Even then I would try to avoid it at all costs. Then of course there’s an Apple launch event. I’d be lying if I said I never got up at 3 AM before to order an apple device. In recent years I haven’t. Last year I wasn’t even sure if I wanted an iPhone 7. I opted to get one at the end of November.  I wasn’t motivated enough to get up in the middle of the night then.

In previous instances of me getting up to order a phone (or a tablet) I was exceedingly frustrated. I would get up at 3 AM or one time 6 AM thinking I can still get ahead of the rush. My early morning attempts were semi failures due to technical problems with Apple systems. One time I spent 45 minutes trying to place an order only to go to bed and get up at 6 AM to try again. By then it was a month wait for the product. I might go back and troll my blog history to find out what product it was that i had that happen.  I’m not too crazy, I don’t think. I only attempted this maybe twice before. I have waited out in the freezing cold for two hours for an iPad once. MC was dating at the time and she still decided to marry me. That’s how you know you have a winner.

Flash forward to this week and I had to think about if I wanted to get up early for this launch event. In the end I had sound reasons and motivation to do so. It boils down to my move overseas. We aim to move around the first week in January. That means if the constraints around supply chain for the new phone are anywhere near true, and they likely are I might not get my phone in time for my move. If anyone’s actually reading a technical post like this they might wonder why, or who cares? The answer is an iPhone cost the same in dollars as it would in pounds or close to it. That means to buy it in London it’s 30% more expensive due to conversion rates. Since I knew I wanted to buy the phone my option was to either get it before I go or pay the extra price. This phone is expensive enough so I wasn’t willing to pay more for it when I got there.

I decided that if I was not able to order the phone Friday morning and have it delivered in a reasonable time prior to the end of the year I would not get one. My alternative would be either to get an iPhone 8+ or simply stick with my 7+ until I’m back in the US for a while over the summer. The fact that the iPhone X is as thin as the iPhone 8 with a bigger screen than my current plus is so compelling for me to want it. I love the screen on my current 7+ however that phone is just way too big. Whenever I hold my work iPhone 6S it just feels more natural.

 Thursday evening I told myself I was going to bed early, maybe before 9 PM. That never happened so I went to bed around 10:15 PM. I set my phone alarm. In order not to wake MCI also set my Fitbit silent alarm to go off a minute before my phone alarm. I was aggravated when the Fitbit said it was low on battery life. I took the chance that it would last until the next morning. It did. The silent alarm went off as expected and I was able to get up and turn off the phone alarm. I know I was successful when MC asked me when she woke up if I’d gotten up in the middle of the night to do my order.

I settled into my desk with my iPhone and iPad plus a web browser ready to go hoping to have one of them work quickly. I was ready to go about two minutes ahead of schedule. A few minutes after 3 AM Eastern time my iPad started working with their store app. My initial plan was to use my IPhone upgrade program. Oddly when I tried to do that from the iPad told me I needed to do it from my phone. The challenge was the phone wasn’t loading the app. I had thought about this and the upgrade program is nice however I don’t really need it. Set aside money each month for a tech fund for purchases just like this that I know I will want to make. Whenever I sell gear I put it in the fund also. Instead of using the upgrade program I simply bought the phone out right. I got my confirmation email at 3:08 AM. Within that eight minutes from when it launched I was told a delivery time of November 10 through the 17th. It officially launches on 4 November. I’m really wondering who is actually getting the phone on the fourth?

Since I did not use my upgrade program I will need to buy my iPhone 7+ outright and then sell it on eBay to recoup the costs. It’s a minor inconvenience however I did not want to mess around with switching to my phone and waiting for it to work.

I was back in bed around 3:10 AM. Unfortunately I had trouble sleeping since I was wide awake by that time. It felt like no time passed before 6 AM rolled around and I had to get up for my morning routine.

I think getting up at  a ridiculously early hour to preorder something is for everybody? No course not. For me  I am into technology that just works. This is something that I use constantly that’s always with me so I find it worthwhile to do what I did. I know many of my friends likely don’t understand it or don’t “get it”. And that’s okay. There’s also those friends who messaged me at 330 asking me how I did. Obviously they were also up trying to score one.

British Siri in America, American Siri in England?

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When Siri first launched you basically got the voice they gave you. In the US it was a lady voice. In the UK it was a man. In later revisions they gave the option to choose between a male and female voice. Either at that same time or in any even further revision Apple gave you the option of choosing the accent. Originally you had one American voice for your iPhone. Now you can select an American, British, or Australian accent in either male or female voices for your English-speaking iPhone.

I’m not sure why however I light the British female voice better. I’ve been using it on my phone ever since. On my iPad to differentiate I use the British male voice. I even now use ways with the British accent voice. I have been doing this long before there was any plan to move overseas.

Now I’m asking myself the question when living in England do I set the voice to be an American female? The dilemmas I ponder while sitting on the subway during my commute. Other people might think about world peace, however I wonder what voice to use on my iPhone.

I Am Planning to Get an iPhone X Despite Face Recognition

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It used to be that when a new iPhone would come out it would have enough features that I would go one by one. There really wasn’t a question about it. When the iPhone 5S came out it was the first time I decided not to upgrade. It just wasn’t compelling for me.

I had the same dilemma when the iPhone 7+ came out and I had an iPhone 6S+. Someone convinced me to get it and go on the Apple purchase plan so I can get upgrades every year. Not saving any money however it’s a consistent payment for the same level of technology. With our plan to go overseas in January I do not think I can continue to use the Apple purchase plan since I believe it is only offered in the US. When the iPhone X was announced I originally thought I wanted it. Then as I do sometimes, I waffled a bit. I was not sure if the price difference was worth it verse the iPhone 8. The difference in cost is $200.

I was reading a review comparing both the 8 & the X and as I was reading it I was leaning more and more towards going with a simple iPhone 8+. One of the things that sounded cool in the beginning but as I read about it and thought about it I really did not like was the face recognition. The security minded part of me screams this might not be a good idea. At least Maybe I should wait till I get it. That along with the fact that the iPhone 8 and 8+ have virtually identical internals then the X got me wondering if I really needed to be spending the extra $200 for the X.

I was basically convinced to go with the iPhone 8+ until I got the end of the article and they showed a scale diagram of all three phones side-by-side. The iPhone 8, 8+, & X. I was surprised to see how dramatically smaller the iPhone X was to the 8+ while at the same time having a larger screen. The iPhone X was only marginally wider than the iPhone 8. That’s pretty small.

Despite the fact that I have reservations on the facial recognition unlocking of the phone the size difference between the plus and the X is too compelling. That means in a few weeks I will be getting up early to preorder my iPhone X. Later that morning I’ll be aggravated by the fact that I probably couldn’t place the order quick enough because Apple systems are overloaded. I do not have a crystal ball I just remember the last two or three times I tried to do this. I’m just stubborn enough to ignore past history and try again anyway.

 

Drinking Americano

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I started drinking more Americano’s in the morning on the weekends. I usually drink French press since it’s significantly cheaper and tastes pretty good. With our upcoming move I’m not sure (almost positive it can’t) if the Nespresso machine will work so it is on the list of what has to go.

The delicious challenge I have is that I have a bunch of pods remaining I need to drink before we move in December.  I will either drink a single Lungo shot on its own or make an Americano using the single shot pods.  I am running low on the Lungo shots so it will be Americano’s for a while. The delicious challenge was accepted.

The less delicious challenge to finish the decaf will happen later.

Messaging apps overload

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With my kids in school apparently that means more messaging apps I need to have on my phone. Last year things were simple. Both of my kids classes used WhatsApp. Each class had a group and we would chat with parents. It was pretty useful. I am not the hugest fan of WhatsApp since Facebook collect meta-data however it’s not terrible for that specific use case.

I personally use Telegram as my first choice of messaging app. I like the secure features as well as the ability to chat on multiple devices if I want. It’s not tethered to my phone. WhatsApp has a computer app but you need your phone nearby. I can’t use it on my iPad at all. Having just those two apps would’ve been manageable however the number of applications are use for Chad has proliferated.

There is messages for apple messages and SMS. And there are the two different chat apps I use at work. I also have signal since it supposed to be pretty secure some good like telegram however not many people use it so it just sits there. I still have Skype. I do not use Skype for texting really anymore however I do use it to make phone calls now and again.

The latest wrinkle is both girls are in new classes this year and each class has decided to use a different app for communicating with the parents. The benefit of at least one of them is that the teacher communicate back-and-forth with us now. Using WhatsApp that didn’t happen however it wasn’t a problem since we could simply email the teacher. I haven’t tried my other daughters app that was recommended. I got the notice to provide might details to get a login tonight. That’s pond me wanting to write about the now nine different messaging applications nuts on my phone.

On one hand getting up to the minute updates from school is useful. Also being able to send the teacher a last minute notice is pretty useful too. But nine apps? That’s getting a little much even for someone like myself who actually likes technology. I’m not even counting email applications in that number.

iOS 11

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It is that time of year. The time after the Apple announcement listing release dates for iOS and when it actually is available for the general public. The thing is if you are in the beta program you can get the General Master version now. I dabble in the beta versions but so not put them on my iPhone. With the GM out it is always a question of do I install it on all my devices. It is always a question yet I usually do install it.

So far in the past 24 hours I have installed it on my iPad Pro and thought it was great. That got me to install it on my work iPhone. Once I knew that was stable in installed on my personal iPhone. Now either everything will stop working together or I am set!

Next up do I play with a late beta of macOS on my laptop?

Update on Encrypting Email, It’s Not Just For Criminals

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In late April I wrote about my secure email plans as well as my waffling in a final decision for how I want to set up my system. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to be invited into the beta for ProtonMail‘s IMAP Bridge. One of the challenges I had in April was neither secured provider ProtonMail or Tutanota had a way for me to export mail once it was in their system. That was a huge drawback for me. I knew about the protonmail beta however at the time of writing that post I was not invited into it.

I’ve since started taking part in the beta and I’m very pleased with the outcome so far. I’m able to use the Apple mail app on my MacBook to connect to the service. Since the bridge can ask via standard IMAP I’m then able to use Devonthink to import my mail into a database for archiving. I was able to do that with my regular accounts before however this is new for protonmail since in the past I was only able to access it via the web.

The beta changes my opinion of the service now that my mail is not locked into it. I had high hopes for the beta when I heard about it and my experience to date confirmed my expectations.

The next big challenge I had was what email address to use. With the male archiving problem solve force myself to make a decision. I’ve opted to go with a new domain name. I will route my personal address from the old domain name to the new one. In my signature I will offer both addresses as reply to options. That is because the from address can only be new mail domain that I’ve set up. Proton mail does not allow me to create a fake alias phone address not hosted on their system. Perspective restriction however it was a minor inconvenience for me.

With all these changes set up I have been using proton mail for a few weeks now. I’m still sending a copy of my personal mail to my old mail server. In about a month if everything goes according to plan I will remove the redirect back to my hosting service provider’s email system and solely use proton mail for my personal email.

After that my next decision is do I move my nonpersonal email to proton mail as well. Not having the alias option is more of a challenge with that type of mail. That is because I have unique email dresses for many sites I use. If I need to email someone many times has to originate from the address where the account is registered to. For now I will stick to personal mail only and assess the situation in the future.

Overall very pleased my new set up. It’s not perfect however nothing usually is. It turned out to be very functional and the trade-offs are now well worth it.