Still Not Done With the New Phone

Yesterday I felt so good getting my new phone completely set up. Little did I know I had more to do. I discovered that today during a meeting. I tried to log into a secure system and it needed my multi-factor-authentication (MFA) token. While some of the services got configured with the data transfer, some of them did not and I didn't realize it.

I use Microsoft Authenticator for most of my MFA access. I also have RSA and Okta set up on my phone but have done a good job of focusing using a single tool. For some reason my work account has some level of extra security. Copying the data from my old phone didn't copy the necessary information for my work account. When I went to log into a secure data system this morning, I never received a message with the MFA token used to complete the login. All I could do in my meeting was explain I updated my phone and would have to get the necessary information after the call finished.

All I needed to do is log into Microsoft Authenticator. When it came time to receive the MFA token, I made sure to turn on the old phone first as it could receive the token or 2-digit number to use. After that little dance, I turned my old phone off again and have MFA tokens being sent to the new phone.

Not wanting to miss something else, I logged into my RSA and Okta apps on my new phone. Neither of them are set up at all. I will have to use my old phone to fix that for my new phone. Right now it is not an emergency and so I can wait a day or two. The trick is not waiting too long as I don't want to have to use the excuse that I updated my phone months ago and never got around to getting everything installed. 

 

Time For a New Phone

Back in February I lost my phone on a roller coaster and miraculously retrieved it with the help of a bit of engineering. I wanted to replace the phone back then but then saw the price of a new phone and held off. Last week I finally got on the Apple website and purchased a new iPhone 17. Some people feel the need to have the latest phone with all the bells and whistles. I just need a smartphone that can be updated and takes good pictures. I didn't get the Pro model nor did I feel the need to wait 6 weeks for the iPhone 18 to come out. Besides the base model won't be available until around April 2027.

I ordered the phone on Thursday and it arrived at my house on Friday. Unfortunately I had to drive down to Southern Utah to see a play with my oldest daughter and so I needed to have a friend grab the phone off the front porch as I didn't trust an Apple box to make it through the weekend without a porch pirate running off with it.

I arrived home Saturday afternoon and knew transferring data from my old phone to the new one would take awhile so I put it off until Sunday. Until then I made sure it was fully charged. Then I got my old phone and new phone together to start the process of making the new one have all the software and data from my old phone.

I made sure to pair the two phones and started the transfer process. After about a minute, it stopped. I started again only to fail again. This happened two more times before I wanted to try something else. Unfortunately I initialized the phone without pulling any data from my old one. It transferred the SIM to the new phone in the form of an electronic or eSIM. The only thing my new phone had was my number but none of the data. I had to keep my old phone for all of the applications and needed my new phone to be a phone and text message receiver.

This morning I got up and had a number of meetings. I had to log into my company's VPN and fortunately I still received the multi-factor authentication token on the old phone. Once I completed my meetings, I logged onto Apple's tech support website and initiated a support chat session. They told me I needed to reset my phone to put it back in new-phone mode and try the transfer again. I told them I worried about erasing the eSIM and they said I could always contact my carrier and get it reinstalled.

I went to reset the phone only to be told I had to wait an hour. I guess that is a special feature for spouses that are tired of their partner doom scrolling and wanting to wipe the phone. It sort of upset me because I wanted to reset the phone immediately. I went and rode my indoor bike waiting for the hour to pass. Once again I am glad I had my old phone so I could listen to music while I rode.

It came time to reset the phone and so I did. When it came back up I expected it to be in new-phone mode. It wasn't. Apparently I needed to "Erase All Content and Settings." I clicked that menu option and expected to have to wait another hour. Fortunately it went into erase mode immediately. At this point I discovered something even Apple technical support didn't know: there is an option to erase everything but the eSIM. I clicked that and the phone came up as expected.

While in the chat with Apple tech support I learned another trick on how to transfer data from my old phone. The first time I tried it, I just set the two phones side-by-side and waited for Bluetooth to do the transfer. That didn't work and so this time I connected a cable from phone to the other. My old phone has a lightning port while the new phone has a USB-C. I couldn't find my cable like that and so I had to make one from an old lightning cable with a USB-A connector and a USB-A to USB-C converter. Surprise, surprise, it worked. The data transferred from my old phone to the new one in 16 minutes.

Unfortunately that is not the end of getting things working. I use a continuous glucose monitor or CGM to tell me my instantaneous blood sugar. They are good for 15 days and I am only halfway through the life of my current one. Without a prescription they are about $50 each from Amazon but I highly recommend getting one even if you are not diabetic. I didn't want to throw my current one away and start a new one. I looked at the website for my CGM and they had instructions on how to transfer the sensor from one phone to another. I followed them and the process worked perfectly.

The last thing I needed to do is connect all of my Bluetooth devices. I have some wireless earphones as well as a number of wireless speakers to connect. Oh yeah, I also needed to connect my smartwatch. That didn't take to long to get sorted and I felt successful. That amazed me because halfway through this whole process I considered ditching Apple products permanently. Unfortunately I still wasn't done though.

Apple engineers think they are smart and know what you want in a phone. While that may be true for Gen-Z and Millennials,  it is not true for me. The new interface has this concept of an "Always On" display. I don't like it. When I hit the sleep button on my phone, I want the screen to go black and not waste any battery. It is what I am used to. I don't need to see the time continually. That is what my watch is for. I turned that feature off and consider my new phone ready to use.

I am serious when I wrote that I almost ditched Apple products forever halfway through the transfer process. I have used the automatic transfer to move data from old phones to new ones in the past and thought it to be a time saver. If I had had to reinstall my eSIM, I would have boxed the phone up, sent it back to Apple, and gone back to my old phone until I could find a Android phone I could be willing to live with. That may have taken awhile. 

Missed Flight Connection

Monday evening my wife and I flew home from visiting my son in Ohio. We got to the airport with plenty of time to make our flight only to discover it to be delayed. Normally we try to get nonstop flights but a layover in Detroit turned out to be less expensive. It also worked better with my work schedule as I could attend early-morning meetings on Monday with India. Unfortunately our flight out of Columbus got delayed by an hour and we only had a 45-minute layover.

Before boarding the flight we had 2 options. The first was to take the flight and hope that our connecting flight to Salt Lake also had a similar delay. The second was to spend the night in Columbus and take the early-morning flight out non-stop to Salt Lake. I felt like the second option admitted defeat before we even tried to get home and opted to get on an hour-delayed flight.

We arrived in Detroit and could see our connecting flight had yet to leave. As we guessed, it also had a delay and for a moment, we thought we could make it. We didn't as it pulled away from the gate about 5 minutes before we got there. In all my years of flying, I have only ever missed 2 connections resulting in me having to spend an extra night on the road and Monday night turned out to be one of them. Considering I have flown over 2 million miles, that is not bad.

My wife and I walked to a Delta Airlines customer service center and immediately talked to someone who could help us out. He quickly found our travel record and saw that I had attached my mobile phone to it. He sent a text with a link that opened a webpage offering us a selection of hotels to choose from. The first one, I didn't recognize the name and skipped over it. The rest I recognized as familiar brands such as Sheraton, Marriott, and Hilton. I knew I would not get any frequent-stay points and so it doesn't help to choose one where you have status. I picked one close by and started walking out of the airport.

The hotel had a free shuttle bus from the airport and so we walked to the shuttle pickup location. I decided to call the hotel to make sure we didn't need to schedule it and was told the driver was on his way. Soon enough he showed up and we made our way to the hotel. Upon check-in, I only needed to provide the confirmation number given when selecting the hotel for the evening. Furthermore Delta provided $48 in dining credit that the hotel restaurant easily took.

I did all of this on my smartphone. Not once did I need to pull out my computer. I also didn't have any paper voucher that could easily be lost. It all just worked. My wife and I had an enjoyable stay in Detroit complete with a late-night snack.

The next morning we caught an 8am flight to Salt Lake and made it home without any more adventure. Sure my wife missed a doctor's appointment and I barely made it home in time for my first meeting of the day, but we got home. My wife rescheduled her appointment and I only had to move a few activities around. Would I give Delta high marks for taking care of us? Yes. Am I upset about the inconvenience of taking an extra day to get home? Again yes, but circumstances being what they were, we did okay.

I am making a mental note to pay a few extra bucks and take nonstop flights when available. I am also very pleased with how the airline handled the problem. I've had another airline not be nearly so accommodating for a problem they caused and have not flown them in over 10 years nor do I plan to fly them ever again. But that is a story for another time. 

Don't Lose Your Mobile Phone

I had the pleasure of spending last week in Orlando, Florida. While that is close to Disney World, I spent the week at other attractions including Legoland, Sea World, and Kennedy Space Center. On the last day we decided to double back and visit Sea World again. On the first day, we focused on all the animal shows, which are amazing. On the second day, we attempted some of the roller coasters.

Arriving at the park early allowed us to practically walk onto any of the rides we wanted. Eventually we found ourselves at Ice Breaker. My 8-year-old grandson wanted to ride with me and we had a great time on our first ride. Then he wanted to go again. Not having any line made it easy to experience it a second time. As we started our free fall, I noticed someone lost their mobile phone and thought they would be having a bad day. Then I checked my pocket and realized it was mine. I don't know how it fell out but it did and the only person to blame happened to be me.

Before riding the ride, we saw signs on the fence around the roller coaster with a QR code telling people how to report lost items. My grandson immediately asked what you should do if you lost your phone. We all laughed and didn't think anything of it until I lost my phone. Then my son used his to report the loss. Not wanting to give up on finding my phone, I started walking around the fence guarding the track from the public. In one of the few areas that had close access to the ride, I found my phone about 10 feet inside the fence. Now I couldn't reach through the fence and get my phone but I knew where to find it. I had hope.

I went back to the ride operators and asked if they could help me get the phone. They told me I needed to go to guest services, which I did. I waited in a 30-minute line only to be told to go to lost-and-found. I went there and was told I should have just asked the ride operators for help. I explained I did. They told me to go back to the ride and someone would help me get my phone. I walked back, which turned out to be about a mile or so and waited. Then I waited some more.

Eventually a young man came out and told me they would have to shut down the ride and he would go get the phone. I waited for another 15 minutes without any signs of the ride stopping and the young man eventually told me they would not stop the ride and I would have to come back that evening when the park closed down. Unfortunately I had a 7pm flight and so that was not an option. While waiting in the lost-and-found line, another park attendee told us stories of maintenance retrieving her phone only to have it stolen from the maintenance locker. The hope of Sea World getting me my phone back disappeared.

Think about it for a minute and when was the last time you backed up your phone? I don't think I have ever backed up mine. That means any of the pictures I took on the trip would be lost. I would have to download all of my applications again, including quite a few multi-factor-authentication (MFA) apps that I use for work. I started getting depressed and decided I wouldn't leave the park without my phone.

The young man that came to help me get my phone brought along an 8-foot claw and let me try my luck with it. His arm wasn't as long as mine and I could get the device fairly close to the phone but not quite reach it. At this point my inner Engineer kicked in and I wondered how I could extend the claw 2 more inches as that is all that I needed to reach my phone.

The first thing I tried was Geometry and picking the right slats in the fence to put the claw through. I could get close enough to the phone for the claw to reach it but couldn't see the phone due to a track support leg. I solved that by positioning my wife to help relay the outcome of my efforts. While I could reach the phone now, I couldn't grip it because the claw didn't have the usual rubber feet necessary to hold the phone. I asked my wife if she had any hair ties. She had 2 and I wrapped one around each of the claw ends. They provided enough friction for me to grab the phone and move it 2 inches closer. At this point I knew I would retrieve the phone. I just needed patience. On my next attempt, I got the phone withing 6 inches of the fence. At that point I reached through the iron slats and grabbed it. Amazingly the 50-foot fall didn't damage the phone. I didn't even crack the screen. That is amazing considering I don't have a screen protector.

I returned the claw and let them know I got the phone. My wife and I then left the park so we could pack up and get ready for our flight home. It felt good to be successful in retrieving my phone. In the future I will keep my phone in a zippered pocket and not rely on friction to keep the phone from falling out.

Waiting in a Virtual Queue

Today tickets went on sale for Disneyland's Star Wars Nite in April and May. Last year I had the pleasure of attending with my wife and daughter. We had a great time and planned on doing the event again this year. We hope to correct the mistake we made last year and not try to spend the morning and afternoon in the park. The event starts at 6pm and runs until 1am. They limit ticket sales and that allows you to walk onto almost any ride. Furthermore they have special events, unique food offerings, and themed swag.

I knew that tickets would go on sale this morning at 10am MST and so I started watching the clock as I did my morning exercise at Snowbird. I also knew they would start adding people to a virtual queue at 9:45. I happened to be on the Little Cloud chairlift at the time and so I pulled my phone out and joined the queue. I got to the top of the lift and saw that I had 20 minutes before I could make my purchase. I skied down to the mid-mountain lodge and checked my time. I had 15 minutes to wait. I skied to the bottom, walked to my car, took off my ski boots, and jumped into the car as my turn to buy tickets arrived. I quickly made the purchase and then put my phone away so I could drive home.

Last night I worried that I needed to be on the Disneyland website right at 9:45. Annual pass holders could purchase the special-event tickets a few days before the general public and some of the nights sold out. My worries turned out to be unfounded as tickets for all 4 nights are still available at 4:30pm today. However I thought it neat that I could log into the website on my phone while riding a chairlift and be placed in a virtual queue. That allowed me to stow my phone in a pocket and ski down the mountain without having to have my attention riveted to my phone. I wasn't sure turning off my screen would still allow my place to be held. It did and worked very well.

I always prefer to visit websites using my computer instead of my phone. This allows me to use a large display that is easy to read. I also don't worry about someone hacking my connection and getting my credit-card information. Fortunately my smartphone turned out to be the right tool for the job today. Any time I need to be in a virtual queue, I will use my phone in the future. 

 

Updating to iOS 26.2

This morning I pulled my iPhone off the charger and saw that it wanted to update to the latest version of iOS. It is always important to keep your smartphone updated to the latest version of the operating system. This ensures you have up-to-date security fixes and helps prevent hackers from taking over your phone. Unfortunately I have been reluctant to upgrade to iOS 26 but it looks like a necessary evil if I want to keep my phone safe and so I spent part of the day doing the update.

The first problem I have is that my phone only has 64GB of storage. I've managed to fill most of it with photos and videos. I went through the photo/video library and moved a lot onto my desktop Mac where I have significantly more space. Then I had to go into my recently-deleted folder and remove everything in it to free up space on the phone. I went to install the update and removed enough so that the update process could temporarily remove a couple of apps and reinstall them at the end of the update process. That concerned me a bit but I let the update move forward.

The process of going through hundreds of photos and videos took a toll on my battery so I made sure to plug the phone in to keep the battery from getting too low. Then I just waited for the update to complete and focused on work tasks. I got back to the phone and noticed it back in working order but I'm not a fan of the new user interface (UI).

For some reason, the engineers at Apple love the new "glass" look where you can see through elements on your screen. That makes it so the time on my lock screen blended in with the background image so well, telling time is difficult. I immediately needed to fix that. While I always wear a watch, sometimes it is hidden under multiple layers of clothing while I ski. For that case, I just pull my phone out to see the time. Fixing the clock involved long pressing on the lock screen and selecting the "Customize" button on the bottom. Then I selected the time widget (that is the technical term for the part of the screen that shows the current time) where I had the option of changing the color. I tried white but it blended in too much with the screen. After playing with different colors for a bit, I noticed 2 small buttons under the colors. One said "Glass" and the other "Solid."  I switched from glass to solid and that made the time so much easier to read regardless of what color I chose.

There are a few other UI changes I will need to make. While Apple thinks they know what I will like, they are wrong and like to screw things up. Like many of the software developers I have worked with over my career, the ones at Apple suffer from hubris and think they know more than they actually do. Most the time, they leave a way for me set things the way I like. On occasion though they really screw things up which leaves me questioning my loyalty to Apple.

Video Calls Can Add to Holiday Events

Last Christmas my youngest son flew his family of 4 from Ohio to Utah to visit us during the Holidays. It really surprised my wife and I as we had just spent a week with them in Hawaii. We did not expect to see them again so soon. This year my wife and I surprised them by flying to Ohio the day before Christmas Eve and celebrating with them. My son didn't know we would arrive until 30 minutes before we drove up as we had planned the surprise with his wife.

Naturally we cleared the trip with all of our other children before booking flights back in August. That means everyone in the family had to keep a secret for 4 months. I had times I wanted to blab but kept the secret. A week before our trip, my son asked if we planned to come and surprise him. My response was, "We would have had to buy plane tickets back in August," which we did.

As we couldn't be with our other children we made sure to do video calls with everyone on Christmas. I remember 35 years ago thinking that would be a great technology as phone companies started sharing plans for the service. Now it is a reality that is as easy to do as making a call on your mobile phone. If you are not a fan of the iPhone and FaceTime, you can use What's App on Android and do the same thing. That means nobody has to be left out from seeing young kids open their magical gifts on that special day every year.

Ohio has a 2-hour time difference from Utah and so we had to make sure we didn't call my older son with his kids too early. Instead we waited for them to call us. Then we had a magical morning with cousins being able to talk to each other. As they both got trips to Orlando in February, we will all be together in just a few weeks. It will be a magical time for everyone. Fortunately we could all share in the excitement on Christmas morning, thanks to a video call. 

Mobile Phone Service in Japan

This week I am back in Tokyo and glad I have an international plan built into my mobile-phone service. It is always helpful when my airplane lands in a city outside the United States to immediately get a text from T-mobile telling me I have free data and texting. Should I want to make a regular phone call, I can do that as well for very inexpensive rates. Instead I actually just find a WiFi spot, like at the hotel, put my phone in airplane mode, and use WiFi calling to talk to someone.

Yesterday I had a bit of extra time to do some sightseeing and so I left my hotel early hoping to avoid rush-hour on the trains. Nobody likes being shoved into an already crowded train and out of respect to the locals, I wanted to get to my destination early. Then I could return early and get some important work done.

I assumed I could buy an entry ticket at my desired destination and didn't worry about purchasing it online before leaving the ubiquitous WiFi of my hotel. I got to the famous Japan site only to discover I needed to purchase my ticket online. Furthermore, I needed to download a special app to display the ticket. This is where you really need an international plan for your mobile phone.

There are always lines in Japan and so I used my time in line to download the special app. This is where my limited data plan broke down. It took about 30 minutes to download the app. At my hotel it only would have taken a minute or two. This is something I wish I had known before heading out- to do some sightseeing. I waited rather impatiently for the thing to download and then purchased an entry ticket. Once the app could display my ticket's QR code, I obtained entry and could visit the site. The only casualty of the day is the extra time my phone spent sucking the life out of my battery. At the end of my sightseeing trip I returned to my hotel with only 6% of my battery life left. I quickly put it on the charger before going out and doing anything else.

I know I am not the only tourist that has drained their smartphone trying to get into this attraction. Inside they had a battery-rental service so you could top up your electricity needs. I sort of felt like it is a racket though. Let's charge people a fee to get in only to make it almost impossible and need a battery charging service once inside. That is the life of a tourist. They don't vote in local elections and so nobody opposes extra fees and taxes for people visiting the area. Don't believe me, just look at your hotel bill the next time you have one and add up all the taxes.

Watching Old Movies

Recently I have found myself watching older movies and realize that younger generations may not understand them or be able to relate. Think about how many movies from the 1980's could be shortened to only 5 minutes with the introduction of mobile phones as a lot of the problems would immediately disappear. They have become so ubiquitous that the younger generations don't even know what a landline is anymore. My grand kids are not familiar with them at all as I discovered this weekend.

When I watch a movie depicting historical events such as World War II, I don't expect to see computers or modern technology. In fact, back then Jeeps represented the pinnacle of technological advancement. Now we see a movie from just a few years ago and things are familiar enough that nothing seems out of place. Then someone uses an old feature phone, which is one that makes calls and might have texting capabilities but is not a smartphone nor does it have a camera. It goes to show how much technology has advanced in a few short years.

While a number of modern conveniences are missing from these movies, there are a number of older technologies that people don't know how to use any more. I recently watched "Back to the Future" and Marty McFly tears a page out of the phone book. Does the rising generation even know what phone books are? He also checks the date by looking at a newspaper. I haven't seen one of those in a very long time. At least I know what they are, and quite frankly, miss them. The one scene showing how things have evolved is when Marty tries to twist a bottle cap off a soda bottle and his dad has to show him how to use a bottle opener.

I wonder how a 16-year old from 2025 would have to adjust to 1955? Would he or she immediately pull out a smartphone and try to get a signal? Would heating up food become a problem because microwave ovens didn't exist? Would everyone from 1955 laugh at the time traveler when he or she buckles a seat belt or puts on a helmet? These would all make comedic elements in a new movie. My only request is not to remake "Back to the Future" and come up with a slightly more original story.

 

 

Bandwidth Explained

Lately I have doing a lot of studying about ham radio in my spare time. I get a monthly magazine from the American Radio Relay League or ARRL called QST and there are a lot of concepts I don't understand as I read articles. Rather than continuing to read and glossing over the complex subjects, I am trying to understand them more. This has me thinking about bandwidth and what it actually means.

We use bandwidth in our casual conversations with phrases like, "I don't have the bandwidth to work on that right now." That generally means that you are doing so much you don't have room in your schedule to do anything else or that the task consumes more time than you have free. We also talk about bandwidth for WiFi and how much data we can stream to our devices like smartphones, TV's, and computers. Here is a quick history lesson of what that all means and why it relates to ham radio.

When we first discovered that we could send messages over the air without having to use wires or connections, we found that we needed a carrier frequency for the message. At first, we sent messages using Morse code which uses short (dot) and long (dash) pulses of energy to convey a message. To do so, you might use 14.025 MHz as your carrier frequency with the bandwidth of your message only being a hundred Hz wide. What that means is that if someone else tries to send a message at a frequency too close to 14.025 MHz, say at 14.0251, the messages might interfere with each other. To fix this you would spread the carrier frequencies further apart. Perhaps you might use 14.026 MHz instead.

Now not everyone knows Morse code and so we learned how to encode voice messages in those same radio frequencies. We started with amplitude modulation or AM and later developed frequency modulation or FM. Anyone who has spent much time with a radio knows FM has higher quality sound than AM and so most of our music listening stations are on FM. The FCC has limited AM radio stations to a total bandwidth of 10 kHz. That means if you still use a carrier frequency of 14.025 MHz, your signal will fall in the 14.020 and 14.030 MHz range as AM splits the signal equally on either side of the carrier frequency (5 kHz below and 5 kHz above). In contrast FM signals are 200 kHz or almost 20 times wider than AM signals. It is no wonder that FM signals are higher quality than AM as you can fit more information in that space. It also means that FM radio stations have to space out their carrier signals much further than AM stations. By contrast, FM ham radio signals are only 16 kHz wide as they only need to transmit voice and not music.

Now lets tie this all together with how we think of bandwidth of our Internet links at home. When signing up for home Internet service, vendors like to use terms like 10 mega-bits per second (Mbps) or 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). With 10 Mbps it means you will be able to download 10 million bits every second. 1 Gbps is much better as it is 100 times more data in the same second at 1 billion bits every second. Now remember that there are 8 bits for every byte or character in a file so if you have a 10 mega-byte file, it won't take a single second to download it at 10 Mbps, the fastest you can download it would be in 8 seconds but even that is not true. Networks use parity and error correction bits to ensure you get the data correctly. While you are paying for 10 Mbps speeds, you are really only seeing about half that because of how the network works.

So how do kHz and Mbps relate? There is a bit of math that would make this post really long and confusing, not to mention boring. Suffice it to say that when you are talking about radio signals, you generally use kHz and when you talk about data, you use Mbps or Gbps. It all translates down to how wide the radio (in the case of WiFi) or network (in the case of wired connections) signal is needed to provide the information you are trying to receive.

2-Minute Tasks That Take 20

Yesterday I had a number of errands to run during lunch. I jumped into my car and headed to my local pharmacy. I got there to an empty store and thought I could accomplish the first item on my list quickly. Then I discovered the Pharmacist goes to lunch between 12:30 and 2pm. I had the choice of going somewhere else or hanging out for 20 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't have the 20 minutes to wait and so I headed to another store close by. It was not a surprise to see that Pharmacist had the same lunch break as the first store. Ultimately I drove home and decided I would take care of the errand later. I still have yet to do it.

Don't you hate it when you go to do a very simple task that should only take a minute or two but ends up taking much longer because of a string of events that are out of your control? Perhaps you want a bowl of Fruit Loops but have to run to the store to get milk first. Then when you get in your car you realize you are almost out of gas or or forgot to plug in your electric vehicle. You can get to the store but chances are slim you will get home unless you refuel the car.

I find situations like that always happening on my computer or smartphone. I'll go to install an important program I need only to discover it needs another library that I also need to install. Or perhaps I have security settings set so stringent I have to temporarily relax them before I can complete a certain task. My favorite is not having enough space on my phone to update the operating system. I either need to delete lengthy multimedia files after saving them to another device or forego the update.

After getting back from my 2 weeks of travel I discovered I have never deleted any of the text messages from the smartphone we use as our home phone. While I swiped left thinking I deleted them, I really just moved them to an archive. Actually deleting the files required selecting each message, pressing the 3-dot icon, selecting the "Delete" option, and confirming that I really wanted to delete it. I did that for a couple of messages and realized there must be an easier way. A few minutes later, I figured out how to do mass deletes and got rid of everything in the archive. Then I found the blocked-message folder and did the same thing there. I don't know why but my wife and I received no less than 45 messages from different roofing companies even though we have a fairly new roof. After about 30 minutes, the phone is cleaned out and ready to stockpile more useless text messages. Oh, I also figured out how to make it so messages get deleted when I swipe left and archived when I swipe right. 

Time For Annual Security Training

As a Sony employee I am required to run through an annual 30-minute training course on computer security. In the past the training has seemed to be the same as previous years. Today I ran through the training again discovering it has been updated and it seemed like a whole new course, which I appreciated.

The course had the usual warnings against clicking on links in e-mails and verifying URL's before going to the sites. This year, they provided some more details that helped understand how different character sets can be different than the regular Latin letters we are used to in English. The example they provided is that a Cyrillic V looks like the letter B. Someone could then create a mischievous website using the Cyrillic V for something like the Better Business Bureau and you wouldn't know you are going to the wrong site. Having a concrete example like that really helped underscore how subtle character substitutions can cause havoc.

A new entry in this year's training highlighted mobile device security. I prefer a full-sized keyboard and so if I can keep my phone in my pocket and use a computer instead, I do. I am not normal though as the average person uses their smartphone 6 hours a day. My usage is down around an hour per day. The training pointed out a number of helpful tips to keep from clicking on malicious links that could open your device to malware and other bad actors. I decided that by doing as much as I can on my computer, I reduce my risk for security issues. Should I get a nefarious text, I now know what to look for.

Finally the training had a section on how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create more realistic e-mails. Bad spelling and grammar used to be dead-giveaways of scam e-mails. Now those e-mails can be created to sound exactly like your supervisor or manager. They also warned against voicemails that can sound like the people you work with. That is a sobering thought.

The point of this post is that there are some persistent thieves and crooks trying to get access to your computer, online accounts, and smartphone. It is a good practice to review security best practices to remind you to remain vigilant against those bad actors. If you are not required to run through a 30-minute training session, you might want to find a trusted resource on the Web and do your own training.

Mobile Phones for Children

Yesterday my 5-year-old granddaughter got a smartwatch with a phone built into it. She can only use it to communicate with a very small number of people. Naturally my wife and I are on that list and we have each received no less than 5 phone calls in the past 12 hours. While some might be bothered by so many calls, my wife and I love it as we enjoy speaking with any of our grand kids.

My son got the watch for his daughter to help locate her while playing with friends. she is very socially active and her parents often have a hard time finding her when it is time to come home for dinner. That is the primary reason she has the device and I agree with his thinking.

My slightly older grandson also has a similar smartwatch and he behaved the same when he got it. He wore it constantly and sent me voice messages all the time. Then he discovered he needs to charge the device and it often had a dead battery. Eventually I stopped getting messages from him and he stopped wearing the device. It became an unreliable way for me to contact him. Now that his sister has a smartwatch, they have been competing with each other to contact my wife and me. My hope is that with two of them having devices, we will have a great way to contact our grand kids.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and mobile phones became ubiquitous, I set 15 as the age for my kids before they got their first mobile phone. I wanted them to have practice using one before they started driving. That way if something happened in the car, a child could reach Mom or Dad. Now mobile phones have evolved to contain a lot more functionality including cameras, location data via GPS, and a number useful applications. It makes more sense to lower the age I originally set but still am not sure what that age should be. Fortunately I don't have any young children as my oldest is almost 30 and has kids of his own. Ultimately I don't think there is a specific age that works for everyone as I prefer to look at maturity. Not all 5-year olds are created equal and some will do well with a smartwatch while others won't. I'm interested in your thoughts so feel free to leave a comment. Others may appreciate your advice as well.

A Case for Text Messaging

I have never been a fan of using text messaging. That being said, I do recognize that it is a prevalent form of communication and use it when necessary. Today I have discovered a case where text messaging beats other forms of communication and have been using it for that.

Before continuing I should share why I hate texting. I am a fast typist and prefer to use a full-sized keyboard instead of a tiny one on my phone's screen. That is one reason my personal computer is a Mac. It seamlessly allows me to see and respond to my phone's messages on my computer. When someone sends me a message, I can use that full-sized keyboard to respond. Furthermore I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket. I agree that if you need to send a short message to someone, it is easier to send a quick text than to call them or send an e-mail. If there is going to be any back-and-forth, use the phone part of your smartphone and give them a call. Your communication will go much quicker.

Today I have been trying to schedule a meeting between two people and there has been a lot of back-and-forth. While a phone call would be nice, that is not a good solution with more than two people. One person is generally busy doing other things, like me for example, and it is tough to get everyone on the phone together. In this case, I had a young woman ask to meet with a senior manager. While I would have liked to just introduce the two and have them work out a time to meet, protocol in this situation dictates that I act as a gating person. Otherwise the senior manger would be inundated with meeting requests and never be able to get any work done. I asked the senior manager for some preferred times and got a number of options that I passed onto the young woman. Unfortunately none of the times worked for her because of other commitments and so there has been some back and forth to find a time that will work.

The nature of text messaging allows a conversation like this to take place over several hours without ripping anyone away from meetings or interrupting the current flow of the day. Now one could argue that this process could have been shortened by having access to the young woman's and the senior manager's calendar, making it easy to find a time for the two to meet. Unfortunately there are a number of scenarios where that doesn't work. One that I run into frequently is working across time zones that are far enough apart that one of the two parties will have to meet outside of regular work hours which is what happened today.

I still dislike that some people would rather send a text than talking on the phone but recognized there are reasons where text messaging is the best form of communication.

Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving is almost over and the uneaten turkey is sitting in the fridge waiting to be made into sandwiches over the next couple of days. I wanted to take a few moments and write about what I am thankful for. While it may seem like the world is in turmoil, there really is a lot going well and I would be remiss in not expressing thanks.

This blog is focused on technology and I am definitely thankful for all of the time-saving benefits technology provides. I like being able to instantly look up thing on the Internet. Want to know what stores remained opened on this holiday, simply pull out your smartphone and do an Internet search. Want to heat something up quickly, use that convenient microwave. I even enjoy centralized heating keeping me and my family warm as we gathered today.

That leads me to what I am truly thankful for, and that is my family. I got to spend this morning skiing with my youngest daughter who is a ski instructor. Fortunately she didn't have to work so we could take a number of runs together. My wife joined us and I am thankful for her. Later today my son and his family joined us for a wonderful feast. My parents and oldest daughter joined us as well. Then my youngest son joined us for a quick video call and shared his thanks with us along with his family. Yes, family is what I am most thankful for on this day of remembering what is important to each of us. 

I wish it was possible for my family to all be together on this special holiday but it wasn't. Fortunately technology filled the gap and those that couldn't gather physically could with a little help from technology. Hopefully you were able to spend time with those important to you today.

Camera on Your Phone

When cameras first started becoming integrated with mobile phones, I thought it was a needless accessory. I expressed this thought to a good friend who owned an electrical business. He explained that the idea had merit as his guys could take pictures of electrical panels and send them to the office for help with difficult installations. I realized my position was a bit short sighted and opened up to the idea that they could be useful.

As smartphones continued to evolve it became very clear that having a camera integrated with a mobile phone opens up quite a few possibilities. Probably the one used most often is video calls. In my case, I spend a lot of time talking to my grand kids with video. They are young enough that our interactions never last very long but I get to see them as they grow even though a couple of them are half-way across the country.

Working for Sony, I have a really nice DSLR camera but I hardly ever use it. The camera on my phone is not nearly as nice but it is good enough. My wife and I spent a week in Disney World with two of our granddaughters and we took a lot of pictures using just our phones. At the end of the trip, we compiled all of the pictures into a book and have it sitting on a table in our living room. I wouldn't have tried that with the original camera phones due to poor picture quality but technology has evolved to being much better than film cameras prevalent back in the 80's and 90's.

Recently my wife and I returned to Orlando, Florida on business and we rented a car from a very reputable rental-car agency. When we returned our car before catching our flight home, I noticed a gentleman using his camera to take pictures of his car to document the condition with which he returned the vehicle. I thought it could be overkill until I got home and received an e-mail from the rental car company notifying me that the car I returned had damage: a scratch in the door. When I picked up the car several days earlier I noticed the car had a lot of scratches including the one on the door but didn't bother documenting them. When picking up the car, I mentioned the damage to the agent. In hindsight, I should have used the camera on my phone to document all of the damage on the car so as not to get blamed for a scratch I didn't create.

I have been wrong with the usefulness of several technologies and can admit when I have made a mistake. Cameras integrated into smartphones is actually very useful. There are constantly new uses I am discovering. Should you find yourself reaching for a pen to copy a note, remember that phone camera and take a picture. You will capture more information and don't have to worry about reading your own writing.

Not a Fan of Disney's Magic Band+

I spent last week in Disney World with my wife and a couple of granddaughters. Whenever one of my grand kids turns 5, we take them to Disney for a couple days. This year we had 2 granddaughters turn 5 and so we brought them together. It made for a fun trip but I'm not sure the extra $35 investment in Disney's MagicBand+ is worth the extra cost.

My son is a huge Disney fan and loves taking his family to Disneyland and Disney World. He invested in the watch-like devices for his family and suggested we do the same. He loves staying close to Disneyland or at the lower-cost resort hotels within Disney World. He has also done a cruise on the Disney Cruise Line. For him, he just loads park tickets and room access onto the bands and doesn't have to worry about carrying extra key cards. He also is a fan of the Lightning Lane and can add that to the bands.

We had a very different situation for our trip last week. First off, we stayed at an off-property hotel using frequent stay points. That means the bands wouldn't help us get into our room. We also had a height limit with our 5-year old granddaughters. One measured just over 38 inches but under 40. That means we could not ride most of the thrill rides. Those are the ones with the longest lines where it makes sense to pay for Lightning Lane access. We also visited the park when it seemed fairly empty compared to other times of the year. We walked onto most rides.

Without the need to use the Lightning Lanes, we really only used the MagicBand+ to enter the parks. Of the 4 days we visited parks in Disney World, the bands had problems during 2 of them. They worked perfectly on the first day. On the second, 3 of the 4 bands had issues and needed to be reset. One thing they didn't tell us on the first day is that the finger print for a 5-year old is not very reliable and that we should have used an adult's finger. We fixed that and then my wife's device reported itself as stolen and turned itself off. We had to reactivate it. All of this took time.

On the last day of our visit we ran into another issue with the bands and had to visit guest services once again. I'm not sure we would not have had those problems with a free paper card that gets handed out for those not willing to buy MagicBand+ bracelets but I would not have had to pay for them.

If you are on the fence about purchasing a Disney Magic and+ here are some criteria I would use before spending the money:

1. Are the parks crowded and do you have kids old enough to make Lightning Lanes worth the extra cost? If so, the MagicBand+ is much easier to use than fishing around in your pocket for easily lost paper cards.
2. Do you plan to return to the Disney parks many times for years to come or spend time on a Disney Cruise? If so, then it might be worth it.
3. Do you plan to stay at a Disney hotel? If so, then the Magic Band+ can be used as your room key and might be worth it.
4. Is this probably a one-time visit to a Disney park? Save your money and use your smartphone, which is also an option, or the free paper card they give you.

I hope this helps as you debate whether or not to spend the extra $35 for a piece of technology that I don't think works very well. Disney wants you to buy the device as it allows them to track your movement throughout the different parks, thanks to their ubiquitous golden statues that light up your wrist band whenever you walk by them. In my opinion, because of that tracking feature, they should be giving them out for free.

Airplane Tickets Printed or on Your Phone

I do a lot of travel for my job and am coming up on having flown over 2 Million miles. When it comes time to print out a ticket for a flight there are 2 options. The first is to actually use an old-fashioned printer and print a paper ticket. The second is to send a QR code to a smartphone and use that to board the plane. One would think it is a no-brainer and the smartphone is the way to go. For the technically savy, I would agree. My preference is to print a paper ticket though.

Yes I know that my seat may be updated between the time I check in and when I actually board my flight. If I used the airline's app, the seat is automatically changed and I don't have to pay attention to the monitors in the terminal. I also don't have to worry about losing my ticket. As I have said, the smartphone ticket seems to be the way to go.

The problem is that smartphones slow the boarding of the plane. I'm not sure how so many people can have such problems getting the ticket scanner to read a phone screen but it happens. I have waited for several minutes behind passengers who don't know you need to turn up the brightness so the QR code can be read properly. I have also seen countless travelers not able to find their ticket on the phone. Then of course there is the dreaded screen lock. You have your ticket ready to scan only to have the screensaver kick in and blank out the screen as you go to scan it. Ultimately I have found that pulling out a paper ticket speeds things up and gets me onto the plane quicker.

Time for a New Battery Again

I spent this last week on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California attending meetings. Naturally all sorts of problems arose at home in my absence. My wife and I care for our neighbor's house across the street and we had a few sprinkler problems. Fortunately I could talk my wife through them and we resolved them all without having to dig up any pipes or sprinkler heads. The only problem that had to wait for my return is that of my wife's laptop battery needing to be replaced.

My wife loves to use her laptop around the house unplugged from any power source. Then at the end of the day, she'll plug it in so it is ready to use for the next day. I generally keep mine plugged in at my desk and work there unless I am traveling. A little over 2 years ago I had to replace my wife's laptop battery. Thanks to iFixit.com it is easy to order a new one and have instant access to instructions on how to replace it.

While in California my wife informed me that she can only get about 30-minutes of use from her laptop before the battery is dead. She tried the usual remedies that include charging it overnight and then using the computer until the battery dies completely. Unfortunately nothing worked and so I ordered one last night. Fortunately I have an account with iFixit and they had a record of what I ordered the last time. I didn't have to try and figure out what battery she needed. Three clicks after I visited their site, I had the new one ordered.

Usually I prefer to visit online shopping sites as a guest and try not to create accounts unless I know I will be back. I have an Amazon account as I find myself needing something there on a monthly basis. With iFixit, I'm only there every couple of years or so. This time I am glad I have an account as it kept me from doing time-consuming research. If you have at least 3 electronic devices, such as a smartphone, laptop, or other battery-powered device, I highly recommend getting an account and ordering from them. It will save you a bit of a hassle in the future.

The new laptop battery will be here in a couple of days. My hope is that it lasts a few years. When it comes time to replace it, I think my wife will want a new computer. Right now, $50 is a much better price to pay than $1000. Besides, who wants to transfer all the data and files from one computer to another?

Setting Up Magicband+ For Disney World

Two years ago my wife and I started a tradition with our oldest grandson by taking just him to Disneyland after he turned 5. We found a great deal on the Grand Californian hotel and booked the trip. We had a wonderful time and decided we would continue with the rest of our grand kids. This year we have two of our granddaughters turning 5 and so instead of a trip for each of them, we are bringing the both of them to Disney World. Why Disney World? One lives in Ohio and it is easier to pick her up on the way with the second granddaughter in tow.

Wanting to make sure we maximize our experience in the parks, my wife and I went online and purchased Magicband+ bracelets for ourselves and our granddaughters. Today I went about connecting them to my iPhone where I have the Disney World app installed. For some reason I could not get them to connect. Then I watched a video and saw my mistake.

My Sony smartphones have had Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities for a decade. I didn't think it caught on for other brands but today I discovered it is available in my iPhone. The important thing is to know where the touch point is on the device. For my iPhone it is on the upper-back-right corner. Once I turned the Magicband+ on, all I needed to do was touch it to the right place on my phone. Then I just followed the prompts to connect everything. Before the enlightening video I tried touching every part of my phone with the bracelet except the upper-right corner.

Unfortunately the software engineers that create Disney's theme park apps do an insanely poor job on their user interface. Even though I selected the correct person in the app before linking the Magicband+, the app linked all of them to me. There is no way you can unlink them. I had to call Disney technical support at (407) 939-4357.

Disney is known for having the best customer service and their technical support lives up to that standard. I have to say it is second to none. I quickly navigated the menu to get to the right department and a real human answered the call. Furthermore she spoke English like an American. I don't care if she is in Mexico or India, I just care that I can easily communicate. I explained my problem and she solved it immediately. Furthermore she linked my wife's park ticket with her account. Her help definitely made up for a poor application.

Now we are set and ready to go. The only problem is that the trip is not for a long time. I can hardly wait.