As you may recall, last month’s Subscribe and Save delivery from Amazon caused me some distress, as for the third month in a row, the bottle cap to the Watkins Vanilla jar was missing. So I was especially anxious while waiting for this month’s delivery. When it arrived a few minutes ago, I pulled out … Continue reading This Month’s Delivery
Tech
The Case of the Missing Vanilla Top
I’ve been ordering Watkins Clear Vanilla from Amazon for some time, but for the past three months it’s arrived without a top. The inner seal was still attached, so it was usable; I just had to use the jar top from the previous jar. Initially I didn’t complain, as I thought it was just happenstance. … Continue reading The Case of the Missing Vanilla Top
How to Pick AI Pics
Earlier this week the good folks at E-V.com ran a quiz to see if their readers could identify AI generated pics from real photos. Alas, I didn’t keep track of my answers so I don't know how well I did, as the quiz didn’t tell me at the end, so if you decide to take … Continue reading How to Pick AI Pics
Swift Get Web Request
import Foundation func doHttpCall(st : String) -> Data { var xmlStr = Data() let url = URL(string: st)! let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0) let task = URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: url, completionHandler: {(data, response, error) in if let error = error { print("Error: \(error)") } else if let response = response as? HTTPURLResponse, 300..<600 ~= response.statusCode { print("Error: … Continue reading Swift Get Web Request
Apple’s Vision Thing
Today Apple finally unveiled its Vision thing that’s been rumored for some time. At a price of $3500 it doesn’t even begin to tempt me, but I wish them the best of luck!
Deleting Arlene’s Email Account
The last few years of her life, when I was managing all her accounts, I created an email account for my mother. I was the only one who ever used it, of course, but it was useful for things like her Etrade account and such, rather than using my own account. Well, it’s been more … Continue reading Deleting Arlene’s Email Account
Aim for the Trees
Once upon a time there was an app for the iPhone called Dark Sky. And everyone who tried it said it was good. It was a weather app and it had the amazing ability to predict the start and stop times of rain down to the precise minute. Even Apple maven John Gruber was impressed. … Continue reading Aim for the Trees
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
An appeals court has mostly sided with Apple in the suit with Epic. Or as John Gruber put it: “Long story short, Epic has been barking up the wrong tree.”
Apple Music Classical
Apple has finally released its app designed specifically for classical music, though I haven’t really had much of a chance to try it out yet, partly because it’s currently only available for iPhone and iPad (with Android yet to come), and I do more listening on my iMac. I do want to briefly mention two … Continue reading Apple Music Classical
Dumb Password Rules
In the later years of my career at the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, whose parent is the Defense Logistics Agency, the requirement came down (from where, I do not remember) that we had to change our passwords every few months. This was stupid, as it did nothing to make our systems more secure, but try … Continue reading Dumb Password Rules