Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

Anything would be a decent upgrade from the original iPad mini. I had that thing, on iOS 9.3.5, it was hopeless.
Yes, it's unbearably slow on iOS 9, mine has been for quite some time, it's almost unusable. In my opinion they should not have taken the A5-equipped units beyond iOS 7.

If you like the 2. gen SE's size, there is always the 13 mini, giving you all the latest features in a sensibly sized package, rather than the silly large phablets that are in fashion today. It even has a much better battery than the SE. My 12 mini easily last me a full day of use (4/5-hours of screen on time).
 
I also have a 12 mini and love it. It's physically smaller than the 6 it replaced yet has a larger screen. I regularly go 2-3 days on a charge. I don't often do video or other battery-draining things but I'm constantly looking up medication doses and responding to messages and similar things.
 
I don't understand how people do it when they "go 2-3 days on a charge" on an iPhone, especially if they're "constantly" using it. :LOL:

I have a 12 Pro. I take it off the charger at 8am every morning and last night I had 20% left at around 10pm or so. I guess our definition of "constantly" is a bit different. My phone is glued to my hand, both at work and on my time off.
 
Me three. Screen time is key here, I’m on about 4-5 hrs a day, and can get through a day and a half on my iphone XR….
 
My XR (on a good battery) got way worse mileage than my 12 pro.
 
I want to move my printer, but that would mean at least a 12ft (ideally 14-16ft) USB cable to reach my PC. Am I asking for trouble with that? The cable would be running alongside other power and data cables for at least 1/2 of its run.

Something like this:

And then if I add a right-angle adaptor on the USB B end, is that tempting fate too much?

In case it matters, it's a Brother HL-L2360DW B&W laser printer.
 
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I want to move my printer, but that would mean at least a 12ft (ideally 14-16ft) USB cable to reach my PC. Am I asking for trouble with that? The cable would be running alongside other power and data cables for at least 1/2 of its run.

Something like this:

And then if I add a right-angle adaptor on the USB B end, is that tempting fate too much?

In case it matters, it's a Brother HL-L2360DW B&W laser printer.


I don't think the signal will make it. If you have a router with a USB, that should work. Or you can go with something like this.



I have seen cables like this work, but shorter is better.
 
I want to move my printer, but that would mean at least a 12ft (ideally 14-16ft) USB cable to reach my PC. Am I asking for trouble with that? The cable would be running alongside other power and data cables for at least 1/2 of its run.

Something like this:

And then if I add a right-angle adaptor on the USB B end, is that tempting fate too much?

In case it matters, it's a Brother HL-L2360DW B&W laser printer.

Any special reason why you aren’t just using it on wi-fi?
 
Any special reason why you aren’t just using it on wi-fi?
Sort of. I've never had luck with using any printer wirelessly, except at work. Incredibly buggy, at best. Like...I'd be generous if I said it worked 20% of the time. But I've not attempted with this printer. I've also tried the Brother printing app on my phone, and the print quality sooooooo compressed, it would be like playing Doom Eternal at 640x480. Any text smaller than 11pt was an unreadable pixelated mess.

I haven't read the whole manual, but I saw that it supported Google Cloud Print (which is no longer supported), and Apple's AirPrint (we don't have any apple products). I also saw a few other setup processes in the manual that all started with "Insert the included CD-ROM" and I don't have either the disc or a drive, and I just didn't want to have to do through that whole work-around.

I don't have a router in this room. I could add another mesh hub in the room for about $70, but with my checkered past with wireless printing, I thought maybe wired was more of a sure thing, if the cable length wasn't an issue.

And really, I'm only, like, 6 ft away from the PC, but I have to go a specific path from a height adjustable desk where the PC is hung under it on the opposite side of the desk, and trying to keep the cable hidden by following the edges of a shelf/side table, and leaving slack for the height adjustment.
 
Who reads a manual or runs a CD for installing a network printer? :LOL:Just click a couple of buttons in the printer settings in macos/windows and that’s that. Doesn’t matter what make or model it is as long as it’s made this century.

I have a brother printer and it works really well on the network. I’ve never even tried it on USB. Right now it’s wired because i want to run my home network on WPA3 and we’ll probably be on WPA7 by the time Brother or any other printer manufacturer starts supporting WPA3, so wired it is.

It wouldn’t even need software if it just was a printer, but it’s a multifunction device so it needs an app for scanning. The “software download” for Mac for it is just a tiny file that basically is a link to the Brother scanning app on the mac app store. I really like this. I don’t know what the windows version is like but they seem to take software seriously unlike most printer manufacturers.
 
Speaking of WPA3, and speaking of printers too by the way.

I have an old Lenovo laptop at home at the moment, running a fresh install of Windows 10 with all the updates on offer. It doesn’t know what to do with my WPA3 wi-fi.

I just tried booting Linux Mint from a thumbdrive. It booted straight into the desktop environment, could access my WPA3 home network just fine and the first thing it did after connecting was to throw up a little notification that it had found my Brother network printer.
 
I just ordered a new router due to a kids party next door that happened over the weekend. Because of all of the devices, my router kept dropping out. When it was over, it was back to normal.


I wanted a 3 band router, but they are a ludicrous amount of money. I merely spent a ridiculous amount. At least it has wi-fi 6.
 
My quality of life has improved a lot since I got my pair of tri-band Orbis. I don’t have a big flat but I still had dead zones. Now everything works like it should.

My parking spot even gets reliable coverage instead of “i’m on wifi, but fuck you if you think you are getting any bits through it”

I just don’t like how the companion app thinks it’s the most important thing in my life ever, pushing notifications about this and that instead of staying out of my way.
 
My boss and I swapped cars for a day as he needed to carry some equipment to a trade show and a wagon was more practical than his Jetta GLI. Fine by me although he needs tires hella bad, anyways.

So when I rent a car, barrow somebody else's, or whatever, I try and play more oddball music that I have because "the sound system never played this song before, the speakers never moved in this way." Think of it like drawing or walking through fresh snow. You're the one who made those tracks first. That's how I see it when playing certain music, sounds, playing a movie on a tv or playing a game in a pc for the first time. The screen, speakers, cpu never worked in that formation previously most likely. I doubt my boss is a huge fan of Little Big or Salvatore Ganacci.
 
What are your thoughts about the new iPhone? I feel like there's not much of a difference to the iPhone 12.
 
What are your thoughts about the new iPhone? I feel like there's not much of a difference to the iPhone 12.

It's the 2021 Haas F1 car of phones.
 
What are your thoughts about the new iPhone? I feel like there's not much of a difference to the iPhone 12.

That's the general vibe of virtually every review I've seen. No need upgrading from 12. This should have been a 12s, not a 13. There's no real "killer app" for 98% of phone users that would be compelling enough to upgrade from 12.
 
What are your thoughts about the new iPhone? I feel like there's not much of a difference to the iPhone 12.
It's more of a 12S than a 13. Not much point in upgrading from a 12, but a decent upgrade from earlier phones. But then again, a 12 is still a decent upgrade from an earlier iPhone.
 
It's more of a 12S than a 13. Not much point in upgrading from a 12, but a decent upgrade from earlier phones. But then again, a 12 is still a decent upgrade from an earlier iPhone.
Similarly, the 12 was missing too many rumored features for me to upgrade from my X last year... so this year the 13 ticked a few more boxes, so here we go :D

edit: I feel like the 12 was perceived much more of a new phone vs the previous models because of the design change, while the actual insides / features weren't all that much improved or added to. but to be fair, what bores me might be a huge change for someone else, it's all fairly subjective.
 
What are your thoughts about the new iPhone? I feel like there's not much of a difference to the iPhone 12.
It’s definitely an iPhone 12s, I don’t feel like it’s worth upgrading just for the better camera and chip, since I already have the 12 mini. However, if you are in the market for the 13 Pro or Pro Max, then maybe as the camera improvements are much bigger there, and they have added the most over hyped feature ever in the “phoniverse”, 120hz refresh rate (aka. Pro Motion in Apple speak). I honestly don’t see the difference, even reviewers, have to film the device in slow motion for it to be visible.

If you are on something older than the iPhone X, then it will definitely be big upgrade, and knowing Apple it will last you a very long time, as the iPhone 6s (and original SE) is still supported in iOS 15. Also, if you like decently sized phones, the 13 mini may be your last chance to get a current phone design as that form factor is rumored to be discontinued with the iPhone 14 next year.
 
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