5 October 2021 | Computers, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Programming |
Chrome 94 was recently released with a new feature: Idle Detection.
Specifically, there’s a new JavaScript API called IdleDetector. It reports two things to the JS code of the web page you’re viewing: keyboard/mouse activity, and if your screen is locked or not.
Much has been said about the diabolical nature of this new capability in Chrome…
Thing is, while we can be forgiven for doubting Google’s motives in adding this feature, it just so happens that Idle Detection is actually quite safe – and useful!
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14 September 2021 | Computers, How Does it Work?, Programming |
WebRTC is pretty cool. It allows any web browser to make voice and video calls to any other browser – no extra software required!
The problem is that while there are tons of guides and gobs of sample code out there, nobody really explains how it works.
The end result is that you program away, and then discover that OOPS! It’s not connecting…
So, let’s see how to make WebRTC actually work!
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7 September 2021 | Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video, Wireless Wonderland |
Ah, 5G… It’s a mixture of new technologies, the most “interesting” being mmWave, or millimeter wave.
If you’re wondering if a particular phone actually HAS mmWave, good luck figuring it out.
Even worse, in most areas it’s darn near impossible to find out what flavor of 5G is being used: Is it mmWave, or not?!
Good luck with that one, too.
And to top it all off, it doesn’t really matter anyway because even official government bodies are really looking at 5G and EXISTING wireless tech, and starting to get worried…
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10 August 2021 | Energy, How Does it Work?, Video |
Common wisdom dictates that you’re supposed to use your air conditioning in a certain way.
Let it warm up during the day or when you’re not at home. If you’re really hot, turn it way, WAY down and it’ll magically cool faster!
How you use your A/C depends on who you listen to… And on that front, you probably want to listen to the people who design, install, and maintain A/C.
Because while scientific theories are great, practical realities back down here on Earth are better!
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27 July 2021 | Computers, How Does it Work? |
When I watch a movie on my NVIDIA SHIELD TV, the Kodi media player conveniently lets me download subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org if the file doesn’t have any.
It’s pretty handy!
But then when I want to watch that same file in VLC media player on my laptop, well… No subtitles!
What to do, what to do?
It turns out VLC has your subtitle needs covered, and you probably didn’t even know it…
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15 June 2021 | Computers, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Networking, Video |
Even if you don’t know the term ‘phishing scam’, chances are you’ve already been targeted by many of them.
A phishing scam is when someone uses a genuine-looking e-mail, login page, SMS, or whatever to fool you into giving up personal data – like logins, passwords, card and banking info, etc.
They often involve some kind of ‘hook’ that makes you worried or scared. When that happens, you stop thinking and fall into the trap.
But these scams are very easy to avoid with a bit of extra attention. I’ll show an example of a phishing scam I received recently and then take it apart piece by piece so that next time, you’ll know exactly what to look for to protect yourself!
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18 May 2021 | How Does it Work?, Video, Wireless Wonderland |
Most people probably don’t even notice the actual speed of their internet connection. If it ‘goes fast’, they’re happy.
What many folks don’t realize is that they may be wasting a large chunk of their very high speed net connection.
If you use even newer flavors of WiFi, chances are you aren’t taking full advantage of the connection you’re paying for! Heck, even with Ethernet, your download speeds may be lower than you think.
So, how do you tell?
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20 April 2021 | How Does it Work?, Networking, Video |
When it comes to privacy on the internet, the new word on the street is ‘FLoC’.
Led by Google, a group of businesses and advertisers is pushing a new standard that would have your browser identifying your particular group of interests by a unique ID number.
This number will be sent to all sites you visit. VOILA! No more 3rd party cookies, and supposedly more privacy!
Of course, there’s the marketing mumbo jumbo and then there’s the reality of the situation.
So: What is FLoC? How does it work? And most importantly: Will it improve your privacy??
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6 April 2021 | Energy, Gizmos, How Does it Work?, Video |
Microwave ovens that you use to cook food operate at a frequency of 2.45 GHz.
This is the same radio band where one finds WiFi, Bluetooth, and so on.
So, why is everything lumped into this one chunk of the frequency spectrum? Is there something particularly magical about 2.4 GHz?
It turns out that there is a common misconception about this frequency and water.
The truth, however, is far more mundane…
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23 March 2021 | How Does it Work?, Video |
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are all the rage these days.
All we hear is how Bitcoin has smashed another record high, cryptos are the future, don’t miss this train, etc.
The question is: How do you know what you’re getting yourself into? Many people are talking of using their stimulus check to buy into Bitcoin, for example.
While there is a lot of talk about blockchains and cryptos, actual simple explanations of what they are and how they work are hard to come by.
How do you understand this stuff WITHOUT getting lost in a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo?
Well, it’s really not that complicated in the end…
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Chrome 94 was recently released with a new feature: Idle Detection.
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