I’ve been tinkering with the smart home for the better part of a decade now. The love-her-and-hate-her Amazon Alexa has ruled the roost with a rusty iron fist the whole time, the only device capable of bringing the different pieces I bought together. Homebridge is a free tool that is changing that for me.
I never intended to become Archie Bunker. But, he had a point: the old LeSalle ran great. Things of the past did, because they were easily repairable. In an age of disposable everything, working with something old is a reminder of that.
A couple of years ago, Metadot released the Das Keyboard 6 Professional and the MacTigr in short succession. I’ve previously reviewed the Mac-centric MacTigr, and liked it, but what about the more “normal” successor to the Das Keyboard line? Let’s take the 6 Pro for a “test type.”
Apple created a lot of stir with the advertisement for its new generation iPad Pro. The shocking video shows a huge variety of things we love, including musical instruments and artistic tools, being crushed by a cold, dark metal press. Is Apple admitting its apocalyptic agenda?
A couple of years ago, I reviewed the uniquely styled, crowdfunded Epomaker B21, one of my favorite keyboards despite and, to an extent, because of its quirks. They followed it up with the B67, another keyboard that marches to its own drummer to delightful effect, quirks and all.
Since I first traded WordPerfect for Microsoft Word in the 1990s, I’ve never been able to get away from it. Every once in a while I’ll find something else to try, but iA Writer might be the first one to stick.
When you write about an ongoing project it’s always risky that it’ll go south afterward. My attempt to link my home and office together with Netmaker last week had such a southerly flow.
With freezing temperatures nearing, I started the annual pilgrimage of my plants. Armed with past success overwintering geraniums, peppers and various other non-hardy plants, I wanted to up my game. A little talked about Wyze accessory to add a smarts to a grow light is at the center of my plan.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2006 and Twitter since 2009. I decidedly don’t quit social networks because I decide this or that moderation policy isn’t leaning in my political direction. But, as of a week ago, I joined the push for a relatively new alternative social network, Mastodon, and I hope you will too.
My good friend and fellow OFB writer Dennis E. Powell and I met years ago on a group that championed Free/Open Source software, much for the same sorts of reasons he advocates for his new phone configuration over Apple’s offerings. OFB itself was founded, in fact, to promote such open software, especially Linux, so why would I defend locked down systems from Apple? That’s a story that started 19 years ago, before the iPhone even existed.