Show all posts by user

Re: considering some window tint on a car. DIY or go to a shop? - Yesterday

Clay, Bring your vehicle to a pro and call it done. Although you _could_ DYI the job, I think if you gave it a try, it'd be like trying to run the NYC Marathon backwards in high heels with two sprained ankles. And, the level of profanity involved would put to shame all of the sailors in the US Navy (active and retired!) and then some. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: ug, apple leather iphone case isn't very good - Yesterday

Matt, I've had that model case on my 11 Pro since April 2020. It's been excellent despite taking a beating. I've used it with a Maxboost Screen Protector for Apple iPhone Xs & iPhone X & iPhone 11 Pro. Great combination. Just cracked the screen protector. Due to a combination of clutziness and butterfingers, a big honkin' set of keys hit the top of the phone and chipped the very edg

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Pigeons - 2 days ago

Wurm, And, here, in NY, I thought they started as rats in sewers and mutated upon birth into pigeons. Or, is it the other way around... Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Router died . . . - 2 days ago

mspace, Are you using the router or modem-router provided by your ISP? If so, contact them for a free replacement. All bets are off if you're using your own router. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. - 2 days ago

cbelt, I concur with Racer. A dashcam isn't the answer. The vast majority work while driving and/or in the event of an impact while the vehicle is parked. They aren't going to record if the vehicle is sitting there and someone walks buy it, sneaks up on it, etc. Even then, if one has a feature that records in the manner that will work in your situation, you need to be careful that it doesn't s

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Micron intros 1.5TB microSD card - 3 days ago

kj, High capacity cards brings to mind an idea I've been planning to test. My older model MBPr - I've got two of them - each has a low-profile microSD card carrier in it. Both carriers have fast 400GB chips in them. I've always wondered if I could use a microSD card in one of them as a boot drive. Think using the main SSD as the boot drive and a microSD card as an emergency recovery drive.

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Wet ceiling in my Birmingham condo - who should be responsible for assessing and remediation? - 4 days ago

Stephen, KEep a very close eye on it. Moisture is a sign of a problem. You should not be seeing moisture at all inside your home, even in that area. That the building isn't worried about it is irrelevant. The question is whether or not there is actually a leak that requires repair and whether or not you should have it fixed properly. I'd have it fixed properly _now_ while it's a minor issue be

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Civil forfeiture is crazy. Why does it still exist? - 7 days ago

Deusx, And, If John totaled that 1977 Pontiac while driving alone and still hadn't paid off the loan he and Tina took out to pay for it, they (both John and Tina) would still have to pay off the loan. Robert

by Robert M - 'Friendly' Political Ranting

Re: Wet ceiling in my Birmingham condo - who should be responsible for assessing and remediation? - 8 days ago

Joe, Yup. It's similar with co-ops. Typically. There are some exceptions but typically, the building corporation is responsible for public areas, the exterior of the building and/or anything within the walls or the floor. Brick exterior? Building corp. Fire escape? Building corp. Pipe below the floor? Building corp. If it's inside the apartment and visible to the shareholder, it's the sharehol

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Omni Man vs Superman - 8 days ago

Blanky, SPOILER Nope. One good guy. One bad guy. Big guns. 'course, if they're going to do this, you may as well throw Homelander and One-Punch Man (SAITAMA) into the mix: Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Wet ceiling in my Birmingham condo - who should be responsible for assessing and remediation? - 8 days ago

Stephen, Water takes the path of least resistance. It sounds to me like the water is entering from the outside of the building and making its way to that location. Since there is nothing plumbing related in that spot, it is almost certainly coming from outside of the building. That makes it a building issue. Insist both management and the Condo board take action. They need to find the sourc

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Favorite dock for 2.5” and 3.5” drives? - 10 days ago

Hi everyone, I ended up going for the OWC model. I realize a USB 3.2 or USB 4 model might be released in the near future but, considering it'll be used primarily with platter drives, that's not a huge concern. The max capabilities will barely be taxed even when used with a 2.5" SSD. It came down to build quality, OWC's always excellent tech support and supporting our sponsor. I decided th

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Favorite dock for 2.5” and 3.5” drives? - 13 days ago

Favorite dock for 2.5” and 3.5” drives? Hi everyone, I’ve got a bunch of platter mechanisms with data on it. They range from 320GB to 3TB. All work fine, despite some of them being rather aged. I need to easily access the data to determine whether or not I need to keep it. That and to access archived data stored on them. Currently, I have a basic USB 3.0 drive dock that’s working

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Replacement ink cartridges for HP 9020-eBay? Remanufactured - 14 days ago

Anon, Don’t, Stick with OEM cartridges. Too many people I know tried aftermarket carts in their Officejet Pro 860x0 and 90x0 models and killed the print head. And replacing the print head is expensive. Better off buying OEM and use coupons and discount codes to reduce the price. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: 2015 MB is being replaced by 2020 M1 MBA-any reasons not to? - 14 days ago

Rob, The batteries in both of those machines are replaceable. Not necessarily the easiest to replace because they are glued into the machine but it's definitely doable and not that expensive. Same goes for the SSD. You can replace it with either a new SSD with the proprietary connector from OWC or with a cheap Sintech adapter and an off-the-shelf NVME M.2 SSD. Even a battery and replacement SS

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: disappointing customer service from Harmattan Leather - 16 days ago

Todd's, Unlikely and, honestly, based on the product, unrealistic. From the perspective of a business owner, I agree with their response. They sell the complete buckle, not the components of the buckle. If Nordstroms repairs products, they might quote you a price for the repair. More likely, they'll tell you to contact the manufacturer (Harmattan), a leather/shoe/bag/luggage repair company who

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: disappointing customer service from Harmattan Leather - 16 days ago

Todd's I think you're being unfair to Harmattan. The information you're asking for is likely proprietary and and isn't something given out to the public. Nothing out of the ordinary. FWIW, I doubt they actually assemble the buckles themselves. Likely, they have a 3rd party company actually producing the buckles as finished pieces. They just assemble them to the belt and ship it out the door

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Full size 5.25" USB Optical Drive? Albatross? - 16 days ago

Buzz, This is the LG slimline model I bought. Model # GP70NS50. Pricses vary. Officesupply.com is on the low side. May do better elsewhere and if you use discount codes. 'course, there are also competitors for much less that might be more than sufficient for the job, too. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Full size 5.25" USB Optical Drive? Albatross? - 17 days ago

Buz, Just took a looksie at the burner. It's a Pioneer in the OWC 5-1/4" enclosure, connected to my '19 iMac via a Firewire 400 to Firewire 800 cable, in turn connected to a Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt dongle in turn connected to a Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt 3 dongle. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Full size 5.25" USB Optical Drive? Albatross? - 18 days ago

Buzz, Crazy as it sounds. I have an old 5-1/4" Pioneer DVD burner in an OWC 5-1/4" Firewire enclosure. Still use it with a 2019 iMac via a firewire to Thunderbolt adapter. The burner has been used with various Macs over the years. I needed a solution to use it with a non-firewire Mac and, rather than spend $30 on a cheap no-name subpar USB burner that may or may not work as well, I

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: terro traps - again - 19 days ago

Hi everyone, A common issue in this thread (and other threads about getting rid of insect pests is nobody mentions which specific product they're using for the task. In this thread, about Terro products and ants, is a good example of the issue. Terro produces a slew of products for killing ants ranging from liquid baits, granular bait to aerosol and various sprays. Each serves a different p

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: terro traps - again - 19 days ago

Ombligo, Depends on which type of Terro product. Even if it is the type of bait ants take back to the nest to kill the nest, if they keep returning, the product isn’t doing the job. It’s time to switch products and/or use a professional pesticide or bring in a professional. I get my gear from . Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: terro traps - again - 19 days ago

Hi everyone, It sounds like the Terro traps resolved a symptom of the problem. Meaning, it killed the ants coming in each summer. You still have an ant problem, which you won't solve by treating its symptoms. You need to use an appropriate pesticidal bait system that the ants will take back to the nest. That way, you'll kill off the source of the problem, i.e. kill the workers and queen(s). Do

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: She got an STD during car sex. Now, Geico could pay her $5.2 million. - 19 days ago

Bill, The fact that he is STD positive and runs around having unprotected sex might actually create an issue for the woman if she is putting the claim into his policy. An insurance company will deny the claim if he was aware of the STD and still had unprotected sex. Much in the same way an insurance company will deny a fire-related claim if you failed to make sure the smoke detectors in your h

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Follow up: Update to Catalina gone wrong; can't boot from external SSD - 19 days ago

Peter, Nope. You absolutely can choose an APFS formatted external ssd as a boot drive via Startup Disc in System Preferences under Mojave. At home, I have a 2019 imac 5K 27” and do it. Same at my office on an identical machine and on a 2014 imac. Also on a 2013 MBPr 15” and 2015 MBPr 13”. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Looking for a Google Voice workaround - 20 days ago

Wurm, You can't do it via email. As far as I know, none exists since they have nothing to do with Google Voice. It's like asking the Google Voice app about flagging and blocking a spammer from sending you email. If you want to flag a call as spam and block the caller, you have to do it within the Google Voice app or in the Google Voice section of Google's web site. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Disgusting Roaches! - 21 days ago

btfc, The first article is behind a paywall. Robert

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Property line survey fun with back neighbor. With pic. WWYD? - 21 days ago

D4, Agree with Anonymous1. If you've confirmed the fence (and possibly pavers and a portion of the garden) are in fact on your property, then it could be an issue in the future whether they or you sell. Same goes for if anything happens to the fence and it needs replacement. In that situation, you'd want to make sure the new fence (and anything else) is on your neighbor's side of the property.

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Some of the features you luddite Intel using Mac users won't see in macOS Ventura - 21 days ago

Anonymous1, Live captions sounds interesting and possibly useful but that remains to be seen. The other two features? Nah. I doubt that many people actually use sidecar in general and reference mode would only be useful to that limited club and emoji support in dictation doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I barely use dictation in the first place (since dictation is unreliable) and emojis whi

by Robert M - Tips and Deals

Re: Moving to a 2TB NVME SSD in a Thunderbolt 3 box from a 1TB NVME SSD in a USB 3.1 Gen 2 box... (Long Post) - 22 days ago

Anonymous1, Just backed up the Inland Performance 2TB SSD in the Envoy Express to the Inland Premium 1TB SSD in the Sabrent USB 3.1 Gen 2 box. 763GB. Total clone time 65 minutes. I doubt the additional 13GB of data impacted the transfer time more than a minute or so. The difference is likely due to the speed of the SSD in the Sabrent box and possibly even the Sabrent box itself, which is an ol

by Robert M - Tips and Deals