Show all posts by user

Re: BestBuy irritations - Today

When I need something from Best Buy, I order online for store pick-up....the store is 2 miles away from me, but this way I don't go in any further than the front counter.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Woot.com - are they dependable and is it worth buying from them? - 3 days ago

Same experience as August West. They’re a former indie liquidator now owned by Amazon.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Need recommendation for metric and numeral drill bit sets - 18 days ago

What kind of metal? Cobalt drill bits from the local big box store work for me for drilling through metal of the level of red iron structural framing for metal storage buildings.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Luxury Vinyl Planking and office chairs… - 20 days ago

Quotegraylocks are skateboard casters the ones with roller blade type wheels? Yes - but for whatever reason many retailers have them listed as skateboard casters rather than roller blade casters.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Luxury Vinyl Planking and office chairs… - 20 days ago

Mine were a pack of 5 casters for about $25 at the time from a local hardware store. Amazon has a broad selection.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Luxury Vinyl Planking and office chairs… - 20 days ago

I have an Aeron with aftermarket skateboard casters. No problem.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Luxury Vinyl Planking and office chairs… - 20 days ago

What kind of wheels? Get skateboard casters for your office chairs (if you don't already have them)

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Cloud voicemail system with multiple mailboxes? - 20 days ago

Ringcentral should/used to have this feature...I at one point had a Ringcentral extension account set up so that it had a "for hours, press 1", "for prices, press 2" and so on hierarchy of announcements. It might be easier to talk to one of their account people than figure it out from their online support documents. My Ringcentral line forwards to a call center now so I hav

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: [ignore] Select Lowe's Stores: EGO Power+ 42" 56V Zero-turn Mower w/ 4x 10Ah Batteries & Charger, 63% OFF - 25 days ago

Bet that some will show up on eBay/Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace in the next few days.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

For those who need a Windows device - Woot listings today - 25 days ago

For those who need an occasional Windows device.....Woot has a ton of refurbished HP, Dell, and Lenovo devices listed today. I run a HP EliteDesk Mini for my small business Windows-only apps. Physical footprint is very similar to my Apple M1 Mini. Example: A HP Mini with Windows 11 Pro, 16GB RAM/512TB SSD for $260.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Cheapest way to Stream NFL games? - 4 weeks ago

As far as I have been able to find, there is no “cheap” way to stream NFL. But in my market, tonight’s game was on the local Fox affiliate….available over the air or on cable.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Really glad that no one took my recommendation of a big lithium battery kit I posted about a couple of months ago [looong rant] - 6 weeks ago

Quotehal yes - those are temp sensors QuoteJohn B. ....so was there an option to buy similar batteries from a non-eBay seller? Based on your experience on this one, if you were to do it again in the future would you seek out a US-based battery distributor, or bought from Amazon with an item that showed "fulfilled by Amazon" on the listing? this was not an ebay purchase. I purchased

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Really glad that no one took my recommendation of a big lithium battery kit I posted about a couple of months ago [looong rant] - 6 weeks ago

....so was there an option to buy similar batteries from a non-eBay seller? Based on your experience on this one, if you were to do it again in the future would you seek out a US-based battery distributor, or bought from Amazon with an item that showed "fulfilled by Amazon" on the listing?

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: What's wrong with this picture? - 6 weeks ago

The “Compact Disc” logo? Probably a reassurance for the buyer that this device would work to connect their portable CD player to their car’s cassette deck. .

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Which Ring Door Bell? - 7 weeks ago

Like Michael, I originally had Ring cameras that trickle charged the internal batteries from the existing transformer wiring. They worked 90% (or better) of the time….but I live in a locale that gets cold for part of the winter, and I found that on “really cold” nights the trickle charge from the transformer couldn’t keep up with the power consumption/ambient temperature loss and the came

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: What is your oldest piece of Apple stil in regular usage? With pics! - 7 weeks ago

Plug-in AirPort Express to use as an Music/iTunes source for a stereo system AirPort Extreme with WAP disabled as one of my 2 Time Machine targets iPod Classic/120 (refreshed with new battery and flash drive) All of my MacOS, iOS, iPadOS devices are current-OS-version supported

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Apple reportedly developing new smart home doorbell with support for Face ID - 8 weeks ago

Quotechopper I'm not paying a monthly fee for it. My neighbor is young, dumb and full of .... he has the top level Ring cameras and all the add-ons. His monthly service fee, according to his wife, is over $85. Just for his doorbell cam. I kinda call shenanigans on this…..but Ring does have a virtual security guard service for $99/month (current price). So that’s a little more than “

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Network Question: IP range - 8 weeks ago

Quotespecial QuoteC(-)ris You can go up to .254. Why though? It doesn't look like you are using many leases? OCD. I want as many IP addresses as possible. Why not 255? is that reserved for something? Also I am thinking to use .2 to .200 for DHCP and leave .201-.254 for fixed IPs like Pi-hole, NAS server, etc. That's what you're doing, but in reverse. The fixed IP devices in your cur

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Longer run for internet.... Coax or Ethernet - 2 months ago

QuoteN-OS X-tasy! Quotemattkime Depends upon your need for speed - I'd run at least Cat6A Hm, I guess it would be unusual to run anything rated higher. Anything higher than Cat 6A is meant for use in data centers. Cat 6 is rated for 10 Gbps up to 55 meters and would work well for OP’s stated scenario. Cat 6 will certainly work....Cat 5e will also support the speeds the OP is talki

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Longer run for internet.... Coax or Ethernet - 2 months ago

If you don't have existing coax (to use MoCA adapters), run Ethernet.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: on-demand water heater intermittent at kitchen sink - 2 months ago

If you pull/pry the washer out (picture 2), the cartridge will probably fall out.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: I've about had it - 2 months ago

Several here are expressing sympathy for change. I've never tried a USB adapter on a keyboard, but it sounds like you may need to try another (different) one. I can positively confirm that Apple Music on a Mac does not require an Internet connection to play local copies of music (ripped from CDs or other). When I saw this thread, I unplugged the Ethernet connection to my Mac mini and Music

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: You recognize yesterday's midtown Manhattan shooter from surveillance video - 2 months ago

You can identify a murderer and you wouldn't turn them in? Are you kidding me? My full thoughts on this (and even starting a poll to debate it) would probably get me tossed for targeted profanity in a post.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: M4 Mac mini order cancelled, Dell S2721QS monitor returned, back to square one - 2 months ago

(2) plain vanilla Asus 24" monitors here running at 1920x1080. HDMI connections to a M1 Mini. Sonoma 14.6.1. Works fine. This forum has a disproportionally high percentage of users who continue to run 10+ year old machines as daily drivers.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: Anyone care to aid and abet? - 2 months ago

Mac DVD Ripper Pro (MDRP) has a 5-DVD free trial version

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: M4 Mac mini order cancelled, Dell S2721QS monitor returned, back to square one - 2 months ago

I'm with Gareth about the power button. I can count on one hand (with fingers left over) how many times in an average year I interact with the power button on my M1 Mini.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: need recommendations for padlocks that can handle weather - 2 months ago

I own a self storage facility. 1. Lubricate the locks once or twice a year - quick spray of teflon dry lube or similar. 2. I have Abus-branded overlocks that are approaching 30 years old if you're looking for a brand name. 3. I resell Chateau-brand locks from my lock vending machine. Minimal complaints, the only recurring pattern I would be able to see are people who don't insert the key int

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: need recommendations for padlocks that can handle weather - 2 months ago

Quotehal QuoteTLB I've regularly used the disk style with retractable shackle outdoors with no failures. those seem to be the consensus winner - damned expensive, but... You can get disk locks for less than $15. Home Depot has several for between $15-$20.

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: tell me how to buy a tv - 2 months ago

Where is the mount point relative to the treadmill. My treadmill is in an alcove with the wall 3’ in front of my running position…..so a 32” TV mounted to the wall right in front of me works fine - and the internal speakers are still loud enough to overcome the treadmill noise. Further away, you might need a soundbar or headphones. Content comes from an OTA antenna and a Roku w/ various

by John B. - Tips and Deals

Re: 65" TCL S4 Series 4K UHD Smart Roku TV + Free S/H $228 - 2 months ago

It seems like most of the people interviewed in that Techhive article were more mad because they had lost their Roku remote and didn’t have a way to hit “accept” on the pop-up than they were about the terms they were accepting. From that perspective I’m sticking with my preference of keeping the “streaming” as a separate box, rather than built into the TV.

by John B. - Tips and Deals