This article is a work-in-progress, please come back and refresh. Shop for the Ring Stick Up Cam on Amazon. If you find value in the article and/or video below, please consider using one of these links when buying your own Ring Stick Up Cam, available in black or white with wired, solar, and…
If you find value in the article and/or video below, please consider using one of these links when buying your own Ring Alarm Home Security System, available now on Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from (non-affiliate-link) ring.com. My first Ring products were the Ring Video Doorbell and the Ring…
Pricing subject to change depending upon the airport pair chosen, and the weekday chosen. This is just one example. I recently had two days of last-minute back-to-back business commitments where the only viable way to get from the my hometown airport BDL (Hartford CT) to PIT (Pittsburgh PA) was a…
In case you hadn't spotted this yet, Ring made an announcement on their blog: #AlwaysHome, Even from Your Desktops May 02 2016 by Yul at Ring featuring a nice functionality overview of the free apps, and download links for the Windows and Mac App stores. I've been using the Windows version on…
This article will be updated, with additions below this original article, and closing thoughts at the end, the arrival of 1080p cloud recordings, and my podcast guest appearance video. Firmware 1.0.50 that arrived on May 6th does seem to resolve issues I was having, along with moving from a 16 volt…
Backstory Ever since VMware's ESXi 5.1, you've been able to attach a variety of USB devices to your VMs. Those devices were attached to either the server the VM is running on, or the client connecting to the VM. See also at TinkerTry: Click to read reviews or buy at Amazon. ESXi 5.1 has USB 3.0…
If you've followed TinkerTry for a while, you'll note that I'm a bit of an LED bulb fiend. Always on the lookout for an efficient 60 or 75 watt equivalent A19 bulb that has a CRI of 90 or above, a color temperature between 2700K and 2900K, and a price below $10. Yeah, I know, it's a tall order,…
[June 3 2015 Update - please revisit this page and press Ctrl+F5 to refresh, since many additions are being made below this original article.] Ok, now this looks more interesting than the little Hub II ever did. Apple Homekit-enabled. Easier to set schedules. Extended RF range, using a mere 2…
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials is GA for about a year now. It's the evolution of products that originated with Windows Home Server back in late 2007, which was based on 32 bit Window 2003. It's now based on the very capable Windows Server 2012 R2, with a streamlined interface reminiscent of its…
Back in early September 2014, I found myself scrambling to prepare for a month long work trip to Germany. A good situation to be in, but I also wanted to be darn sure I could get my work done on weekday evenings, and my play done on weekends. Given I'm from the US and hadn't been to Europe in…
This 16 channel DOCIS 3.0 cable modem shows promise, but will it deliver? Right now, it has a decent price at Best Buy, locally or online, on sale for $129.99 until Saturday, November 15th. My local Best Buy sold out their dozen or so SB6183s in 2 days actually. On Amazon, there's 68 customer…
Galaxy S5/Lumia 930/iPhone 6 Plus, ProClip holders ProClip USA makes holders for many types of phones, including Android, Windows Phone, and iPhone. I happen to personally have experience with their iPhone holders. I have no affiliation with ProClip USA, I'm just a consumer, who bought mine like…
With all this GPU power we have these days, you'd think we'd all have smooth scrolling, where you can actually read the text as it glides up the page. Turns out we all can, with the right mouse and the right software. Sure wish I upgraded to a better mouse wheel years ago! Then again, it…
I traveled for work. For years. Decades actually. Been to about 30 of these 50 United States, usually for 3-5 day trips, often confirmed the week before. That lifestyle sure made volunteering for things like giving blood a challenge, canceling most of my appointments last minute. My personal…
When speaking publicly, it's certainly handy to be able to show a live demo of a smartphone or tablet, on the projected image. It's also best to not have to assume anything about the facility you'll be presenting at, if possible, relying instead on USB cables that'll also serve to keep your gear…
This site has grown to 4.9GB of data. Not something you'd want to backup directly to my own home anymore, using something like SFTP, tying up my web host, and bandwidth, for hours. The blogVault WordPress Plugin connects your blog to the $9 monthly backup service. The first backup is full, and from…
Disappointing Aug 04 2017 Update - 3 years later, all within the last 3 months, trouble began. Two of my D-Link DGS-1024A 24 port switches started to give me issues, with networking stopping entirely two separate times. A quick power cycle recovered the network, but not my confidence. A few weeks…
For years, I've been seeking a reliable way to be alerted to calendar events on my iPhone. One of the drawback with iOS has been the default calendar's behavior, where an event may bet set to trigger an alert or two before or at the start time of some personal or professional appointment that…
This is not a sponsored blog post. My extended family has purchased 7 of the various PFCLCD models since 2012, and it's gone well, with just one battery replacement needed so far. I've found them to be very easy to install and configure at friends and family homes. Without a PC, and without a…
Rear view of Headset May 3, 2015 Update - I have come up with a $140 solution with much better sound, documented here. Original article appears below. Noise Suppression Stereo Headphones with Bluetooth Controls (4 item shopping cart) I often find myself searching for a device that nobody seems…
Why would I look seriously at a $36 gas can from Amazon that's apparently not available anywhere locally, despite being made in the USA? Safety first, which we'll return to in a minute. Then there's lack of any shipping cost with Amazon Prime. Even slightly less expensive options like…
Available at homedepot.com: Cree 13.5-Watt (60W) Soft White (2700K) TW Series Dimmable LED Light Bulb (6-Pack) My quest for the "perfect" 60 watt light bulb replacement goes back a few years. Like many other tech bloggers before me, I find myself obsessed with finding cool-running…
If you have a TiVo Premiere or TiVo Roamio, the Nov 14 announced TiVo Slide Pro Remote has finally begun shipping, and is available for order at tivo.com here. Mine arrived today. How to decide if you're interested in spending about $50 for this upgrade? Well, some pictures will help, so you can…
In the last few weeks, I've had intermittent internet issues, where the speed would drop to about 1Mbps down and 0.1Mbps up for a few minutes at a time. Checking into my cable modem's log files, I could tell Cox (US cable provider) what times I was affected, as we tried to get closer to a solution.…
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technology in the IT Pro's home. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014-2019, Veeam Vanguard 2015-2019.
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