AOL update

AOL, the internet pioneer that introduced millions of Americans to the web in the 1990s, will discontinue its dial-up internet service on September 30. The company announced this decision after more than three decades of operation. The decision to end dial-up service marks the end of an era for AOL, once known as America Online.

Despite the widespread adoption of broadband and wireless internet, AOL maintained its dial-up service, which connects users to the internet via a landline. According to the 2023 US Census, approximately 160,000 people still use this method to access the internet.

AOL's dial-up service was a cultural icon in the 1990s, known for its distinctive connection sounds and the famous "You've Got Mail" notification. However, the company has since diminished in prominence, with its popular messaging service, AIM, shutting down in 2017. AOL, now owned by a private equity firm that also owns Yahoo, has undergone several ownership changes, including a notable merger with Time Warner.

Venmo and your privacy

On Apps Like Venmo, You May Be Oversharing

TECHNOLOGY

BRIAN X. CHEN

There’s an app for snooping on your friends, family and colleagues to find out about their dinners, the people they’re dating and the parties they’re attending.

But it’s not Facebook. It’s Venmo, the app that became popular more than a decade ago by enabling people to send mobile payments to one another and to post those transactions.

Even if you seldom use Venmo today, the app may be leaking sensitive information about you to the general public.

I recently discovered that my contacts list, which includes the names of people in my phone book, was published on Venmo for anyone using the app to see.

That’s because more than a decade ago, Venmo made people’s contact lists visible to its users. It created an option to hide the address book only two years ago.

Venmo is a strong example of how even as social norms shift the ways we use technology, the companies and their apps don’t change much. Venmo was founded in 2009 as a music start-up that let users buy songs from bands through a text message. By the time eBay acquired it in 2013, it had become a mobile wallet service that was trendy among younger people who were gung-ho about sharing information about themselves online.

At the time, social media was novel, and posting your thoughts, movements and achievements for everyone to know about was cutting edge, not sinister. Since then, we have learned that sharing such seemingly innocuous information can be hazardous. Stalkers, employers or data brokers can use the data to study our whereabouts and activities.

But Venmo remains an app with a strong social networking element, one of many in a generation of apps that are now nearly 15 years old.

In the early 2010s, Venmo rode the coattails of Facebook and Twitter, which brought the concept of a public timeline into the mainstream. Venmo allowed people to publicly post to a feed details of payment transactions, including the dollar amount, time, date and a description, such as a pizza or taxicab emoji.

Venmo, now owned by PayPal — which spun off from eBay in 2015 — has made some changes over the years to protect its users’ privacy. In 2021, it disabled its global feed, a stream where users could see Venmo transactions among strangers.

But critics say the app still falls short. Today, you can see transactions among people who are not your friends if you visit their profiles.

Venmo is still set by default to publicly share when you receive or make a payment. There’s an option to make the transaction private, but if you don’t notice the setting, you could unknowingly broadcast payments.

“It’s not just that I went out to pizza with this person,” said Gennie Gebhart, a managing director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digitalrights nonprofit. “It’s a pattern of who you live with, interact with and do business with, and how it changes over time.”

Last month, The Guardian discovered through a Venmo feed that an aide for Justice Clarence Thomas was taking payments from lawyers who have had business with the Supreme Court, a potential conflict of interest. The aide has since hidden his Venmo activity from public view.

Venmo said in a statement that it had worked to change its privacy measures for customers and that privacy settings could be controlled within its app. “The privacyand safety of allVenmo users is always a top priority,” the company said.

To prevent your day-to-day life from being broadcast on Venmo, click the Me tab inside the app, tap the settings icon and select Privacy. Under default privacy settings, select Private. Then, under the “More” section in Privacy, click “Past Transactions” and make sure to set that to “Change All to Private.”

Venmo has made the contacts list, which can be generated from your smartphone’s address book or your Facebook friends list, viewable to other users.

That can make a lot of information public. In 2021, my colleague Ryan Mac, who was then at BuzzFeed News, used Venmo to discover President Biden’s account and personal contacts list. Mr. Biden later deleted his Venmo account.

On a personal level, a public address book can reveal a new romantic partner to an ex. For professionals, it could expose a doctor’s patients, a journalist’s sources or a salesperson’s clients.

To hide your contacts list from public view, visit the privacy settings, click on Friends List and select Private. Also, toggle off the option for “appear in other users’ friends lists.”

All tech companies change their data-sharing features and settings over time. So take a moment to scroll through your phone and review the settings inside apps you haven’t used in a while to see if there’s something you missed.

-- New York Times (Star Advertiser, August 20, 2023, page E6)

IPTIRLLTDOTI

Pearls Before Swine, 1/30/22

Visible / Google Pixel 3a XL

Prologue (added 10/27/20): I bought a Google Pixel 3a XL phone to replace my Motorola RAZR (not the new one), but hadn't activated it yet.  I wanted to make sure that all the photos and messages were transferred over to my computer (the only way I could see to do this would be to email them to myself).  So I was just using like a mini-tablet over wi-fi, to watch videos and play games, not to make phone calls and texts.

Once this was done, I wanted to switch my carrier from T-Mobile (which I had for a long time, I originally had VoiceStream and it became T-Mobile in 2002, so it's been a while.)  I might have stayed with T-Mobile, but their reception is terrible at home with the calls often cutting in and out.  More often than not, I would have the caller call me back on my landline.  The reception is usually much better when I'm not at home.

The question was what I would switch to.  After doing some research, the choices narrowed to Mint Mobile (Ryan Reynolds' company) and Visible.  I had been paying about $24/mo (including tax -- not bad) for T-Mobile.  Mint Mobile's plan starts at $15.00 (with 3 GB of data).  Visible's plan started at $40, but you can get it down to $25 if you join a Visible Party (see below).  Mint Mobile uses the T-Mobile network, so I would probably get poor reception like before.  Visible uses the Verizon network, which is the higher rated network as far coverage.  The other main difference is that Visible gives you unlimited data.  Truly unlimited data which is not throttled after using so many GB.  That would be cool to have when I'm out of range of a wifi network and still would be able to stream video without worrying about a data cap.

[Huh.  Just noticed that my laptop has a USB 3.1 port with a USB-C connector.  So I really didn't need to buy those USB-C to USB cables to charge the phone from my laptop.  I could have been using the USB-C to USB-C cable that came with the phone all this time.  But I guess I can use both cables.  I can charge the phone with one and the tablet with the other.]

10/22/20 - Decided to sign up for Visible (on 10/20/20), which is a prepaid cell phone service owned by Verizon.  The contenders were Visible and Mint Mobile.  Visible is $40 a month while Mint Mobile is $15.  But I decided to go with Visible because they have truly unlimited data whose speed is not throttled after reaching a certain data limit.  Plus it's not really $40 if you join a Party Pay plan.  With Party Pay, the price goes down $5 for each member of the party.  A party can go up to 4 members, so it can go down as low as $25.  Which is about what I'm currently paying for T-Mobile (including tax).

Another reason I went with Visible is because they use Verizon's network, while Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile's network.  I currently use T-Mobile and I have to say their service is terrible at my home location.  A lot of times I can't hear what the other person is saying as the connection keeps cutting in and out.  It's mostly just at home and the service seems OK if I'm not at home.  I can't really say if Verizon is better at my location since I haven't used it.  Plus I'm using T-Mobile with an ancient Motorola RAZR.  So it could be that too.  I now have a Google Pixel 3a XL.  So hopefully the connection will be better at home with the Google Pixel / Visible combination.

I was going to activate the Google Pixel months earlier, but I wanted to make sure I got all the pictures out of the RAZR.  The only way I could figure to do that was by emailing the pictures, so I had to check my email to make sure all the pictures were transferred.

So I created an account on Visible, got up to entering the payment method.  Then got the message "An error occurred.  Please try again later."

I went to chat (in the lower right of the website, there's a tab that says "Chat with an Expert".  The Expert asked me what browser I was using.  I said Chrome.  Then the Expert said to try it in Private mode.  I asked how to do that.  The Expert directed me to go to Incognito mode and I tried it and it worked.  Thank you Expert.

I think the website needs work.  To check your account, you first sign in (of course).  Then if you put the cursor on your login name, the options Account and Sign Out appear under the box.  Then if you arrow down to Account, the options disappear (sometimes).  You have to click on your name, then click on Account.

Once you click on Account, the status of your account is supposed to appear in the "overview" screen.  But often it doesn't.   I've had to go to incognito mode or try Edge.  The sometimes even that doesn't work.  Then I tried Firefox and it worked.  But I didn't try again.  As I'm writing this, I'm trying again in Chrome and this time it worked.

I opened the account on October 20 and usually they try to ship the order by the next day.  The screen is currently saying "Your order is on it's way" [it should say its not it's -- another red flag].  The expected delivery is Thu, Oct 22 (which is today).  Clicking the Track Order button shows that it's being sent by FedEx and that it arrived in Honolulu at 11:11 am.  Which is odd since it's 10:42 am as I'm writing this.  Maybe it's PST?. 

The order status says Ordered Tue, October 20, Shipped Wed Oct 21, not yet out for delivery.

Next steps are to Validate email -- is verified!

Then Hang tight -- transferring number over.  It may take up to 48 hours.  Checking my email, they sent me an email thanking me for my order which was received 10/20/20 at 5:39 p.m.  It's now 10:47 a.m., so it's been about 41 hours so far. 

The next steps are to download the app and finally to install the SIM.

My next question is whether this can be done in time before my next T-Mobile bill which I think is either today or tomorrow.  If the Visible activation isn't done by today, I might wait a few days before activating it because I'll be getting billed T-Mobile for non-existent service.

Checking my account on T-Mobile, it says Due Oct 25, 2020 $24.21.  And Autopay scheduled for October 23, 2020 from Visa *******8.  I think I'll cancel the Auto-Pay to give me a couple more days.

OK, we'll see.  Looks like you have to call support to cancel the service.  I wonder if I cancel service now, the number will still be ported?  I think I'll just wait for now.

Now checking my Visible status again.  The drop down options don't appear when I mouse over my name.  Have to click my name to get the options to appear.  Then when I click Account nothing happens.

Now restarted a new browser window in Chrome.  My name doesn't appear, just a down arrow.  When I arrow over, the Account and Sign out options appear.  Clicking on Account gets me to a new page, but no status.  But now I see my name again.  But arrowing over my name doesn't give me the options.  Have to click on my name, then click on Account.  And get nothing again.

Let me switch to Edge.

I'm still signed in.  No drop down when mousing to my name.  Click then click Account.  Nope that didn't work.  Sign out.

Sign back in.  Now mousing over bring the drop-down options.  Promising.  But bring the mouse down to Account makes the options disappear.  Not promising.  But if you bring the arrow down fast, then it won't disappear.  Let's try that.  There you go.  Still says to Hang tight.  Looks like the trick is to arrow down fast before the Account option disappears.

Let's try on Chrome.  Once again, no name.  But let's try arrow down fast to Account then click.  Didn't work, but now got my name again.  But no drop-down options appear when mouse over.

Let me sign out on Chrome.  Create new incognito window.  Sign in.  Name appears.  Drop-down options appear.  Arrow down fast before the options disappear and lock on Account.  OK that worked.  Figuring it out.

[10/22/20] In the don't hold your breath department, I now read this.

"Why is it taking so long to transfer my number to Visible?

Your previous carrier must release your number so we can use it for Visible. We looked into it, and the average time for a complete porting process is 4.9 days, although many of our members have seen much shorter times. Stay tuned to your email, as we'll let you know when your port is complete and you're ready to go and thanks in advance for your patience."

OK, we'll see.  Could be another month of paying T-Mobile :(

***

So I have four more steps to go.  Receive the SIM via FedEx.  Wait for the phone number to transfer from T-Mobile.  Download the app.  Install the SIM.

I wonder if I can download the app before receiving the SIM and waiting for the number to transfer?  I don't have to wait to receive the SIM since I'm installing after the app is installed.  How about waiting for the number to transfer?  Well, according to these instructions for inserting the SIM and activating Visible:  

3.) If you haven't already, download the Visible app.

4.) Open the Visible app and log into your account.

Heads up: Transferring your number? The app will tell you status of the transfer, including when it's time to insert your Visible SIM.

(note: your number will still work until you tap Activate in the Visible App)

So apparently you can.  In fact, the app should tell me when the transfer is completed, so it's just like the website in that regard.  Plus I believe they're going to email me too.

OK, let's download the app then.

Install and log in.

The first question is asks Would you like to set up Fingerprint Authentication?  What?  I wants my fingerprints to log into the app?  Maybe later

Allow Visible to make and manage phone calls?  I guess so.  Allow.

Now it says Your order is out for delivery.  OK I'll wait.

I see in settings, there's an option to Enable Biometrics.  I guess that's where the Fingerprint Authentication is.

I'm looking further down the home page.  It says Service is ready.  Activate your service.  Does that mean the number has been transferred?

I don't see anything in my email.  And the website still says Hang Tight.  Transferring Number Over.  Then again the website still says to download our app.

Well I'll wait until the SIM is delivered.

***

FedEx delivered the the package.  Left it on my steps while I was napping.

Website now says delivered, but still says transferring number over.

App looks like it's hung up at the opening screen with the letters T3DUF rotating.

Exited out and went back in.  Had to sign back in.

Still says Service is ready.

I guess I'll go on chat.

Chat had me verify my email [to verify that they were talking to the right person] and said it's ready to go, despite what the website says.  OK, let me end chat and figure out how to insert it (since I've never done it before).

Here's the instructions from the web.

5.) Open the SIM kit then remove the tool (the metal piece) and the SIM card.

OK, it's in a little clear plastic envelope.  Removed the tool which was taped to the card.  The SIM was attached to the card to the card by little cardboard attachments and I had to pop it out with my finger.  And it went flying up and onto the carpet.

Where'd it go? :(

There it is!  It flew up on the table, not on the floor (where I was looking)

Next I need to remove the phone from the protective case.

Look for the little hole.

Push the SIM tool into the hole.

OK, the tray popped out a bit.

OK, pull out the tray and put the SIM in the tray.  It's label side up since that's the way the notch is oriented.

Shove the tray back into the phone.

Now it says

10.) Turn your phone off, then back on. If you get any notification about updating carrier settings go ahead and do it.

But I already turned the phone off before took off the case.  So I'll just turn the phone on.

I now see a little triangle between the wifi icon and the battery icon.  No notifications came up.

11.) Return to the Visible app and follow the instructions to complete activation.

Open the Visible app.

Said "something went wrong, we are working hard to fix it".  Then the message disappeared.

When I go to account payment has a series of three horizontal dots.

Exit the app.

Try dialing my home phone.  Says mobile network not available.

Go back into the app.  Have to sign in again.

Now it says Go to Activation

Tap that.

Then gets to the Activate service page

Please confirm the information below before activating your service.

Payment method

Option to autopay my monthly service fee

Turn on

I agree

You'll be charged $40 for your first month of service.  Your next payment will be due one month from today.  [even though I had the $20 off for the first month]

Activate

You did it! (briefly flashed)

Last step: Restart your phone

After you restart your device, the SIM will be recognized, service will activate, and you'll be Visible.  Easy right?  Oh, we're just getting started.

See you soon.

Got it

OK, looking at my payment history I got charged $20 on October 23, 2020.  Well it says -$20 on Oct. 23 2020 (Payment Service) followed by $20 on October 23, 2020 (Charge Visa ...6038).  So I guess it charged me $20.

I wonder if it works without restarting the phone?  Call ended.

OK restart the phone.

Well I noticed the letters LTE popped briefly to the left of the triangle.

Try dialing my landline.

Your call cannot be completed as dialed.  Please check the number and try again.

Hmm.  Had to add the area code.  Then it rang.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-have-to-dial-the-area-code-when-making-local-calls

Also was able to receive a phone call from my home phone.

Let me turn off wi-fi and see how well the data works.

The signal doesn't look that strong.

Let me try YTTV.  Well it plays.

Let me see if my T-Mobile RAZR still works.  Try calling home.  Call failed and now says unregistered.

Let me run a speed test.  Wow, got 23.5 down and 7.24 up.  Like more than 3 times faster than my wifi.

Later I want to test the hot spot.

Let me see if I can still log into the T-Mobile website.

First let me check the Visible website.  No longer has the steps I need to activate.

Says balance is $40.00 and total due is $40 on Nov. 22, 2020.  Visible credit is $0.00.

I could still log in and says balance due on [10/25/20 I believe]

Your Team of Experts is typically available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, due to recent COVID-19 guidelines, we’re temporarily adjusting hours to help keep your team safe. You can still contact T-Mobile Customer Care by dialing 1-800-937-8997 or 611 from your T-Mobile phone during the hours listed below. Thank you for your understanding.

T-Mobile Customer Care is available from

7 am - 12 am ET, Monday - Sunday

I guess I'll call tomorrow.  

Let my try log in incognito mode.

It says to Link your phone number to your My T-Mobile account.

So maybe it's inactive now?  But I'll call to confirm anyway.

After you’re up and running, we suggest that you call your old cell phone company to confirm the cancellation.

Got an email that said 

T-Mobile Confirmation: Plan Cancelled

Thanks for using T-Mobile!

You recently deleted your Mobile Internet account. If you would like to create a new account at a later point in time, you can use the T-Mobile ID username and password that you've already set up. Just click, 'Already have a user ID' when you set up a new account.

On Speedtest.net got 28.5 download.  Then 27.22.  Then 26.55.  Then 26.61.  Good enough.

Requested to join walton123.

Got a message saying walton123 has approved you to join the party -- and you're $5/mo richer.

Checking my account is says Party Pay Discount (3 members) -10.00.  So total due is down to $30.00.  Need one more.

Got one more.  $25.00 8)

***

OK, I tried calling my cell phone from my landline without the area code and it worked.  So I guess people can call in without the area code.

*** [10/23/20]

Called T-Mobile to verify that my service was cancelled and that I won't get billed any more.  The friendly guy answered after about 10 minutes and said yes my service has been cancelled and that I will get one last charge on the 25th.  So I guess I didn't cancel in time?  Or I'm paying for the service that I already had been using this month (so it's not prepaid).  Not sure how I'll be paying because I cancelled by credit card autopayment.  Maybe they'll take it out automatically or send me the bill in the mail.  They'll figure it out I guess.

*** [10/23/20]

Let me try the hotspot.  Turn on the hotspot.  Disconnect this computer from my regular WiFi and connect to the hotspot.  It's now connected as I'm writing this.

Let me try a speedtest.

Got 5.67 down and 1.32 up.  Very similar to my regular WiFi.

Now let's see if I can connect another device.  Supposedly it only allows one device to connect at a time, but I've heard/seen others connect multiple devices.

I'll turn of my router so I know that it's running on the hotspot.

Well, the Fire Stick connected.  Running Netflix and the connection speed is only 1.81 mbps.  Let me run Netflix on this computer.  

Well they're both running.  I think they might be at 480p but still it doesn't look that bad.

Let me run speedtest on my computer while Killing Gunther is running on the Fire TV.

Oddly I got 1.20 down and 5.01 up.  Kind of reverse of the first time.

Let me turn off Killing Gunther.

Ran speedtest on Silk on the Fire TV.  Got 2.88.

Run speedtest again on this computer with the phone on the coffee table.

Got 7.19 down and 10.36 up.

So I can connect more than one device, but the speed takes a hit.

Let me check how much data I've now used. 

Going to Settings, Network & internet, Mobile network, it says I've now used 607 MB.

Now I want to see if I can live with just this phone on without my regular wifi for like an hour...

You know what might be cool.  See if I can monitor the data usage in real time.   OK, it's now 608 MB at 10:46 AM.

Let me put on YTTV.  Well, the phone screen blacked out.  Let me run it for a couple minutes.

Unblacked the screen.  Now up to 635 MB at 10:48 AM.

Apparently doesn't update the screen in real time.  I'll press the back arrow and go back in.  669 MB at 10:50 AM.

Connected my iPad Mini.  Phone says Wi-Fi hotspot 3 devices connected.  Apparently it only supports the 2.4 GHz Band.

...  OK playing Pluto TV on the phone while working on Google Docs on my laptop.  Now up to 1.20 GB at 11:30 AM.

... Tried running YTTV off the hotspot with the phone on the dining table.  Started out under 2 mbps, then went under 1 mbps running 480@30.  Then after a number of minutes it ramped up to 720@60 all the way up to 15 mpbs.  So it varied a lot with the peak speed higher than my throttled fiber optic internet connection.

My data is up to 1.53 GB at 12:26 PM.

OK that's enough.  I'll switch back to my regular internet.  Don't want Visible to throttle me.

*** 10/24/20

I wonder how this USB tethering works? / I think it means I can connect the computer to the internet via the Visible service on the phone.  Normally you can do this by using the phone as a hotspot.  But I think you can also connect via the USB cable instead by using USB tethering.

OK, let me test.  Turn off the mobile hotspot.  Disconnect the computer from my wifi.  My phone is already connected to the computer with a USB-C to USB cable.

Going to Settings, Network & internet, Mobile network.  I have the Mobile data on.

Then exit out of Mobile network, then go to Hotspot & tethering.

I have my Wi-Fi hotspot off.  And my USB tethering off.

Let me turn UBS tethering on and see if anything happens.

My computer made a sound and got a notification asking if I wanted to make it discoverable on this network

The notification panel disappeared and I now see a Network interface access icon in my task bar, where usually the wifi icon appears.

It looks like I'm connected to the internet now?

Let me run speedtest.net

6.96/1.44.  Just about the same speed as the hotspot mode.  Ping 7, Download 6.70, Upload 1.46

OK, let me turn off USB tethering and connect the computer using the phone as a hotspot instead

Ping 8, Download 6.68, Upload 1.42.  Just about the same.  8, 6.67, 1.42

And now I see there's two options for AP Band: 2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz Band preferred

OK, back to my regular wifi connection

Wait a minute, I see the W-Fi was turned on for the phone, so it was actually using my regular Wi-Fi connection, not the mobile data

OK, turn off Wi-Fi on the phone, turn back on USB tethering

Ping 275, Download 4.77, Upload 1.33 / so Ping not so great, but the others comparable / 278, 1.73, 1.02 a big drop / 338, 2.98, 0.42 not very consistent

ok let's connect using mobile hotspot now

280, 24.75, 10.42 wow / 282, 17.43, 8.19 / 275, 17.69, 10.67

so no real upside to using USB tethering as far as speed is concerned

connect the computer back to my wifi

7, 6.27, 1.44

*** 10/25/20

Visible supports Wi-Fi Calling.  You have to turn it on from the Phone app (or doing a search in Settings or Settings, Network & internet, Mobile network, Calling Advance).  Wi-Fi calling uses your Wi-Fi instead of your mobile connection.  Phone calls when I'm at home usually haven't been clear with the voice breaking up.  So much so that I would direct them to call my landline.

It was pretty bad with T-Mobile on my Motorola flip phone.  It was better on the last (and only) call to my Google Pixel 3a XL on Visible (from a Samsung phone on T-Mobile).  Now that I turned on Wi-Fi Calling, I'm curious to see if the call quality will be any better.

*** 10/25/20

Got this email from Facebook this morning.

The mobile number (808) 389-xxxx has been deactivated for Facebook text messages due to the following reason: the mobile service provider this number was registered with no longer recognizes this number as valid. If you changed your mobile number or switched mobile service providers, please visit Facebook to add your number again.

I never even knew you could use a phone number for text messages.  Well, since I don't think I've ever used it, I'll just ignore this for now.

Actually it might be notifications that Facebook might send to you.  And they had the option to send the notification as a text message to your phone.

If I go to settings, then to General, then to Contact, I see there's an option to "Add another email or mobile number".  I'll leave it alone for now.

*** 10/26/20

Got a call from an unknown number.

Then after that got his message

New! Stop robocalls

Turn on automatic Call Screen for unknown calls to let your Google Assistant decline robocalls without interrupting you

[let's try it]

Turn on

*** 10/28/20

Added a couple Google accounts to the phone for YouTube TV.  Then got a notification from one the accounts.  Turned off synchronization.  We'll see if I still get notifications.

***

Tried to send a text and it failed.  Couldn't figure out why.  Then couldn't call out or in.  Turned off wifi calling and it worked.  Turned wifi calling back on and it still worked.  I dunno.

*** 11/12/20

[a few days ago] Removed the Google account (my sisters) that I was getting notifications from.  So that solved that.  I just had added her account so I could watch YouTube TV on her family account.

But when I get a text from my sister, just the number shows up, not the number.  I think it got confused from when I her account on my phone and it was using her contact list.  Her name does show up for phone calls, but not for texts.

***

For some reason, the audio wasn't working when I was trying to watch YouTube TV (or any other videos).  It worked when I plugged in my earbuds.

I played around, fiddling around with the settings, but no luck.

I finally able to hear audio when I adjusted the ringtone.  So I knew the speaker was working.

It also worked when I played back voice messages.

Then the sound came back again mysteriously.

The only thing I can think of is that the phone was in my bag when we played pickleball last night.  And it rained.  I think my bag was open and the phone got wet from the rain.  So maybe that did something.  Anyway, the audio seems to be working OK now.  Hopefully nothing else will go wrong.  Got to remember to zip close my bag next time.

***

Noticed that Google Photos is ending unlimited storage for high quality photos next year.  But Pixel phones will still get that unlimited storage.  That's a bonus.  Now I have to remember to upload the photos that have not been already uploaded to Google Photos.  I think all of my photos from my iPad are on there, but not the photos taken with my Kodak before that.

Either that or I will upload to Amazon Photos which has true unlimited storage (though only 5 GB for videos).  I'm not planning to end my Amazon Prime subscription any time soon.  (I could always sell 1 share of AMZN stock to pay for 25 years of Prime 8)  I'll probably be checking out the Amazon Photos app.

slow internet?

Restricted to our homes for months now, many of us have been putting up with a persistent annoyance: a lousy internet connection.

When we are working, a video call with colleagues becomes pixelated, with delayed audio. When we are relaxing, movies and video games take ages to download. In the worst cases, the connection drops altogether.

As people have hunkered down to contain the spread of the coronavirus, average internet speeds all over the world have slowed. Some broadband providers are feeling crushed by the heavy traffic. And dated internet equipment can create a bottleneck for our speeds.

Even the most tech savvy are affected. Keerti Melkote, the founder of Aruba Networks, a division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise that offers Wi-Fi products for businesses, said that in recent weeks, his DSL service from AT&T had dropped periodically. He waited several days for a technician to arrive and is now contemplating subscribing to Comcast for a second internet connection.

“I had three or four days of calls, and I had to go find a particular spot in my house where I had better coverage,” Mr. Melkote said.

At the beginning of the pandemic, my internet also became unbearably slow and suffered several outages. So I asked experts to explain what’s causing our internet problems — and the different remedies.

First, diagnose the problem.

What’s causing your slow speeds — your internet provider or your equipment at home? Here’s a method to figuring that out.

• Download an internet speed test app on your phone, like Speedtest by Ookla (free for iPhones and Android phones).
• Stand near your router and use the app to run a speed test.
• Move to a room farther away from the router and run the speed test again.
• Compare the results.

Less than 15 megabits a second is pretty slow. Speeds of about 25 megabits a second are sufficient for streaming high-definition video; more than 40 megabits a second is ideal for streaming lots of video and playing video games.

If the speed test results were fast near your Wi-Fi router but slow farther away, the problem is probably your router, said Sanjay Noronha, the product lead of Google’s Nest Wifi internet router. If speeds were slow in both test locations, the issue is probably your internet provider.

If it’s your router, here’s what to do.

If you have pinpointed that the problem is your router, the bad news is that you may have to buy new equipment. The good news is that there are many approaches to improving your Wi-Fi connection.

Start by asking yourself these questions:

How old is my router? If it’s more than five years old, you should definitely replace it. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission removed restrictions that had limited the wireless transmission power of Wi-Fi routers, allowing new routers to be 20 times more powerful than they were before. Upgrading to a newer router will probably be one of your most life-changing tech purchases.

Where is my router placed? Ideally, your router should be in a central location in your home so that the signal covers as many rooms as possible. In addition, your router should be out in the open, like on top of a shelf, not hidden inside cabinets or under a desk, to beam a clear signal. You should also avoid placing the router near objects and materials that cause interference, like large fish tanks and metal.

How big is my home? If you have a home with multiple stories and lots of rooms, and your Wi-Fi is weak in some areas, the best solution is to buy a so-called mesh network system. It’s a system of multiple Wi-Fi access points, including a main router and satellite hubs, that lets you connect multiple wireless access points together to blanket your home with a strong internet connection.

My favorite mesh systems are Google Wifi and Amazon’s Eero, which start at $99 for a single router and can be bundled with additional access points. In general, I recommend mesh systems even for smaller homes, because they are fast and very easy to install.

Are my other devices slowing down my connection? Gadgets with slower internet technology can slow down speeds for all your other devices.

For example, the iPhone 5 from 2012 uses an older-generation Wi-Fi standard. Newer iPhones, from 2014 and later, use a faster wireless standard.

Let’s say you own a new iPhone and your teenager owns the iPhone 5. If your teenager begins downloading a video on the iPhone 5 and then you start downloading something on your iPhone, the older phone will take longer to finish before the signal frees up for your phone to download at maximum speed.

As a remedy, many modern Wi-Fi routers offer settings that can give specific devices a priority for faster speeds. Consult your router’s instruction manual for the steps. In this hypothetical example, you would want to give your new iPhone top priority and move your teenager’s old iPhone to the bottom.

Are my neighbors slowing down my connection? In apartment buildings crowded with gadgets, the devices’ signals are fighting for room on the same radio channels. You can see what radio channels your neighbors’ devices are using with scanning apps like WiFi Analyzer. Then consult your router’s instruction manual for steps on picking a clearer radio channel.

This step is tedious, and many modern routers automatically choose the clearest radio channel for you. In general, replacing an outdated router is the most practical solution.

If it’s your service provider, there’s not much to do.

If you have determined that your internet provider’s service is the root of the issue, your only option is to call your internet service provider and ask for help.

When you call, ask a support agent these questions:

Why are my speeds slow? Occasionally a support agent can analyze your internet performance and make changes to speed up your connection. This rarely happens, and more often a technician will need to pay a visit.

Does my modem need to be replaced? The modem, which is the box that connects your home to the internet provider’s service, also can become outdated and occasionally needs to be replaced. If the support agent confirms the modem is old, you can schedule an appointment for a technician to install a new one.

Or you can buy your own modem and call the internet provider to activate it. Wirecutter, our sister publication that tests products, recommends modems from Motorola and Netgear, which cost about $80 to $90.

Can I buy faster speeds? Your provider may offer packages with more bandwidth meant for higher-quality video streaming and faster downloads. Ask about your options.

As a last resort, you can turn to backups. Many modern phones come with a hot spot feature, which turns the device’s cellular connection into a miniature Wi-Fi network. (Apple and Google list steps on their websites on how to use the hot spot feature on iPhones and Androids.)

Whatever you do, be patient. In these trying times, everything takes longer.

As for me, I confirmed my slow speeds were related to my internet provider, Monkeybrains. I called to report the issue, and after more than a month, a technician replaced the antenna on our roof. Now my speeds are even faster than before the pandemic, so it was well worth the wait.

ncov2019.live / worldometer

[3/28/20] Last week, as cities across the country shut down in an effort to slow the spread of covid-19, President Trump said, “We have a problem that, a month ago, nobody thought about.” Well, somebody did. On December 29th, as Trump vacationed with his family at Mar-a-Lago, Avi Schiffmann, a seventeen-year-old from Washington State, launched a homemade Web site to track the movement of the coronavirus. Since then, the site, ncov2019.live, has had more than a hundred million visitors. “I wanted to just make the data easily accessible, but I never thought it would end up being this big,” the high-school junior said last week over FaceTime. Schiffmann, gap-toothed and bespectacled, was sitting on his bed wearing a blue T-shirt and baggy pajama bottoms. It was late morning. He was at his mother’s house, on Mercer Island, outside Seattle. Somewhere in the room his cat, Louie, mewed. Behind him hung a Ferrari poster.

Using a coding tactic known as “web-scraping,” Schiffmann’s site collates data from different sources around the globe—the W.H.O., the C.D.C., Yonhap News Agency in South Korea—and displays the latest number of covid-19 cases. It features simple graphics and easy-to-read tables divided by nation, continent, and state. Data automatically updates every minute. In a politicized pandemic, where rumor and panic run amok, the site has become a reputable, if unlikely, watchdog.

Schiffmann goes to Mercer Island High School. (Its mascot: Herbert the Snail.) He began teaching himself to code when he was seven, mainly by watching YouTube videos, and has made more than thirty Web sites. “Programming is a great creative medium,” he said. “Instead of using a paintbrush or something, you can just type a bunch of funky words and make a coronavirus site.” One of his first projects, in elementary school, was what he calls “a stick-figure animation hub.” Later sites collated the scores for his county’s high-school sports games, aggregated news of global protests, and displayed the weather forecast on Mars. “His brain is constantly going from one thing to another, which is good, but I also try to focus him in,” his mother, Nathalie Acher, said. “I’m not techy at all myself. I see it as just really boring. He sees it as an art form.”

Schiffmann created the virus project during a family ski weekend in Snoqualmie Pass. Acher, who is a primary-care doctor, said that, when he had finished building it (he’d skipped a ski day), “he was beaming as though he’d discovered the cure for cancer.” Flattening the curve has been an isolating experience for many, but Schiffmann has never had so much attention. “I’m getting e-mail after e-mail,” he said. “Every couple of seconds it’s a new one.” Some people suggest changes to the site. “They’re, like, ‘Great Web site!’ ” he said. “And then they send a massive list of demands, and I’m just, like, ‘O.K., later.’ ”

While his twelfth-grade friends worry about whether the prom will be cancelled, Schiffmann is navigating global fame.“I literally see myself on, like, African news Web sites, Thailand, Taiwan—like, everywhere,” he said. He had two podcast interviews scheduled for that day. Then he was off to a photo shoot. “I want more professional photos, because I don’t like the ones that the news places use.” (“I look weird,” he said.) A few days earlier, his school had shut down. But he had already skipped the last week of classes to focus on the site, he said, “when it kind of blew up.” His mother, whose medical colleagues use the site, had given up coaxing him to return. “Maybe learning algebra can come later,” she said. (Her son is a C student.)

Schiffmann took the virus threat seriously before many others did. “I’ve been kind of concerned for a while, because I watched it spread very fast, and around the entire world. I mean, it just kind of went everywhere.” He took his own precautions. “I got masks a while ago. I got, like, fifteen for seventeen dollars. Now you can’t even buy a single mask for, like, less than forty.” His mother chimed in. “I wish I had listened to him,” she said. “But, in his teen-ager way, he’d come down the stairs with his eyes huge and be, like, ‘There are fifty thousand more cases!’ and I’d be, like, ‘Yeah, but they’re over there, not here.’ ”

Now that the grownups of the world are finally, and appropriately, freaking out, it is hard for Schiffmann not to feel righteous vindication. “If you told someone three months ago that we should spend, like, ten billion dollars in upgrading the United States’ health care, they would have been, like, ‘Nah,’ ” he said. “Now, everyone’s, like, ‘Oh, my God, yes.’ But this is the kind of stuff we should have done a long time ago.”

***

[6/1/20] Have started to use worldometer in addition to nov2019.live.  Some of the data on ncov2019.live (e.g. New York) hasn't been updating recently.  The main worldometer page is also interesting.

There's also a discrepancy with Spain between the two.  ncov2019.live has them at 239,638 cases, while worldometer has them at 286,718.  Johns Hopkins has Spain at 263.638.  So I'll go with ncov2019.live in this case.

global ransomware attack

Organizations around the world were digging out this weekend from what experts are calling one of the biggest cyberattacks ever.

Hospitals, major companies and government offices were hit by a virus that seeks to seize control of computers until the victims pay a ransom.

Experts said that even as the spread of the attacks apparently has been stymied, its full ramifications are not yet known because the virus may be lurking still on computers around the world.

Cybersecurity firm Avast said it had identified more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries on Friday, making it one of the broadest and most damaging cyberattacks in history.

Avast said the majority of the attacks targeted Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan. But U.K. hospitals, Chinese universities and global firms like Fedex (FDX) also reported they had come under assault.

Security experts said the spread of the ransomware had been inadvertently stopped late Friday. The ransomware was designed to repeatedly contact an unregistered domain in its code. A 22-year-old security researcher in the U.K, who goes by MalwareTech, registered that domain to analyze the attack, but it turned out the ransomware needed it to remain unregistered to keep spreading.

"Thus by registering it we inadvertently stopped any subsequent infections," he told CNNTech.

***

LONDON >> A global “ransomware” attack, unprecedented in scale, had technicians scrambling to restore Britain’s crippled hospital network Saturday and secure the computers that run factories, banks, government agencies and transport systems in many other nations.

The worldwide cyberextortion attack is so unprecedented, in fact, that Microsoft quickly changed its policy, announcing security fixes available for free for the older Windows systems still used by millions of individuals and smaller businesses.

After an emergency government meeting Saturday in London, Britain’s home secretary said one in five of 248 National Health Service groups had been hit. The onslaught forced hospitals to cancel or delay treatments for thousands of patients, even some with serious aliments like cancer.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 48 NHS trusts were affected and all but six were now back to normal. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center said it is “working round the clock” to restore vital health services.

Security officials in Britain urged organizations to protect themselves by updating their security software fixes, running anti-virus software and backing up data elsewhere.

Who perpetrated this wave of attacks remains unknown. Two security firms — Kaspersky Lab and Avast — said they identified the malicious software in more than 70 countries. Both said Russia was hit hardest.

“This is obviously by far the worst ransomware outbreak we’ve seen in, I think, forever,” said Lawrence Abrams, a New York-based malware expert who runs BleepingComputer.com.

Fakebook

Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its huge and influential social network, focusing on the "worst of the worst" offenders and partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions and preconceived notions.

Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility that they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the U.S. presidential election.

To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps, not three. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organizations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.

The fact-checking organizations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.

Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed" by third-party fact-checkers, which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why. And if people decide they want to share the story anyway, they can — but they'll get another warning that it has been disputed.

By partnering with respected outside organizations and flagging, rather than removing, these disputed stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this areas. For instance, some worried that Facebook might act as a censor — and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.

TWC Maxx

Oceanic Time Warner Cable customers soon will benefit from major enhancements that will transform your Internet and TV service as you know it today. Hold onto your seats for TWC Maxx. It features ultrafast Internet speeds, state-of-the-art TV services and best-in-class reliability. Full services are expected to be available on Oahu by the end of June.

Oceanic Time Warner Cable president Gregg Fujimoto states, “With TWC Maxx, we’re essentially reinventing the Oceanic Time Warner Cable experience. We will boost Internet speeds for customers up to six times faster, add to Hawaii’s robust TWC WiFi, dramatically improve the TV product and set a high bar in our industry for differentiated, exceptional customer service.”

Oceanic expects you to see speeds up to six times faster on your residential Internet plans (with no extra charges). If you are a Standard customer (15 Mbps), you’ll now receive up to 50 Mbps. If you subscribe to Extreme (30 Mbps), you’ll now receive up to 200 Mbps; Ultimate (50 or 100 Mbps) customers now receive 300 Mbps. You may need an upgraded modem to receive these new speeds, but you will be notified if it is required (no additional charge). The business plans will be upgraded as well starting this summer.

On the TV side, it features an enhanced DVR, on which you can record up to six different programs simultaneously, with the ability to save up to 150 hours of high-definition (HD) programming on its 1TB hard drive (twice the storage of the largest prior model). You’ll also have access to an expanded On Demand library featuring 20,000-plus titles.

Along with TWC Maxx, Oceanic continues to roll out TWC WiFi Hotspots throughout Hawaii. So far, more than 2,100 hotspots have been deployed. They are located in various businesses including restaurants, cafes, hair salons and doctors’ offices, as well as beaches and public parks. They also are available at public venues, such as University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Arena and Blaisdell Concert and Exhibition halls. I take advantage of these all the time, and they are very helpful when you’re out and about, and do not want to waste your smartphone’s data resources.

***

Personally, I haven't been impressed with Oceanic internet.  Sure the rated speed may be faster, but it seems not to be steady.  Often when I'm at my mom's place watching Netflix of whatever, the service seems to stall for a number of minutes.  But when I switch to the slower HawaiianTelcom network, the service is steadier and more reliable.  Same with the hotspots, I seem to connect the first time OK, but then after a while the service seems to degrade and I lose response.  Of course, this is anecdotal, but that's what it seems to me.

***

Here's the disadvantage of cable:

"You share the available bandwidth of a single cable line with others in your neighborhood. The more people using it at the same time, the slower the performance."

On the other hand, the upload speeds of DSL is much slower.  So if you're routinely sending large files, cable is the way to go.

Vista laptop not connecting to wireless router

My modem/wireless router died and I got a replacement which turned out to be a Pace model 4111N.

Everything seemed OK, however when I tried to connect an old Vista laptop (actually two of them), it wouldn't connect to the internet.  I would get a local only connection.  My Windows 8 laptop, iPad, Apple TV, Roku all connect OK to the Pace.

However, while waiting for the replacement modem/router, I hooked up an replacement DSL modem along with my old Belkin router.  And that worked.  [And in fact, hooking up my Belkin router into the Pace modem worked too.]

So apparently it's a problem with certain routers with certain computers.

Similarly, I took the Vista laptop to my mom's place which has two networks set up.  I was able to connect to the internet on one of the networks.  But on the other one, I get a local only connection.

Anyway, apparently this is a common problem.  However finding the solution is not common.

First I tried this solution from youtube.  The suggested fix was to go to Manage Network Connections.  Go to the Wireless Network Connection Properties.  Then to Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) properties and make sure that that it wasn't using a fixed IP address and to Obtain an IP address automatically.  It wasn't using using a fixed IP address.

Next another suggested solution from youtube was to turn of TCP/IPv6.  Tried it.  Didn't work.

Next was to reset winsock.
reboot

nope

this video suggest using Google's DNS server 8.8.8.8

nope.  still connects to the Tsunami network, but not CCOH

not going to be as easy as I thought it might be.

try the automated fix from Microsoft suggested here (I saw this before but couldn't find it again until now).

nope.  I had high hopes for that one.

did an ipconfig and looked up the ipaddrees and default gateway address and entered it in the ipv4 properties.  didn't work.  connect back to tsunami and set to autodetect.  working again.  the ip4 address for tsunami is 192.168.0.193.  the ip4 address for ccoh is 178.168.10.142 with the default gateway 178.168.10.1 (which is kind of odd).

back to the Microsoft fix and try fix it manually.  The ServiceName for the wireless network adapter starts with 3535...  OK next step is change the value of broadcast flag,  DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag.

Shucks, I thought that one would work.

[11/27/14]  Took the laptop home and disappointingly it didn't connect to my home network either.  So the problem continues..

google some more

This guy got it working by changing the channel on the router.  But I don't want to touch the settings on the router even if I could.  I think the Hawaiiantelcom password protected it.  I remember when I tried going into the modem configuration with the password written on the modem, I couldn't get in.

Hey maybe I'll try Hawaiiantel support.  Maybe I might luck out.  Some of them seem to know what they're doing.

This post had the problem as DHCP not enabled.

Unfortunately when I looked, DHCP was enabled.  I did note it had somewhat an odd IPv4 address of 169.254.201.157.  I think when it connected the IP address was a more normal 192.196.xxx.xxx.

I can ping the 169.254.201.157 which I think is the router, but I can't seem to ping anything else.

Change back to Obtain DNS Server address automatically.  And now when I ipconfig /all, the default gateway address is blank.

Connected the ethernet cable.  The IPv4 address is 192.168.200.73.  The default gateway is 192.168.200.1.  And DHCP server is the same address.

Checking my desktop which is also hardwired, the IPv4 address is 192.168.200.64.  The default gateway and DHCP server is the same address as above.

***

Here's another potential solution.  It looks like this guy had the same problem.  The solution was to update the driver for the wireless network card.  It's the same card as in the Compaq laptop.  Atheros AR5007.  Unfortunately the link for the driver is broken.  Maybe this link will work?

*** [8/15/15]

My Pace DSL modem/router died and I started using a Comtrend (that I got from Allie) in conjunction with my old Belkin router.  In the meantime, I got another Pace from Evelyn (not sure why she had it, but she was using a different model).  I wasn't really using it, but decided to hook it up for testing or something.  And I tried to connect the Vista laptop to it.  And it worked.  Beats me.  Don't know why it's working when it didn't work with the other Pace.  But I'm not complaining.  So now I'm using this Pace for now.

Pace 4111N DSL modem/router connection problems

My old Motorola DSL modem/wireless router combo stopped working.  No lights.  So I got a replacement from Hawaiian Telcom.

In the meantime, I used a Comtrend DSL modem (that I got when Allie got her Hawaiian Telcom modem replaced, but I wanted a wireless router, but they couldn't cancel the first order, so she got two modems) with my old Belkin router.  Anyway, that seemed to work OK.  Plus it doesn't give me interference on the cordless phone that I use.

Anyway, the replacement modem came and it's a Pace modem, not a Motorola.

Hooked it up, straight-forward enough.  Connects to my Apple TV fine.  Connects to my iPad fine.

But when I tried to connect two laptops running Vista, both of them connected locally to the router, but not to the internet.

Googling, I found this link from thebitguru.com.  Have to try it later.  But I'm posting it here so I don't lose the link (that I looked up on my ipad).

*** [11/8/14]

Connected fine with my Windows 8 laptop.  So maybe it is a problem with Vista.

***  [6/13/15] see this link for more

Hawaiiantel DSL

My DSL was running slow for a while (like a month or two).  I had been getting about 1.4 Mbps, but then it dropped to like 500 kpbs.  I called them and they told me to change the phone cord.

It didn't do anything, but somehow I got back to to 1.4 Mbps.

Then it dropped again and for awhile I was getting like 400 Mbps.  I finally called them a couple of nights ago and they had be connect to the main phone jack.  Same thing.  So they're going to send me another modem.

And in the meantime, it dropped to like 200 Mbps.

The modem came yesterday and I hooked it up last night.  The speed improved to 800-900 kbps.  Which I guess is good in comparison, but not as fast as it used to be.

So call Hawaiitel again.  The guy checked and said the blockage (or whatever was slowing down my connection) was fixed with the new modem, but they had to upgrade my connection (which was downgraded for connection problems or something).  I asked him what speed I was supposed to be getting.  He said I had standard (I have the cheapest possible) and it's rated for 3-6 mpbs and I might be able to get 4.

He did his thing and told me to run another test.  Hey 3.5 mbps!  I'll take it.

Thanks.

***

Looking at the website, Hawaiiantel.com can now go up to 50 mbps.  And I see the price for the basic speed is down to $22.95.

***

testing later in the night (at 11:42 PM), speed now down to 2.9 mbps.  We'll see if it starts spiraling down from here.

*** [5/3/12]

unplugged the modem and the computer last night.  plugged it back in this morning.  Now getting 2.89 mbps.  Well, that's still twice my former peak speed.  I can live with that.

*** [7/17/12]

tested my internet speed last night (or was it the night before).  Was getting 5+ mbps from San Francisco and Los Angeles.  But dropped off from New York for example.

tested today.  Getting a more consistent 5+ across the board.  However New York first got only like 0.9, but then 5+ on the second try.  It seems the 5+ is the peak speed, but there could be more congestion when testing from more far away sites.  (On the other hand, when I tested Sue's speed on Sunday, she was getting only like 0.7.)