A smart phone and a data plan offer many worthwhile benefits, but they also bring annoyances and frustrations; chief among these are spam phone calls and spam text messages. It's easy enough to glance at the caller ID and refuse a call when it's from a number you don't recognize or the display is blocked, but it's still an inconvenience.
I've been looking at several Android apps that claim to be able to block the trash and the one I've decided to keep is Mister Number.
It's a free call blocker app that allows you to look up 20 numbers for free. After that you will have to pay. The service is part of Whitepages.com and also displays ads. There is no paid version that removes the ads. Mr. Number claims to automatically block spam messages and this seems to work reasonably well.
When it comes to blocking numbers, this service is exceptional. You can block an individual number, of course, but you can also block all the numbers in a particular area code or exchange: Blocking 614 would eliminate all calls from Columbus. Blocking 614-888 would shut down any call from one of the exchanges in Worthington, a Columbus suburb.
The list provided by Mr Number shows a legitimate text message (456), a call from a legitimate Columbus number, confirmation of a two-factor authentication log-in, a number that I've blocked, and one that the service blocked because it was probably a spam.
What if you want to block all calls from the 614-888 exchange, but your home phone is in that exchange and you don't want to block calls from your family members? The process is so easy and obvious that you might have trouble finding it if you look for something complex. That's the mistake I made.
Users get to select what will be blocked. Those who really want to lock things down could have Mr Number block every number that's not in the contact list. The big three categories are "scam or fraud", "suspected spam", and "hidden numbers". Most people will want to block those. I have added international numbers to the block list because any international calls I receive will not come to this number.
Here's how it works: Add an area code or an area code and an exchange to the "begins with" section of your block list. For example, 614 or 614-888. Then locate the people you want to receive calls from even though their numbers begin with those digits. Click "unblock" next to each number. That's it.
Users can select a number from the list of blocked calls and choose to unblock them.
You can also supposedly specify how calls are handled, but I haven't been able to determine how and Mr Number's support staff hasn't yet been responsive. You might want calls from your wife and children to always ring, but perhaps you'd like calls from your boss always to be directed to voice mail. Depending on your carrier and your phone, you may already have some of these options without involving Mr Number.
The number and variety of settings are impressive for a free application. Although the application is free, using the service for reverse lookups costs $1 per number after the first 20 and you'll occasionally see ads for other services.
Calls from blocked numbers won't appear in the phone's call history. Instead, you'll find them in the Mr Number call log. I consider this a plus because it removes the clutter from the phone log. For suspected spam SMS messages, the application stores the message by default. Fortunately I receive virtually no SMS spams, so I don't have an opinion on this. If you'd prefer not to have Mr Number store the text, you can tell it not to.
The block list is where you can go if you want to eliminate all calls from a specific area code or an exchange within an area code. Combining block rules with specific unblocked numbers makes pinpoint accuracy possible.
If you receive a lot of SMS spams, you should consider forwarding them to 7726, which is operated by Cloudmark for the GSMA, a trade organization that represents about 800 mobile operators worldwide. One of the organization's functions is identifying spammers and compiling a list that can be used to block them. Mr Number doesn't automatically forward information to the GSMA, possibly because doing so could subject the user to additional per-message charges. This would be a welcome feature for a future version, though.
Mr Number places a small window on the Android call screen to show who is calling and when they last called. If you don't like this feature, you can turn it off. Although the application allows users to look up numbers to identify the caller, you're limited to 20 lookups for free. After that, they cost a buck (99 cents) each, or maybe it's 99 cents for 20 lookups. The documentation isn't clear on that issue and again Mr Number support hasn't yet responded to my questions.
If you try to look up a number that's already in your contact list, Mr Number tells you that you don't need to look it up and the request won't count against your 20 free lookups or, if you're already paying, you won't be charged for it.
Around the beginning of September, I needed to replace a desktop computer and for reasons far too numerous and complex to go into here, I decided that a notebook computer would be the best replacement. The next few weeks were interesting in the way that the (possibly apocryphal) ancient Chinese curse wishes that you will live in interesting times.
The desktop computer had several terabytes of internal storage on 4 disk drives -- one solid-state boot drive and 3 standard hard drives. There's no way that a notebook computer can have that much storage, so I purchased an Orico 4-bay external USB3 disk enclosure. Amazon messed up the first order and the device arrived both late and broken. A replacement was delivered on Labor Day. UPS doesn't work on Labor Day, but the US Postal Service does.
But maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Perhaps you're wondering what kind of notebook computer can replace a desktop system.
I work with photos, audio, and (occasionally) video and so the desktop computer had a fast multi-core i7 processor and 32GB of RAM. That was all I could afford when I bought the computer. The notebook system has an Intel Xeon CPU and 64GB of RAM. The built-in solid-state drive is relatively small -- just half a terabyte -- so nothing but the operating system and applications belong here.
Four full days of installation, set up, configuration, and settings restoration ensued. This was followed by two weeks of frustration, but everything was operating as expected by the end of September. This is the story of those weeks of frustration.
I selected a Lenovo Think Pad for several reasons: Lenovo (successor to IBM) has a good reputation, my wife's Lenovo computer is reliable, and my secondary computer (a Lenovo) has worked well. The Think Pad series is Lenovo's high end of notebook systems.
The built-in monitor has 4K resolution, but I had planned to run it with the case closed and use the two 1920x1080 displays that I've used with the desktop system. This proved to be a significant challenge to set up and, even though I modified the power settings to do nothing when the case was closed, the computer kept going to sleep whenever I closed the case.
For whatever reason, the Lenovo dock has 2 HDMI ports, but they can't be used at the same time. The user who wants 2 external monitors must use one DVI port and one HDMI port. Not a problem. I had the necessary cables, but why would a dock be set up this way?
Oh, by the way, the power supply that comes with the computer is beefy, but the power supply that comes with the docking station is enormous. This is not a complaint. Big power supplies are preferred. It means that Lenovo doesn't want power to be a problem for users. It's nearly an inch thick, about 4 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. Impressive!
The external disk drives looked like they would be a problem, though.
The Orico 4-bay USB3 disk cabinet holds up to 4 disk drives.
Booting the system with the drives attached and powered resulted in a 30-minute boot process and 30 to 40 minutes beyond that when the computer was all but unusable. Turning the Orico disk stack off until the system had started reduced the boot time, but the computer was still not usable for well over half an hour.
The computer would boot in less than a minute if it was out of its dock, but the external monitors weren't always recognized properly once the computer was in the dock.
I opened several support tickets with Lenovo's third-party support organization, Managed Technical Support.
The Windows 10 update occurred overnight Saturday-Sunday, September 24-25. As of Sunday morning, the shut-down process no longer churned for half an hour and then failed. The start-up process, even with the external hard drives attached, now complete in about 60 seconds and the screen resolution is correct.
That's the computer nestled between the two monitors. It has a more powerful CPU than the desktop it replaces and twice as much memory, but very little internal storage.
There are still problems with the external drives in that they enter some sort of sleep mode and sometimes take more than half a minute to wake up. This can be frustrating, but it's not a show stopper. So long as I remember to access the drive regularly, it stays awake and available.
And -- possibly because of the numerous power-off resets -- the files in an important directory had the read only attribute set and that created some anxious moments.
I tried to open Lightroom, but the catalog couldn't be opened. "No problem," I thought. Lightroom backs up catalogs. I back up catalogs. I back up the backups of the catalogs. So I moved what seemed to be the problem catalog to a new folder for safekeeping and extracted the most recent backup copy. Lightroom couldn't open that one, either.
Then I restored a catalog from the external backup drive and Lightroom couldn't open it. Could I tell Lightroom to create a new catalog? Yes, I could, but the operation failed. (By the way, this had "Big Clue" written all over it, but I didn't see it until later.)
I uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom. No change. At this point the "Big Clue" from the previous step came into focus: Some of the files and directories in the catalog directory had been set to read only.
I should have looked at the attributes when creating a new catalog failed, but in my defense Adobe's error message was useless. After removing the read only attribute from the directory and the files, copying the "problem" catalog back into the catalog folder, and confirming that the file was not set to read only, I tried opening Lightroom again and everything was back to normal.
In summary, the notebook system appears to be a reasonable replacement for the desktop system. It's smaller, it's quieter, and it uses less power. I still need to work out a method that I can use to copy files from the USB3 disk stack to the notebook when I need to be mobile.
If you're thinking about switching from an old, reliable desktop system to a notebook computer, be prepared for a little rough going.
Not everything we see on the internet is true. In fact, much of what we see on the internet is demonstrably false. This, for example.
Malwarebytes, quoting Snopes.com, says the fraudulent "news" of Pitt's suicide has been in circulation since around September 21st, shortly after TMZ revealed that Pitt and Angelina Jolie had filed for divorce.
Checking a source is so easy before sharing something. If you see an image like the one shown here claiming that it's a Fox News report, resist the urge to just blindly click it. Instead, go to the Fox News website to see if the story is there. Or check Snopes.
Malwarebytes says that the gullibles who clicked the link were taken to a Facebook app page that requested permission to access their profiles. According to Snopes, the app steals user credentials before continuing to a fake news story.
If you clicked links to any of these stories, Malwarebytes recommends changing your password immediately and, "[f]or those who inadvertently shared [the report] to their network, delete the said post and warn your network about the hoax."
The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Microsoft signed a global, multi-year agreement this week to work together on next-generation technologies to advance the concept of connected driving.
The objective is to develop cars with services that are powered by Microsoft Azure, a cloud-based application. Services are intended to improve customer experience with improved navigation, predictive maintenance, remote monitoring, and over-the-air updates.
In the future, cars will have to be updated and rebooted, and a crash might not involve any bent metal. Renault-Nissan Alliance senior vice-president Ogi Redzic says that cars are becoming increasingly connected, intelligent, and personal. The Renault-Nissan Alliance plans to launch more than 10 vehicles with autonomous driving technology by 2020.
Renault-Nissan selected Azure in part because of its reputation for robust security. In addition, Azure supports multiple operating systems, programming languages, and tools to provide flexibility in developing applications for automobiles.
Sleep tracking application Beddit has released a new version and says that it can be used to "solve sleep". That's an interesting way to phrase it, but maybe sleep is solved in Finland, which is where the company is located.
The Beddit 3 Sleep Tracker intends to answer question about why one sleeps well or poorly. It might be worth examining if you don't sleep well but your health plan doesn't pay for a sleep test.
It's a combination of hardware and software that provides access to a network of sleep experts. Beddit is integrated with eClinicalWorks and Healow, a service with more than 115,000 physicians in the US. The system provides a report that covers a 2-week period. The report summarizes sleep, recovery, and breathing. It's also integrated with Apple Health, which makes the results available to various fitness and health applications.
Beddit monitors sleep, including the user's heart rate, breathing, and snoring. The new version adds temperature and humidity measurements provide a better understanding of the sleeping environment.
If you've ever been involved in a sleep test, you probably dealt with a medical technician who attaches approximately 10 thousand wires to various parts of your body and then tells you to sleep normally. Beddit 3 comes with thin, flexible sensor is placed under the mattress sheet. No charging or battery is needed, it works with all beds, and it and tracks only the person sleeping on the sensor.
You'll find it in Apple Stores, Amazon.com, and Beddit.com starting of October 4. The price is $150 and works with the user's Iphone or Apple Watch. For more information, see the Beddit website.
