Where were you when the (thankfully) false ballistic missile launch sounded?
Me – eating breakfast waffles at home.
Although a mistake, I’m sure awareness of what to do in this situation is definitely heightened and more people will get prepared
Mentioned by The Verge.
Yahoo News also reported on Twitter but with a mismatching image.
Update 1/5/2018: Battery changed out after making a return “appointment.” Servicing took about 90 minutes. Store is full of customers wanting to check out their iPhone battery condition. iPhone 6 feels noticeably faster with the battery replacement.
Update 1/4/2018: Battery has arrived in store and need to schedule an appointment when to bring the phone in. I also got an email stating stop by anything (within 7 days), but it’s better to call back and actually set a time for the repair (1 to 2 hours).
After hearing that Apple updated its iPhone battery replacement program to begin immediately rather than late January, I made an appointment for Sunday, December 31, 2017. Unfortunately, the Kahala Apple Store Genius Bar had already exhausted its supply of in-house batteries on Saturday.
The Genius did run through a hardware diagnostic as a formality but didn’t find anything wrong with the iPhone 6 or its battery. He did say that we could change the battery for $30 regardless of the battery condition. We now have to wait about three to five days for a battery shipment then return to the Apple Store when notified.
From that point, it’s a one-hour service to swap out the battery. Not bad for $30.
And while you’re at the Apple Store, don’t look at different bands for the Apple Watch. Otherwise you might give in and get something like this deceiptively multi-colored “black” Sport Loop. Although described as black, the band has iridescent qualities showing off red, blue, green, and even more colors. It’s super nice and actually very comfortable!
For the badminton court that is. Yeah, tennis shoes are a better match for badminton, but we both know my love for basketball shoes runs deep. Gotta blame Nike and that guy named Jordan for this continued love affair. And besides, some tennis shoes look good but not as good as the variety of basketball shoes out there.
For over a year, I’ve been playing in the Adidas Crazy Light Boost 2016. At the time, this shoe was probably the cheapest entry point for full length Boost, and they’ve served me well. Great cushioning and a comfortable fit. Its only drawback is the number of lace eyelets. With essentially only three eyelets per side, tightening the shoe seemed harder than it should’ve been. But still, a great performer on the badminton court at my level.
Over time I’ve noticed that the Crazy Light Boost cushioning isn’t as good where I feel the wear and tear of playing afterwards. A sign to get new shoes right? Only thing is I couldn’t really find a good replacement. I was thinking of using the Adidas Dame 3 featuring Bounce instead of Boost. However, the Dame’s one piece upper has a small opening for your foot, and since I wear an ankle brace, getting my protected ankle in the Dame 3 is just about impossible.
While doing a routine #rossfinds, I came across the Under Armour Curry 2.5. Overall, I’ve heard good things about UA’s Curry line so while on the high end of Ross prices at $65, I got the blacked out 2.5. Sadly, these didn’t work for me as a badminton shoe. The design needs for SC30 are different from mine, and this shoe while comfortable doesn’t provide enough impact protection.
The Charged Cushioning does feel interestingly good (though it took me awhile to get used to that foamy feel), but there’s nothing else to absorb impact. That burrito-style wrap also doesn’t really work for me either. I wear the same Zamst ankle brace that Steph Curry wears, but I couldn’t get the burrito upper to close around my brace. Steph Curry must have super skinny ankles to get the proper fit for his shoes and brace. So the Curry 2.5 has been designated as a casual shoe, but with the recent rainy weather, these high tops with a synthetic upper has been great at repelling water.
So where does that leave me in my search for a replacement badminton shoe? My own collection. A while back during a Nike clearance, I picked up the low version of the Air Jordan 31. While I was spying the black and pink color way, I just couldn’t do it and instead got what I thought was black and white. The colors actually were Navy blue and white but still a good looking shoe. Unfortunately as a casual pair of kicks, they aren’t very comfortable due to a snug toe box. But Jordans are always performance shoes, so I figured why not try these on the badminton court. And perform they did!
Supposedly the lightest Air Jordan ever made, they are ultra comfortable to play in, and I had no issues from the start. The snug toe box problem went away as the Flyweave construction stretched out I guess. I don’t recall every owning a shoe with full length unlocked Zoom Air but whatever the case, these just felt great while moving in them. From a mediocre casual shoe, I found my next badminton shoe going back to my roots with the Air Jordan line.
See more pictures of the Air Jordan 31.
I’m sure it can’t only be me, but has shipping packages this holiday season been slower than previous years? I don’t ever recall having so many parcels delayed or even damaged. I even thought one of my UPS packages was stolen only to find it delivered five days after it was reported. Must be the sheer number of online orders is putting a huge strain on USPS, FedEx, and UPS. Almost every delivery service seemed to have suffered this season.
In years past, purchases with Amazon Prime shipping to Hawaii arrived in 2-3 days, really unheard of compared to the typical 5-7 days of free shipping. But this year, I was lucky to get my Amazon deliveries on time. One order was literally destroyed with only the box label delivered. Yup, just the box label, no actual contents of the box.
Like I said, I had thought a UPS delivery was stolen since it was reported as delivered. I couldn’t find the said-delivered package so reported a lost package and started a claim over the Christmas weekend. Nothing came of it during the weekend and by the time I received a response, the package showed up even though the reported delivery date was five days prior.
I was supposed to have received another Amazon order on Wednesday by 8pm (via USPS by the way). At 8:11pm, I checked the delivery status and saw this.
How was your shipping experiences this holiday season?
The second lucky pickup of the week was thanks to the Foot Locker mobile app. For the launch of the Yeezy Boost 350 Beluga v2.0, Foot Locker was promoting their Launch Locator and reservation system in the mobile app. Being a super duper old school member of the Foot Locker VIP club, I signed up for the Yeezy launch and was given a 6-minute headstart.
Then I forgot all about this. On the afternoon of Black Friday, I got this notification.
Checking the FL app, I stopped as I saw this.
But wait, pickup was set for Friday by 3pm?!? It was already 1pm, and I still had time but in my mind, I thought I was misinterrepting this message. Only one way to find out!
Surprisingly getting to Waikiki in the middle of the day on Black Friday was super easy. No traffic or slowdowns whatsoever. At Foot Locker, there was a line for the Yeezy reservation, but guess what? It seemingly meant nothing since you couldn’t actually pickup the Yeezys that were officially launching on Saturday, November 25. The FL employee had a (long) list of reservation winners, and he simply made sure your name was on the list. He didn’t cross off or mark your name indicating you showed up by 3pm as the app instructed. Why I had to go down there I still don’t know and neither did a lot of other irate Yeezy fans who wanted their shoes then and there.
Anyways, being on the list meant my pair was reserved, right? I didn’t want to take a chance of pairs running out, so I came back early-ish on the 25th. Others had the same idea with a queue about 10 deep.
The line moved along as pedestrians asked what the line was for. After about half an hour, I had my first pair of Yeezys.
Thanks Foot Locker!
Not exactly sure what happened, but the Netflix app on the 4th generation Apple TV (non 4K) stopped playing audio. I have a feeling there was an update to the Netflix app and the update is implementing digital copy protection. Maybe this could be related to the future inclusion of Dolby Atmos in the 4K version of the Apple TV???
I do have an external receiver connected to a sound bar and speakers. The Apple TV is connected to the TV via HDMI, and I use the optical out of the TV to feed the receiver. All this time, this setup has worked out. As an interim solution, I changed the sound settings of the Apple TV to stereo. It’s good enough for now, but I have a feeling more changes are coming when and if my AV setup is complete. My current (non-HDMI) Dolby surround receiver won’t be able to handle the protected signals so will eventually need replacing.
But I have read up on HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) to see if this will fix things.
Just how does Steph Curry wear his signature Under Armour Curry 2.5 shoes while protected by his preferred Zamst A2-DX ankle braces?
Even with the adjustable, wrap around fit of the “burrito lacing system,” I just don’t see how SC30 achieves a good fit as seen in the image above. It seems nearly impossible to close the tongue around the added thickness of the brace. Is that why he writes “I can do all things” on his shoes?
In the bottom row of men’s shoes at Nordstrom Rack was this nondescript box.
Peaking over the edge of the box, I noticed something out of place, the Adidas AlphaBounce running shoes.
Amazingly this relatively new runner found its way to the discounted shelves. Must be flawed I thought while pulling them from the box. Then I spied its price and label of “Worn and Refinished.” But at $45 (down from $110), I had to take a closer look.
I couldn’t see any major issues or any flaws. There was this dirt spot, but it easily cleaned up with water.
Talking to a Nordstrom Rack employee, the “worn and refinished” label is often given to shoes that are bought and returned to the upscale Nordstrom. But when returned, the shoe is out of season so instead of trying to sell the shoe there, it’s transferred to a discounted Rack location. It doesn’t necessarily mean the shoe was actually worn and refinished. So now, I’m an owner of a slightly large Adidas AlphaBounce HPC (reflective model) in black/utility black/white.
A few more pics.
This picture pretty much says it all about why I love getting gas from Sam’s Club Gas in Pearl City.
Yes, it’s open and that one other truck just pulled in right before I did.
During my last AT&T billing cycle, I exceeded my shared data plan limit and got this warning.
Luckily, my plan has no overage costs (like before), but mobility at 128kbps (G2-speeds) would be unbearable right?
Well, it wasn’t that bad. It was sufferable but tolerable. Of course, jumping onto available wifi was the first priority but otherwise data at 128kbps was doable for a short duration. Instead of upping my data plan up a tier, I’m gonna try another month and see what happens. I’ve tuned my phone to perform less checks and updates while using mobile data, and personally, I’ve been cutting back on frivolous use of my phone when bored.
Well, I surely hadn’t planned this and really, didn’t want this. But I spent a few days doing an unplanned comparison of wifi bridges. Now, these devices are reaching legacy status since many devices now have wireless networking built-in. But for those devices that only have wired Ethernet, they need a bridge to change from wired to wireless networking.
Initially, I had been using the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS without issue. Okay, there was that one time I needed to reflash one unit, but after that, it’s been dependable. Setup is easy if not too basic. But once set, these worked (and continue to work). I can’t complain about wifi speed and range. Would like to have the power adapter use some kind of USB connection (to the device) rather than that tiny connector. But, but, but NetGear no longer makes these, and old stock online is super duper expensive.
So I went looking for a replacement…
First up was IOGear’s GWU627. Easy to setup but too unreliable. Sometimes I can’t ping the device, sometimes, I can’t connect to its web interface. Speaking of its web management interface, it’s horrible. It’s overly simplified, geared for a single purpose bridge configuration without any options unless you find its secret menu at:
192.168.1.252/menu.asp
From this link with a minimal UI, you can change some settings including the hardcoded IP address of 192.168.1.252. I’ll give the GWU627 credit though, once configured it booted up quickly and got to work. But then it didn’t work so good. Ping tests were all over the place – less than 10 ms, greater than 100 ms, timeouts. Wow. When actually used in its use case, this bridge just couldn’t handle the network demands and stalled out, never allowing the bridged wired device to finish its updates. Not good.
Next up, a coworker had a TP-Link Nanorouter, the TL-WR802N. This inexpensive, tiny white box is very flexible can can function in many networking scenarios like a traditional wireless router, a hotspot router, a range extender, and as a client (client mode is essentially a wifi bridge). The web interface of the WR802N is very thorough with all the options exposed. It took me an extra try to set up Client mode with a static IP, not the default DHCP setting. But then the WR802N didn’t bridge. I could ping the static IP given to the bridge but could not ping or connect to the bridged device. I tried and tried. I even saw posts online describing similar issues but with a fix in the form of beta firmware. After contacting technical support, I was sent an updated beta firmware the next day. Sadly, this didn’t fix my problem. I’m pretty sure I’m configuring the WR802N correctly also testing DHCP settings and connecting to different wifi networks, but no matter what, I couldn’t connect through the device’s wired Ethernet.
Lastly, I brought in my second generation Apple AirPort Express. To cut this short, it worked. The wired device connected wirelessly. The wifi connection was reliable and performance was consistent and stable. Unfortunately, the AirPort Express is the most expensive device out of the three.
So where does that leave me? I probably need a few of these wireless bridges and while the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS fits my needs perfectly with respect to cost, performance, and setup, this device is simply too hard to get at a good price. So barring any other discoveries, the Apple AirPort Express is it.
Anyone else experience a “very sleepy” iPhone after installing iOS 11? I’ve encountered at least three times that my iPhone 7 doesn’t want to wake up right away. It’s usually after I put my phone to sleep then try to wake it immediately. The screen stays black. I know the iPhone is still on since the home button still provides haptic feedback (the “button” doesn’t do anything when the iPhone is off).
After a long delay, the iPhone wakes up but in the meantime, the dozy iPhone feels like it’s not working.