tech

What’s the difference between USB 4.0 & Thunderbolt 4.0 – On my Om

What’s the difference between USB 4.0 & Thunderbolt 4.0 – On my Om:

What is the difference between USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4.0? How are they similar? Should you care? And what should you look for before buying devices that are certified for one or the other?

Both USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4.0 use the same USB Type-C connector which is reversible and rounded. The USB 4.0 is also based on the very same underlying protocol as Thunderbolt 4.0, and both types are tightly connected. All thunderbolt devices come with USB 4.0 support which means if you have a device with Thunderbolt 4.0 connectors you can use USB 4.0 cables.  However, not all the devices with USB 4.0 connectors will be as powerful as the ones that are fully Thunderbolt 4.0 certified. But the good thing about USB 4.0 is that it’s cheaper than Thunderbolt 4.0.

[Once more with feeling…]

How to find a domain’s authoritative nameservers

How to find a domain’s authoritative nameservers:

Here’s a very quick “how to” post on how to find your domain’s authoritative nameserver.

I’m writing this because if you made a DNS update and it didn’t work, there are 2 options:

Your authoritative nameserver doesn’t have the correct record
Your authoritative nameserver does have the correct record, but an old record is cached and you need to wait for the cache to expire
To be able to tell which one is happening (do you need to make a change, or do you just need to wait?), you need to be able to find your domain’s authoritative nameserver and query it to see what records it has.

[Very helpful. Noted!]

Source:

Apple: ‘iCloud Private Relay Overview’ (PDF)

Apple: ‘iCloud Private Relay Overview’ (PDF):

New whitepaper from Apple with a lot of details about how iCloud Private Relay works. Still doesn’t list Apple’s CDN partners for the second relay hop, but that’s obviously some sort of strategic decision on Apple’s part. As the paper makes clear, you don’t need any particular trust in those CDN partners, because they never receive anything that could identify you, or locate you any more precisely than an 800 km2 region.

iCloud Private Relay is still officially in beta, but it’s been so reliable for me that I had to check just now that I’ve got it enabled on all my eligible devices.

[I haven’t tried it yet. Good to know it’s going well.]

Source: Daring Fireball

Facebook App Reads Accelerometer Data

Facebook App Reads Accelerometer Data:

Zak Doffman (via John Wilander):

Facebook goes even further, using the accelerometer on your iPhone to track a constant stream of your movements, which can easily be used to monitor your activities or behaviors at times of day, in particular places, or when interacting with its apps and services. Alarmingly, this data can even match you with people near you—whether you know them or not.

Just like the photo location data, the most serious issue here is that there is absolutely no transparency. You are not warned that this data is being tracked, there is no setting to enable or disable the tracking; in fact, there doesn’t seem to be any way to turn off the feature and stop Facebook (literally) in its tracks.

Researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk warn that “Facebook reads accelerometer data all the time. If you don’t allow Facebook access to your location, the app can still infer your exact location only by grouping you with users matching the same vibration pattern that your phone accelerometer records.”

[Facebook sucks.]

Source: Michael Tsai

∞ Apple Support: How to find your lost AirPods

∞ Apple Support: How to find your lost AirPods:

The first bit of this video is pretty straight-forward. Launch Find My, then tap Find.

But watch the video all the way through. There are subtleties (like the left and right buttons in the upper left) and details on activating Lost Mode.

Not rocket science, but better to be familiar with the process now, less stress when you can’t find your AirPods and that frantic search begins.

[Righteo!]

Source: The Loop

Updating the GigRig G3

IMG 2469

This page from Apple covers what you need to know… but the idea is this: Daniel Steinhardt posted a video with steps to update the firmware in a G3, and suggested turning on Airplane mode, and restoring bluetooth connectivity in order to prevent calls or such from interrupting the updating process.

Of course, that means that you have to remember to turn that off when you’re done, and I suspect in practice that could be easily forgotten.

The page above tells you how to create a focus (or modify one of the presets). If you don’t allow anyone to call, and not allow apps to post notifications etc. I believe you’ll get the same effect, but it will turn on when you run the G3 app, and turn off when you close the G3 app. Nice! The screen shot below shows you the focus I created for this which called (duh) “G3”. You can see that no people are allowed and that the G3 app is selected so that it will automatically turn on when you run the app. Other details are available on Apple’s page above, but it’s all pretty straight forward. Enjoy!

IMG 2470

10 free ways to send large videos and files from iPhone

10 free ways to send large videos and files from iPhone:

Ankur Thakur, iDownloadBlog:

Wondering how you can send a big video, graphics-heavy document, or other large files to someone from your iPhone? Look at ten ways to send big files from your iPhone to someone on another iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows PC, or Android phone. Most methods here are wireless, while others will require a Lightning cable.

This is worth bookmarking, for that moment when you find yourself having to move a massive file from one device to another. Nice walkthrough of each technique, with detail and links to more detail.

∞ Read this on The Loop

[Excellent]

Source: The Loop

Daring Fireball: Tomorrow Is Doomsday for BlackBerry Devices (Today as I post this)

Daring Fireball: Tomorrow Is Doomsday for BlackBerry Devices:

From BlackBerry’s OS services FAQ:

As a reminder, the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, will no longer be available after January 4, 2022. As of this date, devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS and 9-1-1 functionality.

I wonder how many people are still hanging on to old BlackBerry phones. At one point, they truly had a cult following.

[Lots of folks said to me “They’d never switch from their Blackberry phones/keyboard.” Soooo, how’s that going?]