FPCUG Notes for January 2020 Editor: Frank Fota ([email protected])
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FPCUG Notes for January 2020 Editor: Frank Fota ([email protected]) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (7:00 PM - Falmouth Firehouse, Butler Road): -- Wed, Jan 1: Happy New Year! -- Tues, Jan 9: Board of Directors (BoD) Meeting (Patty Davis, Presiding) -- Thu, Jan 11: General Meeting. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Coordinator, ReBecca Bennett and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Assistant, Diann Drew of the disAbility Resource Center will discuss Assistive Technology for the deaf and hard of hearing and how to get a Service Dog. The public is invited and refreshments will be served. -- Tues, Jan 14: All About Your Computer (Robert Monroe) -- Wed, Jan 15: Experimax Workshop – 1865-106 Carl D. Silver Parkway -- Mon, Jan 20: Martin Luther King Day -- Thu, Jan 24: Windows All Workshop (Jim Hopkins) – weather permitting TOP TECH OF 2019 In a CNET video review, Jason Hiner lists 44 outstanding products in five popular categories in tech: mobile; home entertainment; computers; smart home; and software, apps, and services. A video montage is embedded in the article linked above. 1. Mobile. CNET names the Motorola Moto G7 as a great budget phone. Their high-end nominee was the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 for its mix of style and substance. On a personal note, pardon the pun, the Note 10 was not prone to spontaneous combustion. Based on the additional features and a price drop, the iPhone 11 was noted in the middle. 2. Home Entertainment. Two TVs led this category. The TCL 6-Series image and color quality rival that of much more expensive televisions. The LG OLED B9 presented unmatched contrast and viewing angles. Other leading products in this category include the Visio SB36512-F6 soundbar, the Apple TV 4K, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, the Onkyo TX-NR696 (audio receiver), and Sony’s WH-1000XM3 (over-the-ear headphones). 3. Computers. The two-in-one HP Spectre x360 13 laptops and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 were top picks. The HP Spectre x360 13 has a 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and ran for more than 10 hours in CNET tests. The 2019 Surface Pro 7 adds USB-C and Wi-Fi 6. Other products mentioned in this category include the Dell XPS 13, Oculus Quest, Apple iPad 10.2-inch, Sega Genesis Mini, GoPro Hero 8 Black, Dell G5 15, Acer Aspire 5, Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XA, Nintendo Switch V2, and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. 4. Smart Home. The Google Nest WiFi mesh router offers easy installation and high speeds. The Wyze Cam got the nod this year with a $30 price tag and features that rival $200 cameras. Other products mentioned in this category include: the Cree BR30 Floodlight LED, Ecobee Smart Thermostat, Google Nest Hub, Wyze smart light bulb, Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, Google Nest Mini, Arlo Pro 3, and Amazon Echo Show 8. 5. Software, Apps, and Services. Two services stood out this year; the Apple Arcade ($4.99/mo) and Disney Plus ($6.99/mo). Apple Arcade offers more than 100 games for use on Apple devices. Disney Plus offers an extensive library of movies and shows. CNET selected noted YouTube TV and Sling TV in this category as well. 1 ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY RECAP 2 FPCUG OFFICER ELECTION The FPCUG Board of Directors (BoD) is looking for a few good men (and women) Elections for FPCUG Office will be held at the March 10, 2020, General Meeting. Consider running for office and making a difference. One Director, one Trustee, and all of the Executive Officers (i.e., President, Vice President, Secretary, and the Treasurer) will be elected/reelected at the March meeting. Contact Patty Davis ([email protected]) or a member of the BoD if you are interested in serving in one of these positions. HOUSE PASSES ROBOCALL BILL Writing for INFOPACKETS, John Lister says, “The House of Representatives has now passed the proposed Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act by an overwhelming 417-3 margin. It now has to pass the Senate, which is highly likely as the current bill is the result of negotiations between politicians in the two houses.” The bill is long overdue and critics are already saying that it does not go far enough (e.g., overseas robocalls). What does the bill address? Spoofing – Phone companies will be required to develop call authentication technology that will block calls from spoofed numbers. One Ring Scams – The FCC will have to develop techniques that prevent or block calls that terminate after a single ring. The scam here involves the victim unknowingly returning a call to a paid premium number or at international rates. The bill also includes increased penalties for violators. BLUE ORIGIN CLOSER TO MANNED SPACE FLIGHT Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin has flown commercial payloads aboard its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle for the ninth time. The New Shepard vehicle launched from Blue Origin facilities in Culberson County, Texas. TechCrunch writer Darrell Etherington says that continued performance of the New Shepard vehicle, “…is a key step as it readies the spacecraft for human spaceflight.” Blue Origin will eventually fly paying space tourists and other commercial astronauts. Six people can fit in the Blue Origin’s capsule. The date for passenger flight has not been determined. A video of the most recent Blur Origin’s launch and landing is linked to the image at left. SAMSUNG’S 108 MEGAPIXEL SMARTPHONE CAMERA SENSOR Samsung is betting that the megapixel count will boost phone sales. They are partnering with Xiaomi to market the ISOCELL Bright HMX, 108-megapixel 1/1.33″ sensor. The megapixel count does not equate to great photographs. Google has proven this with their Pixel smartphones. Writing for SlashGear, JC Torres says, “…having more megapixels doesn’t hurt, especially if you have the technology and software to make good use of that. 3 It definitely makes for good marketing.” By default, the sensor will compress 4 adjacent pixels into one. This will theoretically result in better and brighter images. Samsung has been criticized for its less than stellar low-light and night time performance. Both Xiaomi and Samsung believe that more pixels will result in better low-light and nighttime images. UPDATES TO END IN JANUARY FOR MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS If you rely on Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) to protect your Windows 7 PC, consider another anti-virus program or upgrading to Windows 10. Corporations will be able to purchase Extended Security Updates for 3-years. However, MSE will not protect computers after January 14, 2020. Consumers cannot purchase ESU support. Security Week Contributing Editor, Eduard Covacs, quotes BornCity saying, ‘…companies that have many Windows 7 machines can continue protecting their devices with a Microsoft solution, namely System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP). SCEP will receive updates until January 2023 but, unlike MSE, it’s not a free solution.’ AMD RYZEN 9 CPU TAKES WPRIME 1024 BENCHMARK RECORD wPrime is a multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors (i.e., it tests processor performance). Writing for Tom’s Hardware, Zhiye Liu says, “Overclocker Jordan.Hyde99 overclocked his Ryzen 9 3900X to 5,625 MHz on liquid nitrogen and finished the wPrime 1024M benchmark run in 35 seconds and 517 milliseconds to take the crown away from the Core i9-7920X.” The Core i9-7920X, overclocked to 5,995 MHz, performed the same task in 35 seconds and 693 microseconds. The feat is more impressive when you consider it was performed at a slower clock speed (5.8%). AMD has come a very long way to compete head-to-head with Intel. A REASON TO CONSIDER THE GOOGLE PIXEL - FEATURE DROPS If you own an iPhone, you are familiar with the upgrade and update cycle. New phones are released in September each year along with upgrades of the operating system (iOS). There are occasional incremental updates to iOS but, significant upgrades are released annually. Google is planning to upgrade incrementally each quarter via “feature drops.” The drop days may vary at first but scheduled feature drops are expected in the future. Writing for Gizmodo, David Nield says, “This has been unofficially happening for some time, with features like Night Sight rolling out independently of Android updates and Pixel launches, but now Google wants to put everything on a more formal footing.” Google says that the Pixel you own will get better over time. The updates are expected to get bigger with periodic Pixel feature drops. Google bought the Android Operating System in 2005. Since that time, innovations to the Android Operating System appear first on Google smartphones. Some of these innovations are exclusive to Google Pixel users. The cost of Pixel smartphones has dropped recently and if Google is expected to compete, the price needs to be competitive and the feature drops newsworthy. 4 MACBOOK PRO VERSUS PIXELBOOK GO Staff Writer Adam Ismail at Tom’s Guide, ditched his MacBook Pro for a Google Pixelbook Go for a month. He concluded he wouldn’t buy one. Google’s latest Chromebook came equipped with an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $895. Mr. Ismail says, “I published countless deals posts during Black Friday weekend from the Pixelbook Go, and used it in place of my work machine, a Dell Latitude, any chance I could get. I really enjoy doing my job on this thing.” The decision point for Mr. Ismail was the Pixelbook’s usefulness outside of work. Unlike the MacBook Pro paired with an iPhone, synchronization between the Google Pixel 4 smartphone and the Pixelbook Go was minimal. Setup prompted questions about the way apps were displayed on the desktop.