Author: Dave Farquhar

SSDs, data loss, electricity, and hype

Dave Farquhar Hardware, security , , , , ,

I’m not particularly worried about this, but under the very worst case scenario, certain solid-state disks can theoretically lose data in a week or two if they’re left without power. But that doesn’t instill panic and get clicks when you say it like that.

But you knew I was going to write about it. Let me tell you why I’m not worried.

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Fare thee well, Super Civic. And thanks for everything.

Dave Farquhar Parenting, Saving money

Last week, at about 238,000 miles, we traded my wife’s 2002 Honda Civic. It was good to us.

She drove that car the night we first met. It was the car we drove home after we got married. We drove our dog home from the Humane Society in it, I drove her to the hospital in it, and we drove our two boys home from the hospital in it. When a car lasts 13 years, it gets to participate in a lot I guess.

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Beware “graded value” baseball cards on Ebay

Dave Farquhar Baseball, scams , ,

There are a few hucksters on Ebay, whom I don’t care to give free advertising by mentioning by name, who hawk “graded” cards on Ebay and claim them to be especially valuable. One even puts supposed appraised values in his listings in parenthesis, then invites you to visit his page for an explanation of “graded” value, where he cites an example of a run-of-the-mill 1970s star card, normally worth $60, being worth $2,500 once graded.

The thing is, that’s an edge case. It’s important to understand those edge cases to avoid a ripoff.

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Micro Center’s Inland ProHT 88037 USB powered speakers

Dave Farquhar Hardware , ,

Micro Center sells a pair of $5 USB-powered speakers. You’re either going to read the next sentence or you aren’t.

Still with me? Great. Let’s talk about them.

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Worried about the wrong things? It’s always the wrong thing.

Dave Farquhar War Stories , , , , , , ,

Guy Wright’s piece titled Internet Security: We were worried about the wrong things is a bit old but it’s an important point. Security is a moving target. It’s always a moving target.

I disagree, however, with the assertion that SSL (and its successor, TLS) were a waste of time.

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Tricks for giving presentations at work

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , ,

One of my peers–he does exactly what I do at work, but for Unix machines while I cover Windows–asked me for some tips for giving presentations after he gave a presentation last week. I’ve presented a couple of times myself, and from the feedback I received, I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself, so he asked for my feedback.

I gave him a few tips that have served me well over the years.

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How to size your Internet connection

Dave Farquhar ISPs, Servers and Networking , , ,

So I understand ISPs are upselling connection speeds saying it’ll make Netflix work better. That’s a nice theory. But if you’re already over 10 megabits, there’s a decent chance your connection speed won’t do much for Netflix at all. Here’s how to size your Internet connection. Read more

The hidden FM radio in your phone

Dave Farquhar Android

Most modern cell phones have an FM radio built into their SoC, but the only major makers who are actually enabling them are HTC and Motorola. There’s disagreement over whether this is a problem, of course.

My Moto E has an FM radio and an app that lets me use it. I have to say if I’ve used it, I don’t remember it. But as NPR says, there’s an advantage to it.

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Using the OSI model to troubleshoot video

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Troubleshooting , , , ,

I was at church on Sunday and the video projection wasn’t working. After a few minutes of watching everyone struggle, I volunteered to take a look, and working together, we were able to get the video working again using a simple, repeatable methodology: Using the OSI model to troubleshoot video.

I’m going to share that methodology now.

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If I were buying an SSD today

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , ,

SSD pricing continues to be competitive, and if I were buying an SSD today, I would have a tough decision ahead of me. The Crucial BX100 would be the obvious choice, with its good speed, super-low power consumption, and attractive price, at $99 for the 250GB model and around $185 for the 500GB model.

But there’s an underdog: the PNY CS1111. Bear with me on that one: It’s a little slower than the Crucial, but costs 15% less.

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