Life Update
A couple of things happened recently that I want to talk about today.
The other day I bought some Samsung IconX earbuds on a whim. They were on sale and I thought, what the heck? I deserve something nice, right? They're wireless, noise cancelling and can hold up to 4GBs of music without having to stream from your phone or other Bluetooth device. Neat-o, right?
Wrong.
The first day I had them I went ahead and charged them for as long as I could. While charging, I was able to move some music over from my laptop to the built-in memory so I could start using them as soon as they had a full charge.
Sadly, I didn't have a chance to use them the first night, so yesterday I fired them up and put them in my ears. And the sound was ... tinny. Very tinny. In fact, my cheap $20 Bluetooth earphones I had been using sounded much better. They weren't noise cancelling, but the sounded good and the charge lasted for quite a while. Days, in fact. The IconX's charge was up to 7 hours on a good day.
So, I looked for settings. Turns out there's an equalizer setting on the Samsung Gear app. Against my better judgement, I downloaded the app. Then I was asked to accept theintrusions permissions and that's where things go awry. So, these earbuds can be used to take calls, if connected to a phone. Okay, so phone permissions. That sounds about right.
Then I was asked for my device's location. Apparently Samsung is under the impression that in order to stream music, or adjust the equalizer for better sound, I have to give up my GPS coordinates. They tried some BS explanation that they need to know the devices' location in order for Bluetooth connectivity to work, but again, that's complete and utter bull shit. I have plenty of Bluetooth devices that have never asked for my device's location. This is nothing more than a play for Samsung to track my phone and, consequently, me for whatever purposes they're going to use that data for. It may be something benign, but chances are they're reselling that information to advertisers or creating a profile of me like Google and Facebook already do. Because, you know: money.
I denied the app my location data. It then asked to have access to my contacts. Again: no. What do earbuds need my contacts for? Is this just another ruse to gain access to my contacts list so they can fill their profile on me? Regardless, I again said "no."
But guess what happens when you deny Samsung the permissions they want? That's right, they deny you access to the app. Not limited features, but the whole app became useless. In fact, I couldn't do anything with the app: connect my device, transfer audio over Bluetooth or change the EQ settings without turning over personal information to EvilCorps.
There's a reason I don't buy Samsung products and this is high on the list.
So, I'm taking those earbuds back to Costco (I love Costco!) and getting my money back. I'd already priced out some Beats, but may wait until Black Friday just to see what sort of sales are going to happen.
For the past few years the only setting my truck's A/C or heater (to include defrost) worked on was the fan set on High. So, for years I had the fan running on High. It wasn't a big deal, just extra noise the radio had to drown out, but it worked and that's all that mattered. I replaced the Environmental Control Unit (ECU) a couple of times at the cost of a few hundred bucks each, but at no time did doing so fix the issue.
Then, last winter, it stopped working altogether. Whatever, it's an old truck.
Now I'm sleeping in my truck and driving it everywhere and I kind of wish I had some heat, especially defrost. Like during the other night when I had to stop multiple times in the freezing rain to scrape the ice buildup off the windshield.
A mechanic friend told me my heater resister was out. So, yesterday while I was doing a couple of other things I checked all the fuses. They were fine. I had to go to the internet to figure out what was going on and it turns out the heating resister is hidden behind a wiring harness behind the glove box and while it's not impossible to get to, it looks to be cumbersome. But, whatever, right? I need my heater to work.
As I'm reading more into it, someone mentions that if the heater will only work on High then the heater resister is going. Sort of like my truck was operating for years. If the fan stops blowing, then the fan's burnt out. Like mine did this year. Luckily the fan is much easier to get to than the resister.
Now, I have to go to the auto parts store, hope they have the stuff for my my make/model of truck and find a nice warm day to tear about the dash in my truck to get this working. Luckily, it looks more cumbersome than time consuming, so I should be able to get it working in a single day as long as I don't screw anything up. Assuming, of course, I can buy the parts. I priced them out online last night and they're not too expensive. Maybe $50-$60 together. Then time and patience.
[1] New Debit Card
This morning I saw an email from my bank saying my new debit card was on the way. Great. But why am I getting a new debit card? Well, the going theory is my card's had some "unusual usage" recently and the bank just decided to send me a new one.
What was unusual? I don't know, so I went to the bank this morning to ask. Per the head teller and the banker, nothing unusual had occurred. All purchases were made by me, but apparently the singular act of making purchases was enough to alarm Wells Fargo, not to contact me, but to send me a new card immediately.
The annoying part is, there was nothing I nor the banker could do to stop the whole process. As I explained the banker, the address he verified for the card to be delivered to is my brother's house in Florida. He said he'd just change the address to my Colorado one, but - guess what? - I have no Colorado address! So, he's having it sent to the bank and he'll call me when it's in. No later than next Friday - or, 10 days from now - is what he said.
In the meantime he gave me a 30-day temporary card that may or may not work.
[sarcasm] WOO HOO! [/sarcasm]
[2] Samsung IconX Purchase
The other day I bought some Samsung IconX earbuds on a whim. They were on sale and I thought, what the heck? I deserve something nice, right? They're wireless, noise cancelling and can hold up to 4GBs of music without having to stream from your phone or other Bluetooth device. Neat-o, right?Wrong.
The first day I had them I went ahead and charged them for as long as I could. While charging, I was able to move some music over from my laptop to the built-in memory so I could start using them as soon as they had a full charge.
Sadly, I didn't have a chance to use them the first night, so yesterday I fired them up and put them in my ears. And the sound was ... tinny. Very tinny. In fact, my cheap $20 Bluetooth earphones I had been using sounded much better. They weren't noise cancelling, but the sounded good and the charge lasted for quite a while. Days, in fact. The IconX's charge was up to 7 hours on a good day.
So, I looked for settings. Turns out there's an equalizer setting on the Samsung Gear app. Against my better judgement, I downloaded the app. Then I was asked to accept the
Then I was asked for my device's location. Apparently Samsung is under the impression that in order to stream music, or adjust the equalizer for better sound, I have to give up my GPS coordinates. They tried some BS explanation that they need to know the devices' location in order for Bluetooth connectivity to work, but again, that's complete and utter bull shit. I have plenty of Bluetooth devices that have never asked for my device's location. This is nothing more than a play for Samsung to track my phone and, consequently, me for whatever purposes they're going to use that data for. It may be something benign, but chances are they're reselling that information to advertisers or creating a profile of me like Google and Facebook already do. Because, you know: money.
I denied the app my location data. It then asked to have access to my contacts. Again: no. What do earbuds need my contacts for? Is this just another ruse to gain access to my contacts list so they can fill their profile on me? Regardless, I again said "no."
But guess what happens when you deny Samsung the permissions they want? That's right, they deny you access to the app. Not limited features, but the whole app became useless. In fact, I couldn't do anything with the app: connect my device, transfer audio over Bluetooth or change the EQ settings without turning over personal information to EvilCorps.
There's a reason I don't buy Samsung products and this is high on the list.
So, I'm taking those earbuds back to Costco (I love Costco!) and getting my money back. I'd already priced out some Beats, but may wait until Black Friday just to see what sort of sales are going to happen.
[3] Heater Fan in my TruckI finally thought to research the heater fan issues my truck is having. Let me catch you up:
For the past few years the only setting my truck's A/C or heater (to include defrost) worked on was the fan set on High. So, for years I had the fan running on High. It wasn't a big deal, just extra noise the radio had to drown out, but it worked and that's all that mattered. I replaced the Environmental Control Unit (ECU) a couple of times at the cost of a few hundred bucks each, but at no time did doing so fix the issue.
Then, last winter, it stopped working altogether. Whatever, it's an old truck.
Now I'm sleeping in my truck and driving it everywhere and I kind of wish I had some heat, especially defrost. Like during the other night when I had to stop multiple times in the freezing rain to scrape the ice buildup off the windshield.
A mechanic friend told me my heater resister was out. So, yesterday while I was doing a couple of other things I checked all the fuses. They were fine. I had to go to the internet to figure out what was going on and it turns out the heating resister is hidden behind a wiring harness behind the glove box and while it's not impossible to get to, it looks to be cumbersome. But, whatever, right? I need my heater to work.
As I'm reading more into it, someone mentions that if the heater will only work on High then the heater resister is going. Sort of like my truck was operating for years. If the fan stops blowing, then the fan's burnt out. Like mine did this year. Luckily the fan is much easier to get to than the resister.
Now, I have to go to the auto parts store, hope they have the stuff for my my make/model of truck and find a nice warm day to tear about the dash in my truck to get this working. Luckily, it looks more cumbersome than time consuming, so I should be able to get it working in a single day as long as I don't screw anything up. Assuming, of course, I can buy the parts. I priced them out online last night and they're not too expensive. Maybe $50-$60 together. Then time and patience.
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