A Jury Duty Scam
New month, new scam attempt. I’m certain this is also because I’ve put my number out …
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I am a lifelong technologist, software architect, and CTO-for-hire. He’s been building systems since the days of dial-up and BBSes, and has launched everything from ISPs to Accounting Systems to Social Media Platforms to AI-driven appraisal tools and a lot in between. When not writing code or untangling legacy systems, he’s probably exploring gadgets with his family or making his infrastructure just a little more elegant.
I blog here about software, systems, technology trends, and the occasional parenting moment—with a strong preference for things that work and don’t need explaining.
For more information, see my full bio.
Posted by this author
I Was Targeted by Two Sophisticated LinkedIn Pig Butchering Scams in the Same Week
Over the past few months, I’ve been increasing my visibility — more blogging, more conversation on …
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Replacing Todoist with a Self-Hosted CalDAV Setup
I’ve been gradually replacing various commercial and/or closed source cloud services with …
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A Self-Hosted Contact Form for Static Sites
Static sites are great. They’re fast, secure, easy to deploy, and scale better than just about …
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Why I Moved from Enpass to Bitwarden (via Vaultwarden)
For years, I was a satisfied paid user of Enpass. It was simple, reliable, offered a one-time …
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Choosing the Wrong Tool Isn't the Tool's Fault
I originally wrote a version of this for
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EmberJS, VueJS, React, Angular, etc. Which one to choose?
For the last couple of years, I’ve been dabbling with a few side/hobby projects. Several of …
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I Want To Play
So I’ve been working on bringing a new project to light in my spare time over the last few …
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Dead Synology DS1515+
So last March I purchased a Synology DS1515+ and wrote about it in one of my posts
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Sony DualShock 4 USB Wireless Adapter Controller Pairing
It took me way too long to figure this out, but there is no documentation at all on Sony’s …
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Google WiFi Review
Google WiFi promises an attractive, easy to setup, easy to manage, and relatively inexpensive home …
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HexBug Vex Robotics Spider Review
Our oldest son has been wanting one of these since he first saw them. We’ve got several of …
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Great Northern Popcorn Lincoln Popper Review
I love popcorn. Always have. Its one of those things from childhood that provides fond memories …
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Asus ZenPad S 8 Review
After using an Nvidia Shield tablet for …
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D-Link DSP-W110 Wi-Fi Smart Plug Review
For the last few months, I’ve had a D-Link DSP-W110 sitting in a drawer. I bought it when it …
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A Few Thoughts on Tablets
I’ve been through quite a few Android tablets since they first hit the market a few years …
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Who Shall Control My Media? Part 4 - Backend Storage
So you’ve got a lot of videos, home movies, pictures, etc., that you want to have access to …
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My first few days with the OnePlus 3
I didn’t really want a new phone but my HTC One M9 was starting to really irritate me. …
Continue ReadingWho Shall Control My Media? Part 3 - Media Players
Media players are a interesting topic. Over the past couple of years, we’ve tried a variety …
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Redmine API and Jetbrains Integration
I just thought I would put this out there in case anyone else had the same problem as I did as there …
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Installing Ubuntu 15.10 on the Asus ZenBook Pro UX501VW, Redux
Update 2016-04-25, this post is obsolete. I now have information on installing Ubuntu 16.04 at
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JetBrains IDEs, Haswell processors, Linux and FUTEX_WAIT
I thought I would put this here in case anyone else has been experiencing the same thing I have …
Continue ReadingPower Supply for ASUS ZenBook UX501VW
After I purchased the new ASUS ZenBook, I went looking for another power supply for it, one to keep …
Continue ReadingWho shall control my media? Part 2 - Infrastructure
The infrastructure I’ve had our media setup on has changed quite a bit over the years, too. …
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Who shall control my media? Part 1
Over the last couple of years, the entire media landscape has changed. We were quite happy with
Continue ReadingInstalling Ubuntu on the ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW
Update 2016-04-25, this post is obsolete. I now have information on installing Ubuntu 16.04 at
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TP-LINK HS100 WiFi Smart Plug and Amazon Echo First Impressions
With Jessica not being nearly as …
Continue ReadingASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW Review
After three years of using my trusty Vaio laptop, the time had finally come to replace it. The Vaio …
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LUKS Encrypted SSD under Ubuntu 14.04
So, after upgrading my laptop a couple weeks ago I found myself with a “spare” 960GB SSD …
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Amazon FreeTime Unlimited - Great idea, bad implementation
Its no secret that I like Amazon and their services. There are a lot of things they do much better …
Continue ReadingKindle Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet Review
Last fall, Amazon introduced its new Kindle Fire lineup, and we very excited by the new
Continue ReadingAmazon Fire Stick vs Roku 3
So back in December, Amazon was running a promo for Prime members to purchase the new
Continue ReadingSoftware Design Principals - For Users
I’ve been chewing on this since the latest Android update hit Jessica and my phones, and I …
Continue ReadingDear Google, Stop it.
Dear Google,
Stop it.
Stop what, you ask? Stop being so damned arrogant. You’ve forgotten your …
Continue ReadingWhy I Just Bought a Nexus 7 2013
I’ve had a Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for about three and a half years. Its been a great performer …
Continue ReadingOh, Comcast how I wish I could quit you
No, really, I wish I could quit you. Unfortunately, cable service is effectively a monopoly in most …
Continue ReadingFixing My Parents Network Part 1
A couple months ago, my parents finally replaced their old Sony console TV (a tube TV) with a bright …
Continue ReadingYii2 vs Symfony2 - First Impressions
So a few weeks ago I started in on a ground-up rewrite of an existing project. Its currently using …
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New Gaming Headset
So last week for my birthday, Jessica told me that I had to buy myself a present to open up in front …
Continue ReadingExisting LUKS Partition and New Primary Boot Drive on Ubuntu 14.04
Yesterday I attempted to upgrade from Ubuntu 13.10 to 14.04 on my office system. It failed. …
Continue ReadingLUKS Encrypted Disks under Ubuntu 10.10
This posting is mostly just a reference for myself since I don’t do this often enough for me …
Continue ReadingLinux Soft Phone Roundup
I’ve been working heavily with VoIP for the last couple of years, and every few months I find …
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MP3 Box Issues
Well, a few days ago Jessica started having problems with it. The box started locking up. Took a bit …
Continue ReadingMP3 Box v0.1
Its been a busy few weeks since my last posting. I spent a couple Sundays working on the web …
Continue ReadingMP3 Player base distribution update
So, I’ve been working on the MP3 player project quite a bit over the last few weeks. Christmas …
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Happy Halloween!
So, yesterday afternoon Jessica and I went out to get pumpkins to carve. Its become a bit of a …
Continue ReadingSimple Set Top MP3 Player
For a couple years now, Jessica has …
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