Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the audio of today’s show is here. Recent shows are here.

The intro & outro music was by Pentatonix.

Glenn was in the studio. Paul called in. He was still on his road trip to Southern Calif. Today he was West of Los Vegas at a BLM conservation park called Red Rock Canyon.

Some of the wilderness areas at the higher elevations of the BLM park require permits to access. This is to mitigate what Paul pointed out as the tragedy of the commons: “anything that’s readily, commonly available for the enjoyment of people will tend to be spoiled by those same people…”.

Glenn invited listeners to call during the show at 530-265-9555 or send email to zen at kvmr dot org

Glenn heard on the news this morning that Yuba County and possibly Sutter County were going to test an alert system by sending messages to emails and cell phones. And indeed, he got an alert, as a txt, on his phone with the message directing him to bepreparedyuba.org to learn more.

Paul said there is another kind of an alert, a ‘system message’, that’s sent by the cell phone network. He was under the impression that this type of message can be received even if you don’t have txt service or maybe even if you’ve let your cell phone subscription lapse — similar to being able to make 911 calls without a cell plan. Paul’s concern about alerts sent as txt or emails is they can be spoofed.

Paul’s cell phone connection kept dropping out and eventually ended. So while he was calling back, Glenn told us that he’ll he hosting the Flea Market tomorrow at 1pm.

Apple is coming out with a new streaming service this year, Glenn noted. This will be competing with similar services from Nexflix and Amazon. The announcement came about two weeks ago at an Apple event that also introduced Apple TV Plus and a new Apple TV app.

Paul noted that subscription services, like that by Apple, are becoming more popular. AT&T with their Uverse product got in trouble with the justice department when their share value went down and they engaged in bait and switch schemes. But if you want to try these services, all you need is sufficient internet speed — about 2 megabits/sec. Then you can use a set top box like Apple TV and add the appropriate apps to bring in the new Apple streaming service or NBC or HBO etc. This lets you choose more precisely the content you like, unlike the cable companies.

The down side is that there is a learning curve to get used to how the different apps work. Fortunately, many units allow you to issue voice commands — just talk to it, Paul said. On the other hand, devices that take voice commands are listening all of the time, even if it’s just for the command to wake it up. Paul said he doesn’t trust them and he physically unplugs the Amazon Dot when he’s not using it. The devices can hear quite well even while they’re playing music or other content.

Paul mentioned that you don’t have to buy the Amazon Dot, because Amazon’s Alexa is available as an app for Android and iPhone. “As long as you are on the same wireless network, it behaves as if you had such a box. And if you make sure you kill the app when you’re done with it, it probably won’t be listening to you”, he said.
<An alternate app that uses Alexa is here.>

Paul helped some people ‘cut the cord’ recently, and Glenn asked about the difference it made to their subscription costs. Paul explained that one guy was paying over $200/mo for Xfinity for cable TV and internet. And when he decide to change services and called Xfinity to drop them, he was offered 50% discount on his current plan. He decided to stay with Xfinity because it was more convenient than a la carte services.

One of the options when cutting the cord is Youtube TV. It’s not the same as the regular Youtube. You have to get the app called Youtube TV and a subscription. The subscription is about $45 and there’s usually a free trial period. The advantage over something like Netflix is that you can get live politics, news and sports programming.

Glenn read the disclaimer:
The views expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and are not necessarily those of KVMR, our board, staff, volunteers or contributors.

Glenn said he just got a notice from Netflix that the $10.99 fee he had been paying is going up to $13. This is for HD streaming for 2 simultaneous streams on different devices at the same time. They also have 4k content with 4 streams on 4 devices for $16/mo. And they still have their basic non-HD stream for $8 to $9/mo.

Paul remembered when Nexflix had combination package that included streaming and a DVD disk. He said it was a loss leader for them. Glenn said they still offer a mail subscription. But though he has the Nexflix streaming service, he can’t search for anything that is available on the DVD thru the mail. Paul said to do a Google search with words like Netflix dvd [the movie name]. The search result is sometimes a third party site, sometimes it’s Netflix itself.

Psul said Netflix adds and removes available content in what seems like an arbitrary way. If he has something on his watch list, he can stream it, but others, who don’t have it on their watch list, can’t get it. Apparently it’s a way to test how people respond to what’s being offered.

Paul mentioned inelastic demand. Normally, when the price goes up demand goes down and when the demand goes up the price goes up. The connection becomes inelastic when the Netflix service is something you feel you need and can’t do without. Netflix relies “on being part of your life so you don’t want to go away.

A fully unlocked iPhone 6S with CDMA & GSM with 64 gigs of memory is about $200 (down from about $600 in 2015). CDMA is used with Verizon and GSM with AT&T. Paul said it’s not easy to tell which model 6S has which or if it has both. He said Wikipedia is a good place to start, as it has much info about iPhones going back to the first one. He then said you have to use the serial number of the phone to do a search at appleserialnumber.com to find out what it has inside.

Paul said Facebook has a lot of groups that trade and sell all sort of items. He asked Glenn if he knew about it. Glenn said he didn’t and that, in fact, he is seriously considering closing his Facebook account.

But continuing, Paul said some of the Facebook groups are identified by area code, like 530 for Nevada City & surrounding area, which makes it easier for buyers & sellers to get in touch.

Paul also said that it’s important for a cell phone to be unlocked by the original carrier and not by some hack. Otherwise the “first upgrade that comes along or the first chance that company gets to relock it, they will” and “you’re basically screwed, to put it mildly”.

Glenn remembered when it was possible to jailbreak the iPhone, which then allowed you to get apps from places other than the Apple store. But it was easy to brick the iPhone, as he did with two of his phones. Paul said if you like the ability to hack your phone, go for an Android phone.

Glenn asked Paul if leaving Facebook means What’s App will stop working, since What’s App is owned by Facebook. Paul thought it would continue to work.

Paul said if you’d like to send him a friend request on Facebook, tell him how it is you know him.

People may be impersonating someone else when they make a friend request. Check their profile to see how long they’ve been on Facebook. That should indicate if they are genuine.

Last Updated 12:48 AM 4-11-2019

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the audio of today’s show is here. Recent shows are here.

The intro & outro music was by Pentatonix.

Glenn was in the studio. Paul called in from his road trip to Southern Calif. He was in Lucern, which is about 50 miles south of Barstow.

Glenn thanked the supporters of KVMR. <If you’d like to become a contributing member, you can call the business office at 530-265-9073 or go to the KVMR website

You can send email to the guys, even during the show. Write to zen at kvmr dot org. And you can also call during the show at 530-265-9555.

After having visited the website Krebs On Security, Paul shared with us what he learned about card skimmers. <Card skimmers steal your credit card info when you use a card reader, an ATM, for instance.>
– You won’t usually see anything outwardly suspicious about the card reader; the skimmer is inside.
– The skimmers work by scanning the magnetic stripe when you swipe the card, not when you insert the card to read its chip.
– ATM technicians are bribed or blackmailed to allow the machines to be compromised.
– Hardware in inserted into an ATM to read the signals coming from the keypad where you enter your PIN and signals coming from the magnetic stripe reader. A membrane is put under the keypad to pick up the PIN as you enter it. And a second stripe reader is placed next to the legitimate one.
– The PIN and card numbers are stored on a flash drive in the skimmer. They are later read out by the crooks using a Bluetooth connection. Of course, the data is encrypted on the flash drive so not just anyone can read it. The crooks don’t want anyone to steal the data that they stole.
– Paul found some websites that sell skimmers for $500 to $700. They are small devices about the size of a chewing gum stick.
– Another way they steal your PIN & card number is to install an entire ATM machine that’s completely bogus, run by company that doesn’t exist. When you use it, it will say something like “sorry, your transaction has been declined”. But at that point it’s already stolen your PIN & card number.
– When the stolen PIN & card numbers are sold, the buyers find a high failure rate because the banks often spot unusual activity, like usage at a distant location, and lock the account. The rightful owner may see a charge of $1 on their statements. That’s a way the crooks test if the card is still valid before selling the data.
– Paul said that some banks let you receive an alert notification when there’s a transaction with the card. He set his alert level at the $1 limit. Check your bank’s website for more info.
– It’s a lot harder to steal from your account using the chip on the card. The crooks have the steal the card itself as well as determine your PIN.

The guys agreed that though there are security problems with credit cards, they are very convenient. The bank Glenn uses offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The Costco card offers 3% to 4% off some purchases. There’s another card that gives you 1% off when you buy something and 1% off when you pay your credit bill.

Paul warned us about quick loan places such as those that give cash advance on wages. Protections have been rolled back under our current federal government. Apparently the person in charge of federal consumer protection is not interested in protecting us against usury. When you’re considering these loans, read the fine print, he said.

Paul said that it was his impression that credit card debt in California is noncollectable after 7 years. However if you go that route, you may end up with ruined credit. Glenn clarified by saying this applies to unsecured loans and that the debt isn’t forgiven after 7 years but it is removed from your credit report, as required by law. “You still owe the debt, but at that point, many people look at that and say ‘well what incentive do I have to pay it off, because it’s no longer reported on my credit and it’s not negatively affecting me'”.

Paul said he uses Gas Buddy to find the cheapest gas when he’s out in his RV because of it’s poor gas mileage.

Paul thought about using his old Rand McNally atlas on his road trip. When he found it in his RV it had mold all over it as was unreadable. He realized that keeping the RV sealed not only keeps the weather out but also keeps condensation in. He knows now to keep something open for air circulation, maybe even with a fan, to lower humidity and flush out mold spores.

Glenn noted that he too used Gas Buddy to great advantage 2 weeks ago on his trip to Arizona.

About $.40 of the cost for a gallon of gas goes to the state in taxes. This is not true for tribal lands, which are under federal jurisdiction. Paul said he was able to take advantage of that fact when he came thru Bishop CA.

Glenn mentioned that after he got his refurbished iPhone 8, he passed on his iPhone 6S to a friend. He went to an Apple store to get the data from her iPhone 4 transferred to the 6S. It turned out that he didn’t need Apple’s help. It was an easy process. He backed up the iPhone 4 to iCloud and then used the 6S to download the backup from the iCloud.

Paul related the story about some perfectly innocent guy in South Africa who was periodically raided by the cops. Apparently, when cell phones are involved in crimes the IP address is evidence used to track people down. In this case, the IP address was identified by geolocation to be the center of the town, which is where this fellow lives — the cell network was only able to report that one location.

Paul noted that there is a senior pass available for those who frequent national parks. Glenn said it’s a lifelong pass, but couldn’t remember how much it cost, maybe $10 to $20. He said you can get the pass at a national park ranger office.

Glenn said that he and Frank McClain will host the Flea Market show tomorrow from 1pm to 2pm.

Paul mentioned the KVMR app, which is available for free. It also streams KVMRX. And it has the schedule of shows, too.
<The KVMRX live stream is here.>
<The app for Android might be a little hard to find using the link a KVMR. You can get it here.>

Tom called in, but his audio was breaking up badly. It sounded like he was looking for another internet provider. He has Digital Path now but their price keeps going up. It’s now up to $112 per month. He said something about a Verizon package, the Jet Pack, and wanted an opinion.

Glenn read the disclaimer before going on:
The views expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, our board, staff, or contributors

Paul thought the reason for the rate going up is that people are streaming so much stuff these days it’s hard for a provider to keep up with the volume. Streaming audio is approx. 35 meg per hour and video at a modest rez is maybe 3/4 gigabytes per hour. Most cell phone packages give you 3 to 5 gigs per month, so you use up your allotment quickly. ISPs know this and charge more because they don’t have that kind of data limit.

Glenn said he has a friend who use an AT&T service with unlimited data, but he couldn’t remember name of the plan. He said the plan does not throttle the speed after passing a certain data cap. He suggested that Tom call Verizon to get more info about the Jet Pack.

Glenn said there is another provider in the area called Smarter Broadband.

Paul had a quick item at the end of the show. What can you do with an old iPhone like the iPhone 4? If you unlock it, you can use it as a hot spot. Put a data-only SIM card in it and use it as a mi-fi hot spot.

Last Updated 1:33 AM 3-28-2019

Your Home Network
Happy 30th Birthday, WWW!

Flame Mappers from my predecessor
March 19 Town Hall Meeting

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the audio of today’s show is here. Recent shows are here.

The intro music was Fractal Zoom by Brian Eno
The outro music was by Pentatonix.

Paul was in the studio. We didn’t hear from Glenn during the show.

If you’d like to call in with questions or comments, the number is 530-265-9555.

March 12th was the 30th birthday of the World Wide Web. Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web while working for CERN. His job was to collate the data from the atomic research conducted there. (See the link at the top.)
<Remembering the Day the World Wide Web Was Born
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality, By Tim Berners-Lee>

At that time the internet had been around for a while. What made it the World Wide Web is the hypertext (the clickable link) Tim developed to allow easy navigation between documents and websites.

Paul noted that, originally, the hypertext links were to be double-clicked. He then continued by talking about clicking, double-clicking and triple-clicking in some word processors, which will highlight differing amounts of the text. He said it’s worth experimenting with.

He also said that the concept of clicking on hypertext went back to about 1965 when there was no web as we know it now. He brought up the example of an encyclopedia on CD that he used, where clicks took you to different subject matter.

In its wisdom, CERN decided to release all claim to their copyright for clicking hypertext, <which facilitated the rapid expansion of its use and the web itself.>

Flame Mappers (see the link above) was mentioned on the show preceding Zen Tech. It has something to do with near real-time wildlife predictive analysis and landscape mitigation modeling. Paul said he just found out about it and intends to check into it more.

Paul went on to talk about networks. If you’re using the internet at home, the chances are high that you have a network. He distinguished the internet, the decentralize network outside your house, from the intranet, the network inside. The box (modem/router) in your house, what the cable carrying the internet data connects to, is the boundary between the internet and the network in your house (the intranet).
<A quick reference to the difference between internet & intranet.>

He mentioned some of the devices that are on the intranet: your computer, printer and cell phone in wireless mode. You can discover what else is on you network by using Windows in the command line mode. Go to the Start Menu and in the search box type “cmd” (w/o quotes) (on the Mac search for the word “terminal”) and you’ll end up with a mostly black screen where you type in your commands. The command to type is “arp -a” (arp is address resolution protocol). This will show the hardware addresses of things on your network and the associated software addresses that the router uses. Some things may not show up if your network hasn’t been running for long. The very least it will tell you is how many devices are connected to your network.

If you have something like a Roku Sound Bridge, as Paul does, or a Chromecast, you can find out even more information about it using one of several apps. One free app is called The Angry IP Scanner. This app will only report information but will not change anything.

With the info from Angry IP Scanner you can use your web browser to access the web page that some of your local devices have inside of them. For example, if you have a Canon printer, the scanner might report its name as canon1066. In your web browser’s address bar type in canon1066.local. In many instances, you’ll get that internal webpage if you append the .local domain to the end of the device’s name.

If you use the Chrome browser to do this, it might do something weird. It might do a search and take you to the Canon USA website. In this case you can force it to retrieve the local webpage by typing “//canon1066.local” (w/o quotes).

There are an increasing number of devices we have in our houses that connect to the internet — the internet of things (IOT). These devices, like web cameras, are pretty autonomous and don’t require much input from you. But they are sending data out on the internet so you can, for instance, use your phone to see what’s going on at home when you’re at work. But it’s only in the last couple of years that the manufacturers started encrypting the data traffic these IOT devices send. Otherwise, it’s good to be wary of it being intercepted. He suggested using Ethernet cables to connect your IOT devices rather than do it wirelessly.

Paul mentioned that mainstream support for Windows 7 has already ended and extended support will end Jan 14 2020. He also said that the recent 7 or 8 updates to Windows 10 have “messed stuff up”.

Ward called. He’s really into low tech and is looking for some kind of publication that will help him do even more low tech. He has seriously questioned the good the internet has done for us. He asked Paul to point out the good it’s done.

Paul said there’s an up side and a down side to tech. He thinks it’s actually neutral but it brings out the best and the worst in us. In particular, it helps him stay in touch with family and friends that he wouldn’t otherwise see. He thinks technology is for the better but we have to stay vigilant.

In signing off, Paul reminded listeners they can write to the hosts using the address zen at kvmr dot org.

Last Updated 11:03 PM 3-13-2019

New Forms of Gambling Addiction: Loot Boxes
Avatars versus Reality.. Which is Which? DEEP FAKES
Russian Internet Research Agency and their Pro/Anti/Vax/Abortion/Party Research
… And Why. YHBTYHL
Gaming Page Ranking with Conspiracies : Giving you More of what you did before..
Title 47 Federal Law  The Comminications Decency Act and its meanings

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the audio of today’s show is here. Recent shows are here.

The intro and outro music was by Pentatonix.

Both Glenn & Paul were both in the studio today.

Glenn thanked the people who made donations to KVMR during the recent membership drive, <If you’d like to become a supporting member, you can call the KVMR office at 530-265-9073 or visit the website.>

Admitting he rarely plays video games, Paul talked about Loot Boxes <see the link above>. You might get video games for free on the internet but to improve your chance of progressing, you buy things while you play, like extra armor, a key or invisibility cloak. The prices of such objects are cheap but they are adjusted dynamically as you play to maximize the profit for the game’s creator.

Paul went on to talk about Deep Fakes. <See the link above>. This is where a video of a US President or even an admired personality is made to say something they didn’t, with the facial expressions and mouth movement to match. The idea got its start in the Pixar animation studios where they do live action capture. Our laws do not yet deal with Deep Fakes, he added.

How do you tell if what’s said has been faked? “What would happen if you would like it if they had said that”, he asked. For example, if you saw the faked CEO of Wells Fargo saying everyone is going to get a million dollars put into their accounts.
<Advancing Face-Swap Apps Blur More Lines>
<The Reality-Distorting Tools Of The Future>
<Create a digital synthesized clone copy of your voice>
<Radiolab did a story on deepfakes:>

After telling the listeners that they can call in to the show at 530-265-9555, Glenn read the disclaimer:
The views expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, our board, staff, volunteers or contributors.

Glenn continued with some weather-related announcements. Butte County Sheriff’s office issued evacuation orders as of 7:30 this morning for the Richvale area between the Sacramento River and Highway 99, from Nelson Shippy Road to Highway 162. In the Chico area, Andrew Court, Magnus Court, Vosca Drive and Taffy Ave have flooding problems.

Glenn reminded listeners that when it’s raining or in fog, state law requires that you have your headlights on — not your daytime running lights, DRLs. Turning on the DRLs does not turn on your rear lights.

Marilyn called about a problem she has with her email. Her email is blocked when she sends it to a Gmail account. She gets a notification that it’s Bulk or Unsolicited mail or Unauthenticated. There’s no problem sending email to other systems.

Paul told her to look at the header of the returned email (that didn’t go thru). Invoke the option to look at the entire header. Wade thru the entire thing and you should find a link that you can copy and paste into your browser. The link says something like google.com/article/question15/id=… Go to that address to find out what’s happening and then send what you found out to your internet service provider <whose email service you use>. They will have to fix things on their end.

Marilyn also said that she had sent the guys some email earlier in Feb and had not heard back and hadn’t received a failure notification. Glenn said he hasn’t seen any email from her. Paul said that all emails to the kvmr.org domain is handled by Gmail using the non-profit Gsuite. So it’s possible that Google blocked that email too.

Glenn suggested she use Thunderbird as her email program to replace the Outlook she’s using now. She said she used it on her old Windows XP and it worked wonderfully. But on her new Windows 7 machine, when she clicks to send an email, she gets the warning “Add security exception. You are about to override how Thunderbird identifies this site. Legitimate banks, stores and others will not ask you to do this”.

Paul realized what’s going on. When you use Thunderbird or Outlook, they “use certificates to go back and forth to make sure you’re connected to the site you think you’re connected to”. If the warning is coming from your current internet service provider, then they’ve screwed up the certificate. Gmail should never say that because their certificates are always valid.

Paul suggested they talk off the air to resolve the problem. In the mean time, she should take pictures of the error messages on the screen and send them to him.

Dave called. He seemed impressed with the Lexus (car) when a woman told him that the windshield wipers come on automatically when rain is detected. Paul related the trouble he and Glenn had getting into a Tesla, which they had a chance to see at the Roseville Galleria recently. They had trouble finding the door handle. And the trunk was a mystery too, until they realized there was a button on a screen that had to be pushed to open it.

The guys talked a bit about the automation found on modern cars: warning on the dash if a headlight is burned out, tire pressure indicator, warning if you stray across the yellow line (Lane Assist), adaptive cruse control that keeps the right distance from the car ahead and automatic braking in heavy traffic.

Jamey called. He’s using Sonic for his internet provider and Open VPN, which is an open source program. Sonic set him up with the VPN but doesn’t support it. When he uses the VPN, the keyboard starts missing letters and the mouse starts missing clicks. And when he has a diminished screen, its border flickers. He called Sonic but they don’t know what’s going on, the VPN is not their product.
<Sonic might be the same as Sacramento Fusion that was mentioned in the 8-24-11 show>

Paul thought the problem may be the result of the VPN putting a heavy burden on the CPU. It uses a lot of resources to do it’s job. Hit Control+Alt+Delete to bring up the task manager and look under processes and you might see that the VPN is using up a lot of processor time. Look for other processes that may be using up the CPU’s time.

Paul suggested he install a utility called Process Explorer. Google those 2 words and be sure you end up on the Microsoft site. It’s much better than Task Manager. It not only shows you a process, but also what started it. And it helps you google to get more info, just right-click on it.

Process Explorer is only about 2megs and it doesn’t need to be “installed”, just run it. If you experiment and kill a process, and Windows no longer works right, you can restart Windows and be back in business.

Finally, Paul briefly mentioned the Russian Internet Research Agency <see the link above>. This is the group that interfered with the US elections by trolling in the social media sites. They would foment animosity by arguing for both sides of an issue and thereby perpetuating acrimony.

Last Updated 1:51 AM 2-28-2019

TODAY!
– from last Week HomeWork: MICROBIT 

• How About the Pi Zero?! All from Raspberry PI
• Be Your Own DJ Free! MIXXX  It can read iTunes Playlists. Steep Learning Curve though!
• Linux Users of WMA Office, Libre Office: Where’s Arial, Verdana etc?!
• Tiny Real Virtual Servers! VULTR and Digital Ocean
• Fixing an iPod Classic with 1.8″ 40-pin Drive

Additional notes

Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

For a couple of months, the audio of today’s show is here. Recent shows are here.

The intro and outro music was by Pentatonix.

Note that there will not be a Zen Tech show on Feb 13 due to a membership drive.

Both Paul & Glenn were in the studio today.

Glenn started off talking about paying thru your bank. Zelle & Venmo are a couple of the more popular options. He’s been using Zelle thru Wells Fargo. A typical example is paying back a dinner companion at a restaurant where you want to split the bill — you pay your portion after the companion pays the entire bill. There is no fee for using Zelle. To send someone money you just need their email address or cell phone number.

Glenn also has an online bank where he wanted to use Zelle. He couldn’t use his email address at both banks so he tried using his cell phone number, but it came back saying it’s not a cell number. So he reversed things, using the cell number at Wells Fargo and the email at the online bank. That worked.

Paul said that in the US, there is no way to know for sure if a number is cellular if you’re using a MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) as your cellular service. A MVNO is a company that resells a service that comes from one of the major carriers (Version, AT&t, etc.). Glenn uses Pure Talk.

Glenn went on to say that Zelle transactions are nearly instantaneous. The recipient gets an email or text message when the transfer occurs. The transaction is irrevocable. Both parties have to have to subscribe to Zelle. Glenn said he doesn’t know of any bank that doesn’t use it.

This type of service is nothing new to Europeans. They’ve had Postbank and Gyro, interbank transfer systems, for a long time, Paul said. In Japan they don’t use checks, only interbank transfers.

Glenn reminded listeners that they can send email to the show hosts at zen at kvmr dot org.

Turning to the homework links at the top, Paul talked about the Raspberry Pi. The pi comes from the programming language Python developed approx. 15 or 18 years ago. It was named, in part, for Monty Python.

The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer on a board that’s no more than a couple of inches square. It uses a 5 volt power supply and a micro USB connector. It has some LED lights to indicate what’s going on and an HDMI output to hook it up to your TV set. The USB port lets you hook up a mouse & keyboard. One of the models of the Pi (the 3B Paul thought) has wi-fi and Bluetooth.

Don’t buy this as a home computer, Paul cautioned. It’s primarily for the hobbyist. Nevertheless, it is the 3rd highest selling platform, behind the PC and all things by Apple.

The Pi is used in all sort of applications. Paul is using it to make a security camera and also a weather station. Weather sensors for humidity, temperature and air pressure are about $2 each, Paul said. The 3b is the model that has all the bells and whistles and costs about $32. <See the links at the top for more info.>

It has a short but sharp leaning curve. And once you develop something with the 3B you can take the micro SD card and put it into the Pi Zero, the low budget model. The Pi Zero will then do what the 3B did but with “less space”, smaller dimensions and fewer interfaces. The latest Pi Zero, which is about the size of a chewing gum stick, comes with wi-fi. Paul plans to use his Pi Zero to augment his Roomba vacuum cleaner.. The Roomba doesn’t have very much suction but it does have patience and is good for the dust bunnies under the bed, he said.

You can get a Pi starter kit on Amazon, Banggood or Aliexpress. You can choose which operating system to run on it. Most people use Linux in a form called Raspbian, a free version of Debian Linux. It’s a real learning experience and you do have to follow the instructions.

Talk turned to DJ’ing. Glenn said that music is not a big part of his life. He finds iTunes confusing and would have trouble with software that a DJ would use. Paul thought he could get comfortable with a free piece of software called Mixxx <see the link at the top> for the PC and Mac, but had no clue on how to proceed. <Mixxx was mentioned on the 8-26-15 show>.

The idea is to use 2 turntables, on the screen as I understand it. You cue up on one and play on the other. Mixxx reads your playlist from iTunes.

PCs and Macs have just one audio output (the speaker) but you “can get a cheap audio device and connect it to a headphone” so you’ll have 2 audio outputs — the headphone and the speaker. This is the very basic setup. You can buy a USB adapter that gives you a headphone jack. The computer will identify it as a second audio channel with a name something like “USB audio”.

So now you play from your playlist out of one side, to your speaker, and something else to the headphone. Mixxx can detect the beat of the music and you can change the pitch and the speed. If one song is 60 beats per minute and the other is 90, the software can alter one to coincide with the other. It was at this point that Paul got bogged down with all of the options and buttons in Mixxx. It’s a learning experience, he said. If you know how to mix with 2 physical turntables, you should have little trouble proceeding.

Mixxx supports Midi devices. And for $40 to $60 you can get a USB device that has “2 tiny rubber turntables” and “a couple of actual real physical sliders”. “So you’re interfacing with the software on the screen in such a way that it looks like the hardware the formal DJ would use”. Despite making all sorts of mistakes, Paul said he’s having a blast.

Glenn invited listeners to call in with their questions and comment at 530-265-9555. You’ll be put on hold and then attended to in the order of your call.

He then read the disclaimer:
The views expressed on this show are those of the speakers only and not necessarily those of KVMR, our board, staff, volunteers or contributors.

Paul talked about WMA office. <See the link at the top>. This is, apparently, an office suite that, to a degree, mimics Microsoft Office. But it doesn’t come with Arial, Verdana and a couple of other fonts. They are under Microsoft license but can be downloaded for free. <See the link at the top>.

Bitstream & Adobe are companies that digitize fonts and they collaborated, with other companies to standardize the TrueType fonts specification. There are a huge number of free fonts.

If you type something in one font and send the document to someone, they may not have that font. The TrueType font file has information in it that allows automatic substitution of another similar font for the missing font. But it still may look a little different. That’s why people started using the .pdf document format. The .pdf would render the fonts as dots <essentially a picture>.

The Microsoft Word program has a way of embedding the definition of a font within the document. So if the recipient doesn’t have the correct font, the one in the document will be used.

All major platforms now use TrueType fonts, including Linux. But you’ll have to download Arial and Verdana separately.

Paul mentioned an interesting documentary about the Helvetica font and the influence a font can have on society in general.

Neil called. He had bought some rechargeable nicad batteries but they don’t work in his cordless phone. But they do work in a flashlight. If he replaces just one battery in the phone, it works
– Maybe the contact points are the problem. Use an emery board on the contacts.
– It’s not a good idea to mix batteries as Neil did. The stronger battery might dump the current into the weaker one and cause corrosion or make it over heat.
– Look closely at the contact points to be sure they’re connecting. There may be a physical difference between the original & replacement battery.
– Get a cheap battery tester. The tester should put small load on the battery. A multimeter is designed not to load the battery.

Steve called. He uses a popular CAD program (Computer Aided Design). He’s seen older versions for sale on the internet from dealers who aren’t authorized to sell them. They buy the software from a abroad and sell it in the US. He wants to know if it’s legal software.

If you buy software that comes with a key and you can successfully activate it using the key, the odds are high that it’s legitimate software. If it doesn’t activate, ask for your money back. Some software may get hacked so it doesn’t need activation. Some may have had the key stolen from a school or college that was using what’s called a VLK (volume licensing). Some software may be so old that it isn’t rigorous about how it activates (it may not connect with the company over the internet to confirm).

If you really want to know if the software is legit, communicate the company and ask if the key is legitimate.

If someone bought software and later decided to sell it or move it from one machine to another, the key should be deactivated. The license can then be transferred. If a reseller is involved, you’re in a gray area.

You don’t actually own the software, just the license to use it. And there’s the question of whether it’s the person who owns the license or the machine.

Glenn opined that there isn’t much in open source CAD software. As soon as he said that, Paul found Freecad. But it seemed that wasn’t an option for Steve, he needs compatibility with the software he’s now using.

Another option might be to buy an older version of software legitimately, and then use it as an upgrade path to get a newer version. Of course, first check that the upgrade is available.

Doug called about Neil’s battery problem. He suggested that the cordless phone may not have been designed for nicad batteries. Be sure the replacement batteries are of same type. Some devices may have a switch to select for the type of battery you’re about to put in.

Paul called. He wants to get a simple phone, not a smartphone, for his disabled son. Are there free phones for those on SSI, he wondered.
– Do a Google search but beware of scams.
– Call the social service you use or a county social worker to find out what’s available.
– Tracfones are cheap.

Last Updated 12:45 AM 1-31-2019