Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 & DD-WRT: A Winning Combo

Works great. Looks UGLY!Last week I did something very uncharacteristic for a self-professed, died-in-the-wool, drank the KoolAid, Apple fanboy. I replaced my four year old Airport Extreme (Wireless-N) router with a new Netgear AC1900. Why would I commit such a traitorous act? Well, I guess my gearhead left brain overpowered my Apple-nirvana right brain. Also, I’ve been wanting to upgrade to wireless-AC since I bought my new MacBook Pro a few months back and I learned that Apple stopped supporting SNMP on their newest wireless-AC capable AirPort Extreme. In my world of limited bandwidth, SNMP is a feature I don’t want to live without. Additionally, I’ve been dying to install and run DD-WRT, the open-source router firmware that gives sub-$200 routers the power of Cisco devices costing ten times more.

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Wanna really good Bluetooth mouse for cheap?

Every now and then I come across a really good deal by complete happenstance. Last week my $70 Logitech VX mouse that I’ve used for two years completely lost its mind. The cursor began freezing occasionally and left button clicks were very erratic. Sometimes I would have to click on something two or three times before anything would happen. After trying all the usual remedies to no avail, new battery, repositioning the USB dongle, etc., I went mouse shopping. I decided to look for a Bluetooth mouse to eliminate the need for a dongle. My (late 2013) MacBook Pro only has two USB ports and besides, a dongle is just one more thing to get lost in the bottom of my laptop bag. There are tons of wireless mice requiring a dongle, but after looking far and wide on the web for Bluetooth mice, I was disappointed by how limited the selection is. I was about to give in and fork over 70 bucks to Apple for a MagicMouse when I decided to take a second look at the bargain basement offerings at Amazon. The TeckNet Bluetooth mouse is one of those. For $11.97 and free shipping from Amazon Prime, I figured “what the hell?” and bought it with One-Click. Two days later the UPS man dropped it off.

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Apple Pay WILL Be Successful. Get Used To It.

I never cease to be amazed by supposedly intelligent, knowledgable technology journalists’ capacity to get things absolutely wrong. Although things have returned to sanity now, the first few days after the launch of Apple Pay saw all manner of tech pundits proclaiming its inevitable failure. They pointed to CVS and RiteAid turning off all their NFC (Near Field Communication) point-of-sale devices to prevent the use of Apple Pay, big retailers like Best Buy and Walmart proclaiming their refusal to implement Apple Pay and a host of other retailers who’d signed up for the (not yet released) MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) “CurrentC” system.

What they didn’t tell us was...

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iPhone 6 Plus: Crazy Big, Just Right!

By now you've probably read more news and reviews of the iPhone 6 a d 6 Plus than you need. So, my keen sense of understanding about what my readership wants tells me to add my two cents to the myriad drivel. What can I say? It's like a sixth sense.

So, why did I decide to buy this ridiculously large iPhone? Was it the extra screen real estate? Was it the exceptional keyboard extras when in landscape mode? Was it the very viewable movie experience? Was it the need to be blatantly obvious about owning the newest Apple flagship?  Well, yes to all, but the real clincher for me was the extra battery life afforded by the much larger size. With virtually identical innards as the iPhone 6, the 6 Plus has a lot more room for lithium. And boy can I tell the difference.

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It's the Ecosystem. Period.

I’ve just completed one week using iOS 8.1 on my iPhone 6+ and OS X Yosemite on my late 2013 15” Retina MacBook Pro. I can sum up my experience with one sentence…

What a great time to be an Apple fan!

Like many of you, I spend a lot of time consuming Apple news, reviews, podcasts and the like. Maybe unlike many of you, I’m one of those guys who is unashamed to say “I drank the KoolAid”. By that I mean by any measure I am all-in when it comes to Apple hardware and software. I use AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express routers exclusively for my home network. I regularly use my iPad Air for consuming content and some light creation. I listen to my iPod Nano while working out or going for my daily walk. As mentioned, I have a new iPhone 6+, but I’ve owned an iPhone since standing in line for the original at my local Apple store in late June of 2007. I’m on my third MacBook Pro since 2006 and I’m typing this post on my late 2009 27” iMac and iPad Air using the newest version of Pages. I organize and edit my photos with Aperture and record and mix the MacTexan Podcast with Logic Pro. There’s an AppleTV hooked up to all three TVs in our home that share content with every Mac and iOS device we own. All three of my daughters and one son-in-law are also exclusive Apple users in no small part due to getting my hand-me-downs and receiving Apple products as gifts for Christmas, birthdays, graduations, etc. We regularly use FaceTime and iMessage to communicate and have since its introduction. I’m also a registered Mac and iOS developer (mainly to get beta versions of Apple software, but I do like to play “Code Monkey” from time to time). Yep. Any way you slice me you come up with Apples.

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