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Tippon

@Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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DeAmazoning a FireTV

I never want to get a smart TV, but I found this exact TV (Toshiba FireTV) on the side of the road and decided it would be a fun project to try enhancing its privacy as much as I can. It did not come with the remote or any other accessories besides the TV, so if there is any way to pair an iPhone/Pixel as a remote that would...

Tippon ,

While I agree with you, if OP is spending money on a remote, they may as well try to find an original remote. They're unlikely to be expensive, and will have all the correct buttons :)

Tippon ,

In my defence it's late at night here 🙈

Tippon ,

It depends on the server. Mine is an old Haswell based system, and uses more than 2 watts :)

Tippon ,

Be careful with MediaMonkey, it can incorrectly change your files.

I've got dozens, if not hundreds of songs where it's changed the track number to the play count, and I've got a load where it's decreased the volume by a significant amount, presumably as part of the volume leveling function.

I don't use anything else to play or manage my music, and nothing has permission to affect it this way.

Can we all agree that whatever version of predictive text we have nowadays is crap, and has been for a long time?

I'm sick of random capitalisations mid sentence. I'm sick of common words being replaced by less common ones or even downright nonsense. I'm sick of it taking three attempts to successfully get the word I want. I swear it's been like this for five years or more. Can we have a better version yet, or at least the old one back?

Tippon ,

Strongly disagree. I'm using SwiftKey, and the prediction has been awful for the last year or so. It constantly tries to force sentences on me and gives me multiple repeated words.

As an example, typing that last sentence, every time I started a word with 'm', it suggested 'more' and 'more than'. If I long press and tell it not to suggest 'more than', then select 'more', the next suggested word is 'than'.

I find that it often repeats the selected word too. Earlier I typed something like 'I did it last year' and the next suggestions were 'year' and 'year ago'.

Microsoft have shoehorned a predictive AI into SwiftKey, and it doesn't work properly.

Tippon ,

I imagine you already know, but be sure that you're saying that the street sign doesn't exist, and not the street itself 👍

Tippon ,

It's good, but it depends on the map having the details in the first place. e.g. near me, the roads are mapped, and a lot of the town centre, but there's a huge amount missing.

Street Complete can't ask about a building if it hasn't been added to OpenStreetMap in the first place.

Tippon ,

Well, I feel a bit daft!

I thought the filter was to only complete quests for certain objects. I had no idea that you could add items too. That's going to make things easier for me :)

Tippon ,

It's so much easier. I've got one password to remember, and I don't have to think about any others :)

Tippon ,

This time last year I stayed on Bardsey Island, off the Welsh Coast. There's hardly any phone signal on the island, but they warned everyone to turn off roaming on their phones anyway. It turns out that because of the mountain on the island blocking the signal from the UK, lots of phones automatically connect to Irish providers, and cost more than people expect

Tippon ,

The island is tiny, and only has about half a dozen houses on it. The visitors are there because it's a nature reserve, so generally don't want to be on their phones anyway. It's not worth setting up a relay station over just telling everyone before they get there.

Tippon ,

I used to work for one of the big game retailers in the UK, and we didn't do that, we would just scan the generic barcode. That was about 15 years ago though, so things may be different now.

Tippon ,

Genuine question, but what's unusable without Nitro? I don't use Discord very often, and the only thing that I've seen Nitro pushed for is reactions from other communities, and that's pointless anyway.

Tippon ,

Fair enough. I tried video calling with it at the beginning of the first lockdown, and it was fine for what I needed, but most of the video calling programs were a bit rubbish then.

I very rarely share files with people outside of an already set up organisation, so I haven't had a reason to try their file sharing.

Tippon ,

I haven't used that module, but I've fixed some problems in the past by running npm install in the module's folder, then either rebooting or restarting the MM software.

I don't know whether it's the mirror or the module that causes the problem, but that can help

Tippon ,

Report them as malicious content 👍

Tippon ,

Much longer than that. I'm sure I saw it on there a year or two ago.

Tippon OP ,

I could, but the last few times I've done astrophotography with this camera, the focus guide has worked well. I don't know why it didn't work this time, but I'll definitely be double checking it next time 🙈

Tippon OP ,

Thanks, but this was with a real camera on a tripod 🙈🤣

I've done astrophotography with this camera a few times, and used to use my DSLR. I find this camera a bit more difficult to use because it's mirrorless, and the light from the screen gives me problems seeing the stars. I have astigmatism, so it takes me a while to go from bright to dark. Because of that, I use the focus guide to make sure that the stars are in focus. For some reason, this time it's showed them as being in focus, but they're clearly not.

I don't know what changed this time, but it's bloody annoying! >.<

Tippon OP ,

It does have an app, but it only lets me take jpegs rather than raw. As I need to edit the photos afterwards, jpeg is no good for me.

I should have checked the focus after the first photo, but because the focus guide said that everything was ok, I didn't think to. I won't be making that mistake again :(

Tippon OP ,

I've used this camera for astrophotography quite a few times, and that's what makes this so annoying. I live at the edge of a dark skies site, so have been able to take photos from my back garden quite regularly. This was my first chance to get to the wetlands though, and get some different photos.

As you say though, the views were amazing, so that's definitely a bright side :)

Tippon OP ,

For images of objects that distant, you need to manually focus into infinity to get good results.

That's what I thought I had done. This camera, the Sony a6000, has a focus peaking mode, where it puts a coloured overlay on top of the object that's in focus. In a situation like mine, where it's difficult to tell with the eye, it tells you what the camera sees as in focus.

Last night it put the overlay on the stars, telling me that they were in focus. I've used it for astrophotography in the past, so I thought that it was correct. I don't know why it didn't work last night.

Tippon OP ,

Next time, switch to manual, and put focus on as far out as can go

Unfortunately, that doesn't work with this lens. It's a Sony a6000 16 - 50mm kit lens, and in manual focus mode, roughly a quarter of the focus range is marked as infinity, and going all the way out goes 'past' the stars. They start off blurred, come in to focus, then get blurry again. I don't know what deep space objects Sony expect people to photograph with the kit lens, but apparently they're really far away 😝

Tippon OP ,

No worries. You gave good advice, even if you got the device wrong 🙂

Tippon OP ,

It's a Sony a6000, using the kit lens last night at 16mm. The focus guide has been great in all sorts of situations lately, so I've got no idea why it went wrong last night.

I use it more in the dark because I struggle to focus on stars on a lit screen. I have astigmatism, and I find it difficult to go between the screen and the sky, especially when it's cold.

Tippon OP ,

Definitely!

I struggle to see the stars on the small screen on the camera though, especially in the cold and dark, which is why I used the focus guide. I don't think I'll be trusting it as much in the future though 🙈

This might make you laugh - in manual focus mode on this lens, almost a quarter of the focus range is marked as infinity! I haven't figured out what Sony thinks I need to focus on past the stars yet 🤣

Tippon OP ,

The a6000 is the same. I manually set the focus, and the focus display on the screen told me that it was set correctly when it wasn't.

I've been taking similar photos for about ten years now, and this is the first time this has happened. While I was in a new area, I was less than half a mile from home, so there were no major changes to my usual setup.

For sky photos I would set the focus as far as it lets you. Sadly, you will never be able to correctly focus stars because their focal point is just way too far, so manually setting is a far as the camera lets you should suffice.

Sorry, but you're wrong. People take in focus photos of the stars around the world every day. I've taken hundreds over the years. Lots of lenses need to be focused all the way out, then dialled back very slightly, and the a6000 kit lens needs to be dialled back further than most. They can take pin sharp photos of the stars though.

What's happened in my case is that because I have trouble seeing the stars on a screen, I used the focus guide, like I have lots of times before. I set the focus to what the guide said was correct, because it usually works for me, but for some reason this time, the guide was wrong.

Tippon OP ,

Yeah, I've given it a try, but haven't had much luck yet. I'm fine with it in the light, but using it in the dark gives me the same problem. It is a bit easier, but not enough to make a difference. I'll keep trying though.

You have just given me the idea to mention it to my optician though. I've got an appointment tomorrow, so I'll see if he's got any thoughts :)

Tippon OP ,

It is! 😁

Tippon OP ,

Sorry, I forgot to reply >.<

Ironically, my two favourite photos have blurry stars, but because I overexposed them and the stars moved enough to blur. I added my favourite non family member photo too, just because I love it so much :D

https://imgur.com/a/5yAiGLm

Tippon OP ,

Thanks for replying, sorry about the slow reply :)

I didn't know that you could change the colour settings for the screen, other than adjusting the brightness. Unfortunately, it's not something that's available on my Sony a6000. I have bought a cheap pair of red sunglasses to see if they help though :)

The a6000 has a live preview which zooms to 11 (fans of Spinal Tap perhaps? ), and it works fairly well. Using it on planets is difficult, as the planets move out of the small window very quickly, but for the stars it's usually great. I just didn't use it this time as the camera said that the focus was correct.

Never mind, I just need to wait for the next clear night now :)

How to argue for making a new plant public transit friendly

My employer is planning a new manufacturing plant. I work with some of the people designing it. They currently don't have any plans to hook up to public transit, though there's a commuter train station 3 miles away. It takes 20min to bike between them or 40min currently to take a bus. The area it's in is extremely car centric....

Tippon ,

People exist outside of America ;)

Tippon ,

Apparently they've fixed the Grapefruit launcher so that it works again. I haven't tried it yet though, because it's Roblox, and I can't stand it.

Tippon ,

Why not just repair the hinges?

Tippon ,

wanted a new laptop for a while anyways 😋

Always the best reason 😁

Tippon ,

But where do you put the camera? If you're sitting in front of the TV, then near the TV makes sense. What if you're sitting facing a different direction with a book though? What if your hands are full?

A camera based system would be much more limited, and probably wouldn't work in the dark.

Tippon ,

You wake up one day with a bad headache, and bright light hurts your eyes. You can close the curtains, but every room is set to turn the lights on to the brightness that you usually prefer.

How do you manage something like this? Do you have to adjust everything with your phone and reset it when you feel better?

Tippon ,

How does it know what scene you want? If you walk in to a room and want to watch TV, you might want the lights to be dimmer than if you're going to read a book, for example.

For selecting an album or movie to play, it's easier to use a menu on a screen than to try to explain it verbally.

How? I can put on my best Captain Picard voice and say 'Computer, play the album Insomniac by Green Day' much faster and easier than I could pick up the remote, turn on the media player, scroll to music, scroll to G, find Green Day, scroll to Insomniac, and press play.

I've got Amazon devices (bought before I knew how bad both they and Amazon are), and they're not great. Even with them, I can walk in to my living room in the night with my hands full and tell them to turn my chosen lights on, set the brightness and colour, start playing my chosen music, or turn the TV on and start playing certain media, all while I'm walking to my seat.

The only media that I can't play is what I haven't set up to use with Alexa yet, but that would be the same for any automation.

When I get around to it, I'm going to add either Plex or Jellyfin to my voice control setup, and hopefully be able to play anything from my library in the same way :)

Tippon ,

I didn't know you could dim them automatically from Plex :o

Tippon ,

Awesome, I'll look into it, thanks :)

Tippon ,

Depending on the pay, that's a nice little scam for someone.

When I was in my mid 20s, the only jobs nearby were basic retail work, and mostly part time. As you can probably imagine, the pay wasn't great. If remote work had been available then, I could see me being tempted to try this, even if it was just to tide me over for a while.

I'm the kind of person who hates not being able to do something, so I'd probably burn myself out trying to learn how to do the job in between working it, but it would still be tempting.

Tippon ,

I think someone just misread what the article says and missed the 'not' in 'need not be expensive'.

You've missed the second part of that sentence - 'UNIX can run on hardware costing as little as $40,000'. The photo is the Finnish hacker making it work on a computer that cost a fraction of that, while drinking a beer. It's a play on the hold my beer meme.

Tippon ,

There's an extension for Firefox and maybe Chrome that should help. I think it's called ClearURL, or something similar. It removes the trackers from the ends of URLs

EDIT: That's assuming that it's a legitimate tracking URL, and not something that's been added by malware.

Tippon ,

You've just described a toastie and toastie maker. I don't know what this jaffle nonsense is all about, but it sounds like someone is sneaking toasties through customs in a dodgy trenchcoat!

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