Posts by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
(DIR) Post #ATFtqSbNC84oEmM5my by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-03-04T00:13:45Z
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"It's Women's History Month so you owe me reparations."Actual thing my wife just said to me during a discussion of whether or not we should purchase an aesthetic tea set. (Worth noting my wife does not drink tea).Needless to say, we got the tea set 😅
(DIR) Post #AU9AUakuvJIJyen4iG by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-03-29T20:27:55Z
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TWDC rolling over and playing dead over RCID while simultaneously enacting new rules in full public view that neutered DeSantis' board before they took office - without DeSantis or anyone on the board noticing - is the perfect denouement to all of this nonsense.10/10 schadenfreude. No notes. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-disney-new-reedy-creek-board-powerless-20230329-qalagcs4wjfe3iwkpzjsz2v4qm-story.html
(DIR) Post #AUBzBWE0ANQw5O6QxU by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-03-31T16:55:39Z
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Cosigned. I still love my Harmony 700 and am dreading when it inevitably dies now that the entire product line has been discontinued. There are no good alternatives, and the entire market segment seems to have disappeared. https://www.inverse.com/tech/universal-remote-streaming-revival
(DIR) Post #AUC1DKQnBaHvzo4mo4 by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-01T01:35:55Z
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@PhilGastwirth @smartwatermelon not familiar with this particular remote, but I do know FLIRC has previously made IR to Bluetooth adapters for Fire TV so worst case you could use an adapter like that
(DIR) Post #AUqobat8JBJK6YKaPY by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-20T13:45:36Z
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@matt agreed. It's not exciting to dedicated travel hackers, but for being so simple and easy it's pretty decent.For people like us, I've always held that the Apple Card isn't even the best card for Apple specifically. Given that you can always use Apple Pay for any Apple purchases, the 4.5x return for mobile wallet purchases on US Bank Altitude Reserve (a perennially underrated card imo) is better.
(DIR) Post #AUqobc0y7XAlb90MGO by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-20T14:14:37Z
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@matt me either. I tend to use Altitude Reserve rewards for other travel like rental cars, hotels, cruises, Uber/Lyft, etc.
(DIR) Post #AUqobd9rrvsx92Aym0 by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-20T14:49:04Z
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@tim @matt well, I got married in June of last year and got the WN Companion Pass around the same time, so lean heavily on Southwest due to a large bank of points and being able to fly 2 for 1.That said, I still try to avoid connections so will take DL (points) or AA (revenue, but not out of MCO) as needed. I highly value AA points for partner awards now so trying to earn as many of them as possible at the moment. DL has surprisingly reasonable domestic awards & imo overall best service in US
(DIR) Post #AUqobesDUWxESrvuXQ by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-20T14:51:13Z
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@tim @matt in terms of cards, I use Sapphire Preferred whenever I'm paying taxes/fees on award flights for 2x UR and travel protections. For revenue flights on AA I'll use my Aviator Red card to earn more AA miles. And the airline incidental credits on my AmEx Biz Plat and Ritz cards comes in handy if I need to book a revenue WN flight.
(DIR) Post #AUt4kUKI3ugPwTDU4e by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T19:25:26Z
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@matt wow. That is genuinely very cool and very impressive. Also respect that they voluntarily disclosed this within 2 days even though nothing was compromised.My biggest issue with VPNs is the extremely misleading marketing in many cases (NordVPN, I'm looking at you) but I've heard good things about Mullvad. Glad it seems like they did the right thing all around.
(DIR) Post #AUt52ENA7Ga5fv1JGi by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T20:11:19Z
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@PhilGastwirth @Nitro230 @matt that's a very common misconception that VPN marketing loves to push... Until around 2017 or so that was a legitimate concern. With 99%+ of web traffic now HTTPS encrypted by default, a VPN isn't needed on public wifi. The only information that is still potentially visible is DNS request data, and in most cases there's no reason to trust a VPN provider more than an ISP with that data. There are also cheaper and more effective ways to secure DNS requests than a VPN.
(DIR) Post #AUt5q8cjlRRMKC6R6G by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T20:20:18Z
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@PhilGastwirth @Nitro230 @matt genuine question: what site that you are conducting sensitive transactions over doesn't support HTTPS, and why are you still using it (on or off public wifi)?
(DIR) Post #AUt6i3VD1Olq4vI7zU by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T20:30:04Z
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@PhilGastwirth @Nitro230 @matt it sounds like the threat model you have in mind is someone making a malicious request to your device via the public wifi LAN. I don't think that a VPN would defend against that, because VPN or not you're still connected to the wifi LAN. The best defense would be keeping your OS up to date, disabling unnecessary network services, and a properly configured software firewall on your device.
(DIR) Post #AUt7UTsOGd37m9E1uC by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T20:38:49Z
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@PhilGastwirth @Nitro230 @matt I work in IT security as well. None of the threats you've identified are solved by a VPN. The only threat I'm aware of that VPN mitigates over public wifi is DNS request eavesdropping; and if you're using NextDNS that threat is already mitigated more efficiently and cost effectively than it would be by a VPN.
(DIR) Post #AUt8nfTdSaMXD8MLDM by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-21T20:53:26Z
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@PhilGastwirth @Nitro230 @matt I can only speak for myself and my own use case in that regard, but I don't use any gaming apps; and if a bank isn't using HTTPS for everything in 2023 (heck, even 2013 for that matter), that's not a bank I would choose to do business with.
(DIR) Post #AUxP9vgsEcpflY1oDQ by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-23T21:05:10Z
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Shame on me for not doing more advance research, but absolutely blown away that a *highly* recommend printer released in 2021 (Brother MFC-J4335DW):1) Includes a USB 1.1 port but not an ethernet port2) Even after updating to the latest firmware, doesn't support WPA3, AES-only WPA2, or even 5GHz wifiSo basically it's completely useless as a network printer unless your wifi security settings are garbage. And it got glowing reviews from multiple major publications w/ no mention of any of this!
(DIR) Post #AUxP9y2ZUvNR3QCAJU by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-04-23T21:06:43Z
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Unfortunately I waited too long to set it up and I'm now outside the return window, so my only option is a ~$50 USB to ethernet adapter from Amazon that I hope will work. If not I guess I'll try to sell it and buy something else.
(DIR) Post #AVxSrN2T8bu5VwmiBc by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-05-23T20:47:27Z
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@monorailtimes oh damn. Are they upcharging for resolution now?? I had hoped that Netflix would stop being the only service to do that. Now another service is backsliding into that.
(DIR) Post #AVxTProbDclWoLkL2G by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-05-23T20:55:26Z
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@PhilGastwirth @monorailtimes I think you may both be right IIRC... Initially in 2021 the only content that had 4K/Atmos on HBO Max were the new release films that were released to HBO Max the same day as theatrical. Those films were only available on the ad-free plan, so by default that was also the only way to get 4K/Atmos, because it was the only way to get the content that had it. But it wasn't advertised as a 4K upcharge; but rather an ad-free/brand new movie upcharge.
(DIR) Post #AXPsKcSg1pT7QB0vxY by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-07-06T04:48:38Z
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Prediction: Meta's network effect with Threads will kill not just Twitter, but Bluesky as well. Because Threads is federated, the fediverse ultimately wins even if the vast majority of Threads users don't know what the "fediverse" is and never use it beyond Threads.But bottom line: No other Twitter replacement candidate will be able to compete with Threads' network effect. Brands, celebrities, and normies flooded it overnight. BlueSky and Post might as well give up now.
(DIR) Post #AXvSFFZSuhG4vaOyZs by MarkWillard@worldkey.io
2023-07-21T17:15:38Z
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@zak @PhilGastwirth remember when the post credits scene after each movie would set something up that we'd get some kind of payoff for usually within the next year or two? As opposed to each one opening a new loose thread that the MCU will *maybe* come back to in the next 4-8+ years?