What's it all about, Alfie?

A few days ago, I was running some speed tests on my iPhone 12 Pro, and noticed that the WiFi speed with connected to my Apple TimeCapsule and AirPort Extreme was about half that of connecting directly to the Xfinity xFi gateway. Given that I wanted a little more security and cohesive networking, I don't want to put everything on the Xfinity box, so it was time to upgrade my WiFi.

I've been looking at the AmpliFi Alien for quite a while, but haven't had a great reason to change - given that my TimeCapsule was also my backups with Time Machine. So first I had to move to Backblaze for backups, and that turned out to be a great move for me.

I wanted to have a place that all my versions of all my files would be stored, and with the "Forever" option at Backblaze, I can get just that. It's a little more per month, but it's exactly what I wanted, as I now have one place for all the versions of all the files on this, my main machine. It's just wonderful.

With the iOS app, I can now have access to these files - and have the peace of mind that I'll be able to look back in time for those things I might have been foolish enough to delete. I honestly don't expect to have a major data loss, but that's just when things like that happen. 🙂

With my backup issue solve, the Alien mesh arrived and it was time to install it. First, it's a beautiful piece of tech - the display is amazing, and the iOS app is amazing in what it can do, measure, all the goodies that I'm sure a current Apple router would do - if they made them. But alas, they don't. But as easy as it was to set things up, I ran into a problem with my VPN to The Shop, and that was a real pickle.

Removing the DNS Cache on AmpliFi Alien

Everything was working great - the speed tests done at the router were showing me the exact speeds that I was expecting with my Xfinity Gigabit service - a bit too asymmetrical for me, but I'm working on that, and hope that Gigabit Pro, or AT&T Fiber will be available with more symmetrical numbers, and maybe more speed. But that's another story.

The mesh was easy to set up... and upgrade the cylinders to the latest version. Almost like the Sonos set-up and control... very simple, very clear. Nice. I had to make sure all my machines had the access point in their lists, and all were talking and happy... interesting point - I had to reboot my Apple TV4K because it had the old networking (wired) DHCP address. It wouldn't refresh normally. No big deal.

But the real issue was with the OpenVPN client for The Shop. Everything seemed fine with accessing most all services, but the DNS for the shop.com domain for work weren't being resolved. Wow... OK... let's dig into this. Turns out - the Aline Router caches DNS so that it can offer you the control address of http://amplifi.lan/ from your web browser.

That's a nice touch, but if it means that the changes from the VPN didn't take... well... it was simple enough to change.

• Go to http://amplifi.lan/ and login with the password you just set up - this is pretty easy, and while it's not obvious, a simple google search pulled this up.
• Check the Bypass DNS Cache in the list and save - this is really not a bad idea in today's DNS hijacking environment, but it really has to be a little smarter about the existence of VPNs in the world.
• Shut down all networking - disconnect from the VPN, turn off WiFi on the box, unplug networking - make sure it gets to a clean state.
• Plug in network, turn on WiFi, connect to VPN - in the logic order, start the networking back up so that things are rolling again.
• Edit /etc/hosts to add amplifi.lan - this is just to get us back to the state where we can go to http://amplifi.lan/ for the control of the router, and it's as simple as just adding a line to the /etc/hosts file where we just use the address of the Gateway, or base router in any of the DHCP address blocks we have on any of the local machines:

    192.168.153.1   amplifi.lan amplifi
    

At this point, it's all working as it should. The Router is safe and secure, and very fast. Has great diagnostics built-in to it, and available from the iOS app... and it's silent. No spinning drives like the TimeCapsule.

There may come a time that I don't need to worry about the VPN issues, or maybe they will update the firmware to more intelligently cache DNS data... that would be nice... but until then, this is exactly what I'd hoped. 🙂

Sometime today, Robinhood updated their iOS client, it's really an iPhone client, as it doesn't use the iPad's screen effectively at all, and they went with a different look and feel to the lists and charts. I have to say, I like it.

Historically, the cryptocurrency graphs had a far more futuristic feel, that I thought was a little overdone - but hey... it's market data, so I can look past the scrolling background. The equities were always a little more traditional, and that makes some sense, I guess - but I liked those a lot more. Personal taste.

What pleased me was that the cryptocurrency charts looked a lot more like the equity charts, and that wasn't nearly as distracting to me. Again... just a preference.

There as also a font change, and the reease notes promise more changes to come... so that sounds like fun. I've been fortunate to see what little trading I do on Robinhood bounce back very quicky from the corona-crash of a couple of months ago. Strange times...

UPDATE: there was another update later in the day, and the cryptocurrency graphs are back to having the scrolling background. Oh well... 🙂

This morning I noticed that Hulu was likely down, and I didn't know if that was something with my Apple TV 4K box, or my account, or what... So I looked to see if Hulu had actually been reporting problems, or if there was an issue with just my specific instance.

So I tried the Hulu app on my iPad... no Good.

Then I searched for any news on Hulu, and found this:

and it was very clear that things were not happy in Hulu land. I do feel for them... we're in the middle of the pandemic, and people are no-doubt expecting to be streaming shows today for themselves, or their kids, and now, there's no entertainment. It's going to get ugly in some homes today... 🙂

For me, I'll be just fine... I have work to do, and music, and I'll be fine.

When I signed up for CBS All Access last month, I did so through my Apple TV 4K, as it was super simple, and it registered it as just another of my subscriptions that I could manage through my iCloud account on any device. Very handy. Yes, it seems that CBS requires that some of the account management functions be done on the original device, my Apple TV 4K, still, it is possible to manage it to some degree on my iPhone and iPad. Great.

But getting the CBS All Access to actually stream shows on my other devices was a bit elusive. I had tried to open the app, Sign In, and restore my purchase from iTunes, as there is a button just for that. But each time I tried, on any device, it said that I had once had an account, and that I should go back and sign up. I thought that was all because I was in the free month that was given out because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Turns out, I was wrong.

That's not how you do it.

Once you have the CBS All Access subscription in your iCloud account - from any device, simply go to the CBS All Access page: https://www.cbs.com/apple/ and there, you will see that you can Login with Apple TV, and you will enter your Apple ID information, with any 2FA that you might have on your account.

Once logged in, CBS All Access will then ask you to create an account that will be tied to your Apple ID. Name, email, password - just like a new account. But this one isn't charged - the Apple Subscription is.

At this point, go to your other devices, and Sign In with the newly created email and password, and they will instantly be tied to the newly created account. It's just that simple. But getting here wasn't. 🙂

In the end, it was worth a little searching to try and find out how to get this working, which is why I wanted to write this up for all those folks that might find themselves in a similar predicament.

This year of the coronavirus is going to yield a lot of firsts, and today is one for the record books. Today, the price for Crude Oil May 20 future dropped to -$1.43. Yup... you get the oil and $1.43 from the seller. That's similar to the negative interest rates we've seen in Europe, but thankfully haven't hit the US yet.

I've never been a commodities trader, but still... to see the OPEC/Russia price war in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic is wild enough... but to see the demand drop, and the price plummet... that's just amazing. I still find it hard to believe.

This year is going to be a wild one to tell stories about! 🙂

UPDATE: as I watched the rest of the day, they actially bottomed out at -$38.47/bbl... that's stunning to me. Sure, it's May 2020 delivery, and that's right around the corner, and the storage tanks are all full, so it's got to be moved somewhere... but I never thought I'd see more production than demand.

This morning I was able to finish watching the first season of Start Trek: Picard, and I have to say I'm blown away! First, I was a little hesitant about signing up for CBS All Access because it was a lot more than the typical streaming service for what I'd get, and I didn't like that they didn't see some favorable partnerships with other broadcast channels like Hulu... but after this, I forgive them.

First, I will admit that I like to watch shows in my office on my Apple TV 4K, and the Apple TV app is just fantasic on that device, and when I'm traveling for The Shop, on my iPad. It's really pretty amazing to me. So there's that.

But it's Picard that made me a believer. This is the best show I've seen in many years. Right up there with the HBO Shows Newsroom and Chernobyl, and the Showtime Billions... just amazingly done. I can't really think of a single thing I didn't like about the first season.

It's got me thinking that I'll probably extend my Hulu subscription into a Disney+ subscription to see what's there too. We are all shelter-in-place, and this is a great way to see old friends, and find new ones.

I've been noticing that my Chrome messenger bag hasn't been as full as it used to be. And while it's in great shape, I was hoping to get the slightly smaller Citizen Messenger Bag from Chrome

The closest thing they have now to what I typically carry is the Berlin, as it's big, but not in a horrible way. I can typically take my laptop, chargers, and everything - plus three days clothes - all in the big bag, and it's perfect for sailing through airports.

But I will admit, it's a touch big for under the seat, and so I wanted to see about going with the Citizen, and seeing if I could put everything in it, and not feel cramped. It should fit under the airline seat better, and as long as it's all there, I'm better off carrying that and my duffel bag, than one big bag.

We will see when it arrives! 🙂

This morning I finally finished Advent of Code 2019. Most days weren't too bad - I think the ones that really caused me to work extra were Day 18 and Day 20 - both of which were the pathing problems that I had failed to really master in years past. Good or bad, I decided not to give up on these, and figured out how to solve these this year.

Dijkstra's Algorithm is interesting, but I really didn't see how to implement it in Clojure until I was walking home one day - and it hit me: the recursion really made it all so much easier. And that really helped me as I hammered on these problems this year to really get a solid understanding of how to work with Dijkstra's. I'm very glad I stuck with this.

Then when I had that understood, I ran into Day 20 where it wasn't the right approach, but I needed to understand a simple Breadth-First Search on the maze. This is much different than Dijkstra's in that it's a simple looping construct, and only finds the one shortest path - but that's OK... that's all that was asked for. But it's fast. Very.

I'm really glad that this year I didn't stop when the problems seemed to be too tough for me. I'm a better coder because of the new knowledge. 🙂

Well... another year has arrived, and interestingly enough, I was awake when it arrived in Naperville. Not that I had stayed awake, but that I woke up in the night and saw the time, and then heard to festivities outside. It made me smile.

Tomorrow starts another year at The Shop, and there's plenty that's going on there, and I'm sure there will be lots and lots of things that will occupy my time. There's a big engineering meeting in Seattle in a week or so, and that will travel which isn't as bad as it used to be, but it's being away from home, and I do enjoy home.

I do hope that this year is a little more peaceful...

Another trip around the sun, and my birthday has arrived. I don't imagine I'll be doing anything all the special today... probably just watching the last three Mission Impossible movies - so good... and just staying home.

There is a little snow on the ground, and it's chilly, so the crazy 50s weather seems to have moved on, for now, and it's back to more normal December weather becore the cold stuff really arrives. Oh... it's coming, it's always coming...

No big plans for this year... just want a little peace. 🙂