Category: Consumerism

Why isn’t there a simple 5-channel or 7-channel amplifier that connects to a television’s HDMI eARC output?

by philg

Our family room TV is almost impossible to use due to the fact that the hub of the system is a Yamaha RX-6A AV receiver with a complex user interface and many functions that overlap with the TV. What’s worse, the Yamaha has already had one HDMI switch board failure and seems to be on track for another one (the receiver is about 3.5 years old and sells for almost exactly what we paid for the vastly-more-useful and vastly-simpler-to-use 86-inch LG TV, i.e., $800 (we got the TV at Costco 3.5 years ago for $900, but they threw in a five-year warranty that should have been worth about $100).

What functions of the Yamaha do we actually want? We want it to switch among HDMI inputs and amplify sound for five passive speakers. If we had a subwoofer we’d want it to provide a line-level output for a powered subwoofer. A modern television already supports HDMI switching, typically among 4 inputs, which is plenty for 99% of consumers (cable TV box, some sort of dongle, maybe a slide show player). The modern television also puts out multi-channel audio and volume control commands via its eARC HDMI output. From ChatGPT:

Given how cheap Class D amplifiers are and how inventive Asian electronics companies are, I can’t figure out why there isn’t a display-free and remote-free 5- or 7-channel amplifier with a line-level subwoofer output that could take eARC with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) input and drive one’s legacy passive speakers. This would enable consumers who’ve cut their cable cords to enjoy true surround sound with just one remote control. As a minor enhancement, when the TV is off and eARC has no signal the little amp could offer to play a Bluetooth source, e.g., from a phone app, through the two main speakers.

There must be something wrong with this product idea because nobody makes a “keep the TV at the center of the TV-watching system” amp. But what is the flaw?

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Where are the 8K computer monitors and televisions?

by philg

I recently did some work in a law firm conference room where we were trying to review some PowerPoint slides that contained patent excerpts and, even after walking right up to the big flat-screen TV it was impossible to see text and figures clearly. A diverse (and therefore strong) group of female scientists of color created the first 8K television 22 years ago:

Why can’t we buy these today? Dell made a 32-inch monitor with 8K resolution and, therefore, an absurd PPI of about 275. It seems to be discontinued. Meanwhile, they continue to sell a 43-inch monitor with 4K resolution, an inadequate 100 PPI (it would be a great monitor with 6K resolution and, therefore, 160 PPI). At the typical desktop viewing distance of about two feet (24 inches), 150 PPI is supposedly near the limit of human perception.

100-inch 4K TVs now seem to be down to consumer prices ($1500). Especially if used as a digital picture frame and approached closely, it would be great to have more than the 44 PPI resolution that 4K affords. Samsung actually does make an 8K 98-inch TV… for $35,000.

I would love to know who is willing to pay 20X for the resolution bump! Zohran Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie Sanders should perhaps try to get a list of these folks and hit them with a new “fair share” tax.

In other TV news, I decided that our boys should be able to watch their beloved NFL in 4K. Our house is in the middle of an Xfinity-only ghetto and the neighborhood of 1/4-acre lots isn’t dense enough for AT&T or Hotwire/Fision to be willing to invest in burying fiber. Three cable boxes and basic cable TV are bundled into our HOA fee. I traded in two of our Xfinity cable boxes for the latest and greatest XG1v4 version (not regularly stocked at the local Xfinity store, bizarrely, considering that every customer now has a 4K television). After being plugged in for a day, and presumably after an Artificial Intelligence review of my weblog posts, both boxes locked themselves to showing only a single station: South Florida PBS. They wouldn’t respond to the channel up/down and Guide buttons on the remote. I would love to see this implemented on a national basis by President AOC! Imagine how much erroneous anti-Science thinking could be corrected if Americans were restricted to watching only PBS.

Circling back to the main question of the post… Why aren’t 8K televisions littering Costco and Best Buy? “There is no 8K content” doesn’t make sense in light of the fact that the latest smartphones can take still photos in 8K resolution (48 megapixels) and some can capture 8K video (e.g., Samsung, Google Pixel). Also, for progressives who claim to be defending the U.S. Constitution against the hated dictator, the idle screen of a TV could be a display of the sacred document (four pages handwritten or, typically, closer to 20 pages with modern typesetting). Lying down in front of the TV could be the progressive’s pit bull tearing apart a Donald Trump chew toy:

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Defend a house against woodpeckers using robot drones?

by philg

Homeowners around the world suffer a lot of damage due to woodpeckers. How about a system of microphones around the house that listen for the sound of a woodpecker and, if heard, dispatches a drone that lives somewhere on the edge of the exterior, maybe under an eave? The drone will then use its own microphone and camera to locate the woodpecker and harass it, with a water pistol if necessary, until the woodpecker finds a tree or an unprotected home to destroy.

ChatGPT refused to draw a picture of a drone discouraging a woodpecker with harmless water: “I can’t create an image that depicts harm being done to an animal — including a woodpecker being shot with water. … Instead of water hitting the bird, the drone could be shown with a water spray or mist aimed at the trim (not at the bird), to illustrate the concept of “protecting the house” without showing harm to the animal.” It then proceeded to generate an image that looks to me like the poor bird is being blasted with water:

(The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 60,000 woodpeckers have been killed via water pistol.)

Grok didn’t comment on my desire to see a photo of violence being done to a woodpecker, but it decided that the stream of water should emerge from the woodpecker:

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Do we all need the new iPhone 17 Pro Max?

by philg

The latest iPhones are announced. According to the potentially-lying New York Times, the cameras on the Pro series have bigger sensors, which could be huge, so to speak, for image quality:

As for the camera systems, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come equipped with an 18-megapixel front-facing camera with support for Center Stage and a wider field of view, along with enhanced, widescreen selfie support. On the back, all three cameras are 48 MP lenses, including a 48 MP telephoto camera with up to 8x optical zoom and support for 40x digital zoom. The sensors are 56% larger than the previous generation for sharper, more detailed images. The telephoto camera leverages an updated photonic engine that preserves natural detail, reduces detail, and improves color accuracy.

Note that a fixed telephoto lens that does not zoom is characterized as “8x optical zoom”. Also, the information about larger sensors might be #FakeNews. Apple’s own site suggests that only the telephoto camera sensor is larger:

The dual-capture video could be fun, at least for people who are attractive (inset photo of the phone owner from the front camera while the main video is taken by a rear camera).

Those of us with IQs over 207 can take advantage of the built-in Thread support? (Who among us is actually using Thread at home? Are there more IoT companies than non-WiFi IoT devices that actually get used on a daily basis?)

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Building an AMD-based PC

by philg

It’s time to retire my 10.5-year-old desktop PC, which isn’t able to run Windows 11.

Much as I hate to abandon a company that has been passionate about DEI, I think it is time to switch to the AMD side (way better for gaming, which I’m not allowed to do; somewhat better for productivity).

Workload:

  • Adobe Premiere (not very frequently)
  • photo editing
  • training some AI models (if nothing else, I want to train and run a local AI model for photo library search)
  • general Web browsing
  • Zoom and Teams for work
  • Microsoft Office

Dreams:

  • 16 TB M.2 SSD (nobody seems to make this and thus the build below is what I think is the best 8 TB)
  • as many USC-C ports as possible (3 on the back and 1 on the front seems to be the limit; ASR LiveMixer motherboard below was picked to get beyond the standard 2 on the back)
  • reasonably compact case (currently have a Fractal Design Define 7 that is quiet, but absurdly huge)
  • quiet
  • built-in UPS that can handle outages of up to 30 seconds (typical Florida power outage is just a few seconds; I guess a 1-minute supply would be necessary to allow the machine to shut down gracefully if power is still out after 30 seconds; nobody makes this because consumers see that they can get 30 minutes out of an inexpensive desk-cluttering standard external UPS?)
  • built-in CD/DVD reader (will give up for compactness and plug in via USB-C)
  • built-in reader for SD and CFExpress cards (these don’t seem to exist either for 5.25″ or 3.5″ slots; there are some cheap/old readers that fit into 5.25″ slots that read old CF cards, but not CFExpress?)

Here’s my proposed build, with no case:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 4.3 GHz 16-Core Processor ($671.99 @ Amazon)
  • CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
  • Motherboard: ASRock X870 LiveMixer WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance 128 GB (2 x 64 GB) DDR5-6400 CL42 Memory ($359.99 @ Amazon)
  • Storage: Samsung 9100 PRO 8 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
  • Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5″ 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.99 @ Newegg)
  • Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 24 TB 3.5″ 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.99 @ Newegg)
  • Video Card: Asus PRIME GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB Video Card ($999.99 @ Amazon)
  • Power Supply: Corsair HX1000i (2023) 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($239.99 @ Newegg)
  • Monitor: Samsung Odyssey Neo G95NC 57.0″ 7680 x 2160 240 Hz Curved Monitor ($1499.99 @ Abt)
  • Total: $4531.91

Questions:

  • what is the best case? It would be nice if it can hold one or two addition 3.5″ drives (maybe just move a couple from my old PC), but this isn’t essential
  • do I want the heat sink on the Samsung 8 TB M.2 SSD? It’s almost free and yet they sell the device with and without the heat sink (for mechanical fit?)
  • what is the right video card to get? I think RTX 5080 is what I want and I think that it will drive the crazy huge double-4K monitor, but I have no idea which brand video card makes sense (the ASUS was picked due to being reasonably cheap and available)
  • is the motherboard pick the right one? I might want to add a second M.2 drive some day. I can live with a max of 256 GB of RAM, I think
  • any other improvements?
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Requiem for a 20-year-old Netgear switch

by philg

From exactly 20 years ago:

This had been powering the hard-wired network in the walls of my old Harvard Square apartment ($125/run in pre-Biden dollars, facilitated by an attic above) and failed at some point in 2025. The front of the device was showing only one link light and it wasn’t on a port to which anything was connected. I found to my delight that the GS116 was still made by Netgear(!) and assumed that the new one ($100 for unmanaged) would have the same mounting pattern and, therefore, I could slide it up underneath the desk using the same screws. Sadly, however, they changed the spacing on the mounting holes.

I think that we need to give a shout-out to the Netgear engineers circa 2000 who made a machine that could run almost forever in Internet terms.

(Why didn’t I upgrade to a 10G switch? Xfinity is the monopoly Internet provider in most of Cambridge, Maskachusetts (the officials who wisely run the world’s smartest city rejected Verizon FiOS some years ago) and one is lucky to get 200 Mbits download throughput on their “gigabit” service, which is throttled to 35 Mbits upload.)

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Who has experienced a USB-C jack failure due to dirt/lint?

by philg

My 9-month-old pocket-carried iPhone 16 Pro Max stopped connecting reliably to USB-C cables. This had never happened in the bad old Lightning jack days. There’s an Apple Store 15 minutes south of us in Palm Beach Gardens (home to Tiger Woods’s former plaintiff/club-wielding attacker). The “geniuses” there cleaned it out in their back room so I can’t say what tools they used.

I had thought that the EU-mandated euthanasia for Lightning was a pure boon to consumers, but maybe others have noticed the same fragility?

Here’s what ChatGPT has to say:

Yes — USB-C jacks are generally more susceptible to dirt and lint issues than Lightning, though both can fail from pocket debris. Here’s why:

1. Connector Design

  • USB-C: The jack is a receptacle with 24 tiny exposed contacts along the walls. Debris can sit in the bottom of the port and prevent the plug from seating fully, or it can block some pins. Because the plug’s tongue is solid and must slide into the port, any pocket lint at the bottom tends to get compacted and cause “won’t charge” problems.
  • Lightning: Apple’s Lightning jack has fewer contacts (8), located only on the plug itself. The port on the device is a simple cavity with spring contacts on the sides. Dirt buildup still happens, but there’s less opportunity for debris to block a critical central “tongue.”

2. Durability in Daily Use

  • USB-C: More fragile if debris prevents a flush fit — wiggling or forcing a plug against lint can bend pins inside the port.
  • Lightning: More forgiving; the plug’s flat contacts scrape against the spring pins, which can tolerate a little more obstruction.

3. Real-World Failure Patterns

  • Many phone repair shops report that the number one cause of “dead” USB-C ports is lint compaction, especially in phones carried in jeans pockets. The plug simply won’t go in all the way until the port is cleaned with a pick or compressed air.
  • Lightning ports can also clog, but they usually fail from mechanical wear on the spring contacts after many years, rather than lint preventing insertion.

4. Cleaning and Maintenance

  • USB-C: Needs more frequent cleaning if the device is often pocket-carried. A wooden or plastic pick works best.
  • Lightning: Easier to clean, less prone to deep compaction.

🔹 Best Practices for Cleaning a USB-C Jack

1. Power Down First

  • Turn off the device completely.
  • If possible, unplug the battery (for laptops) to eliminate any chance of shorting pins.

2. Start With Compressed Air

  • Use a can of compressed air held upright.
  • Give the port short, controlled bursts at different angles.
  • Avoid holding the nozzle too close or using “liquid spray” mode (which can cause condensation).

3. Use a Non-Conductive Pick if Needed

If air alone doesn’t work:

  • Use a wooden or plastic toothpick or a specialized port-cleaning tool.
  • Very gently scrape or lift out compacted lint at the bottom of the port.
  • Work slowly to avoid scratching or bending the pins on the side walls.

4. Optional: Isopropyl Alcohol for Sticky Residue

  • If there’s grime (e.g., soda, lotion), lightly dampen a lint-free swab with 99% isopropyl alcohol.
  • Gently wipe the inside walls.
  • Let it dry completely before powering on.

5. What NOT to Do

  • ❌ Don’t use metal objects like paperclips or needles — they can short pins or bend contacts.
  • ❌ Don’t soak the port in liquid cleaner.
  • ❌ Don’t blast with high-pressure air compressors (too strong, may damage).

🔹 Maintenance Tips

  • Keep devices in a case that shields the port from pocket lint.
  • Store with a dust plug (tiny rubber caps for USB-C are cheap).
  • Clean ports periodically if you carry your phone in jeans pockets.

Should folks who do all of their charging and CarPlaying, etc. wirelessly invest 10 cents in a dust cover?

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Measured cooling effect of clay tile roof

by philg

I have a Chinese Govee temperature sensor above the fiberglass insulation in a mostly unventilated attic here in Florida. During a reroof there were periods of time when the attic was covered with

  1. concrete barrel tiles over hot mop tar paper
  2. modern peel-and-stick underlayment only
  3. clay barrel tiles (a medium-dark red/brown) over the modern underlayment

Weather conditions were reasonably consistent during these three time periods, i.e., hot and sunny.

Temps in the lower part of attic (only about 4′ high; probe on top of some fiberglass insulation above the finished ceiling) went from roughly 100 degrees underneath the old intact roof (concrete tiles) to 120-130 degrees under the peel-and-stick underlayment only (white in color, but apparently not very reflective), and back down to around 100 degrees underneath the new clay tiles over underlayment. Here’s a chart from the Govee app:

In late July, maybe the hottest time of year, the temps went up to a max of 115 degrees.

Speaking of Chinese tech, here’s an idea for an awning that can automatically deploy over a parked car:

(I hope that it checks the wind forecast and the actual wind and folds itself up automatically when necessary!)

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Memory prices flat for 18 months

by philg

We supposedly live in a world where electronics get cheaper even if everything else is subject to rampant inflation. Here’s an example from PC Part Picker’s memory price trend for 18 months:

Most of the other graphs are flat as well. If you adjusted these for official CPI there would perhaps be a slight downward trend in real dollars.

Why are memory prices more or less stuck at 2023 levels? Is it that fewer companies are making RAM? That the AI Boom (TM) has increased demand? (economics proves that immigrants don’t drive up prices for housing, but Econ 101 says that demand for memory drives up prices for memory)

Related:

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$2449 of e-waste thanks to Microsoft (and best way for kids to organize and sort photos?)

by philg

Here’s my January 11, 2017 order for a Dell laptop computer with OLED screen:

The machine supports Trusted Platform Module 2.0, but the CPU per se isn’t supported by Microsoft for Windows 11. I had hoped to repurpose this machine as a digital photo organizer for the kids, but Windows 10 security updates will end later this year so that’s infeasible.

Is the de-supporting of Windows 10 going to be the largest e-waste event in the history of humanity? What’s Greta Thunberg going to say about this? (Maybe after shouting “Free free Palestine” she would say “Install Linux”?)

This raises a question… what is a good system for kids to use to organize photos taken with a modern camera? My preference is for the organizer to run locally with the photos stored on the laptop’s SSD with a cloud backup (maybe just Microsoft OneDrive if we stay with Windows) rather than sign them up for life to pay huge fees every month for cloud photo storage.

Could ACDSee be the modern answer to what we lost when Google discontinued (and failed to open source) Picasa? Or is the built-in Windows 11 Photos app sufficient? ChatGPT says that MacOS has a better photos app:

Maybe the kids are young enough to master ChromeOS (for skool), MacOS, and eventually Windows? I don’t love the idea of having to learn enough about MacOS to support their efforts, but it does seem that Apple is more serious about this challenge. Windows 11 runs like a pig on my three-year-old laptop, which cost $1700 and has 16 GB of RAM. I can’t figure out if it is Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, or the Microsoft Photos app that is causing the problem (if I do an “End Task” on Photos the machine seems to come out of its sluggish state).

Speaking of avoiding e-waste, Boise, Idaho offers an awesome model for other cities: Reuseum. In addition to classes for kids, they offer refurbished Windows 11 machines at low prices, e.g., these machines that could use more RAM for $80:

Plus if you want to make a sculpture out of old PCs and telephones you can buy them by the pound:

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