Save time and do more with AI.

This blog assumes that you heard enough about AI but you have not tried to use it yet.

Here is the simplest way to get started:

🌟 Save Time and Get More Done with AI – A Simple Guide

If you know how to use Google Search, you're already halfway there! This guide shows how to use Google’s free AI tool (called Gemini) to help with things like writing, planning, and answering emails — no tech skills needed.

🔹 Step 1: Open Google’s AI Tool

Go to this website: gemini.google.com/app

You’ll see a box where you can type.

🔹 Step 2: Ask Gemini for Help

You can type questions like:

“Help me plan a 3-day trip to New York”

“Summarize this email for me” (just copy-paste the email)

“Fix the grammar in this message: i hope your well”

Gemini will give you a fast, helpful answer — kind of like a smart assistant.

✈️ Example: Planning a Trip

Let’s say you're going on vacation. Here's what to do:

Type something like:

“I'm going to London from June 5–10. I like museums, walking, and food tours. Can you plan a trip for me?”

Gemini will give you a sample itinerary.

You can reply with: “Make it slower paced” or “Add a day trip to Oxford” to change the plan.

✉️ Example: Email Help

If you get a long email and don’t want to read it all:

Copy the email text.

Paste it into Gemini and type: “Summarize this”

You’ll get a quick overview.

Want to reply? Type a response and ask Gemini to fix spelling, grammar, or tone.

💡 Tip: Try Other Tools Too

Gemini is great, but you can also try:

ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) – good at writing and chatting.

Claude – helpful for writing stories or documents.

Perplexity – great for finding information quickly.

✅ You Don’t Need to Be a Tech Expert

Just type like you would in Google Search, and these AI tools will do the hard part. It’s like having a super-smart helper that works 24/7.

Want help using AI for something specific? Just ask!

___________________________________________________________________

So now that you know the basics, how about something more interesting way to use AI?

If you have never used AI:

The first step is understanding how to use it. I'll assume you've used Google before, have a Google account, and are already logged in. If not, you can still follow these steps without a Google Account.

Go to https://gemini.google.com/app

You will see

First try clicking on Tell me what you can do.

You will see

Get more done

• Write emails: Ask me to write or re-write emails and even change the tone based on who will read it.
• Refine work: Request feedback, discuss different perspectives, and get help with research and outlines.
• Streamline tasks: Go from multiple tabs to one conversation by asking me to find information for you and complete tasks directly in the chat.

Learn something new

• Help with studying: Generate study plans, quizzes, and practice questions to test your knowledge.
• Create summaries: Get an overview of reports or lecture notes, including key points and takeaways.
• Translate text and check grammar: Ask me to translate text or edit your grammar and sentence structure. I can even help you practice your pronunciation.

Boost your creativity

• Generate images: I can quickly design images, mock up logos, illustrate bedtime stories, and add text to photos.
• Compose a song or story: Prompt me to write something that will capture a memory or delight a loved one.
• Explore different styles: Envision your work across a range of approaches, visual genres, and copy formats.

Since you are used to searching on Google, you can try the same search at Gemini to begin with.

When you get a response, reply with what your needs are more specifically. Example: You asked for "How do I use Google Gemini for my travel"

Do that first in Google search.

Do the same in Gemini.

Let's imagine you're already visiting a place and your trip is booked. Open a Google Document (or Microsoft Word document). In any format, type the details of your trip: From, To, Departure, Arrival. Then, describe how much free time you have and on which days. Describe your likes and dislikes, as well as your physical capabilities and limitations. At the end, ask a question in the same document, such as: 'Suggest a detailed plan for me.'

Now copy and paste all this in Gemini.

If you want a different response, tell Gemini what you didn't like about the previous one and what you're looking for.

Now, copy and paste that into the document.

Finally, ask Gemini to summarize it.

Congratulations! You've started using AI.

You can do the same with other topics besides travel by first creating a document outlining your plan and interests, and then asking a question at the end. This document provides 'context' for the question you're asking the AI. It's often referred to as a 'context file.'

You can now use the same context file and try the same at

https://chatgpt.com/

and a bunch of others which I will not mention here.

One common way of using AI is to summarize a huge document in the form of a PDF file or a link to a public web site with lots of info or a youtube video.

Then simply ask

"Summarize it" or "explain it to a retired person" or "explain it to an elementary school kid"

If you have a long email from someone, copy and paste it in Gemini and ask for Summary. 

Then you can go back to the email and start your reply and compose the reply.

Copy and paste the reply and ask "rewrite it to correct grammar" or "rewrite it to make it short and concise and yet polite and professional"

Problem with your Wifi? Last updated Apr 30 2025.

Follow simple steps and see if that helps.

If you are using the ISP provided modem:

Wi-Fi built-in to the modem provided by Comcast/Xfinity, ATT, T-Mobile or another ISP usually is not the best Wi-Fi.

If you are in a small apartment, just place the modem at a high point like on the top of a bookcase (not behind the TV or on the floor). Don’t place it at floor level, or where it can be blocked by a device such as a TV, fridge, kitchen or laundry appliance, or microwave. Any of these things can block the signal.

If relocating the modem fixes things, you are done.

If you disable wifi in the ISP modem and use your own single router:

Be aware that there are security concerns with TP Link routers. Right now, brands like Asus or Netgear are often recommended. The ASUS RT-BE58U is a good choice. 

Disabling Wi-Fi in the ISP modem is easiest if you connect a laptop with an Ethernet network cable to the ISP provided modem. Then, follow the instructions on the back of the router to login to the router. You must do this anyway to change the administrator password on the ISP provided router for your security. 

Your ISP-provided modem has a router which gets what is called WAN (Wide Area Network) IP address from your ISP, and your router performs “DHCP,” which provides what are called LAN (Local Area Network) IP addresses, typically 192.168.1.x. If you use your own Wi-Fi router, look for a YouTube video of your ISP-provided modem to disable DHCP, so that it passes through the WAN IP address to your router. Otherwise you have what is called double NAT (External to internal Network Address Translation). With double NAT, things will still work, but you’ll have additional latency or loss of performance.

Remember to place your wireless router to a high vantagepoint.

If that helps, you are done. Your own router is much better than the ISP.

If you need better coverage because you have a big apartment or townhouse or single family home with 2 or more floors:

You will need a Mesh router. Be aware that you are now getting into more complex territory. You need a minimum of 2 units. Some systems connect to your main router using an Ethernet cable, while others connect wirelessly. At the time of this writing in Apr 2025, Eero such as Amazon Eero 6+ mesh wifi system - Supports internet plans up to a Gigabit, Coverage up to 3,000 sq. ft., Connect 75+ devices, 2-pack $180 is probably the cheapest.

The connection of the main mesh unit which connects to the ISP Modem and guidance for the placement is the same as a single router.

The 2nd one gets complex. If you are super lucky, a 2nd unit placed high in the weakest location of coverage connected wirelessly to the main unit is all you need.

If you are not lucky and you are renting and cannot run a wire from the main mesh unit to the 2nd unit, your next best choice is called Powerline network. Welcome to more trouble. 

If the wireless connection between the mesh stations isn't great, there's a trick using your power outlets called "powerline." Imagine sending the Internet signal through your electrical wires. It can work, but it's a bit complicated. For it to work well, both outlets you're using need to be on the same "electrical phase" (think of it like being on the same main wire).
Figuring this out can be tricky. If you're lucky, the outlets are connected to the same circuit breaker in your electrical panel. 

If not, you might need a voltmeter set to  (a tool to measure electricity) and a long extension cord to test it. If the reading between the hot (smaller rectangular) and both ends is zero, they're likely in the same phase. If it's a higher number (like 240v), they're not. Find another outlet.

There are devices like the TP-Link AV2000 Powerline Adapter that you can plug in. One end connects to your main mesh unit local port with a short network cable, and the other Powerline adapter on the receiving end has a network outlet to connect to your 2nd mesh unit. In the image below, the router on the sending end is your main mesh unit and on the receiving end instead of the TV you connect the 2nd mesh unit.

If it works, you are done. If you still need more coverage, adding more mesh units might or might not help because they interfere with each other.


What if the mesh unit is not working well and you have dropped connections?

Now you are in prosumer territory. Look at devices such as unifi cloud gateway.

https://techspecs.ui.com/unifi/cloud-gateways/ucg-ultra?s=us
The gateway connects to your ISP modem. The one called Cloud Gateway Ultra has 1 port to connect to your modem and 4 ports for your devices which are meant to be connected to your own access points. If you came this far, look at you-tube videos on unifi.

The minimal unifi system is a cloud gateway with a builtin wireless router. That may just be enough for your apartment instead of 2 mesh units.
https://ui.com/us/en/cloud-gateways/wifi-integrated/express
https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/cloud-gateways-wifi-integrated/products/udr7?s=us&l=en

If you own your own home, best to connect the access points to the main unit with cat 6 or better cable without a coupler or a network jack in between.

Hope this helps.

Is it time to buy OLED TV? Do you need 8K TV?

LG was the first to market with OLED and Sony uses LG panels. Sony is known to have the best video processor. For a 65" TV Sony is about 50% more than LG and you really may not see the difference IMHO.

However, it has been documented and observed that 2018 model LG OLED TVs have burnin. If you watch a channel like CNN for a long time and you change channel, you will see the CNN logo on the bottom right.  I followed all the announcements by LG on the 2019 OLED TVs and I see no mention of a fix. So, buy it at your own risk.

What is the next best?

It is Quantom Dot LED. Samsung calls it QLED. You can get it for much less if you buy Vizio P series Quantum.

I own a Vizio P Series non-Quantum and it is more than OK. In fact a friend bought Vizio M series 65" for $800 and if I have to comment on visual quality with 10 for Vizio P Series non-Quantum, I would say Vizo M Series is a 7 and QLED or P series Quantum is probably a 12 and OLED a 15 (but there is burnin).

Want to get the best bang for the buck? Look into TCL 6 Series.

Do you need 8K? Hardly any content even at 4K for video. Forget about 8K. In fact, quite a bit of broadcast, cable and streaming is 720p and some 1080i, 1080p and I cannot tell the difference on 4k TV. My photos and video clips are the only use case for 4K TV. For 8K TV, the only use case would be photos. Unless you have lot of cash to burn and want to be the bleeding edge adopter, I would wait for 8K  TV 65" to come down to $3k and then buy a 4K Quantum LED for a bargain. When LG and Sony do not even mention the burnin issue, I am not sure when they would find a solution.

If you use streaming services consider Google TV builtin and mini led.

Hope this helps a bit.

Experience with eBike conversion Bafang 750W motor and UPP 13AH Battery.

I paid about $2.2k including tax to have Schwinn Hybrid bike converted to eBike in May 2020. Battery pack weight was about 9lb and motor was about 8lb vs the bike weight about 23lb (Aluminum body).

With a throttle only max speed 28mph on flat road. I used it mostly for weekend rides 10 miles round trip 800 to 1000ft elevation gain. Battery was 48V 25A rated 13Ah with USB outlet. I used the USB just once for my phone in 15 months. After riding about 150 miles on inital charge it showed about 25% battery after I used an average of 10% pedal power assist which is 2.5A and 48V or 120W. I barely compensated for the extra weight and did not really use Pedal Assist to make biking easier. I used max pedal assist or throttle only when I was riding 2 to 4 miles round trip tennis courts about 2 to 3 times a month depending on weather.

Suddenly the battery died and will not charge. Green light indicated that battery was fully charged. I took it to the same place which did conversion. They asked for $435 for the battery. Their labor rate is $90 per hr. So I assume that they would have charged me 525 plus tax about $570 but warranty on the battery was only 1 yr even though "expected lifetime" is 5yrs.

I contacted 5 local bike shops. 3 do not service eBikes. 1 did not respond and 1 said they if I buy the battery, they could install for $50 to $100.

I looked and found a 10Ah battery without USB Hailong battery plate, without USB $270 including delivery on eBay. A light USB battery pack I have will do the job for the rare case. For my usecase a larger battery was only more weight. This one was about 2lb lighter and range is still probably lot more than I need. Manufacturer's instructions interestingly suggested that I charge the battery fully and discharge it 3 to 5 times initially to make sure that I get max capacity. I guess I have to use the throttle or max pedal assist just to drain the battery. The instructions also called for not exposing the battery to over 113F or below freezing temp which may happen anywhere in the US in a garage. They suggest bringing the battery inside on such extreme days. They also suggested that I charge it to at least 60 to 80% once in 3 months regardless of use.

All I needed was a hex wrench and a heat gun or hair dryer and a 1/2 inch heat shrink wrap for $2.50 at Harbor Freight. I just removed the old battery by unlocking it with the key, cut off the old shrink wrap and disconnected the plus and minus Anderson connectors, removed the battery plate with hex wrench and installed the new plate, slid the shrink wrap over the power cable, connected power and used heat gun (also $10 at Harbor Freight but any hair dryer would do the job). In 5 min $272.50 I was back in business.

A friend of mine bought a brand name eBike and he too had to have the batery replaced. Luckily for him it was under warranty but otherwise brand name ebikes with propreitary battery would probably cost a lot more.

I looked at the instructions in the manual of the battery. Chinese manufacturer. I asked a friend of mine who is in the business of building solar and battery backup solutions if it is worth paying a 50 to 60% premium for battery buit using 18650 cells by Panasonic, LG or Samsung. He told me that premium is not worth it because the warranty is still 1year even with those and the premium is not worth it because they by no means last 50 to 60% longer. Tesla uses CATL Chinese cells in many of their cars.

Is it worth replacing the a dead cell? It takes about 30min perhaps to open the battery pack and check each of the parallel cells. 10Ah battery I bought is made up of 13 3.7V cells in series to add up to 48V, 2.5Ah each 4 cells in parallel 10.5Ah. I would have to open it and check 13 of the parallel cells to determine how many are bad. Then the entire parallel set of 4 have to be removed and replaced with cells of the same voltage as the rest. Even then I would have a mix of old and new. A professional service would charge about $200 to do this. Still warranty would not get extended. DIY requires investing $60 in a low cost spot welder, $10 for nickel strips, $12 minimum for 4 cells retail price and 2 hrs total labor perhaps. So spending $82 vs $272.50 for a new battery pack 1 yr warranty and 5min of my time was easy decision.

I looked at many videos on youtube on eBike DIY including how to replace the battery, install the motor, sensors for speed, gear change, throttle. You could buy a kit for about $1100 with parts and tools including tax and shipping vs $2.2k I paid to convert my bike. I think it takes max 4hrs to do it. There are lots of videos on youtube. If you are a DIY person, give it a shot. I told my friends that if they or their friends want to convert their bikes to electric or replace battery, I can help at no cost as a community service.

Hope this helps someone save time and money. Happy riding!

Rover Dog sitter does not do any vetting of dog sitters

 We tried River dog sitter where we left our dogs with dog sitter.

2 out of 4 times, there were too many dogs at the same time handled by just 1 person and we had injury to deal with while abroad. Luckily our son was in town and he took dogs to the vet. It took 2yrs for Rover to disqualify that dog sitter.

We interviewed 2 others taking care of dog sitters. One was accepting big dogs in downtown area with a very small yard. That person should not have been allowed to dog sit even a single big dog let alone 2. One was a teen ager on a tourist visa visiting her sister with no dog experience and legally allowed to work in the US.

We hired a dog sitter to stay in our house and take care of the dogs. 2 times the dogs were fed 3 hrs late and we had to call a neighbor to help. 2 times, the dogs almost left out compound because of damaged fence panels not noticed by dog sitter before letting the dogs out and once when gardener would come from a side gate and dogs should not have been allowed outside. On a hot day dogs were left in the back yard all day. When we came home we found that both dogs lost a lot of weight because they were underfed. This dog sitter was barely in the house and rushing to her parents house for food and shower. She was just not equipped to stay in our house and take care of the dogs. She actually complained to Rover that we were rude to her when we almost lost our dogs due to her and 2 times they were exposed to high heat and hunger.

Rover gave us no compensation and no phone call either.

APPASO Touchless Kitchen Faucet with Pull Down Sprayer, Motion Sensing Activated Hands-Free. Replacing IR sensor.

 Summary:

It works but very poor customer service.

https://www.appaso.com/pages/home

https://www.amazon.com/Touchless-Kitchen-Dalmo-Fingerprints-Resistant/dp/B07SRB12MD/ref=asc_df_B07SRB12MD/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=385178072563&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7889088171146804546&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032008&hvtargid=pla-820815725179&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=78829232096&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=385178072563&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7889088171146804546&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032008&hvtargid=pla-820815725179

Details:

Feb 4 21     

Item received and installed in 20min and worked. I did my own install.

Mar 25 21  

Stopped working and replacing batteries did not help. Sent seller message.

Seller insisted on video showing failure but no way offered to upload video to seller other than review on Amazon or sharing on google drive.

Mar 29 21

Seller sent IR sensor and replacement controller tracking number with 5 to 14 day delivery time. Luckily the faucet was working without controller in manual mode.

Apr 3 21

Received IR sensor and replacement controller with no instructions and no video on Youtube or their website. Controller is external and needs just water to be shutoff and 3 hookups but that did not solve the problem. The IR sensor needed replacement. Sent message to seller but got reply next day (sun) that office is closed and they would respond next week.

Here is what it took to replace the IR Sensor.

1. Completely uninstall the faucet.

2. Twist open a big ring and inside it pop out a plastic piece holding the hoses and wire.

3. Remove hot water hose and mixer hose to get access to the IR sensor inside the faucet.

4, Remove a bolt holding the IR sensor inside.

5. Remove the IR sensor and replace it with the new one.

6. If you do not have a magnetic screw driver, it is a pain to put the bolt back.

7. Reconnect the hot water hose and the mixer hose into the faucet.

8. Close the big ring holding the hoses and wire. Ignore the plastic piece holding the hoses and wire. It really does nothing

9. Re-install the faucet and hook up the controller.

10. Turn on the water valve for hot and cold water and test.

It worked but took me over 2hrs with no instructions or help from the Appaso.

I guess other touchless faucets are similar and I hope this helps someone. Best to ask for replacement faucet and not try to replace the IR sensor inside the faucet. It is trivial to replace the controller box. If you were call a plumber, you probably would be advised to get new faucet and get charged once for visit and 2nd time for the install.

Please read before you buy Nest Gen 3.

 I had Nest Gen 2 since Aug 2013. No failures at all. I did not bother with self learning mode.

5 years later in Aug 2018, I decided to replace it with Nest Gen 3 and 3 sensors to better control the temperature in my house. 2yr warranty.

Mar 29 2019 Battery stopped charging.

Mar 31 2019 Google shipped Nest replacement. I received it in 2 days and shipped the bad unit immediately. I kept getting reminders that they did not receive the return even though I had proof that it was delivered. Finally they acknowledged the receipt of return on Apr 22nd.

Aug 29 2020 11pm. I saw that Nest was offline on the App on my phone. I went and saw that it was not connecting to wifi. Battery was low. According to instructions from the previous experience of bad battery, I charged it not for 1hr but 9hrs using micro USB and at 8am next morning battery was only 3.75V which was supposed to be enough to connect to Wifi. The unit would not see any wifi networks including hot spot on my phone inches away. Apparently Nes gen 3 has a known issue of failure in wifi chip on top of draining battery.

Aug 30th Sun 4pm. I received return label for the bad unit and I was promised a replacement to be shipped in 1 business day. Warranty was expiring on that day! They took another week to let me choose how I want the replacement. 1. Return the bad unit and wait till they receive it and then they would ship a replacement. Note that it took them 3 weeks after I shipped the bad unit for them to receive and then few more days to get replacement. 2. Ask for Advance Exchange and they would send me a link to order replacement unit for $190 at put a hold on my Google Pay account to that extent. I asked for Advance exchange. They took another week to send me a link to order using Advance exchange and then another week for me to receive the replacement unit. The return is expected by Sep 23rd back at Google and I have no idea when they will actually remove the hold on my Google Pay account based on previous experience when I get too many reminders to return the bad unit if though I did immediately.

No replacement shipped even by Friday Sep 4th. We had 3 days of 110 deg weather forecast Sat to Mon. I went to Home Depot and bought Nest gen 3 and it was working perfectly. I asked Google if they can give me credit for the unit I bought. They would not.

Sep 19th I received the replacement unit from Google and warranty would be extended for 90 days.

I returned the unit I bought at Home Depot because Google asked me to "work with the retailer".

If you do not use the so called learning capability of Nest you have other choices from real thermostat manufacturer Honeywell Lyric T5+ if you do not need additional room sensors. It $70 cheaper than Nest gen 3. There is Honeywell with 1 remote sensor $200 and 2 more sensors can be added for $65 vs $220 for Nest Gen 3 and 3 pack of sensors for $100. $320.

There is also Ecobee and I know people who are very satisfied with Ecobee and Honeywell. If my Nest gen 3 dies after 90 days, it will be replaced by Honeywell.

Summary: Google Nest has reliability as well as very poor support and you have other choices now.

One final thing I did not really with any support from Google. A 24V transformer connected between C and Rh provides 200mA to keep the unit always powered rather than depend on 20 or 40mA provided if you do not have C wire connected. There are other ways to connect C wire you can find on youtube.

Also, you can find videos on youtube how to replace the battery on Nest. I ordered one. You get the idea? If you buy Nest, better be prepared to fix it yourself or just by some other brand.

Hopefully we will come out stronger after Corona Virus. We all can do a lot.

Governments:

1. Hopefully realize that the old saying health is wealth. Health of people is as important as the borders and security of the country.
2. Important to health is climate/environment, quality of food which can prevent diseases.
3. Healthcare must not be linked to job so that people are free to change jobs without concern for medical care as it is in the US.
4. 24/7 Internet is as important as electricity as proven by the need and ability of the people to work without overcrowding cities and creating the need for huge office space.

Large Corporations:

1. Identify the most productive employees who did better working from home than in the office.
    Allow them to work from home and save office space and cost. Ensure that all employees who can work remotely are trained and ask that they work from home for 1 day a week and save on office space. Provide ergonomic furniture to employees working from home. Pay for high speed internet at home.
2. Identify suppliers closer to the demand and use more than one supplier in different geographical regions to avoid supply chain disruption.
3. Conserve cash and cut back stock buyback and give bonus dividend based on profits but not increase or decrease regular dividend to encourage share holders to hold stock.
4. Increase Hygiene and continue to maintain more social distance than earlier.
5. Replace landlines with cell phones for all employees and use wifi onsite.

Small Businesses:

1. Focus as much as possible on delivery or takeout and save retail space.
2. Make hygiene and health of employees higher priority. Offer more sick time in exchange for working remotely or coming to work during peak requirements.
3. Follow as much as possible what the large companies are doing.
4. Where there are a series of restaurants one the same street, create a common outdoor and indoor dining area as in a food court in a mall which can be smaller than the total outdoor and indoor dining space in each restaurant. That saves on rental cost and utilities. Some supplies for takeout and paper napkins, salt, pepper, sauces can be bought in bulk in Individual packs. Linen can be also handled in bulk.

Individual Employees:

1. Set aside time and space to work from home and maintain hygiene.
2. Prepare meals at home from simple ingredients instead of ordering food or buying frozen dinner to cut costs and eat healthier.
3. Dress as if going to work to be presentable on video conference even to customers.

People in General:

1. Follow as much as possible from above.
2. Depend less on disposable supplies and cleaning supplies.
3. Maintain more social distance than earlier.
4. Get to know your neighbors. We need each other more than we think.
5. Minimize shopping trips and trips to doctor's office by using online services.
6. If you have 401k account, realize that now is the best time contribute max by cutting costs
    - Buy a decent certified used car good enough for local driving and reduce loan.
    - Make your coffee at home, pack lunch. Socialize at a coffee shop instead of dinner.
 
Colleges and Universities:

1. Offer more classes online and cut costs in classrooms, facilities on campus.

Students:

1. Unless labs is required, enroll in as many online classes as possible and see if at least 1 yr of 4yr college can be from home. Use the savings to create proper ergonomic space to study at home.

Very difficult to buy a Tesla Certified car

3 days ago on Friday morning at about 9AM I saw 2 Tesla certified cars about 400 miles away. There was no phone number to call. Only 2 choices.

1 pay a deposit
2 Request a call back with your name, email address and phone number.

I had questions and so I submitted a request for call back.

As of now, no acknowledgement even by email that I wanted call back. No call back.

Is this typical?

Here is update. At about Noon on Monday I received a voice mail regarding the car. By then I had my car repaired and I was wondering if I should delay buying another car given the slow response by Tesla and new models such as Ford Mach E, Rivian R1s looking very attractive.

On Wednesday night almost 4 full working days from the time I contacted Tesla, I received email with phone number to contact.

As a sharp contrast, when I bought Lexus certified car last time, I saw the car was available 1hr away. Called at 9AM on a Saturday. Paid cash and drove home the car by lunch time. In this case if Tesla answered on phone all my questions on Friday morning and followed up with email immediately, I could have flown on Friday and if I liked the car, I would have driven back 6 hr 400 miles.

Is your Vizio smart TV suddenly turning on at night?

My setup was Vizio M 558 TV and Onkyo Avr TX-NR-626.

I enabled ARC only on the Vizio TV. Connected a Roku box, a bluray player to the TV.
On the Onkyo Avr I had to enable CEC AND ARC AUTO.

TV was suddenly turning On at random during the day or night. I called Vizio support and the only suggestion was to toggle power mode from Eco to Quck Sar and back to Eco. It did not help.

I found out that using chromecast built into Vizio or linking Vizio to Google Home requires power mode to be Quick Start.

Now there is no random turn On of the TV.

Samsung has 21 day exchange policy for replacing defective tablet.

I hope to help someone interested in buying a device from Samsung. I was lucky for many years with Samsung products.

Smart phones, TVs, Bluray players, Refrigerators.

First sign of trouble was Microwaves which started failing just after the warranty period.

In Dec 2018 I bought Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 from Costco. Barely few months later I noticed random failure of Apps and random  reboots many times a day. I was hoping that software update would fix it. All it got was security updates and it is running Android 7 when 10 is now the current release. I sent it for repair in October. Here is their repair process.

1. They send you shipping label and it takes up to 1 week for them to receive the unit.
2. They take 5 to 7 business days to repair and another 5 days in shipping. So, from the time you send the device to the time you get it back can be more than 2 weeks.

I found that the Tablet still shuts down after charge to 100% and can suddenly reboot. I sent it back on Nov 2 and 10 days later I was sent back the unit saying there is nothing wrong. On Nov 13 they agreed to send me replacement. I was told to expect a shipping label to return the device. On Nov 15 Friday morning, I was told that they need receipt. I went to Costco and got a duplicate receipt and sent it. On Nov 18th Mon, the status is RMA was approved and when I called, I was told to just wait for the shipping label to return my unit. On Nov 19th, I was told that it would be 21 business days from Nov 13th for the replacement for identical and equivalent device. That makes it mid Dec for me to receive a replacement.

Very disappointing that both quality and customer service have gone down.

Dropbox alternative is working fine for me

Recently I got a new phone and found out and tried to install Dropbox on it. New limitation imposed is that I have unlink other devices so that I have max of only 3 devices on the account or pay $10 per month for whopping 1TB of cloud storage and have more devices on the account.

Most working people these days have one office computer, a personal computer, a personal phone or phone provided by the office (sometimes 2 phones) and some have a tablet.

I already have a Google One shared account with my wife sharing 200GB and we really use 100GB with head room. Dropbox would cost us $240 per year if we switched to the Dropbox plus 1TB plan.

I found 2 alternatives. Phones and Tablet (Android and IOS) can connect to Google Drive App anyway. Google Sync works on PC and Mac and you have replacement for Dropbox. If you use Linux such as easy to use ubuntu with much less concern about virus (I had zero virus attack issued with Ubuntu since 2006) and more stable than Mac, Google Sync is not available on Ubuntu or any linux. However, there is a one time paid product called inSync for $29 which can be installed on multiple machines using the same google account to sync. It makes your Google storage work like Dropbox.

There is an alternative to Dropbox if you need no more than 10GB. It is called pCloud from a small Swiss company and it has App for Android, IOS and works on Windows, Mac and Linux. I tried that it works fine.

I will provide some links here to help you migrate from Dropbox. Be aware that these links may change.

Google Free storage: 15GB https://www.google.com/drive/using-drive/
Google One storage: $20 per yr individual 100GB or $30 per yr shared 200GB https://one.google.com/

Google Backup and Sync: https://www.google.com/drive/download/backup-and-sync/

insync for Linux to sync to Google storage: https://www.insynchq.com/pricing

pCloud: https://www.pcloud.com/

A spreadsheet I created to optimize the charge of electrical car.

Spreadsheet to calculate lifetime miles before battery degrades to 70% of capacity.

I simply used the data I saw at a published link. Based on this, for most users 80% to 20% is probably the sweet spot compared to 100% to 20 or 30% most users may now be doing.

I would like comments on your own experience with your car to help others.

Is Tesla Model 3 actually cheaper than a Toyota Camry?

I am responding to this article. I do not agree with the author.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/28/toyota-camry-honda-accord-buyers-dont-assume-tesla-model-3-is-beyond-your-budget/

I have owned Toyota camry for 14 years and Lexus for 20 years, Toyota Sienna for 11yrs.

I only financed the first car which was camry and paid off the loan in 2yrs. I kept it for 14yrs and sold it for $1000. My cost per yr in 1984 dollars was $1000. I always did oil change ever 7.5k miles and rotated tires and did the recommended 30k mile service. Really had no repairs because it was a reliable car. My average maintenance cost per yr including oil changes was about $500 over 14yrs.

I paid cash for a Lexus LS and disposed it for $10 after an accident. After 14yrs of that car my cosr per yr in 1998 dollars was $3200.  Avg maintenance cost over time was about $600 because I had a reasonable and reliable mechanic. Did not got to dealer after warranty.

I paid cash for another Lexus LS 2006 model Lexus certified 40k miles for $30000. It will last 250 to 300K miles.  It now has only 75k miles.

I know someone with Tesla Model S who paid $70k after rebate. It is no more luxurious than Lexus LS. I saved $40k and even if I drove 100k miles at 18mpg and $4 per gallon it would have cost me $22k. Even with zero fuel cost of Tesla LS that is $8k less. Used Tesla with 40k miles was about $45k when I bought Lexus. That would have be $7k cheaper? Not really. I would now have to replace the battery and it costs way more than $7k. Want to talk about the hassle of charging and range anxiety? Can an electric car be my only car?

My opinion is that plugin hybrid makes more sense.

Thoughts on generation gap

Let us look at household where 3 generations live under one roof.

Gen 1 Age 60+ retired
Gen 2 Age 35+ working
Gen 3 Age 10+ in school

G1 developed a life style when they were G2 and want to maintain it even though it may be a different time and place.

G2 has a newer lifestyle than G1 and financial responsibility for themselves as well as G1 and G3. They feel sandwiched between G1 and G3.

G1 is very much in what is current because that is all they know. Very hard for them to understand G2. Forget G3. G1 depended a lot on G3 when they were too young to go to school. After going to school they have to learn to be independent.

So how do we close this generation gap?

Here is a thought. As we get older we know that physical and mental capabilities tend to slow down and so we have to learn to adapt. Also in day to day living we see changes in kitchen appliances, transportation, media, technology and accept the change. In fact we often see people refusing to change struggle and work harder while those who accept change know how to make life easier for themselves.

So here is a thought. It is much easier if G2 connects with G1 when they finish education and start working. The moment G3 decides to live with G2 they very quickly connect with G2 or live in a retirement community with like minded G3s. When G1 get married and have children G0 then G1 will surely understand how their parents raised them from babies and start to connect with G2.

Tennis scoring is so unfair compared to other sports. Player can win most points or most games and still lose.

In most other sports, it is limited time and who ever scores the most wins. It is test of skill.

Examples of unfair match in Tennis.
6-1 6-7 6-7. Player A who wins 18 games vs 15 loses.

Even within a set.
Game 1. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0
   Score 1-0
Game 2. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 7 points vs 5
   Score 1-1
Game 3. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0 Net 11 points vs 5
   Score 2-1
Game 4. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 14 points vs 10
   Score 2-2
Game 5. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0  Net 18 points vs 10
   Score 3-2
Game 6. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 21 points vs 15
   Score 3-3
Game 7. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0 Net 25 points vs 15
   Score 4-3
Game 8. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 28 points vs 20
   Score 4-4
Game 9. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0  Net 32 points vs 20
   Score 5-4
Game 10. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 35 points vs 25
   Score 5-5
Game 11. 40-0 plus 1 by Player A. Player A wins Total 4 points vs 0 Net 38 points vs 30
   Score 6-5
Game 12. 40-40 Plus 2 by Player B. Player B wins. Total 3 points vs 5 Net 41 points vs 35
   Score 6-6
Game 12. Tie breaker 7-5 Player B wins. Total 5 points vs 7 Net 46 points vs 42
   Score 6-7

Player who won 46 points vs 42 loses.

Why is this?

Before and After Comcast TV and Internet.

I had Comcast Cable TV with Tivo and Internet for 10yrs or so. In May 2018 I checked my Comcast account and found out that the previous contract was expiring on Jun 22. So, I called Comcast and asked what I can get. I was told that without contract I would pay $185 which is $60 more for 150Mbps down, 6 Mbps up internet and cable TV with 3 cable cards for my Tivo. I was asked to call 1 week before contract expires to see what I can get and of course they want to add land line or mobile phone or home security bundle and 2yr contract and so on.

I decided to look for alternatives and tried Youtube TV for 1 week. It had pretty much all the channels we were watching and couple of channels like Comedy central and PBS available for streaming. What I found out was 3hrs of streaming Youtube TV per day uses about 16GB. If there are 2 users, the 1TB limit of Comcast would be reached.  I canceled Cable TV and subscribed to Youtube  TV for $40 per month unlimited DVR 3 simultaneous streams with 6 users on the account. No garbage taxes like Franchise fee, Broadcast fee, sports fee etc adding up to $17 by Comcast.

I asked Comcast what they would charge for 100MBps down 5 Mbps up no data limit and the answer was $90 1st yr, $105 2nd yr with 2yrs contract and then $125. I signed with ATT Fiber internet 1000MBps down 1000MBps up no data limit $80 1 yr contract $90 after that and no taxes. I even got

I completely canceled Comcast. No looking back. I am not signing any more contracts. It is about time Comcast and ATT realize that all they are are internet service providers and if they want to provide TV, it has to compete with Youtube TV or others like Sling TV no contract, cloud DVR.

How I connected ATT Fiber Router BGW210-700 to Google Wifi

You could do the same with any router I suppose.

The technician only knows how to hook up the equipment. He called a specialist and I myself had to work with that specialist to figure it how to do it.

If you do nothing, what ATT will do is give you their wireless router with 4 network ports. It is fine if you have a small house or just use wired ports in far away rooms.

When you get internet to your home, the ISP gives the modem what is called WAN IP address which is seen by the world outside your home. You want your router to get the WAN IP address in case you have cameras in your house for security you want visible when you are not home. Also, you want a better router which provides local IP addresses to your devices and it knows the WAN IP address to send or receive requests from outside.

To do that, there are some steps involved.

Login to the ATT router by connecting your computer directly to one of the 4 local ports on it and open your browser and type 192.168.1.254.

1. Firewall/IP Passthrough
2. Allocation Mode: Passthrough
3. Passthrough Mode: DHCPS Fixed
4. Choose from list: MAC address of the Google Wifi Router
5. Go to Home Network and Disable DHCP
Now save settings before you disconnect the wire to the router.

Power off the router BGW-210-700

Disconnect LAN port of Google Wifi router
Power up BGW-210-700 Router
Power up the Google Wifi router and using the app on IOS or Android
change LAN IP Address on Google Wifi  router to 192.168.1.1

All works. Only thing is if you have to change the setting of BGW-210-700
you have to factory reset it.

You can factory reset your Arris BGW210-700 in the following way(s)
1. When the router is on, press the button reset and hold for 30 seconds.
2. While holding down the button reset, turn off the power of the router and hold down the button reset for 30 seconds
3. While holding down the button reset, turn on the power to the unit again and hold for another 30 seconds

If you any other local router, follow instruction on how to change local IP address on your router to what your local cameras and printers are looking for. Mine is 192.168.1.x. So, unless I disable the DHCP server in ATT router, it will conflict with my router because it also uses 192.168.1.x. In any case you want DHCP sever to run only on your router and put the ATT router in Passthrough mode with its DHCP server disabled.

Yes. I know all this is complicated. Hope you know what you are doing or hire an expert....

How much bandwidth and data do you need to watch TV over internet?

Youtube TV in 1 week consumed about 4GB per hr for 1080p based on watching MSNBC, CNN, Tennis Channel and CNBC mostly. So, the 1TB limit on typical Internet packages give you about 250hrs a month or about 8hrs a day. Also, the peak bandwidth was about 8 to 10MBps. So, you need at least 20MBps down to watch reliably if you are the only person on your internet and you also have computer and cell phone using internet at the same time.

If you are single and working 8hrs a day on the average, 1TB is probably enough. If you have a roommate sharing internet and viewing internet video, you may run over 1TB limit. Also you need min 50MBps down to support 2 users. You will end up having to pay $30 extra to make the data unlimited currently on both Comcast and ATT.

On top of this you pay for TV over internet which can vary from as little as $20 to as much as $65 if you choose premium options such as Sling TV orange + Blue + packages + DVR.

If you have more than 3 users streaming Video you may still be OK as long as only 3 streams plus other no other video use on internet with 50Mbps down.

Hope this helps you decide what works for you.

Are you tired of phone scams and fraud? You can filter out all such calls (mostly)

Most of the unsolicited calls these days have a caller ID very close to your number or a 5 or 6 digit caller ID. Either you do not answer or set your phone to ring only when callers on your contact list call. That takes care of 99% of the junk calls. Needless to say that you should not give out any numbers on the phone unless you initiated the call to your bank, brokerage or IRS using the number posted on their website. You can verify who they are if they ask you questions to identify yourself and you too can ask them questions such as what was the exact amount of a transaction you made on a particular day that you know.

Scammers and Telemarketers can put out any caller ID and it is surely possible that they can put out the caller ID of someone in your list. That is a different issue and if that happens, ask your friends to send you a text message which identifies them with something only you told them and you call them back. Luckily, I did not yet have to resort to that but that is what we need to do these days.

Other thing to be aware of:

When on vacation be aware that your posts or photos or reviews if seen by public can clearly let the public know that you are not home. Not a good idea to post ANYTHING to public when out of town. Good to inform 2 or 3 neighbors and your major credit card companies of your travel plans to help prevent fraud. Better to avoid using credit card abroad. Debit card is safer. Better to use Debit cards with low or zero foreign transaction and ATM and take cash on a need basis at a very public ATM during the day.