Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

Vlad recently asked me for some advice with biking and getting start again, it made me thing about how getting people into sports is so important. I’m so grateful that various folks like Brad, Steve or Mark got me into cycling and skiing. When I think about it, I realize that most of the time…

Well someone asked what you should get when you go car camping, here are some suggestions, the first is that you want to maximize comfort and fun. The whole point of car camping is to make sure your family and friends want to go again. With that in mind, here are some recommendations on what…

Ok this is a little bit of a nerd topic, but Tesla updated their Model X 75 and 100 sometime in mid 2017 so they produce more power. It is pretty incredible that you can do this in firmware, but the power went from 380 horsepower to 430 horsepower. Wow, that is pretty awesome, the…

With the Tour de France in full swing, it’s time to look at the latest in bicycle technology. This year the big news is that disc brakes and aerodynamics are all the rage. Most of the new bikes have only an ounce or so difference, so if you have the money, you can get disc…

Silly reason really. But if you have some audiobooks that are formatted as mp3, then you can’t just use iCloud Music Library. The reason is that files that are less than 96Kbps are marked ineligible and will not sync with iCloud, so you have to go back to the ancient (last century!) way of plugging…

So two friends have recently gotten different urban or commuter bikes. Bike sharing: short rides The main thing about the bikes is, of course, that if you don’t care about performance and don’t ride far (and don’t care about your brain), then the various bike sharing services are pretty good. The bikes fit terribly (they…

Well in looking at all the bike components, it’s amazing how little I will read the mainstream publications, it seems like the really good technical reviews are being done by talented enthusiasts. So if you are looking to really understand some aspect of buying a bicycle, here are the nerd sites to watch. Bicycle Rolling…

Well, while scanners can handle up to 3200dpi, there are very few prints that have that much resolution. So how do you keep from just scanning noise. Most inkjet printers for instance are 300 dpi, so for most prints, when you get into the 1600 dpi range, you are really just scanning all that noise…

All US and Canada reservation holders can now order their cars! So what to decide and what to think about. It’s complex because different models have different availability. But what if you have been called to configure. What should you do? There are five models that people can choose from: Short range, long range, dual…

One of the things about maintaining a Ubiquiti network at home is that you need a dedicated controller. I’ve been using a Mac to do this, but when you reimage you have readopt everything. Instead, there is another option, use a small $70 dedicated computer that acts as a controller. It connects to the Unifi…

Well in thinking about bike upgrades, I seem to be traveling down the familiar road of needing out to save a pound on the bike. Was super fun then and it still is now. So if you have a nice bike, what should you upgrade. Well here is the conventional wisdom from 10 years ago…

OK, we just signed up for 150Mbps from Comcast (only real choice in our neighborhood). When I try to use a speed test, I get 60Mbps, this is from Ookla, but when I try the Comcast speed test, I get 120Mbps, I wonder what is going on. The results seem variable, but one test shows…

OK, electrek is not a bad source. net, net, these make me feel better that there isn’t a near term Tesla competitor https://electrek.co/2018/06/25/bmw-next-gen-electric-powertrain-technology-ix3/ points out that BMW sees this just as a compliance car business. They are going to do hybrid cars mainly and don’t control their pack supplies. They are using low volume prismatic https://electrek.co/2018/06/15/electrek-podcast-jaguar-i-pace-tesla-restructuring-musk-boring-compan-chicago/is…

Time now to update how my personal workflow is operating. The big changes are that DxO went into receivership. Not much data on what is happening, but some speculation that it is because of their hardware business. They did spin off DxOMark, so that’s another indication they wanted some protection. I actually don’t know how…

OK time once again for an update on workflows. The big news is that DxO went into receivership, so I don’t know how stable it is. I hope they do survive. I also had a great conversation with the folks at Mylio (hat tip to Rob for that and David is always wonderful). Anyway, in…

A couple of folks have asked me should I buy now or wait. It’s a complicated question. We are kind of right now in the iPhone 4 world. Things are getting better but for most people the rate of change is high and it’s still inconvenient compared with gas. The latest Tesla shareholder meeting however…

OK even with the best hard drives, you will get failures, right now we are running our main disk array with btrfs against shr2. Last night one of the 4TB disks failed and it immediately sent an email which is pretty cool. Here is how you remove the old drive and fix it. It’s a…

OK, this really isn’t about starting a company, it’s about creating a presence for a new organization. While there are many ways to do this, here is a simple method that will give you. Bootstrap secrets, email and phone One question is how to deal with passwords. You want to start secure so download a…

We seem to be in major home focus these days, but we have a set of chairs that are really hard on the hardwood floors. Well there are some easy things to do. The first is to get a felt protector that glues on the bottom. The main problem here is that you want to…

When you live in a spot where the sun comes up at 5AM and sets at 10PM, a good set of blackout curtains begins to look pretty good (that or use eyeshades but they are a little uncomfortable). So what are some good ones to try, well there are review sites like some unlikely places…

I hadn’t realized these tricks, but as I use the thing more, I’m learning, but for MacOS, here are some good things to know First is that you can actually add faces to the system. It is a little complicated, but in Mac Photos, what you do is to go to a Photo, and then…

Well, my trusty (like 10 year old) Datacolor Spyder3Elite is finally obsolete. Not because the sensor is bad, but because they don’t support it anymore. How sad is that! I’ve actually found color calibration is getting better, particularly if you use sRGB as the default. On this Benq 3200PT, Tom’s Hardware actually gives reasonably accurate…

OK, there is another urban myth which is, well it is obviously far better to keep my gasoline power car for as long as possible instead of getting a new EV. Or to ride the bus instead or take an Uber hybrid Urban myth #1: I should keep my old gas car This makes some…

Ok I’ve heard this a few times that since EVs use burn more carbon in making lithium ion batteries and the electricity uses coal and is dirty. In looking through the lifecycle analysis a few things fall out But the short answer is that EVs do have a higher footprint in manufacturing but because they…

Well things are getting a little better, in the first half of the year, some great things happened. The main issue is that the reviews from wirecutter.com are mostly worthless because they do not use the fakespot to look at legitimate reviews and do not do long term testing, although Nathan K is invaluable as…

OK I’m by no means scientific, but by a search through Amazon.com plus checking with Fakespot.com for spammed reviews, there are many of these, here are some recommendations for protecting your very valuable AirPods, so in order recommendations are: Catalyst Waterproof case with Carabiner, these are the quite expensive at $25 (Amazon), but they get…

I seem to somehow have become a geek on how to get around with a Tesla. There are boatload of real experts at Tesla Motors Club, so here is a quick summary of some of things that I’ve learned. On Using Autopilot, pay attention on the first drive There is so much written on this…

Well I”m losing the Castelli Aero Bibs, but what about some of the rest of the accessories, for years (ok maybe more than that!), I’ve been relying on Defeet Undershirts and Defeet Aireater socks, but now’s the time to update. Cycling Socks First up are cycling socks, particularly for the winter, you want something that…