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Fun with Packet Filtering
About 6 months ago, I wrote about blocking my security cameras from talking to the Internet by moving them to a separate VLAN. Things have been working well, but after getting a USG, I decided to reduce the load on the router (using a VLAN required all traffic from my cameras to my Mac Pro to go through the router). My Mac Pro has 2 Ethernet ports, so I plugged the second port into another switch port that was set to the same VLAN as the cameras and give it an IP address on that VLAN. This would allow the cameras to talk directly to the Mac Pro without going through the router.
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Review: Apple AirPods
When Apple announced the AirPods last fall, I wasn't impressed as I already had Bluetooth earbuds that I used for running that worked quite well. It took me a few weeks to realize the advantages of them over other ear buds such as no on/off switch, take one out to pause, pairing across all devices, easy charging, convenient carrying case, etc. After that, I was convinced that they were the sleeper hit of the event.
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Review: Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway
Sometime after I reviewed the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite, Ubiquiti contacted me and offered me a few products to test and review. One of the products they sent me was the UniFi Security Gateway. At the time, I set the box aside as it didn't have all the features of the EdgeRouter Lite. In January when my father was having trouble with his Internet, I put the USG into service. For that application, it was ideal as it integrated with the rest of the components and was simple to manage.
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Channels DVR - A change in my TV viewing
I've written in the past about different systems that I've tried out to find the perfect system for recording and watching TV. The last system I wrote about was MythTV and it was working pretty well. However, it was a bit fragile. When Plex announced their DVR, I decided to give it a try. Once I found scripts to skip commercials and transcode the video to play well on my Apple TV, I thought I had found the system for us. Unfortuantely there were a few pieces that annoyed me to no end. It basically boiled down to the system would sometimes strip too much of a show when it removed commercials and the audio kept becoming out of sync with the video. If you'ever ever watched a show this way, you know that it degrades the viewing experience.