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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: Plantronics BackBeat Fit Headphones
It seems that every year I look for better headphones for running. The last 4 or 5 years, all the headphones that I'ved used have been wireless, but something either happens to the headphones or there is something that I don't like about them. This summer was no different than past summers in that I wasn't satisfied with the headphones I had. My previous pair were the Plantronics BackBeat Go. They performed adequately, but I was never able to keep them in my ears and spent time on my runs adjusting them. Sometimes they stayed in and required little adjustment, but most of the time, they just kept falling out. I initially liked them and was able to have them properly positioned, but that might have just been a fluke. I had bought them at Costco so that I could try them out and if I didn't like them, they'd go back. However, they worked OK and I ended up keeping them for about a year.
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Review: MailHub (plugin for Mail.app)
One of the things I do is "collect" software never knowing when I'll use it, but there are a small staple of applications I use all the time. When I saw MailHub, a plugin for Mail.app, I quickly downloaded it and played with it for a few minutes. I don't think I spent more than 10 minutes with it before I pulled out my credit card and purchased it! One of the problems with receiving so much email is what to do with it. I used to run rules on messages and kept having to setup new rules to move messages. This was inefficient for me, so dealing with messages as I read them seemed much more efficient.