My new Pixel 9 Pro XL (P9XL) arrived today, replacing my Pixel8 Pro. With a trade-in and the Google Store credits, it cost me about $700 for the 1 GB storage model. NOTE: If you order this, you only see the 1 GB storage option if you select black. I regretted this when I ordered my Pixel8 Pro in pearl and thus only saw 512 MB available.

The whole may be less than the sum of its parts

I ordered my Lectric One ebike (L-1) on March 15, 2024 when it was announced. I finally received it on July 19. It was worth the long wait. Now I have ridden 600 miles on the L-1 and have refined my opinion on this ebike.

How to keep yourself safe in this online world

I gave this talk to the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary on February 28, 2024. It is updated from my 2023 talk, but covers fewer topics.

I gave this talk to the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary on February 28, 2024. It is updated from my 2023 talk, but cover fewer topics.

The Framework 16 Laptop

I have been waiting about a year to receive my pre-ordered Framework 16 laptop. It is not cheap—mine cost about $3000. But it will hopefully allow me to update it in the future. It also has the largest complement of SSDs (6 TB) that I have seen, and has slots for 6 ports which are hot-swappable and (mostly) interchangeable. It also comes with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor. While this is not the fastest processor available, it is fast enough, and very energy efficient.

Cell phones are now a necessity, and cash is dead

On a recent cruise around New Zealand, ending in Sydney, Australia, I finally realized that a cell phone is a necessity. 

Pixel8 Pro — Great phone, but has issues

The AI in this phone is stunning, especially for photos. The 3 50-megapixel cameras give great detail, and the motion of my shaky hands is removed. 

BUT, there are issues:

I love my new Lumix G9 II. I previously had a G8 and two OM-1s. I primarily bought this camera to do videos, and it is a lot easier to do them on the G9 II than on the OM1. First of all, it has people detection. OM Systems OM-1 can detect animals, but not people. This ruined my last video when violin bows rose up into the video of the conductor, and stole the focus away.

Here is a link to the 64 MB talk I gave to ORICLE on October 13, 2023

You may also watch it as I gave the talk to Friends of ORNL.

After I updated my Mac Studio, I had no Internet. I have a hard-wired Ethernet connection to my Xfinity Xfi Gateway, Instead, I got this strange Web page:

Of course, as usual, the Xfinity advice was totally wrong since there is no Xfi App. It has been retired in favor of the plain Xfinity app. It is impossible to use Xfinity internet without a cell phone!