As I showed in my previous blog, it is neigh onto impossible to contact Xfinity online, or on the phone. Their local offices basically only deal in equipment. Using Twitter is the only way to get support. @XfinitySupport. 

I upgraded to a 1.2 Mbps plan and the new XFi Gateway. But getting it to work required two days. Comcast has neutered the Gateway interface (10.0.0.1) by removing the crucial ability to do port forwarding. You can only use the Xfinity Home App.

Xfinity has started to limit my data usage. I went to their site and got the following message:

But when I logged in, I got this:

I have a dual monitor setup on my Mac Studio--a 4k Dell, and 5k LG. Yesterday I returned from shopping and found a pop-up saying that the LG was not operating at its optimum 5k resolution. I went to the System Settings/Monitor pane and found that there was no 5120 x 2160 setting available, even after selecting Show all resolutions. I tried different options there, and suddenly, my system was unusable if the LG was turned on.

I am a great fan of T-Mobile, and have profited from owning their stock. T-Mobile now offers 5G-based Internet modems for $50 a month (auto-billed, and with no taxes or fees).

I am desperately trying to dump Comcast—the worst company to deal with. They raised my bill $20 a month, and when I tried to get support, they required me to use a cell phone link, and then said no one was available!

So, I went to the T-Mobile Web site and ordered the Internet service. (Do not go to the T-Mobile store; mine did not have any.) I got the modem the next day.

The current practice of printing archival scientific journals (as opposed to newsy journals such as Nature or Science) needs to be rethought.

The joy started when my fully-speced Mac Studio (MS) box arrived. UPS left it on my doorstep without a signature, or even ringing the doorbell. Luckily, I got an e-mail announcing the delivery. I could find no way to open the box. But I must have missed one side because I finally found an arrow that I ripped down to open it. There is nothing in the box except for the computer and a small sheet identifying the ports.

My new OM-1 camera finally came yesterday without the pre-order extra battery and extended warranty. They have not yet replied to my query. Support, by the way, closes at 2 PM Eastern time, so westerners will have to call before 11 AM. Not an auspicious beginning.

Another real loser is the strap. It is not breathable, and the edges are rough and dig into your neck, so I had to pay another $50 for a decent strap. This is a bad move on OM-DS's part because the strap is a walking ad for the camera.

Since my last comments on this topic, time has marched on, and there are new entries to the fray (Amazon and Apple). I recently bought some Sony WF-1000MX4 earbuds, and decided to do free trials of Tidal (I dropped it before) and the newer Amazon Music service to check out Sony's 360 Reality Audio setup.

Spoiler alert! Qobuz is still the best streaming service, especially for classical music.

I have one Windows computer and two Windows VMs running on my Mac Pro using Parallels. One of the VMs is in the Developer's Channel, as is the stand-alone machine. Both of these updated promptly to Windows 11, even though the checking tool on the VM machine said it could not run Windows 11

I do not like the "improvements" in the desktop or the Start Menu. 

I have been using Mac Pros for over a decade as my main desktop. But I also have a Windows 10 computer and a Linux computer (OpenSuSE LEAP 15.2), so am agnostic in my comparisons. I also have Windows and Linux virtual machines running on my Mac inside Parallels.