Privacy phone, part 2

I posted last weekend about my foray into a privacy phone, trying to use a Teracube 2e phone running /e/OS I bought from Murena. And it didn't go well with the first two carriers.

Briefly, I put a working Tello SIM in, and it worked for texting and phone calls, but the data didn't do well, because I'm in an area where T-Mobile is very weak. I need Verizon or AT&T.

Next I tried Cricket, since that runs on AT&T. Data worked, but it wouldn't send or receive calls or texts.

So, I tried an AT&T carrier that their Website says will work. Yeah, I shoulda done that to start with, right? Well, I didn't. But now I did. Only, that didn't go well either.

Red Pocket runs on AT&T and says they are supported. Red Pocket support says the phone works with their setup. Only, it didn't. Data? Fine. Texts? Fine. Calls? Not so good. In fact, it won't send or receive calls.

I worked with Red Pocket a couple of days on this. The testing went poorly. I ended up putting it in a Google Pixel 4a device I have, and the same thing happened. I then put it in an iPhone 12. Same thing. Everything worked except sending and receiving calls.

Red Pocket's solution was to change the GSMA SIM (AT&T network) to a GSMT SIM (T-Moble network). Well, T-Mobile service here is awful. And the phone I'm wanting to use doesn't work with Verizon.

So what's next? Honestly, I don't know. I'll try another AT&T carrier, other than AT&T -- the cost of AT&T is the problem -- I think. But heck, I might just try AT&T itself just to see. I mean, it could be that the phone is bad. But the fact I'm getting similar results on a Google Pixel 4a and an iPhone points to the carrier, or the SIM.

I'll try another AT&T carrier, maybe even AT&T itself, and try again to get it to work. But, if it doesn't, I still have two other options.

I have been considering a Pine Phone. Those run a mobile version of Linux. Yes, I know, Android is built on Linux, an iOS is built on BSD, a cousin of Linux. But an actual Linux phone may be something I want to try.

There is one further option, and that's installing an OS, such as LineageOS, on my Google Pixel 4a phone. Not sure if I'm comfortable with that. I'll kick that can down the road a bit and try another carrier or two before I risk that.

I'll end up with a privacy phone when it's all said and done. I just hope it's worth all this aggravation.

TiVo to launch its own streaming platform?

A story kinda went under the radar recently. At least, I didn't notice it until late this week. And it may be a big story. We'll see. So, what is the news?

Xperi has purchased Vewd.

Okay, I can hear the collective "huh" right now. So let me explain why this might matter.

Xperi owns a company called TiVo. Yes, TiVo. You certainly know who that is. And TiVo is more than just a DVR for antenna or cable. The TiVo Stream is an Android TV based streaming device, though the interface looks like TiVo.

What about Vewd? Never heard of them? Well, maybe you have. And maybe you've used it, but under its old name of Opera TV.

I've used Opera TV with some early smart TVs. A lot of smart TVs used to use Opera TV. At one time, Sony, LG, and Samsung used Opera TV. My new Sony now uses Android TV. LG now uses webOS, and Samsung uses Tizen. So Opera TV lost a lot of TV brands it was on. I must say that I was never particularly impressed with Opera TV. Whether it's the hardware or the OS, I don't know. The overall experience was poor. Roku was a welcome change for me.

Well, Opera TV is now Vewd and Vewd is now owned by the same company that owns TiVo.

Does this mean that TiVo will be dropping Android and moving to its Vewd OS? I don't know, but unless there's simply some technology it wants to get to by gutting Vewd, I expect they'll try to launch a fifth major platform. Or more accurately transform Vewd into one of the top five streaming platforms. I think they'd do better to attempt to get on equal footing with Tizen and webOS first, then shoot for the stars.

If TiVo does decide to move to its own Vewd platform, I'm not holding out hope it will be a success. TiVo Stream is an inferior product to Chromecast with Google TV, despite running essentially the same OS. They may be better serviced getting it on a better piece of hardware.

Either way, I'll give it a look when it comes out. Whether or not it turns into anything more than "a look" I don't know. If it succeeds, I'll have another option in my Streaming Life. If it doesn't, then it's business as ususal.

Grubhub for free? Well, kinda.

I saw a promotion that Amazon is running that really caught my eye. They're including a year of Grubhub+ with a Prime account.

Grubhub+ is normally $10/month, so that's a pretty darn good deal. Well, for those in a service area. You see, I am not in a service area. Well, my house isn't. I can't get Grubhub to deliver to the house. Door Dash, yes. Grubhub, no.

But, if you are in an area served by Grubhub, and if you are an Amazon Prime member, you get that benefit for a year.

You have to activate it. It's not automatic. But, it's easy to activate. Here is a link.

By the way: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I just want you to be know that. But, it's still a good deal. If I didn't think it was, I wouldn't post it.

So, why would i be promoting something I won't take advantage of myself. Well, I will take advantage of it. I said my house isn't in a Grubhub service area, and that's true. But, there are places I am that are served by Grubhub. So I will be taking advantage of it. Just not every day.

What does this have to do with your Streaming Life? Apart from the fact that Prime Video is also a benefit of Amazon Prime? Well, not much. Except now you don't even have to go get food to eat while you watch your streaming television. You already had options for ordering food. Now you have another. And pretty darn good one at that.

More free family friendly content

GAC Media, a family friendly media company, has added a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service. Great American Adventures is GAC Media's first foray into FAST content. They have other channels that are available via some pay services.

GAC Media has GAC Family and GAC Living, both of which are available on Frndly TV ($7+/month), Philo ($25/month), Sling TV (Orange [$35/month], Blue [$35/month], Orange+Blue [$50/month], with Heartland Extra [+$6/month]). GAC Family is also available on Hulu+Live TV ($70/month plus Entertainment Add-on [+8/month]) and DirecTV Stream Choice ($90/month).

This new service, Great American Adventures, as noted, it is the first venture of GAC Media into FAST programming.

"Great American Adventures is a perfect fit as a FAST channel on XUMO," noted Stefan Van Engen, SVP of programming and partnerships at XUMO. “It’s always the right time to enjoy and celebrate the kind of everyday American traditions we all know and love. Great American Adventures delivers the high caliber content that allows us to engage millions of viewers across our network.”

Great American Adventures joins GAC Family and GAC Living as part of GAC Media’s growing stable of media brands.  The new FAST channel will continue to roll out with additional apps and connected devices in the coming months.

Xumo has long been a favorite of mine. While Pluto TV is still king of the FAST services, Xumo is a great alternative. This is a big win for Xumo in the family friendly TV market. For those of us that want quality family friendly content in our Streaming Life, this is a big deal.

Why people stay with cable or satellite

Every now and then, I get reminded that my experience and ways of looking at things is way different than others. This week, a big reminder happened.

I was talking with a coworker. She's a streamer --- sort of. Well, yeah. But she's not exclusively a streamer. She streams some content, but also has satellite TV.

She lives in an area that is serviced by Windstream, Comcast/Xfinity, and AT&T. Windstream isn't available where I live, but Comcast and AT&T are.

I mentioned that I had a conversation recently with a technician from Windstream, and she asked about their pricing. I didn't know, and told her that. I mentioned the speeds and prices of Comcast and AT&T, and she mentioned how much she was paying for Dish network. It was a lot.

We talked about getting local channels via antenna, and some live streaming services, and the costs involved. It was simply curiosity on her part. We've actually had these discussions before, and she said each time that she would save a lot of money by dropping Dish and streaming content instead. But, she hasn't. I never pressed her for way. I'll give information, and will help in any way I can, but I'm not going to presume to tell her "You need to do this" or "You need to do that."

She did finally mention why she hadn't and probably wouldn't make a change. There is a family member that really likes Dish and is used to that. She's putting that family member's wants above the financials. It's not like Dish network is causing them to go hungry or anything. She can certainly afford it, but she would to pay less money if she could.

She can, but she won't, because family member would be unhappy losing Dish. And, to her, she'd rather just sick with Dish for now.

I understand that. She's a nicer person than I am, because I would make the change. Heck, I did make the change. But, she's not me, and I'm not her. She's making the best decision she feels she needs to make. I did that too, though my decision was a different one.

She still enjoys her Streaming Life, limited as it is. I believe she'd enjoy it more if she went full streaming, but she's doing what she feels she needs to do. And that's the right thing to do.

Support forum expert, but why?

I've been a Roku user for years. And I've frequented the Roku support forum for almost as long. Less than a year after I bought my first Roku device, I logged on the Roku user support forum. The reason was that I had an issue. I don't recall the details, but it was that an app worked on other platforms, but not on Roku. That much I recall. And that was when I began to learn more and more about how things work.

I've always been fascinated with technology. Perhaps the idea of living with technology that sounded like it came from Star Trek was the thing. Maybe not. I don't know. But, I've always been fascinated by it, and Roku was my first venture into the world of streaming, back in 2010.

Since that first request for help, I think I may have asked for help with a couple of other issues in 2011, and maybe in 2012. But that was it. If that much.

However, I've been a frequenter of the support forums for years. Often I'd just read and learn, but occasionally, I'd chime in with responses. In the last few years, my time on the Roku support forums has increased greatly. And the number of people I've helped has increased as well.

In the last four years -- that how far back the stats go -- I've been credited with 275 solutions. That's official credits, either by the user with the initial issue, or by Roku staff. Additionally, others have stated that my answer solved the problem but they didn't officially mark it as such. And, lots more times, the answer I gave was right but there was no acknowledgement of it. But officially, I have 275 solutions provided.

I like that. I like the idea that I was able to help someone solve a problem. So, is that why I do it? Yeah, probably. Maybe I'm guilty of wanting to be the smartest person in the room. Well, on the Roku support forum, that's hard to do. Some of the Roku Community Experts really know their stuff. Every one of them that have that bestowed upon them by Roku really know their stuff. Including me.

Now, I still learn stuff, and I in no way think that I know everything. If I don't know the answer, I won't respond with "I don't know." Well, not often. But I have done that, but it was to help summarize the question posted. Sometimes, the person posting has no idea what's wrong or even know how to ask the question. So, sometimes, if I think I understand what's being asked, but aren't entirely sure I understand the question, I'll respond in an attempt to restate the question. Or ask the person posting to restate. That's not to put anyone down, but an attempt to elicit information.

Sometimes, I've discovered that I had no idea what the question really was, and once I found out, backed away. Sometimes, if it's outside an area with which I'm extremely familiar, I'll post some general steps, with requests for additional information. Sometimes, those general steps actually resolve the problem. That's usually the old "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" kind of troubleshooting step.

So, do I do Roku support to stroke my ego? Maybe. I do enjoy challenges. And it's fun. Sometimes. But not all the time.

It does offer the chance to learn something, but I really do enjoy the thought that perhaps I've helped someone improve their Streaming Life.

Independence Day 2022

One of the most important documents in world history is the United States Declaration of Independence. If you've never read it, it may be worth reading. It gives you a glimpse into history, as well as the Unites States overall.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
• For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

As a proud citizen of the United States of America, I still get chills every time I read it.