Archive for October 24, 2022

TELUS takes top honours at 2022 World Sustainability and Global Good Awards

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 24, 2022 by itnerd

TELUS has been awarded the Sustainability Excellence Award at the World Sustainability Awards 2022 for its global leadership and commitment to building a better, more sustainable future. Held in Munich, judges recognized TELUS for its ambitious sustainability strategy, environmental business practices and rapid progress on diversity and inclusion. TELUS was also recognized at the Global Good Awards 2022 in London, placing bronze as Global Good Company of the Year. Both of these award ceremonies recognize individuals, organizations, and businesses around the world who are driving positive social and environmental change. 

TELUS’ recognition at the World Sustainability and Global Good Awards follows a number of international accolades recognizing TELUS’ global leadership in sustainability, corporate citizenship, social purpose, and environmental and social reporting, including:

To learn more about TELUS’ commitment to a more sustainable future, visit telus.com/sustainability.

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EU Finalizes Law That Will Force Apple To Finally Put USB-C Into The iPhone

Posted in Commentary with tags , on October 24, 2022 by itnerd

You might recall that the European Union recently passed a law requiring devices sold within the union to have USB-C. Since most phones and tablets already have USB-C, one could plausibly argue that this law is squarely aimed at Apple as they have stuck with Lightning on iPhones even though Lightning is really USB 2.0 with a fancy connector. Which in 2022 is quite sad.

Today, the final steps to bring this law into effect are done and this law is now good to go according to this press release:

The new rules will make a USB-C charging port mandatory for a whole range of electronic devices. This will mean that most devices can be charged using the same charger. For consumers to know exactly what they are buying, the directive introduces a pictogramthat specifies whether a new device comes with a charger and a label indicating the charging performance.

The directive also allows consumers to choose whether to purchase a new device with or without a charger. This will not only save consumers money, but will also reduce the electronic waste associated with the production, transportation and disposal of chargers. Four years after the directive enters into force, the Commission will assess whether this unbundling of sales should be made mandatory.

Although becoming more popular, wireless charging has not yet been harmonised across devices. To enable this technology to become available for more devices, the Commission will work on harmonising wireless charging for electronic devices and on interoperability based on technological developments.

Categories of devices concerned

The new rules will apply to a wide range of portable devices:

  • mobile phones
  • tablets and e-readers
  • digital cameras and video game consoles
  • headphones, earbuds and portable loudspeakers
  • wireless mice and keyboards
  • portable navigation systems

In addition, all laptops will also be covered by the new rules 40 months following the entry into force of the directive.

So from the sounds of it, Apple will need to convert AirPods over to USB-C along with the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad given that all their laptops and tablets already have USB-C. While it’s been rumoured that Apple has been testing USB-C iPhones, they have a lot of work ahead of them. But I for one cannot wait for a USB-C iPhone as Lightning is dead and has been for years. The other thing that I note is this re-ignites the charger in the box debate. Apple led the way on not including chargers in the box of a new phone. But based on this, it sounds like they will have to rethink that.

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#PSA – @ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Users Should NOT Upgrade To Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.388.21099

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 24, 2022 by itnerd

I’ve only done this once before with Linksys routers, but I am being forced to do this again as ASUS has put out a firmware version for their ZenWiFi XT8 router that will cause you problems. Specifically the firmware version is 3.0.0.4.388.21099 which was released on October 3rd. This firmware appears to have some sort memory leak issue. Meaning that it consumes all available RAM memory on the router until it runs out and crashes. When this happens, you will see the following:

  • The router will work fine for four or five days.
  • The child node will suddenly disconnect and you will see a blue flashing light.
  • The primary node will look fine with a white light, but there is no WiFi available.

A reboot will bring everything back online. But only for four or five days where the above will repeat. This has been reported in a couple of places like Reddit and SNBForums. What’s interesting is that UKTechHub has posted that ASUS has released a new firmware to a user on that forum that seems to address this issue. That implies that ASUS knows that this issue exists. Why ASUS hasn’t widely released a newer firmware that addresses this problem that they seem to know about remains a bit of an open question.

Until ASUS formally addresses this, your best bet is to stay on firmware 3.0.0.4.386.49873. If you have already upgraded to 3.0.0.4.388.21099, then your best bet is to do the following:

  • Backup the configuration using these instructions.
  • Download and install firmware 3.0.0.4.388.21099 using method 2 from these instructions.
  • After updating do a factory reset of the router using these instructions.
  • Using a computer and a web browser, connect to the router and using the advanced options, upload the backup of the configuration that you saved in the first step.

The reason why I recommend going this route is that for whatever reason, ASUS routers do not cleanly update the firmware. And that leads to all sorts of weird issues that are hard to track down. In my case, it breaks HomeKit unless I go through the steps above.

Now you could just stay on 3.0.0.4.388.21099 until ASUS decides to fix this. But you’ll have to reboot your router every four or five days which is a pain. Thus I would hope that ASUS decides to step up to the plate and addresses this with a firmware fix. But I am not holding my breath as based on my recent experience with them and how they support their customers, ASUS doesn’t seem to be that sort of company. Though they are free to prove me wrong.

UPDATE: ASUS has released a newer firmware to address these issues. More info here.

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Review: Roku Ultra (2022)

Posted in Commentary on October 24, 2022 by itnerd

Roku’s latest and most powerful streaming device is here. And this version has a couple of interesting things going for it that may make you shell out $129 Canadian for it. The player in question is the 2022 version of the Roku Ultra. Here’s what you get in the box:

You get the player, a HDMI cable which is a nice touch, a USB-A to Micro USB cable to charge the remote, a pair of headphones with different earth sizes, the new Roku Voice Remote Pro, the power adapter and some documentation. About the only thing that I could be critical of is the fact that while it’s great that the Voice Remote Pro is rechargeable meaning that you don’t have to put batteries into it frequently, it charges via Micro USB rather than USB-C seeing as this is a USB-C world. But that’s a minor gripe that I got past quickly.

The back of the Roku Ultra has a USB-A port, an HDMI port, Ethernet, and power.

As usual, setup of this Roku device is laughably easy:

  • Connect the HDMI cord to the Roku Ultra and TV
  • Plug the Roku Ultra into the power outlet using the provided power adapter
  • Change your TV to the input that the Roku Ultra is on and follow the instructions to pair your remote, create your account, and pick your channels and perform software updates on the device if required.
  • Done. Declare victory and have a beer!

One thing that I didn’t mention is that the Roku Ultra has the ability to connect over WiFi 5 as well as Ethernet which is 10/100 Mbps (which may strike you as odd, but you only need 25 Mbps or so for a 4K HDR stream so it’s fine). That’s great as that gives you a second option if your WiFi sucks for whatever reason. Which of course will affect the quality of the streams that you watch. And as usual, the selection of channels is impressive. Roku has pretty much anything and everything that you could possibly want. And navigating through the user interface is dead easy.

So, this all sounds like every other Roku review that I have done. Well, there are some things that stand out with the Roku Ultra that I would like to highlight:

  •  Dolby Vision is on board along with HDR10+. That means that if you have a TV that supports HDR generally, or either one of those standards specifically, and you use content that is encoded in either one of those standards, colours will just pop and in the case of Dolby Vision, the picture will be as accurate as it would be at your local movie theatre. Especially if that TV has a mini-LED or OLED display.
  • Dolby Atmos is on board this time around which means that if you have an audio system that supports this, audio will simply be top shelf.
  • The remote is a serious step forward for Roku as you can use hands-free voice commands, set personal shortcuts for your favorite channels, control your TV, and the like. And if you lose the remote, you can find it using the Roku Official Remote Control App a sonar sound that comes out of the remote’s speaker. Plus I could also listen to shows and music through the Roku Ultra through the pair of provided headphones.

But the main thing that I noticed about this iteration of the Roku Ultra is how fast it was. This is unlike a lot of its competition where switching from menu to menu can often be a jittery experience. One last thing that I would like to point out is that the Roku Ultra ships with Roku OS 11.5. I wrote about the fact that this brings Apple Fitness+ integration here, which means that you also have one less reason to buy an Apple TV. Especially since it supports HomeKit and AirPlay. Though I will also mention that it also support Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

So, at $129 Canadian when I checked on Amazon, is this worth it? Hands down, the Roku Ultra is one of the best streaming device solutions on the market today. It offers one of the most powerful devices on an easy to use platform with integrated functionalities, such as the ability to connect over Ethernet or WiFi, and control the device with your voice. Combine that with the addition of HDR10+ along with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, and the return of smart home support makes this streaming device a compelling value. If you’re in the market for a streaming device, the Roku Ultra has to be on your list.

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