Category: Work

Adding US Dollar Index and other macro data to TickrMasters

I’ve been looking at adding a TickrMeter to my desk setup. One question I had was is if it supported macro data. It does seem to support data supplied on Trading View (by trading view, not other data providers that can also be accessed through trading view). This is any ticker prefixed with TVC like TVX:DXY.

To look these up on the TickrMeter app do the foolowing:
1) Display -> Select “Global Markets”
2) Click “Manual Search”
3) Enter TVC Exchange
4) Enter the Trading View search symbol (US10Y, DXY, USOIL, SPX, GOLD, VIX)

How ScanTek Australia Could lmpove Their Trust

I was recently required to verify my identity using ScanTek in Australia. However the experience wasn’t great, with not a lot to build trust.

1. The email was in plain text with no branding and was simply from [email protected]

Hi {NAME},

{COMPANY} needs you to verify your identity - click the link below to get started.

https://sctk.au/{CODE}

--

2. They used a short code URL, rather than something on their main domain, or a subdomain of their main domain, and it looked very similar to spam/phishing links.

3. If you look up the whois for sctk.au it is registered to Scantek Solutions Pty Ltd, but the email domain was registered to a different Sole Trader ABN. Now looking BAMBER, NEIL ROSS, he was a founder of ScanTek, but again it does build a lot of trust on an identity management system.

4. It also didn’t help that looking up sctk.au on emailVertas showed it marked a suspicious (this has since been fixed).

5. I called ScanTek to support to confirm things. The system was busy and I arranged a call back. When they called back the number showed as an Australia mobile number, not a fixed line or premium number that I could look up to associate with ScanTek.

6. Finally they don’t list sctk.au on any of the support documentation on their website. It would really help if they at least did this.

I hope they can address these issues.

Fixing Unselectable Audio Device on Mac System Settings

My MacBook recently stopped me being able to select my monitor speakers as the output in the system settings. Everytime I clicked it, it would jump back to the built in speakers. I could select it as the output for alerts, and then came across this solution:

1) Go To /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app

2) On the menu bar Window -> Show Audio Devices

3) Right click the desired audio device and click “Use This Device For Sound Output”

After I did this I could no longer select the the built in speakers as the output device. It would do the same thing as before, so I don’t know what is going on with OSX in this instance.

Comparing Google and AWS free instance performance

I was looking to host some websites and wondered if I could do it for free on either Google Cloud or AWS free instances. Google list their free instance as having 2 vCPUs, while AWS list only 1. However, since this is an arbitrary unit derived by the cloud service themselves, we don’t know if 2 vCPUs on Google is really faster than one on AWS

I wanted to use the service with the highest performance, so I decided to benchmark the two using sysbench. To my suprise Google was actually faster than AWS as you can see from the screenshots. Ultimately I found shared hosting to be higher performance in the real world, as you share a large powerful server with a lot of memory, so it can handle spikes in traffic better, and once I factored in backup and support costs, it made sense to just pay for that.

Google

AWS

Small Improvements to the M1Pro MacBooks

The 14″ M1Pro MacBook is the best Mac I’ve ever owned. Having used one for some time now though, I would have liked to see a few small improvements:

  • Half size function keys but a larger touch pad
  • Menu bar come to exactly the bottom of the webcam notch
  • HDMI 2.1 and SDUC (SD Express Card)
  • Ethernet on the MagSafe charger (like the iMac)
  • USB-A Port (please just give us one Apple)
  • More key travel on the keyboard (it’s better than the butterfly keyboard, but I still prefer my old unibody MacBook keyboard)

The M1 iMac Should Have Been USB-C Powered

The new M1 iMac is sure to be a hit, but given its lower power processor, it would have been great to make it USB-C powered, so a power supply could be shared between the iMac, MacBook, and iPad, now all running the M1 processor. USB-C supports power along with data, so the ethernet on the power supply (which is a great idea.) could still be included and made available to the MacBook and iPad. It would have also allowed USB-C wall power sockets to start becoming a standard, which could also start including the ethernet connection, wired internally in the wall. At the very least it should have done a MagSafe connector which was the same as the MacBook, which is rumored (leaked!) to be on the M1X 14″ and 16″ models, scheduled for release mid-2021, but it looks like the connector for the iMac is far too big to work on a laptop.

M1 Mac Mini Internal Storage

Was looking at the M1 Mac Mini and wondering if you could fit some extra internal storage inside all that empty space. I’d love to see someone do this:

  • Add a USB to M.2 SSD in the extra space.
  • Take slim right angle cable out through the fan vent and plug it in a USB-C port out the back.
  • For the extra brave, maybe they could desolder one of the USB sockets, and attach the cable directly to the motherboard.

Update:
I realized this was probably more trouble than it’s worth when you could just stick a tiny 512GB USB, or maybe in in an M1X Mac Mini Pro use a 1TB SD card.

Changing Batteries on a Mobee Power Bar

I used a Mobee Power Bar to save money and the environment by not needing any batteries for Apple’s Magic Track Pad. I use in plugged in all the time, meaning that I never run out.

However this does eventually kill the rechargeable batteries inside, and meant mine would keep losing the bluetooth connection and need to be re-paired. Anyway, had a thought the other day and unscrewed it and used a spudger to prize it open gently. Its basically two AAA NiMH batteries inside a AA case. I replaced the AAA with new ones, and things seem to be fine again.