Adventures in Tech

Over the last month I have been using the web version of Office applications. I switched over from the desktop versions not because I was dissatisfied with them, but I switched because I wanted to be on the bleeding edge and get a preview of the new features quickly. I also did not want to update the desktop applications every day to get the new features, and the web apps relieved me from that burden.  As I used the web apps daily, I found that I did not miss the desktop versions. Sure, the web apps have their quirks, and living on the bleeding edge with preview features does not help. However, in this case, the plusses outweighed the minuses.  For one, I did not miss the ability to work offline, as I am almost always online and connected to a high-speed network. I loved that the browser took care of managing my open documents, presentations, spreadsheets, email, and calendar tabs, and automatically restored them when I restarted my computer or updated my browser. I also love...

I upgraded all my devices to the Windows May update, all but my new Surface 3 laptop. Whenever I checked manually for the system updates, I got nothing, apart from the occasional Windows Defender updates. For a week I checked religiously, and when I did not get any notifications, I started searching online to see if there were any issues with my device. It turns out that there were. There is an issue affecting the Surface 3 laptop, and other devices that use an always on, always connected networking. The issue blocks the update for these devices, per the Known Issues and Release Problems page since it leads to random restarts or crashes. The issue is currently under investigation, and once resolved, the surface will get the update. I will wait till then. Interestingly there are recommendations online to circumvent the block on the Surface, by using the Update Assistant Tool , or the media creation tool. I don’t recommend either, unless you enjoy bricking your laptop. Luckily the a...

Twelve years ago, when I bought my car, my decision criteria were simple. I wanted a car that is fun to drive, had good reliability, and was gas efficient; traits that were missing in my prior car. I did not put a lot of weight on the technological innovations the car had; I was happy with a good navigation system, a CD player that held multiple CDs, and a backup camera that made parallel parking easier. At the time, almost all car manufacturers provided undifferentiated versions of these capabilities, with minor tweaks to the user interface, which made my selection a lot easier. Over the years as the technology advanced, these originally innovative features started to feel obsolete. It was almost impossible to upgrade the hardware with newer and faster components, and software did not have a better story.   Only if either had issues or bugs, did the manufacturer offer an upgrade, through vehicle recalls or maintenance, or through map update CDs on a yearly basis, that captu...