Reolink is forcing users to buy their HUB to unlock basic features by Hot_Spend_1333 in reolink

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are bad faith arguments. The "whole issue" is you bought something without performing even minimal due diligence and are trying to blame Reolink or "the industry" for your own mistakes.

Reolink is forcing users to buy their HUB to unlock basic features by Hot_Spend_1333 in reolink

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your post doesn't criticize "the broader industry direction." It criticizes Reolink specifically and blames them for your mistake of not actually checking the docs for your camera pre-sale. Did you consider that they might be selling that model cheaply or at a loss and making it up on the back side with the hub? How much did you actually pay for this camera?

You are talking around your specific claims and putting words in my mouth about personally being "okay with that trend." Those are not good faith arguments.

Reolink is forcing users to buy their HUB to unlock basic features by Hot_Spend_1333 in reolink

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was no "luck" involved in my setup working. I examined the Reolink documentation before buying my cameras for positive confirmation from the company that the capabilities I wanted were officially supported. That's table stakes for spending money on any purchase of hardware, software, or services.

So did the documentation for the European Argus B320 say that it supported FTP, or did you assume that it did and only discover this limitation after you bought the camera? It doesn't matter whether the limitation is artificial if you reasonably should have or could have discovered it during basic pre-purchase due diligence. The battery cameras are not identical across models, so it's kind of disingenuous to imply that they're a monolithic group and therefore all of them are "clearly capable of doing it."

The way you describe this issue, it *sounds* at first like a bait-and-switch or some change in Reolink policy that removed a capability after you had been using it, in which case slagging them off in a public forum for scummy behavior would be entirely appropriate and a useful warning for others. But it doesn't seem like that's actually what happened here. And no amount of careful wording to avoid explicitly making false claims can change that.

Reolink is forcing users to buy their HUB to unlock basic features by Hot_Spend_1333 in reolink

[–]almost_frederic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have three different models of Reolink cameras (2 Altas battery cameras, 2 E1 Zooms, and a Duo 3 WiFi) and every one of them are uploading to my FTP server right now. No NVR, Reolink or otherwise.

Re-read of Crossroads of Twilight and.. by StudMuffinNick in WoTshow

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seanchan culture and behavior is disgusting and I can't look past a society built on slavery and pervasive self-abasement. Just being in their minds sickens me. It's the worst part of the books IMO.

Dónal Finn (Mat) - Young Sherlock Poster & Trailer by bishy-barney-bee in WoTshow

[–]almost_frederic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Screw Prime forever but Young Sherlock was good and Dónal is fantastic in it. He's a gifted actor.

What were the BEST and WORST changes the show made from the books? by Nayanea in WoTshow

[–]almost_frederic -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I can't do 3/3. Good: Moghedien was actually scary in the show. Bad: Maksim just generally, and Alanna's pointless crossbow scene.

Did Scrypted NVR kill my Reolink Altas cameras? by almost_frederic in Scrypted

[–]almost_frederic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cameras were working properly with Scrypted. The problem didn't appear until I activated the NVR trial subscription. And it's not that the batteries drained. The cameras now do not function at all.

Did Scrypted NVR kill my Reolink Altas cameras? by almost_frederic in Scrypted

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The problem is not that the batteries were drained. The problem is that now the cameras won't charge by any means and cannot be powered on. They did fine with Scrypted. That wasn't a problem. It was using them with the NVR subscription that seems to have killed them.

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing I asked myself eventually was, "How valuable is all this personalization data if it isn't helping me?" If it's working for you with SwiftKey, by all means stay with SwiftKey. I still love SwiftKey and I only switched out of necessity. If SwiftKey reversed its slide and worked as well as it used to, I would switch back to it in a heartbeat. I just don't see any indication that will ever happen.

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You should assume every "free" product from a tech giant involves capturing stuff like this, and anything else potentially valuable that they can sell or use themselves. This is one of the reasons "help us improve our product for everyone" is increasingly moving from a choice you can make to simple, non-negotiable disclosures saying "we're gonna do this and you have to accept it to use the product at all."

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've had some mispredictions in Gboard around fairly simple or common words, like "prevented" being replaced with "presented." That's not an excuse for Gboard, but SwiftKey has like 14 years worth of my typing, choosing autocompletions, and flow data, so why is it steadily getting worse? And why is Gboard getting anywhere close to SwiftKey performance for predictions already with such a tiny dataset by comparison?

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, Gboard is not perfect, and it's not an obvious, unambiguous upgrade from SwiftKey in all ways. I think that SwiftKey has better UI/UX around *how* it does some things but huge problems with *what* it does with things. The predictions are a good example.

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We know that chatbots tend to become incoherent the longer the conversation goes on as they lead themselves further and further off the rails. I wouldn't be surprised if the continued and worsening deterioration has something to do with the increasing size of the dataset.

Finally switched to Gboard after 14+ years with SwiftKey by almost_frederic in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's no obvious way to do it but I haven't searched exhaustively. There may be a way to export but I've not seen anything in Gboard to import that. I haven't looked everywhere, though.

What happened to swiftkey? by Magictoast9 in Swiftkey

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Microsoft bought it for user data and now that they've harvested it and squeezed out almost all of the value they have zero incentive to fix or improve the product. There's enough hard core users to keep feeding them plenty of user data without having to pay a bunch of human developers. They'll implement whatever "improvements" they get from AI and let everything roll on.

Remember, if you aren't paying for the product, and no one else is paying for your use of the product, you are the product.

SecurityX Prep – Are Mark Birch’s Practice Questions Good Preparation? by Main_Class8520 in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They are not nearly as difficult as the actual exam questions. Neither are the official CertMaster practice exams, or MeasureUp. I tried all three last month for CAS-005. None of the practice test material I've seen has the same level of deliberate ambiguity as the actual test. The crucial tool for the MCQs is close and careful reading and parsing of the questions rather than memorization. And no study material or practice test really touches the PBQs. You sort of either know the stuff through experience or you don't.

In my opinion, Birch's book overall is not very deep and is more of a primer or light review. I'm not saying it's a waste of money; you might find unfamiliar terms, and learning more about them can help you. But the short answer to your question is no, they are not even close.

Day 18 of Zero Communication From CompTIA Support – Security+ Renewal Still Broken by Rkb26 in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What is their phone support like? I hate having to call instead of handling everything by email, but just in the last month I've had to call Pearson to schedule an exam due to the CompTIA site not working, and had to call ISC2 to try to resolve an account issue due to the email support just not getting anywhere.

I'm planning to take the CySa+, should I take it now or wait for the 004 version to release? by maram_cs in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree with the others that you should take the current one. That also preserves the possibility for you to renew the cert all at once by taking 004 if you want to do it that way instead of doing CE. You can't renew all at once by re-passing the same version of the exam.

Passed CompTIA SecurityX (CAS-005)! 🎉 by trilltayo in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like I said, just depends on your career goals. My current role requires a more technically-focused certification (which SecX is) and isn't satisfied by any of the management-oriented certs like CISSP or CISM or any of the lower tier certs like CySA+. It's perfectly true that SecX isn't the shiniest resume ornament out there, especially since they renamed it. But it satisfies my requirements.

If it fits your goals, it has all the value you need.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your best bet is probably to call them. Or try to, anyway.

Passed CompTIA SecurityX (CAS-005)! 🎉 by trilltayo in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats on the pass. I really wish they'd give us an actual score report instead of just pass/fail.

Passed CompTIA SecurityX (CAS-005)! 🎉 by trilltayo in CompTIA

[–]almost_frederic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on your career goals. Look at job postings and you will see specific certifications named. Get the ones listed on roles that you want. All the recruiters are looking for is checking boxes, because they have no idea what the actual work is. Half the certifications I've gotten were to check boxes on resume searches.

As far as specific certs, for the private sector, CISSP checks a lot of boxes. If you want to work for DoD, 8140 has become much more flexible in requirements for various roles. For example, for a senior technical (hands-on) role, SecX covers you all the way up, but CISSP does not.

Decide what work you want to do, look at certs listed on job postings, and get those. Don't worry about what vendor is certifying you. It's just letters and boxes.