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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 03 - 08 FEBRUARY 2025
Hello and Welcome,
Message from the President
Hi Everyone,
I hope you have all had a great new year. Our first Main meeting for 2025 is Tuesday, Feb 4, at 6 pm via Zoom. CES was held in Las Vegas in January, so I imagine Alex has some interesting items.
Here are the Zoom details
Topic: SPCTUG Main Meeting Zoom Meeting
Time: Feb 4, 2025 18:00 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84847835917
Meeting ID: 848 4783 5917
Passcode: SPCTUGMain
The passcode will be the same for all our Main meetings.
Our two face-to-face meetings are returning as well. The first Tuesday morning meeting is on the 18th at 9:30 am in the Woolley Room at the SMSA, and our Web Design meeting is on Saturday the 15th at 2 pm in the same room. Both of these meetings are held on the third day of the month (i.e. the third Tuesday and the third Saturday respectively).
We will try to organise our AGM for March. Please consider what you could contribute to the club either as a committee member or if you have an idea for topics the club may find interesting.
If we have an interesting topic, we could hold other Zoom meetings, or on occasion, we could use the Saturday slot for any topic. I could rearrange the Web Design meeting to accommodate this if needed.
I hope to see you all on Tuesday at 6 pm.
Steve South
President
SPCTUG
Meeting This Week
2025/02/04 — 18:00-20:00 — February, Tue — Main Meeting
SPCTUG Zoom Main Meeting
Time: Tuesday 4th February, 2025, 18:00 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84847835917
Meeting ID: 848 4783 5917
Passcode: SPCTUGMain
Meeting Next Week
2025/02/15 — 14:00-16:00 — February, Sat — Web Design
SPCTUG Zoom Web Design Meeting
Time: Saturday, 15th February, 2025, 14:00 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86141133224
Meeting ID: 861 4113 3224
Passcode: WebDesign
Schedule of Current & Upcoming Meetings
First Tuesday 18:00-20:00 — Main Meeting
Third Tuesday 10:00-12:00 — Tuesday Group
Third Saturday 14:00-16:00 — Web Design
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Go to the official Sydney PC Calendar for this month's meeting details.
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ASCCA News:Tech News:
Court Issues Yet Another Blow to Net Neutrality
See the InfoPackets article by John Lister on January 22, 2025, at 01:01 pm EST.
Net Neutrality
A court has blocked the FCC's attempts to reinstate net neutrality rules. This decision is about procedure rather than policy, but likely means national rules are off the table for years to come.
Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all lawful Internet traffic equally. At its most basic, this could mean an ISP doesn't block its customers from visiting a particular website.
The idea has evolved as technology has developed. For example, Internet carriers slowing down connections when people use torrent sites or excluding particular streaming services from mobile data caps have been described as breaching net neutrality.
While no federal law requires net neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission has regulations to enforce the principle. The FCC's position has changed frequently, strongly connected to changes in its political makeup.
Regulatory Issue
Most of the debate has not been about the rules but whether the FCC has the authority to make them. It comes down to a technical position of whether broadband is an "information service" or a "communication service." The laws on telecommunications mean the former has much more regulatory power.
The FCC recently decided to return to the latter classification and reinstate the rules. However, an appeals court has now blocked that, ruling that the FCC does not have the power to change the classification. It cited a much broader Supreme Court ruling last summer that means government agencies have less scope in interpreting the wording of laws. (Source: bbc.co.uk)
Issue Goes Back to Lawmakers
There's no prospect of the FCC challenging the decision as it's about to undergo a change of leadership. The incoming chair, Brendan Carr, is against net neutrality rules.
The outgoing chair wants the US Congress to pass a law that explicitly requires net neutrality rather than leaving it up to FCC decision-making. There's no prospect of that happening any time soon. (Source: theguardian.com)
The decision doesn't affect state laws and rules on net neutrality. For example, California has specific bans on intentionally slowing or "throttling" traffic or excluding specific sites and services from a data cap.
How to Pick the Right Smart Lock for Your Home
See the How-To Geek article by Brent Dirks | Published 25th Jan 2025.
Smart Home Lock
Summary
Decide how much you want to spend on a smart lock, but buy from a trusted brand with a proven record.
Choose your preferred method of entry — whether that's a keypad, fingerprint, smartphone presence, or something else — and whether you want a backup key option.
Ensure the lock supports your smart home system and consider the installation process before purchasing.
Smart home technology has turned the humble door lock into something more sophisticated. Here's what you must consider before purchasing a smart lock for your home.
Decide on a Price Range
Like any smart home technology, price is the first and most important consideration when looking for a smart lock. Now that the technology has matured, you can find a smart lock for anywhere from $49 but the price ranges up to $300.
The sweet spot is usually somewhere in the middle, offering many features without worrying about the security or long-term reliability of a cheap model. Along with price range, always select a brand with a proven track record instead of a no-name selection from Amazon.
Key or No Key?
After narrowing down how much you'd like to spend, take some time to decide on how you want to use your smart lock. One of the significant advantages of any smart lock is that you can finally say goodbye to the traditional lock companion — the physical key.
Instead, you can use a keypad, smartphone app, fingerprint, palm print, or something else to operate the lock. But depending on your situation, you might not feel comfortable not having a key. A traditional key is also a perfect backup that will always work, even if the power or internet goes out.
The good news is that many smart locks also offer a key to operate the lock, so you can blend the new and age-old technology in one package. It's the perfect backup.
A good overall choice for a smart lock with key flexibility is the Yale Security Assure Lock 2. It sports a keypad as well as a key.
How Do You Want to Trigger the Smart Lock?
Another consideration for a smart lock is how you want to lock and unlock the door. Traditional locks only use a key, but a smart lock offers many more options. One of the simplest options is a keypad, where you can customize an entry code — much like a PIN at a bank.
The big advantage is that you can assign separate codes to family members and others, keeping a log of who entered your home and when. You can also create a temporary code for visitors and then disable it when it's no longer needed.
For even more security, biometric locks can use your fingerprint for entry. There is even a lock that can scan your palm instead.
Many smart locks can also be used with a smartphone. The most apparent option is through a companion app. If you're using the lock with a smart home platform, unlocking can be as easy as a voice command. Some smart locks also use geofencing, which will automatically unlock the door when you're within a certain distance from your home. Apple's smart home platform has a Home Key, which works using the Home app and is available for locks from brands like Lockly.
Most locks on the market offer an auto-lock feature that can automatically lock the door after a certain amount of time. So make sure to find a smart lock with a trigger you're comfortable using for the long haul.
Make Sure the Lock Supports Your Chosen Smart Home System
A significant advantage of a smart lock is that you can tie it into your smart home and unlock the power of automation. That will allow you to do many things, with smart home products operating in unison. For example, when your smart lock unlocks, you can automatically turn on a fan or heater in your living room. It's easy to create smart home automation that is personal to you and your family.
If you already have a smart home using one of the three most popular protocols — Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home — confirm that the lock offers compatibility with that protocol. If a smart lock is your first smart home purchase, find out some advantages and disadvantages of the three systems so you can make the best choice.
Can You Handle the Installation?
Can You Handle the Installation?
Most smart home devices, like smart speakers and plugs, can be set up and running in just a few minutes by almost anyone. That's not the case with a smart lock. To install the device, you need at least some basic DIY knowledge. If you're familiar with a drill, screwdriver, and other tools, you shouldn't have a problem, especially if you have a newer home with traditional doors and locking hardware.
All smart lock manufacturers provide detailed instructions in the box and the companion app. Many even offer videos to help you with the process. Without any roadblocks, the entire process should take less than an hour.
If you don't want to do the installation yourself, you can easily hire someone like a handyman or locksmith to do the work. But that will obviously add substantially more to the overall cost of adding a smart lock. For anyone living in an apartment or renting a home and can't install a smart lock, you're not out of luck. There are a number of great choices, like the Yale Approach Lock, that still works with existing hardware.
Is Everyone in Your Home Ready to Use a Smart Lock?
Ready to Use a Smart Lock?
Upgrading to a smart lock has several advantages. But before you make the change, you need to make sure that everyone in your home is ready to use the technology. Communication is the key to ensuring that a smart lock, and other smart home devices, can be used by everyone in your home.
Even if someone in your home isn't ready, you could always buy a smart lock with a traditional key, bringing together the best of both worlds.
Do You Have Strong Wi-Fi at Your Front Door?
A final determination to make while looking for a smart lock is the strength of your Wi-Fi signal at the front door or wherever you plan to install it. Most smart locks require a Wi-Fi signal to operate correctly, especially if you plan to operate the lock when you are away from home. If you don't have a consistently strong signal, you might run into trouble operating the lock from a smartphone app, smart speaker, or elsewhere.
A few models use Bluetooth, but those usually don't provide away-from-home access.
Fun Facts:
We've Entered the Era of Handheld Gaming SUVs
See the How-To Geek article by Bertel King | Published Jan 24, 2025.
Handheld Gaming SUVs
Summary
Modern handhelds aren't as portable as classics like the Nintendo Game Boy, the Nintendo DS, or the PlayStation Portable.
Powerful new gaming handhelds are big and heavy, with short battery life. This makes them best used around the house.
Modern handhelds are so premium and costly, that they can be uncomfortable to pull out in public.
At CES 2025, Acer unveiled the behemoth Nitro Blaze 11 Windows gaming handheld. It's huge. The Steam Deck, great as it is, isn't that much smaller. Have handheld makers lost the plot?
The Key Word Is "Portable"
The Key Word Is 'Portable'
Most modern gaming handhelds are modeled after the Nintendo Switch, which has sold gangbusters since its release in 2017 and is only now getting a successor. Nintendo advertised the Switch as a console you could not only play on your TV but remove from its dock to take with you.
As a device intended for anyone in the family to use, kids included, the original Nintendo Switch was only 6.8 inches wide without Joy-Cons attached and 9.4 inches with them. This is not that different in size from an iPhone Pro Max slotted inside a Backbone controller. The Switch is large and fragile enough to require a carrying case or bag of some sort when out and about, but it's not too unwieldy to lug around.
Despite this, the Switch now looks small compared to most of the competition.
The Best Handhelds Were Small Enough to Take Everywhere
I grew up with an original Game Boy. It was a thick, chunky device, but it's still small by today's standards. It's around half as tall as the Steam Deck is wide, and it's one-third as heavy. My child-sized hands found the device easy to carry, and it was durable enough that it didn't need a case. My parents gave me one to use as-is, and that thing was fine. I wouldn't be all that surprised now if someone dug the device out of a landfill today only to find it still in a functional state.
Nintendo handhelds grew increasingly portable. The Game Boy Pocket and the Game Boy Color were both thinner and lighter. The Game Boy Advance was the first to be wider than it was tall, shaped like a modern gaming handheld with a small screen but without the joysticks. The Game Boy Advance SP introduced a clamshell design that made it the most pocketable Game Boy you could buy.
The entire Nintendo DS line felt like Nintendo combined both versions of the Game Boy Advance and added a stylus, yet these devices occupy about as much space in your pocket as a modern smartphone with a chunky case.
Nintendo doesn't get all the credit. While the Sega Game Gear may have been closer in size to modern handhelds, Sony's PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita were both small by today's standards. And while I'm about to bemoan the state of modern handhelds, I'd be remiss if I didn't give Playdate a shout-out for carrying the torch.
Gaming Handhelds Are Getting Too Big
SUVs are getting too big
Companies like Valve, ASUS, Lenovo, and Acer have all responded to the Nintendo Switch by going after that console's weak point: its aging hardware. Any of these companies' devices can blow the Switch out of the water in terms of processing power. Everything from the CPU to the RAM, to the type of storage is bigger and faster.
Yet each of their devices is less portable than the Switch, which itself is already Nintendo's least portable handheld. They're heavy enough that when picking one up, would-be buyers have to first consider whether the device simply weighs too much. A handheld isn't much use if it's uncomfortable to hold for more than half an hour at a time.
Portable Enough to Reach the Sofa
The increased size and performance mean that while these gaming handhelds can technically leave the home, they're best used around the house. Many of them only have a few hours of battery life if you're playing a demanding game, and they can take a couple hours or more to charge back up. It's best to have an outlet nearby if you don't want to have the low-battery indicator put an unexpected end to your game.
This makes modern handhelds best used on the sofa. They're ideal for people who share a living space, allowing you to play a game while someone else watches something on TV. You can slip off to the bedroom at night and get some game time in without the kids catching on that there's fun happening in the house. Side note: Clandestine gaming is also one of my favourite uses for AR glasses.
Lugging Them Around Is Like Packing Luggage
Despite the name, I have never owned pants or a jacket with pockets large enough to hold a Lenovo Legion Go. The same can be said for a tablet, which also makes for a decent gaming handheld. I used to own a Nexus 7, and while some people could fit one in their pants pocket, I was not that guy.
To carry any of these devices with you when you leave the house, you need a carrying case or a bag. Preferably both, since you don't want your device getting all scuffed up inside your backpack.
I sold my Steam Deck in part because it was just too unwieldy for travel. It was too large to shove into the small messenger bag that holds my other tech, and it was one more thing to remember to pack when I was already juggling too much luggage.
I often opted to leave it at home rather than bring it even to my parents' house, somewhere I'd have both time to game and easy access to outlets. If I took it out of the house, it was usually when I was going to an EV charging station to charge during a time when I didn't have a car charger installed at home.
These Devices Attract Too Much Attention In Public
SUVs Attract Too Much Attention In Public
I wouldn't say there was ever a time I felt fully comfortable just leaving a handheld lying around on a table while I walked off to use the bathroom, but I wouldn't feel self-conscious pulling one out on a park bench or in the doctor's office waiting room.
I don't know if I'd feel the same with a ROG Ally. It's a larger, shinier, more premium piece of tech. If pulling out a 3DS back in the day signaled that I was a gamer nerd, pulling out a Steam Deck, even the cheapest one, signals that I have money.
I'm not only bothered by the self-consciousness of wondering what others think of me in public or whether it's safe to leave my handheld visible in the back seat of my car. The bigger issue is the pain to my wallet that would be felt if the device were actually stolen (or, more likely, dropped).
I thought dropping $250 on a Nintendo 3DS at launch was a splurge as a young adult. A Steam Deck OLED would today set me back half a grand. You could mention inflation, but a Nintendo Switch Lite currently priced at $230 manages to be a more powerful system for less. You can also pick them up for $100 if you know where to look.
On the whole, modern gaming handhelds simply aren't cheap, and most look every bit the expensive piece of tech that they are.
Meeting Location & Disclaimer
Bob Backstrom
~ Newsletter Editor ~
Information for Members and Visitors:
Link to — Sydney PC & Technology User Group
All Meetings, unless explicitly stated above, are held on the
1st Floor, Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney.
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