Travel Routers
Now that some of you may be starting to travel and go on holidays again, I thought it was a good time to remind you about travel routers. We discussed this in some detail back at the Club in March 2019:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2019/03/
So, if you are taking a number of devices on holiday with you, a travel router can simplify the process of getting them all connected to the internet in your hotel/cottage/apartment. You can set up all your devices before you travel so they all connect, usually by Wi-Fi, to your travel router. Then, when you arrive at your holiday destination, you only have to connect the travel router to the internet. If there is a router in your room, you can just connect the travel router to it with an Ethernet cable. Alternatively, you can connect the travel router to the hotel’s Wi-Fi (by logging into it from one of your devices).
Also, if your hotel uses a captive portal where you need to sign in to use the Wi-Fi, you should now only need to do this once from one of your devices, as the hotel’s network only sees the one IP address, i.e. the one belonging to the travel router.
A travel-blogging couple, who call themselves Independent Travel Cats, have written this article which explains some of the benefits of travel routers and gives their list of best travel routers for 2022:-
https://independenttravelcats.com/best-travel-routers/
The one I have is a TP-Link AC750 (Model TL-WR902AC) which is included in their list and is available from Amazon:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Support-Extender-UK-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01NAYG15H/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2EHCPMB50Q8MZ&keywords=TP-Link%2BAC750&qid=1651398058&s=computers&sprefix=tp-link%2Bac750%2Ccomputers%2C64&sr=1-5&th=1
VPN
Brian asked about using a VPN - a Virtual Private Network - when travelling. A VPN provides an encrypted link between your device and a VPN server. Many VPN services are available - some provide a limited amount of free use before you have to pay. However, as most websites are now encrypted (i.e. they use https and you see the locked padlock symbol in your browser), further encryption with a VPN may not be necessary. Without a VPN, your DNS (Domain Name System) traffic may be visible to a hacker, so they may be able to see which sites you have visited, but they would not be able to see any of the https traffic between you and the site. There are some travel routers which have support for using a VPN.
Power Banks
Talking about travelling led to some discussion on power banks. Power Banks are just a rechargeable battery that you can charge up, then use it to charge things such as your mobile phone, tablet, etc when you are out and about.
Various makes and models are available and this article has more information and a list of best buys:-
https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/accessories/1405184/best-power-bank-uk-portable-charger
Wordle and Nerdle
Wordle is a simple word puzzle developed by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle. He initially created it for his girl-friend, but released it publicly in October last year. It rapidly gained popularity and Josh sold it to the New York Times for an undisclosed sum, believed to be around £1M. There is no app, it is just played for free in any browser by going to:-
https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html
You have six tries to guess the word and there is a new word every day. For more details on how to play, click on the “?” symbol at the top left of the game. For other game options, click the cog symbol at the top right of the game.
Nerdle is a number puzzle following a similar concept to Wordle where you have six tries to guess the arithmetic formula. Again, there is a new puzzle every day and it is free to play. You can play the game in any browser by going to:-
https://nerdlegame.com/
If you play these games regularly, especially on your smartphone, you may want to create a shortcut on your Home Screen, as described in the following section.
Shortcuts To Websites on Mobile
If you visit a website regularly, you can bookmark it in your browser. However, it may be more convenient to place a shortcut icon on the Home Screen of your mobile device, for example, to the Wordle game. You can do this on either Android or Apple iOS.
Android
Launch your browser
Open the desired website
Tap the 3-dots
Tap Add to Home Screen in menu (in Edge, it’s Add to Phone)
Change the name if required and tap Add
Tap Add to home screen again if prompted by the Launcher
Apple iOS
Launch the Safari browser
Open the desire website
Tap the Action (Share) button (this is the square with an upward arrow)
Tap Add to Home Screen
Change the name if required and tap Add
Apple Optimised Battery Charging
Linda mentioned that her iPad often seemed to stop charging around the 80% mark. Li-ion batteries only have a limited number of full charge-discharge cycles. If you can maintain the charge between about 20% and 80%, this will increase the life of the battery. Apple introduced Optimised Battery Charging which is designed to pause battery charging at 80%. This iMore article explains more about this and how you can disable this feature if you wish:-
https://www.imore.com/iphone-battery-not-charging-100-heres-fix
Next Session
We decided to try Zoom again for the next session. This will require the meeting to end and restart after 40 minutes.
Wed 8th June 2022 at 2 pm by Zoom.
