Bryan Ruby

Yesterday, I wrote in my personal blog that I voluntarily retired from the National Weather Service, departing with full benefits including a pension and my retirement investments. After spending a decade as a meteorologist and more than two decades as their information technology officer, I had done all that I had set out to do in my career as a federal employee. It was simply time for me to move on and accept new challenges.

Starting in early 2026, YouTube TV plans to give more flexibility to its customers by offering the ability to pick and choose from ten or more genre-specific packages over the standard base plan. This plan was announced by Christian Oestlien, Head of Subscriptions, via the YouTube official blog. Some of YouTube TV's competitors, such as Sling TV, have offered similar skinny bundles in the past and even flexibility in alternative base plan offerings.

I have had the CD Edition of the Eversolo Play in my living room for over a month. This version of the Eversolo Play is an all-in-one that features a CD player as well as a music streamer, DAC, and amplifier in a compact and inviting form factor. While I have no regrets ordering this device for my home, there are definitely a few areas where Eversolo could have enhanced the user experience. After thirty days of usage, the Eversolo Play has left me with a mix of positive and negative impressions that we should discuss here.

It's been awhile since I reviewed anything Hi-Fi but this summer I brought into my house what what I call budget premium audio equipment. Audio equipment designed and built better than the price suggests offering the latest in streaming, room correction, and amplification. Lately, my focus has been on WiiM, a brand brand owned by Linkplay Technology. Linkplay is a company that has been backed by teams from such companies as Google, Broadcom, InterVideo, and Harman.

If you've been visiting our website in recent weeks, you may have noticed some changes in the header and footer on our pages. We have removed the X logo and are no longer providing a link to our account on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform. Given the past couple years of changes in leadership, community policies, and community makeup on X; socPub has decided to suspend posting on our X account. Admittedly, we always had a low following on this account so the statement we're making here is less significant than when other online publications take a similar action. Still, we believe no longer posting on X is a step in the right direction for socPub.

My 2023 Ford Maverick with Sync 3 does an odd thing, it doesn't allow me to sync Android Auto from my Google Pixel 6 to my vehicle wirelessly. Instead, I have to connect my phone using a USB cable from my phone to the console. There are times, especially during short trips, I prefer to keep my phone in my pocket and not mess with the hassle of cables. Luckily, the third-party market has responded and offers us wireless car adapters to allow me to connect to my phone wirelessly.

On Friday the CEO and a founder of Post News, Noam Bardin, announced that Post News will be shutting down this May. Post News is one of the alternative social media platform that has launched in recent years as an alternative to more established websites like X and Facebook. Post News distinguished itself from other social media platforms by its efforts to provide users access to premium content and news articles without fully subscribing to news organizations.

I haven't been writing too much lately as I've been busy on a number of personal projects. One of those projects has been redoing my office at home. My previous office space was put together haphazardly a few years ago as a response to the pandemic and finding I needed my own space for both work and play. Fast forward a few years and I now find I want the office space to be better designed, more functional, and include better furniture.

Last year at this time, we quietly introduced a new website called INFOTECH Pub. It was an effort to see if there was enough interest in a website focused on information technology much in the same way we've seen interest in socPub and CMS Report. Well, the short answer is no.

Over the weekend, we decided to open an account for socPub on the social network, Bluesky. This action is all in an effort I started by evaluating alternatives to Facebook and X that we've leaned on so much in the past. We like that fact that it will be easy for you to find us on Bluesky as our handle on the social network is the same as our web domain, @socpub.com.