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Amazon Stars Falling

It is Saturday, 19 August 2023 at 7:42AM.

Amazon just switched to showing one start and the average star count next to it as a number:

Screenshot 2023 08 19 at 7 42 54 AM

URL: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Lasko+SF-20-G&crid=F27XHX2UD6KM&sprefix=lasko+sf-20-g%2Caps%2C184&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Initial impression: It is horrendous. I could previously scan search results and zero in on the listings with better ratings with ease. I could instantly tell how many ratings the average was based upon.

Previously, it showed how many ratings were averaged into the displayed star value. That’s very important. And now there’s just a floating point number showing the average. Yuck.

 

Wednesday, 23 August 2023 7:48AM Update: Amazon has added a parenthetical percentage of how many of the ratings are 5 stars:

Screenshot 2023 08 23 at 7 48 13 AM

My immediate impression when I started this post four days ago was that Amazon is burying the quantity of ratings that the average is based upon. That is against users’ interests.

 

Friday, 15 September 2023 at 8:11AM Update: It occurred to me just now to check this. Looks like the good stars and rating counts are back:

Screenshot 2023 09 15 at 8 11 59 AM

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Hello, OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock

Today I installed the used OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock I purchased for $177 or so on eBay earlier this week.

Ken Rockwell lauds their Thunderbolt 3 dock. Here’s a link to the point on the page where he talks about it. It doesn’t have its own review page on his site.

This is the most recent OWC Thunderbolt dock. It looks like this.

Front:

Screenshot 2023 06 09 at 9 34 29 AM

Back:

Screenshot 2023 06 09 at 9 34 39 AM

Part Number: TB4DOCK

SKU: OWCTB4DOCK

 

You have to plug your computer into the front USB-C/Thunderbolt_4 slot. You can’t just plug it into the back. If you plug it into the back, nothing works. Okay, that’s fine.

I plugged it into my 48” LG OLED TV with an Amazon USB-C to HDMI cable. It took perhaps 25 seconds, but the image appeared on my TV. I haven’t yet seen how this works on a reboot or power up from a cold Mac. I use my M1 MacBook Pro 16” with a closed list. I hope this works well with reboots and cold power-ups so I don’t have to open the lid to do initial stuff like logging in, or whatever.

1 July 2023 Update: I noticed yesterday that this dock is charging my M1 MacBook Pro 16”. Yay! So plugging my MBP into the front of this dock to connect to its accessories is doing double-duty to charge my Mac. Nice!

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The Godfather

I finished watching The Godfather with my eldest daughter last night. What a special experience to watch it together. It was my first time watching more than just a few minutes from the beginning of the film. This type of film was not my cup of tea decades ago.

But this version of me loved it. Even better was sharing it with my daughter.