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Rob Pegoraro

@robpegoraro.com

8.3K followers 660 following 4.6K posts

D.C.-based freelance technology journalist covering, and often vexed by, computers, gadgets, and other things that beep. May or may not be notable. He/him. Read: PCMag, Fast Company, etc. Write: [email protected]

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · Jan 16

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🔎 disclosures: robpegoraro.com/disclosures
📷 photos: flickr.com/robpegoraro
🤳 less-edited photos: instagram.com/robpegoraro
🧾 resume: linkedin.com/in/robpegoraro
➕ B-sides, outtakes, other extras: patreon.com/robpegoraro

Get more from Rob Pegoraro on Patreon

creating technology journalism for the curious and the skeptical

patreon.com

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 4m

A coupon for a free half-smoke at Ben's Chili Bowl would be a fair recognition for learning local geography that quickly.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1h

Yes, events posting everybody's badge on a board for attendees to pick up instead of having staff hand them out could enable low-grade identity theft. But it also lets you see which friends, colleagues and frenemies might show up even later than you, which is such a key part of Washington folkways.

Three boards at the law firm Venable's offices on Massachusetts Avenue NW hold dozens of badges in alphabetical order.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 2h

Seen at Metro Center: two National Guard MPs helping out-of-towners figure out Metro navigation. If those soldiers aren't from here, that's kind of hilarious.

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 2h

This fix seems to have worked for me: Open the Font Book app, select Helvetica, choose "Remove," accept the option to get rid of non-system copies of that font, restart Mail.

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 2h

Actually, it was more than that--apparently I had some non-system copies of Helvetica that I had to remove.

Unable to change the default font in Mail… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 2h

Hmm: I had it set to Helvetica, but changing it to Helvetica Neue fixed that.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 3h

Anybody else install macOS Tahoe and then see Mail display all or parts of some messages with white squares in place of each character? This is no more than a few hours after the install completed.

A screenshot from Mail shows 14 rows of text in which each character has been replaced with a blank white square. One phrase appears in blue with an underline, indicating a hyperlink.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 13h

That's one way to make sure you can remain safely insulated from non-supportive media coverage of Elon?

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 14h

Catching up on the news of Tesla trying to price the Model 3 and Model Y back into contention with more buyers, and one way the company cut prices on those models was to... remove the radio while keeping Grok? How many tech weirdos value AI over FM but weren't already motivated to buy a Tesla?

Tesla’s standard-range Model 3, Model Y join the lineup

A smaller battery and less standard equipment cuts prices, but not by enough.

arstechnica.com

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15h

Uncoordinated ordering worked out well tonight: When picking up tacos* we'd ordered from a nearby indie place, we decided to ask if we could also get some chips--and they fried some on the spot. So good.

* Happy Taco Day to all** who celebrate!

** Stephen Miller not eligible for this offer.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 21h

I'm the kind of weirdo who will stop take a picture of two of a data center.

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 22h

Loudoun County gets pretty once you get past all the data centers.

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 22h

I got an even better deal through United's change-flight tool this week. Always check the upfare difference you see in a flight change before you accept an upgrade offer that UA presents to you (although if you have a connecting flight, one leg may price so high up front that upfaring won't work).

Jason Rabinowitz @airlineflyer.net · 1d

You can pay at least three different amounts to upgrade on United.

$90 through the seat map
20k miles + $75 through the upgrade module (lol)
$45 fare difference

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 23h

Yes. It's your right to read a Supreme Court opinion and decide if you agree with it or not. Some of the justices are legitimately engaging writers--Gorsuch and Kagan come to mind--but almost none of their stuff is as leaden as some Court of Justice of the European Union opinions that I've read.

Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 23h

The View segment where Whoopi asked how ordinary people could read SCOTUS opinions was revealing.

They're free. They're online. They're much easier to read than legislation. Conquer your imposter's syndrome, you are smart enough to read a decision and know if it's bullshit.

Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 1d

It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

That's pretty fast for infrastructure that old!

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

That's stupid in any context, but insulting the intelligence of *attendees of a commercial-aviation conference* by asking that? Real next-level dumbassery...

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

This is by far the longest piece I've written for @fastcompany.com, but it takes a few words to unpack why the NextGen Acela isn't that much faster than the old one, the past mistakes that got us here, and the incomplete steps Amtrak is now taking to speed up every train on the Northeast Corridor.

Amtrak’s new Acela trains can’t keep up with high-speed rail

The fastest train in America rides on one of the country’s oldest railroad tracks.

www.fastcompany.com

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

I have a history of joking about how WAMU pledge drives correlate with a higher rate of Washingtonians hitting snooze buttons on clock radios, but I really can’t resent the station’s fundraising begging after Republicans zeroed out federal money for public media.

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

Amtrak publicist to me: great headline
Me: all credit goes to my editor… who probably thought of it because I have used that excuse with her before

I Tested the Wi-Fi on Amtrak's NextGen Acela. Bad News: You No Longer Have an Excuse to Skip Work

On several rides between New York and DC, the Wi-Fi on Amtrak's newest trains handled simultaneous YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify streams with ease.

www.pcmag.com

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

It's more like the cast of Succession trying to exploit the cast of Veep, who in turn think they're the surviving members of the cast of House of Cards.

Guy Trivago @convolutedname.bsky.social · 1d

Succession really was the TV show of our time (but was a year or two too early)

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

Do I get a t-shirt or something for correcting you about an aviation-related topic?

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

I am glad she's back. And I'd like to know what went on with her account. It's usually safe betting on the system getting gamed by "a reporting brigade" or having "weird delayed automated mod AI action," as she imagines downthread. But management getting even a little jokey about this doesn't help.

Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 1d

Unlike Jesus, I have returned.

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 1d

The all-knowing bsky mods gave Erin Biba a 24 hour suspension for a months-old skeet about Christian Zionism, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this happened when she’s been vocally criticizing Jay

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

That EuroAtlantic jet looks a lot more like a 767...

Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 1d

Doctor at my annual check-up: The CDC is now recommending pneumonia vaccination for people 50 and older.
Me: That was last year's CDC that decided that, right?
Doctor: Yes, previous administration.
(I did get the jab and hope it improves my 5G reception.)

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Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 2d

Me to my Friday self: When recording a video-call interview on your phone while you take notes about it on your desktop, remeber to position the phone's microphone towards the computer's speakers, not its keyboard.