Mirror site to farcorfe.org.uk
Was lamenting the appalling download speeds this morning and then remembered I was on the 2Ghz circuit and not the 5Ghz one. Toggling over to the 5Ghz resulted in a much improved service. Seems the Ps4 was updating and maxing out the 2G Wifi.
Just goes to show its not always your ISP to blame.
Having a house full of Echo’s is useful, especially the multi-room audio , but 
having the kids song choices populate my playlist can get annoying at time, so news that the Echo’s will personalise actions based on id’ing you based on your own voice is welcome.
It looks like it must be region specific at the moment as although I have the latest apps, I don’t have the menu option to set up.
more details at https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/amazon-alexa-2/amp/
Amazon have launched the mobile calling integration and home intercom functions in the UK today with the latest version of the App.
As the echos and dots are shared around the house, I will need to work on creating profiles for the girls so they don’t receive my phone call on their bedroom dots, and likewise, once they are set up I am not bombarded with their calls and messages. As I am on cable, and don’t need a phone line, this almost certainly sounds the death knell for the land line.
However the most useful feature I am sure is the slightly spooky in a privacy sense, Drop In mode. You can “Drop In on The Study” and create an almost instant connection with that room, and bellow at the kids that their tea is ready, or come and lay the table…. but they will need to make sure they know how to “hang up” a drop in connection if they don’t want Dad listening to them babble away any more than he needs to.
Trying to update Lumina via the ports to the latest 1.3.0 didn’t play nicely with portmaster. Kept complaining about a circular reference with the Lumina Archiver.
It seems the Meta port now needs to be deleted before the Lumina-Core port can be updated, but that is not mention in UPDATING. But a quick SUDO PKG DELETE LUMINA seemed to do the trick and I was then able to build the new Lumina-Core from the dedicated port directory.
I have yet to check if I now need to install all the other new Lumina ports, but Chromium works fine which is all I am normally using it for.
On the plus side I also notices that MATE-SESSIONS was also no longer installed and MATE had ceased firing up from STARTX, but installing that port again has restored MATE to full working order as well.