I have the dumbest question in all of dumb land.

In spotify, I was listening to a playlist.

I accidentally sorted by album.

How can I sort back to the way it was sorted originally by the playlist maker?

So my 5 year or so old laptop has been acting up lately, not able to find networks (as in any networks, not just mine, and there are like 6 in the building), freezing up, etc. I am considering upgrading from Windows Vista (ptui!) or buying a new computer, so I wanted to see what the hivemind thought.

I use the computer for websurfing 90% of the time. I've never watched a movie on it, although there's a DVD player. I don't do work at home on it, because of the security issues with work (as in, they get cranky if you email stuff to yourself). Should I try the upgrade first (I think that I also have some Windows XP discs somewhere)? Or just say to hell with it and buy a new machine? I have taken the precaution of backing it up, so go me.

buy a new machine. 5 years is a long time to hold on to it, especially if you use it regularly. time to treat yourself.

Unless you use the DVD player often, you might check out a Chromebook instead of jumping up to Win8.

I'd say get a new machine if it's 5 years old.

So in today's story of trying to move backwards technologically...

I used to have a USB727 stick modem. It was great. Then I bent it.

So I bought a MiFi2200 which was its own little wifi router. It was great. I bought a Cradlepoint MBR900 router that could use its USB tethering capability to tie it into my larger wired and wireless network. That was super great. Then I needed a second one since the SO & I were going to be apart.

So I upgraded it to a MiFi4620 which was 4G and paid to have the USB727 back on prepaid temporarily. They assured me at the store that I could use the MiFi4620 with my router just the same as my 2200. But I couldn't.

I bought a Pepwave Surf OTG mini router because it was supposed to be able to use the MiFi4510's USB tethering like the 2200. Which is probably true. Only I don't have the 4510, I have the 4620.

But it's okay, because the Pepwave also has WiFi as WAN capability, so it should be able to just pick up my MiFi4620's wifi signal and treat it like it was the usb internet connection. Only it couldn't. It kept dropping the signal.

So I let the USB727 prepay expire and added the MiFi2200 back onto the account so I could keep using it. Which was great!

And then we took both of the units with us during separate travel while the SO was touring and I was doing social justice and whatnot and what with one thing and another we came home with the 4620, and not the 2200. So I reactivated the USB727 prepay. Which was fine, except, you know, still bent, and getting less and less reliable as we go.

Its prepay term expired. So I finally admitted we'd lost the 2200 and went into the Verizon store to see if they sold old refurbished 2200s. They don't. But they do sell old refurbished 4510s, which should work! Except they don't actually, only for prepay, which I didn't want to do moving forward.

So I bought the new UML290 which is a USB stick modem just like the USB727 except now they're calling it a "data card." I brought it home. I hooked it up to the Pepwave. And it won't work unless I fiddle with it to force it to be 3G only, which is fine for now, but we're supposed to be getting 4G in like, a year, so not a long term solution.

So I hooked it back up to the Cradlepoint MBR900. And it works fine.

So.

This is the kind of story that if I were on dw, I'd cut tag for you so you didn't have to read it, but I lived it, so here you go.

But seriously, people, creating shinier new products that work LESS WELL than the 3-5 year old products I have to go back to is not a good long term strategy for your system!

And anyway, I had to go back and reset all my static DHCP addresses, but I'm back up and running now, and we've left Mirkwood and are back in Rivendell and I still remembered which Tolkien quote was the PSK, so I suppose all is well.

Now I can start on the day's work that I was supposed to be doing.

I need to be able to have my iPhone name photos something other than IMG_XXXX.jpg, since it's running up against old photos from another camera. I found this app Photo-Sort, but haven't bought it yet. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Jon,

I use dropbox and upload images that way. It uploads to the folder I specify and then I can use automator on the mac or whatever to rename.

Dumb question: when you use Dropbox to store your photos, do they hang around taking up memory on your phone/every device you have Dropbox on?

I use dropbox and upload images that way.

I don't want to have to go through dropbox. I want to be able to connect the iPhone to my PC (FYI: not a Mac), and have the filenames be something other than IMG_XXXX.JPG.

I may try Photo Manager Pro, since it is well reviewed and has some other photo organizing features that I would find handy. Anyone else use this?