Update, Update, Update

I recently took delivery of a new BT Home Hub. I’ve been with BT for over two years, and although they have their critics, I’m quite happy with them.

When I first installed the new Home Hub 4, I switched on and everything worked perfectly. Then I came to download a fresh title to my Kindle this morning… and ran into a brick wall.

The Kindle picked up the new wi-if source all right, but it couldn’t connect because it wasn’t set up. So I went into setup mode, jumped through all the hoops and put in my password. That’s where things started to go awry. Like most people, I have a range of passwords for different purposes and accounts. I tried every one of them and the bloody Kindle still couldn’t connect.

I went into my BT account, jumped through even more hoops to change my password to ensure that I was putting the in the correct one. I turned the router upside down to get the factory password from the bottom, tried that and still it wouldn’t connect.

I went to the BT help pages – no use – I went to the Amazon Kindle pages – no use. Some sites even suggested that the Kindle paperwhite is not compatible with BT HH4

In desperation, I surfed the web and found a blog post which is getting on four years old that told me the Kindle didn’t want my password. It wanted the wireless key from the router. Turn router upside down again make a note of wireless key, then try to connect again. And… done deal. I had lift off.

Why can’t these people say what they mean in the first place?

That’s update one.

Update two concerns the progress of STAC and Costa del Murder. Officially released last week, it’s doing well, holding its own in the Amazon UK British Detectives top 100, at number 7 (the last time I checked).

Update three is personal, and it’s the one which gives me most pleasure.

My daughter, Angela Brown is a forty-something mother of two teenage girls, one of whom, Victoria, is getting ready to start life at Cambridge University. Her sister, Hannah, is coming into her A level year. But their mother, my little angel, has just passed her degree in Applied Computing, and is now Angela Brown BSc.

If she’s this good now, just think what she’ll do by the time she’s over 21.

Congratulations to Angela. You make the old man proud.