Shaine Mata Blog

I recently started working at Frontera Consulting, LLC . The founders, and by extension the company, have had a lot of experience in creating and managing large networks and wireless deployments, ranging from setting up ISPs, to municipal Wi-Fi, and even Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint links. This is the type of job that is a perfect fit for me. I love the magic of receiving boxes of hardware and cable that will eventually become a communication network. There is always a sense of adventure that comes from going out in the field to install the equipment after you have set it up and run tests on it. To the average user, it's just Wi-Fi; big deal. Almost everybody has a Wi-Fi router at home. Of course, they're not setting up backhauls, VLANS, and fiber links to get better reception while sitting on the toilet. I feel gratification knowing that the end product just works. It is satisfying to know how much work goes into setting up a system that "just works". Ev...

I had to reset my Nexus 7 tablet today because I had set up file encryption This is the same tablet that I sent in to Asus for repair because it just up and died. It has been working more or less OK since I got it back, with the exception that it can't see 5 GHz channels. Back to the point of this post, I set up encryption on the tablet and did not bother to write down the encryption password anywhere. I cycled through my usual keys in different variations without any luck. This is what I call outsmarting myself. Apparently I was so clever at protecting my data that not even I could figure out how to get at it. So, I reset my tablet and have been adding apps back to the Nexus again. The silver lining to all this is that I have discovered that there are new apps by Microsoft and Google that I want to try. It appears that maybe even the Blogger app is updated, although I am probably misremembering. Despite this mishap, I think I shall reencrypt the tablet and write down the passwo...

I am finally in a position to use Google Wallet for making payments. But, I don't know if I can use Google Wallet tap and pay from my Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi only) without a network connection. The Help article on the subject is not clear on the matter. It states that you need a network connection once per day for tap and pay. It does not explicitly say that you need a connection to make payment at the point of sale; it implies that you merely need to sync once per day or to unlock via PIN. I asked a friend of mine who has used Google Wallet to tap and pay; but, he has always had mobile service when he has done it. I called Google Wallet support; it took the guy a while to search for an answer while I was on hold. He seemed to think that I do need a network connection. Forums and other articles seem split on the question. Why Ask Now? For many reasons, I was not able to make use of the service since it launched. I ordered the Google Wallet card as soon as I was able to access the f...