Website Review
What is WesleyTech.com?
WesleyTech.com is a personal technology blog by Wes Novack, focused on hands-on hardware, software and "tech-life" topics. Its core is first-person reviews and troubleshooting write-ups rather than news or buying guides: recent posts include an MP3 player review, an AAWireless TWO Android Auto adapter review, a UTOPIA Fiber internet service review, and a fix for a USB-C hub's PD charging and HDMI failing under Ubuntu 24.04.
H3 What you'll find there
- Hardware and mobile reviews — small devices and accessories, tested in real use.
- Home networking and internet service — ISP installs and experiences (Google Fiber, UTOPIA Fiber) and a Pi-hole network-wide ad blocker guide.
- Software and troubleshooting — Linux/Ubuntu problems and their fixes.
- Occasional business/tech commentary, some written by a staff writer rather than Wes.
H3 Who it suits It's most useful if you're a tinkerer or self-hoster deciding on a niche gadget, comparing home internet options in a specific service area, or hunting down a fix for a Linux hardware quirk. The value is in the detail of one person's setup and outcome, so treat conclusions as experience-based rather than lab-measured or representative of every configuration. If you want broad comparative reviews across many brands, a larger review outlet will cover more ground.
H3 A practical next step Search the site for the exact device or service you're considering — for example, "AAWireless" or "Pi-hole" — and read the full post rather than the excerpt, since the useful specifics (what was tested, what failed, what fixed it) sit in the body. If you're weighing home internet, start with the ISP posts and check whether the author's city matches yours; municipal fiber availability varies street by street, so a positive review from another city tells you little about your own address. For a second opinion on networking gear, SmallNetBuilder covers routers and home networking in more depth.
How does the BOLD MINI MP3 player compare to modern smartphones for music playback?
The BOLD MINI is a deliberate throwback: a dedicated MP3 player for people who want music playback separated from their phone. WesleyTech.com's own review of the BOLD MINI frames it as a re-imagined MP3 player for 2026, made by AMFM Technologies — which tells you the pitch is intentional simplicity rather than feature parity with a smartphone. WesleyTech.com
Where a dedicated player still wins
- No notifications or app churn. A phone is a multitasking device; a music player isn't. If you listen while working, running or commuting, that difference is the point.
- Battery goes to music, not to a screen and radios. A single-purpose device isn't competing with messaging, maps and background sync.
- Physical controls and pocketability. Dedicated players typically offer buttons you can use without looking, which matters on a run or bike ride.
- Storage independence. Your library lives on the device, not in a streaming subscription or a cloud account that can change terms.
Where a smartphone is clearly better
| Consideration | BOLD MINI-style player | Modern smartphone |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming apps | Generally not the focus | Native support for major services |
| Library management | Manual file transfer | Sync, cloud, playlists across apps |
| Extras | Music only | Calls, maps, camera, payments |
| Car and speaker integration | Basic Bluetooth at best | Bluetooth, Android Auto, CarPlay |
| Cost of carrying | One more thing to charge | Already in your pocket |
Who should consider which
Choose the dedicated player if you already own your music files, want fewer distractions, or need a small device for workouts and travel. Choose the phone if your listening depends on streaming, discovery, playlists that sync across devices, or hands-free use in a car — the AAWireless TWO review on the same site shows how much of that car experience is built around the phone. WesleyTech.com
Practical next step: before buying, check two things on the product page — the supported audio file formats and whether it handles your existing library without conversion. If you rely on a streaming service, confirm it's supported; if it isn't, the player only makes sense as a companion to your phone, not a replacement.
What are the benefits and setup requirements for using the AAWireless TWO adapter with Android Auto?
The AAWireless TWO is a small aftermarket adapter that lets you run Android Auto wirelessly in a car whose head unit only supports a wired USB connection. On WesleyTech.com, Wes Novack reviewed it in February 2026, noting it is aimed at exactly that gap: cars that don't have factory wireless Android Auto. He also flags that there are things to check "before" buying, so the practical takeaway is that the benefit is convenience, while the requirement is compatibility homework.
Benefits
- Removes the USB cable from every trip, so short drives and quick errands don't involve plugging in a phone.
- Keeps the car's existing head unit and screen, rather than replacing the stereo.
- Suits households where drivers alternate, since pairing happens over Wi-Fi/Bluetooth instead of physically connecting.
- Useful for older vehicles that are otherwise perfectly serviceable but lack wireless projection.
Setup requirements to expect
- A car with wired Android Auto that works reliably today; the adapter converts that wired link to wireless rather than adding Android Auto from scratch.
- A compatible Android phone with Android Auto installed and up to date.
- A free USB port in the car for the adapter, plus a stable 12V/USB power supply — an underpowered port can cause dropouts or slow starts.
- A one-time pairing process, usually through the adapter's own companion app, and permission for the phone to connect automatically.
- Realistic expectations about startup lag: wireless projection generally takes a few seconds longer to appear than a cable, and some head units handle reconnection better than others.
H3. How to decide If your main frustration is plugging in for every five-minute drive, the adapter is a straightforward quality-of-life upgrade. If your car has no wired Android Auto at all, or your phone struggles with wireless projection, this class of device won't help. Before buying, confirm your exact car model and head-unit software version against the manufacturer's compatibility list, and check whether your USB port stays powered when the ignition is off — that detail often decides whether the adapter behaves well day to day.
Is UTOPIA Fiber internet service available in my area and how does it perform?
UTOPIA Fiber is a municipal open-access fiber network in northern Utah, so availability is limited to cities that have opted in. If you are outside its footprint, you cannot get it regardless of how good the reviews are. The site's own coverage is a first-hand account from a subscriber in Murray, UT, so treat performance claims as specific to that location and installation.
H3 Availability: how to decide
- Check your address against the official UTOPIA Fiber service map before comparing plans. Coverage is city-by-city, not a general regional rollout.
- Confirm which retail providers sell service on the network at your address; UTOPIA is the infrastructure, and the ISP you pay may be a separate company.
- If your city has not opted in, your realistic alternatives are the incumbent cable or DSL providers, or fixed wireless.
H3 Performance: what to expect Fiber-to-the-home generally delivers symmetrical upload and download speeds, low latency, and stable performance under heavy use — useful for video calls, large uploads, and multiple simultaneous streams. The trade-off is that actual speeds, pricing, and support depend on the retail provider you choose, not on the network alone. For a concrete scenario: a household with two remote workers and a gamer would notice the upload symmetry and latency more than raw download numbers.
H3 Practical next step Use the official map to check your address, then ask neighbors on the same street about their provider and real-world speeds. For broader context on fiber versus cable in the same region, see WesleyTech.com, which also documents a Google Fiber install in Sandy, UT — useful if you are comparing municipal fiber with a large national provider.
How can I troubleshoot USB-C hub charging and HDMI issues on Ubuntu 24.04?
For Ubuntu 24.04, USB-C hub problems usually fall into three buckets: the hub isn't negotiating power delivery, the display output isn't being routed, or the kernel/driver stack is mishandling the dock. Diagnose which one you're facing before changing settings.
WesleyTech.com documents a specific case: a Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 running Ubuntu 24.04 where an Anker USB-C hub's PD charging and HDMI output stopped working. That's a useful reference point because it confirms this is a known class of problem on that combination, not an isolated hardware failure. The post is the author's own experience, so treat the exact fixes as environment-specific and verify each step on your machine.
Start with the basics
- Test the hub on another computer, and test a different hub or a direct USB-C-to-HDMI cable on your laptop. This separates a dead hub from a software issue.
- Try a different USB-C port if your laptop has more than one; some ports may not support DisplayPort alt mode or PD.
- Confirm the hub's power supply meets the laptop's charging requirement. Underpowered bricks often cause charging to silently drop.
- Check whether the problem appears after suspend/resume or a kernel update — that narrows it to a driver regression.
Check what the system sees
Run lsusb and lsusb -t to confirm the hub enumerates. For displays, xrandr (X11) or gnome-randr/wlr-randr (Wayland) shows whether an output is detected at all. dmesg | tail -50 right after plugging in is the most informative single step: look for USB reconnects, ucsi or typec errors, and DRM/display messages.
Try targeted fixes
- Update firmware for the laptop and the dock where the vendor provides Linux or UEFI update tools.
- Try a newer mainline kernel if the issue started after an update; Ubuntu 24.04 ships a 6.8 kernel, and USB-C/PD fixes often land upstream first.
- Disable USB autosuspend for the hub as a test (
usbcore.autosuspend=-1on the kernel command line). - Toggle the port's power role if your hardware exposes it, and reset the USB-C controller by fully powering off rather than rebooting.
Where to look next
For Ubuntu-specific kernel and dock behavior, the Ask Ubuntu community and Ubuntu Discourse often have threads matching your exact laptop model. For kernel-level USB-C and display issues, Kernel Bugzilla is where regressions get tracked. Vendor support pages for your laptop and dock are worth checking for Linux firmware notes, and WesleyTech.com has the ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 write-up if your hardware matches.
If charging fails but data and video work, focus on PD negotiation. If video fails but charging works, focus on DisplayPort alt mode and the graphics driver. If nothing works on any port, suspect the hub itself first.
What are the steps to install Pi-hole as a network-wide ad blocker on a Raspberry Pi?
The short answer: WesleyTech.com describes exactly this use case — installing Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi to create a network-wide ad blocker and DNS blackhole — in its post WesleyTech.com. The post frames Pi-hole as the best use the author has made of a Raspberry Pi, so it is a practical starting point rather than a general explainer.
The typical steps
- Prepare the Raspberry Pi. Use a spare Pi (a Pi 4 or newer is comfortable; older models work but are slower). Install Raspberry Pi OS Lite on a microSD card and boot the Pi with a wired Ethernet connection if possible.
- Set a static IP address. Pi-hole becomes your network's DNS server, so its address must not change. Reserve an address on your router (DHCP reservation) or configure a static IP on the Pi itself.
- Install Pi-hole. Run the official installer script from the Pi-hole project, or use the guided setup. The installer walks through network settings, upstream DNS provider choice and whether to enable the web admin interface.
- Point your router's DNS at the Pi. In your router settings, set the Pi's IP as the primary DNS server for the LAN. Every device that gets DNS from your router is then filtered automatically — no per-device setup.
- Verify and test. Open the Pi-hole admin dashboard to confirm queries are being logged and blocked. Visit an ad-heavy site from a phone or laptop and check the query log.
- Add blocklists and tune. Start with the default list, then add curated lists for tracking or malware domains. Whitelist anything that breaks, since aggressive lists can block legitimate services.
- Keep it updated. Update Pi-hole and its blocklists periodically; a stale DNS blackhole gradually loses effectiveness.
Practical trade-offs
- Single point of failure. If the Pi goes down, DNS resolution for the whole network stops. A second Pi-hole instance or a fallback DNS entry on the router reduces that risk.
- Router limitations. Some ISP-provided routers do not let you change DNS servers, which forces per-device configuration instead.
- Maintenance. Blocklist tuning and the occasional whitelist fix are ongoing, not one-time, tasks.
For a concrete reader scenario: a household with a dozen devices — phones, laptops, a smart TV — can set the router DNS once and have ads filtered everywhere, including on devices that don't support browser extensions. The cost is that one small computer now sits in the critical path of your home network.
A useful next step is to read the WesleyTech post for the author's own setup notes and then check the official Pi-hole documentation at Pi-hole for current installer commands, since installation details change between releases.
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