Samsung Galaxy S21 5G does not work with Victorian government's check-in QR codes

As much as I try, I've never once been able to check in use a QR code in Victoria using my brand new Samsung Galaxy S21 5G. Another phone I've tested is a Samsung Galaxy A20 and last night also tested a more recent Apple iPhone. None worked. The Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy A20 had previously worked but the Apple iPhone didn't work on this occasion and the Samsung Galaxy A20 using Google Lens would not work even thought it worked earlier in the day.

With the Samsung S21 5G I've not only used the camera app, but I've also used a dedicated QR scanner app from Trend Micro and also Google Lens app. These apps can scan QR codes, it just seems to be the Victorian government's QR codes.

Now if this is happening to me, I'm sure it's happening to many people. The government will know because every time I scan the QR code it takes me to the following Victorian government page. I'm sure they're fully aware of the high failure rate.

Just in case you may be wondering why I'm not using the Victorian government's own app, because I also tried that early on and it didn't work.

So many people I see simply taking photos of the QR code thinking they've logged their details, others filling out their details but not clicking the submit button, so never logging in.

QR codes work. They're simple, but something the Victorian government has done means QR codes regularly don't work, at least they don't for me and many others I see using them.

Seems like the Victorian government's QR codes has taken a lesson from the Morrison government's app that never worked well and built something that is far less useful than it should be. Lots of IT contractors getting paid extremely good money taxpayers getting poor value for money.

Example QR code scanned

Takes me to the following page.

Which had the following URL

https://service.vic.gov.au/check-in/start?metadata=eyJhbGciOiJFUzUxMiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJsb2NhdGlvbklkIjoiN2FlMWZmMWItYzAxZC00NjE2LTk4MTgtOTc1YmM2YzFmMjNiIiwibG9jYXRpb25OYW1lIjoiS21hcnQgQ2xheXRvbiIsImp0aSI6IjA1OGFhYzlmLTYxMjUtNDAyYS05NmI0LWIzMDVjZWY5ZmIxNiIsImV4cCI6MzE4NzM4NTM0OCwiaWF0IjoxNjA5NTQ4NTQ4LCJpc3MiOiJodHRwczovL2R2cnMuc2VydmljZS52aWMuZ292LmF1In0.AXOlPVWflBVsb7M2ltDl-BDxqjkMl4Obeq9PCCrU8uo63XAfUW9ub5gxlbHAuOg530MULkqdUjCyaR1MucWyulMRAUfqaQ7eSi_oOjRmxnu21AU_vvqqsyMB_qwjheQC2VuNiU3u726s3kdjlEqUK521pRULCAKlHmrcOgXb7WbD0Icu

Yes this page does provide additional information and people can download the Victorian government's app and manually enter the code, or ask for assistance and write your information on a sheet at the store. But this really shouldn't be necessary.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Update: 21 June 2021
Today I was able to check in for the first time. What was interesting was I was prompted to run an app without installing. This had not happened before. I was able to submit my name and phone number details.

Update: 6 July 2021
Looks like the government has updated something on their system as I can now reliably check in most of the time.

Samsung Galaxy A20 (SM-A205YN) scan QR codes for Victoria check in.

The other day a person needed to check into an RSL. When they went to use their Samsung Galaxy A20 (SM-A205YN) the camera could not detect the QR code so they needed to check in manually.

I decided to investigate and checking the internet there appears to be no problem in using the Samsung Galaxy A20 to scan QR codes, yet when I check the features the sites mention, those features don't exist on the Samsung Galaxy A20. In particular when you pull down from the top twice to show the quick panel, there is no Scan QR Code option. There is also supposedly in the camera settings, the option to turn on Scan QR Codes, but this option is not present either.

It would appear that many of the pages found on the internet for "Samsung Galaxy A20 scan QR code" are generic pages that have been used to apply to a range of Samsung Galaxy phones and are not correct for the Samsung Galaxy A20.

It may also be Samsung has not provided the option for Australian users, but this doesn't seem likely.

I downloaded the Victorian Services app but found it did not scan the QR code I tested so to me does not appear reliable enough. It can be hard to decide which QR code scanner to install as you really don't know what the companies are doing with your data. In the end I decided to install the Google Lens application. The Google Lens application can scan QR codes and Google already has access to most of your data and activities so there's no apparent greater risk. Although you can always opt to check in manually, and for some people, checking in manually may be the preferred option.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

auDA scam: Please confirm domain name ownership.

I received an email today which is an obvious scam, but since I hadn't seen this scam before I thought I'd share in case it helps others not get scammed.

The subject of the email is: "Please confirm <my name> domain name ownership.

The body of the email contains the following.

The email pretends to be from auDA which is the domain name authority for .au domains.

The link for Upload Document isn't an auDA domain.

I've never had any such request from auDA in the past, sometimes requests from my domain registrars, but it's always possible the system could change.

This is a faked email designed to trick and potential scam people. Do be careful and treat all emails with suspicion.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

HP Envy x360 13" convertible 13-ay0096au does not display list of access points and can't connect to network. Realtek RTL8822CE

I thought I'd share a problem I've seen with the HP Even x360 13" (model 13-ay0096au ) a number of times. After closing the computer (the computer suspends) and then opening the computer the computer can't find the wireless access point/hotspot. When I click on the network symbol in the system tray no access points/hotspots are shown 

The trouble shooter finds no issue but there's an issue because the computer can't connect to the internet.

The only solution that I've found so far is to shut down the computer. Today when I shut down the computer the power button still had a white light meaning the computer was not completely shut down. If this happens hold down the power button until the computer completely shuts down.

Now start the computer again the and the problem is gone.

Not particularly happy this is happening on a new and relatively expensive computer, but each computer has issues so isn't totally unexpected. This does have flag to me to be careful buying HP laptops in future, or at least note this and if there's other problems that could weigh on future purchases.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Update: 6 July 2021
Found updating the driver has fixed the issue. The problem is the updated driver is not available via Windows Update or the HP site under drivers for the computer. I need to find a direct link to more recent driver updates.

Solution found here.
Solved: Realtek RTL8822CE disappears after Connected Standby - Page 3 - HP Support Community - 7928686

Link to working driver.
https://whp-hou4.cold.extweb.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp113001-113500/sp113268.exe

The driver that isn't working is version 2024.0.10.220. The driver that is working for me is version 2024.0.10.222.

How to rotate your 360 video (e.g. GoPro Max) so the default point of view is the opposite direction.

OK. You've taken a 360 video and when you watch it you notice one thing. The default view a person sees is the opposite to what you want. You faced the 360 camera in the wrong direction. Now you'd think this is an easy problem to solve. It really isn't.

For example I took a video on a metro train. The 360 camera faced the end of the train and really, there was nothing to see. Yet the other view, the view I wanted to share, would enable people to immediately see the inside of the train carriage plus more importantly, out the windows on each side. Once people know what they can see, they're more than likely to start exploring. But when you just see the end of the carriage, well people are just going to leave and watch something far more interesting.

You would think being a 360 video you could just select the view you want as the default. Nope. Not so easy. In fact you have to have a program where you can rotate the view and create the video using the new view. Amazing isn't it. Something that should be as easy as entering a parameter, or two, to set the default view isn't possible.

Yes you can use Adobe products to create a video with the default view being what you want, but let's face it, Adobe products aren't cheap. If you scan the internet for suitable software there's actually none for free that easily do what you want. I did find one person who thankfully shared they'd worked out how to use ffmpeg to reverse the default view, but personally I feel command line tools are a last resort. Give me a nice graphical user interface. The person share their approach on Reddit.

Stitching together / concatenating 360 GoPro Max video footages and changing default 360 viewing angle on a Mac with freeware? : GoProMAX (reddit.com)

Now you might ask (or perhaps not) how did I work out how to reverse the default view on a 360 video. When I look at the raw video from a 360 camera before the images are stitched, there's two ball like images. One image for each lens. The default view is on the right and the reverse view is on the left.

I kept thinking surely I could just use a video editor and switch the left half with the right half and then start the process of creating and editing the video. It turned out I couldn't find an easy way to do this and then perform the next step which is called stitching. Stitching takes these two balls, joins the images and creates what is called an equirectangular image. The following is the stitched image.

Keep in mind this is just one moment in the video which is a continuous series of this type of image.

So I decided to see if I could work with the stitched image. In effect what I wanted to do was to take the right half of the image and move it to the left and then take the left half of the image and move it to the right. That way the default view in the centre becomes the outside edges and the outside edges now in the middle and become the default view.

So now I had a working theory, I needed some software I could use to see if my theory worked. I ended up using the software called Davinci Resolve. The software can be downloaded for free but I did have to accept the limitation of the free version. My video was shot at 4096x2048, but Davinci Resolve (in the free version) could only do up to 3840x1920. A small drop in quality for the result I wanted, at the price I wanted (free), was OK by me.

I then used Davinci Resolve to edit the video file and created the video with the default 360 view I wanted. The following video shows the steps I took to create the video.

https://youtu.be/UKscCRpA-yU

The following is the video or me travelling inside the Frankston to Melbourne train that I created using Davinci Resolve to give the default view that I wanted.

https://youtu.be/DeSvcgiWyrU

Hopefully this information might help solve your problem if you are faced with the same problem I was.

Kelvin Eldridge

How to check the resolution of the webcam built into a computer.

I was wondering what the resolution of the webcam that is built into the computer. My older computer had a very poor webcame, whereas my newer computer is quite acceptable. How can I see what the resolution of the cameras are in the two computers. It turns out it's very easy.

Windows 10 has a camera app. To access type in camera in the Windows search area and select Camera app.

Take a video or a photo.

Go to the Pictures folder and then open the Camera Roll folder

In this folder you'll see the picture or video you've taken.

Right click on the photo/video

Select Properties

Select the Details tab

In the Details tab you'll then be able to read the dimensions. For a video it is Frame Width and Frame Length and for the picture it is Image Width and Image Height.

Interesting it is the video height that is often used when referring to a video has HD or SD. A video height of 720 is HD, 480 is SD, 1080 is full HD, and the poor quality video from my old computer has a frame height of 360, which is lower than SD and why the quality was so poor.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Checking computers available from retailers for a contact.

Friends often ask me to check the specs of a computer for them. I don't mind doing this as many retailers will happily sell a new computer that is so slow it might as well be 10 years old. Often computers retailers sell are slower than the computer a person already owns. The following is the latest list of computers I put together for a friend.

JB HiFi

hp fq2037tu 15.6 256gb

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/hp-fq2037tu-15-6-hd-laptop-256gb-i5

CPU speed: 10,051

Display: 1366x768

Webcam: 720p

Price: $1,099 -  $934.15 on special

HP 15s-eq1504AU

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/hp-15s-eq1504au-15-6-full-hd-laptop-256gbryzen5?queryID=39ebfe53f7ca48de8a4c539301fb2be8&objectID=505790

CPU speed: 11,291

Display: 1920x1080

HD webcam supposedly. Should test looking at the image the camera generates.

Price: $998

* This unit was suggested. It was also suggested the person haggle over the price.

Officeworks

HP Laptop 15S-FQ2044TU i5 8GB/256GB Notebook

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/hp-laptop-15s-fq2044tu-i5-8gb-256gb-notebook-hpfq2044tu#specifications

Dsplay: 1920x1080

Webcam: 720p

CPU speed: 10,051

$988

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Notebook 15.6" Core i5/8/256 GB

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3-notebook-15-6-core-i5-8-256-gb-slnslim3i5#specifications

CPU speed: 7,963

Display 1920x1080

Webcam: SD 480

Price: $797

Hopefully others will find value in this list. If you're looking for a computer one of the most critical things I first check is the processor speed. This eliminates many of the computers quite quickly.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.OnlineConnections.com.au