sporks_a_plenty

Dood...

FALKOR.

That adorable pooch is the only hope we have of stopping the nothing.

If I can offer an alternate perspective..

By making such concrete plans you may be ceding too much "control" to someone who you don't yet know will have the same reliance on solid planning or respect for other's time as you do.

So, if that's the case, what can you do about it?

Plan differently.

Plan a one hour "date with yourself" that also works for you + a date.

Example: Make a plan to meet at a coffee shop or cheap bistro near a park... but bring a book/kindle/podcast/homework, or whatever you'd otherwise do on your own.

If they show, cool, you now have topics to discuss. If things are going well, continue over a walk in the park.

If they flake, cool, you've now got a solid hour to do something you enjoy, in a (hopefully) interesting place, and you've done it for cheap... Maybe take yourself on a walk in the park. :)

Hope that helps a bit.

Agreed.

The exploit was discovered by a security research firm who did the right thing and reported it to the SW creator, giving them the opportunity to distribute a patch.

Since it hasn't yet been reported as being exploited "in the wild" publishing details on how to perform the exploit would be at best negligent, and worst carelessly malicious.

You're right about the shield being the most capable box out there and, IMHO, worth splurging on.

On the other extreme, if you're in the U.S., the Walmart "Onn TV 4K" streaming box is only $20. It should have all the stuff you listed and will be way more responsive than the anemic HW the TV makers use. Note: The remote feels a bit chinsy but it has a lots of buttons (many can be remapped with apps available in the Play store).

"Middle" option might be a "Chromecast with Google TV". More than 2x what the Onn box costs but the build quality is noticably better.