Remotely wake up a Sky Stream Puck stuck on standby

If anybody else like me has the pucks hidden and not easily accessible and is struggling to power on via bluetooth then I’ve got a (somewhat janky) workaround but it will require you to have the Network Standby setting turned on so the network card in the puck is always listening. 

You can wake the puck from your iPhone (and I’m sure Android will have similar apps) using a free WakeOnLan app. You would need to have a smartphone on the same wifi network as the sky puck and then use the app to send a simple “ping” to the puck to wake it up and then once it’s awake the remote will work as expected via bluetooth.

I just searched the app store for “wakeonlan” and tried a few difference apps and this one is free and basic but works

The caveat is that you will need to have your puck powered on initially to be able to access the System>System Managment>System Info page and grab the unique MAC address of your puck, you might find these are also printed on the box if you still have it.

There will be two MAC addresses shown in this format XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX one is for the WiFi card and one is for the Ethernet card.

You simply launch the Wake On Lan App and click to add a new device, give it a friendly name so you know which puck it is and then carefull type in the MAC address. (HINT: on most modern smartphones, if you take a photo of the system screen showing the MAC address it will then detect text and let you copy and paste it to save you typing it out). You should then have something like this below and simply tapping on the name “sky puck family diner” in my example, it will send a magic packet to the sky puck and power it on. 

There’s one last step you should probably take, and that is to temporarily disable the HDMI control in the sky puck settings>Starup and Standby>HDMI Control>OFF. If you have this on and you send a magic packet to wake up the puck it will auto-power on the TV. Chances are you already have the TV on anyway trying to watch sky so no problem there, but if you have TVs in kids bedrooms and you accidentally tapped to wake up a puck in their bedroom, it could turn on their TV and wake them up….ask me how I know.

Right so that’s a terrible tutorial on a terrible workaround to get your hidden sky pucks out of standby whilst there’s an ongoing issue with bluetooth not working in standby. I have set this app up on mine and my wife’s iPhone’s so now we can power on the pucks without having to lift the TV off the wall.

Another less technical temporary fix would be to buy a cheap £8 InfraRed extender and have a little IR eye/receiver sitting below the TV which repeats the IR signal to the hidden puck.

Another more technical temporary fix would be to run a script on a server or home automation system to send a magic WakeOnLan packet to all pucks every 5 mins to ensure they never go to sleep.

To try and comply with Sky’s discussion policies I have obscurred sensitive information, if this post still falls foul of your policy please feel free to amend, delete or move this post eleswhere, I am just trying to help get a temp fix for those in need until Sky rectify the issue.

Deecies on eBay: The Apple Reseller Revolutionising My Mac Purchases

Why Deecies?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been buying your Apple products directly from Apple for years. I mean, why wouldn’t you? It’s safe, reliable, it’s just the first place you go. But what if I told you there’s a game-changer in town? Enter Deecies, an official Apple reseller operating exclusively on eBay.

I stumbled upon Deecies during one of my late-night eBay browsing sessions. Skeptical at first, I decided to dive a little deeper. And boy, am I glad I did!

  1. Savings Galore: I managed to snag a high-end Mac Studio specification, and guess what? I saved hundreds! It was the same sealed box i’d get from Apple.com, just without the hefty price tag.
  2. AppleCare+? No Problem!: One of my initial concerns was about the warranty. But you can buy AppleCare+ directly from Apple, even if you purchase your Mac from Deecies. It’s like having your cake and eating it too!
  3. Authenticity Guaranteed: Deecies is an official Apple reseller. This means you’re getting the real deal, not some knock-off or grey market import. They’re also VAT registered (many shady sellers on eBay are illegally operating under the “VAT Margin Scheme” meaning you can’t claim the VAT back – but they are, but that’s for another post) so you get a full VAT receipt for your business.

No Looking Back

Honestly, there’s absolutely no reason to buy directly from Apple anymore. Not when you can get the exact same product, with all the benefits, from a reseller like Deecies. It’s a no-brainer!

This is the Mac Studio I purchased M2 Ultra, 128gb ram, 4TB SSD – £400 cheaper than from Apple!

From now on, all my Mac purchases will be from Deecies. And if you’re in the market for a new Mac, I suggest you check them out too. You can thank me later! This isn’t an advert by the way, I don’t have an eBay affiliate account, none of the links are monetised just a good old fashioned review and tip!

Visit their store front at deecies.com

Royal Mail SMS Scam

Don’t be fooled by a text allegedly from Royal Mail saying you missed a parcel delivery

Royal Mail: Sorry we missed you earlier, we have your parcel, to book a redelivery follow the link https://royalmailgb.app/delivery?tracking=372837491

Scams SMS from Royal Mail

It’s a scam. It links through to a legitimate looking website but they want to take name, address, date of birth and eventually payment details.

This is NOT a legitimate Royal Mail website.