It is really impressive that the phone version of maps can smoothly rotate a map and show a 3D view, but I almost never want this. I do want to scroll to my destination and zoom in, but I invariably get the 3D mode or rotated map.
Stop adding cool features.
I started with a few X10 components and moved to Insteon from SmartHome. My experiences and the acceptance by wife, teenage boys, and friends:
Wins:
- Control of outdoor low voltage lights. Works great, nice to have different schedules for different days of the week. No one cares but me.
- Christmas lights. Nice, but cheap timers work as well. No one cares but me.
- Combining switch locations. Our kitchen has switches in five different locations. Replaced one of the switches with a multi-button scene selector for the kitchen. Big winner with everyone.
- Panic button turning on all outside lights. Wife likes in concept, she still has not pulled out her phone to activate it if I am around.
- Indicator in kitchen that garage doors are open. Very popular
- Motion controller turning on lights when approaching front door. Popular, but cheaper to install a light with motion sensor.
- Wife wants ability to activate spa before we get home. On the list, but relatively expensive to add to Smarthome or pool controller.
Losses:
- Smart phone control of lights. I am the only family member who ever bothers to use their phone.
- Anything that changes indoor lighting unexpectedly. Startles everyone, even when they know about it.
- Even with Insteon's redundancy, I still have problems communicating with several devices. This is an ongoing debug effort.
- I am the only one in the family who can program this system. Software is almost user hostile.
- I have many systems with home control capabilities that do not interact: a satellite box, pool controller, garage door opener, Apple gear, Harmony remote, and Insteon.
I like new technology as much as anyone, but I can carry a drivers license, a credit/ATM card, and some cash in a small card holder. This package is thin, light, requires no batteries, can be dropped, can be immersed in water, and can perform almost any financial transaction short of buying a house.
I had a credit card with blink (lets you tap the card reader to pay), but hardly used it. It is just as easy to swipe a card, now that many transactions do not require a signature. I choose my payment method based on rebates/rewards and lack of fees. I wonder how ATT/Verizon/Tmobile will compete on costs.
(I have built my own PCs, compiled my own Linux kernel, used UNIX since college, programmed in Windows, designed ICs, etc and am slowing switching to Macs)
1) I wanted to stream music through the house. I bought an airport express for under $100, plugged it in, connected it to the network and my stereo. When I got to my mac, it had a dialog stating that it just detected an Airport Express, would I like to configure it? Sure; up and running in a few minutes.
2) On another occasion, when I started to stream music to the Airport Express, a dialog popped up telling me the audio cable was unplugged.
3) I was at a friend's house and he was using his Ipod Touch. I pointed out that if he bought an Airport Express to connect to his stereo and downloaded the free Remote app from Apple, he would have streaming music in his house and full remote control in his pocket for $100 and 5 minutes of his time. He did this the next day.
4) To get my wife's macbook on our network, I just had to type in the SSID and password and she was surfing the net in a few minutes.
5) When Snow Leopard came out with Exchange support, I VPN'ed into work, gave iCal my email address and password, and it found the server and downloaded my mail in a minute. It takes me that long to find the correct dialog in Outlook, let alone to configure it.
6) Wife's laptop hard drive crashed. Took it to the local Apple store and had the laptop back with a new hard drive in a day. My son's Dell Studio had to be sent in for a third time (10 day turn-around each time) before they finally agreed it was a POS and sent us a new model.
I struggle to think up just one experience like this after years with Windows and Linux. On top of that, in OS X i have discovered Folder Actions; the Automator; pre-installed python, perl, svn; and the development environment comes with the PC. I don't regret one cent of the Apple premium I have paid.
Android is promising, but I am worried what its eco system will look like once the carriers are through with it.
We participated in a peak rate program a few years back in the Bay Area.
You got a slight break for non-peak usage in exchange for a large penalty for peak usage. One or two incidences of use during peak hours would wipe out a months worth of careful avoidance.
Definitely not worth the hassle.
We signed up for time-of-use rates when we lived in the Bay Area, but the financial incentives seemed out of whack. You get a slight discount for using off-peak power, and get large surcharges for using peak power. (Why does my peak power cost more than the normal users when I am trying to help them out?)
We had a pool so we were a heavy user, but a whole month of carefully shifting your usage to off-peak was wiped out by one afternoon pool party. The only incentive for the inconvenience was hoping that you reduced the utility's afternoon peak demand. It was also counter-productive for using the pool's solar heater.
It seems that the utility didn't really want this program to work, at least for pool owners (a large group in CA), and were just fulfilling a state mandate to offer time-of-use rates.
...was more prescient than 1984. The "seashell radios" that fit in your ears, the video walls, and bringing the entire town into a manhunt by showing it live on TV via helicopter.
Over the years I have had two Palms and one iPod lost or stolen. I am not worried about my music collection being out in the wild, but I would be leery of having my entire photo collection in someone else's hands. Especially after this:
Why you should never lose your digital media
At least I can buy third party encryption software for my Tungsten.
Slashdot Mirror
It is really impressive that the phone version of maps can smoothly rotate a map and show a 3D view, but I almost never want this. I do want to scroll to my destination and zoom in, but I invariably get the 3D mode or rotated map. Stop adding cool features.
No doubt. It is still an expensive hobby addressing problems beyond food, shelter, water, and clothing.
I started with a few X10 components and moved to Insteon from SmartHome. My experiences and the acceptance by wife, teenage boys, and friends:
Wins:
- Control of outdoor low voltage lights. Works great, nice to have different schedules for different days of the week. No one cares but me.
- Christmas lights. Nice, but cheap timers work as well. No one cares but me.
- Combining switch locations. Our kitchen has switches in five different locations. Replaced one of the switches with a multi-button scene selector for the kitchen. Big winner with everyone.
- Panic button turning on all outside lights. Wife likes in concept, she still has not pulled out her phone to activate it if I am around.
- Indicator in kitchen that garage doors are open. Very popular
- Motion controller turning on lights when approaching front door. Popular, but cheaper to install a light with motion sensor.
- Wife wants ability to activate spa before we get home. On the list, but relatively expensive to add to Smarthome or pool controller.
Losses:
- Smart phone control of lights. I am the only family member who ever bothers to use their phone.
- Anything that changes indoor lighting unexpectedly. Startles everyone, even when they know about it.
- Even with Insteon's redundancy, I still have problems communicating with several devices. This is an ongoing debug effort.
- I am the only one in the family who can program this system. Software is almost user hostile.
- I have many systems with home control capabilities that do not interact: a satellite box, pool controller, garage door opener, Apple gear, Harmony remote, and Insteon.
I like new technology as much as anyone, but I can carry a drivers license, a credit/ATM card, and some cash in a small card holder. This package is thin, light, requires no batteries, can be dropped, can be immersed in water, and can perform almost any financial transaction short of buying a house. I had a credit card with blink (lets you tap the card reader to pay), but hardly used it. It is just as easy to swipe a card, now that many transactions do not require a signature. I choose my payment method based on rebates/rewards and lack of fees. I wonder how ATT/Verizon/Tmobile will compete on costs.
(I have built my own PCs, compiled my own Linux kernel, used UNIX since college, programmed in Windows, designed ICs, etc and am slowing switching to Macs)
1) I wanted to stream music through the house. I bought an airport express for under $100, plugged it in, connected it to the network and my stereo. When I got to my mac, it had a dialog stating that it just detected an Airport Express, would I like to configure it? Sure; up and running in a few minutes.
2) On another occasion, when I started to stream music to the Airport Express, a dialog popped up telling me the audio cable was unplugged.
3) I was at a friend's house and he was using his Ipod Touch. I pointed out that if he bought an Airport Express to connect to his stereo and downloaded the free Remote app from Apple, he would have streaming music in his house and full remote control in his pocket for $100 and 5 minutes of his time. He did this the next day.
4) To get my wife's macbook on our network, I just had to type in the SSID and password and she was surfing the net in a few minutes.
5) When Snow Leopard came out with Exchange support, I VPN'ed into work, gave iCal my email address and password, and it found the server and downloaded my mail in a minute. It takes me that long to find the correct dialog in Outlook, let alone to configure it.
6) Wife's laptop hard drive crashed. Took it to the local Apple store and had the laptop back with a new hard drive in a day. My son's Dell Studio had to be sent in for a third time (10 day turn-around each time) before they finally agreed it was a POS and sent us a new model.
I struggle to think up just one experience like this after years with Windows and Linux. On top of that, in OS X i have discovered Folder Actions; the Automator; pre-installed python, perl, svn; and the development environment comes with the PC. I don't regret one cent of the Apple premium I have paid.
Android is promising, but I am worried what its eco system will look like once the carriers are through with it.
We participated in a peak rate program a few years back in the Bay Area. You got a slight break for non-peak usage in exchange for a large penalty for peak usage. One or two incidences of use during peak hours would wipe out a months worth of careful avoidance. Definitely not worth the hassle.
We signed up for time-of-use rates when we lived in the Bay Area, but the financial incentives seemed out of whack. You get a slight discount for using off-peak power, and get large surcharges for using peak power. (Why does my peak power cost more than the normal users when I am trying to help them out?)
We had a pool so we were a heavy user, but a whole month of carefully shifting your usage to off-peak was wiped out by one afternoon pool party. The only incentive for the inconvenience was hoping that you reduced the utility's afternoon peak demand. It was also counter-productive for using the pool's solar heater.
It seems that the utility didn't really want this program to work, at least for pool owners (a large group in CA), and were just fulfilling a state mandate to offer time-of-use rates.
...was more prescient than 1984. The "seashell radios" that fit in your ears, the video walls, and bringing the entire town into a manhunt by showing it live on TV via helicopter.
working long hours for:
- Architecture and design: counter-productive
- debug and test: whatever it takes
- Fixing bugs: need good sleep
During chip tape outs, I would stay as long as needed to debug an issue. I would always go home and get a good nights sleep before I tried to fix it.
Over the years I have had two Palms and one iPod lost or stolen. I am not worried about my music collection being out in the wild, but I would be leery of having my entire photo collection in someone else's hands. Especially after this: Why you should never lose your digital media
At least I can buy third party encryption software for my Tungsten.