Well you might be there, but I can't see you apparently unless I'm willing to create an account, which I'm not (since I haven't been shown any hint that it might be worth my while)
Internet, mine dropped out today 3 times and everytime the 5G modem refused to kick in and sat there sulking. I think I will cancel that part of my contract.
I did consider hunting the person messing up the fibres, but it was OK after dinner.
We have Alexa on our new IP phone handset, it finds odd things to notify us about.
I am dreading having to replace my TV, it is nicely dumb. New ones are not (and missing SCART). But a 14 year old LCD panel is getting creaky.
My seven year old Sony Android TV has been losing its marbles for a while now. I want to replace it with a dumb TV but they don’t exist. My commiserations. Perhaps I can buy a cheap smart TV and rip the smarts out.
My Samsung TV, which was Smart at the time is kind of dumb now, Most of the apps don't work any longer. It is getting on for 10 years old, so I do expect it will give up the ghost soon.
My plan had been to replace it with a dumb but decent screen. Then I could plug in whatever streaming device is the best at the time. But dumb seems difficult to find.
I was absently looking at new TVs today, and I don’t care what smart stuff they come with. All I want is a good picture and plenty of hdmi ports so I can plug in the ps5, 4k blue ray sound bar and Apple TV directly in.
I would use the tuner but the rest will be run off the other devices
Unfortunately our Sony Android won’t display TV without broadband. I guess the YouView program guide comes that way, and regardless what comes in the antenna the TV just doesn’t work. Likely different now my Apple TV does BBC iplayer and the others.
Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 10, 2023Liked by Alistair Dabbs
As one of those IEEE bods who has spent more than his fair share of time on standards work groups I thank you for your recognition however, in the words of standards definers throughout the multiverse, 'Why do we even bother when everyone is just going to ignore us anyway?'
10+ years of IoT and it's still the big pile of shite it was then. Forgive us Lord, we know not what we did.
You have my thanks and respect. When a good standard is taken up and used it is a blessing. But that does not always happen.
I have one experience when I was young attending a MPEG standards meeting in the late 90s. It was dry but was trying to set up important functionality that could have made digital program guides better.
After working through ideas and coming up with a plan, at the end of the meeting one of the attendees from one of the big software tech companies threw a wrench into the whole works and set it back to square one. Meeting was over and nothing was settled.
I asked the older colleague who had brought me to the meeting why this happened. Answer was that the big software company the attendee was from was chairing their own different standard and they were just there to tank this one.
Unfortunately an all too common occurrence, one particular major tech company springs to mind who were well known for doing this. They would delay and delay just long enough to produce their own competing standard in the hope that they could monopolise the market.
The smart vac does not only scare the shit out of the cat, it then smears said shit all over your place. And then feigns ignorance when you confront it. Smart, he?
Are you likening investing in “smart” gadgets to be similar to building a castle in a swamp…. Which is one of the funniest scenes in the film apart from probably the Camelot song.
Your Y-Fronts are currently en route via Drone Delivery. Given your Smart Bollocks and Smart Arse you clearly do need them...
BTW recent news from down under, the Optus outage did cause chaos. Especially amongst those with smart devices, some of whom actually need such things :(
Nov 11, 2023·edited Nov 11, 2023Liked by Alistair Dabbs
I expect Harry & Paul from “I saw you coming” won’t be too far away with some very expensive AI entitled IoT’s. I say entitled, as (ain’t) no body… is enabled these days. (Chakakhan :) )
Ah the Institute of Electronic Engineer Eggheads, I am a big fan of their 1394 standard port. It came and went in a flash, so fast I never even saw a single example of one of them actually doing anything. Was it a mirage? Nope, my old reclaimed Lenovo case yet retains the lone socket. For sentimentalism.
Just get a "smart" one but don't connect it. Or if you want more of a challenge use openwrt or similar to connect it via its own private subnet with whatever filters are needed to block the most egregious crud.
This is very true and as a computer nerd (with actual EE creds) I feel like I should do this. I probably would have done this when I was younger.
Problem for me now, after 30 years of this, is all I see is yet another treadmill of tech debt (I just yell out YATT! at work these days) that I have put myself on and there is no fridge in the world that is worth that BS.
Wish the smart things would just stay in their lane.
The smart phone was good. Mabey a little too good it took over everything.
Smart thermostat is nice cause I don't have to enter the Konami code 100 time to program it. I admire its dedication to the side hustle when it tries to sell me filters but no thanks mine are cleanable.
I have a Google Smart Clock (Home Hub) which would make an excellent clock except it keeps trying to tell me how my day is going, and my smartphone gets all territorial about that.
I have an Alexa smart speaker, but I got bored trying to make it say naughty things. Playing music on random speakers in the world is my smartphone's job.
Need to keep a close eye on the Smart TV's lest they start blabbing secrets. They keep trying to find ways to get on the payroll and all I want them to do is play what the smartphone tells them to.
I admire your persistence in the face of completely useless gadgets, I hope that one day you find one that actually works although I hold out little chance of that.
In the mean time I will keep my 'smart' gadget count to zero which, by the magic of mathematics, gives me a 100% success rate and long may it remain so.
Actually, I just realized I tell a lie, my solar power system is connected to the Internet so that would make it an IoT device. Well I have one thing to say about that, thank you Victron it's bloody brilliant, so you see it can be done, there is hope
Your hissy-fit of disdain regarding Internet Shoes reminded me of an event some years ago when we were invited by friends to join a small soiree involving dinner with a variety of 'interesting' people. I would like to think I was one of the more 'normal' attendees but others may disagree.
Nevertheless, one guest was expounding on the opportunities microprocessors could create (I did say it was some time ago). As an example he proposed that the soles of shoes could be fitted with microprocessors, programmed to give a universal 'feel' to the user regardless of the terrain underfoot. Grass, sand, pebbles, cobbles, pavement could all be reproduced to give a sprung-spruce feel to the step. I have no idea why this was a good idea nor why it has never caught on. He went back to America where I guess he made his fortune or returned to the hills.
I had some Nike running shoes that had the hole for the sensor. Seemed a perfectly sensible way of measuring stuff at the far end of your leg, but no, it got discontinued. Looks like my phone just guesses now.
Luckily, I was disillusioned by "Smart" gadgets years ago because of those smart ties that were just different coloured chocolates and not self-knotting nooses.
"Dabbsy is on BlueSky" - what, is Substack "Notes" somehow not good enough for you? :-)
No it isn't.
Well you might be there, but I can't see you apparently unless I'm willing to create an account, which I'm not (since I haven't been shown any hint that it might be worth my while)
And apparently you need an invite!
Internet, mine dropped out today 3 times and everytime the 5G modem refused to kick in and sat there sulking. I think I will cancel that part of my contract.
I did consider hunting the person messing up the fibres, but it was OK after dinner.
We have Alexa on our new IP phone handset, it finds odd things to notify us about.
I am dreading having to replace my TV, it is nicely dumb. New ones are not (and missing SCART). But a 14 year old LCD panel is getting creaky.
Sorry for waffling.
My seven year old Sony Android TV has been losing its marbles for a while now. I want to replace it with a dumb TV but they don’t exist. My commiserations. Perhaps I can buy a cheap smart TV and rip the smarts out.
My Samsung TV, which was Smart at the time is kind of dumb now, Most of the apps don't work any longer. It is getting on for 10 years old, so I do expect it will give up the ghost soon.
My plan had been to replace it with a dumb but decent screen. Then I could plug in whatever streaming device is the best at the time. But dumb seems difficult to find.
Short throw projector is your answer, they haven't managed to corrupt those with 'smart' anything as yet
I was absently looking at new TVs today, and I don’t care what smart stuff they come with. All I want is a good picture and plenty of hdmi ports so I can plug in the ps5, 4k blue ray sound bar and Apple TV directly in.
I would use the tuner but the rest will be run off the other devices
Our Panasonic is supposed to be "smart" but I never configured the internet connection so it sits there kinda dumb.
Displays the SkyQ, PS4 etc just fine!!
Yeah, when ours finally dies I expect I'll just look at reviews and go with whatever I can find that has good picture quality.
The current screen came with 3d glasses, they're still in a box somewhere...
Unfortunately our Sony Android won’t display TV without broadband. I guess the YouView program guide comes that way, and regardless what comes in the antenna the TV just doesn’t work. Likely different now my Apple TV does BBC iplayer and the others.
Problem is i LIKE Sony TVs, I have had 4 of them, all last well.
I have seen ones to avoid, most Korean ones seem to have ads, seen them on Lucky Goldstar and Samsung.
As one of those IEEE bods who has spent more than his fair share of time on standards work groups I thank you for your recognition however, in the words of standards definers throughout the multiverse, 'Why do we even bother when everyone is just going to ignore us anyway?'
10+ years of IoT and it's still the big pile of shite it was then. Forgive us Lord, we know not what we did.
Then you have probably seen this.
https://xkcd.com/927/
Seen it? It haunts my every waking moment.
You have my thanks and respect. When a good standard is taken up and used it is a blessing. But that does not always happen.
I have one experience when I was young attending a MPEG standards meeting in the late 90s. It was dry but was trying to set up important functionality that could have made digital program guides better.
After working through ideas and coming up with a plan, at the end of the meeting one of the attendees from one of the big software tech companies threw a wrench into the whole works and set it back to square one. Meeting was over and nothing was settled.
I asked the older colleague who had brought me to the meeting why this happened. Answer was that the big software company the attendee was from was chairing their own different standard and they were just there to tank this one.
And so it goes ....
Unfortunately an all too common occurrence, one particular major tech company springs to mind who were well known for doing this. They would delay and delay just long enough to produce their own competing standard in the hope that they could monopolise the market.
The best thing about standards.
There are so many of them to choose from.
Red sunglasses selfies: Oh, The Humanity!!!
The smart vac does not only scare the shit out of the cat, it then smears said shit all over your place. And then feigns ignorance when you confront it. Smart, he?
With that in its CV your vac has a bright future in politics.
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!
One day, lad, all this will be yours.
What? The curtains?
No, not the curtains, lad.
Are you likening investing in “smart” gadgets to be similar to building a castle in a swamp…. Which is one of the funniest scenes in the film apart from probably the Camelot song.
https://youtu.be/9lCIh2aCH_o?si=4cTZ4u23EAQBcQm3
And it’s about to get worse if researchers at Stanford pursue their ‘smart breathalyser AI+’
It’s a friday night, altogether now..
“Through the microphone, they merrily measured muddled mentions, mastering the machine learning method of monitoring merriment with tongue twisters!"
Your Y-Fronts are currently en route via Drone Delivery. Given your Smart Bollocks and Smart Arse you clearly do need them...
BTW recent news from down under, the Optus outage did cause chaos. Especially amongst those with smart devices, some of whom actually need such things :(
I expect Harry & Paul from “I saw you coming” won’t be too far away with some very expensive AI entitled IoT’s. I say entitled, as (ain’t) no body… is enabled these days. (Chakakhan :) )
Ah the Institute of Electronic Engineer Eggheads, I am a big fan of their 1394 standard port. It came and went in a flash, so fast I never even saw a single example of one of them actually doing anything. Was it a mirage? Nope, my old reclaimed Lenovo case yet retains the lone socket. For sentimentalism.
Standards are like trains, if you miss one there is always another coming and if you get on the wrong one you are borked.
Standards, even worse when it becomes a war, Martin, owner of a Pioneer DVD burner with DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, simply because.
Just get a "smart" one but don't connect it. Or if you want more of a challenge use openwrt or similar to connect it via its own private subnet with whatever filters are needed to block the most egregious crud.
This is very true and as a computer nerd (with actual EE creds) I feel like I should do this. I probably would have done this when I was younger.
Problem for me now, after 30 years of this, is all I see is yet another treadmill of tech debt (I just yell out YATT! at work these days) that I have put myself on and there is no fridge in the world that is worth that BS.
Wish the smart things would just stay in their lane.
The smart phone was good. Mabey a little too good it took over everything.
Smart thermostat is nice cause I don't have to enter the Konami code 100 time to program it. I admire its dedication to the side hustle when it tries to sell me filters but no thanks mine are cleanable.
I have a Google Smart Clock (Home Hub) which would make an excellent clock except it keeps trying to tell me how my day is going, and my smartphone gets all territorial about that.
I have an Alexa smart speaker, but I got bored trying to make it say naughty things. Playing music on random speakers in the world is my smartphone's job.
Need to keep a close eye on the Smart TV's lest they start blabbing secrets. They keep trying to find ways to get on the payroll and all I want them to do is play what the smartphone tells them to.
I admire your persistence in the face of completely useless gadgets, I hope that one day you find one that actually works although I hold out little chance of that.
In the mean time I will keep my 'smart' gadget count to zero which, by the magic of mathematics, gives me a 100% success rate and long may it remain so.
Actually, I just realized I tell a lie, my solar power system is connected to the Internet so that would make it an IoT device. Well I have one thing to say about that, thank you Victron it's bloody brilliant, so you see it can be done, there is hope
Your hissy-fit of disdain regarding Internet Shoes reminded me of an event some years ago when we were invited by friends to join a small soiree involving dinner with a variety of 'interesting' people. I would like to think I was one of the more 'normal' attendees but others may disagree.
Nevertheless, one guest was expounding on the opportunities microprocessors could create (I did say it was some time ago). As an example he proposed that the soles of shoes could be fitted with microprocessors, programmed to give a universal 'feel' to the user regardless of the terrain underfoot. Grass, sand, pebbles, cobbles, pavement could all be reproduced to give a sprung-spruce feel to the step. I have no idea why this was a good idea nor why it has never caught on. He went back to America where I guess he made his fortune or returned to the hills.
I had some Nike running shoes that had the hole for the sensor. Seemed a perfectly sensible way of measuring stuff at the far end of your leg, but no, it got discontinued. Looks like my phone just guesses now.
Luckily, I was disillusioned by "Smart" gadgets years ago because of those smart ties that were just different coloured chocolates and not self-knotting nooses.