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Comment Re:Not really "a radio" (Score 1) 93

Thread is the primary wireless protocol for the new smart home standard Matter

Which is actually incorrect. The primary wireless radio for Matter is WiFi. Wifi is far and away the most prevalent radio used in Matter devices.

In contrast, the primary use case for Thread is in Matter. Aside from a few Nest accessories, Thread was going nowhere in the consumer space. It is still problematic as Thread network conflicts are still common.

Comment Re: A question of fair use (Score 1) 157

You joke, but there was an article on how an adequately specific prompt could generate a "lossy" version of an image and that the prompt was always smaller than the image at the same compression loss. Of course, you had to have the several GB model, but with a large enough image library it becomes a storage savings.

Comment Re: It was dumb from the beginning (Score 2) 194

Hue was the first good multicolor LED bulb. The only way to have color control without a total home rewiring means you need wireless tech.

They were originally zigbeeLL devices in 2012. You could use something like HomeSeer or Wink as a multi-platform controller or use the Hue hub, which had a RESTful api and its cloud connection for remote access. (HomeAssistant was not released until a year later)

Then Philips/Signify slowly went evil. They broke compatibility with ZigbeeLL in different ways (had the hubs reject non-hue devices, made the bulbs out of spec so other hubs couldn't use them, etc) until they got called on it. Their zigbee stack got so janky that they have a (if not the only) "virus" in the zigbee realm. (It's more like a "contagious" buffer overrun, iirc)

Hue then started releasing non-zigbee devices (Bluetooth & wifi) which are easier to vertically integrate as the API is private.

Now they are using the apps as a way to force hub updates. This is much like a Wink "update" that added code requiring a subscription.

Zigbee devices can be moved to ther hubs but the Bluetooth & wifi ones are a whackamole game of Hue vs the reverse-engineers.

Comment Laptop makes more sense than mobiles (Score 1) 16

Phones and tablets have such limited capacity for structural elements that a moving component is just doomed to fragility. Laptops have a lot more space for bracing and decent rails. A laptop can absorb a few millimeters while that is a meaningful impact to a phone's thickness.

Comment Re:PostIt (Score 1) 187

I have recently started using Obsidian. It uses markdown, which are text files with some inline flags. I won't use something that has a proprietary file format or database. It has lists, headings, URLs, and basic multimedia support (pdf, images)
  It also uses a wiki style of links & backlinks so you can generate a graph of document relationships (and find unlinked/orphan documents)

There are an array of plugins to enable tables, various editors, task/to-do, calendaring, indexes, table of contents, etc.

I keep my data in Dropbox and use a sync app on various devices, rather than use their cloud solution.

Comment The best note system (Score 1) 31

I had multiple PalmOS devices (Palm III, Visor, Visor Edge, one of the color models I got for my now-spouse, then a couple of treos)

One of my favorite aspects was the add-on for the notes app that made it a Wiki. It was an excellent tool that allowed me to assemble a fairly extensive library of more or less self-organizing data. And it was easy to get to a PC.

Wiki-apps for phones still suck and none of them are good at synching to desktop.

Submission + - Wind replaces coal as main source of power in Germany 2

Qbertino writes: Heise.de, a Germann tech news publisher, reports that Wind has replaced Coal (Source in German) as main source of power in Germany. "[...] The share of renewable energies in the amount of electricity generated and fed into the grid domestically rose from 42.3 percent in 2019 to 47.0 percent last year. At 25.6 percent, wind power was the first renewable energy source to have the highest share of the amount of electricity fed into the grid in a given year, replacing coal as the most important energy source. In 2020, 5.4 percent more electricity was generated from wind power than in 2019, when the share had been 22.8 percent. [...]" (Sidenote: Paragraph translated by deepL in seconds, find it quite feasible as a German and English native speaker. Color me impressed.) This is not much to brag about yet, because Coal is still buffering large parts of the Nuclear Fission exit Germany is doing, but it's a good milestone. By and large the article concludes that Germany's exit from Nuclear Fission is going in the right direction.

Comment Crosstrain them like any other worker (Score 2) 343

It sounds like they still have responsibilities that need done.
If they quit/retire/fired you have a hole. How do you address that hole?

Cross training, right? So do that.
Train the "old Mac" or "old Linux" IT to do their tasks and vice versa.

Don't discount the ability to build IT good will; that is a skillsets and resource you don't want to squander. Even if their tech responsibilities are down to pushing the imager button and rebooting PCs and checking cables, odds are they have mastered the art of keeping your users happy.

Comment Don't put the Ts on the I (Score 1) 143

Use a video server like Blue Iris or a home automation gateway like Vera to provide a single T on the I for your remote viewing needs.

Use vera/homeseer/ISY for your home automation. Now you have at most 2 Ts on the I to worry about.

I have almost 2 dozen HA devices (locks, power outlets, switches, bulbs, thermostat, sensors) and only 2 IP addressable devices.

Comment Re: (sigh) You people still think you're engineer (Score 1) 734

That is a state by state problem.

In KY the PE is two part, the first is general engineering, covering the basics of all the fields reflecting that no one works in a vacuum. The second part is specific to a field.

I looked at a few newsletters I had and most of the enforcement actions wound up with agreements not to practice in the future without a license. Fines look to be limited to people doing engineering for money without a license. I don't see a single fine where money doesn't change hands, usually repeatedly.

Comment Re: (sigh) You people still think you're engineers (Score 1) 734

A Professional Engineering License is independent from education.

You can have an MSCE (Masters in Civil Engineering) and not be able to refer to yourself as an "engineer" in some states (apparently Oregon) . I know several people with MSCEs that aren't PEs.

  A certain level of education is required (varies by state and not all colleges are equal) to take the exams. I have a BSCE and my PE. I have reciprocity with a couple nearby states but if I head for earthquake or hurricane country I need a ton of specific coursework before I am qualified to sit for their exams. Rightly so, I might add, because I know jack about best practices for earthquake or hurricane resistant design.

Comment Old boys network at its worst (Score 5, Informative) 734

This is a travesty*, the shameful, traditional closing ranks of an organization to protect their own. He is lodging a complaint with the board about a potential safety issue. Even if his analysis was entirely without merit it deserves a more respectful response.

For the record: I am a licensed civil engineer (PE). I am no longer a practicing engineer (retired/inactive).

*I do think he should have gotten a note warning him about the legal ramifications of using the term "engineer". Most people don't know it requires licensing. Having a foreign engineering degree means he doesn't have any background with US licensing standards.

Even then it's stupid. Most of the engineers in the world are unlicensed. You only need a couple of PEs in most cases.

Of course these days the term is already worn as thin as kleenex and no stronger than jello. IMHO we (professional engineers) lost all claims of governance over the term "engineer" the day the engineering license boards didn't wage war over "sanitation engineer".

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