I've recently started to play around with ESP32-based Tasmota-compatible devices.

https://tasmota.github.io/docs...

https://templates.blakadder.co...

What I like about it is that there's no single point of failure in a central server (even if it's some relatively reliable RasPi or something). If I have a switch, it talks directly to whatever device it controls and so on. Builtin capabilities for device groups, synced across local multicasting.

If needed, I *can* build a "Dashboard" of sorts, but it would instead be a bunch of embedded frames grabbing data from each device individually.

Having a proper MQTT broker (like Home Assistant) does give you much better out-of-the-box experience and probably simpler setup, but I like having more distributed "smartness" for my appliances.

And yeah, everything is local and confined to a single Wifi SSID/VLAN.

The starting fires part could be plausible if there's some equipment full of dust and cobwebs and then you have a hot compressor running on a continuous cycle and it becomes hot (or just starts burning by itself from the exertion).

But in that case the food would be even frozen and temp inside even more cold with thermostat no longer cutting the cooling cycle. I doubt that even commercial fridges or freezers have heat pumps in them so that you can turn them into heaters.

Unfortunately, CustomCSS is dead. See announcement:

https://github.com/Aris-t2/Cus...

It still worked for me perfectly with the previous Firefox ESR (140.x), but with 153.x I suddelny got my search box (yes I want a separate search box, not automatic search from the url bar!) with double line spacing. No other issues though.

The announcement has a couple of other recommended projects as suggested migration paths.

Get locally produced stuff instead of imported ones from overseas. "Local" does not necessarily mean like from nearby farm, but whatever has minimal time spent in logistics.

Problem with shipping fruit from faraway places is that they are typically picked raw, and then they ripen during the months they spend in a shipping container and finally get an artificial ripening (e.g. with ethylene gas) at the end of journey. Of course they do not have nutrients or taste.

Just wondering, since related topic is Tesla FSD. EU is right now debating on whether to allow FSD across all member states. Some member states have permitted it already, but the big decision is still to be made. There's an interesting report from Belgium where Tesla FSD decided to disobey traffic laws around pedestrian/cyclist zones (going 50 kph in 20/30 kph zones, overtaking cyclists in bicycle lanes, etc).

https://www.johanna.be/images/...

Results start on page 12, but summary include the nice snippet

"Performance in home zones was similarly concerning. Of the 12 tested home zones, FSD exceeded the 20 km/h legal limit in five cases (42%), averaging approximately 26 km/h. In two-thirds of the tested locations, the system incorrectly isplayed a higher speed limit, typically 30 km/h or 50 km/h. Given that home zones are specifically designed as shared spaces here pedestrians, including children, may occupy the full width of the street, these findings raise significant safety concerns."

So yeah, I'll just drive myself unless car manufacturer assumes full liability when it decides to run over some kid on their bicycle.

Seriously, there's a ton of articles about this, but here's a link directly from Google:

https://support.google.com/and...

Steps 1 & 2 are for the one-time 24-hour cooloff, step 3 is just like before. Oh and note 2e: "After the security delay is complete, you can choose whether to keep the advanced flow on for seven days or indefinitely."

What on earth are you talking about?

As others have already said, you need to give *one-time* permission to sideload. The only question asked is if you want to allow sideloading forever or for 7 days. Those are the timeframe choices. It's not for every single app.

So, get a new phone, go through the menus, allow sideloading, allow forever, reboot phone, 24 hours later you can install whatever APKs you want.

Ok, sorry, but while I get the initial backlash for when Google was going full Apple-style walled garden, the new approach where you need to *one time* enable "yes, allow sideloading" after you get your device (and wait 24 hours) is just fine.

The 24-hour waiting period is exactly for those scammer cases where they ask you to "download and install random APK from some https://scammers.are.us/0wned.... real fast or your money is gone, emergency!" - it stops those.

Of course Google can change those terms later, but at that point you might as well install Lineage or Graphene (or get Jolla phone and use Sailfish - they have launched new product just recently). For now that *one-time* 24-hour waiting period is just fine and I really don't get the complaints apart from some scaremongering about "they'll try to lock it up again in a few years". Ok, and then what? It's not like those heavier options for degooglefying are going away?

Well, there *is* the Ford argument ("If I had asked what customers want, they would have said faster horses") so sometimes new tech will find it's uses.

Sometimes "world is not ready" - product comes along that doesn't really take off, but a decade or two later someone makes a cheaper and more polished version that sells like hotcakes.

And sometimes it's just crap being pushed out with the grand thought of "if you build it, they will come". Who remembers all the stuff that poured forth 25 years ago with the dotcom bubble? LGR ( https://www.youtube.com/@LGR ) likes to sometimes videos out of them.

But yeah, for this one my guess is that this is a solution looking for a problem. Considering that AI-generated porn hasn't really taken over human actresses despite that industry usually being in forefront of all kinds of tech, I wouldn't bet on this one either.

They are a *bit* more sophisticated than that. Basically, they are saying "here's a ZIP, it's just a git repository" - essentially, they are saying that here's a git bundle for you (instead of exposing that to Internet and asking you to do a git clone).

What happens then is that you unpack that repository, do your changes, and then do a git commit for the "assignment" they put up for posterity.

But then the pre-commit hook that they have configured fires and runs some binary blob that was included in the repository. This would of course not happen with a git clone, but when you just download an innocent-looking ZIP that has a src/ and .git/ subdirectories and git log shows "Version for applicant interviews"...you might be fooled.

So it's not just "yeah download this .EXE and allow it to run as admin okthxbye".

For rooftop solar, I have to get an inverter that does Phase-locked loop and matches the power coming in from the grid. Do these "balcony" solar panels have integrated inverter that does that?

Also, how much can you really run through NEMA wall sockets, that are notoriously bad design (compared to e.g. Schuko)? How is safety handled, e.g. an electrician comes to visit and turns off the fuses at junction box and then gets zapped because you forgot to unplug the solar panel?

It would be one thing if the current administration would have been...you know, even *somewhat* competent. However, when they have in two years managed to do so much harm to American voter even in red states, something might just happen in midterms.

If they had just done all the things with a bit slower pace, things might be much different. You know, just push the tariffs in in a bit more phased rollout instead of tariffing some penguins. Actually planning the action in Iran properly. Being a little less drastic with DOGE and ICE. Boiling frog metaphor and all that.

For the rest of the world...well, win some, lose some. I find it rather ironic that the Mr. Trump, a staunch supporter of big oil/coal, may have pushed the world to get rid of fossil fuels much faster than previously anticipated. Everyone and their dog seems to be getting an EV, and even used EVs have started *gaining* in value despite decade old battery tech. Would be rather delicious irony that by sheer incompetence a staunch anti-environmentalist would cause the world to make a huge paradigm shift. Same as what happened in the 70's oil crisis and the adaptation of all kinds of fuel saving engine designs. This combined with Ukraine bombing the shit out of Russian oil sources and refineries might seal the deal.

In other news, VAG group (VW, Seat, Cupra, Skoda, Audi) seems to be going into completely different direction. I placed my order for ID.Polo the moment the orders opened back at the end of April.

And others seem to agree - the MEB Entry family (Cupra Raval / ID.Polo for hatchback and ID.Cross/Skoda Epiq) have already 80000+ orders in a few months - many for people who have not even been able to test drive the car.

Reviewers seem to agree, and when I look at the car I'm absolutely certain I'm going to enjoy it when I get it this October.

For example, here's one. Fast forward to 5:30 to see interior stuff (including the darn buttons!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

The other car in the family, Cupra Raval was also an option for me, but since VAG decided that temperature controls in those would still be sliders (even if other stuff still has buttons), I went with Polo.

Xylitol has been *very* much promoted at least here in Finland as being good for your teeth. They basically hand out Xylitol gums for kids at every dentist visit and even at school lunches sometimes. Effect is basically that it starves cavity-causing bacteria in your mouth.

So I guess...chew your Xylitol gum, but spit it out afterwards!

Pretty obvious conclusion really.