Panq

joined 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I've had a Chromecast and not apple tv and its quite decent.

The main thing that bugs me about my Chromecast is the gradual loss of functionality over time, presumably as a part of planned obsolescence or deliberately crippling features to make you pay for premium options.

Next time I need to replace/upgrade something, I think I'm just going to skip streaming at all and just hide a full desktop somewhere and pirate everything.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I'm thinking I might go without PoE and just meet my current need, then add a PoE switch to support cameras if or when I get them.

That's more or less what I did when the dirt cheap AliExpress cameras died - just got a PoE switch from PB Tech and a small pile of Reolink cameras (RLC810A). Definitely the best value-for-money, and works well with Home Assistant. Way better than those stupid splitters or having a pile of individual POE injectors.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

The kind without pedals? "Balance bike" for the modern version kids use, or "Hobby horse" (I think) for the historical version that pre-dates pedal bikes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Does the insurance cover a rental while waiting on repairs?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

How many people actually want curved walls though?

People who hire fancy architects. Not people who have to work for a living.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It depends on what you're building. If you want a normal rectangular house, 3D printing will be incredibly inefficient and pointless compared to traditional framing techniques.

On the other hand, if you want curved walls, traditional framing becomes incredibly complex and expensive, whereas 3D printing takes exactly the same materials and labour regardless.

I think 3D printing an entire house is just a gimmick, but it will still be an incredibly useful tool, even if only used for simple things like making rounded foundation pads or retaining walls that follow the landscape or curved hallways connecting modular buildings.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Having some word or phrase marking the end of a request makes the voice recognition a little more reliable. It doesn't have to be polite, but being polite when it's totally unnecessary is a good habit to build.

"Do X please" makes it unambiguously clear (to a machine) where the end of the request is, whereas "Please do X" is mostly pointless.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 years ago

Pipe dream, but I really wish we would make it illegal to use the terms "Buy" or "Own" for digital goods that can at some point not exist outside of your control.

I give you a dollar and get a DRM-free video file? That is buying.

I give you a dollar and can watch a video file an unlimited number of times in your app? That is not buying, and it should be fraud to claim that it is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Are they offering complimentary doctors visits if you register as being too warm?

Nah, the other kind of infrared sensor (i.e. just using movement to detect if you're there).

They could be part of a totally innocent turn-the-lights-off-when-nobody-is-working system that doesn't track individual users or log data. They could also be part of a log-how-much-time-you-spend-on-the-toilet system.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Anyone with some experience with something like this?

I had a leak in January that perfectly lined up with an actual reading. The estimated bill afterward was so high that the next actual reading was a few hundred dollars into the negative. I'd paid it because I wasn't sure if their leak allowance would cover it, but it did so we haven't had to pay again since, which is nice I guess.

Pretty sure we'll be back up to zero dollars this month.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Do you think your company would give you 5 weeks off ?

I just asked for an extra week of annual leave instead of a tiny annual payrise back in the early days of COVID and they didn't even bat an eye.

Assuming you have the ability to unpaid leave once your four weeks are used up, five weeks is the equivalent of a ~1.9% pay rise. It's a trivial cost in and of itself, though that is ignoring those jobs which are difficult to find cover for and might need hiring a temp or similar overheads.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

That's a huge part of why we have 8 hour days/40 hour weeks/paid break times/etc. It's less about workers' rights, and more about folks being more productive when not overworked.

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