Posts by badgames

Insteon's vanishing act explained: Smart home biz insolvent, sells off assets

A little true background on Insteon

Insteon has been around for a looonnng time, since well before anyone thought of IoT. I'm sorry that they have gone under, the loss of their server for the Insteon Hub is only a minor impediment. Most people who have used Insteon devices have also used one of the non-web dependent hubs or computer software, though the devices were able to communicate and control each other without that, and certainly without the web (though it is nice to have that available to use VPN back to an intelligent hub/controller).

It is a powerline technology, like X10 was, but they also later implemented radio link as well, and unlike X10, had 2-way communication, instead of merely hoping that a command had been received. Most home automation wireless systems piggyback on the wifi bands, where wifi, bluetooth, microwave ovens, cordless phones, and too many other devices stomp all over each other. I forget what frequency Insteon used, but it isn't the wifi bands as I recall.

Hopefully the new owner will continue production and/or release sufficient information for others to produce the devices (Insteon only allowed a few other companies to produce devices, and I think then only with modules purchased from them). Configuration can be complex, but real applications of anything often are. So there is a lot to criticize them for, but IoT isn't really it.

Colonial Pipeline was looking to hire cybersecurity manager before ransomware attack shut down operations

Obliviousness of management

I worked in the electric utility industry on SCADA systems (power grid and generation control) and couldn't believe that they wanted management access into the SCADA system. Transfer as much data for analysis, playtime, etc. through one-way fiber (I don't hook up return line) to another system, but SCADA should be isolated, as should be any control system. Pointy hairs thought that was paranoid, but then they also wanted to run SCADA on Windows...

You can always rely on the Ancient Ones to cock things up

Re: Hmm...

I went to college in New Mexico and was exposed to mañana there and used to give friends static about it. At a later stage in my career, I worked for 3 years in Saudi Arabia (before coming back to New Mexico, 10 years in Arizona and 3 in Saudi, and I still like the desert, but it doesn't have to be quite so hot), and learned a new word there. In'shallah, which as I explained as I was apologizing to my Spanish (well, Spanglish really) speaking friends, had the same meaning as mañana, but without the sense of urgency that mañana conveyed, because God may never be willing.

This usually provoked gales of laughter...

You say I mustn’t write down my password? Let me make a note of that

Re: Clear Desk

I had a management type tell me that I should leave my desk clean back in the '80s, and that I shouldn't handle a piece of paper more than once. My response (since he wasn't MY manager) was that anything that required handling more than once wound up on my desk, and that if a cluttered desk signified a cluttered mind, then what did an empty desk signify?

Nice computers don’t need to go to the toilet, says Barclays

Re: Errrr?

I could almost understand people having problems with complicated or unusual names, but I do not understand the problems they have with mine. Very simple, composed of two very simple common words in English (any variety). The conversation goes like this:

Feckless: "Last name?"

Me: "Goodgame. Good game. Like football is a good game."

Feckless: "Thank you Mr. Goodyear/Goodman/Goodtame/Goodlame/Goodsomethingorother...

Of course there are the obvious variants that I now use as online handles, but used to distress me more in my youth.

FYI: Football where I come from is played by very large men with pads & helmets.

London cabbies to offer EVEN WORSE service in protest against Uber

Re: Change is not fair!

As far as satnav (GPS, etc.) goes, much as Conor says, you still need to exert your own intelligence and knowledge.

I did a trip over the holidays, and in order to allegedly save a few minutes in larger cities (Cincinnati, St. Louis, Denver) it seemed to go into 'tour slums' mode (old highways predating the interstates). I still haven't found where I can undo that setting. Had to put up with interminable suggestions to get off the interstates and on to surface streets, sometimes for as much as 60 miles (coming into St. Louis it was advised to go through East St. Louis on surface streets). Neighborhoods where if you get a flat you keep driving " 'cause rims are cheap."

Google Glass: Reg man tests tech specs

Re: Speech Recognition

@Spearchucker Jones

You were trying the wrong American dialect. Google and its Glass are from California.

The universal dialect for California, at least for younger members of the distaff crowd, is ValSpeak, like, you know. I have even heard that it is spreading across the country among young fems.

iFixit CEO launches open Toshiba service guide scheme

What is copyright for?

The originally expressed intent of copyright was to ensure that more material was available to the public, through compensation of the creators, by granting a temporary monopoly. Where something is withdrawn or otherwise unavailable, the copyright should evaporate. Nor should copyrights be in perpetuity (as they seem to be becoming in the US, especially if you are Disney).

I am not a freetard, I don't mind paying to support content, but I don't think copyright should be abused (in my view) to remove things from availability.

Bad software blamed for AT&T iPhone upload choke

Unlimited data?

AT&T has never had truly unlimited data plans. They had a plan that was advertised as unlimited, with a 5GB/mo cap in the fine print. The recent change to a 2GB/mo plan for $5 less is par for the course. I pray that the Verizon rumors that keep recurring are indicative of future events (and I have issues with Verizon too, just not as many as AT&T).

Amiga Forever updated for Windows 7

Commodore - good machines, horrible management

I started out with a Vic-20, moved up to a C-64, for which I wrote a floppy disk copier (there being nothing at the time to do that) discovered that there was a bug in the floppy disk drive firmware that shifted everything by one byte when it wrote the data out to the new floppy. After much swearing fixed that.

Moved up to C-128, bought newest double-sided floppy drive. After losing much data, discovered that firmware was again buggered, slightly bigger issue this time. While it would write to both sides of the floppy, it would only read from one side! Bought the PROMs (for both C128 and drive, grrrr), installed, tested, and put ad in paper to sell system next day. Swore I would never buy anything that Sam Tramiel had anything to do with ever again.

Watched the Amiga with envy, wanted to buy one, but only if Tramiel had been publicly staked to an ant hill, which never happened so I never bought an Amiga. Great looking machinery, totally untrustable company.

Another brilliant piece of technology that miscarried in the market for reasons other than tech. Tramiel deserves to be chased by a terminator.