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I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

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Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#211

Post by xenophonf »

jzwinck wrote: post #200
Cerium wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in many hotels that required the key card to enable power to the room. Some hotels used a simple switch activated by presence of an object in the slot. Many could detect if the NFC tag key was present, but not read the value. Only a few I have seen actually verified that the key was the right key.

I've seen those too. They're quite inconvenient because they actively prevent you from charging your phone or laptop while out of the room. They should leave some marked outlets enabled but usually they only do so for the mini-fridge. And of course "fancy" places build that into a cabinet.

I usually have someone's business card on me, so I'll stick that in the card slot so that I can head to dinner while stuff recharges or the room cools down (for places where the A/C is tied to the same switch). I have yet to see one that's anything more than a simple mechanical switch.

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#213

Post by garethadams »

Kliment wrote: post #8
eloff wrote: post #5

Turning lights on at 3 a.m. is a nuisance. Knowing when lights go on and off can tell you when the people are not in their room - which could help if you wanted to break in and steal their stuff. Overall quite disconcerting how lax they are with security.

I think the implication was that some asshole can obtain photos of you sleeping by opening the curtains and switching on the lights in the middle of the night. A nuisance, sure, but also a massive violation of privacy.

Because of this[1] Chrome extension, I wasn't sure whether you were talking about Donald Trump

[1]: http://somerichasshole.com/

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#215

Post by zyxley »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #206

So sad. I find the mechanics here really challenging to overcome. The hotel management no doubt wants "really cool tech" for their hotel to show they are up to date etc. And they send out an RFQ which someone bids on, really cheaply. Knowing that by only doing the things the hotel asks for, they can throw something together quickly and cheaply for a big payday. This is exactly the mechanism that gets people in troubl…

> I learned that before that clause had been part of the standard contract, there had been a manufacturer who decided unilaterally that half of the noise suppression capacitors in the schematic were "unneeded."

I don't understand how putting that in the contract is supposed to help if the manufacturer being used is pulling stupid "you didn't say the product actually had to work" semantics games that would get them smacked in any reasonable court anyway.

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#216

Post by rhizome »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #206

So sad. I find the mechanics here really challenging to overcome. The hotel management no doubt wants "really cool tech" for their hotel to show they are up to date etc. And they send out an RFQ which someone bids on, really cheaply. Knowing that by only doing the things the hotel asks for, they can throw something together quickly and cheaply for a big payday. This is exactly the mechanism that gets people in troubl…

Hey, you said you just wanted a car, you didn't say anything about an engine.

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#218

Post by brbsix »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #206

So sad. I find the mechanics here really challenging to overcome. The hotel management no doubt wants "really cool tech" for their hotel to show they are up to date etc. And they send out an RFQ which someone bids on, really cheaply. Knowing that by only doing the things the hotel asks for, they can throw something together quickly and cheaply for a big payday. This is exactly the mechanism that gets people in troubl…

There are a few realms of business that seemingly necessitate such games. It's about as aggravating as can be imagined. I wish I knew a way around it. Different people? Closer aligned incentives? The cross-cultural aspects here make it especially difficult. You don't know what you don't know.

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#219

Post by Lawtonfogle »

zyxley wrote: post #215
ChuckMcM wrote: post #206

So sad. I find the mechanics here really challenging to overcome. The hotel management no doubt wants "really cool tech" for their hotel to show they are up to date etc. And they send out an RFQ which someone bids on, really cheaply. Knowing that by only doing the things the hotel asks for, they can throw something together quickly and cheaply for a big payday. This is exactly the mechanism that gets people in troubl…

> I learned that before that clause had been part of the standard contract, there had been a manufacturer who decided unilaterally that half of the noise suppression capacitors in the schematic were "unneeded." I don't understand how putting that in the contract is supposed to help if the manufacturer being used is pulling stupid "you didn't say the product actually had to work" semantics games that would get them sm…

Welcome to the world of law. Often I've seen it said that thinking like a software developer, looking for edge cases and such, will get you smacked down by a judge who doesn't let you just use loopholes. There is an XKCD about insurance law on this topic. But the reality is that a lot of loopholes do work, and have a better chance of working if you have a really good lawyer. Part of the equation is how charismatic a lawyer is and if they can pull up records of the loop hole happening in the past (assuming you are in a court that allows past rulings to have impact).

From what I've seen it is extremely arbitrary and is extremely frustrating. I was on a jury once, where one witness was told to tell only what they had heard/seen/etc. They would try to say "I heard so and so say such and such", and the other side would object. The judge would then say to tell only what you saw, heard, etc., not what other people did or said. And I'm sitting there thinking "But what that is exactly what they were trying to do!" (of course I couldn't say a single word for risk to my own safety).

Re: I stayed in a hotel with Android lightswitches and it was as bad as you'd think

#220

Post by syntheticnature »

jzwinck wrote: post #200
Cerium wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in many hotels that required the key card to enable power to the room. Some hotels used a simple switch activated by presence of an object in the slot. Many could detect if the NFC tag key was present, but not read the value. Only a few I have seen actually verified that the key was the right key.

I've seen those too. They're quite inconvenient because they actively prevent you from charging your phone or laptop while out of the room. They should leave some marked outlets enabled but usually they only do so for the mini-fridge. And of course "fancy" places build that into a cabinet.

The one I ran into that did that had an outlet that would work when out of the room... in the bathroom, for a rechargeable shaver, presumably. So my laptop got plugged in there...
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