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GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

theregister.co.uk

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Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#81

Post by dmix »

Causality1 wrote: post #22
dangrossman wrote: post #12

The process is the same for my Cree Connected bulbs and my GE Link bulbs, except a bit shorter (2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, repeat 4-5x). I was able to reset a dozen bulbs in just a few minutes, to pair them with a new hub, by just flicking the light switches (that control banks of bulbs each) without removing the bulbs. Having to remove each bulb and individually reset it with a paperclip would be less convenient.

There is no reason you couldn't have both options.

..or a less lengthy procedure

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#82

Post by ses1984 »

pdkl95 wrote: post #67
Nokinside wrote: post #47

I had a chat with Japanese lifestyle management consultant for the rich recently. In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Today networking and automating the house is so affordable that it's not signalling luxury lifestyle. Apparently doing simple mundane tasks gracefully and carefully without feeling irritated is quickly becoming a way to signal to…

> In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Nonsense. X10 devices cost a bit more than regular outlets/switches/fixtures, but not much more. I know many people that added dimmers/timers/remote-control to their lights for a few hundred dollars in the late-80s/90s. Home automation has been a solved problem with cheap and easy solutions for decades.

Solved for me, the expert, but not solved for thee, the lay person.

Even if this was technically within financial reach, my personal experience was that the knowledge of how to do it was intentionally obfuscated because installers wanted to make money.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#83

Post by dominicr »

undecisive wrote: post #76
krapp wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Assuming you would have to unscrew the bulb to get to the reset, which seems likely, yes it would be perfectly safe.

Ah, so you're thinking a switch that you depress, and stays depressed until you screw it back in? I guess that could work. I still don't have enough faith in humanity that someone might ignore the instructions and start poking around the electrical socket with a metal paperclip though...

Yep, this is people we're talking about! They'd be balancing 2 chairs on each other whilst randomly stabbing a paper clip in the direction of the bulb's screw, with the power on to be sure it worked! Product designers have to design for the stupidest of us.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#84

Post by mkl »

undecisive wrote: post #76
krapp wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Assuming you would have to unscrew the bulb to get to the reset, which seems likely, yes it would be perfectly safe.

Ah, so you're thinking a switch that you depress, and stays depressed until you screw it back in? I guess that could work. I still don't have enough faith in humanity that someone might ignore the instructions and start poking around the electrical socket with a metal paperclip though...

I don't think it would need to be that complicated. Just a hole to put a paperclip into that completes a circuit and, I don't know, discharges a capacitor or uses one to clear something.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#85

Post by wallace_f »

acupofnope wrote: post #53
perfunctory wrote: post #41

At the current level of economic and technological development we could all be working fifteen hours a week and still have a great life [0]. Instead we keep ourselves busy designing "smart light bulb reset process", producing instructional videos about that process, watching instructional videos, and being frustrated when it eventually doesn't work. [0] http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf

Where do you live that your can afford a 15-hour week without worrying about rent, food,..etc?

I think he means if humans were rational and enlightened.

Note: the world started producing a surplus of food a while ago, and still we let many starve, and even today many people live with shortages and food insecurity.

Honestly, if you take a step back and look, a large portion of our economy are just bullshit jobs, or outright cronyism.

I mean, I worked in private sector fin tech (nothing fancy, more-pedestrian stuff) and I'm extremely confident we contributed close to nothing to society, while making good money. Some other work experience was with consulting government and that was just complete bullshit. Then there's books written on the "Rise of the Healthcare Administrator," which correctly point out their numbers have grown by 1-2 orders of magnitude while healthcare costs are up, quality is questionable and by the way, shouldn't technology have the opposite result? And finally, I'm not surprised to see GE as the culprit here. I know they have some brilliant groups, but that company is also infected with crazy politics and insanity from within.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#86

Post by serpix »

acupofnope wrote: post #53
perfunctory wrote: post #41

At the current level of economic and technological development we could all be working fifteen hours a week and still have a great life [0]. Instead we keep ourselves busy designing "smart light bulb reset process", producing instructional videos about that process, watching instructional videos, and being frustrated when it eventually doesn't work. [0] http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf

Where do you live that your can afford a 15-hour week without worrying about rent, food,..etc?

just think about it. Factories produce with near zero human muscle costs endless supplies of goods that take care of all our vital needs. With a tiny little effort we could almost entirely automate food production. The way it is currently set up is because of the invention of money and ownership we are in a false sense of lacking something. We lack nothing anymore. In reality there is no lack, hasn't been since the invention of factories and farm machines.

Alan Watts predicted our overabundance of goods in the sixties and the problems we will face (and are facing).

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/alan-watts-basic-...

The bottom line is:

who should pay for the basic income?

machines. they do it already.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#87

Post by pdkl95 »

Nokinside wrote: post #74
pdkl95 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Nonsense. X10 devices cost a bit more than regular outlets/switches/fixtures, but not much more. I know many people that added dimmers/timers/remote-control to their lights for a few hundred dollars in the late-80s/90s. Home automation has been a solved problem with cheap and easy solutions for decades.

It was way more than just the lights. He had originally something like 50 NT-servers managing his mansion. You could wear a pin that indicated your location. Light, sound system, climate would adjust to your preferences as you moved.

Some of that automation might have needed servers to control, I was referring primarily to the "automatically adjusting lights", which hasn't been a luxury feature for a long time, even in Gates' house.

> 50 NT-servers

That was mostly Gates "eating his own dog food"[1]. Using anything other than NT could have been bad optics.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#88

Post by ewoodrich »

nradov wrote: post #48
huseyinkeles wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I had to upgrade the firmware on my smart lightbulbs, it was so weird. But you get used to it! And I think they were one of the best purchases I did to be honest. Some features I love; # When I come to my home during the evening, lights are automatically turned on. # When I leave my place, they automatically turn off. # You can set up alarms, like 30 minutes before my alarm goes off in the morning, lig…

Perhaps I'm missing something but why would I want any of that? It all seems annoying and useless.

If you don't want it that's totally fine. That doesn't mean that some people (including myself) find it incredibly convenient to be able to control lights on a schedule, or by voice, even if you didn't set it in advance (as would be required for a traditional mechanical switch).

No one is forced to buy this type of smart bulb.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#89

Post by grenoire »

dominicr wrote: post #78

"For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button" Well, there might be some good reasons not to have a reset button. Without knowing GE's reasons let's brainstorm: - My first thought is that many light bulbs are not easily accessible. They could be high up, or in a casing that requires a tool to open. So being able to reset them remotely is a practical benefit. - If you google "accidents whilst cha…

None of these make a physical and digital reset together impossible.

Re: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece of modern techno-insanity

#90

Post by gus_massa »

undecisive wrote: post #68

> For some reason, GE decided not to install a physical reset button – you know, one of those tiny holes that you have to stick a pin or paperclip into. Hmmm... Nope, I can't see a problem with getting people to stick a paperclip into holes around mains electricity! Sounds perfectly safe. Seriously though, this is bonkers. Power cycling patterns are by far the best method for initiating a reset - and no, sending a re…

> e.g. on-off 5 times with no more than 5 seconds in either state

Until you get a small kid that has just learned how light switches work, probably around 2 or 3 years.

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