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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

#91

Post by tompccs »

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…

The fact that there is a logical chain of engineering considerations that got us to this point I take as granted (yes, the article thinks it could have been done better but, as you point out, there are safety problems).

But our world is becoming more and more like a Doglas Adams novel - I seem to remember in one of the H2G2 books that they considered their civilisation so advanced that they did away with TV remotes, and the TV could detect that you wanted to change channel when you make a gesture. The upshot being that if you didn't want the channel to change or the volume to suddenly shoot up, you had to sit completely rigidly still for the duration of your programme.

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

#92

Post by serpix »

hmd_imputer wrote: post #69
soufron wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in Europe, you can.

no, you cannot. Not everyone can. At least, not in Germany. People pay 60% of their net income to rent while working 40 hours a week. How do you expect the rent to be paid with just 15 hours of work per week in Germany?

The big con is working 40 hours a week to afford to rent/own/buy a place to live so you can continue working said 40 hours a week.

Cut it to 15, move to cheaper residence and cut out gadgets, buying useless shit and owning lots of things. This frees up huge chunks of time and creativity and freedom. The freedom you thought you were working towards toiling 40 hours of your life per week.

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

#94

Post by r3bl »

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…

> and no, sending a reset command via apps is not feasible (what if you've lost the account password and you've accidentally paired it to your neighbours wifi?)

Hubs save all the pain with smart lighting system. No need for an account, system works locally. If you wanna control them remotely, you can (but you don't have to). Connected to the wrong wifi? Reset a hub instead of individual bulbs. You pair bulbs with hubs and have just one device spamming traffic to your router.

Ikea and Philips Hue seem to be the only systems that got this solution down properly.

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

#95

Post by alkonaut »

Smart bulbs are near useless tech behind dumb switches anyway. You have a light connected to an app but 50/50 chance that the last person left the switch in the right position for the bulb to get power at all.

It might be possible to install return springs in the switches I’m not sure?

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

#96

Post by heavenlyblue »

tompccs wrote: post #91
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…

The fact that there is a logical chain of engineering considerations that got us to this point I take as granted (yes, the article thinks it could have been done better but, as you point out, there are safety problems). But our world is becoming more and more like a Doglas Adams novel - I seem to remember in one of the H2G2 books that they considered their civilisation so advanced that they did away with TV remotes,…

I kind of do that to Spotify - I have to listen to tracks I don't necessarily like so that their suggestion mechanism would stop pushing me the same stuff I had already listened to.

PS: That being said, I would still listen to stuff I don't like to discover something, but that's beyond the point - wasn't automation supposed to make our lives better in some way? :)

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

#97

Post by heavenlyblue »

gus_massa wrote: post #90
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.

I'm 28 and still enjoy doing that.

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

#98

Post by Phillipharryt »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #23
inamberclad wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reset all the bulbs in a room at once.

So one should expect many bulbs to need resetting at once? I would hope the need for resets would be very sporadic.

Well I would assume if you find yourself in a situation you need to reset a lightbulb in a light fitting, it's likely you would need to reset them all seeing as they're all being used for the same purpose/connecting to the same network.

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

#99

Post by Phillipharryt »

m-ee wrote: post #16
Hinrik wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> allows you to reset bulbs in hard-to-reach places

They didn't have to remove the switch to do that

This way the bulb only has one form of input, current. It is far more basic and probably cheaper that way.

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

#100

Post by Phillipharryt »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #24
Phillipharryt wrote: post #3

I remember this being brought up on reddit. Yes it's ridiculously lengthy, but having a procedure instead of a reset button is actually a smart idea. So they've taken a kernel of a good idea and went overboard on trying to protect users from accidentally resetting. Having a procedure allows you to reset bulbs in hard-to-reach places or a whole set of lights in one room can be reset using the one lightswitch.

Imagine if your phone needed a factory reset after getting malware and the procedure meant the all the phones in the family got a factory reset, does that seem convenient?

This is a terrible analogy and I hope you see that. They are completely different use cases. Do you have your family phones situated in your ceiling all linked together in a fitting? This procedure is inconvenient, but the idea of using a procedure is very smart.
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