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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

#151

Post by imglorp »

owenmarshall wrote: post #149
imglorp wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The loss of DJs to syndicated formats was tragic. These folks are pros, with vast experience, and they can put together a show by theme, or to tell a story, or to set a mood, or to challenge you with some new things. Most of them now press the button on whatever they're told and read the title out. But, every once in a while they sneak in a late night show now, maybe when mgmt isn't looking. I wonder if this would be…

> I wonder if this would be a good format for streaming, like the old days but global, with a live DJ and fans interacting live. I have a great site for you: check out https://wfmu.org

Nice, and also https://radioparadise.com

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

#152

Post by roland35 »

delfinom wrote: post #150
roland35 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am all for dumb appliances over the current crop of "smart" appliances, but one feature I would LOVE would be some kind of sensor log of my refrigerator! This would help to know if the power went off while I was gone - did the temperature rise too much? That is all I need... The same would apply to other appliances and HVAC, just simple data to know everything is working correctly.

Just shove in a $10 zigbee temperature monitor.

I can't believe I haven't thought of that ha! I'll have to check it out - hopefully I can get a zigbee signal through the fridge itself (I am not sure if it is a Faraday cage or not)

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

#153

Post by falcolas »

davio wrote: post #136

Reminds me of the key programming method for my 2003 car: Sit in the driver seat of your G35. Close all of the car doors. Insert the key into the ignition then remove it. Repeat this process six times within 10 seconds. Watch for the emergency lights to flash on the car to indicate that programming mode is active.

Disabling seat belt alerts: Buckle and unbuckle the seat in question 25 consecutive times with no weight in the seat.

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

#154

Post by bryantraywick »

roland35 wrote: post #143
Talyen42 wrote: post #117

This is why I don't buy the "IoT smart home" future. There's no such thing as a "smart" device that doesn't typically break within 4-5 years. Dozens of such devices in a house means you'd be dealing with a broken device every few months, which is my nightmare. I want the LEAST amount of complexity possible to control all my critical living functions, from fridges to windows to lights to cars.

I am all for dumb appliances over the current crop of "smart" appliances, but one feature I would LOVE would be some kind of sensor log of my refrigerator! This would help to know if the power went off while I was gone - did the temperature rise too much? That is all I need... The same would apply to other appliances and HVAC, just simple data to know everything is working correctly.

The fridge is trickier, but for your freezer fill a small plastic cup with water and let it freeze. Then place a penny on top of it. If it gets warm enough for the water to melt the penny will drop.

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

#156

Post by DJHenk »

sumedh wrote: post #137
nradov wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You never been in bed and then remembered to turn off the light in some other room?

No?

Well, maybe I have done that somewhere in the past ten years. If that's the case then I probably got out of bed, turned it off and went back to bed again. And immediately forgot that it happened, because it is only a very minor inconvenience. Really a lot less hassle than dealing with this IoT tech.

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

#157

Post by vinaypai »

acd wrote: post #21

If you have kids they play with turning the light switch on and off. So I can see the need not to reset by accident. A simpler solution is to have ordinary plain light bulbs. Probably friendlier to the environment due to less electronics. It’s hard to hack ordinary light bulbs so they are secure. Reset button makes sense though. Reset button are costlier for bill of materials so manufacturers save on that.

So if you have this installed in a ceiling fixture, you have to get a ladder, take off the shade, hope the bulb happens to be oriented the right way in the light fixture for you to access the switch.

Or, you could play that video and follow along and flip a switch a few times.

Which one sounds like a better UX?

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

#158

Post by Junk_Collector »

roland35 wrote: post #143
Talyen42 wrote: post #117

This is why I don't buy the "IoT smart home" future. There's no such thing as a "smart" device that doesn't typically break within 4-5 years. Dozens of such devices in a house means you'd be dealing with a broken device every few months, which is my nightmare. I want the LEAST amount of complexity possible to control all my critical living functions, from fridges to windows to lights to cars.

I am all for dumb appliances over the current crop of "smart" appliances, but one feature I would LOVE would be some kind of sensor log of my refrigerator! This would help to know if the power went off while I was gone - did the temperature rise too much? That is all I need... The same would apply to other appliances and HVAC, just simple data to know everything is working correctly.

You could do this today without any sort of "smart" appliance for about $1.00, $50 if you are being lazy. Just get a super simple micro-controller and radio on a board and throw it into your fridge. Have it record the temperature at a regular interval into a ring buffer and poll it periodically from a chron script. Get your power from the light switch in the fridge door. Alternatively, a Li-po or Li-ion battery can last an extremely lond time powering a little micro in a refrigerator. If you put a $0.02 photo diode on it, you could also track how often the door is open.

If you went the full on $50 route and bought a pre-integrated board with wifi and a full linux stack, you could even have a push notification to twitter or email or whatever when the temperature goes out of spec.

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

#159

Post by vinaypai »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #59
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.

IKEA just has a turn off and on 6 times and it works well. Takes under two seconds.

Yeah, for the toddler who just discovered light switches.

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

#160

Post by vinaypai »

tiborsaas wrote: post #43
kstenerud wrote: post #32

This is mind bogglingly silly. Just do this: On-off a bunch of times puts the bulb into a receptive state for 30 seconds, where it will stop everything else (other than the light being on) and listen for admin commands from a controller, one of which is "reset". Kids messing with the lights? If no admin command gets sent, it returns to normal operation after 30 seconds. Problem solved.

It's not about about technical problem that's idiotic, any HN reader could solve this way better. Imagine the bureaucracy and processes at GE that let this product to production. How many eyes looked at it and thought it's a good idea? It even went through a firmware refresh :) This will be an iconic product of the IoT era, not it a good way of course.

> any HN reader could solve this way better

This thread is full of dumb ideas that don't hold up to two seconds of scrutiny.

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