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Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

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351–360 of 410 posts

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#351
post #151

It's incredibly annoying that you can't use your APPLE iPhone camera as a webcam for your APPLE Macbook, but instead are forced to use the atrociously terrible cam that comes with the Macbook. I've tried workarounds using the excellent OSB, but there's currently no software that let's you reroute video on a Mac (like Loopback does for audio) EDIT: I stand corrected, as user wolfhumble points out below, EpocCam seems…

I've tried three different video streaming apps for iOS, and they all had issues with drifting. Not sure if it's been fixed.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#352

Also Chromebooks. Seems like everyone is grabbing them for their kids since that's what schools have been using. Just getting a couple of them for my kids involved paying half again as much as the same ones were going for a month ago, and two involuntary canceled orders. Fingers crossed that Best Buy won't cancel again on the ones that I'm supposed to pick up on Friday.

Chromebooks were heavily impacted by Wuhan supply chain issues. There was zero inventory of devices with FHD screens 6 weeks ago, now big schools are ordering thousands of the things.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#353
post #288
post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not touch a Wyze camera with a 10 foot pole. Given the recent enormous security breaches, the likely connections to the Chinese government, and the incredibly low price point, there are red flags waving everywhere. Read this blog series about Wyze, and then make up you mind if you are comfortable having that piece of hardware in your home. I think it is pretty clear the risks are not trivial. https://blog.12s…

Great write up. I agree I do not trust them very much and would not use them on a network that has internet access. They are a great cheap option when using their custom RTSP firmware with synology surveillance stations. I throw them on their own SSID that is isolated from other local networks and does not have internet access. The SS can reach into their network but they can't initiate connections out. Still they br…

I don't think that was a great write up. I'm no panda-hugger but I was hoping for evidence/walk-through for the following claims made in the article, and I didn't find any direct evidence in the article. Did I not read it closely enough? (Pretty sure the claims are made without support)

> Yi Camera is a front for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Full stop.

> Yi Cameras send all customer data to Xiaomi as I have previously claimed with Wyze.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#354

It looks like you can take a Raspberry Pi (Zero variant or 3A+ should all work since they support gadget mode) with camera module and have it behave as a USB webcam. https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148361 I haven't tried this, but will ask one of our team to give it a go and confirm - that would make a more affordable option around £40 or so. Disclaimer: Co-founder of Pimoroni (Raspberry Pi re-sell…

If you guys can post a good working tutorial for the Zero W, it would be very much appreciated and I'll definitely be placing an order for a camera with you.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how easy it is, if it takes 30 sec of cranking to switch heights I’d do it way less often. This also goes for those irritating slow electric versions where you need to hold a button down for 30 sec.

The model I used had no crank at all, just levers to unlock hooks, and then you would move it to the desired height with the help of spring assistance. It was a Varidesk Pro Plus.

I have an Airtouch. Same idea but with air springs. Zap right to the height you want and get back to work.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#356
post #116

The webcam and video call market has stopped to improve like, 10 years ago. There's some exceptions, like the Brio, but they are worse and more expensive than a whole cheapo phone with 2 cameras. Overall we're mostly stuck with 1280x720 fixfoxus usb-2.0 crap. On the software side, things don't look better: UVC 1.5 finally does support hardware encode with bitrate control, but software support is scarce. Completely un…

Home broadband has not improved much in the past 10 years. Home users simply couldn't stream a 720p video back then and most still can't as of today. So there is no point in making higher resolution cameras, that won't run 5 frames per second. Besides, high-end phones have very good cameras nowadays but they sell for a $1000 and upward. The typical webcam budget is rather in the $20-30 range. If you're willing to put…

Really?

I've got 500/500 MBit/s at home. 10 years ago I had about 30, but even that is more than sufficient to stream high quality video.

And this is not a "first-world" country even.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I made my own standing desk using Ikea's LINNMON table (120x60)(cm) but you can pick your own tabletop and the adjustable OLOV legs (apologies for the caps). Total cost is around £€$75 (I am checking UK site). The annoying bit is that I cannot convert it easily. I need to remove everything from the table, turn it upside-down, change the length of the legs, and turn it back up. IKEA also has three "proper" standin…

The 'proper' IKEA standing desks you mention are all sold out here in Australia. I had a look at the OLOV legs but it looks like they only go up to 90cm.

I pulled them (OLOV) on their last dotted line, plus the 2.5cm of the table, that is good/tall enough for me. I also have a custom-made monitor stand (I used planks I found laying around). That adds another 9-10cm and I am using a 27" curved Samsung monitor that has its own tall stand. I'm 1.80 and that height works for me for eyes/elbows/keyboard/mouse (keyboard is a MS comfort curve 2000)(that also adds 1.5cm)

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I made my own standing desk using Ikea's LINNMON table (120x60)(cm) but you can pick your own tabletop and the adjustable OLOV legs (apologies for the caps). Total cost is around £€$75 (I am checking UK site). The annoying bit is that I cannot convert it easily. I need to remove everything from the table, turn it upside-down, change the length of the legs, and turn it back up. IKEA also has three "proper" standin…

Just tilt the table one way, put bricks under the legs, then tilt it the other way!

Apparently you don't have a dog or a child :)

I cannot stress enough how (especially) a standing desk needs to be super sturdy with children/dogs in the vicinity!!!

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#359

Why shouldn’t the price increase with a supply chain disruption and demand boom? Would you prefer a shortage with no incentive to increase production?

During a crisis the primary goal is maintaining societal stability. Exploiting the rich and the desperate deteriorates that stability. People would rather have a lottery than an auction in these scenarios.

I presume a shortage is far more destabilizing for the most essential things than a higher price.

Plus the government can act as a central buyer to back those who have the greatest needs. That and companies should be responsible for providing protection for employees

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feces comes in all manner of consistencies and textures. There is a range of consistencies for which bidets are wholly useless. Specifically, sticky ones. For these, you need friction from a solid, high-surface-area object. I'm sure you've had brown streaks inside the bowl that could not be removed in N flushes, but a simple toilet brush made quick work of the matter. To use your handwashing analogy, try removing cri…

If your bidet can't wash off some sticky feces, you simply have a weak bidet. That's one of the main instances where bidets are so nice instead of wiping and wiping.

A weak bidet... Or too many Quarter Pounders in your diet.
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