Recent content by kigmatzomat

The Pebble got 7 day battery life with apps and hundreds of watch faces. it didn't have cellular or gps and used ultra-low energy always-on e-ink/e-paper displays. Those displays were fuzzier a decade ago but now they are much higher res, have better contrast and colors are brighter.

The Android release after mine stops getting major updates. (Or if I drop it down a set of stairs) (or security updates get sketchy....looking at you, moto) Note2 Jellybean - KitKat G3 .... Marshmallow Moto ZPlay ....Oreo (other than stairs) Moto X4 (...Pi9) Samsung A50 may get 11 At the...

I have multiple backups. I use google to backup photos at lower res. Dropbox (paid 2TB) has all full-quality photos, music, docs, etc. My laptop syncs to dropbox which then syncs with a NAS that has RAID1. The NAS has a second partition that has no users with write access, and a nightly...

I just don't like the Apple design paradigm. I have supported multiple iterations of Mac operating systems and the way they structure the settings is consistent and not irrational but entirely unintuitive to me. Its like a foreign language that never clicks. I have administered servers...

Here's the deal on smart home gear: there is always a controller. The question is: do you own it or just borrow it? If you can't point to a thing you control that operates when the internet is severed, you are borrowing someone else's controller. There is nothing that ensures it will work the...

(thread necromancy) I don't understand why people want to use IFTTT-based tech. It's a company with no revenue stream currently spending investor money to achieve a state of dominance in the iot world, at which point it will demand revenues from someone. Scenario A, they charge users and you...

When using your headphones, what are you listening too? Downloaded music or streaming? A poor network plus streaming audio ==battery killer. I tend to listen to 2-5hrs of downloaded podcasts over bt headphones, 3-4hrs SoT and have 55% battery after 16hrs off charger. I would second looking...

You can do all that with Vera.... But I wouldn't. Certain functions are sufficiently complex that they need their own solution. Security systems, video cameras and automation should work together but be separate platforms. Most automation systems aren't as reliable as a security system has to...

What BT devices do you have connected? I have a Pebble connected 24/7, a set of moto s305 headphones that are linked up most of the work day, and the stereo in my car on the commute and I have no significant battery drain. (Typically @55% battery remaining w 3-4hrs screen-on @ 16hrs off charger)

I find the Z Play camera adequate. My LG G3 took better shots IMHO. It launches fast, which is a plus, and the twist action generally works but the vol-down to launch camera on the G3 was a bit more trustworthy.

I cast "thread Necromancy"! I have a VeraPlus. It controls my iris/zwave thermostat, my pipe heaters, a set of hue bulbs, two zwave locks, a garage door controller, three appliance modules, and a doorbell/mp3 player. It has motion/temp sensors inside and outside, several door sensors, a smoke...

Did you get this figured out? I was wondering if you were one of the people hit by the Facebook server-side bug that was making the clients refresh every 2 seconds.

Here is the anandtech shootout. They mostly ranked the motos as zForce #1, ZPlay #2, Z #3. Photo Quality & Final Words - Moto Z Hasselblad True Zoom Mod: Camera Shootout I will say my wife finds her s7 to be inferior to her s5, which seems insane, but the s7 seems to have more lag or a slower...

What bt devices do you have? I have a Pebble all the time plus either bt headphones, my car or echo connected. Generally BT usage is 1-2%. My typical end-of-day is 4hrs screen on and @60% battery remaining.

Good to know. If I install that before my wife notices she'll never know the difference.