A random thread for small computing things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Kim]

Tbh, I'm not convinced by voice control...

Ahh,  but you have full control of your limbs.  For all its current flaws and idiocies I can see it making life very, very much more bearable for someone who hasn't.  Don't much like the server based nature of it though.  Loss of privacy and all that.

Indeed.  $evilco Internet Of Shit tech has made voice controlled lightbulbs and the like affordable even by some of the disabled people who need it.

The best assistive technology is mainstream products whose assistive properties are largely coincidental.  See also: SMS, iThings, Garmin PE watches, Di2, Youtube, etc.


None of which makes speaking to computers any less wrong.  "Computer, end program."

[ian]

Well, you know I kinda meant I as in the singular me, didn't see the point of voice control, obviously there are wider benefits. We do have to balance those against the inevitable downfall of mankind. Though I suspect any AI that can automatically mute Donald Trump is welcome to be my machine overlord.

Actually, shouting 'MUTE' might be one of those use cases. And not just in the house. Nutter on the train. MUTE! Teenagers bereft of headphones listening to grime or drill or some shit on their tinny mobile phones...

I am impressed by tech that just works. When my phone, deeply ensconced in my bag in the porch where I've forgotten it, rings I can just answer it on my computer. And yes, despite my fear of talking to computers, it's quite nice to just tell Siri to answer it. Now if she'd deal with the phone call and attend all my meetings we'd really be getting somewhere. But I'll take what I can get.

The dictation feature on a Mac is very, very good. That said, I by far prefer to type and nudge the mouse around. If Amazon want to listen to me they're going to have to put up with me belting out Total Eclipse of the Heart with chilling regularity.

In other news, blimey some hifi bits are expensive. You can tell the market is middle-aged men with too much to spend. Hey wait, hold on...

[woollypigs]

Putting it in here as it a but random and don't need a whole new thread.

I got a ISP provide router, SKY, I understand that you can connect another router say a TP-Link to get even better wifi coverage. Any of you lot done that? If so what router do you recommend?

Neighbourhood is drowned other ISP/Routers on 2.4Ghz and one other than ours on 5Ghz. The two main computers in the house are on LAN else it is two mobiles, one laptop and a tablet that is turned on now and again. 

[ian]

Most routers have an access point mode, you just to google the instructions. I have a BT Hub and used to have an old Belkin ADSL router to broadcast extra wifi in my remote command centre, connected through a powerline adapter. Worked fine until the Belkin went bang a few weeks back. I found an older BT Hub in a box and now use that in the same role. Pretty painless, plug in a network cable, switch it to AP mode, name your wireless network and that's probably about it.

[woollypigs]

Yeah I got an idea how it would work It is more what gear to get as I don't have a spare laying about

[ian]

Well, you can buy a dedicated AP, though you'd probably pick up a second-hand router for peanuts – ISPs give them out with some regularity. No idea about models, I expect they're mostly the same chips under the bonnet.

[fuaran]

Using multiple access points doesn't really work in my experience. If you give them both the same SSID, devices will drop the connection as they switch between them, or stay connected to one, even if it is a weaker signal etc. You could give them separate SSIDs, but then you have to tell the devices to change networks.
A whole home wifi system should be better. Though probably much more expensive.

[ian]

I used to have one SSID across two boxes and it sort of worked without working very well. Two different SSIDs works a lot better. Generally, there's enough wifi from either box to get a connection, and devices will opt for the strongest when they initially connect. I just know I have to connect to the SSID covering my remote command centre when I'm in there.

Anyway, tonight I'm mulling over subscription music. Should I join the feckless and accept my music collection as an ephemeral expression of my exquisite bad taste or keep on filling hard drives with the stuff? I still haven't bought a funky speaker thing. That's in an advanced state of mulling. Probably for several weeks more, I got some travels coming up so it'll be a while before I can prod things in the shop. I have the attention span of a squirrel anyway so I might just, oh, is it beer time?

[tiermat]

I was discussing, yesterday, the AWS outage which affected Alexa this Wednesday just gone.

After a little search I found an article about it. I author pointed something out which made me smile.

On Alexa devices, the alarms are stored locally, so if the backend fails, the alarm will still go off.

However the voice commands are all cloud based.

So the alarm goes off, but you have no way of cancelling it!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not really sure if this belongs here or elsewhere, maybe in POBI even, but it's just been brought to my attention that the central police station in Wrocław, a city of about half a million in southwest Poland, is running Windows 95.

[Kim]

Using multiple access points doesn't really work in my experience. If you give them both the same SSID, devices will drop the connection as they switch between them, or stay connected to one, even if it is a weaker signal etc. You could give them separate SSIDs, but then you have to tell the devices to change networks.
A whole home wifi system should be better. Though probably much more expensive.

WiFi roaming (including persuading dual-band clients to use the 5GHz version of an AP) is a complete arse, and since the behaviour is mostly determined by the client, there's little you can do at the access point end to make it work properly - someone will inevitably come along with a device that doesn't want to play.  The standard bodge seems to be to configure the access points to be fussy about minimum received signal strength, so that clients get kicked and (hopefully) reconnect to one with a better signal, rather than clinging on for dear life.  Obviously this approach is contraindicated when trying to achieve maximum coverage with a minimum number of access points, and some clients are still prone to unhelpfully tearing down the interface and starting again (closing any open sockets in the process) when they roam.

There's a WiFi Roaming Fix app for Android that sorts it out at the client end, but that fails the user-having-to-care-about-network-infrastructure test.

[ian]

On the same SSIDs, iDevices would keep insisting on the wifi password as they move between wifi points, despite it (a) being the same password and (b) being saved in the keychain. Which was a pain in the arse and why I have two different SSIDs now.

[woollypigs]

Well you need to there is no way that even the best wifi routers without any interference, wall and such like can reach all the way out to the west wing of your house LOL
 

[T42]

Missus's Thunderbox had stopped downloading her mail so she followed the advice of a runner friend and updated her Ubuntu. Now Thunderbox works but her printers have pissed off into the middle distance. And strange but true, the shell interface tells me that pg does not exist.  My UNIX (yes, UNIX) savvy dates from the 80s but I thought pg was part of every distro/release/whatever. If so, there's something very wrong somewhere.

[Kim]

Try 'less' (which is more).  Though I've got pg on this Debian system, apparently as part of the util-linux package.  Surprised oohbunty doesn't have it.

[T42]

Gotcha, ta. Doesn't more go back to UNIX days, before pg I think?  I've always thought of pg as being new(er).

Still not sure what to do about the printers.  Hook 'em up to my machine and share them over the network, probably.

ETA: just checked: pg is included in Ubuntu. Sounds as if the environment settings got buggered or the installation wasn't completed. Oh fecking joy, all joys excelling...

[dave r]

I've treated myself, I now have a new printer, a HP Envy 4527, and its connected to my Ubuntu box wirelessly, I couldn't set it up from the computer but it connected easily working from the printer itself, though imputing the wireless password on the printer was decidedly fiddly, not only that but it connected easily to my tablet after I'd downloaded a pair of apps. I've just got to dispose of the old printer.

[ian]

I gave up and bought a pair of Sonos things with Alexa imprisoned inside. It's better, I believe, than keeping her in your car boot. I took the opportunity to test the volume on the staff of Dixons at the airport. It's amazing how fast you can make their sales minions scamper*.

I haven't got them yet, they're in the tender arms of the Royal Mail. I just thought you'd appreciate the update. I'm still not sure I'm ready to talk to computers. I don't much like talking to humans. I can apparently talk to my security cameras. Woot.

Actually, asking the time will be useful. The only clock we have in the living room adjusts it's time automatically based on magic devil rays. Except for every couple of days, it'll take a random time. No matter how many times I held it and looked puzzled, there appears to be no way to set it manually. Which means we exist in a state of chronological distrust. Sometimes it's non-obviously wrong. Sure, we could buy a clock that works. But I believe in dramatically overengineered solutions.

*ETA: it might have helped that I'd selected discotits to play. Hey, it's was their music.

[Mr Larrington]

I don't know what the daft buggers at SCS Software have done with their latest update, but when I am driving my virtual lorry down a virtual Danish motorway I want the virtual traffic to look a bit more realistic than this:


AI fail 1 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

[Ham]

That's a Bentley, have you ever read Good Omens?

[pcolbeck]

I'm still not sure I'm ready to talk to computers. I don't much like talking to humans. I can apparently talk to my security cameras. Woot.

Mrs Pcolbeck has a passive aggressive relationship with our Alexa setup (controls music and lights in main part of the house). I think Alexa may be winning.

[Kim]

AI fail 1 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

I got overtaken by that van on the M60 once.  Same weather.

[Kim]

I'm still not sure I'm ready to talk to computers. I don't much like talking to humans. I can apparently talk to my security cameras. Woot.

Mrs Pcolbeck has a passive aggressive relationship with our Alexa setup (controls music and lights in main part of the house). I think Alexa may be winning.

As has previously been observed, barakta's subtly-deaf-in-ways-that-hearing-people-don't-normally-notice speech defeats most voice recognition software.  She can improve the accuracy somewhat by speaking in a sarcastic tone.  (Oh no, what a personal disaster.)

[woollypigs]

Win10 in it's infinite wisdom has decided that I got two folders with the same name, but with different content.

Disk under Debian:

Folder 1 - with Documents
Folder 2 - with Photos
Folder 3 - with a backup of Peli's files

Disk under Win10

Folder 1 - with Documents
Folder 2 - with Photos
Folder 2 - with a backup of Peli's files

Trying to rename the double Folder 2 back to Folder 3, no can do under win 10, under Debian I can, but Win10 ignores the rename. Rsync under Win10 from Folder 3 (backup of Peli's files) backup starts off fine, but suddenly starts to grab files from Folder 2 (Photos).

Disk scan and reboot, haven't snapped Win10 out of it's silliness.

[hellymedic]

Yahoo! has hijacked my searching.

Having chosen Google as my default search engine, all my searches now seem to end up with Yahoo! even when I start from google.co.uk.

My ISP is BT and I use their webmail but I don't like Yahoo! for searches.

It's not fair!