response 29 of 290:

Jan 19 23:56 UTC 2006

X10.com pissed a lot of people off with a combination of pop-under ads
(they were among the first to use this new annoying mechanism to get
their word out) and ads for cameras which included clip art that could be
inteprepted as meaning you should use them to spy on women in the bathroom
or changing clothes or something.  I don't think the quality of video they
produced would be good enough for any self-respecting pornographer.  They
still exist, and their ads still feature pictures of attractive women but
they're not in changing rooms or other vulnerable settings.

I'm not sure that automated window control systems will become practical
anytime soon.  There are motorized automation devices you can buy (the
DrapeBoss and its successors) but they run, when coupled with
controlling infrastructure, something like $100 per window.  They'd have
to put a pretty big dent in your heating bill just to break even during
the few years the device will likely last before it flakes out.

I tend to be a believer in a "less is more" theory of home automation
now.  For example, I have a motion-sensitive light switch in my
bathroom; when I enter, the light comes on, and stays on for a few
minutes after I leave.  It's self-contained, very basic, and works
reliably.  Next to it is a timer-switch controlling the fan, so if I
find that the bathroom is in need of fresh air, I just hit the "10
minute" button and the fan will run for that long and then stop.  It's
not fancy, doesn't sense humidity or anything, but it works well enough
without becoming annoying.

response 31 of 290:

Jan 20 00:28 UTC 2006

First, re #10: yes, WiFi works through walls and floors. I use it between 
the older (wired) computer LAN on the second floor and the cable entry 
point on the first floor. I have, when I've chosen to check, found other 
WiFi servers somewhere nearby (because they haven't blocked their SSID 
signal). The range might be up to a couple of hundred feet.

I also have X-10 over the powerlines, but for one-way control only. I use 
a stand-alone transmitter that I program with my computer. I don't like 
the idea of two-way systems that require that the computer always be on. 
My X-10 system has been very reliable. It controls some 30 lights. Once in 
a while a light doesn't go on or off - some noise burst, probably, has 
interferred with the system. What you can do is program duplicate on or 
off signals a minute apart to reduce such rare malfunctions even further.

The X-10 system offers several benefits. I found that as soon as I had it 
installed that our electric consumption took a significant dive. The 
reason is that lights don't get left on accidentally. I also run the 
outside lights slightly "dimmed", which increases their lifetime 
considerably. In addition, the X-10 system makes the house appear occupied 
when we are away. It includes a random timing feature so the same lights 
go on and off at different times within a window of an hour or a half 
hour. I am considering getting a drape drive, but primarily as another 
security feature. For that, I can justify $100.

response 33 of 290:

Jan 20 00:49 UTC 2006

I've been meaning to put in an X10 system on my front porch so when I or
the wife walks up to the front door, the sensor will detect motion and
turn on the porch light to make it easier to find the correct key. X10
seems to be well suited for tasks such as this.

Of course, thats on my list to do right after I input all of my recipes
into a mysql database...and then write a program where I tell the
database what ingrediants I have available, and it suggests recipes I
could use with them.

response 35 of 290:

Jan 20 01:55 UTC 2006

 It is good for your health to pull shades up and down.
Not if you are a former President in the 24 series

response 37 of 290:

Jan 22 17:01 UTC 2006

Apropos of this, last night my WiFi network stopped working.  First it
got really slow and unresponsible, and then it stopped functioning at
all.  Even when my laptop and my WAP were only two feet apart, they
couldn't see each other and nothing would work.

That happens every once in a while; when it does, nothing seems to fix
it, but a few hours later or the next day it's working fine.  I also
wasn't able to detect any of the other WiFi networks in my neighborhood
(there are 5 of them within range) which suggests some kind of systemic
interference rather than a local equipment problem.

I'm told by others this is far from uncommon; not sure if it might be
caused by sunspots, atmospheric conditions, a neighbor using a
poorly-shielded microwave, or what.  But it happens from time to time.
A hard-wired LAN will probably have availability of four or five nines,
while WiFi seems to be somewhere between one and two nines.

response 39 of 290:

Jan 22 17:16 UTC 2006

I also find that power-cycling the router helps. You might want to try that,
Marc.

response 41 of 290:

Jan 22 17:35 UTC 2006

Yeah, my impression is that the D-Link stuff is crap.  I wouldn't buy that.

Sorry if I'm not being clear -- yes, I did power-cycle the WAP.  I also
tried rebooting the laptop, connecting to a different router, using a
different network card, and about a dozen other things, none of which
worked at all.  This was definitely not a failure of any single piece of
equipment.  I suppose if I were being thorough I could have tried other
devices that use the same frequency range, such as my cordless phone, to
see what they did.  Or maybe I could have asked my neighbors if any of
them is in a terrorist sleeper cell using Ham radio to communicate with
Peshawar.

It just happens every once in a while; fortunately it's just a slight
inconvenience since I can fall back to using wires, and it always goes
away the next day if you do nothing.

response 43 of 290:

Jan 22 20:32 UTC 2006

 re #39:  I'm pretty sure Marc would've tried that in his trouble-shooting.
 re #38:  Many (at this point, probably most..) cordless phones use the same
 2.4Ghz frequency band as 802.11b and 802.11g and depending on the phone
 model cause varying degrees of interference.  If you have a really close
 neighbor with such a phone it may be that you have such outages whenever
 they're using the phone but don't tend to notice the 2-minute outages and
 only notice when they're on the phone for an extended period.

response 45 of 290:

Jan 23 02:51 UTC 2006

I use Linksys and D-Link stuff and haven't had any more problems than peooke
I've heard using other brands.

response 47 of 290:

Jan 23 03:49 UTC 2006

 I haven't used any D-Link equipment but the Linksys products are quite
 decent for what they are..  However, keep in mind that there's a bit of
 a difference between professional grade networking hardware and a wireless
 access point that you can buy at Meijer for $40 after rebate..

 I use Linksys at home and am mostly happy with it, though I have replaced
 the manufacturer-provided firmware image with an upgraded Linux-based 
 firmware from a company called Sveasoft.

response 49 of 290:

Jan 23 04:45 UTC 2006

re #37
Are you anywhere near the pipelines?  They might be doing WiFi blackouts.

response 51 of 290:

Jan 23 05:58 UTC 2006

Nope.  I am within a few blocks of an electrical substation, which I
suppose could be involved in some way.  But really, on the frequency
ranges which are used for tons of different applications by tons of
different people, there's going to be problems once in a while.  Nothing
too surprising or exciting.

Not sure what the future of spectrum use for unlicensed devices like
this will look like.  There's been some increase in the spaces available;
2.4 GHz being the most popular, but some growth in 5 GHz space.  Heck, I
remember when Ricochet, which used the 900 MHz band to get network speeds
comperable to a dialup, seemed pretty cool.  Anyway, there are
incremental improvements in ways to use the spectrum efficiently, but
the demand is also exploding.  It seems reasonable to speculate that
there will come a point where we have wrung all the performance we can
out of the technology, but the demand continues to grow, particularly in
densely populated areas.

response 53 of 290:

Jan 23 16:44 UTC 2006

Should I link this to the do it yourself conference and if so, please remind
me how.