jbdragon

justme12 said:

I'm looking into a Amazon Fire Stick. 

I've owned EVERY Apple TV from the beginning - I just feel I really just feel I've been a pay to Apple beta tester. Felt this way two generations of AppleTV back. I think I'm done with the ATV now.

Apple you have gotten a few hundred? Thousand dollars from me for ATV now. Why bother anymore? Going to buy the cheaper stuff. Does the same thing at this stage.

I have a fire stick. The thing sucks. I couldn't even play their own content without a lot of buffering. I had to use my ROKU which lasted the same content perfectly.

As someone who has a number of different streaming devices.  I would rate the higher end ROKU's better then the Apple tv 3.  But I rate the Apple TV 4 higher now for a few reasons.  I thing the apps inn it are much better. PLEX I think has the best interface it. . Just about everyone now supports it other then Amazon, but that should change shortly. Works with my harmony remotes still so I don't need to use Apple's remote.  My Amazon fire stick wouldn't work with harmony.  Being a stick, no wired internet which I think would works much better.  Lost the little remote and so suck using the dumb app.  I hate having to control a streaming device by a app.  There's a far larger app community for Apple TV.

Well I have one!!!! I've been BETA testing mine now for a month!!! It works great. I can use my Apple Watch or iPhone. I can go say to my Apple Watch, "Hey Siri, Open Garage" and BAM, it opens right up. Then I can say "Hey Siri, Close Garage" and BAM, the light on my garage door flashes and beeps for a few seconds and then it starts closing.

Yesterday I installed the "Leviton DH15S-1BZ 15A Decora Smart Switch for iOS". I only got one to test it out. I looked at a few of them, and this one looked the BEST. So I replaced 1 of my light switches in my Garage to this. The switch on the far side that powers up 3 light fixtures. 2, 4 T8 Florescent Bulbs and one for 2 T8. So that makes 10 lights this switch powers on and off. It works like a normal switch in that you can manually turn the lights on/off and normal. It doesn't rock like a normal switch, it clicks and stays in the middle. What I liked about this one is that it works over Wifi, for far greater distance and reliability then Bluetooth. I was controlling it on the other side of my house. It also works with your normal wall plate. I needed that since it's in a duel switch plate. I plan to swap out the other switch next to it. So I can now say, "Hey Siri, Turn ON garage light" and it turns on. Of you hold the button down on your iPhone and just activate Siri that way, you can just just Turn on Garage light. My Dad lives with me and he loves it. Even better then Siri for the Garage Door.

Once you activate it using their app, it's now in Apple's Home App. You could even control it in there. But the other thing you can do is Automate things. There's not a log of light output from a garage opener. So why not Link the light switch to the Garage Door opener. So when you Say, Hey Siri,. Open garage, that your garage lights auto turn on. You could also set it up to turn off when you ask siri to close the garage.

Right now it works great. The one thing you have to make sure is that you have a White Neutral wire in your switch box besides the black wires and ground. You need a basic tester so you can figure out which black wire is the HOT wire, and the other going to your lights is the LOAD wire. I just pigtailed a short white wire to the other white wires for my switch. it's pretty simple. Make sure you kill the power at the circuit breaker when working on it. This is a great way to add Siri support to lights that you normally wouldn't be able to do with some Box you plug into a outlet and then a light into that.

The other things you can do is have it come on/off by a geofence, or you can set the light to go on/off by set times. Good for when you go on Vacation and want to make you home look more lived in. I plan to get a couple more shortly. They do currently cost $44.99 each. It's really not a bad price. Once you start using Siri, you want to use to do more and more things. This switch doesn't work with the Amazon ECHO in case you're wondering.

So I have a Helmet Speaker/Mic when riding my Motorcycle, connected by Bluetooth to my iPhone. I can now Siri open my garage door from down the block and pull right into my garage when I get to my driveway. That's pretty nice!!! You could go for a walk come home and just Siri open the garage. It's the main way I get in and out of my house. The front door is rarely used except for guests. It's that way for many people. The other nice thing. No need to keep a clicker in your car/truck. Park in the driveway light I do, someone could break by window and now get right into the garage and then right into the house. Even worse, break in while I'm gone someplace. Take it, plus by Registration. Something with my address and drive to my house, and click, right into the garage and into my house while I'm not home. No need for a clicker anymore, just use SIRI.

gregg thurman said:

jbdragon said:

Those prices are just crazy. Apple will be pricing themselves right out of the market if this rumor is true. If Apple is going to release a so called iPhone 7s and 7s Plus and a iPhone 8, well then the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus are already outdated!!! The 8 is over priced, and I'd stick with my iPhone 6 for a 4th year.

The difference between an $800 iPhone and a $1200 iPhone (on a 24 month purchase agreement) is less than $17/month.  Considering that is is a rare bird that pays cash for an iPhone this price increase is a non-issue (except for Android shills).

I'm no fan of Android. but another $400 on top of the current price is CRAZY! You're now forking out $50 a month for the phone on top of your calling plan for 2 years. Make it sound not bad at $17 a month, but it's really $50 a month. Why don't you just come out and tell it as it is. Not that it's just going to add a little $17 a month to your bill. That doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way. Apple over charged on the Original iPhone and ended up having to drop the price.

Those prices are just crazy. Apple will be pricing themselves right out of the market if this rumor is true. If Apple is going to release a so called iPhone 7s and 7s Plus and a iPhone 8, well then the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus are already outdated!!! The 8 is over priced, and I'd stick with my iPhone 6 for a 4th year.

wood1208 said:

Apple is sensitive to local culture/politics while helping for good cause. Besides that many Chinese company owners getting very rich but lacking attitude to charity. Same problem in India and rest of world.

They have no problem taking our money and they do!