paulmjohnson

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paulmjohnson
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  • Philips' HomeKit compatible Hue white ambiance bulbs now for sale

    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson
    zimmie said:
    The Hue Hub is required because the bulbs talk using a wireless standard called Zigbee. It's relatively common in the light industrial world, but only recently starting to hit products most regular people want. The Hue Hub acts as a bridge between a Zigbee network and a regular IP network. That lets IP devices (like iPhone) talk with Zigbee devices (like Hue bulbs).
    That's absolutely right.  My experience with my Hue has been that it makes adding new bulbs and switches significantly easier than what we'll call true "Internet of Things" devices that have TCP/IP stacks on the peripheral itself.  Adding things like a Nest thermostat and camera, and the staggeringly expensive Lifx bulbs to my WiFi network has never gone exactly smoothly.

    Plus, by only needing a Zigbee controller, the Philips bulbs are much cheaper than the likes of Lifx.

    Ultimately I'm really pleased with Hue.
    patchythepirateai46nolamacguypropodjony0

  • Apple's aggressively priced $399 iPhone SE viewed as a 'substantial' market opportunity

    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson
    I might as well be the one to complain about something!

    I wish they made that design in the bigger screen!  When I moved to the iPhone 6, I thought I wouldn't like the bigger screen, but then when I powered on my old iPhone 5 to sell it on eBay, I was shocked by how cramped the experience was - the bigger screen is definitely better, in my opinion.

    However, I absolutely loved the design of the 5!  It was so solid.  First phone I've had, post Nokia, that felt like it could survive anything!
    [Deleted User]

  • Apple Music partner Sonos to layoff employees, renew focus on streaming and voice control

    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson
    razorpit said:
    sog35 said:
    I rarely have problems with Siri (use it with CarPlay and iOS)

    Maybe you are not speaking loud enough?  Or you have a strong accent?  
    No accent here, I'm from Pittsburgh, I speak perfectly. /s

    It's not that she doesn't "understand" me.  She does, she generally gets the name right in pronunciation and spelling but generally goes to the web before searching local on the device.  For example, if I say "The Rice Inn" as it is in my contacts, I get at least two restaurants not in my contacts; one being a Mexican place that sounds nothing like The Rice Inn or I sometimes get an Italin place that I never heard of.  I use to think it was bad when I had a contact who's last name was Rice but the first name could not have been confused with The Rice Inn.  It was when I deleted that contact that I realized Siri must be skipping contracts check as a business in my contacts.  It wasn't always like that.  The search logic is screwed up.

    And you wouldn't think Siri would think you meant "Costco" which already exists instead of "Cosco"?

    I often use commands like "Hey Siri, set timer for 10 minutes" in a noisy ice rink and those commands work fine.

    I know, but Siri's been around for years now.  Siri seems to respond better somedays than others but generally speaking she should be a little more advanced than she is now.
    I understand what you're saying, but I will say they are still developing it, since a chap I know is involved in it's development!
    razorpit

  • MLB.com updates At Bat with tvOS features promised at 4th-gen Apple TV debut

    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson
    This looks awesome, though I suspect it won't solve the biggest problem with MLB At Bat, which is geo blocking.  While I enjoy watching any baseball, it's the Giants that matter to me, and I'm not willing to pay for a service that denies me the chance to watch the team I actually support.

    I know local TV has paid a chunk of change to buy the rights, but I'd be willing to pay more for a service that does not geo block.

    The next sport that needs this treatment is motor racing.  It would be awesome to watch races where you can control which car you want to view from, bring up lap times etc.
    lolliver

  • Notes of interest from Apple's Q1 2016 conference call

    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson
    Apple Watch does actually seem to be a bit of a missed opportunity at the moment, and I can imagine them building on that hugely.  I've actually been surprised by how many of them I see around, despite it being limited to iPhone users only.

    I get why it has to be paired with a phone, but it doesn't have to be paired with an iPhone.  I would assume Apple could release a watch app for Android the same as Android Watch can pair with an iPhone.

    The watch at the moment seems a little like the iPod was at launch.  The fact is, iPod only really found it's legs when it could be synched via Windows.  iPod also proved to be the "gateway drug" for me to get into Apple products (bought my first Mac shortly after my first iPod), and I suspect Apple Watch could be another path to coax Android users across to the Apple ecosystem.
    ddawson100flashfan207