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  • Showing only topics with the tag "smart". Back to normal view
    1. Why do you lock your smartphone?

      I'm genuinely curious. I'm a late adopter FWIW and am still rocking an older iPhone that doesn't support any face recognition or finger prints. But I don't use a pass code either, and never have,...

      I'm genuinely curious. I'm a late adopter FWIW and am still rocking an older iPhone that doesn't support any face recognition or finger prints. But I don't use a pass code either, and never have, and doubt I ever will. I just don't get it... what are folks afraid of happening if they don't lock their phone? I suppose the "nightmare" scenario would be someone steals your phone and then messages your contacts asking for $. Is that it?

      I've always practiced greater digital security than physical security (counting the phone unlock as physical) as I think it much more likely that a ne'er-do-well would attack some large company than to single me out in person. I mean if the FBI or some hacker is going through my garbage then I probably have larger problems, right?

      For me it's cost/benefit - swiping/fingerprinting/face IDing multiple times a day is not worth the slim chance that my phone is stolen by someone who going to use the info in it for something nefarious. I wouldn't lock my car if I was in/out of 20x a day, I just wouldn't leave anything terribly valuable in it.

      Please let me know why locking your phone is/isn't important to you.

      EDIT: To be clear, I have one banking app and it requires an additional password to get in. It's an app so there isn't a saved password for it anywhere.

      EDIT2: Made this as a comment below, but thought I'd add it up here as well - "I find it strange that people in general seem to be OK with putting up with an inconvenience (even though minor to many) that affects them multiple times a day, but we hold large companies almost wholly unaccountable for major data breaches. "

      EDIT3: This just occurred to me. We lock our phones, but not our wallets/purses. The argument that a pass-code is a protection against identity theft rings sort of hollow when we consider we have much of the same info on an ID card that we keep unprotected. Some states will even list the SSN on a driver's license.

      EDIT4: I'm convinced everyone thinks their personal lives are terribly interesting to strangers and my suspicion is they're not. Only two real cases of bad things happening when a phone is unlocked that I've counted so far: 1) long distance calls 2) pokemon themed contacts.

      EDIT5: That said, sounds like the fingerprint scanner is the way to go for convenient security. I'll be checking that out. Sincere thanks!

      EDIT6: Some folks said that edit 4 came off as condescending. Not my intention. I was trying to tie in the idea of "everyone being the main character in their own story." I'm definitely not implying that people should leave their phones unlocked because others wouldn't find their lives uninteresting.

      I think many have a personal connection to their devices that I do not feel. Intellectually I find that very interesting as this seems less a monetary issue and more a privacy issue. It'd be as if a stranger picked up a lost diary and started reading. I fear my diary would be more like a ship captain's logbook and wholly uninteresting. If I were to have my phone stolen I'd simply change a couple passwords and buy a new one.

      32 votes
    2. Siri, Alexa, Google - Who's using and having good experiences with voice commands?

      Hi there, Big companies are spending big money on allowing consumers to control everything from their TV, smart speakers, lights, microwaves, etc with voice commands. But do people really want...

      Hi there,

      Big companies are spending big money on allowing consumers to control everything from their TV, smart speakers, lights, microwaves, etc with voice commands. But do people really want that?

      I'm curious because I very much do NOT want to interact with computers vocally. I find it's slow and prone to error, not unlike writing out long passages on a smartphone. It functions, but it's not a great experience and remains a novelty for me.

      Bought both kids Echo Dots which is a smart speaker with Amazon's Alexa assistant. It's cool, really innovative. But after a couple weeks both remain unplugged in my kids' rooms - totally lost interest. The only person who I've seen really use a voice speaker is an elderly gentlemen for whom it was the easiest way to interact with a computer (using it specifically to play music and get news).

      My friend swears that teens commonly use Siri on their phones to look up information. I can only think of one person I've seen actively use the voice controls and that was an older woman who wanted show her friends how Siri could "rap."

      So I was curious how many of you find yourself frequently interacting with computers via voice commands. I personally feel very awkward and self-aware and get easily frustrated because it reminds me so much of the terrible automated attendants on 800 numbers.

      Edit: You all are confirming my suspicions. Anyone under age 25 use the voice commands often? I feel like this is all just the first step in designing AI interfacing

      28 votes
    3. Share your experiences with smart thermostats

      I have used a Nest (gen 1) for many years and recently switched it out for an Ecobee 3 with 3 additional room sensors. The Nest worked as advertised and I was happy with it. I moved my thermostat...

      I have used a Nest (gen 1) for many years and recently switched it out for an Ecobee 3 with 3 additional room sensors.

      The Nest worked as advertised and I was happy with it. I moved my thermostat location to a higher-traffic area of the house and used Nest Sense to have it automatically determine if I was away. All in all, I was pleased. The only reason I switched to Ecobee was so that I could use my Nest in another home and try something new.

      The Ecobee is pretty much the same as the nest. They was you schedule temperatures is to first create Comfort Settings and then you schedule when they should run. It's a little less intuitive than the Nest, but it accomplishes the same task. The additional sensors are a nice touch but I find they are too sensitive. My ~50 lb dog can trigger them, which can run additional air conditioning when I wouldn't otherwise want it to run.

      6 votes
    4. Best way to browse/use Tildes on mobile?

      Hi fellow Tildes Beta users! I primarily do my browsing on an iPad or my iPhone. Currently I'm using Chrome. Until an app is made, what do you all find the best way to browse Tildes is? The...

      Hi fellow Tildes Beta users!

      I primarily do my browsing on an iPad or my iPhone. Currently I'm using Chrome.

      Until an app is made, what do you all find the best way to browse Tildes is? The formatting is a little wonky for me, which is perfectly understandable. It's not exactly a deal breaker, but it would be a lot easier having a more optimized experience.

      I doubt I'm alone, so what're y'alls preferences?

      22 votes
    5. What happened to my Tildes bookmark on my Android phone?

      I'm using an Android phone with Chrome 65.0.3325.109 installed. There's an option in this browser to add a page to the home screen. This creates a shortcut on my home screen. When I tap on that...

      I'm using an Android phone with Chrome 65.0.3325.109 installed.

      There's an option in this browser to add a page to the home screen. This creates a shortcut on my home screen. When I tap on that shortcut, it opens the saved page in Chrome.

      I had done this with Tildes. However, I deleted the shortcut and made it again. The behaviour has now changed.

      Previously, this shortcut opened Tildes as a tab within Chrome. Now, it opens Tildes as its own separate "application". It's not in Chrome. That means I don't get the functionality that comes with Chrome, such as opening a link in a new Chrome tab. In this pseudo-application version, I'm stuck with only one window. I can't open other tabs. I can't simply copy links from one Chrome tab (news website) to another Chrome tab (Tildes).

      Did you change something in the past week or so? Can you please change it back? I want a shortcut to a web page to open something that behaves like a web page, not a stand-alone application.

      6 votes
    6. Smart watch for Android post-Pebble

      Hi there everyone. I gave up on smart watches after Pebble sold out to fitbit and my OG Pebble started having screen issues (again). I never watched to spend hundreds on a smart watch or switch to...

      Hi there everyone. I gave up on smart watches after Pebble sold out to fitbit and my OG Pebble started having screen issues (again). I never watched to spend hundreds on a smart watch or switch to the iOS ecosystem to use an Apple watch.

      I was wondering if anyone here has had success with any other watches after having to give up their Pebble, something with a great battery life and good notification features without resorting to terrible china-watches.

      Hope you have a great day!

      11 votes