Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

Picked up the Pixel this week and I am one very happy customer

Welcome to the club!

Regular or XL? Black, sliver or blue?  Come on the people want to know!   

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Reg/Black -- didn't have many options when I went to the shop

[grateful]

Apparently Chewbacca's last name is Stein.

[vansmack]

So wrong on so many levels.

(1) Wookie's do not have last names and (2) you do not put fountain drinks in Steins.

But I would love to have one....

[vansmack]

Fascinating read.  Not surprisingly, Andy Rubin and I agree on so many thing when it comes to the current state of SmartHomes:

Inside Andy Rubin's Quest to Create an OS for Everything

This sentence in particular was taken right out of Smackie's mouth:

"If the way people interact with their connected home is through smartphone apps, the connected home will never go anywhere. If you have to open an app, log in, and tap around just to open your front door, only to open, log in, and tap around another to turn up the thermostat, nobody will do either."

Geofencing and voice activation are the true future for smart home success.

[vansmack]

OK, this makes me want an iPhone.

'Take On Me' app turns your home into an '80s music video

[vansmack]

DC’s Legendary Punk Label Dischord Records Makes Its Entire Music Catalog Free to Stream Online

[vansmack]

I am considering the purchase of a Netgear Arlo starter pack. Is there a similar product in this space that you would recommend above this?

I actually have no experience with security cameras, sorry.  I was offered the Nest Cam to try out, but declined because I didn't want to know that Cheech just lays around all day and does nothing.  Or that he parties with other neighborhood dogs.  I just didn't need to know.

Don't know what you decided to do, but I accepted the Nest Cam offer this time and have been using them for a month.  Unlike the Arlo cams, I like that they plug in and work via WiFi and not with a hub - they also integrate nicely with our other Nest hardware.  Of course if the power goes out, I lose the camera, but if the power goes out, WiFi is out too so I would lose the Arlo feed as well (I could still review storage, I suppose, if they don't steal the cams). 

We have some construction going on so it's nice to keep an eye on that, but as I suspected, Cheech just sleeps all day.

[vansmack]

Best Man Trolls Groom By Reading His PornHub Search History During Wedding Speech

[vansmack]

Comcast lost 150,000 cable subscribers last month and investors are jittery.

So is Comcast.  They called me this morning to offer to nearly triple my internet speed to 200mbps (from 75), and give me Xfinity Stream and HBO Go for a year, if I did one thing:

Take a cable box. 

No charge for the box, and I didn't even have to ever hook it up - I could just use the Stream App and the HBO Go App to watch TV.  The guy even said after two weeks I could return the cable box to the Comcast store so I would risk forgetting to return in when my year is up - and keep the Stream access and HBO Go for a year.

"How much?" I asked...

$5 less then you pay now, with taxes. (Or $75 instead of $79).

Sure, I have to cancel at the end of my year, but Comcast is that desperate to avoid posting two months in a row of negative cable subscribers that they are giving it away.  Literally.

Smackie recommends picking up the phone and working out a deal out if you have to have Comcast.   

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Comcast lost 150,000 cable subscribers last month and investors are jittery.

So is Comcast.  They called me this morning to offer to nearly triple my internet speed to 200mbps (from 75), and give me Xfinity Stream and HBO Go for a year, if I did one thing:

Take a cable box. 

No charge for the box, and I didn't even have to ever hook it up - I could just use the Stream App and the HBO Go App to watch TV.  The guy even said after two weeks I could return the cable box to the Comcast store so I would risk forgetting to return in when my year is up - and keep the Stream access and HBO Go for a year.

"How much?" I asked...

$5 less then you pay now, with taxes. (Or $75 instead of $79).

Sure, I have to cancel at the end of my year, but Comcast is that desperate to avoid posting two months in a row of negative cable subscribers that they are giving it away.  Literally.

Smackie recommends picking up the phone and working out a deal out if you have to have Comcast.   

I deal with Comcast Business literally weekly and the whole "we will give you a lower rate if you will just please sign up for a double play. . . we don't even care if you hook up the TV" thing has been going on for at least three years. Every time someone new starts in AP, I have to walk over and explain why we're paying for non-existent cable TV service.

[grateful]

Wait.  You have your own accounting department?

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Wait.  You have your own accounting department?

I can't be expected to pay my own bills. The cramps my dainty hand would suffer simply from reimbursing vendors for my monthly shipments of various wines and brandies alone would send me into a spell of exhaustion. I can only imagine the vagaries of posting my expenses in my ledger would prove most taxing to my spirit.

[vansmack]

I, too, have heard of those deals for business, but this is the first I've been offered this for a residence.

[sweetcell]

so, smax, how has Oreo been treating you so far?

i'm still on a 5X (i know, i know...) so i'm holding off for a little while, to see how it behaves in the wild.  early reports seem good.