Tim Smith Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Future FOH guy "Well it's either McDonalds or this. I think I would love knobs and faders." Disclaimer- A good sound guy is hard to find. They do exist, and for you we are appreciative. Our ear drums thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane_B. Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 On 2/15/2024 at 12:08 PM, Tim Smith said: There are some quirky things, like my ceiling fan is on an alexa voice controlled switch that turns the fan on or off, but to turn on the fan light you need the fan control. Since I don't use the light very much, it usually isn't a problem. I'm afraid to have an Alexa in my home. I really don't know why. It just creeps me out. The center switch in the pic was for the ceiling fan. The fan was wired to have the light and fan come on with a single switch. I ended up having to run new 14-3 up in the attic to separate them. I built the fireplace in this pic. The company I bought the fireplace insert from was having a sale and I upgraded to the wifi one for less than the non-wifi one. It said you had to download their app. At that point I was up to 5 different apps and it was a real pain. I was pecking around the settings of one app one day and it found everything in the house. I set the app up and it controlled everything, including the thermostat and fireplace. I could control the entire house inside and out from one app. Here's the fireplace I built. Indid all the trim and stone work. Everyrhing was done except for the top. I had a massive dead black walnut tree in my yard I was going to cut down and make a top for it, but I moved on before I got to finish it. I ran all the wires inside the wall for the TV and hdmi cables and put a box behind the TV and on the wall on the cubby hole below so you could set blu ray player down there. I had an outlet with USB ports. I also ran a dedicated circuit just for the insert. It was really nice. Even the recessed lights in the bedroom were wifi controlled. And it wasn't expensive at all. Amazon is a great resource. If you can do wiring yourself it's really not bad at all. Sorry, I'm rambling. Hah. I put a ton of work in to that house and I really miss it. I more than doubled what I paid for it when it was sold and all that stuff made a big difference, not to mention the labor was free. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 I don't want to live in a world where you need an app to light a fire. I do, however, admit to having an app for my refrigerator. It doesn't do anything the device's own controls can't do, but it does have this funny feature where you get a text message if the door remains open for too long. Why is that funny? Well, my grandson set up the app on his phone when he lived here, because, um, he's of that generation that doesn't question why you'd need one. He's since moved away, so I smile every time the fridge beeps at me for leaving the door open too long - because I know my grandson is getting a notification on the other side of town. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Serves him right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 High winds knocked out our power for about 80 minutes. It's events like that that make you question whether it's a good thing for everything to require an app! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 When I picked up my car the dealership wanted to put a free app on my phone that would apparently tell me how much fuel was in the car at any given time. I asked the guy is that not what the fuel gauge is for and he replied...yes, but the app can tell you when you're not in the car or not using it. I asked why I would need to know how much fuel I had if I wasn't in the car and not using it and then he looked at me like I was the stupid one. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 9 hours ago, Shane_B. said: I'm afraid to have an Alexa in my home. I really don't know why. It just creeps me out. I'd go as far to say that anyone who does have one needs to have a nice sit down and spend some time trying to pinpoint exactly when it was that they became so stupid and then set about reversing as many decisions they have made since then as possible. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane_B. Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 10 hours ago, bitflipper said: I don't want to live in a world where you need an app to light a fire. Lol. It's a feature not a requirement thankfully. It still have buttons on it and a physical remote. I agree though,.it's not going to be a good day if manufacturers ever do force you to use wifi controls only. Another little hiccup about all these wifi gadgets is they only run on 2.4gHz. Routers have 2.4 and 5 but I could see a time when they go to 5 only to make them cheaper. That would render your entire house dead. It's already started actually. Comcast iirc, just got in a lot of heat because of the new routers they were giving people. They changed some protocol on the 2.4 side of their routers that wouldn't communicate with Ring camera's. The last I read Ring was blaming them, they were blaming Ring, and people had to go out and get their own router or go back to the old ones if they could get one from Comcast. I would never use theirs and pay their exhorbant rental fees anyway, but those who don't know how to set this stuff up have no choice. They tick me off. Im.paying $140 a month now for 800mb. They offer 1G at the place I'm hoping to buy for $80 with free Premium Peacock channel. Not that I watch Peacock, but WTH?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 5 hours ago, paulo said: I'd go as far to say that anyone who does have one needs to have a nice sit down and spend some time trying to pinpoint exactly when it was that they became so stupid and then set about reversing as many decisions they have made since then as possible. Reminds me of the video (that I'm too tired to go look for) where a guy has both Siri and Alexa in the same room. He asks Siri when it thinks of Alexa and it responds with "I think she's very nice." Then, across the room, Alexa replies with "Thanks!" I'm sure that having devices that are listening 24/7 would never be used by certain entities for nefarious purposes though. "Alexa: Tie my shoes!" Alexa: "You're not wearing shoes right now..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 On 2/17/2024 at 7:59 AM, Shane_B. said: Lol. It's a feature not a requirement thankfully. It still have buttons on it and a physical remote. I agree though,.it's not going to be a good day if manufacturers ever do force you to use wifi controls only. Another little hiccup about all these wifi gadgets is they only run on 2.4gHz. Routers have 2.4 and 5 but I could see a time when they go to 5 only to make them cheaper. That would render your entire house dead. It's already started actually. Comcast iirc, just got in a lot of heat because of the new routers they were giving people. They changed some protocol on the 2.4 side of their routers that wouldn't communicate with Ring camera's. The last I read Ring was blaming them, they were blaming Ring, and people had to go out and get their own router or go back to the old ones if they could get one from Comcast. I would never use theirs and pay their exhorbant rental fees anyway, but those who don't know how to set this stuff up have no choice. They tick me off. Im.paying $140 a month now for 800mb. They offer 1G at the place I'm hoping to buy for $80 with free Premium Peacock channel. Not that I watch Peacock, but WTH?! I think going without Alexa is the safer way to go. I guess I am unsafe. I just tell her what I want to turn on or off. I have a fan for white noise that I could schedule to just turn on through Alexa, but I verbally tell her to turn it on. Most of the house is verbal commands. Even my cooling system. Alexa is an app too, so if I'm in another country I can look at my blink cameras or command things I want to turn on or off. If I loose wifi in that other country though I obviously loose that control. I had the blink set up in my great room to motion sense but decided to only have it on if I'm away. I got tired of watching myself go across the room in my underwear. Alexa sometimes reads to me at night when my eyes are tired and I usually ask her the weather every day. I dropped all my cable TV and went to Roku for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 On 2/17/2024 at 4:59 AM, Shane_B. said: it's not going to be a good day if manufacturers ever do force you to use wifi controls only. Oh, it's already a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbognar Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 2/20/2024 at 12:32 PM, bitflipper said: Oh, it's already a thing. You could use USB from onstage, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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