Nothing Up My Sleeve

Even more automated twittering devices

It has been over two years since I wrote about how I've integrated Twitter with my home automation system, and since then Twitter has become an Internet darling. A coincidence, of course, but I've long since stopped trying to keep track of all the home automation uses of Twitter, it's simply very common these days. (To the extend that Twitter is common, which of course it isn't, outside of the cultural bubble of the web.)

Anyway, there are still two Twitter deployments that I enjoyed, but haven't noted, so here they are in brief form:

• The Twitter-enabled Toilet


• Twitter-enabled Plants

See also On Twitter, Cupcakes, and Automation, The Automated Cat Door, and Chairs that Tweet.

Kindle DX: Good Enough

I'm rapidly approaching the end of the return period for my new Kindle DX, so I spent some time this weekend to seriously consider whether or not I'm going to keep it.

As I wrote previously, the reason I purchased it was its ability to display PDF files. While I'm slightly disappointed with how it does this (see Kindle DX: First Impressions), I've decided the support is "good enough" for most uses. It bothers me some to settle for good, but it seems there is no better alternative at this time, so I'll live with the warts. (And accept the possibility that I've simply become spoiled by the polish of Apple's products.)

In a surprising twist, while I was initially dismayed by the over-the-air purchasing process, it turns out that Kindle-format books are what finally tipped the "keep it" scales. (See Kindle DX: Second Impressions.) I've found that many, if not most, Kindle books have free samples available. They're almost instantly delivered to the device and this really gives you a chance to see if the book is going to be worth purchasing, often at a lower cost than the printed version.

While I won't want every book in such an ephemeral format, there are many where the Kindle version is "good enough" for books that I just want to read and then never re-visit. One example is Ignore Everybody, a self-help/creativity book that I'd enjoy, and at about half-price for the Kindle edition, is easier to justify buying.

In addition to inducing me to spend money, the Kindle samples have saved me money too. I spotted Cabinet of Wonders in the San Jose airport a few weeks ago. It looked good, but I didn't want to travel a big hardback book so I didn't buy it. (Yes, it's a Young Adult fantasy book, so is Harry Potter, so stop giggling.) Well, I tried the Kindle sample version, and after reading the 1 1/2 chapters it provided, I found that the book wasn't what I expected. That's good, as I hate disappointing books.

I'm also currently sampling a free subscription to the Chicago Tribune and TidBITS magazine. Both automatically delivered every day. I might have more to say about those in the future, so far I'm enjoying them.

So now that I've decided to keep the Kindle DX, the next step is to procure a suitable case for it. I'm thinking that the Amazon folding cover is the best, as a separate slip case just seems like it would be another thing to keep track of. I'm going to pass, however, on the extended warranty. At 20% of the cost of purchase I think it's too expensive, and the requirement to purchase it within 30 days of the unit just seems like a high-pressure tactic that I don't want to support.

Web stat spoof inspires home visitor counter

Although intended (I think) to be a spoof of web site statistics, the clever Doorbell with Inbuilt Visitor Statistics Display would make a nice weekend home automation project, perhaps utilizing a Chumby.

Kindle DX: Second Impressions

I'm still deciding if I'll keep my Kindle DX. Today, while reading a sample book, I found a surprising new behavior. I very much like that most of the Kindle-format books have free samples available. While this isn't the equivalent of being able to thumb through a real book, at least it does allow you to get a feel for the work before you purchase it.

When you reach the end of the sample, there's a link to buy the book. My discovery is that when you click this link you instantly purchase this book, and just seconds later it's on your device.

Personally, I was expecting a confirmation step before the purchase was completed. But no. One click and your credit card is charged. Worse yet, there's no indication of how much the book costs. I supposed you're expected to remember how much it was when you requested the sample. I certainly did not, which only increased the anxiety I felt about this surprise purchase.

Fortunately, the screen that appears when you instantly buy the book has a link that allows you to un-buy it right away. This also works without confirmation, and the book is removed almost instantly, along with a message that your credit card has been refunded. Sure enough, when I checked my email later, I had two invoices from Amazon, one each for the purchase and refund.

So in the end, all was OK, but I found the lack of confirmation to be a bit rude, as well as the language around the refund where you have to click a link that says you bought the book "accidentally." That puts the blame on the customer, instead of on the device's interaction design, where it belongs.

See also Kindle DX: First Impressions.

INSTEON window and door sensors

The steady stream of useful INSTEON modules continues to flow out of Smarthome. And although I haven't had a chance to try some of their latest, it's great to see the momentum grow. A missing piece has been wireless window/door sensors, and now the TriggerLinc is shipping, which fills that gap.

I was slow to add these kind of sensors to my X10-based automation because they required a different receiver. But when I finally bit the bullet and deployed them, they made a huge difference in the responsiveness and sophistication of my system. They're much better than motion detectors (faster and more reliable) and they have energy-saving implications too. For example, when your a/c turns on, have the system check to see if all the windows are closed. Simple and effective.

Mac Pro hard disk vanishes during sleep

Several weeks ago I junked an iMac G5 whose USB ports had somehow gotten fried. But before I recycled it at the city's e-waste center I pulled out the SATA hard drive, figuring I could use it elsewhere.

I wanted to use it as a time machine disk, inside a new Mac Pro. I was very impressed with how easy it was to install the disk--the Mac Pro is prettier on the inside, from a form follows function perspective, than the outside.

However, I found that the disk would unmount every time the computer slept. Upon waking it was simply missing. Not even System Profiler could see it. Restarting the computer would cause the drive to reappear. Clearly this wasn't going to work as a backup strategy, the time between restarts on my computers is measured in weeks.

It turns out the problem is that the Mac Pro requires a SATA 3 GB drive. (That's the data transfer speed, I believe.) A quick visit to Fry's and I had a 1.5 TB SATA 3 GB to replace the one I pulled, and it's working perfectly. (And it only cost $140, amazing!)

For now the drive I pulled from the iMac is sitting unused. I'll probably get an external enclosure for it at some point. But if you've got a Mac Pro, and finding that a drive disappears when the computer sleeps, check to see if the drive is up-to-spec. If it's an older drive, chances are its not.

Unclutterer on the paperless office

One of my favorite websites, Unclutter, has posted their review of NeatDesk for the Mac.

Worth checking out if you/ve been following along with My Paperless Office sagas.

Kindle DX: First Impressions

Upon returning home from WWDC I found a just-arrived Kindle DX waiting for me. I'll spare you the über-geeky "unboxing" details, but I was surprised to see that Amazon ships the device in a box that clearly identifies its contents; which probably explains why UPS required a signature for receipt of delivery.

Overall the Kindle DX feels very solid. It's quite thin, with smooth edges and solid buttons. Other reviews have noted its weight, but so far it hasn't seemed excessivly heavy and I think overall it has a pleasant feeling of heft.

My primary interest in the Kindle DX is using it for carrying and reading PDF-based reference material. I had a disappointing experience with using the Sony Reader with PDFs, and frankly I'm still bitter about it, so the PDF capability of the Kindle DX remains my primary criteria for evaluation.

My initial experiments reveal that the Kindle DX is very capable of displaying PDF files. I've tried about 30 so far and I've only found one that the device refused to open. (Unfortunately, the error message wasn't at all helpful, it simply said that the file required PDF features that are not yet supported.)

The larger screen of the Kindle DX, compared to the Sony Reader and Kindle 2, definitely helps when it comes to displaying PDFs in a readable fashion. The device automatically uses a "zoom to fit" strategy so many of the PDFs were enlarged enough to be readable with just a little strain. Rotating the display to landscape mode helps significantly, but only half a page is visible at a time so it requires a bit of scrolling up-and-down to read a document, particularly if it's in a multi-column layout. But on the positive side, this mode makes most PDFs quite readable. The only exceptions have been a few layout-heavy files that are already formatted for a landscape page--they aren't improved significantly by using the wider-screen mode.

It's clear that Amazon has optimized the Kindle DX for their own text-based books. This is evident because Kindle-format books have significantly more features than those that are available with PDFs. For example, annotations and word definitions are not supported in PDF. Additionally, device-wide searching only examines PDF metadata fields, not the actual content of the files. When you have a PDF book open, however, you can search within that book if the PDF was created with searching enabled.

I'm not yet sure if I'll be keeping the Kindle DX. While I'm mostly pleased, aside from the nifty graphics displayed in sleep mode, it lacks any sort of "wow" factor. In fact, several things about the way it works feel clunky to me. And while I love the crispness of the screen, just as I experienced with the Sony Reader, I'm not sure its PDF capabilities are strong enough to justify its price. But I'll be putting it to serious work over the next several days and will make my decision soon.

Think, and control your home

The Guardian reports on a scientific study to develop a brain-to-computer interface that allows you to trigger home automation merely by thinking about it. Scary, perhaps?

Indigo 4 adds iPhone control of your home

Indigo, the Mac-based home automation program, officially reached v4.0 this week and has added support for iPhone, too. The Indigo Touch application is a native iPhone app that allows you to control your home remotely. If you're not an Indigo user, but you have an iPhone, Indigo Touch is still a worthwhile download because it can connect to a "demo house" that's fun to play with and wow your friends. The program looks and behaves exactly as iPhone users will expect.

The summary at Macworld is a good place to start your exploration.

UPDATE: Perceptive Automation also has a great screencast that's worth watching. Matt left this in the comments on this post, but it's too good to be possibly overlooked. Thanks, Matt.