@Gargron Trööts via RFC1149 when?

@Gargron I never really understood the appeal with smart lights in general. I do have a smart bulb which was great with a baby, I could program it to dim slowly to help them get to sleep, and control it remotely (e.g. from bed!). But otherwise, aren't you entering and leaving a room when you want to control the lights anyway? Maybe mood lighting is the appeal?

@Gargron A combination analogue smart switch which 'switched' using a motor to reflect current state would be very cool.

@Gargron From that, I think you would enjoy learning to play a musical instrument.

@Gargron I’m moving. It has been very difficult to find “unsmart” appliances. I don’t want a Wifi oven.

@Gargron I have found that handwriting creates a different mindset than keyboarding, plus once I began using italic handwriting (https://leisureguy.ca/2007/08/17/italic-handwriting/) the experience itself became more satisfying.

For example, the 12 weeks of daily pages in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way really works best with handwriting, not using a keyboard.

#handwriting #italic #analogue

@Gargron

I tell Alexa to turn on and off the lights, nothing simpler

@Gargron Thus you decided to develop analog social media? :-)

@Gargron What's next, Mastodon daily print edition? 😋

@Gargron Sounds like you should be a jukebox owner! 😆

@Gargron +1 I hit peak digital a while back and now my goal is to do as much as possible in the analog world without terribly inconveniencing myself.

Our car has a key fob which the car senses when you get close and it lets you open the doors, start the engine etc. Except that the battery runs down every two months (or so it feels) and I'm constantly carrying the cognitive load of "must replace battery". So I've mostly gone back to using the physical key, which works at all times.

@Gargron Favourite record in your collection?

@Gargron

One time a fellow TA needed to borrow a calculator (this was before smartphones). A gal offered him one from her purse, one of those the size of a credit card with tiny little buttons. I had a big thing on my desk that looked like an old adding machine (especially by comparison). "Ted doesn't want to JUST push tiny buttons and do some math," I said. "He wants a CALCULATOR-SHAPED EXPERIENCE." I showed mine to Ted...

...He took it. "...Yes," said Ted. "Yes, I do."

@Gargron I got into instant film photography about a year and a half ago because I got tired of my phone's "random chance of saving the picture" quirk and its weird over-sharpening filter I can't seem to turn off. The tactile aspect of using a mechanical gizmo to take photos is really nice, too.

@Gargron Same. Always loved vinyl, but not really because of any perceived quality differences (in practice, the quality is often worse due to not having expensive equipment). It's just nice to have the routine of picking it out, setting it up, maybe scanning the liner notes, and so on.

@Gargron

You need a #typewriter

@Gargron kind of authenticity, isn‘t it?

@Gargron writing with a pen on paper still better that a stylus on digital screen..

@Gargron
How many people will never know the pure satisfaction of slamming an old phone onto its cradle to angrily hang up?

@Gargron the only thing smart in my place is the smart phone.

@Gargron Try #Polaroid photography. It's one rabbit hole of an experience. If you're not into wasting money and resources get yourself a Polaroid Lab[0] to "print" them. ♥️

[0] https://www.polaroid.com/products/polaroid-lab

@Gargron Enjoy your physical spaces, Eugen.

@Gargron single purpose feels more convenient from time to time, it's designed to just focus on one thing and try to really enrapture value because of limited resources.

And sure, a little safer.

@Gargron I totally get it. There's something about the physicality of analog devices that makes them more engaging & satisfying to use. There's a tactile feedback that you just don't get with digital devices. & there's also a sense of connection to the past that analog devices can offer.

I'm glad you're finding joy in vinyl and film photography. Those are two great hobbies that can be really rewarding. And who knows, maybe you'll even find yourself collecting other analog devices in the future.

@Gargron I was just pondering that the other day:

https://henshaw.social/@jon/110979351829468203

@Gargron I grew up with all that technology; there were no digital options at all. I even developed my own photos (B&W only) in high school. CDs arrived when I was in my mid-20s. I guess I'm on the other side—I don't miss analog tech at all. But everyone's different and enjoys different things.

@Gargron Am well into middle age. I've been made fun of for clinging to physical media, but nobody can take away my records or DVD/Blu Rays.

@Gargron People that can control lights only on their phones don’t have kids, or visitors, or internet outages.

@Gargron Back in the day I loved photographing events with my fully manual OM-1. No auto-focus, just set it for a given focal length and look for shots within that distance. Fun

@Gargron I would never be able to deal with the stress of how fragile vinyl is.

@Gargron this is what I like about Lutron light switches. They are tactile like old switches. You can use them without connectivity. But you can also control them from software if you want.

@Gargron That's a totally understandable perspective. Though being able to flip lights on/off is just one off the aspecta, right? Eg, automatically adjusting light brightness and color temperature per circadian cycle was a game-changer for me (haven't had an insomnia ever since then). Or being able to play light show to accompany a vinyl record for a stronger mood. I think one doesn't need to think about it as though you only can get "either", as you can actually have both.

@Gargron I've been saying for decades that I'm an ANALOG girl living in a DIGITAL world. I do the digital thing but my preference is for analog: watches and clocks with faces and hands; car with a physical key that you shove into the ignition and turn to get the engine going; a house key for an antique lock; and, light switches that get flipped up and down.

@Gargron put the needle on the record... 😁

But I loves me the motion sensitive lights!!

@Gargron I agree apart from smart lights. My whole house is smarted up and it’s wonderful.

@Gargron An other word for 'smart' when it comes before a device, is 'spy'.

@Gargron Nothing is worse than the absence of a physical key which has to be inserted & turned to start the car, and then physically removed to shut it off. How many times have I forgotten to push the damn start button to turn it off 🤯.

@Gargron yeah, and when the power blinks out and back on during a storm at 2am you don’t get woken up by all you smart lights that default to “on” when getting power again.

@Gargron

We have an app for our lights, but also switches - programable WiFi ones - that we can move if we want to, without having to rip open any walls. 🥰

@Gargron Like real books and the turning of the page and the choice of paper that says something about the book as much as the cover design, the font chosen and the layout of the page that allows room for notes in the margin or not, underlining or not.

Not to mention, the smell of an old bookstore would never be the same if it was full of Kindles, right? 😉

@Gargron the body demands catharsis. We really have reached the point where we've created such a gulf between body and mind using our bodies is seen as a novelty. I want to say the medium is the message, our body is the journey, never forget that

@Gargron might pull out some “smart” lights and switches myself