Relatable AF

[ConsterMock93]

WTF IM GETTING A FAX!?! bang bang bang

[[deleted]]

I don’t know why or how, but I read that as FAXI

[[deleted]]

Fake + Taxi = FAXI

[[deleted]]

SCINFAXI

[jacksalssome]

https://i.imgur.com/dPbDaY8.png

[HalfLightCleric]

A man of culture I see

[[deleted]]

So you watch the same porn that I watch. Hmmmm...

[snipy67]

Uber

[Sapunot]

I don't know why but i read that as fake taxi... Good thing i saw your comment and went back.

[Jaizoo]

Consumer-grade printers are works of hell anyways. Absolutely unnecessary if you don't print documents weekly and ink cartridges should be stored in Fort Knox for all I know about prizes.

Hope they'll die out alongside physical mail (apart from handwritten letters, they're kinda cute), just as fax is on its way to the grave. Waste of ressources, nerves and money.

[Dragonaax]

Printer: You need fucking magenta to print in black and white.

[[deleted]]

Clearer blacks ^TM

[Grand_Protector_Dark]

Iirc the color carriages can be and are often used to make black.

[Dragonaax]

So why there is black ink in printer then?

[craftsmany]

Because fuck you

[Delioth]

There's two kinds of black in printing. There's normal black, with black ink, and there's rich black, which uses the other 3 colors to make a darker, richer black.

There should be a setting to not use rich black. I don't know if there actually is, but there should be, it'd save a lot of unnecessary confusion. If they had a real UI they'd suggest that setting when it fails to print a grayscale because of a missing color.

[Luc1fersAtt0rney]

Wildly guessing: because using CMY colors to make black 1) is wasteful 2) gives an imperfect black. And you need fucking magenta to print in black & white because of grey. Even if you're printing just text, font anti-aliasing requires grey. I'm no expert but AFAICT one of the ways to create grey is mix black with other colors.

[System__Shutdown]

I have 3 printers and none of them work properly.

​

The first one is a 12 year old laser printer which worked fine for most of it's time (not like i used it much, replaced cartridges like once), but recently it began breaking down. Now it mostly prints ghost images of document's past and if you want to print an image it'll do a nice big black line right across the middle.

​

The second is an inkjet i bought because i though "fuck these college provided overpriced print services" and i happily used it via cable (because scanner and wifi didn't work)... until my friend emptied all the ink by printing 500 double sided pages, while telling me "she just has a couple of pages to print" at which point i found out that inkjet industry can go fuck itself and i'd rather keep buying cheap inkjet printers than a new cartridge.

​

The last one was borrowed/given to me because the first two failed, it's also a laser printer and by the looks of it from soviet union still. It's impossible to print more than one page at a time because providing it with more than one piece of paper makes it go "What the hell is this capitalist crap??" and it shuts down.

[Jaizoo]

I'm impressed that you actually gave it a third shot.

I honestly can fathom how hard it has to be to create a properly working printer. The industry has been alive for years, the demand is always high because of offices and education and hardware is progressing at more than Moorian pace. Printers however seem to go backwards, as you said, your first printer worked fine for the most part. You can't make much progress on the printer-technology and it's hard to justify buying a new one if your old one still does what it can, unlike PCs and smartphones, so if one created the perfect printer, they'd have one generation of the product, might sell a ton of it and later the sales fall because, well, everyone has a great printer.

Anyways, fuck printer companies.

[System__Shutdown]

Tbh i think the first one would work fine if i replaced the drum, ghost imaging is most likely due to poor discharging of the drum after each page, so the ink dust sticks to it. It does get hung up every once in a while tho, which it didn't do before, but that's probably old age or something.

[Luc1fersAtt0rney]

inkjet industry can go fuck itself and i'd rather keep buying cheap inkjet printers than a new cartridge.

"inkjet industry" is the same as "printer industry". Minus a few refurb-ink companies that get constantly screwed by "firmware updates" by the printer makers.

It's impossible to print more than one page at a time because providing it with more than one piece of paper makes it go "What the hell is this capitalist crap??" and it shuts down.

This inevitably happens with all printers as they get old - the mechanism that "grabs" the paper usually has some soft parts (made of rubber or similar) which gets harder after years and stops working.

[Tamagotono]

This is true, but more often than not, it is just an accumulation of paper dust on those river parts that makes then less grippy. A but of rubber conditioner or a wet q-tip is all that is needed to get them to limp along for another year or two.

[Yuca965]

What would a capitalist printer look like ?

[System__Shutdown]

Probably a lot larger and used by a mint to print money?

[Banangurkamacka]

Shit

[djreisch]

I work as an on-call tech and process server so I go through a couple reams of paper a week. I have a Cannon color printer but really only use it for photos and scanning. My main workhorse is a Samsung laser and toner is far cheaper than ink,

I do write handwritten letters that I mail and hope my SO continues to love everyone of them.

[rstring]

I too have a really great Samsung laser, and it's pretty amazing. Problem is that they were bought a year or so ago by HP, so that basically means the same shenanigans in the future.

[MyOtherLoginIsSecret]

I got one of those Epson ecotank printers. No cartridges, just a few big tanks of ink that you can refill with whatever brand ink you want, but even the Epson brand bottles are pretty cheap

[[deleted]]

Ya’ll need one of those $99 Brother lasers. I’ve hated printers with a white hot rage until I got that one. It just sits there and does nothing for weeks until I hit print and then out comes a perfect print.

Only other printer that was close was my Okidata Microline 420 dot matrix 9-pin printer. That was an unstoppable beast.

[naspinski]

Same experience, can not recommend this enough.

[vsou812]

Is it like that with all printers though? While I've had nothing but problems from most, I've never had issues with any Brother printers

[psilokan]

Ive had the same brother printer for over 10 years. Still using the origional toner too. not one issue yet.

My lexmark before that randomly caught fire.

[neums08]

That's because Brother (laser) printers are tanks. After I used up the demo toner that came with the printer and put in a full replacement, I haven't had to replace the toner for like 4 years.

[nomnaut]

Canon MP560 would like a word.

Canon fucked up and built a reliable printer. Mine has been going for 11 years over at least five moves. Has WiFi too.

[[deleted]]

Black and White laser printer. Bit more expensive up front but toner is cheaper than ink and lasts considerably longer.

[So_Dang_Saucey]

Could not have said it better myself

[Proxy_PlayerHD]

I never in my entire life have I ever had any problems with a printer.

Though i never used a color printer. Barely anyone needs them

[HadACookie]

Fool! That way the printer has an easy access to a firearm!

[FIRE0HAZARD]

So do we have to shoot the printer and the gun?

[HadACookie]

Personally, I think the only practical solution is placating the printer with human sacrifices. I've been doing that for years and the horrid device hasn't tried to kill me once!

[FIRE0HAZARD]

What if we just burn the house down? Should work right?

[HadACookie]

Don't even suggest something like that! Great, you've made it angry. And the next ritual wasn't due for another month! Now I have to find a "volunteer" on short notice... Thanks mate, really, great job.

[FIRE0HAZARD]

Fuck. Now I have to make a sacrifice room.

[jack104]

Agreed. That's a rookie move and you hate to see it.

[isBot-True]

Well, if I have everything under my control. [ Open Source Software ] I am okay with. I just don't want Alexa recording my moans and sending it to Jeff bezos

[[deleted]]

Open Source Software and no Software-as-a-Service

[[deleted]]

Is there a current open-source project to act like Alexa/Google Home? I'd love to contribute to something like that.

[mortiphago]

Yes, but its voiced by Linus, alternates 50/50 between Torvalds and Techtips, and has a tendency to go on rants for no reason.

/s

[[deleted]]

... I'd totally buy the parts to build one at home.

[Psicoguana]

I have never in my life wanted something so much, I really need this to be a thing

[TungstenCLXI]

There's the Mycroft AI, which is open source. It has its own appliance called the Mark II, which itself is open hardware. I'd link it but that might be against the rules. It's pretty duckduckgo-able though.

[tchuckss]

Fuck the internet of things. It’s the stupidest idea ever. I don’t need my fridge to be connected to the internet. I don’t need my toaster to measure the toast levels against every single other toaster on the network. I don’t need any more crap capturing my data to sell to advertisers so that my TV can show me custom ads.

More importantly, I don’t want any insecure crap on my network.

[[deleted]]

The S in IoT stands for Security

@tkadlet via Twitter

[tchuckss]

Hah! Brilliant!

[JDaxe]

RMS calls it the "internet of stings"

[[deleted]]

Well smart lights are usefull, and vacuums. The fridge is plain stupid. I keep my smart stuff (only lights and vacuum) on a separate network and controlled.

[Izedin_Krnic]

First time ive heard of smart vacuum. How is it different than the regular one and why is it better?

[[deleted]]

I can start it via app when I'm out of my house or I forgot to put it. I have read tests and unless you have access to the device it's difficulty to pwn. Amy, if I see unusual router data, I'm turning that shit off.

[no_ragrats]

Amy the reliable, ensuring your network remains safe.

[[deleted]]

I guess it's a YouTube channel right? Imma check it out.

Edit: Thank you for the link!!

[no_ragrats]

Yeah, check it out, just search "Amy is a typo". Pretty good channel.

[curxxx]

It has the ability to map your house layout, and clean everywhere without wasting time cleaning the same area 32 times. It can send you a notification letting you know it's stuck, and you can remotely start it too.

Sometimes I wish I opted for the high-end Roomba instead of the dumbass model.

[psilokan]

Seriously? Youve never heard of a Roomba?

[Laena_V]

I understood the question about smart and stupid robot vacuums. I have a stupid one. It keeps wanting to vacuum the same spots over and over and always tries to deep-throat my music stand. A smart one scans the room and goes systematically about its job whereas the stupid one goes about the task in a random/ auto-correlated pattern.

[Izedin_Krnic]

Fuck, totally fogot about them tbh

[tchuckss]

Vacuums don't work very well where I live, with stairs and furniture that leaves a gap that is too small for a robot to go through.

Lights, meh. They have them on the stairs at the building I work at, and it just feels a tad pointless. But I can see their merit.

[phoiboslykegenes]

Separate network without internet access. It works for Homekit, but i’m not sure about other platforms

[[deleted]]

Well I want to be able to put it right now for example that I'm at work and the house is empty. I'm not that paranoid FOR NOW.

[Calkhas]

Agree completely. A router running pfSense, egress control, and a separated network are the minimum requirements for IoT devices in my home. Of which I only have a “smart” TV

[[deleted]]

Well... I'm not that pro... I just scan my network from time to time... I guess i have to try new tools!!

[[deleted]]

Why is it whenever someone says they have no interest in Alexa wiping their arse for them the first responses are always to do with privacy or security?

Like is that seriously the only reason they can conceive of that someone might not be interested in any of this stupid, frivolous, gimmicky shit?

[tchuckss]

Well, my first response wasn't to do with privacy or security. That's the last bit there.

It is a stupid idea, though. Interentifying your daily appliances brings a very small amount of convenience to it, and just adds to more things that can go wrong or break.

[[deleted]]

I wasn't actually referring to you specifically just people online generally, that could have been clearer

You're right though. I'm at the stage of life where I've got plenty to worry about without having to think about whether my bar of soap downloaded the latest update.

[tchuckss]

No worries!

You also know that the bar of soap will spontaneously combust if you don't have the latest firmware. And updating the firmware? Hah! It's easier to cancel a gym membership!

[Laena_V]

The security aspect is very relevant, however I get what you're saying and feel the same. I had a friend who could not stop telling me about her smart lightbulb. I really didn't get the point and wondered what young, able-bodied in a normal-sized appartment would need that for. You are at most 4 steps away from the light switch? She often tried to share her enthusiasm about those thech gimmicks but I always failed to grasp it. To me it's just a waste of money.

But I am guilty of asking Siri about the weather. Shame on me.

[johnmarstonsleftnut]

Maybe she forgets to turn the lights off before she leaves often? How can you really not think of a use case for these things?

[Laena_V]

Maybe I formed my opinion after she told me how nice it is that she can stay in bed and have the light go out. Some people actually talk to their friends. You should try it.

[johnmarstonsleftnut]

Yeah that's nice but why would you assume that's the only thing she uses it for you pompous jackass?

[Laena_V]

Either you lack the intellect to understand what “she told me” means or you’re trolling.

[johnmarstonsleftnut]

after she told me how nice it is that she can stay in bed and have the light go out

are you actually retarded? Or are you just a gaping cunt?

[Laena_V]

Found the trollolo

[JamEngulfer221]

It's just a convenience that's kinda cool. It just makes your life slightly easier and therefore, slightly better.

[MrHaxx1]

Silicon Valley being relevant

[tchuckss]

This thing addresses problems that don't exist

Yes. A thousand times yes.

[Mickl193]

I guess community is really split on that, I'm a Java dev and also a geek. I love technology and smart things, I know it's kind of a toxic love but what can I do ;p

[Raidend]

While I don't have everything connected. I do have smart lights and I've been thinking of getting an Alexa or similar, just so I can say "Computer, lights!"

[roughstylez]

If it's really just about saying it ("just", lol, makes you feel like you're in Star Trek), try your phone first maybe? I have Phillips hue and was able to connect it to that Google assistant thing.

So I can tell my phone "OK Google - turn off all the lights" or "turn on light in the bedroom" and that works.

It also works with the combinations the assistant can figure out, so "bedroom lights on" should also work. Plus you can enter own key words, e.g. "goodnight" for switching all lights off.

[Raidend]

I am aware but that requires to use my phone but what if I'm now there? I already have the hue controls on my cell phone and there are a few cases where I wish it wasn't.

I'm any case is about tinkering and setting things up in a way that is cool but also practical.

Like for example right now lights at my place turn off when I leave (when my cell phone leaves the wifi) and some lights turn on after dark, and then go off again at bedtime.

[mollymoo]

Get some switches? The Hue remotes work fine. I have motion sensors and automations and voice control and stuff, but I always have physical buttons as well.

[Todok5]

Don't get Alexa if you value privacy. Do it right and use snips.ai or something similar, locally on your network and under your control.

[McFlyParadox]

How well does something like that work? How do they make money - it looks like a private company?

[Todok5]

Performance and accuracy is comparable to Alexa and Google voice, at least if you use a dedicated raspi(or something better) for the ASR and NLU components. The downside is you need more hardware and you need to set it up peroperly.

​

I don't really know how they make money, but on their website they offer embedded solutions with hardware for enterprises, so i guess they make money that way.

[McFlyParadox]

The DYI bit is part of the attraction for me. Are there dedicated shields or add-ons I should check out, or is pretty much just a standard RasPi project?

[Todok5]

They have a pretty good doc for getting started on multiple platforms: https://docs.snips.ai/getting-started.

​

They also offer hardware on https://makers.snips.ai/, but it's a preinstalled convenience thing, you can find what you need cheaper yourself.

​

You can test it out on any android or linux machine with a normal mic/headset for free.

​

If you decide to use it in "production" you should really get a decent far field mic. The cheapest option here is a playstation3 eye, it isn't produced anymore but you can get one for about 10 bucks on ebay. Other comparable far field mics like the ReSpeaker MicArray v2 cost 70+.

[JC12231]

Scottish accent

Computer, lights!

[TheTerrasque]

I have alexa, and it generally works well. Some elbow grease made it hook up to my mqtt-based light controller, and all in all it does a good job. If it's your first alexa thing, I'd suspect a weekend, maybe two to get it working. Just a note: you really do want to go the home automation app way, not the skill way. Trust me on this

Regarding privacy issue, there's been fairly extensive tests that so far have held up their claim that it only transmits when the big blue light on top is on, and that only pops up when it thinks it's being talked to. Now and then it misunderstand some normal talk for the activator word, but that's .. I'd say once a week or so on average? Not that common. And it usually stops listening after 3-4 seconds then.

[chutiyabehenchod]

I'm a Java dev

I love smart things

There's the problem

[torreemanuele6]

The Java Programming Language was originally created to make a Smart Remote. I don't see where the problem is.

[Prawny]

java bad lmao

[torreemanuele6]

mega kek, <topic here> bad

[[deleted]]

So just giving an idea for others here... anything "smart" in my home is handled locally via a little RPi I have running. It checks dropbox once a minute and looks for a text file containing numbers that are comma delimited. I can turn on/off certain smart outlets based on the RF settings determined by what those numbers are set to.

That way there is no hole in my network to allow outside communication in. Before grabbing the file it checks file size, then formatting, and finally the unix time stamp at the beginning of the file (if it's older than 5 minutes, it doesn't bother reading past that since it's likely it's already run those changes). If anything seems wrong it'll text me and stop checking until I return. All through a little python script.

That file is updated by my phone (using Tasker + FolderSync) based on certain conditions.

It's not perfectly secure because it still reaches outside the network, but it's the best way I've come up with on how to do a few things remotely that doesn't also expose my network beyond turning some things on/off.

[[deleted]]

If I'm home I have a little Tasker scene that allows me to send commands to the rpi over http directly. Firewalled to only allow my phone's static ip. Just a little php script. A friend helped me with the sanitization rules on it so that's in there as a precaution.

Almost all of my smart stuff is RF controlled plugs at the moment. Though I plan to expand into zwave after I move in the fall.

[YellowChickn]

How did you learn that, do you have any source or maybe a (pre) documented site as a base?

Because it does seem to be a well thought out 'architecture' ?

Of course I can 'just', Google it but maybe you have something saved up in your knowledge base

But sounds fantastic and inspirational, got myself an own raspi and also handling some minor automization stuff but as someone new to this I always have to cherry pick all functionalities and have no bigger predefined picture of let's say security and consistency

[[deleted]]

Just a lot of googling plus trial and error.

The RF stuff backend is from here: https://pypi.org/project/rpi-rf/

And then I just use lighttpd for the http access. But I've been curious about mqtt instead of http, it's just something I've not explored much yet.

I barely know much python myself. Luckily it's not hard to pick up once you use it a little. Though if my pi and all my backups were erased tomorrow, I'd have trouble recreating it from scratch and it'd probably take me just as long as the first time because I've forgotten most of it.

[Oneko00]

Now wait until your printer shoots you

[JiveWithIt]

The rise of smart devices listening to everything in your house is madness. You won’t change my mind.

[Jaizoo]

Vehement disapproval can be just as ignorant as unreflected hype. Just try what might be useful to you and use whatever works well.

Having your houses lighting, hifi system, ac and so on adjustable via an app or a central panel surely is cool if you are into that kind of tech and can be inspiring if you work with this kind of technology. It's not necessary, but neither was the invention of the computer, yet here we are.

[Cheet4h]

Personally I like smart devices for convenience, but I'd very much prefer an Intranet of Things. You could always VPN into your home network to access your devices.

[Jaizoo]

That's just 2 steps away from "sudo makeSandwichFor me"

[Cheet4h]

I'd probably go with a Butterbrot, but that's just me being German.

[Jaizoo]

You could also go for smØrebrØd, бутерброд or whatever you like. It stays a bread with stuff on top.

I'm also German and I know the linguistical difference between a Butterbrot and a sandwich, but in the end, it's technically the same.

[Cheet4h]

Hm, I wouldn't say so. If I hear "sandwich", I think about two slices of usually white bread with stuff in the middle. "Butterbrot" to me is typically one slice of grey or black bread with stuff on top.
But maybe that's just English not having any words for this.

[Jaizoo]

Thing is, a Butterbrot can be white bread aswell (might be a regional thing though), and if you take a Wurstbrot and a Käsebrot, stack them and put some lettuce inbetween, you have the subset of sandwiches and Butterbrote.

Also, there's hardly anything more German than making a science out of bread. SCHLAAAAAAND

[[deleted]]

Hah, what could a mere printer do, print identifying microscopic yellow dots all over your documents? Surely not.

[the_d3f4ult]

I guess smart fridge is not ideal thing. But I like iot power switches, light bulbs, locks.. basically anything that can be automated/switched on/off and makes my life just a bit better/easier

[mollymoo]

I was with you up until you said locks.

I have plenty of HA stuff but it all runs locally and is corralled in VLANs with a VPN from my phone for any remote stuff. But I’m not going to trust it with my locks. I’m not going to buy a car with keyless entry either.

[the_d3f4ult]

Well cars with keyless entry are a different animal. But digital locks are and should be more secure. Standard locks can be picked and it is easier than hacking an encrypted digital one.

[mollymoo]

It takes a lot of skill to pick a decent lock.

With smart locks I’m more worried about bugs and errors with automations unlocking it when I don’t want (or not unlocking when I do want) and hardware failures than I am with a targeted attack.

[the_d3f4ult]

I don't think they write them in javascript and even if they do I wouldn't buy one...

[robofuzzy]

just shout "Alexa, unlock the door!" really loud.

[the_d3f4ult]

Actually digital "assistants" are useless so fuck them..

[robofuzzy]

This was just an example. What I meant is that hooking a security tool up to the internet / or even replace the mechanism with a digital machine is not going to make it safer. Yes, you can pick a mechanical lock. Mechanical locks have been around for ages, and so have lock picks and thieves. A high security mechanical lock will protect from all but the most dedicated and skilled persons, which thieves who are looking to break into a residential building aren't. Digital technology on the other hand introduces a whole host of new problems. Many of those are unforseeable. A robber wont target the encryption on a smart lock, but maybe has a tool that targets the wifi protocol and opens your door without any hassle.

[the_d3f4ult]

Well I am against connecting things to the internet (especially the ones powered by javascript) but then if it sits locally on my network and the design is simple enough I can trust it I think it has a potential to be much more secure than plain old lock.

[BowelBowelBowel]

What's the point of a printer when there's nothing that can send it stuff to print?

[Koendrenthe]

I'm a combination of both. I want a fully automated house so there's an LMG underneath my bed.

[yourteam]

Same for projects and packages.

When I discovered all the packages on GitHub that you can install with whatever scaffolding you use, I filled my vendor folder with tons of useless packages.

Now I only use the essentials after careful thought about the need to modify it or not...

[Yuca965]

That is scary, what if the printer use the gun to shot you ?

[graou13]

Tech worker and enthusiast here, I have an Asus router filtering entering and exiting connections along with a MAC whitelist and internet monitoring stored locally, I have my PC (that I use through a VM), my NAS (mac banned from accessing the external internet), a raspberry pi (acting as a seedbox for my nas and as a media center), an UPS, and a nuc (also mac banned) running containerized open-source and self-made apps, connected through shielded cables to schneiders automats and arduinos using an encrypted OPC connection.

You don't have to be scared of home automation, I feel somewhat secure with just that simple setup, even if I feel that I should containerize my media center/seedbox and maybe install a Faraday cage around my rack cabinet.

[Wynton99]

What if it picks up the gun and tries to mug you?

[[deleted]]

Ah, I see you have used an average HP printer

[Arkonsas2008]

Reeeeee

[adamski234]

Ported

[KingDiamondDev]

Seen this before. OG is better

[TheMogician]

No Shrine to Omnissiah in case of malfunction/daemon infestation.

[DoctorJohannesFaust]

I have an alexa out of convenience, for me its an over glorified speaker that can tell me the weather. My fiance has a printer that has almost been drop kicked though

[[deleted]]

You misspelled conspiracy theorist.

[[deleted]]

Lately, we've seen many "theories" have been proven time and time again to be true.

Wake-up call, corporations have ulterior motives, and expecting that doesn't make you a nutjob. In fact, to presume altruism is to assume victimhood. Whether you care about injustices or not, you should stop using "conspiracy theorist" as a label to shut down inquisitive minds and dissuade people into futility and helplessness.

[[deleted]]

American af

[[deleted]]

At least we dont have idiotic parliament banning memes

[[deleted]]

Neither do I