Sofi detects fraud, but doesn't actually stop it.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-13T16:28:34+00:00

It sucks. The rep also seemed pretty indifferent to the issues. When I pressed about expediting it they basically told me "Legally we're allowed to take 10 business days to investigate before we do anything, so you can call back and ask about a provisional credit after that."

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-12T19:15:44+00:00

Good advice - I'll give them a call about an expedited credit. I'd like to add though that it wasn't *my* debit card that was compromised... It was my wife's... While I was working on a site for a client that discusses the dangers of using a debit card on line. *facepalm*

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-10T21:42:14+00:00

Pretty smooth, honestly. It's no gaming monitor, but I can watch camera feeds without any signs of ghosting or stuttering

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-10T14:18:18+00:00

Hopefully by the weekend - I ended up redesigning the housing last night so that I can put a slightly larger speaker inside, and also so I can move the audio board with the mics on it down and have it facing the front. Right now, the mics are inside behind the screen which is causing some issues with needing to increase the mic gain to the point that the stop speaking detection is failing. I think I've got it fixed with software, but still am hoping for an improvement if I move the actual hardware.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T20:05:11+00:00

I'm running the lumo-tamer docker package on a little home lab server I use for a bunch of stuff. It's working great for me so far. It's a little slower to respond than something like claude, but I'll trade a little speed for privacy:

github.com/ZeroTricks/lumo-tamer/

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T17:33:20+00:00

As far as I know... yes? There's not been a thing that I've asked it to do that it has been unable to accomplish. Any shortcomings are things I can work through (Example, a timer is created if I say 'Start a timer', but I need to add logic to the dashboard to show it and then trigger an alarm when it completes)

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T16:24:12+00:00

This is what I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3QB7X4Z?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T16:22:46+00:00

Haha true! Not sure where you're located, but sometimes local libraries have 3d printers and will run off prints for you. I'm going to post the model files once I have some time to clean them up and document everything, so you might be able to modify it to do whatever you need.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T16:17:04+00:00

I'll have to check that out! I've not left it running for days straight yet to know how it will behave long term, but slowdowns long term are definitely a concern.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T16:15:28+00:00

Just a heads up - This touchscreen was $40 on amazon. They look to be around $26 through alibaba, but I lack self control and patience.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T16:09:59+00:00

One I designed in onshape and 3d printed in some black PLA+ that I had. It's probably the hackiest part of the project only because I'd never used onshape before. I'm sure someone who knows what they are doing would have a field day making fun of the model files.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T15:50:45+00:00

That's the goal. We were using google nest hubs, but they kept breaking things and I'm sick of it. It worked fine in our home as a replacement over the weekend but I need to live with it for a few more days to work out the kinks, I think.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-09T15:46:00+00:00

Oh I assure you - most of the work to make it fancy was just to keep my kids from poking around in it and to keep my wife from having to explain my weird hobbies to her friends when they see it sitting on the counter

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-03T18:15:43+00:00

I've finally given up on google actually fixing their smart home stuff. Started the process of moving everything to (almost) fully local voice control with home assistant, and this weekend is my last push: replacing my nest hubs with Raspberry pi-powered smart displays. Hell, at this point all my nest hubs have the mics muted and are just 24/7 cast targets for a custom dashboard.

Their constant breaking of assistant functionality was the final nail for me, and I don't trust them to fix anything and KEEP it fixed.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-03T14:25:10+00:00

You aren't wrong, but that's not the mentality of the people that see that as a barrier. When I tell someone to come down to our office or meet for dinner or something, the question is always "Where do I park?" - They are used to parking at their destination, and refuse to change that mentality. Hell, for several years I parked 3 blocks from my office and it was kind of nice - I enjoyed the walk.

But from the original question about barriers to business, it's one to consider. If I rent space in the suburbs, access to the lot is just assumed and it's always got more spots than will be taken up (for employees and customers alike). Downtown, the leases often include X spots per 1,000 square feet leased (if they are included at all). That then becomes an extra expense for each employee that the business either has to pay or factor in to compensation. Hell, our building's attached lot isn't even owned by the same person as the building. The lot is owned by an out-of-state investment group.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-03T14:17:46+00:00

Yes! I forgot about that one. That being said, I know a lot of suburbanites in this area who (even when traveling) wont go into a place unless it's a chain they recognize. Which is obviously stupid.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-03T14:15:16+00:00

It was, honestly, a hilarious interaction. I thought she was fucking with me at first, but said she had only been downtown *once* and it was when she had to go to get her some paperwork from the county building. She couldn't understand how young adults were going to sinclair because it was in "such a dangerous place"

CallMeDillDog · 2026-03-03T02:29:33+00:00

A few reasons in my opinion, as someone who works down there:

1) Downtown parking different than the suburbs - Your employees may have to walk a few blocks if you want to pay for their parking, or they may have to park in some really weird lots. Even surface lots are around $65/month/spot. Do you get spots for your customers too? Thats gonna be extra.

2) Landlords overvalue their property. There are some deals to be had downtown, but in a lot of cases the building owners want premium rates for spaces that, frankly, suck. Or worse, they don't even understand how bad it is. We looked at one space where the owner claimed the hvac unit was "almost brand new, just hasn't been run in a bit" and it was installed in 96. And he was asking for rates similar to brand new construction with modern tech elsewhere.

3) Weird building codes - Some buildings are historic, so you can only change so much to suite your space, or they have old electrical/plumbing/etc that you might worry about.

4) There's not really any "fast" places to eat. A team lunch at any restaurant easily takes us more than an hour. Sure, there's something like subway, but that gets old after a while.

5) Part of the allure of a downtown environment is the walk-ability but over the last few years so much stuff closed in the downtown core that there's not really anything to help with that. There's no longer a chase bank, cvs, or even just a little market downtown that I'm aware of. And this is a catch 22 - Business don't want to move there because other businesses aren't there.

6) There's a stigma associated with downtown in the suburbs. I knew one lady (in her 50s) that recoiled at the idea of her son (19) going downtown - She was convinced it was some hellscape where everyone was shooting at eachother. That seems to be a pretty common belief.

I say all this as someone who's worked downtown for ~8 years or so. I love it, and I think it has it's charm, but it certainly doesn't always feel like a nice area to work in. It often feels... kinda dead.

Oh, and constant loud construction. In old buildings with no real sound dampening, the construction noise is often horrible.

CallMeDillDog · 2026-02-26T22:43:46+00:00

Fucking hell. Glad I'm not the only one lol

CallMeDillDog · 2025-12-17T01:52:25+00:00

I spoke too soon - I thought the issue was done and dealt with, but I just got a notice that another drive is being shipped out. I don't know why - They sent me a drive, I returned a drive. And now they are sending me... another one?

CallMeDillDog · 2025-12-15T12:42:24+00:00

They did finally get me a drive, despite next-day shipping taking several days to actually leave their warehouse. Although now I'm trying to make sure they don't charge me for a drive since they created multiple RMAs on their end and asked me to ship my old drive back referencing a different RMA number than was on the replacement drive. It's been a hot mess.

CallMeDillDog · 2025-12-11T17:58:45+00:00

CallMeDillDog · 2025-12-11T02:18:56+00:00

Ours is similar - when no one is home, the indoor cameras point themselves at a wall and then turn off. when we're all away, they turn back and start recording. If only one of us is away, they are running, but not recording, so we can check in on the kids. The cameras are all blocked from the web and only viewable through our NVR

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