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[McTraveller]

It makes me sad when there is a class of product I want to buy, but no manufacturer makes it.  Especially when it's a "first world problem" product.

In this case, I want a programmable thermostat that is a combined humidistat, but is not WiFi.  I want to replace my old mercury switch thermostat and separate humidistat with a single unit.

Every programmable thermostat with humidistat I've been able to find is also encumbered with WiFi.

I may just have to keep my separate 'stats; I found a nice non-wifi thermostat but it doesn't have humidity control.

[LordBaal]

Oh God that's the kind of problem I would love to have...

Could you simply disable wifi on the device and call it a day? Or you are looking for something with a ethernet port to plug in a cat cable in it and that is not being made by anyone?

[Telgin]

So I finally talked with the medical team and after a review by the radiologist proper they said the size is 11 rather than 7mm. I learned the location which is supposedly good, and on ct it seems localized and isolated. I didnt learn the shape. I'm waiting for a pet scan which will further ellucidate whether its benign or malignant and confirm its localized.  I'm going insane with worry and can barely think. I dont trust my calculations after that previous jump. I'm disquieted by the worse scenarios of it being bad, despite the survivals of 85% for  localized forms, which is the whole point of doing this screening.  I feel like crawling into bed and bawling nonstop when I think about the hopefully very remote possibility of non-localized disease.

I've not had lunch nor dinner. I'm not hungry. I'm terrified about my loved one(s).  I very much encourage anyone reading this to undergo any and all screening programs available and to encourage their loved ones to do the same.

After my mom was diagnosed with metastatic sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma (almost literally the worst kind of kidney cancer you can get, short of maybe sarcomatoid collecting duct RCC) last year I went through something very similar, and you've got my deepest sympathies despite how hollow it will feel.

I wish I had useful advice to give, and can only say that I coped by reading research papers on it and current drugs, which was fascinating but honestly didn't really help.  I read more research papers in that first two weeks than I did the whole time I was in grad school, and at least it gave me something to do.  I considered switching careers into oncology research, but as a mere computer scientist I'm not at the forefront of applicants.  In the end, I have to admit that what helped me was the news that she'd had an exceptional response to treatments that weren't approved until just 2 years ago.

Waiting for the PET scan results will be difficult, but hope for the best.

[Vector]

Checked the Honeywell line? Smart thermostats allow thermostats to respond to "power events" by decreasing functioning slightly instead of making the power company opt for rolling blackouts. For this reason they're being pushed right now. But when I was last involved in this, honeywell definitely had the widest thermostat lines, most of them non-"smart."

[McTraveller]

The device I have on-hand (but still in its shrink-wrap) is in fact a Honeywell, although "this isn't your father's Honeywell." Gotta love how companies are allowed to buy other companies' names, just for brand recognition.

Anyway, no, I find any network connectivity in my thermostat to be anathema.  I refuse to pay for WiFi or ethernet or bluetooth connectivity in my device. I don't want to go through hoops to try and disable it, I just don't want it to exist.

[Vector]

Right, what I mean is that when I was doing a paid report on this topic for a company, Honeywell had a fuckton of unconnected ("dumb") thermostats. But I'm sad if everyone has gone the way of the Nest. It's a horrible idea.

[WealthyRadish]

Anyway, no, I find any network connectivity in my thermostat to be anathema.  I refuse to pay for WiFi or ethernet or bluetooth connectivity in my device. I don't want to go through hoops to try and disable it, I just don't want it to exist.

Hmm, I don't know about this. It almost feels like a waste these days if your thermostat is selfishly kept out of the greater web, where it could be DDoSing Ukrainians or mining someone's crypto.

[LordBaal]

You could buy whatever and simply no connect it to anything?

I understand. Some company should made "dumb-smart" appliances with programmability and other smart stuff but without the hassle of "smart" things, no conections, no firmware update, no security issues.

In my old place I had a programmable voltage protector for the first water heater (back when I could actually afford not being my own plumber) and it was sweet and perfect. I could program any day or hour to be on/off and also could manually turn it on for any length of time I wanted up to 24 hours (it remembered the last time set) or indefinitely on or off and it accomplished all that with only 5 buttons and a pretty simple, calculator style, no backlight screen.

It was programmed to turn on the water heater for two hours right before dawn and then two hours starting at sunset. It was all it was required and I can't see how internet connection would have improved it in any way. In fact if any improvement would have been required it could have been a backlight and that was about it.

It was a good device, not as clumsy or random as a wifi coverage; an elegant appliance for a more civilized age.

Then I remember my brother in law smart tv, lots of loading time, crappy software blunded in, slow as hell and no memory to install beyond a couple of things truly necessary/useful. Surely newer smart tvs are better and improved in all those aspects, but I just don't see the point, specially with the seemingly arbitrary obsolescence forced by the software updates (ie no more youtube, news or netflix for you, sorry buy a new one). It think is better a dumb tv with a laptop or a micro pc installed on the back.

[methylatedspirit]

It think is better a dumb tv with a laptop or a micro pc installed on the back.

That's the thing that always bugs me with smart TVs: why include a computer in the TV, when you can stick a Raspberry Pi into one of the inputs and have all the functionality that way? Hell, that Pi's gonna be supported for way longer than any smart TV, I'll bet you. There's stuff like Kodi that does this, doing away with the whole PC thing and just turning it into a set-top box.

The hilarious thing here is that since Raspberry Pis are ARM, you can indeed run Android on them no problem, just like the smart TVs. So you don't even need to fiddle around with Linux. It's a bit of fiddling around with custom ROMs and recoveries, but it's nothing a phone modder won't know how to do. There's launchers that'll emulate the Android TV experience for this purpose.

Smart TVs are a scam. It's a shame all the best and biggest TVs out there just have to be smart.

[King Zultan]

I don't see the point of any of this 'Smart' stuff now days, why can't something just be itself and have nothing to do with WIFI or a phone?

[George_Chickens]

I don't see the point of any of this 'Smart' stuff now days, why can't something just be itself and have nothing to do with WIFI or a phone?

Because then they couldn't spy on you and sell your data, or destroy your TV with a malicious update.

[McTraveller]

Exactly. Which is why I won't even buy a device that has the capability, even if I could disable it (I'm suspicious that is even feasible with those devices).  I don't want to encourage the production of such devices by paying money for them.

Maybe in my third or fourth life, I will use my free time to create a "simple tech" company - use tech for things like thermostats and appliances and cars, but don't shove the connectivity and mentality of "it's ok if we have a bug, we'll just push an update in two weeks" down people's throat.

[LordBaal]

It seems we found an unexploded niche, "be smart, not spied" could be our logo. All the pros of smart devices without any of the drawbacks...

[TamerVirus]

It seems we found an unexploded niche, "be smart, not spied" could be our logo. All the pros of smart devices without any of the drawbacks...

At least that's what you tell folk before spying on them anyway!

[dragdeler]

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