Month: November 2024

I've never particularly loved Amazon, either as a retail behemoth or as a hardware and software company, but despite that I still probably get more excited about new Kindle releases than I do about most other gadgets at this point.

Some of that is because I rely on my Kindle for distraction-free reading and because I'm constantly highlighting things and taking notes, so even minor improvements have a major impact on my day-to-day experience. And some of it is because the Kindle's relatively limited tech has left it without a lot of headroom to shove additional ads or other paid add-ons; they include lockscreen ads and "special offers," but they can be permanently turned off with a nominal $20 fee, and even when you don't turn them off, they don't degrade the device's performance or intrude on the actual reading experience. This isn't to say that Kindles are perfect, just that it's rare that I am roughly the same amount of annoyed by a software platform's ads and tracking than I was a decade ago.

Enter the new 12th-generation $160 Kindle Paperwhite, which like most Paperwhites is the Kindle that most people should buy.

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Das Netzausbau-Beschleunigungs-Gesetz wird von der FDP nicht mehr unterstützt. Die Telco-Branche ist damit teils unzufrieden, teils erleichtert. (Glasfaser, Breko)

Mit hohen Rabatten und Black-Friday-Angeboten sollten mehr als 4.000 gefälschte Onlineshops Kunden anlocken. (Cybercrime, Onlineshop)

Der Landwirtschafts-Simulator 25 ist auf PC erfolgreicher als sein Vorgänger - aber bei den Bewertungen zücken einige Spieler die Mistgabel. (Landwirtschafts-Simulator, Steam)

Wer unter MacOS 15.1 Drittanbieter-Firewalls wie Little Snitch verwendet, könnte auf Probleme stoßen. Filterregeln bleiben je nach Konfiguration wirkungslos. (MacOS, Apple)

Diesmal reicht wohl kein Softwareupdate aus: Durch ein defektes Teil kann der Cybertruck manchmal nicht mehr beschleunigen. (Tesla Cybertruck, Elektroauto)

Like Lee Hutchinson, I have a garage. The door on that garage is opened and closed by a device made by a company that, as with Lee's, offers you a way to open and close it with a smartphone app. But that app doesn't work with my preferred home automation system, Home Assistant, and also looks and works like an app made by a garage door company.

I had looked into the ratgdo Lee installed, and raved about, but hooking it up to my particular Genie/Aladdin system would have required installing limit switches. So I instead installed an OpenGarage unit ($50 plus shipping). My garage opener now works with Home Assistant (and thereby pretty much anything else), it's not subject to the whims of API access, and I've got a few ideas how to make it even better. Allow me to walk you through what I did, why I did it, and what I might do next.

Thanks, I’ll take it from here, Genie

Genie, maker of my Wi-Fi-capable garage door opener (sold as an "Aladdin Connect" system), is not in the same boat as the Chamberlain/myQ setup that inspired Lee's project. There was a working Aladdin Connect integration in Home Assistant, until the company changed its API in January 2024. Genie said it would release its own official Home Assistant integration in June, and it did, but then it was quickly pulled back, seemingly for licensing issues. Since then, no updates on the matter. (I have emailed Genie for comment and will update this post if I receive reply.)

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Die Anzeigen werden als gesponserte Folgefragen bezeichnet und neben den KI-Antworten der Suche platziert. (KI, Onlinewerbung)

Preissteigerungen bei einigen Microsoft-365-Produkten wie Teams Phone und Power BI haben es in sich. Auch Copilot bekommt ein Monatsabo. (Microsoft 365, KI)

Das komplexe Problem ist schnell gelöst, aber die Kollegen verstehen es immer noch nicht? Für Hochbegabte kann das frustrierend sein. Mehr Freiräume würden helfen. Ein Bericht von Torsten Landsberg (Arbeit, Wirtschaft)