I have a G-Shock 5600 watch that can alert me when my washing machine is finished. At the start of the cycle I take note of the total time it takes, I set that time on the timer of the watch and hit start. It will beep once the washing machine is finished. Been doing that for about 15 years now.

It works with all brands regardless of API.

Of course this doesn’t work with variable cycle times.

Then you'll just add 15-30 minutes, and it will still work ;)

Those popups I get multiple times a day about how this website works better on Chrome , which cover half my screen and which forward me to the App Store, are incredibly misleading. I have misclicked many times and then the App Store opens up. If you go back to the browser and hit the back button, it will again open the App Store. I have to press and hold the back button and skip multiple pages to get back to what I was doing.

Strange - I don't get this in Firefox. I wonder if its because I'm in the UK or perhaps Privacy Badger is blocking it.

This is with the Safari browser on iOS, using Google websites while not being logged in to Google. No content blockers.

I think we are talking about phones here because on macOS you can use any browser without limitation.

The result of this process is that the air purifier boosts when the air quality inside drops.

I feel like that is something that doesn’t or at least shouldn’t require a string of IoT devices, apps, wireless communication and hubs. Why not leave all of that out and just attach an air quality sensor to the air purifier and a small LCD to adjust the settings?

The light in my hallway turns on automatically when I walk past. No cloud, no HomeAssist, no WiFi, no Zigbee, no apps, no batteries to change. Just a motion sensor hardwired to the light fixture. Hasn’t failed me once in the past ten years. Works great even if the network goes down.

While the author gave a contrived need of controlling this device like the others, they may be simplifying their motivations for the purpose of focusing the article.

homeassistant allows you to perform follow on work or even long term analysis. For example the author could use the information to decide what times of day during which seasons are best for airing out the house (more popular in Europe than North America), or if air quality dips happen to coincide with their leaky clothes dryer spewing fibers and soap particles out into the home, or when they cook on their gas range, etc.

Some people just like to explore and discover. Low threat information is nice these days.

> Just a motion sensor hardwired to the light fixture. Hasn’t failed me once in the past ten years.

Funny you mention that, because I'm putting in smart movement sensors to make sure the lights don't come up at night in the garage where the dog sleeps, but also so that I can force the light on for a long period, when I'm doing some work in the same area. People have different needs/expectations.

AQ sensors add cost. I've also never seen a reliable AQ sensor on a air filter. I have several Coway which go into turbo mode at random times and a couple of others that never go above fan speed 1, even when my dedicated AQ sensor shows elevated PM2.5.

A dumb device without leds/screens/connectivity that I can control with a smart plug via HA is much easier to deal with.

Especially on a Sunday

There is no legal right to work from home in The Netherlands. The only law we have is that an employer should give you a good reason to work from the office.

> rather than a 2 hour car ride as seems to be the case for many people in the US.

The Netherlands has good bicycle infrastructure but the majority of people still go to work by car.

The commute time between countries is similar.

The Netherlands does not have transport cost compensation by law. Various unions have negotiated it for their members and a lot of people have it as part of their compensation package, but it's not mandated by law that a company should pay you for your travel cost.

A company is also not mandated by law to provide you with a bicycle.

You also do not get your cost fully covered if you drive by car. Currently it's capped at 23 cents per kilometer which is not enough for most cars.

It's not a tax deductible, it's just (income) tax free.

That's my mistake then, since I've never worked at a company here that didn't compensate you and assumed it was a given! I can no longer edit my comment unfortunately, otherwise I'd point this out there as well.

In similar fashion, European students with a gap-year will go backpacking in Asia

Does your nations healthcare system not cover that?

I have no issues using my AirPods on Android.

Automatic device switching doesn’t work but that doesn’t work on my Sony headphones either.

The new hearing aid features are gatekept behind an iOS app. You can't tweak the hearing aid settings without an Apple device.

If you can't actually tweak audiogram settings, they're not really hearing aids. In fact, Samsung doesn't sell them as hearing aids and from what I can tell never use the term "hearing aid" in any of the marketing, branding, or feature listing of the devices.

They're not FDA approved as hearing aids, so they're not hearing aids.

Either way, pointing to another company being shitty isn't really a good justification of the first company being shitty.

Just trying to understand your argument: Samsung does it so that makes Apple ok? I hear a lot of people argue (when defending Samsung, Google Play, etc) that Apple does it so it's ok, but not usually the other way around. I guess it makes sense that it would devolve into the spiderman meme, but the real losers in that are everyone else that isn't making money from it.

Personally I thinks it's shitty when anybody does it.

+1 on this. I use them with my android phone, steamdeck, windows computer, TV. They work great!