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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
Admin
completely blind computer geek, lover of science fiction and fantasy (especially LitRPG). I work in accessibility, but my opinions are my own, not that of my employer. Fandoms: Harry Potter, Discworld, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Buffy, Dead Like Me, Glee, and I'll read fanfic of pretty much anything that crosses over with one of those.
keyoxide: aspe:keyoxide.org:PFAQDLXSBNO7MZRNPUMWWKQ7TQ
Location Ottawa
Birthday 1987-12-20
Pronouns he/him (EN)
matrix @fastfinge:interfree.ca
keyoxide aspe:keyoxide.org:PFAQDLXSBNO7MZRNPUMWWKQ7TQ
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Well, 3.5 inches, sure. But nobody complains about my RAM!
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Gawd, you're so SCSI!
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel And hear I thought you'd take a cheap shot about my floppy drive. I guess one of us is an adult LOL
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Something about that term just sounds so insulting LOL. "Yeah, well...you're a dummy display port, you dongle!"
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@jonathan859 @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @JamminJerry @pixelate @quanin @mcourcel When I'm away, I give the catsitter an NFC card that will unlock the door. Then I can revoke it when I get back. Doesn't matter if they copied the NFC card, or forgot to give it back to me or whatever. That code doesn't work anymore. Whereas getting a locksmith to duplicate a key is easy and cheap.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@JamminJerry @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @quanin @jonathan859 @mcourcel The issue hear is that sometimes I leave a window open in the spring or fall. I know that burglars in these parts will try yelling "Alexa! Siri! Unlock the door!" in any open windows. Sadly, that's been known to work. I use my locks via homekit and my phone, but I disable voice commands.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Wow, you have a monitor? That's actually on a desk, where you could see it if you were sighted? Sorry! Your blind person card has been revoked! My laptop lids stay closed and I have no monitor. Even though that meant getting a tripod with an arm to mount the camera. ROFL
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel I'm also not exactly sure what it gets you, unless you have your laptop in your bedroom. If someone wants to watch me typing all day, sure! What I say is where all the private info is. And you can't disable the microphone the same way.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Whereas I have an autofocusing camera with automatic tracking. But I do hear when it's recording, because the motor makes a sound as it moves on the gimble. And I could unplug the USBC port. I don't actually own a desktop. Just laptops and a server that lives in the furnace room.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @JamminJerry @pixelate @mcourcel Yup. The washing machine, for example, is entirely a touch screen with a menu.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Right, but it can still hear everything you're saying when you're in the room. And it still knows everywhere you go, because you take it with you. Once you have a powered on phone in the room with you, at this point you just have to assume that the manufacturer of the phone is listening or looking. It doesn't even need to be your phone.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@jonathan859 @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @quanin @mcourcel Unless you own it, you need permission from your landlord to modify the lock in any way. At least in Canada. The place I live is mine, so it doesn't matter; I can do whatever I want without permission.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel I dunno, I have my phone in my pocket most of the time. My privacy is already gone. Adding another microphone owned by the same people doesn't change much.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@jonathan859 @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @quanin @mcourcel Yup! It doesn't change anything about the outside of your lock. In the case of switchbot, there's a keypad that goes on the outside of the door, but you can screw it in where ever you want, it connects via bluetooth. And it has a sensor so it stops working if it gets removed from the door. And even if the keypad gets unscrewed and taken off, you still can't get in that way.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @mcourcel I'm in a basement, so the only light I get is the light I bring.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@jonathan859 @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @quanin @mcourcel No, because they're mounted on the inside face of the door. They replace the bolt.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Yup. It's like everything home related: if you don't know what you're buying, you're going to be sold something that sucks. I'm a computer expert, so I buy smart home tech. But I would never purchase, say, my own windows or flooring. I have a trusted guy to buy that stuff for me.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @mcourcel Ah, I pay for the utilities here. And frequent zoom meetings mean I need to have the lights on for that. I also record a lot of videos for various purposes, so have special lighting setups for 4k stuff.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @jonathan859 @mcourcel Yup. I went with switchbot for that exact reason. You don't even replace the key, so you get to use your current housekeys. And they use NFC to unlock, so they're smart devices, but no actual internet connection is required.
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🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca
3mo
@quanin @dhamlinmusic @lynessence @pixelate @mcourcel I did my lights because it saves me money. As a blindy I keep forgetting to turn them off. So smart switches and home automation ended up being a savings. Similarly, when I'm away, I set the temperature to be different than I'm at home. I couldn't really do that with an inaccessible thermostat, and again, it saves me a few bucks. My smart doorbell lowers my home insurance, so again, savings. The oven and laundry and dishwasher and instantpot being connected didn't save me anything, but they're the only way to get access to the touch screens. So yeah, I live in a smart home these days.