HomeTech.fm - Episode 342 - Roaming Around

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

This is the Home Tech Podcast for Friday, March 12th from Sarasota, Florida. I'm Seth Johnson, and the Home Tech Podcast is a podcast all about aspects of home automation, home technology. This week, we've got a deep dive into a couple of very few home tech headlines, and then have a pick of the week, of course. But first, I do want to remind everybody to head on over to hometech.fm slash support so you can learn how to be a patron. Next week,

I'm going to send out the invitations this week and you'll see it on the patron feed. If you are a patron of the show, you're going to see everything there about how to join the Hometech Talks. And I'm really excited about this. I'm putting a lot of effort into it, trying to figure out how to do it logistically correct,

I guess, if that's even a thing. But I want to make sure that it all goes down and we're able to all gather and have a nice little conversation about technology. Next week, the overall topic is going to be video distribution. And so we'll start with like Q&A type questions and answers. But then I do want to kind of deep dive on video distribution.

So if you've ever wondered what the heck is video distribution or why would I ever sell it? We've had a couple of great conversations in the hub about video distribution recently and over the years, too. But I kind of want to like go over the concepts, what, see what everybody's using, what people are having success with and, uh, and, and go from there. Cause I think it'd be a great conversation, um, just to touch on. Uh, it's, it's something that we do a lot at the, my day job and, and have, uh, when we install video distribution stuff. Um, but you know, in, in, uh, in, in the real the real world, things could be different. So if you're tech, if you are a business owner,

or if you're a homeowner and you want to know more about video distribution and find out what is trending in the industry and what people are, like I said, having success with, that's the most important part. Join us, Home Tech Talks. You can find out more how to do that on our Patreon page, hometech.fm slash support. And again, it'll be on Thursday. It looks like the afternoon time slot worked out a little bit better for more people, a couple more

votes. So I'm going to shoot for that one first and see what we can do in like the 3 o'clock PM Eastern timeframe. And we'll go from there. If it doesn't work, we'll move it back into the shoot for that one first and see what we can do in like a three o'clock p.m. Eastern time frame. And we'll go from there. If it doesn't work, we'll move it back into the afternoon and maybe into the evening and see what works better for people. But I'm going to aim for that three o'clock and see if we can do a three o'clock chat on Thursdays. If it gets big enough and we can do a lot with it, then, you know, I guarantee you the conversations are going to get very interesting and they're going to get very interesting. And they're going to be a lot more industry experts coming in and dropping by to say hi and give us some valuable information on that. So, again, the link for that is hometech.fm slash support.

Yeah. And you find out all about how to do that on our patron page. The post should go up shortly this week. But with that said, let's go ahead and jump into some home tech headlines. According to Bloomberg, Verkada has suffered a massive hack of all the 1,000, sorry, 150,000 of the company's cameras. He's exposed companies like Tesla, institutions like hospitals, police stations, jails, and even schools. Some of the cameras, including in hospitals, use facial recognition technology to identify

and categorize people captured on the footage. The hackers say they also have access to the full video archive of the Verkada customers. Worse, the hacker told Bloomberg that they were able to obtain root access on the cameras and then allow them to pivot and attain access to other aspects on the network. So that's one of those things that if we don't have a corporate network, if we don't have it set up correctly, you see these kind of side channel attacks where something will come in on one vulnerable system. And then what will happen is they're able to move over and sidestep

everything and go into another area of the network. Lots of fails here across the board, but a Verkada spokesman said the company had to table all internal administrator accounts to prevent any unauthorized access from continuing. And quote, our internal security team and external security firm are investigating the scale and scope of this issue. And we have notified law enforcement. It seems a little late for that. Cat seems to be out of the bag. Verkada was founded back in 2016.

Sell security cameras that customers can access and manage through the web. So this kind of has like a web-based interface. I'm not familiar with this company, but it seems like they do quite a bit of work here. In 2020, they raised $80 million in VC, and they're valuing the company at $1.6 billion. But I don't know. This seems, some of the things the hackers were saying, basically,

they figured out the credentials for some administrator account and were able to actually move through the network of cameras that way, accessing customer sites left and right. It sounds Sounds like they had just unregulated access to the company's website. And Rashid is over in the Home Tech Live channel saying admin, admin. Yep, it was probably admin or password 1234 or something like that. I've been working on an old Cisco switch, and I made the mistake of upgrading the firmware. And every time you reset it, it makes you, now it makes you update the password. It's no longer Cisco, Cisco. And no fun. I have to type in some super long username and password and it can't be Cisco anymore. Not fun for developing and testing, but good practice to

change passwords out in the field. According to a report from an insider, Amazon appears to have reached the late prototype stage of the... I can't get through this picture. You guys have to see this picture. It's not the actual product, but it's quite funny. Sorry. Amazon has made a late prototype stage in the creation of its secretive home robot codenamed Vesta. The device has been under development for four years and has more than 800 employees working on it. If the robot launches, it will be one of Amazon's biggest, most ambitious new products, something like the Fire Phone. No, no, we don't talk about the Fire Phone. Maybe the Kindle.

Do we talk about that anymore? That still is, no, I guess not. So Echo, yeah, the Echo, the only product that they've been successful with. So yeah, let's strap a robot, a Roomba on the bottom of this thing and let it ride on Roomba around the house. As with any unannounced device of its scale,

there are abundance of unanswered questions and speculation on the details. The idea is that the Vesta will be an Amazon Echo on wheels. It's a voice activated system that can navigate through your home, respond to your commands, and interface with other smart home devices. The report goes on to have a couple of like speculative details that they included, suggesting that the device would be the size of, quote, two small cats, about 10 to 13 inches wide. And which begs the question, like, how, how, how big is a big cat? I don't know. The robot would reportedly be equipped with a screen, microphone and several cameras, of course. And additional features would include sensors for

monitoring temperature, humidity, air quality, small compartments for carrying objects. And this is weird. A waist-high retractable pole with a camera, which could be combined with machine vision technology, maybe, to help users find items around their house, like lost keys and wallets. I don't know about this. This seems very, very strange. The image that I have, if you're laughing about the image that you see there on the live stream, it'll be in the show notes as well, or the show art as well. But this is actually a project that somebody did, and I will link to what an MN, the article that says why an echo show on wheels makes sense for Amazon. Uh, it's a fairly new, new, uh, piece over from someone on medium, but, uh, they, they had a link to this video of this

little thing driving around somebody's house that basically looks like a Roomba attached to it, like a pole with a phone and, of course, an Alexa strapped on top of it, or an Echo, sorry, strapped on top of it. I don't know. What do you guys think? This is kind of strange to me. Rashid again, Amazon is in the first place for reaching Skynet level. Yeah, yeah. That's yeah. They're going to flip the switch one of these days and it's not going to be free shipping. We're all going to be imprisoned in our, in our work camps because the robots are going to up, you know, uprise. I did searching for Amazon robots and I, of course it brings up all of the the, the robots that they have in their, their warehouses. I don't know if you've ever seen videos of those,

but it's pretty wild what those things can do, how they zip back and forth and can like move entire pallets or crates across just kind of in this choreographed dance where they're just kind of streaming in and out of each other. You know, they're not people, so they don't have to look both ways

before crossing the street. They know where the cars are and where the holes are. And if there's a hole, they just keep going. Any normal person would have just kind of stopped there. Greg is commenting, maybe it's built out of other products you can order on Amazon. Yeah, probably, probably. It's Amazon. What do they call that in-house brand? Amazon Basics. It'll be an Amazon Basics. Yeah. Keep an eye out for that. And of course, the biggest story this week and literally the only product announcement that we have to really talk about is the Sonos Roam. Fulfilling the public's desire for a more robust portable audio solution. And literally every dealer's request for the past 10 years that I can think of, Sonos has introduced its new Roam battery-powered smart speaker.

And according to the Sonos' website, the Roam weighs in less than a pound. And when the owners are at home, the speaker operates off the Wi-Fi networks, connects like a traditional Sonos. And when users leave their home, the speaker automatically shifts to Bluetooth mode and allows people to listen to their favorite music at or away from home. So if you get too far outside the Wi-Fi range or you bring this over down to the pool or whatever,

you can just use it as a traditional Bluetooth speaker. The Roam will us $169 and is expected to start shipping April 20th in black and white finishes. Um, a couple of, a couple of things on this, uh, it's waterproof design. Um, three feet for 30 minutes is what they, they send it. So it's got an IP 67 rating on it. Pretty good. This means you can, you could actually drop it in water accidentally and not really have to worry about it failing on you too much. You would I wouldn't want to

drop anything that that weighs in close to $200 in the water. I'd be kind of nervous about that. But I don't know. It looks good. It's got Airplay 2 support, 10 hour battery life, can't be used as a surround sound in a theater setup. So that's kind of disappointing, I suppose. Then again, that may not be what this product is designed for. Like this is the, the goal of this product seems to be to emulate what you get from like a traditional, I don't know, $30 Bluetooth speaker off Amazon. Uh, then you add on like the Sonos branding and, uh, the Sonos magic that goes inside of it where we'll play off and integrate with the marginally acceptable Sonos app that you have to tolerate to actually

use the product. I'm a fan of Sonos. Don't get me wrong. I have Sonos. There's one right over there. There's about four or five of them throughout the house. I've got a sub, I've got the, the play bar. I'd love to get one of the new you know, I've got an older what are the soundbar set up kind of in, in the living room. And I'd love to be able to kind of upgrade that into one of the newer soundbar systems and kind of declutter that system a little bit. But I'm not a fan of Sonos' software right now. Used to, the Sonos software and the app and heck, the interface was just brain dead simple.

I think right around the time it was iOS 6 that had like the super flat design. They really went all in on that and just really messed up their app. And I don't think they've ever recovered from that. So it's a great product. The interface could use some TLC, as we used to say. This product, I'm really not bullish on, though. Is it bearish or bullish? Yeah, bullish. $170. Oh, and get this.

You can use a standard Qi charger to charge it. It comes with a USB charger. But you can use a standard. It's Qi compatible. But they have a magnetic charging base for it, designed for it for $50 more. So, I mean, really this thing floats in what at 200 and what at $220 or something like that. Like this seems like, I don't know, this seems a little, a little over the top for a Bluetooth speaker, at least what it's designed to be. Like this is

going to live in a bookshelf. And when you go outside onto the deck or something and you want to bring something next to the pool and listen to it, it's great for that. But at the same time, you can go to any, literally any hardware store, any pool supply store and get something with the same, probably the same sound to it. I mean, I can't imagine. It's physics. We're talking physics here at this point. There's only so much Sonos can do with a toilet paper roll size, you know, size tube. It's not going to, it's not going to, you're not going to be able to change the world, uh, in, in something this small. So we've got, we've got some, uh, some comments coming in on the chat and guys, if you comment on the, um, if you comment on in YouTube, I could put you on the, on the screen here, but,

uh, Rashid's claiming the sound quality will be different. I, I'll, I'll, I don't know when you get that small. I don't think it can be terribly different. It comes down to physics and I, you can, you can, you can do what Bose did, like you're saying, and expand the base and, and, and punch up the treble and you can make it sound weird. But at the end of the day, it comes down to like, there's still going to be two inch drivers in this thing. And, um, it's the same two inch drivers that everybody else probably has or has access to, or they just upgraded the models and put some neat ones in, but like, we've all heard these speakers and I just don't see how, um, I don't think it's, I was going to be that, that,

I don't see how it's going to be $170 worth of sound coming out of it is kind of where I'm going with that. So Greg's also coming. I may order one for the bathroom. I've got to play one in the bathroom. Um, works fine in there. And you know, it's, it's, it's, uh, water rated. I really think that this is great for, um, I really think this is great for a, like going out on the deck. We're going down to the pool, uh, going outside, uh, going outside to the patio or porch, uh, where you may not always want to have, um, a Sonos out there, uh, because of elements, uh, and you don't have speakers installed, this would be a great product for that. Really questioning if, if, you know, $170 is the way to go with that in something that has a battery and it's probably will have a life on it as well. Yeah. Going to the beach too. But

like Rashid, I, I can, I didn't see you put your comments up there. Hey, going to the beach. Yeah. Um, I, I get that. That's what I mean. Like I already have those products and they only cost me $30. And if I forget them at the beach or they get stolen, I don't cry that much. This thing, I think I'm going to treasure a little bit more if I get it, probably not going to get it, but they keep offering the money that I've got like 15% off on some things. I've got 30% off coupon on something else. So I don't know. I might got like 15% off on some things. I've got 30% off coupon on something else. So I don't know. Might be able to throw some money that way.

See what we get out of it. All right. Well, all the links and topics we discussed tonight can be found on our show notes at hometech.fm slash 342. While you're there, don't forget how you can join us live each night, starting sometime between 7, 7.30 p.m. Eastern at hometech.fm slash live. night, starting sometime between 7, 7.30 p.m. Eastern at

hometech.fm slash live. I've ended the live stream, like the audio based one. So we're only really doing this through YouTube now and Facebook. So if you want to join, check those out and kind of pay attention to those channels. And typically I will be able to tweet out a starting time about 10 minutes before and let everybody know where we're going to be there. So keep an eye on that information. All the information needs over at hometech.fm slash live. And I've got a great pick of the week this week. This is fun. So I went to my, I needed some rack gear and I wanted, I wanted, I was thinking I was going to need some,

some like fan, some, some ventilation, some fan control. And there's a company that I have used in the past called AC infinity. And they make, if you've never heard of AC infinity, uh, you should really check them out. Um, if you're used to like, uh, racking up gear with like middle Atlantic fans and using, you know, looking at what they offer for like three to $400, uh, maybe check out AC infinity. Cause you can get like a one or two year rack fan for a few hundred bucks. I mean, it's nothing in the controller, variable speed controller, silent fans, a display on the front that tells you the temperature. All this is included. Middle Atlantic, I mean, you'd probably get up to $800 with something like that.

So check this out. This is actually a really cool product. It's actually a really cool company. But while I was there, I noticed that they had a weird section as I was flipping through. And I was like, what the heck is this? And they've got, so naturally a ventilation company is going to specialize in fans. I guess they've somewhat pivoted some of their business to hydroponics, which leads me to one of the best lifestyle images I think I've ever seen. And it's this contemporary house with one of these giant hydroponic plant growing thing

systems slapped in the middle of it. You have to see this to believe it. It's hilarious. It's clearly photoshopped. Um, I don't, I can't imagine that room would smell very good if you had this sitting in there, but, um, yeah, $89 though. You guys see that? Like it's $89 for one of these things. And, uh, they've got a couple of them that are in development for like a 10 by 10 grow tent. And that, that one's going to be $399. So I guess it's a lot

less than I thought needed to be to get started on your, uh, your farming ventures where you can grow whatever crops you may want to grow, uh, year round. That's, I guess that's what, what they do. I speculate maybe strawberries, strawberries would be good to grow year round. Um, it's always, it's always nice to have where she's asking in the, in the, in the chat there, is it inflatable? Um, no, it's got like steel tubing that you attach and go around. Um, it's kind of, kind of interesting. It's got steel tubing. It's got the, the, the outer canvas, like the Oxford canvas that goes over the top and then like a light absorbing layer. Um, and then it's got a, uh, it also has the, uh, the reflective Mylar inside. So of course they matched it with their fans. They have a little fan control, a little custom thing that attaches onto the

outside. It looks really nice. It's one of, it's probably one of the best hydroponics, you know, systems you probably can buy. But yeah, there you go. There you go, guys. Pick of the week. In all seriousness, the pick of the week could be AC Infinity. It's a great, it's a great setup. I know a lot of guys use their stuff and I use it. I've used it in the past. It's a heck of a find when you run across it because they have, they have those cabinet fan systems. And what do they have that I really like? They're, they're closet fan systems where you can evacuate like a closet up into, um, you know, another space. Uh, they're really, really inexpensive. And, um, they, they have like door systems. They have, uh, the,

the kind that have like the, the, the fans that you'd stick in the attic and invent those back into another larger volume area or back into the, maybe a return or something. Um, they've got a lot of great products and for a lot less than you, you'd think I'm trying to try to find a price on like, let's see, rack fan systems. Let's see, $119 for a quiet rack cooling fan system to are you. And, uh, this thing has like the full LCD control panel on the front tells you the temperature, uh, this thing has like the full LCD control panel on the front tells you the temperature, uh, what fan you can control the fan speeds on it. It's quiet, uh, $119. Uh, so that's pretty good stuff. If you have any feedback comments, picks of the week or great ideas for the show, give us a shout email address is feedback at home tech.fm,

or you can visit home target home tech.fm slash feedback and fill out the online form. And I do want to give a big shout out to all the patrons and say thank you for everyone who does support the show, especially those who are able to financially support the show through our Patreon page. If you don't know about our Patreon page, head on over to hometech.fm slash support to learn how you can support Home Tech for as little as a dollar a month. Any pledge over five bucks a month gets you a big shout out on the show, but every pledge gets you invited to our private Slack chat, the hub, and it'll also get you into these home tech talks. So check that out. If you're interested in it, all the information will be posted over there in one of the posts. But how you get there is

hometech.fm slash support. And there'll be a link right over to our patron page. If you want to help out, but can't support the show financially, totally understand. A five-star review on iTunes, positive rating in a podcast app of your choice goes a long way. Really helps people find the show and helps continue doing things. So thanks very much.

I want to say thank you for everybody joining in the lively chat this week and entertaining my comments about hydroponics growing as the pick of the week. It's out there, but I mean, it's a cool company. It's a really, they really make good products and, uh, yeah, you guys should, you guys should check them out if you haven't, but them pivoting and going into like hydroponics and yeah, what are you going to do? There's a lot of money there, I'm sure. So check that out check that out but uh thanks everybody for being in the chat room and uh and hopefully uh

keep an eye out if you are a patron keep an eye out for those invites to the uh home tech talks where i think we're gonna have a lot of fun with that next week and uh as we get started with it so again thanks everybody and we'll talk to you next week