A Medium post by Arlo Gilbert about Google’s decision to shut down the Revolv home automation hub went viral recently. Google’s Nest division bought Revolv 18 months prior. However, the company decided that part of the shutting down the service including bricking perfectly good, working hardware.
Meaning
The era of always-connected, always-on introduces a new set of headaches for users of said services. It’s one thing when a service goes offline, but another thing completely when a product associated with the service also goes dark or becomes unavailable. Google’s decision to brick the Revolv hardware, games no longer playable when servers shut down, or Kindle books mysteriously vanishing off owner’s Kindle readers, always-on seems to come with infinite rights for sellers, with limited recourse for buyers.
Eric, David, and I debate the pitfalls and merits of the always-on, always-connected industry, and what the long term prospects are for the idea of ownership and service.
Tools
David mentions the best web site ever, thistothat, an extremely simple site dedicated to helping people find the right glue for anything that requires gluing. Eric and David also generate a long discourse on… wait for it… text editors. Eric also gushes about his newfound box cutters and hot glue guns.
Eric and I talk about system builds, ending with a promise to someday do a joint build and record the results on video for posterity. CHECK THIS SPACE IN THE FUTURE! He’s building his ultimate VR rig, I’m ginning up a new system for my younger daughter, Emily, who desires a capable desktop gaming rig to take with her to graduate school.
Fun
The Division. ‘Nuff said.
Wait, no, that’s not all. Yes, we’ve been playing a lot of The Division, and like the gameplay a lot. But David also discusses tablet reading tools and his spiffy new Tessel 2. Meanwhile, Eric finally reads Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which loosely inspired the film Blade Runner. He also seems quite enamored with Netflix’s Sense8.
I return to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, which I mysterious abandoned years ago, to finish up the last two volumes.
Oh, yeah, and I’ve been playing a lot of The Division.
Finally, we’ve all watched the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer umpteen times. So you should watch it one more time, too.
