In Z-waveJS my Kwikset locks have a User Code V1 setting. Under that is all of the user code slots. The interface isn’t very pretty or intuitive, but it works well for adding, removing, enabling and disabling the codes.

And they only have to win once, we have to fight and win every time they introduce a new variant. Its exhausting.

What about mounting it sideways?

Rheeme Econet devices do this. They have an app to control them, but there’s also a diagnostic port that exposes everything in the app and a lot more. There’s an esp32 project that connects to the port and brings all of that into Home Assistant, no app or wifi needed.

Is that recent? I can’t find anything about it getting cancelled because of content, only ratings. At least that was the official reason given each time. Which episode number is this?

Oh, sure, it’s fine with Skittles, but do that with people and they get all mad about it.

A layered defense is always best. Nothing is 100%, but knowing your threat model will help define how far you have to go and how many layers you want in the way. Defending against State level actors looks different than swatting the constant low effort bot traffic. You’re right, if a bad actor gets root on your machine, all security is forfeit. The goal is to minimize that possibility by keeping applications and packages updated and only allowing necessary connections to the machine. You mentioned wireguard or tail scale. Set that up first. Then set up the host firewall to only allow outbound traffic onto the VPN to the required ports and endpoints on the LAN. If the VPS isn’t hosting any public facing services, disable all traffic except the VPN connection from and to the public Internet both on the cloud provider’s firewall and the host firewall. If it is hosting publicly accessible services then use tools like fail2ban and crowdsec to identify and block problem IPs.

Firewall rules on outbound traffic from the VPS to the LAN would do it. Allow traffic to the hosts and ports that the VPS needs to reach and block everything else.

That’s true, from a certain point of view. What they actually did was give everyone a common target. We still get everything compressed and limited into a flat line, just now we don’t have to adjust the volume on our stereo between songs.

Agreed.Also, Windows and OSX, unless you want to have to call your nephew who’s Good With Computers™ every couple of weeks. If you’re just using a browser for everything and never messing around like a good majority of people, Linux is just as good as either of those. Linux has gotten to the point where it’s Grandma proof if you stick to a distribution that prioritizes stability. If you choose a distro that prioritizes bleeding edge software versions, you may come across more bugs and breaking changes.Then you’ll need the troubleshooting skills mentioned here. Most of us are here to learn and mess around; the troubleshooting skills grow from that mindset.

I agree with your lack of affection for cloud services, but I think your view might be a little skewed here. Does a senior mechanic need to understand the physics of piston design to be a great mechanic, or just gather years of experience fixing problems with the whole system that makes up the car?

I’m a Senior Systems engineer. I know very little about kernel programming or OS design, but i know how the packages and applications work together and where problems might arise in how they interact. Software Engineers might not know how or don’t want to spend time to set up the infrastructure to host their applications, so they rely on me to do it for them, or outsource my job to someone else’s computer.

I tell my kids, never start it, but if someone hits you, hit them back hard enough that they won’t want to do it again. I feel like this works all the way up to state level doctrine.

If you want to live vicariously, check out this playlist. A guy did just that and his channel is great.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0HiM4heFTOoxnxAnv_WJJArugTScPBUg

American here: can we please have measurements by mass not by volume and metric units. It would make repeatability so much easier.

While others are focusing on the legal aspect, which I guess is the question you actually asked, my first thought was bare minimum compliance while gathering evidence. Grab an old phone, wipe it completely, install the app with all new credentials not tied to you in any way, then just leave it running at work. They get their location data, just not anything usable, you get to submit a minimum number of receipts that doesn’t get you in trouble from purchases you would have made anyway, or not because why support scumbag companies. You get to gather more hard evidence of their assholery that way. Never install work apps on your personal phone. If they require something for your job, they should provide the hardware to run it on.

When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

Perhaps they’re carried. It would be pretty easy to grip them by the husk.

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I like my Denon Heos setup: 2 TVs, home theater, receiver in my office connected to my computer and speakers in 7 other locations. Works great with Music Assistant, and doesn’t require a cloud connection. It can pull firmware updates if you want but I’ve blocked all Internet access for those devices with no loss of functionality.

For about a month until it’s shut down as insufficiently worshipful to our corporate overlords.