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Reasons to use social media

I’ve been away from social media* for a month now, and I’m wondering whether to go back. I’m not convinced I should. I just don’t know whether I find it valuable enough to compensate for the downsides that it causes for me.

Here’s what I find valuable about social media:

  1. It helps me keep connected with friends.
    I actually met some of my closest friends (hi @dylanreeve, @parsley72) thanks to social media, and keep up with others using it. It’s not that I can’t catch up with people without using Twitter, but I do miss that ambient intimacy. I’m not convinced it’s as good as real intimacy though.
  2. It’s (currently) the best way to advertise your company and connect with your industry.
    With Codemania looming, I’m wondering if the lack of last-minute ticket sales is partially because I’m not spamming away on Facebook and Twitter. Possibly? Probably? Also we have some open roles at Vend that I’d normally tweet about to spread the word.

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Building a Multisensor for Home Assistant – Part 2

In part 1, I was building a light sensor, but now it’s morphed into a multi-sensor

Running against my recent terrible Aliexpress streak, the remaining bits actually arrived. Here’s the items I’ve used to build a great little multi-sensor that pumps data into Home Assistant:

Total: US$8.38
Item Details Price
Main Board Wemos Mini D1 (probably a clone). ESP8266 chip with integrated Wifi US$3.30
Luminosity Sensor TLS2561 I²C module US$1.11
Temp/Pressure/Humidity Sensor Bosch BME280 I²C module US$3.97

It’s a little surprising that the triple sensor is the most expensive part of the whole thing, but Bosch make nice electronics, and the BME280 is the current pick of the crop for these sorts of sensors. Probably total overkill for my use case. If you don’t care about air pressure and you wanted to save a dollar* you could get away with a DHT22.

*I bet you complain about $1.99 iPhone games too.

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Building a Light Level Sensor for Home Assistant – Part 1

(This turned from a light sensor into a light/temperature/humidity/pressure multi-sensor in Part 2. By Part 3 it might be sentient.)

I’ve been mucking about with Home Assistant for several months now after buying wifi lights (and shamefully haven’t been blogging about it). Home Assistant is a hugely configurable, Python-based home automation server. I recommend checking it out.

The first thing I set up is automation of our main lights. They turn off when we go out, and turn on when we arrive home. This works fine, but I’d also like the lights to turn off when not required during the day. Home Assistant natively knows about sunrise & sunset, so the obvious thing is to turn the lights off maybe 45 minutes after sunrise. This is fine on sunny days, but on rainy day the lights end up turning off while it’s still quite dim inside.

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How to disconnect from Social Media without deleting your accounts

I’ve thought about taking a break from Social Media several times in the past. It was this video that finally pushed me to give it a crack, at least experimentally (thanks Rowan). It’s not that the chap had anything groundbreaking to say, but more that it was a handy summary of all the reasons why I’ve considered leaving before.

There’s no dramatic reason why I’ve tuned out right now, but thanks to the couple of people who checked in. I really appreciate it.

The break might turn permanent, who knows? But in the first instance I wanted to reliably and definitively disconnect, but also keep my accounts around just in case*.

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Electionish Stuff

Hello. I reckon you should vote.

There’s one interesting thing I’d love you to think about though: no matter who you vote for, nothing much will change.

And this is great.

If you were to listen to all the ads and interviews and rhetoric, you’d be pretty sure that no matter who wins on Saturday night, New Zealand’s economy is going straight down the shitter. This will not happen.

What is being offered (by all but the most extreme parties) are minor tweaks. Sure the proposals are painted as extremist nut-job burn the world leftism or tophat and monocle 7 year old chimney sweep toryism, but this is rubbish.

Please don’t listen to the hype. Take a look at some of the policies, and make a choice based on what you think is right for us.

Us, not just you. Because we live in a society, and the prosperity of everyone from the largest business right down to the poorest kid live off that society. We’re nothing without it.

Thanks.