Jim Willis
@sjwillis.bsky.social
Guitars, Technology & Bicycles -- not necessarily in that order!
Director of Technology for Princeton University Press by day, flatpicker and occasional Grateful Dead cover band guitarist by night -- opinions here are my own and crossposted from mastodon
Director of Technology for Princeton University Press by day, flatpicker and occasional Grateful Dead cover band guitarist by night -- opinions here are my own and crossposted from mastodon
Hard to imagine how long finding this answer would have taken before perplexity.ai: "I have an ecobee 3 lite and an aquastatic, 2 taco valve boiler-- Can I use the ecobee to control one of the valves and my old thermostat for the other valve?"
December 14, 2024 at 9:31 PM
Hard to imagine how long finding this answer would have taken before perplexity.ai: "I have an ecobee 3 lite and an aquastatic, 2 taco valve boiler-- Can I use the ecobee to control one of the valves and my old thermostat for the other valve?"
A PSA/reminder to self: Linode makes it SUPER easy and fast to increase the size of your server with no downtime but when you want to scale it back down, you have to first resize your disk (down) and then resize the linode box which requires bringing it down completely.
December 10, 2024 at 6:48 PM
A PSA/reminder to self: Linode makes it SUPER easy and fast to increase the size of your server with no downtime but when you want to scale it back down, you have to first resize your disk (down) and then resize the linode box which requires bringing it down completely.
Timely journal prompt today:"Which of my recent personal/self-hosted technology projects truly enhanced my life versus just occupied time?" https://www.jimwillis.org/2024/12/10/personal-tech-self-hosted-wins/#SelfHosting #HomeAssistant #smarthome #hifi
December 10, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Timely journal prompt today:"Which of my recent personal/self-hosted technology projects truly enhanced my life versus just occupied time?" https://www.jimwillis.org/2024/12/10/personal-tech-self-hosted-wins/#SelfHosting #HomeAssistant #smarthome #hifi
That’s the convenience paradox: the more we optimize our lives, the less we actually live them. We’re becoming masters of arrangement rather than action, curators instead of creators. Life risks turning into a series of frictionless transactions where we’re always efficiently arriving but never
December 9, 2024 at 6:08 PM
That’s the convenience paradox: the more we optimize our lives, the less we actually live them. We’re becoming masters of arrangement rather than action, curators instead of creators. Life risks turning into a series of frictionless transactions where we’re always efficiently arriving but never
Spain’s unity at this moment is from the bottom up. Or, as Spanish professional soccer player Ferran Torres wrote on social media, “The people are the ones who save the people. … Long live Spain.” Source: Mud Boots of Empathy in Spain – the Monitor’s Editorial Board... read more:
December 9, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Spain’s unity at this moment is from the bottom up. Or, as Spanish professional soccer player Ferran Torres wrote on social media, “The people are the ones who save the people. … Long live Spain.” Source: Mud Boots of Empathy in Spain – the Monitor’s Editorial Board... read more:
Thoughtfully spot-on writing from Alan Jacobs: “If Substack — and Bluesky, another platform getting a lot of love these days — does not enshittify, that would be a miracle on the order of the loaves and fishes. If you’re a creator who wants to avoid enshittification and remain independent, your best
December 1, 2024 at 11:52 AM
Thoughtfully spot-on writing from Alan Jacobs: “If Substack — and Bluesky, another platform getting a lot of love these days — does not enshittify, that would be a miracle on the order of the loaves and fishes. If you’re a creator who wants to avoid enshittification and remain independent, your best
Made so much progress with learning #homeassistant this weekend. Got Home Kit Bridge working after learning way too much about mdns, built some iOS notifications w/ automation options and resuscitating some forgot NFC tags. Got #solar power forecasting working, excited to start playing with “now’s a
November 30, 2024 at 8:27 PM
Made so much progress with learning #homeassistant this weekend. Got Home Kit Bridge working after learning way too much about mdns, built some iOS notifications w/ automation options and resuscitating some forgot NFC tags. Got #solar power forecasting working, excited to start playing with “now’s a
@overcastfm hi is there a way to play a particular playlist via shortcuts? Or perhaps play the latest episode of a specific podcast via a shortcut?
November 30, 2024 at 8:22 PM
@overcastfm hi is there a way to play a particular playlist via shortcuts? Or perhaps play the latest episode of a specific podcast via a shortcut?
The Aqara sensors and such have been super reliable in my HomeKit environment, highly recommend. But, as I’m currently trying to solve what should be a simple use case, I’m getting into the weeds of Home Assistant. I’ve spent a grand total of about 4 hours in Home Assistant so far and I’m sure it
November 26, 2024 at 2:45 PM
The Aqara sensors and such have been super reliable in my HomeKit environment, highly recommend. But, as I’m currently trying to solve what should be a simple use case, I’m getting into the weeds of Home Assistant. I’ve spent a grand total of about 4 hours in Home Assistant so far and I’m sure it
The Aqara sensors and such have been super reliable in my HomeKit environment, highly recommend. But, as I’m currently trying to solve what should be a simple use case, I’m getting into the weeds of Home Assistant. I’ve spent a grand total of about 4 hours in Home Assistant so far and I’m sure it
November 26, 2024 at 2:45 PM
The Aqara sensors and such have been super reliable in my HomeKit environment, highly recommend. But, as I’m currently trying to solve what should be a simple use case, I’m getting into the weeds of Home Assistant. I’ve spent a grand total of about 4 hours in Home Assistant so far and I’m sure it
If you're a personal user of MS Word, I think there's a real concern that your work is being used to train Copilot through it does appear that edu and enterprise licenses are protected. https://medium.com/illumination/ms-word-is-using-you-to-train-ai-86d6a4d87021#ai #DataProtection #ip
November 26, 2024 at 2:35 PM
If you're a personal user of MS Word, I think there's a real concern that your work is being used to train Copilot through it does appear that edu and enterprise licenses are protected. https://medium.com/illumination/ms-word-is-using-you-to-train-ai-86d6a4d87021#ai #DataProtection #ip
If you're a personal user of MS Word, I think there's a real concern that your work is being used to train Copilot through it does appear that edu and enterprise licenses are protected. https://medium.com/illumination/ms-word-is-using-you-to-train-ai-86d6a4d87021#ai #DataProtection #ip
November 26, 2024 at 2:35 PM
If you're a personal user of MS Word, I think there's a real concern that your work is being used to train Copilot through it does appear that edu and enterprise licenses are protected. https://medium.com/illumination/ms-word-is-using-you-to-train-ai-86d6a4d87021#ai #DataProtection #ip
Bought the entire Hawktail catalog off of bandcamp this week, including the Väsen collab. It’s been months since I heard Unless live at Greyfox and the song still gives me the chills every time I listen: https://hawktail.bandcamp.com#bluegrass #fiddle #chambergrass
November 26, 2024 at 11:05 AM
Bought the entire Hawktail catalog off of bandcamp this week, including the Väsen collab. It’s been months since I heard Unless live at Greyfox and the song still gives me the chills every time I listen: https://hawktail.bandcamp.com#bluegrass #fiddle #chambergrass
It is apparently way too much to ask #apple #HomeKit to only run my Roborock vacuum at 10AM each morning *if* no one is home. Seems like such a trivial condition to #homeautomation but now I’m deep in the weeds of home assistant trying to Rube Goldberg my way to a solution. We were promised jet
November 26, 2024 at 11:00 AM
It is apparently way too much to ask #apple #HomeKit to only run my Roborock vacuum at 10AM each morning *if* no one is home. Seems like such a trivial condition to #homeautomation but now I’m deep in the weeds of home assistant trying to Rube Goldberg my way to a solution. We were promised jet
I've been on a deep dive these past couple of weeks: Marietje Schaake's "The Tech Coup," Ronan Farrow's "Surveilled," and @parismarx 's brilliant podcast series on tech billionaires.A clear and disturbing pattern emerges: Our democratic institutions are quietly handing over control to unelected tech
November 24, 2024 at 4:48 PM
I've been on a deep dive these past couple of weeks: Marietje Schaake's "The Tech Coup," Ronan Farrow's "Surveilled," and @parismarx 's brilliant podcast series on tech billionaires.A clear and disturbing pattern emerges: Our democratic institutions are quietly handing over control to unelected tech
Watched Ronan Farrow's Surveilled last night on HBO, uncanny how well it pairs with Schaake's The Tech Coup which I'm just finishing. If you enjoyed the documentary on spyware, definitely give Schaake's Tech Coup a read: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691241173/the-tech-coup
November 24, 2024 at 1:21 PM
Watched Ronan Farrow's Surveilled last night on HBO, uncanny how well it pairs with Schaake's The Tech Coup which I'm just finishing. If you enjoyed the documentary on spyware, definitely give Schaake's Tech Coup a read: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691241173/the-tech-coup
I found a handy node script from Alex Hyett that will grab whatever I post to my Mastodon account and post it to my bluesky account for me. The less I have to think about this stuff the better so I have the node script restart at boot up using this Seems to be working. […]... read more:
November 23, 2024 at 1:06 PM
I found a handy node script from Alex Hyett that will grab whatever I post to my Mastodon account and post it to my bluesky account for me. The less I have to think about this stuff the better so I have the node script restart at boot up using this Seems to be working. […]... read more:
I’ve been playing in bands for 30 years and can’t imagine trying to make a living at it. Now I’ve got a kid who is an amazing songwriter/musician. It’s heartbreaking to think how undervalued his skill is in this world. Good read:
November 23, 2024 at 12:51 PM
I’ve been playing in bands for 30 years and can’t imagine trying to make a living at it. Now I’ve got a kid who is an amazing songwriter/musician. It’s heartbreaking to think how undervalued his skill is in this world. Good read:
I’ve been cleaning up my locally hosted music library and rediscovering some gems. This week’s finds: Zero 7’s Simple Things, Thievery Corp’s Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi and Richest Man in Babylon, and a real blast from the past surfaced from a recent reissue, The Brand New Heavy’s Brother Sister
November 13, 2024 at 5:22 PM
I’ve been cleaning up my locally hosted music library and rediscovering some gems. This week’s finds: Zero 7’s Simple Things, Thievery Corp’s Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi and Richest Man in Babylon, and a real blast from the past surfaced from a recent reissue, The Brand New Heavy’s Brother Sister
I need some #help understanding how #mastodon and #bluesky work together. I like being on mastodon is there a way that I can just stay on mastodon and see all of the people I follow on bluesky on my mastodon account? And have my posts here show up on bluesky?
#Fediverse
#Fediverse
November 9, 2024 at 2:12 PM
I need some #help understanding how #mastodon and #bluesky work together. I like being on mastodon is there a way that I can just stay on mastodon and see all of the people I follow on bluesky on my mastodon account? And have my posts here show up on bluesky?
#Fediverse
#Fediverse