Amazon has totally FUCKED Alexa, and I make few apologies for my tone, other than that I was raised in a blue-collar home.

They had an amazing product that used to be, quite frankly, what I imagined the future should look like.

Enshitification ensued... They started whittling away features. Aux ports were removed. I had to find older devices, or pricier devices for aux. Then they screwed up commands. Yes, the very things that it's supposed to do at a basic level.

Now you have to make specific routines, or inference will turn off the porch lights when you say "turn off the patio lights." Despite THE DEVICES BEING NAMED CORRECTLY IN THE APP. Why? Alexa's AI infers that you mean something you didn't say. I asked it to unlearn that and actually use the device name I've been using for a decade. The response? I can't do that, Hal. The workaround is to build out specific routines for all the lights in your home.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Guess who now has to have a real AI build out a DIY solution because enshitification is so bad that TURNING OFF THE GD LIGHTS NO LONGER WORKS.

Seriously, if, like me, you used Alexa for a whole home setup and it's now broken... give Home Assistant a try. You can tie it into Alexa if you are still hung up on a few features Amazon has.

He will be sorely missed. Gordon is the reason I've stayed in tech despite early setbacks in my career. I'll never be the deep knowledge holder of anyone one thing like a linux module, or dev of a universally used tool like WinDirStat. I'll never be the guy who knows why the motherboard traces got routed in that shape around the power supply for the processor, I'll never be the guy who configures the workflow for a technologist's software. But, now, I can confidently lead people who share the passion I have for technology and how we apply it, and I'd never have gotten to where I am without him.

Thank you old friend even though you never knew me. Sorry I never got the chance to meet you!

What did you end up using?

Yeah, I'm frustrated as well. I bought all in. I have used Alexa to automate a LOT of things in my home. So much so that I'd even considered starting a business doing this for others, for me the simplicity brought with it functionalities that I dreamed about 10 years ago. However, this new lack of IFTTT support infuriates me. The "Skills" thing is obnoxious. It reduces Alexa's integration abilities with "Non-Alexa" approved hardware and creates a barrier to product adoption. The "commercials" drive me bonkers. This was to be the way of the future, bringing home automation to the masses. It's turning into a dystopian future pretty quickly. I've invested too much time configuring my setup to just bail to another platform, just yet, but I'm about to bag it all, and manage our setup w/ a bunch of wall mounted android devices or tablets, and custom apps.

This isn't news, the grandmother clause has been around for a while now!

Not in my house. The second they inject ads, I'm out. I don't care if they reproduce the full works of Tolkien better than 20 PJs. Really how much more money do you need Amazon?

Was it a Lenovo Dock by chance? Our org is struggling w/ monitor issues, and the last hotfix addresses everything our sales rep said was "unheard of."

Yeah I was coming from this perspective you re-stated (above):

I'm able to afford a new car, and would like another electric one (Thinking I-Pace, but idk yet, not in a rush), but the above is the part that concerns me for buying a newer electric car, based on the infrastructure I've observed and read about. (Not just what I've experienced!) I may just choose to hold for a bit longer and see how things play out.

On a side note, I'm not disillusioned w/ my Leaf. My choice of car was intentional to save $ and ramp up cash for retirement. I Paid 10k for my leaf in 2017/2018 as I have a 14mi commute roundtrip, it made sense because the 5 yr cost of ownership all up including all T&L and e- was ~ 14k! 14 K for a reliable car that is warm and toasty in the winters before I leave my house w/ heated seats and steering wheel? #WorthIT I'm already at ~ $0.45 / mile driven for total ownership costs and dropping the further I drive it! But my wages have caught up a bit, and I'm not as concerned w/ this as much as I used to be.

My comment was actually slightly biased towards Tesla's actually, as I seem to see those stations more, but overall stand with charging in general. During the week, no major issues, but weekends are getting more and more full. I know better than to drive the leaf more than 30 mi. from my house. I drive a leaf the way it's intended, as a primary close to home vehicle, and in that role, it shines bright! I have "Just enough" infrastructure to get by if I "Need" to get to ~ 50 mi away from home, but I don't prefer it!

In more populated areas I seem to see stations packed more often now. But for me, right now, on long trips I drive a secondary ICE vehicle. But I'm still aware of the problem! Simply count the # of chargers vs. gas pumps, the speed needed for charging vs. gas pumps and you can do the math pretty quick. Look at the utilization of Costco Gas pumps! Yikes! We're not there yet. I'm looking at a 2nd electric car, one capable of longer trips that won't self destruct when fast charging, but this problem is the one thing holding me back. The only thing keeping it from being worse, is that you can usually leave your house in the morning w/ a full charge if you have a charger installed, which takes off a significant load (pun intended) from charging infrastructure.

(2014 Nissan Leaf SL Driver)

This country isn't ready for even a statistically significant bump in electric cars on the road at this time. Charging infrastructure is already in crazy demand in many locations with hour long waits, and worse, halved charge rates due to over provisioning of power during peak times. For my car which should never travel outside a 50 mi. range, no worries, but for people who expect to be able take their cars on a road trip to see Grandma @ thanksgiving, they're going to be in for a rude awakening should the need to charge up mid drive arise.

Full electrification requires better power distribution, better batteries, better heat pumps, but most of all, way better charging infrastructure! We're getting there, but we're in the infancy of this tech. I'm glad I can charge at home because I absolutely loathe public charging. I had one weekend where 3 places in a row didn't work! I was about 1% from limp mode :( In my opinion, until every gas station is also a powerful electric charging station that can do 80 percent in 10 minutes on most cars, we're just not going to be able to be more than 30% electric in the next 6-7 years.

Don't get me wrong, I hope this post ages like milk, but we'll see.

It's Thirst Traps, Breadstick Ricky, kallmekris, a trench coat full of HAMS, and questionable life hacks too!

I lost my wallet w/ 7 coins :( granted I likely would have traded them in earlier when I was far more poor and didn't know about money like I do now, but still. I HAD 7 COINS!

Wait so funding will be delayed by a couple weeks? In the US? That could never happen... I mean a stimulus package took 2 months to deliver 1 months average rent, and hasn't been updated since right?

This guy thinks he still has power, but sadly... He has tantrums, they're not the same thing.

Embarrassing really.

From experience that the #1 thing that kills my lipos is storing them charged. I'm HORRIBLE at storing depleted batteries. I've paid easily 3x more than needed on lipos because I have a bad tendancy to store them fully charged in the fall, and they are trashed come summer.

The second thing that kills my batteries fast is dumping the charge while doing multiple high speed passes w/in a few minutes on a battery not rated for that kind of current draw. This however has killed less batteries than above. TAKE HEED. Modern Lipos rock, don't store them fully charged.

Don't charge anything lithium to 100% if it's not going to be used for a while. (a while, > 1 week) Includes those cell phone accessories / charging batteries everyone has 3 of now. Keep 1 fully charged, and the rest at "Storage Voltage" Storage voltage is between 30-60% charge according to most manufacturers. I've seen well cared for batteries last a very long time (like my 2014 leaf that still is ~ 80 mi of range).

but don't trust me, I'm just a dude on the internet.

Some Manufacturers open this setting in the bios. I have a Dell I inherited that allows me to do just that, it's got no discrete graphics, so my 7yo son uses it, but I did just this