Christmas gifts

[NJmike PE]

(Didn't get one or give one)But... If it has wheels why do they call it a "hover board"?

I've asked the same question

 

[MA_PE]

'cause it sounds futuristic and the sheep will buy more of them if it's from the future.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I thought only old dudes wore watches?

 

[roadwreck]

This is what the "young guys" in my office tell me when they see I still wear a watch and I don't really see it as a good argument.  Yes, my cell phone tells me the time, but it can only do that if I take it out of my pocket.  All I have to do to read my watch is look at my wrist.  Call me lazy, but the level of effort seems to skew towards the watch here.  Also, it's hard to discreetly glance at my cell phone during a meeting to check the time. 

 

[Road Guy]

because anyone under 30 cant sit without their phone for longer than 2 minutes so they always have it.

Ive got an old Swiss army watch I still wear quite a bit, especially If I am on a marketing trip visiting folks older than me

 

[csb]

Guess what's for sale at Target?! Casio Watch

Also, my husband is in a demolition snow-cross. There's going to be crashing. 

 

[roadwreck]

because anyone under 30 cant sit without their phone for longer than 2 minutes so they always have it.

Fair point. 

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Who cares about being discreet when checking the time in a meeting.  If it's taking too long, it's the first thing I do to signal everyone they're wasting everyone's time. 

 

[roadwreck]

Who cares about being discreet when checking the time in a meeting.  If it's taking too long, it's the first thing I do to signal everyone they're wasting everyone's time. 

I bill by the hour

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I don't. 

 

[roadwreck]

RW, had a similar thing happen at our house over Thanksgiving.  Luckily we were home.  If you're into various tech solutions, I also installed one of these upon replacing our sump pump.  So at least I will be notified earlier that there's an issue.  It obviously doesn't protect against a failure, but it would have been good to catch it earlier.

http://us.dlink.com/products/connected-home/wi-fi-water-sensor/

The reviews of this water sensor are kind of mixed and seem to indicate that you can't get warning notifications via email, just push notifications through the D-link app, in your experience is that true?  Also have you had any network connectivity issues to the sensor?  I have some D-Link cameras and they seem to randomly disconnect themselves from the network.  With the cameras that isn't a huge deal since I'm really not relying on them for anything (it's nice to get an email and screencap of anyone that comes to the house though), but having a water sensor do that wouldn't be good.  Although it seems most other alarms are all battery operated, and are only audible alarms (not much help if I'm not home to hear it).  

In addition to the new pump and alarm I'm going to make some modifications to the drainage of my yard to get a bit more positive drainage away from the house.  We've lived here over two years ago now and I've never seen this amount of water in the yard.  We've gotten a lot of rain the past few months and the lower areas of the lot have just become a giant puddle.  In the future if my yard ever ends up looking like this again I'll know I need to make sure the sump pump is operational.  

 

[knight1fox3]

The reviews of this water sensor are kind of mixed and seem to indicate that you can't get warning notifications via email, just push notifications through the D-link app, in your experience is that true?  Also have you had any network connectivity issues to the sensor?  I have some D-Link cameras and they seem to randomly disconnect themselves from the network.  With the cameras that isn't a huge deal since I'm really not relying on them for anything (it's nice to get an email and screencap of anyone that comes to the house though), but having a water sensor do that wouldn't be good.  Although it seems most other alarms are all battery operated, and are only audible alarms (not much help if I'm not home to hear it).   

The email notification wasn't a defining factor for me when I purchased this.  My smart phone is essentially a central hub for me and I rely on it daily for a multitude of activities (school, work, small business, etc.).  As such, I always have it with me so having the app send me notifications is sufficient for my needs.  The network connectivity is solid on my system but I also have an amplified dual-band network that I distribute our various devices on through my router's DHCP reservation table with MAC addressing.  I'm wondering if the issue you've experienced is a proponent of either the camera, your router, or a combination of both.  However, IP cameras use much more bandwidth than the water sensor will.  So it's not likely that it will experience any connectivity issues.

On a side note, I emailed D-Link tech support as I'm curious on their response to email notification functionality.  Will report back once I receive a response.

 

[roadwreck]

The email notification wasn't a defining factor for me when I purchased this.  My smart phone is essentially a central hub for me and I rely on it daily for a multitude of activities (school, work, small business, etc.).  As such, I always have it with me so having the app send me notifications is sufficient for my needs.  The network connectivity is solid on my system but I also have an amplified dual-band network that I distribute our various devices on through my router's DHCP reservation table with MAC addressing.  I'm wondering if the issue you've experienced is a proponent of either the camera, your router, or a combination of both.  However, IP cameras use much more bandwidth than the water sensor will.  So it's not likely that it will experience any connectivity issues.

On a side note, I emailed D-Link tech support as I'm curious on their response to email notification functionality.  Will report back once I receive a response.

The lack of email notification wouldn't be a deal killer, it would just be a nice option rather then having to install another app on my phone.  I was surprised that it didn't seem to be an option.  I am curious to hear if you get a response from D-Link on whether it is possible to enable somehow.

Edit: And now that I think about it the D-Link cameras didn't actually disconnect from the network, they just stopped sending email notifications.  I assumed it was due to some sort of software updated because both of them did it at the same time. 

 

[knight1fox3]

The lack of email notification wouldn't be a deal killer, it would just be a nice option rather then having to install another app on my phone.  I was surprised that it didn't seem to be an option.  I am curious to hear if you get a response from D-Link on whether it is possible to enable somehow.

Edit: And now that I think about it the D-Link cameras didn't actually disconnect from the network, they just stopped sending email notifications.  I assumed it was due to some sort of software updated because both of them did it at the same time. 

I haven't received a response from their tech support yet, but found I was able to create a customized "action" within the app to have an email sent upon water detection (see screen capture below).  But being tied to the app, obviously requires that it be running so it seems redundant to the already present notification by the app itself. :dunno:

 

 

[Supe]

I got this:

 

[Dark Knight]

I'll start. 

I got (or will be once it's shipped) the Samsung gear s2 watch and a quad copter. 

One of these is going to be my birthday gift to myself this year. Want to guess which one?

 

[NJmike PE]

@Dark Knight I guess the drone. and I tried it out last night. not too bad.

 

[matt267 PE]

@NJmike PE, did you get any good pics of the neighbors?

 

[NJmike PE]

@matt267 PE, not yet, but will post them here once I do

 

[MA_PE]

the stinky bear is pretty funny.  I might have to locate one of those for the "man cave" bathroom