TEH 192: Where does the light switch signal go? More AI. Secure passwords… again.

In This Episode: Where does the light switch signal go? More AI. Secure passwords… again.

This week the TEH Podcast is hosted by Leo Notenboom, the “Chief Question Answerer” at Ask Leo!, and Gary Rosenzweig, the host and producer of MacMost, and mobile game developer at Clever Media.

Our guest is …

(You’ll find longer Bios on the Hosts page.)

Top Stories

  • 1:35 GR: Old record player, chasing interference
  • 5:00 Amazon algorithms solved it – Ferrite Beads were the solution.
  • 17:30 Internet of things
    • GR: Addendum to my IoT bit from last week. Geeni server reliance?
    • 21:00 Testing lights
    • 23:00 Using Siri to Ask Google and control your Google devices. Google and Siri. Lights at sunset
    • 30:00 Open source IOT mangement
    • 34:00 That one guy…
  • 35:30 LN: AI being applied to password cracking
    • 41:00 If you are doing passwords right…?
    • 44:50 Two factor authentication

Ain’t it Cool

  • 47:30 LN: Sweet Tooth, Season 2 (Netflix)
  • 48:35 GR: Escape To the Chateau, on Peacock

BSP: Blatant Self-Promotion

3 Comments on “TEH 192: Where does the light switch signal go? More AI. Secure passwords… again.

  1. I agree with everything you guys say about passwords. They should be long and random. Probably one of my most important passwords is my iCloud account. I can not find any way to remember a complicated password when I am not on my own computer. I use 1Password and love it. How can I use a “safe” password when I can’t copy directly.

    Reply
  2. I have a “smart” ceiling light that has become useless because the company that made it (Ankee) apparently went out of business. The app is no longer available in the App Store, and the one on my phone won’t open anymore. My Google Assistant just says that the device is not available. At least this light also came with a RF remote. I was going to replace the switch, but of course it is one that doesn’t have the neutral wire.
    Since that experience I have been working to only get lights / outlets from “name brands” in the hopes that they will still function down the road.

    Reply
  3. Escape to the Chateau – ultimate home improvement show?
    Angel (wife) was also an event planner. There is a spoiler related to that.
    They had a companion show where they help other chateau owners with their renovations.

    Ferrite beads – Ferrite is a particular crystal structure in iron also a general name for iron bearing materials. The beads have powdered iron in clay at levels which effect the passage of radio frequencies.
    Since almost everything now has at least one computer inside that is operating at radio frequencies, shielding of both incomming and outgoing signals is more important than it used to be. You can seal up cases of things but any wires become antennas or just transmit the signals along to the next item they are connected to. The bead forms eddy currents that stop the frequencies.
    At a former job, I went with equipment to a test lab so I could run it for them. They had a test cell that was fully lines with ferrite plates so that they could bombard items with huge amounts (I think up to thousands of watts) of radio waves to test them. They claimed that they could stop any electronic item from working. They also had an open area that they could set the device in and use antennas to see how much noise it created.
    Long ago, this was not done. That is the reason hospitals said no cell phones. They had some old equipment that could be disrupted by the transmitter.

    Reply

Leave a Comment