Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Originally posted on October 20, 2010) “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. “ – Leonardo da Vinci (maybe?) I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use a quote from L. DaVinci as an introduction to this blog post. But it’s really does set the right tone for a topic that’s been creeping up behind me on pad-feet, creakingContinue reading “Simple (10/20/2010)”

(Originally posted on October 24, 2010) “1-Wire” is the name for a device bus protocol designed to be inexpensive, easy to connect, and easy to interface with. The name “1-Wire” is a marketing take on the fact that data is conducted over a single wire. You still need a ground connection, but “2-Wire” presumably didn’tContinue reading “1-Wire (10/24/2010)”

(Originally posted in October, 2010) It’s not easy as you’d expect to think of new scenarios that are genuinely useful. (See this post for some background.) So I thought I’d create and maintain this page of currently-implemented and planned scenarios, as a convenient reference that will be easier to keep current. I’m also hoping that keeping anContinue reading “Home Automation Scenarios (2010)”

(Originally posted on October 6, 2010) In a previous post, I wondered aloud: “The implication of Moore’s law, along with implicit corollaries for energy storage technologies (batteries, capacitors, etc) – is there a law yet in Wikipedia for this??” Turns out, there’s been some buzz about this question recently. As pointed out by Gigaom, Thomas Friedman, in anContinue reading “What, no Moore’s Law for Batteries?? (10/6/2010)”

(Originally posted on October 9, 2010) When I started this “iseetbots” blog, I blithely assumed that it was self-evident what terms like ‘Bot’ or ‘Connected Device’ mean. Similarly, every time I heard the term “Internet of Things’, I blithely assumed I knew what that term meant (and that my interpretation matched everyone else’s  . Boy, wasContinue reading “The Internet of Things (10/9/2010)”

(Originally posted on October 5, 2010) It’s one thing to write about this stuff, but it’s another thing entirely to get hands-on with it. Since I’m after some credibility here  , this post is about some of my own connected experiences, starting in the Home Automation space, in which I started dabbling around 2001. I tryContinue reading “‘Bots in the Basement (10/5/2010)”

(Originally posted on October 3, 2010) So, what did a ‘bot geek do for fun hundreds of years ago? My guess is that they hacked around with clocks, especially if the money was good. The first accurate, portable timekeeping devices were made possible through extreme cleverness and a willingness to consider alternate perspective on the part ofContinue reading “‘Bot Trends, or, “How Did We Get Here?” (10/3/2010)”

Years ago, I blogged a bit about IoT, automation, and related stuff. And then I let the blog lapse, and it eventually (mostly) disappeared from the internet. I recently decided to resurrect that old content. (Along the way, I’ve had to make minor edits as I’ve fixed up lines, etc.) And maybe I’ll start addingContinue reading “Hi there”

(Originally posted on October 2, 2010) Well, “I know one when I see it“. More helpfully, I’d say that a ‘bot is a widget, gadget, or device that is ‘connected’ to the outside world and can say something about its own state, or respond to commands. Thus, the difference between, say, a nutcracker (a gadget)Continue reading “What’s a ‘bot, anyway? (10/2/2010)”