Michael Graves

This author has written 1367 articles

Extreme Power Over Ethernet

If you’ve been reading hereabouts for some time, you likely know that I am an advocate for power-over-ethernet. In it’s earliest days, almost twenty (!) years ago, I started blogging in order to share my experience combining working from a home office full-time, leveraging broadband-over-DSL and IP telephones.

SIP/IP telephones and Wi-Fi access points are natural gateways into P.O.E. That’s certainly how I got started. At first, I used POE insertors. As the number of POE-capable devices mounted, I migrated to Ubiquiti Unifi POE switches.

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Holiday Project: Lyrion Media Server & Spotify

This week saw me spending some time to get Lyrion Media Server working with Spotify again. I started using Logitech’s Squeezebox series streaming music players since the Squeezebox 3 was introduced in 2005. Lyrion Media Server is community supported version of what was once known as Logitech Media Server.

Of course, the Logitech hardware eventually died. Electrolytic capacitors eventually age. Our fleet of SB3 were eventually replaced with a handful of Raspberry Pi running PiCorePlayer. Both Lyrion Media Server and PiCorePlayer are open source.

Originally, LMS was all about playing stream from a local library of music. That didn’t last very long. As streaming music sources appeared online the software was extended to include these services. While I’ve used Pandora and Radio Paradise in the past, more recently I access a paid Spotify account by way of Michael Herger’s excellent Spotty plug-in for LMS.

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Local Thieves using Wi-Fi Jammer

A few days ago a couple of Houston’s local TV stations ran a story about thieves using a Wi-Fi jamming device in order to defeat the common wireless security cameras. This sort of thing is very triggering for me. I have long believed that Wi-Fi, while convenient, is not your friend. Things that you truly rely upon should be physically connected to your network. By “physically connected “ I mean Ethernet. Accept no substitutes.

We have a handful of surveillance cameras hereabouts. They are all connected via Ethernet. It provides both connectivity and power. This way, they are powered from the Eaton UPS that runs the network core. The network stays up even when utility power is lost.

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Refreshing my Lenovo X1 Carbon Laptop

As mentioned previously, back in September I bought a computer to replace my vintage but beloved desktop computer. At the time, I was concerned about the prospect of higher prices driven by new tariffs. Also, I saw a good deal on a configuration that was suitable.

The Lenovo P14s that I bought is a laptop, technically a mobile workstation, but to be used in a desktop role. Compared to the X1 Carbon, it’s a chunky beast, so it’s largely deskbound. That’s where I really need the more powerful system.

That means that my Lenovo X1 Carbon (Gen 7 from 2019) will remain my primary laptop for a while longer. I have an investment in accessories that are not all transferable to another laptop. As it was a very nice computer when originally purchased, it’s useful life can be significantly extended with only some minor updates.

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Smart thermostat goes offline: Not Cool

“I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.” – HAL 9000

Back in 2021, we had an American Standard Platinum 18 air conditioner installed, with the accompanying Nexia 850 smart thermostat. We can control the thermostat locally, via their mobile app, via Home Assistant or its mobile app.

Early in the evening of November 24th I reached for my phone. I wanted to adjust the thermostat. On this particular occasion, the American Standard app on my phone reported a connectivity failure.

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Ruminations on a toothbrush

The other day, we were coming back from taking Julio to the vet. Stella wanted me to stop at a pharmacy to pick something up. There was a CVS on the route home, so I pulled in. She waited with Julio in the car while went in to pickup what she needed.

Once in the store I found what she wanted quite easily. Then it occurred to me that I needed something myself, but what? Scanning the store I finally remembered that I needed a new toothbrush.

paw-patrol-kids-toothbrush-03

For many years I’ve used the battery operated “Spin Brush” electric toothbrushes. I’ve had a number of these. The heads are replaceable, but the mechanism itself doesn’t last forever.

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