Re:Smart home devices should work without the internet
by knodi123 on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @02:46PM
(#50445344)
> Solution; "reboot" the unit by interrupting USB power (with a Pico and MOSFET) every 23 hours
Reminds me of a possible apocryphal anecdote I heard about Alan Turing. He loved going on long bike rides, but one day his bike developed a distressing habit of slipping the chain. After the third time it happened, he realized it was due to a broken tooth on both the front and the back gear. He went back home and calculated how many revolutions of the pedals it would take for both broken teeth to line up when they were at the critical part of the rotation, and he built a little mechanical counter that would click on each link in the bike chain, and at the calculated time, a little arm would reach down and clasp the chain, holding it in place long enough for the teeth to re-engage.
He showed the device to his friend, who said "Why didn't you just buy new gears? You could have gotten both for a dime." And Alan replied "Oh, that's clever, I didn't think of that."
Reminds me of a possible apocryphal anecdote I heard about Alan Turing. He loved going on long bike rides, but one day his bike developed a distressing habit of slipping the chain. After the third time it happened, he realized it was due to a broken tooth on both the front and the back gear. He went back home and calculated how many revolutions of the pedals it would take for both broken teeth to line up when they were at the critical part of the rotation, and he built a little mechanical counter that would click on each link in the bike chain, and at the calculated time, a little arm would reach down and clasp the chain, holding it in place long enough for the teeth to re-engage.
He showed the device to his friend, who said "Why didn't you just buy new gears? You could have gotten both for a dime." And Alan replied "Oh, that's clever, I didn't think of that."