We now have our full grocery shopping procedure working. We add new items with the Alexa app. Then when it is time to do grocery shopping, we print out the list with any.do. Then we go grocery shopping. When we get home, we add to the shopping list of Google Home, which is our inventory. Then we check off the items in the alexa app of the alexa. Anytime we need a printout of our inventory, we can get it with keep.google.com. All we have to do is say print, which converts it to a pdf, which we can then actually print. Not intuitive, but that's the way it works.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
Friday, March 10, 2017
Amazon Echo
Now we have Amazon Echo (Alexa). We can now have our full shopping list procedure. We can do many things on it that we could already do with Google Home. However, there is more we can do by combining the power of the two. We can make a to do list, and access a shared google calendar. We are still beginning to tap the power of this device.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
Friday, January 6, 2017
Google Home
Google Home is now in operational. What does that mean? Well, as specified before, now the shopping process has changed.
We can ask about our day in the morning, being able to hear what we need to hear. Now each time we head out the door, there is no excuse for not knowing what temperature to expect it to be.
Need the time but aren't able to look at a clock? Just ask! What about simple questions? They can be answered easily. Need a 50/50 decision made? Flip a coin first. Bored? Then you need to tell it so! You will find lots to do by asking it about stuff.
We are just beginning to tap the power of this device.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
We can ask about our day in the morning, being able to hear what we need to hear. Now each time we head out the door, there is no excuse for not knowing what temperature to expect it to be.
Need the time but aren't able to look at a clock? Just ask! What about simple questions? They can be answered easily. Need a 50/50 decision made? Flip a coin first. Bored? Then you need to tell it so! You will find lots to do by asking it about stuff.
We are just beginning to tap the power of this device.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
The Changes in Shopping
We all make shopping lists before we go shopping (or should), especially for groceries. The methods for doing this in this household are slowly changing.
The original method, was to look on a list for if the item is something to keep in the house or not. Then you write the item if it's needed on a whiteboard on the refrigerator. When it's time for grocery shopping, you copy all the items you are going to get onto a piece of paper. Then you erase those items. At the store, you check off the items you got in the basket. Then you do a check to make sure you have everything once you get home.
Then there was the intermediate method. You do the same thing with the item 'till it gets to the whiteboard. Then, you put them into the household phone's shopping list when you get ready to shop. Then you take that to the store and mark the items off as you go. You do a check when you get home, to see if you still have all items, and then you move them to the pantry. The pantry is where the inventory of supplies goes. Sometimes when putting an item on the list, it's possible just to move it from the pantry to the shopping list.
Then there will be the new method, which reduces copying and is easier to enter. You have Google Home and Amazon Echo. You enter the pantry items onto Google Home's shopping list. You enter the items to get on Amazon Echo's shopping list. Then you copy the appropriate items from the Amazon Echo's shopping list to paper when it's time to shop. Then you do as before with the paper, and the items you get home go in the pantry (Google Home's shopping list).
There is the temporary method of shopping used too. This will be used inbetween getting the Google Home and also getting the Amazon Echo. You keep the pantry as was before. But then you take the items on the shopping list, and stick them on the Google Home. The whiteboard will be gone as one of the next phases.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
The original method, was to look on a list for if the item is something to keep in the house or not. Then you write the item if it's needed on a whiteboard on the refrigerator. When it's time for grocery shopping, you copy all the items you are going to get onto a piece of paper. Then you erase those items. At the store, you check off the items you got in the basket. Then you do a check to make sure you have everything once you get home.
Then there was the intermediate method. You do the same thing with the item 'till it gets to the whiteboard. Then, you put them into the household phone's shopping list when you get ready to shop. Then you take that to the store and mark the items off as you go. You do a check when you get home, to see if you still have all items, and then you move them to the pantry. The pantry is where the inventory of supplies goes. Sometimes when putting an item on the list, it's possible just to move it from the pantry to the shopping list.
Then there will be the new method, which reduces copying and is easier to enter. You have Google Home and Amazon Echo. You enter the pantry items onto Google Home's shopping list. You enter the items to get on Amazon Echo's shopping list. Then you copy the appropriate items from the Amazon Echo's shopping list to paper when it's time to shop. Then you do as before with the paper, and the items you get home go in the pantry (Google Home's shopping list).
There is the temporary method of shopping used too. This will be used inbetween getting the Google Home and also getting the Amazon Echo. You keep the pantry as was before. But then you take the items on the shopping list, and stick them on the Google Home. The whiteboard will be gone as one of the next phases.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Where We Are and Where We Are Going
I now can see a few more details about the possible future when the network is done being configured:
From inside the network I can see that we are well covered for Internet browsing. Have a quick question in the house? It will now be easy to answer. What type of question do you have? To find the answer, you need to know what type of question you have.
If you have a very simple question, you will be able to ask Alexa or Google. Depending on the type of question, you will get a better response from one or the other.
Are you possibly a guest and have a quick question but need to type? Try the household browser phone. Browsing is what it's for. You could potentially also use the household phone.
Need heavier browsing? If you are a guest, try the household tablet. I can pick from one of three tablets that are personal if I need to as well. Which one depends on the nature of the question.
What about browsing from the TV? Well you can use the Android TV Box or possibly the Wii system.
For the heaviest of browsing, if you are a guest, you will need to use the household laptop or a BYOD device (with proper permission, of course). I can use my laptop for that type of browsing, which will now have a docking station and a few choices of location, if I don't need the docking station. Thanks to the new surge protectors.
But what if it isn't just browsing you desire or need? Well you can do many other things too. We can add or remove things from our shopping list easier once the upgrades are complete. Reminders can be set or a kitchen timer can be used for cooking. Bored? Try asking for a joke!
You will be able to watch whatever channel TV was last turned to from any device or nearly any device anyway. Wherever you are in the world as long as you have wifi.
What about watching a movie? You can easily watch VHS or DVD. You can play video games if you desire too. Wii or N64. Want to do a quick recording of the thing you are watching on the screen? You can, with VHS2DVD!
What about the servers? DNS should work for everything. Simple TCP/IP services work too.
You can log onto the vwinxp server and do some work or play a game. You will be able to do so also if you require Windows 98 or Windows 95 to complete your task. Or even one of our supported types of Linux! With those, we will have several servers, such as game servers and stuff.
Our software will be stored on an NAS, for easy retrieval. What about music? You can listen to music on a TV possibly.
Want to watch YouTube? The most likely choice will be the TV. Want to look at household pictures but notice the abscense of picture frames? They are all on the household phone!
These are just some of the things that will now be possible to do after the upgrade and configuration of the devices. Perhaps I shall give a device by device update as I go?
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
From inside the network I can see that we are well covered for Internet browsing. Have a quick question in the house? It will now be easy to answer. What type of question do you have? To find the answer, you need to know what type of question you have.
If you have a very simple question, you will be able to ask Alexa or Google. Depending on the type of question, you will get a better response from one or the other.
Are you possibly a guest and have a quick question but need to type? Try the household browser phone. Browsing is what it's for. You could potentially also use the household phone.
Need heavier browsing? If you are a guest, try the household tablet. I can pick from one of three tablets that are personal if I need to as well. Which one depends on the nature of the question.
What about browsing from the TV? Well you can use the Android TV Box or possibly the Wii system.
For the heaviest of browsing, if you are a guest, you will need to use the household laptop or a BYOD device (with proper permission, of course). I can use my laptop for that type of browsing, which will now have a docking station and a few choices of location, if I don't need the docking station. Thanks to the new surge protectors.
But what if it isn't just browsing you desire or need? Well you can do many other things too. We can add or remove things from our shopping list easier once the upgrades are complete. Reminders can be set or a kitchen timer can be used for cooking. Bored? Try asking for a joke!
You will be able to watch whatever channel TV was last turned to from any device or nearly any device anyway. Wherever you are in the world as long as you have wifi.
What about watching a movie? You can easily watch VHS or DVD. You can play video games if you desire too. Wii or N64. Want to do a quick recording of the thing you are watching on the screen? You can, with VHS2DVD!
What about the servers? DNS should work for everything. Simple TCP/IP services work too.
You can log onto the vwinxp server and do some work or play a game. You will be able to do so also if you require Windows 98 or Windows 95 to complete your task. Or even one of our supported types of Linux! With those, we will have several servers, such as game servers and stuff.
Our software will be stored on an NAS, for easy retrieval. What about music? You can listen to music on a TV possibly.
Want to watch YouTube? The most likely choice will be the TV. Want to look at household pictures but notice the abscense of picture frames? They are all on the household phone!
These are just some of the things that will now be possible to do after the upgrade and configuration of the devices. Perhaps I shall give a device by device update as I go?
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
Where We Are and Where We Are Going
Times are changing! We need to keep up with the times! Therefore, we are going through upgrades to the network.
Here is a list of the upgrades:
Here is a list of the upgrades:
- Upgrading our network
- Adding digital assistants
- Amazon Echo
- Google Home
- Adding docking station for laptop (a personal thing to Dennis Earl Smiley)
- Removing Parellel Port Zip Disk Drive (which doesn't work)
- Adding USB Zip Disk Drive (which will work)
- Adding tablets so that there can be a household tablet
- Adding a new and improved home phone system
- Upgrading the TV system
- Adding outside access to TV
- Adding a second TV
- Adding Android TV boxes
- A new VHS2DVD device
These upgrades will allow us to keep up with the times and enable the network to continue to or better do it's job in the future.
--- Dennis Earl Smiley ---
Where We Are and Where We Are Going
We now are proud to say we have Internet back! Internet functions are being put back and upgraded.
--- SMILEYNET SMILEYNET ---
--- SMILEYNET SMILEYNET ---
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