Quote Originally Posted by Bagwan
Quote Originally Posted by BleAivano
Bagwan, these are legitimate questions but imo a strong encryption (pretty much like your WLAN) would prevent
any unauthorized from eavesdropping on your network. I use WPA2 personal for my WLAN.
My passkey is a 69 character long (mixed upper and lower case + numbers) which take some
659 trigintillion years to crack with existing technology.

Sure if you had a quantum computer it'll go allot faster but quantum computers does not exist (at least not officially) and
it wouldn't be something that anyone would walk around with in their pockets.
Boy , I know how to kill a thread , don't I ?
Sorry , Jag .

It was the first thing that came to mind as you opened the premise of what your computer could do for you .
What your computer could do TO you , in the wrong hands , is kinda scary .
Oh no, to the contrary, I also believe you raise legitimate concerns. This type of technology truly fascinates me, mainly because of the positive potential it has in the way of automation. But as you say, there is also a dark side. There is also the potential for abuse. And the more personal data and information you give to any system that is interconnected to some larger, outside system, the more privacy you're giving up. In order for these systems to work effectively, they have to "know" you. And if the system knows you, then the gatekeepers of that system also know you. And you have to ask yourself what they might do with this information.

This is why I will never own an Android device. It's not that I'm James Bond or that I'm doing any sort of super secret important work. But whatever I do, I don't feel that any OS should be mining my address book, contact list, emails, spending habits, etc. and forwarding that data back to HQ. And even worse, I don't like the idea that the OS is intentionally set up in such a way that various apps (like the FaceBook and flashlight apps for Android) should be able to transmit personal information about me without my approval or even my knowledge. And if Daniel was here, I'm sure he'd say that I feel this way about Android just because I'm an "Apple fanboi". But that's not it at all. It's not that I trust Apple. It's that I distrust Google, FaceBook and (now) Yahoo more than I distrust Apple or even Microsoft. But no, I don't trust any of them. I don't agree with what the NSA has been doing. But let's face it, Google and FaceBook have forgotten more about data mining than the goofs at the NSA will ever know. And this is why I would cross the Nest devices off my purchase list. Despite Google's (empty) promises about respecting user privacy, now that they have bought Nest, I'll never have one of those products anywhere even near my house.


All that said , I do like the idea of the house warming to my arrival , but , with a programmable thermostat , and a little more order to my life , I would almost have that already .
True. But I have never had that much order to my life. And it's not just about thermostats. Though I'd be hesitant to allow any system to know where I was or where I was going 24/7, having interconnected devices which would start my car at predetermined times (and even select the right car to start based on weather or temperature) or based on my schedule for that day, start my coffee maker, select TV shows and movies based on my personal preferences, control the lighting in my home depending on where I am in or outside the home and/or perform automated "personal assistant" type tasks depending on what I have told it... that would be pretty amazing... in concept... in theory.

There's a movie, "Her", coming out which sort of plays with this concept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVIpm6fpjGE#t=81