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from the planned^Wscheduled-obsolescence dept.
Sonos, the consumer electronics company known for audio streaming and "smart" speakers, has decided that the music controller device, the "CR100", has reached end of life. By which they mean they will be pushing a software upgrade that will kill it.
... the next Sonos update in early April will turn off the CR100 connection -- unless you decide you don't want any updates at all. (Make sure you set that up in advance -- if you accept the update, you can't undo it and go back to using the old controller.)
That means if you want to keep on using a device you're happy with, you have to give up all the new features on all your Sonos speakers.
The company says its primary concern is the age of the lithium ion batteries in the controllers; although in that case an official device recall would be better than an update that stops them working - and a battery replacement scheme would handle the problem just as well.
Although the controller is old (Sonos stopped selling the CR100 in 2009) it is still perfectly functional for many users. However, according to a forum posting explaining the options these users will have to choose between the CR100 and the functionality of the rest of their system:
... opting not to update means you will not receive any new features or future security patches for your entire system – not just the CR100. For example, being on an unsupported version means that you might lose connectivity to music services, as is already the case for Google Play Music on the CR100. It is necessary to configure your system in advance to avoid future updates. Any update applied to the firmware and/or to the app, even unintentionally, is irreversible.
Originally spotted on The EEV Blog Youtube channel.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday February 13 2018, @06:59AM (1 child)
You ain't kiddin' about the beauty of having a standard container of electrical power. One size fits all, but some may take several to do the job.
I knew a few years ago when we had a power outage, and I needed a flashlight. I went to the "emergency" kit I had so carefully prepared a few years ago, and retrieved one of the three D-cell flashlights and batteries I had so carefully packed. None of the alkaline D cells were any good.
I had already torn apart an old laptop battery, and was wondering about the six little cylindrical cells I found in it... never had seen anything like them before, but they did have one number stamped on their labels... 18650 ... so I fed this number to Google to find out what it was. At that time, I did not know that was an industry - standard cell and lots of stuff had them in it. More excited, I went to AliExpress and typed the same number in, and it gave me lots of cells and things that used them. Wasn't all that expensive either. I had seen these "tactical" flashlights in the local electronics store selling in the neighborhood of $100, and considered them economically useless... but now seeing extremely similar flashlights selling for less than $10, I bought two dozen of them. And got all the chargers for them as well... you know, those handy USB in/USB out ones. Handiest things I have bought in a helluva long time. So I use a few, and have the rest in a drawer. Even the dollar store has those plug-in adapters to make USB power from cigarette lighter power. I knew right then I would never have another day of my life stymied by dead flashlights.
No sense even keeping flashlights in the earthquake kit any more. No more discovering $20 worth of Alkaline D cells floating in a pool of corrosion right when I needed them. I can always find some source of electricity to charge an 18650... car or solar panel if line power is out.
During the last power outage at night at work, I was johnny-on-the-spot with my drawer of flashlights... I had enough for everyone there. All the other "backup" lighting had failed, but every one of those WF-502's fired right up. Gotta keep the cells somewhere, so I bought extra flashlights just to hold the cells, as I know they are lithium, and should one ever get out of control, I wanted it doing so in a sturdy aluminum container, and storing the cells in a flashlight keeps them from shorting out should the container of cells get jostled "just so"... I have seen damn near every D cell I have ever had leak.... I have not seen an 18650 leak yet. Even my NiCd's would grow all sorts of corrosive fuzz around the top seal in a few years - and were always dead when I really needed 'em. The lithiums seem happy sitting around for years.
I also bought power banks that use multiple cells, so that: 1-I can easily keep them charged and 2- I have a place to store them, and 3- I have a source of substantial USB and 12V power to operate other things should the need arise. I even have thingies that actually can drain enough current out of these things to start a car - I bought two to start my diesel van. Just in case. Glow plugs need a lot of power before I even try to crank that big old IDI engine.
It is quite a relief to know just what my assets are and what options I have in the event an emergency arises. I flat do not want to be like those Hurricane Sandy people who had useless solar arrays because their grid-tie inverters would not power up until they had line power to sync to. If I know I can get 16V at 5 Amps from each solar panel, then I use variable input DC power converters to keep car batteries topped off, and use that.
Its all part of being prepared.
If we do have a natural disaster, I want to have something to trade... as everyone has their special thing they do better than anyone else.
Mine is making sure we can keep our stuff powered up, no matter what.
Even my soldering iron will work off my Ryobi power tool batteries or my van battery, and I can charge my Ryobi packs and my 18650 cells in the van. If you haven't been recently, go to Home Depot to see quite an impressive array of things that run on Ryobi power packs. Don't buy their damned cheap incandescent flashlight though. It puzzles me why they even made the damned thing. Highly inefficient, you don't get much light out of it at all! First thing I did with the one I got as a premium in a package discount was strip out the light bulb and put in a little USB power downconverter so I can pull USB power from a Ryobi pack. ( Some of those little "car chargers" are rated 12-24 volts, the Ryobi is around 18 Volt. A little work with epoxy and stiff plastic netted me a replacement "lens assembly" that had a USB jack in it, not a light bulb. And a pair of banana jacks that permit my soldering iron assembly direct access to the 18 volt battery rail.)
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 13 2018, @03:10PM
Yeah, my flashlights were marketed as "tactical flashlights". They have a stupid serrated end, that will probably cut a man's throat, if you were to put it to that use. To me, it's just stupid. I love the LED light. A typical 3 D-cell professional flashlight, like the cops carry, will kinda light up the side of a building, 50 to 75 yards away. This little flashlight that I carry in my hip pocket will actually light up the side of a building in the same conditions. Better yet, I can focus it on something on that building. The door, a window, a hole where a tree branch went through the roof or wall - whatever. Let the crazies salivate over that "tactical" bullshit - I have a working light that outshines anything I've ever owned, with the exception of auto headlights, or a searchlight.
When I bought my first one, I took it to work, and several people asked where I got it. I told them, "Ebay" but no one seems to be capable of searching Ebay for themselves. I ended up ordering six of the same lights, and sold them all to coworkers. I ordered another dozen, and sold five of those. The rest are cached in my vehicle, in my toolboxes, and in my desks.
LEDs are beautiful, is anyone really wants to know!