![\"\"](\"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mwUb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e709412-82f4-49da-b6eb-7bb268d7f906_1200x800.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
Twelve years ago, I was complaining that IoT devices were too expensive. Last week I bought a colour changing Zigbee lighbulb for \u00a34. Not a typo - less than a fiver.
\n\nWhile the aipocalypse is devouring RAM with its insatiable appetite, Moore's Law appears to be keeping up its end of the bargain when it comes to domestic gadgetry.
\n\nThis blog posts compares today's prices with those from a little over a decade ago. Some of the changes are startling, others less so. I'm basing the prices on what a customer can easily get today from Amazon. Yes, AliExpress is cheaper - but delivery takes and age and returns are a faff. Also, I get delicious affiliate revenue when you click the links which allows me to buy more tech crap to review. Everyone's a winner!
\n\n\n\nI don't know how many doors and windows you have in your property - we have about fifteen, not including internal doors and cupboards. Back then a single sensor cost around \u00a330. Today you can get Zigbee door sensors for between \u00a315 - \u00a330 for a pack of four!
\n\nPrices are at least quartered. Do you need a sensor on every cupboard door or drawer? It is useful to be able to check your phone to see if the toilet seat is up or down? These are reaching the price where you might as well hook them up to anything.
\n\nHue's WiFi lightbulbs were about fifty-quid each. Again, count the number of lights you need in your home and run to your bank-manager for an overdraft!
\n\nToday, Hue Bulbs are about \u00a316 each. That's a pretty steep drop. If you want generic Zigbee Bulbs you can expect to pay a tenner each. That's down to a fifth of the price from 2014. If you're happy buying from AliExpress, they're usually under a fiver.
\n\nIt's useful to be able to remotely control a power socket. It used to be the case they'd cost \u00a330 per plug. Nowadays smart plugs are about \u00a37.50. These ones come with energy monitoring and will easily integrate with HomeAssistant and other smarthome controllers.
\n\nThere's still a limit to the things which can be directly controlled from a socket. That said, I'm love my IoT Electric Blanket.
\n\nThe dream is to have a magic tag stuck on everything you might lose. Back in 2014, we thought iBeacons / Eddystones would win out. Sadly that dream died and instead we're stuck with proprietary \"Find My\" networks from Google and Apple.
\n\nThe iBeacons were about a tenner each back then. Today they're \u00a35 - \u00a310 each depending on the features you want. That's still not cheap enough to attach to every sock - but there's no excuse for losing your keys, wallet, bag, or spouse again.
\n\nAnnoyingly they don't use an open standard, so you'll need a Google or Apple account to use them.
\n\nI still prefer QR codes (free!) to NFC, but I concede they do have their uses. Their capacity and features are much the same as they were a decade ago, but prices have dropped from about 75p per tag down to about 10p-20p per tag.
\n\nAt that price, it's just about cheap enough to stick them in every book you own or sew them into all your underpants. Quite why you'd want to do that is left as an exercise for the reader.
\n\nYou know what, I didn't bother looking at the actual cost of an Internet Fridge all those years ago. But earlier this year I got a WiFi enabled tumble dryer. It was as cheap as all the other models and means I can shout \"ALEXA! MAKE DRY!\" then receive a notification from HomeAssistant when the dry is fully maked.
\n\nI hope my next fridge comes with a sensor that alerts me if the door is left open or the freezer is getting too warm. That would be handy.
\n\nThe cost of an ESP32 is basically a rounding error for most large appliances, especially when bought in bulk. If it uses electricity, it is probably trivial to add WiFi and Bluetooth.
\n\nThere's probably a realistic limit to how low prices can go while the products still remain safe and durable. For smaller items that appears to be between a fiver in bulk direct from China to about a tenner sourced from a mainstream UK supplier.
\n\nFor domestic appliances, there doesn't seem to be any significant extra cost. Take a look at these heat pump tumble dryers - even the cheapest of them comes with an app.
\n\nThere are a few bits of my home which haven't yet been given their own IP address - although they're mostly towards the mechanical side of things.
\n\nLiterally no one is forcing you. If you don't want your TV to spy on you, it'll work just fine if you don't connect it to your WiFi.
\n\nIf you like getting out of bed to make sure you switched off the downstairs lights, that option is still available to you.
\n\nThere's no law which says you have to connect your solar panels to the web - but I like seeing exciting graphs each day.
\n\nI cannot pre-heat my smart toilet seat, nor can I change the bidet's water pressure from my phone. That's probably a good thing?
\n\nBut I like gadgets! Sure, some of them are crappy - but I find it fun to get them working with HomeAssistant. Might they get hacked and send all my data to Arstotzka? Meh, they're all on a separate LAN and are connected to things which are unlikely to burn down my house. Might I wake up one day and find that the machine has stopped and my ability to draw my own curtains has atrophied? That's a chance I'm willing to take.
\n\nThe practical advantage I get from being about to check my security cameras on my phone from the other side of the planet is worth the theoretical risks.
\n\nI wonder what other domestic gadgetry will fall prey to the irresistible lure of cheap connectivity?
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=75776&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/z4738-xwq92","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=75776","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Wifi-pod-with-two-ethernet-ports.jpeg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1791936000,"rid":"zb3t9-zqm53","summary":"Twelve years ago, I was complaining that IoT devices were too expensive. Last week I bought a colour changing Zigbee lighbulb for \u00a34. Not a typo - less than a fiver. While the aipocalypse is devouring RAM with its insatiable appetite, Moore's Law appears to be keeping up its end of the bargain when it comes to domestic gadgetry.","tags":["/etc/","Gadget","Internet Of Things","IoT","Smart Home"],"title":"The Internet of Very Cheap Things","updated_at":1793604639,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/the-internet-of-very-cheap-things/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"affiliation":[{"id":"https://ror.org/0153tk833","name":"University of Virginia"}],"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Turner","given":"Stephen","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-9028"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Stephen D. Turner","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-9028"}],"community_id":"382941a7-2ffa-41df-8bbb-5f772188517f","created":1780876800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"A practicing data scientist's take on AI, genomics, biosecurity, and the ways AI is reshaping how science gets done. Weekly updates from the field. Occasional notes on programming.","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/stephenturner","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/382941a7-2ffa-41df-8bbb-5f772188517f/logo","feed_format":"application/rss+xml","feed_url":"https://blog.stephenturner.us/feed","filter":null,"generator":"Substack","home_page_url":"https://blog.stephenturner.us","issn":null,"language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"stephenturner","status":"active","subfield":"1311","title":"Paired Ends","updated":1793545473,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Paired Ends","blog_slug":"stephenturner","content_html":"Anthropic published a paper and a blog post a few days ago. Seems like every tech podcast I listen to talked about this paper this week (Hard Fork, Machine Gods, others). In the extra hour we got here in the US falling back to standard time1 I got a chance to read over the paper and accompanying blog.
Blog post: How AI agents shape experts' judgment calls
Paper: Who's Aligned to Whom? How AI Agents Shape Experts' Research Judgment Calls
Top line result: Professional analysts followed an AI agent's randomly assigned preferences on almost all of the analytical decisions they made. Later, about half of the surveyed analysts rated the final recommendation as more their own ideas than those of the AI.
They asked 50 analysts to use Claude Code to evaluate an advisory program for a fictional farming cooperative. The different analytical choices all involved reasonable alternatives, things like measuring crop yield per hectare or yield per dollar spent. They used random draws to decide which options the agent would favor, and they did this without telling participants.
![\"Three-panel](\"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!z-gz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff284938a-23a0-4d78-87e9-1d3ff9f5b18c_1920x926.webp\" "\\"Three-panel")
When the participants wrote up their explanations, over 3/4 repeated the agent's arguments, and in some cases essentially word for word. Only 15% mentioned the AI in any explanation.
This suggests that asking people how much they relied on AI doesn't really give us a complete picture of how much influence the AI had (see my previous post on AI disclosure skepticism). The result also speaks to this question of how much people accept whatever the AI suggests without much thought.
The concern here is that a data analysis can look sound and reasonable, while depending heavily on judgment calls its author barely considered. Deciding what to measure, or which outcomes deserve more weight, these can all change a recommendation even when the code and calculations are all correct.
I think with a carefully written AGENTS.md file you can get your AI assistant to make those choices explicit, and to then explain why you as the competent analyst might choose differently. Before putting my name on some analysis, I want be able to explain why those choices fit whatever research question I have, and how the conclusions might change under alternatives.
The superior time, better than DST in every way (if you disagree, you are incorrect).
By Matt Boyd & Nick Wilson
\n![\"\"](\"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/image.png?w=936\")
TLDR/Summary
\nHealth research is mostly the study of disease: what makes people sick, and how to prevent and treat it. Our recent work sits elsewhere, in global catastrophic risk: nuclear war, extreme pandemics, volcanic winters, solar storms and artificial intelligence (AI). These could disrupt civilisation itself. The two fields rarely meet. The new Lancet Commission on 21st century global threats to health is innovative because it brings them together. It puts nuclear war and what it calls \"malicious use of AI\" on the same scale as obesity and smoking related harm. But the way it compares these very different risks could easily be misread, with consequences the authors clearly do not intend.
\nWhat the Lancet Commission did
\nThe Commission, led by Christopher Murray (IHME) and Natalia Kanem (UNFPA), published its major Report in October 2026. It defines a \"threat\" broadly, as among the largest causes of future health loss that policy can change, so slowly developing harms like obesity count, not just sudden shocks.
\nFor each threat it builds a plausible worst and a plausible best future, usually anchored in real experience. The worst case typically assumes a country follows the worst trajectory actually seen since 1990 among countries at a similar level of income and development. The best case assumes it follows the best. The gap between the two, summed from 2025 to 2100 and measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), is the \"amenable\" burden: the health loss that policy could plausibly avert.
\nThe headline results, in billions of amenable DALYs:
\n![\"\"](\"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/image-1.png?w=1024\")
For scale, Covid-19 caused about 0.5 billion DALYs. The Commission appropriately recommends threat-ready health systems, breakthrough innovation, and an annual Monitor of threats reporting to the G20 group of countries.
\nWhat it gets right
\nThe Report puts catastrophic risk on the global health agenda and names \"short-termism and localism\" as obstacles to good risk governance. It is candid about its limits, and the Monitor is a sensible answer to cycles of panic and neglect.
\nIts cross-cutting \"enablers\" also overlap strongly with our own recent review of seven catastrophic risks, No place to hide? (Jehn et al, 2026):
\nThe missing factors in the Commission's work are those that matter when global supply chains fail.
\nComparing obesity with nuclear war: a risk-analysis problem
\nThe authors stress that their summary bar chart \"is not a ranking of policy priority\". But the axis displaying level of harm invites such ranking, and busy decision-makers will see bars, not caveats.
\nHowever, potential problems arise through method. Each threat is scored by expected value (probability multiplied by harm). That works for chronic disease, but for rare catastrophes it hides most of what matters.
\nThe numbers are built differently. The estimates for nuclear war and malicious use of AI have no well-established statistical model behind them (in contrast to obesity etc). They come from a 2022 forecasting tournament, in which superforecasters and domain experts gave probabilities of global catastrophe and extinction by 2100. The nuclear worst case takes the 95th percentile of those forecasts. The AI worst case uses a different rule (the median plus three median absolute deviations). Both set the best case to zero. The uncertainty intervals for both run from zero upwards.
\nStrength of knowledge is largely invisible. Contemporary risk science describes risk as consequences plus uncertainty. Uncertainty includes how much we really know. Obesity's estimate rests on data from 204 countries. Nuclear war's rests on forecasters' judgements about 2100, a horizon over which super-forecasting has never been tested. The chart presents both bars side-by-side (albeit they are colour coded and have error bars but these features might not be readily appreciated).
\nTail risk is averaged away. The Commission considered giving extra weight to catastrophic outcomes and rejected it. It also rejected reporting probability and consequence separately, because users \"might struggle\" with two dimensions. That may underrate decision-makers and their officials. Insurers, engineers and defence planners treat rare, irreversible catastrophes differently, because they cascade and destroy the capacity to respond and recover.
\nThreat size is not urgency. The reverse also holds. A threat with a smaller burden can deserve urgent action if there are simple, obvious things to do now. Many equity, access and pricing problems (such as unaffordable but low-cost essential medicines, or tobacco and alcohol that are under-regulated) are easy to fix with tools we already have. Priority needs tractability, cost and timing, not just size.
\nHealth is not the same as harm
\nThe Commission measures health only: not wellbeing, future generations beyond 2100, economic loss, infrastructure damage, or harm to the biosphere. That is fair for a health report, but it tilts comparisons between threats.
\nObesity does not sink ships, burn ports or bring down power grids. Nuclear war, severe solar storms and AI-enabled cyberattacks can. Those losses cause uncounted health harm: if trade in medicines collapses, people with heart disease or diabetes die far from any blast. Each threat is modelled alone, so these cascades never enter the numbers.
\nA companion comment by Stephen Morrison (CSIS) worries that the Report will struggle to reach finance ministers and heads of state. Our own recent work in progress suggests that harm, not just health, is the lens they need. In a comparative risk assessment for Australia (Graham et al, 2026)*, we put fatalities, asset losses and lost economic output into a single monetary measure. On that basis, AI catastrophe (AU$ 7.8 billion a year) and pandemics (AU$ 7.3 billion) each roughly matched all of Australia's cyclones, bushfires and floods combined. In the worst 1% of years, catastrophic risks dominated: AU$ 5.8 trillion for AI and 1.6 trillion for nuclear war, against 118 billion for the worst traditional hazard.
\nJust as disease is not all of health, health is not all of potential human harm. A health-only lens misses the societal perspective, and risks steering resources towards what is easiest to count. An \"amenable DALY\" is also an \"amenable financial harm\", and the Monitor will report to a G20 finance task force.
\nDALYs also only count harm to people who exist. About half of the amenable burden for low education comes from fewer births, not healthier lives. As another companion Review notes, minimising DALYs \"favours an empty future\". Such a metric cannot weigh human survival.
\nBlind spots
\nPandemics may be much worse. The Commission extrapolates 400 years of pandemic history, with pandemic size held fixed. Forward-looking work by Madhav et al estimates a 2\u20133% annual chance of a Covid-scale pandemic, and 2.5 million deaths a year on average from respiratory pandemics alone. They call that a lower bound. Yet engineered pandemics and bioterrorism appear only inside the Commission's malicious-use-of-AI estimate.
\nAI harms may also be larger, and broader. Despite its name, the Commission's \"malicious use of AI\" covers three pathways: AI-designed bioweapons, failures of or attacks on AI-dependent infrastructure, and loss of control of advanced AI. But only two extreme outcomes are counted: catastrophe (at least 10% of humanity dies) and extinction, using forecasts made in 2022, before recent rapid gains in capability. Lesser but still huge potential harms, such as cyberattacks on health systems or mass economic disruption with a rise in inequality, are not counted. The authors concede that treating loss of control as amenable to policy may exaggerate their estimate. On balance, we think the omissions matter more.
\nNuclear war is a cascade, not a casualty count. Physical modelling by Xia et al (2022) suggests a large US\u2013Russia war could kill over 5 billion people through nuclear winter induced famine, assuming food trade stops. The Commission suggests resilient foods as a partial remedy. That could help survivors outside the attacked areas, but mitigation also has to cover trade, fuel, fertiliser, electricity and medicines. The nuclear figure counts deaths in forecasters' broad outcome categories, but none of the knock-on effects on other threats, so it too probably understates the harm. Some of these arguments also apply to the Commission's conventional conflict category \u2013 given how such conflict can cascade into multiple other problems (eg, disruptions to basic services in Ukraine and malnutrition in Gaza).
\nFamine barely counts as a health threat. The climate analysis includes heat stress deaths (its largest pathway), air pollution, floods, storms, malaria and dengue. Crop failure enters only indirectly. Drought, migration and famine are excluded, because \"famine is a sociopolitical phenomenon\". Famine is not a threat in its own right anywhere in the Report: childhood malnutrition is chronic undernutrition, and famine appears only after nuclear war.
\nYet famine is amenable to policy whatever its cause. Our new analysis of 38 major volcanic eruptions (preprint pending) reveals that famine rates have historically risen by about 60\u201370% after them, with more famine after bigger eruptions. Eruptions act together with weak reserves, inadequate relief efforts, conflict and trade restrictions, which are exactly what policy can change.
\nVolcanoes and the sun. The Commission dismisses supervolcanoes as too rare to mitigate. But Cassidy and Mani (2022) estimate a one-in-six chance of at least a Tambora-scale eruption this century, and the same resilient foods that would help after nuclear war would help after a volcanic winter. Severe solar storms are not mentioned at all.
\nBusiness-as-usual to 2100?
\nThe Commission's biggest assumption goes unstated: that the world carries on. Because \"plausible\" is defined by what countries have experienced since 1990, the method cannot produce a discontinuity. Growth, energy, trade and medicine supply all continue, and life expectancy rises every year to 2100.
\nThe seminal Limits to Growth (Meadows et al, 1972) suggested otherwise. Recent comparisons with real data by Herrington (2021) and Nebel et al (2023) found the world tracking its business-as-usual run, with a turning point around 2024\u20132030 and sharp declines in energy availability, material production and life expectancy.
\nThe Lancet's global population model (below right) peaks at about 9 billion mid-century and pulls back to 8 billion by 2100. The Limits to Growth model (below left) peaks today, and halves by 2100. Such scenarios and assumptions make a big difference to health priorities.
\n![\"\"](\"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/screenshot-2026-11-02-at-12.21.14-pm.png?w=1024\")
If resource limits, trade disruption or a major shock arrive in the next few decades, health priorities likely change dramatically. Medicine and vaccine supply chains, food security, primary care, infection control and local manufacturing all move up the priority list. Catastrophe preparedness pays dividends twice, buffering slower decline too.
\nThere is an additional argument we are sceptical of, for an AI-fuelled techno-utopia which inverses the limits to growth trajectories. This scenario would likewise reframe the Commission's model, in substantially different ways.
\nWhere the Commission meets the Global Catastrophic Risks and Effective Altruism worlds
\nComparing very different causes on an amendable health loss scale is not new. Health economists do it (eg, Pharmac, and New Zealand's BODE3 programme), and so does Effective Altruism (EA).
\nEA asks how to do the most good with limited resources, and its organisations (eg, GiveWell, Open Philanthropy and 80,000 Hours) rank causes on three factors:
\nEA's priorities are global health and development, animal welfare, and catastrophic risks. 80,000 Hours currently puts AI, engineered pandemics and great power conflict (including nuclear war) near the top.
\nThe Commission measures mainly importance. Its \"amenable\" gap is a rough proxy for tractability, but without costs. It uses neglectedness only informally: heart disease and some cancers were left off the list because they are already well funded.
\nWho is getting it off course? Probably both, in opposite directions.
\nThe two world views already overlap: the Commission's companion Review draws on population ethics and was part-funded by Open Philanthropy. Yet we could find no discussion of the Report on the EA Forum by 1 Nov 2026. We think practice communities such as EA and catastrophic-risk researchers should formally engage with it.
\nConclusions: how to read the Commission's Report
\nThe Commission's work is serious, ambitious and welcome. Our worry is that reports travel without their caveats. If it is read as \"obesity is a bigger threat than nuclear war\", it could pull attention away from the catastrophic risks that probably matter most in the coming decades.
\nThe Commission's work is an estimate of the health loss that policy could avert by 2100, in a world that carries on roughly as it has since 1990. It is grounded in data for chronic threats and in judgement for nuclear war and AI.
\nBut it is not a ranking of priorities across all these threats or a guide to the cost-effectiveness of threat reduction. Nor is it a measure of economic, social or harm to the biosphere, or of harm to future generations, and it does not test for collapse or cascades.
\nFuture Monitor reports could show the strength of knowledge behind each estimate, report catastrophes' probability and consequence separately from the other threats (like obesity), stress-test failures of trade and energy, and add monetised harm. There are real risk-science lessons here for everyone.
\n* The linked preprint is an old version that does not yet include the AI results, we can share the latest version with anyone interested.
\nLearn more about our work, or donate to support further analysis, at Islands for the Future of Humanity.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/ppmhc-vjq18","guid":"http://adaptresearchwriting.com/?p=8126","image":"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/image.png?w=936","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1793577600,"rid":"6ym63-31m59","summary":" By Matt Boyd & Nick Wilson TLDR/Summary A new Lancet Commission Report quantifies the amendable health loss from 17 threats according to potential prevention policy spanning 2025 to 2100. Obesity (with amenable health loss of 23.1 billion DALYs) beats nuclear war (9.35 billion), which ties with poor mental health. The authors say it is not a ranking, but it will be read as one.","title":"Not a ranking, but will be wrongly read as one: the Lancet Commission on 21st century threats to health underplays global catastrophic risks","updated_at":1793604614,"url":"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/2026/11/02/not-a-ranking-but-will-be-wrongly-read-as-one-the-lancet-commission-on-21st-century-threats-to-health-underplays-global-catastrophic-risks/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"The people who built my kitchen were idiots. They designed it to be lit with a dozen recessed GU10 spotlights. That's not so terrible - GU10 LED bulbs are only about \u00a31 each - but because I am a bigger idiot, I decided I wanted remote-controlled bulbs.
\n\nAnd ZigBee bulbs are expensive!
\n\nFive years ago, feeling flush with cash, I replaced all the bulbs with a mixture of Hue and Innr Smart bulbs. Last week, two of the bulbs died. No explosions or release of magic smoke - they just became unresponsive and I lack the skills to fix complex electronics.
\n\nSo I looked at some replacements. Hue bulbs are \u00a331 per pair - that's about 15x more expensive than buying a regular bulb. The cheaper Innr bulbs are about a tenner each. Still a bit much.
\n\nWhat about non-branded ZigBee lights? On eBay I found a single GU10 for \u00a38 and, if I was prepared to buy in bulk, \u00a360 for 10.
\n\nThat's getting better - but still a premium on a boring non-smart bulb.
\n\nSo I went looking for a Shenzhen special on AliExpress - and hit the jackpot!
\n\nThere, I found a ZigBee GU10 bulb for \u00a34! The price seems to fluctuate between \u00a33 and \u00a35 - but there are plenty of sellers with close-to-identical products priced less than a fiver.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/lampbox.jpg\")
\n\nThe bulb took a few days to arrive from China. I plugged it in, searched for it in the Hue app, and it was added. Less than a minute later I was able to bark \"Alexa! Turn on the kitchen lights!\" - it responded at the same time as all its brethren. It is also colour changeable - unlike the Hue and Innr models.
\n\nThe labelling says it is by eWeLink and, as expected, it has warm white and colour changing LEDs. Total power of 5 Watts.
\n\n![\"GU10](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/gu10.jpg\")
\n\nBut that's not all! AliExpress will quite often plunge price certain items to entice you to become a customer. I picked up another bulb for 77p! It was limited to one per customer - but that was good enough for me!
\n\nMy sub-quid bulb arrived and\u2026 Yeah, identical to the first. Plugged in, paired quickly, turned into a disco bulb with a couple of taps. Oh, and because shipping on the 2nd bulb was delayed, I got a \u00a31 voucher. So, I guess, technically it was free? So I bought another.
\n\nHere's what they look like in situ:
\n\n![\"3](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/RGB-Lights.jpg\")
\n\nThey do a range of RGB colours - and will also do white at a variety of shades. They dim. They react quickly. They're cheap.
\n\nWill these bulbs last as long as the others? Considering the price, I'm not sure I care! If you buy from a UK store on eBay, there's probably slightly more chance of recompense if things do go wrong. But if you're happy to wait for delivery from China - those cheap AliExpress bulbs are probably fine.
\n\nSo, there you go. For a couple of quid, you can get a generic colour-changing ZigBee light which is compatible with Philips Hue.
\n\nOur kitchen is big. The lightswitches are far away. Also, I don't want them covered with cake-batter when I'm cooking.
\n\nMost UK homes don't have a neutral wire to the switch. That makes it hard to use smart-switches. The ones which work without neutral don't work with dimmable bulbs.
\n\nEven a regular bulb would have been shipped from far away.
\n\nYes it is. ZigBee bulbs don't have a way to \"phone home\" and are relatively resistant to being hacked.
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=53295&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/tft3w-fa411","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=53295","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/RGB-Lights.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1729900800,"rid":"c8qq4-3qw65","summary":"The people who built my kitchen were idiots. They designed it to be lit with a dozen recessed GU10 spotlights. That's not so terrible - GU10 LED bulbs are only about \u00a31 each - but because I am a bigger idiot, I decided I wanted remote-controlled bulbs. And ZigBee bulbs are expensive! Five years ago, feeling flush with cash, I replaced all the bulbs with a mixture of Hue and Innr Smart bulbs.","tags":["/etc/","IoT","Smart Home","Zigbee"],"title":"Adventures with ultra-cheap ZigBee lightbulbs","updated_at":1793566159,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/10/adventures-with-ultra-cheap-zigbee-lightbulbs/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"I have a lovely, and reasonably priced, Mini Panda Rice Cooker. It does not have any SmartHome features. You put in water and rice, press a button, it cooks rice. Nice!
\n\nThe only problem is - I don't know how long the rice will take to cook. It uses \"Fuzzy Logic\" to work out exactly how much heat and time is needed for perfect fluffy rice. This is inconvenient. I cannot always hear the beep the machine makes when it completes its culinary wizardry.
\n\nSo let's hook it up to the Internet of Things!!!
\n\nStep 1 - Get an Energy Monitoring Smart Plug. These are now relatively cheap and reliable. As the cooker is cooking, it reports back its energy use. But where does it report to? You can use the associated app, but that doesn't have an alert to say when something has stopped drawing power.
\n\nStep 2 - Install Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi. HA is a nifty bit of software which gives you complete control of your SmartHome. It integrates with all the various makes and models of devices you have controlling your lights, TV, plugs, smoke alarms, and other gadgets. It comes with a companion app which runs on your phone.
\n\nStep 3 - After spending a few weeks configuring everything, getting frustrated, wiping everything, starting again, and then getting it right this time - you're ready to add some automation! I used Leo Fabri's Appliance Status Monitor. You tell it which plug you want to monitor, what power level to detect as \"on\", what power level to detect as \"off\", and how long it should be off before sending you an alert.
\n\nThe user interface is... intimidating.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ui-fs8.png\")
\n\nIt is necessarily complex. But this definitely isn't for the casual user!
\n\nStep 4 - Test with users. My rice cooker dips in power a few times through its cooking cycle - which sent my wife scurrying to the kitchen expecting to be fed. After which, I eventually worked out that I needed to tell the monitor to wait for the power to have dropped for at least 60 seconds before sending an alert.
\n\nStep 5 - It works!
\n\n![\"Android](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/rice.jpg\")
\n\nOne minute after the end of the cooking cycle, I receive an alert on my phone. I can now go and eat. Lovely!
\n\nI like playing with gadgets - so yes.
\n\nI also don't want to eat over-cooked curry, or under-done rice - so also yes.
\n\nI am lazy and don't want to get off my arse every five minutes to check the cooker - so again yes.
\n\nI don't want my rice-cooker sending all my rice-cooking habits back to the manufacturer - so even more yes.
\n\nThis is a fun project for adding a minimal amount of smart-alerting to your existing appliances.
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=49918&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/yzg4h-tzt37","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49918","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/rice.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1711411200,"rid":"ncjp6-6sm87","summary":"I have a lovely, and reasonably priced, Mini Panda Rice Cooker. It does not have any SmartHome features. You put in water and rice, press a button, it cooks rice. Nice! The only problem is - I don't know how long the rice will take to cook. It uses \"Fuzzy Logic\" to work out exactly how much heat and time is needed for perfect fluffy rice. This is inconvenient.","tags":["/etc/","HomeAssistant","IoT","Smart Home"],"title":"Receive push notifications from your rice cooker","updated_at":1793566158,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/receive-push-notifications-from-your-rice-cooker/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"Matter is coming to fix all your smarthome woes! A single IoT standard, working across multiple radio protocols, bringing together different products from many different manufacturers.
\n\nAnd\u2026 it works!
\n\nMostly
\n\nThese are the Meross 315 Smart Plugs. They are small(ish), cheap(ish), and easy(ish) to use.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Plugs-in-box.jpg\")
\n\nAs soon as I plugged them in, before even configuring them, my home went crazy. I got a pop-up on my phone asking if I wanted to control them with Google Home.
\n\n![\"Screenshot](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Google-Home-fs8.png\")
\n\nNope!
\n\nI then immediately got an email from Amazon saying our Echo had detected the device and perhaps I wanted to use that to control the plugs?
\n\n![\"Email](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Echo-fs8.png\")
\n\nAlso nope!
\n\nI wanted to add the plugs using the Meross app. Not because it is particularly good (it's basically fine) - but because of a couple of limitations in Matter. Here's a page from the plugs' manual.
\n\n![\"You](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Meross-notes.jpg\")
\n\nAt the moment, Matter doesn't support firmware updates. That's probably fair. You don't want some random app bricking your device - so it is restricted to the manufacturer's app.
\n\nBut Matter also doesn't support energy monitoring. I understand it's early days for the protocol, but that's a bit annoying.
\n\nLuckily, HomeAssistant came to the rescue! Because the Meross API is well documented, my local SmartHome Pi was able to get a realtime view of how much power was flowing through the plug.
\n\nThe power toggle - and activity LED - is on the left side of the plug. That makes it a little awkward to press and obscures the view of the LED. I guess putting it on top would make it too easy to accidentally activate?
\n\n![\"Two](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Plugs-in-situ.jpg\")
\n\nThe energy monitoring doesn't seem to update in realtime in the app.
\n\nI renamed the plug in the Android app, but that name doesn't seem to be exposed in Matter. Nor was it picked up by HomeAssistant.
\n\nIn order to connect the device to WiFi, your phone needs to be on that specific WiFi network. Because the devices only support 2.4GHz, I needed to swap SSIDs on my phone. But, on the plus side, I didn't have to manually enter any passwords.
\n\nBut these are all fairly minor complaints.
\n\nFor about \u00a332 for a two-pack (depending on whether the algorithm favours you) these are pretty good value for money. They were easy to set up, quick to get working in other apps, and had a firmware update waiting for me.
\n\n![\"Screenshot](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Firmware-Update-fs8.png\")
\n\nI got some Meross plugs about 6 years ago and they've kept trucking all that time - so I'm pretty confident these will last. And, even if Meross disappears, Matter means that another app can easily control them.
\n\nHere's the plan. I'm going to plug this into my Tumble Dryer and tell HomeAssistant to monitor its energy usage and send me a message when the drying is done.
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=49713&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/hqbhp-gxa35","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49713","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Plugs-in-situ.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1708819200,"rid":"k2ecw-cjb45","summary":"Matter is coming to fix all your smarthome woes! A single IoT standard, working across multiple radio protocols, bringing together different products from many different manufacturers. And\u2026 it works! Mostly These are the Meross 315 Smart Plugs. They are small(ish), cheap(ish), and easy(ish) to use. As soon as I plugged them in, before even configuring them, my home went crazy.","tags":["/etc/","HomeAssistant","IoT","Meross","Smart Home"],"title":"Review: Matter-enabled Energy Monitoring Smart Plugs - Meross 315","updated_at":1793566156,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/review-matter-enabled-energy-monitoring-smart-plugs-meross-315/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"I don't know why hardware manufacturers find it so hard to write decent documentation. As I've said before you need to actually test your readme. The Una Watch development instructions are scattered across a bunch of different files.
\n\nSo here's how to go from zero to your first \"Hello, World!\" Glance app with the minimum of fuss.
\n\nThis all assumes a fairly modern Debian / Ubuntu / Pop OS Linux.
\n\nThis installs most of the tools you will need:
\n\nsudo apt update\nsudo apt install -y git python3 python3-pip cmake build-essential\nVisit https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stm32cubeclt.html and download the Linux version of the tool. Inexplicably, you need to give your email address. I recommend giving a disposable one from https://10minutemail.com/
\n\nAfter downloading, unzip the file.
\n\nOn the command line, cd into the directory containing the unzipped file.
chmod +x stm32cubeclt_*.sh\nsudo ./stm32cubeclt_*.sh\nYou will need to agree to their licence. Just hit y.
That installs everything in /opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/
You will need to make that available to your PATH.
\n\nexport PATH=\"/opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/GNU-tools-for-STM32/bin:$PATH\"\nYou will need to copy the Una SDK. I keep my git repos in ~/git/ - you will need the location of the directory later.
cd ~/git/\ngit clone git@github.com:UNAWatch/una-sdk.git\ncd una-sdk/\ngit submodule update --init ThirdParty/lvgl\nThen update all the Python dependencies.
\n\nexport UNA_SDK=\"$PWD\"\npython3 -m pip install --upgrade pip\npython3 -m pip install -r \"$UNA_SDK/Utilities/Scripts/app_packer/requirements.txt\"\nPaste this into your terminal. Check for any errors.
\n\nwhich arm-none-eabi-gcc || true\nwhich cmake || true\nwhich make || true\nwhich python3 || true\npython3 -m pip --version\narm-none-eabi-gcc --version || true\ncmake --version || true\nmake --version || true\nIf all of the above has worked, you should be able to build the demo app with:
\n\ncd /tmp\nmkdir -p MyAlarm\ncp -r \"$UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/Alarm/\"* MyAlarm\nmkdir -p MyAlarm/build\ncmake -G \"Unix Makefiles\" -S MyAlarm/Software/Apps/Alarm-CMake -B MyAlarm/build\ncmake --build MyAlarm/build\nStore the paths permanently. If you put cloned the Una SDK to somewhere other than ~/git/ you'll need to edit this next bit of code:
echo 'export UNA_SDK=\"$HOME/git/una-sdk\"' >> ~/.bashrc\necho 'export PATH=\"/opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/GNU-tools-for-STM32/bin:$PATH\"' >> ~/.bashrc\nsource ~/.bashrc\nAt the moment, the only way to build a GUI app is using the Windows only (Booooo!) TouchGFX0. So, instead, we'll make a \"Hello World\" glance. All it will do is draw some text.
\n\nThe GlanceFloors demo app is the simplest one to copy.
cd $UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/\ncp -r GlanceFloors/ GlanceHello\nUse an IDE or a text editor to open up the new GlanceHello directory.
\n\nGlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceFloors-CMake/ to GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceHello-CMake/GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceFloors-CMake/CMakeLists.txt - specifically the # App configuration section.APP_NAME to GlanceHelloAPP_USER_NAME to HelloFor a demo, you can leave the DEV_ID and APP_ID as their default values.
You will need to edit two more files.
\n\nIn GlanceHello/Software/Libs/Header/Service.hpp remove the following lines:
SDK::Sensor::Connection mSensorFloors;\nuint32_t mFloorsValue;\nbool mDataReceived;\nThen save the file.
\n\nEdit GlanceHello/Software/Libs/Source/Service.cpp and replace its entire contents with this:
#include \"Service.hpp\"\n#include \"SDK/Messages/CommandMessages.hpp\"\n#include \"SDK/Messages/MessageGuard.hpp\"\n\nService::Service(SDK::Kernel &kernel)\n : mKernel(kernel)\n , mGlanceUI()\n , mGlanceTitle()\n , mGlanceValue()\n{}\n\nService::~Service(){}\n\nvoid Service::run()\n{\n while (true) {\n SDK::MessageBase *msg;\n if(!mKernel.comm.getMessage(msg)) {\n continue;\n }\n\n switch (msg->getType()) {\n\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_START:\n if (configGui()) {\n createGuiControls();\n } else {\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n mKernel.sys.exit(0);\n }\n break;\n\n case SDK::MessageType::COMMAND_APP_STOP:\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_STOP:\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n return;\n break;\n\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_TICK:\n onGlanceTick();\n break;\n\n default:\n break;\n }\n\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n }\n}\n\nvoid Service::onGlanceTick()\n{\n if (mGlanceUI.isInvalid()) {\n if (auto upd = SDK::make_msg<SDK::Message::RequestGlanceUpdate>(mKernel)) {\n upd->name = APP_NAME;\n upd->controls = mGlanceUI.data();\n upd->controlsNumber = static_cast<uint32_t>(mGlanceUI.size());\n upd.send(100);\n }\n\n mGlanceUI.setValid();\n}\n}\n\nbool Service::configGui()\n{\n bool status = false;\n if (auto gc = SDK::make_msg<SDK::Message::RequestGlanceConfig>(mKernel)) {\n if (gc.send(100) && gc.ok()) {\n if (gc->maxControls >= 3) {\n mGlanceUI.setWidth(gc->width);\n mGlanceUI.setHeight(gc->height);\n status = true;\n }\n }\n }\n return status;\n}\n\nvoid Service::createGuiControls()\n{\n mGlanceTitle = mGlanceUI.createText();\n mGlanceTitle.pos({ kTitleX, kTitleY }, { kTitleW, kTitleH })\n .font(GlanceFont_t::GLANCE_FONT_POPPINS_SEMIBOLD_20)\n .color(GlanceColor_t::GLANCE_COLOR_TEAL)\n .setText(\"Hello, World!\")\n .alignment(GlanceAlignH_t::GLANCE_ALIGN_H_CENTER);\n mGlanceValue = mGlanceUI.createText();\n mGlanceValue.pos({ 0, kValueY }, { 200, kValueH })\n .font(GlanceFont_t::GLANCE_FONT_POPPINS_SEMIBOLD_20)\n .color(GlanceColor_t::GLANCE_COLOR_WHITE)\n .setText(\"I know C++\")\n .alignment(GlanceAlignH_t::GLANCE_ALIGN_H_CENTER);\n}\nSave the file.
\n\nOn the command line
\n\ncd $UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceHello-CMake\ncmake -G \"Unix Makefiles\" -S . -B build\ncmake --build build\nIt should finish with a success message of [100%] Built target GlanceHelloApp
Apps directory.APP_ID which is set in CMakeLists.txtGlanceHello/Output/ and will be called Hello_1.5.0-rc5.uapp or similar..uapp file from your computer to the directory you just created on the watch.If it has worked, you should see something like this:
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/cpp.webp\")
\n\nHurrah! Treat yourself to a beer \ud83c\udf7b
\n\nJust after I wrote this, the SDK was updated to allow LVGL which should work on Linux. There's no documentation for it yet that I could find. \u21a9\ufe0e
\n![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=76095&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/0std8-hz104","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76095","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/cpp.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1791244800,"rid":"vrwx5-w7v30","summary":"I don't know why hardware manufacturers find it so hard to write decent documentation. As I've said before you need to actually test your readme. The Una Watch development instructions are scattered across a bunch of different files. So here's how to go from zero to your first \"Hello, World!\" Glance app with the minimum of fuss. This all assumes a fairly modern Debian / Ubuntu / Pop OS Linux.","tags":["/etc/","C++","HowTo","Programming","UnaWatch"],"title":"Una Watch - SDK and Writing Your First App","updated_at":1793553831,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/una-watch-sdk-and-writing-your-first-app/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"![\"Book](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/are-you-really-the-doctor.avif\")
\n\nA few months ago, I went to see Dr Hutchinson record his stand-up comedy special for the BBC - it's about his experiences working in the NHS as a Black doctor. As the title of the book implies, some of the public can be a mite suspicious that anyone with even a hint of melanin can rise beyond being a porter or, at a push, a nurse.
\n\nMuch like Adam Kay's \"This Is Going To Hurt\", this is part biography, part rant about the NHS, and part humorous look at what it takes to be a modern doctor. Hutchinson's book has rather less gallows humour and rather more racism.
\n\nThe problems of racial inequality in the NHS aren't just focussed on patients; they're also reflected in the way staff are treated. Rather than just recounting all the abuse he's been subject to, the book takes a good look at the actual statistics. Of course, this makes for slightly grim reading at times, so the frequent injections of humour are most welcome.
\n\nThe UK quite often seems in the shadow of larger cultures. As the book points out:
\n\n\n\nThis same issue is understudied in the UK \u2013 to the point where the absence of research is glaring. While we are clearly not just a little America, we aren't so different that we can be confident we're not replicating the same here.
Because of that, at times the book does feel a little bit like the \"we have [racism] at home\" meme.
\n\nThere's an almost relentlessly cheery irreverence to some of the issues - but what else can you do? Sometimes it takes a good dose of comedy to cut through the bleakness. There's a slight streak of ageism within the book - especially when it comes to older doctors trying to use new technology. Although, to be fair, that was also my experience when working at NHSX. There are some people within the system who are desperate for it to remain preserved in aspic as even minor improvements are a threat to their position in the hierarchy.
\n\nA minor grumble, the problem I have with books like this - and with The Secret Barrister - is that a lot of the moaning about how hard it is to become a professional doctor / lawyer just generates a giant shrug from me. Every piece of medical media in the last 50 years talks about how bone-crunchingly hard it is. All I can think of is \"none of this should be coming as a surprise to you!\" Should it be easier (and less sleep depriving) to be a doctor? Sure! But given it isn't, perhaps dial down on the clich\u00e9s of how uniquely awful your chosen career is.
\n\nThe book isn't just a list of complaints, of course, everything is backed up with statistics (although unreferenced). Thankfully, the book ends with some practical suggestions of how the NHS can improve. It would certainly be interesting to read a version of this from 2046 to see how much has changed - given the improvements already bearing fruit, I'd hope that the UK health service would become much less racist over time.
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=76754&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/bc4fr-qcx14","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76754","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/are-you-really-the-doctor.avif","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792195200,"rid":"mnchs-wqn69","summary":"A few months ago, I went to see Dr Hutchinson record his stand-up comedy special for the BBC - it's about his experiences working in the NHS as a Black doctor. As the title of the book implies, some of the public can be a mite suspicious that anyone with even a hint of melanin can rise beyond being a porter or, at a push, a nurse.","tags":["/etc/","Book Review","NHS","Racism"],"title":"Book Review: Are You *Really* The Doctor? by Matthew Hutchinson","updated_at":1793553825,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/book-review-are-you-really-the-doctor-by-matthew-hutchinson/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"The good folks at Mokin have sent me their new USB-C hub and it is a beast.
\n\n![\"Photo](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/product-shot.webp\")
\n\nThis is the MODK2403 - the latest in their line of high-tech USB-C docks. It does close to everything you could want and has an LCD monitor for showing the weather.
\n\nErrr\u2026 What?
\n\nOK, a quick product shots, then on to the specs.
\n\n![\"All](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/All-the-ports.webp\")
\n\nOn to the ports:
\n\nYup! At the bottom of the tower is a silicone surround which allows it to firmly plant on any flat surface. It's strong enough to take any gentle nudges without toppling over, but easy enough to lift off if you need to move the unit.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/suction.webp\")
\n\nIt is slightly cheeky to describe this as 17 ports. The two DisplayPorts are tied to the HDMI ports - so you can only have 3 screens active at a time, not five. But as each screen can do 4K @ 60Hz, I'll let it slide.
\n\nThere's a black and white screen included which can show you a bunch of information. Tap the power-button on top to cycle between them.
\n\nWhich ports are connected:
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Whats-plugged-in.webp\")
\n\nScreen resolution of attached devices:\n![\"Screen](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Displayinfo.webp\")
Total power draw:\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/what-watts.webp\")
WiFi set up:\n![\"WiFi](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WiFi-Info.webp\")
Wait? What! If you connect to the hub's WiFi, you get this set-up screen.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WiFi-setup.webp\")
\n\nOnce it is connected, it'll show you the weather in your area:
\n\n![\"Weather](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Weather-no-location.webp\")
\n\nI'm not entirely convinced about whether that's useful. Although you can change the units from \u2109 to \u2103, and show or hide your area, there's no other customisation available. No 24 hour clock, no date formatting, nothing. There's also no privacy policy or indication of which weather provider it is connecting to.
\n\nThe screen switches off after a few minutes - so it isn't a constant distraction. Tapping the top button turns it on again.
\n\nDouble-pressing the power-button switches the external monitors off. Which is useful for privacy I guess?
\n\nWorked perfectly with my Linux laptop. I drove two external screens via DisplayPort, a bunch of USB peripherals, Ethernet, etc.
\n\nA full read-out gives:
\n\n0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter\n0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub\n2109:0822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.1 Hub\n2109:8822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB Billboard Device\n0020:0b21 Generic AB13X USB Audio\n0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device\n0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub\n1a86:8095 QinHeng Electronics USB Hub\n303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit\n2109:2822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub\nI have 1Gbps broadband, and I was able to get 850Mbps through the Mokin's Ethernet port. That's pretty much what I'd expect.
\n\nCopying files via USB-C to a Pixel phone topped out at about 200MBps, which was a little underwhelming, but fast enough for my needs. I tried a variety of cables, including the bundled one.
\n\nThe AB13X USB Audio presents as both analogue and S/PDIF. There was no meaningful difference between the two in terms of sound quality. There was minimal hum on output when nothing was being played.
\n\nI'm slightly uneasy about the built-in WiFi connection this hub offers. It is primarily used for showing the weather on screen, but it can also be used to upload new firmware.
\n\nWorryingly, it has a weak default password set - mokin123. I think that might be against the law. The password can be changed by the user - but I wonder how many people will bother?
When I mentioned this to Mokin, they replied:
\n\n\n\nAfter the initial password is set, the user can change the password themselves rather than continuing to use a fixed default password.
I don't think that's good enough to protect users.
\n\nSimilarly, the SSID can be hidden and is randomised, but I wonder if that's suitable defence against a determined hacker?
\n\nI'm glad that the unit doesn't hijack the Ethernet connection - but who knows what a future firmware update might do.
\n\nThere's also a 303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit exposed on the hub. I tried connecting to it with esptool and the hub crashed! I had to pull out the power to get it to restart. I'm not smart enough to probe it further, but I can't help wondering why it is there.
Finally, there's a mysterious 0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device. I thought that was used for blanking the external screens when the power-button is double-pressed, but that didn't register on evtest. So what is it for? I don't like the idea of a random Human Interface Device (usually a keyboard or mouse) being attached to my computer.
I spoke to Mokin about it and they said:
\n\n\n\nour technical manager confirmed that these two entries are reserved for future firmware updates.
Personally, I would expect these to be disabled if they aren't going to be used.
\n\nWith any device which connects to the Internet, you have to be concerned about what data it is collecting, storing, and transmitting. I asked Mokin if they had a privacy policy related to their weather service. They said:
\n\n\n\nThere is no need to worry about your personal or location information being uploaded or stored remotely. The relevant user information is stored locally on the device.
\n\nThe weather/location information is provided through Google services, and no personal information is uploaded or stored by us. Therefore, there should be no privacy or data security concern from our side.
I don't find that terribly convincing. At the very least they should tell users who their weather provider is and what their privacy says. I assume that the device is doing a GeoIP lookup before sending the request to Google - again, that should be explained to users.
\n\nI've no evidence that the hub is collecting data about what is attached and then sending it off somewhere - but without a privacy policy from Mokin, who can say?
\n\nThe suction cup at the bottom is only lightly glued on and peeled off easily. Underneath are four screws.
\n\n![\"Four](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Bottom-Screws.webp\")
\n\nThe base removes easily, exposing the three circuit boards.
\n\n![\"Two](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Internal-guts.webp\")
\n\nHere's a close up:
\n\n![\"Close](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/guts.webp\")
\n\nI couldn't easily get them out, and the front plastic was held on securely. I'm sure it would be possible to snap off, but I didn't want to damage it.
\n\nIt's usually about \u00a390 from the manufacturer or around \u00a370 from Amazon.
\n\nYou can get a basic hub for less than half that price - but what you're paying for here having all the ports. It's an attractive package, well designed, quiet, and unobtrusive.
\n\nThe screen is moderately useful - being able to see which ports are in use was handy, as was seeing the total power draw. The screen debugging was also handy. I'm not that interested in the weather, but I can see how it would be helpful as a single-use screen.
\n\nI have significant concerns about the always-on WiFi, especially given its easy to guess password. I've contacted the manufacturer to see if anything can be done about that but they don't seem interested in fixing it. The lack of privacy policy is also worrying.
\n\nSimilarly, the HID and JTAG are also something I wouldn't expect to see on a hub like this. Ideally they should be disabled if not in use.
\n\nIn terms of ports and performance, this can't be beat. But I would be reluctant to connect it to my home WiFi network.
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=76136&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/zzzk5-wp539","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76136","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/product-shot.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792627200,"rid":"qtmx4-ja332","summary":"The good folks at Mokin have sent me their new USB-C hub and it is a beast. This is the MODK2403 - the latest in their line of high-tech USB-C docks. It does close to everything you could want and has an LCD monitor for showing the weather. Errr\u2026 What? OK, a quick product shots, then on to the specs.","tags":["/etc/","Gadget","Mokin","Review","USB-C"],"title":"Gadget Review: Mokin 17 Port USB-C Tower","updated_at":1793553821,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/gadget-review-mokin-17-port-usb-c-tower/","version":"v1"}},{"document":{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"A few days ago I booked a Novotel hotel on Booking.com - two days later I received these phishing messages via WhatsApp. Both knew my exact name, phone number, location of stay, and date of stay.
\n\nLuckily, both were fairly inept. Let's take a quick look at them.
\n\nThe first came from a Portuguese business account.
\n\n![\"Spam](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Spam1.webp\")
\n\nObviously the name doesn't match that of the large chain hotel I booked with. The domain name doesn't look anything like what I'd expect from either Booking.com or Novotel. They note this isn't an emergency - presumably to bypass the warnings that you shouldn't act on any message trying to convey a sense of urgency. The \"Cancel\" button on the bottom makes this look more genuine though.
\n\nThe second one is slightly different.
\n\n![\"A](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Spam2.webp\")
\n\nThis is from a much more generic business account, albeit a UK-based one. The date is formatted differently. There's no cancel button. But the wording is identical.
\n\nSo are these both from the same scammer?
\n\nThe domains were both registered on the same day - the 21st of October - within hours of each other. They're both protected by CloudFlare, but were registered at two different registrars - one Chinese and one Japanese. Lots of scammers use CloudFlare (who seem to relish in being the protectors of all sorts of unsavoury characters). A smart scammer would register their domains on multiple registrars to avoid all of them getting banned at once. So that's a bit inconclusive.
\n\nLooking at the source code for the pages, they appear to be identical.
\n\nThat means one of two things:
\n\nBut how did my data leak in the first place?
\n\nThe first place to look, as always, is within. My Booking.com account uses a strong and unique password. It has a unique email address tied to it. I have MFA via an authenticator app. I regularly use the \"Sign out of other sessions\" options in the Booking.com app.
\n\nMy email is similarly secure. And, frankly, if scammers were in there then they could do a lot more damage than sending me a phishing link!
\n\nThat leaves either Booking.com, Novotel, or one of their systems.
\n\nIt's fair to say this is a persistent problem with Booking.com - they were breached in 2023 and these sorts of phishing attacks happen regularly.
\n\nAlthough I couldn't find any record of Accor (the owners of Novotel) being breached, it's fair to say other hotels suffer from this problem. It seems depressingly easy to con or bribe a worker into allowing scammers access into a booking system.
\n\nThis sort of \"reservation hijacking\" is now depressingly common.
\n\nThere's a slight twist in the tale. A few moments after I made the original reservation, I received this message directly from the hotel via the Booking.com messaging system:
\n\n![\"Dear](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Property-Message.webp\")
\n\nI can only assume that Novotel are aware of the persistent problem they're facing and this is their attempt to deflect blame.
\n\nSo I called the hotel (using the number on their website) and they confirmed my reservation. When I mentioned the phishing messages the hotel were very quick to tell me they were a scam, that I shouldn't click any links, and to delete them right away. I did ask if they'd suffered a data breach but, understandably, they don't tell receptionists that.
\n\nI've reported the problem to both Accor and Booking.com - we'll see who comes up with the most convincing explanation.
\n\nAs it happens, a few days ago, the European Commission announced it was investigating Booking.com:
\n\n\n\nThe Commission will also investigate whether the provider of Booking.com has diligently assessed and addressed the risks that phishing scams pose to consumers.
\n\nIn particular, the investigation will focus on risks related to the way reservation and guest data is shared with accommodation providers, and the design and functioning of Booking.com's messaging service.
\n\nThe Commission will also examine whether the company has put in place sufficient safeguards to prevent data from being misused to carry out phishing and solicit fraudulent payments.
Stay safe out there!
![](\"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/themes/edent-wordpress-theme/info/okgo.php?ID=76842&HTTP_REFERER=DOI\"){kind=small}
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/hm65z-rvt46","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76842","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Property-Message.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792713600,"rid":"cz4m2-7tp97","summary":"A few days ago I booked a Novotel hotel on Booking.com - two days later I received these phishing messages via WhatsApp. Both knew my exact name, phone number, location of stay, and date of stay. Luckily, both were fairly inept. Let's take a quick look at them. The first came from a Portuguese business account. Obviously the name doesn't match that of the large chain hotel I booked with.","tags":["/etc/","CyberSecurity","Phishing","Scam","Spam"],"title":"More phishing messages via Booking.com and Novotel","updated_at":1793553813,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/more-phishing-messages-via-booking-com-and-novotel/","version":"v1"}}],"items":[{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"Twelve years ago, I was complaining that IoT devices were too expensive. Last week I bought a colour changing Zigbee lighbulb for \u00a34. Not a typo - less than a fiver.
\n\nWhile the aipocalypse is devouring RAM with its insatiable appetite, Moore's Law appears to be keeping up its end of the bargain when it comes to domestic gadgetry.
\n\nThis blog posts compares today's prices with those from a little over a decade ago. Some of the changes are startling, others less so. I'm basing the prices on what a customer can easily get today from Amazon. Yes, AliExpress is cheaper - but delivery takes and age and returns are a faff. Also, I get delicious affiliate revenue when you click the links which allows me to buy more tech crap to review. Everyone's a winner!
\n\n\n\nI don't know how many doors and windows you have in your property - we have about fifteen, not including internal doors and cupboards. Back then a single sensor cost around \u00a330. Today you can get Zigbee door sensors for between \u00a315 - \u00a330 for a pack of four!
\n\nPrices are at least quartered. Do you need a sensor on every cupboard door or drawer? It is useful to be able to check your phone to see if the toilet seat is up or down? These are reaching the price where you might as well hook them up to anything.
\n\nHue's WiFi lightbulbs were about fifty-quid each. Again, count the number of lights you need in your home and run to your bank-manager for an overdraft!
\n\nToday, Hue Bulbs are about \u00a316 each. That's a pretty steep drop. If you want generic Zigbee Bulbs you can expect to pay a tenner each. That's down to a fifth of the price from 2014. If you're happy buying from AliExpress, they're usually under a fiver.
\n\nIt's useful to be able to remotely control a power socket. It used to be the case they'd cost \u00a330 per plug. Nowadays smart plugs are about \u00a37.50. These ones come with energy monitoring and will easily integrate with HomeAssistant and other smarthome controllers.
\n\nThere's still a limit to the things which can be directly controlled from a socket. That said, I'm love my IoT Electric Blanket.
\n\nThe dream is to have a magic tag stuck on everything you might lose. Back in 2014, we thought iBeacons / Eddystones would win out. Sadly that dream died and instead we're stuck with proprietary \"Find My\" networks from Google and Apple.
\n\nThe iBeacons were about a tenner each back then. Today they're \u00a35 - \u00a310 each depending on the features you want. That's still not cheap enough to attach to every sock - but there's no excuse for losing your keys, wallet, bag, or spouse again.
\n\nAnnoyingly they don't use an open standard, so you'll need a Google or Apple account to use them.
\n\nI still prefer QR codes (free!) to NFC, but I concede they do have their uses. Their capacity and features are much the same as they were a decade ago, but prices have dropped from about 75p per tag down to about 10p-20p per tag.
\n\nAt that price, it's just about cheap enough to stick them in every book you own or sew them into all your underpants. Quite why you'd want to do that is left as an exercise for the reader.
\n\nYou know what, I didn't bother looking at the actual cost of an Internet Fridge all those years ago. But earlier this year I got a WiFi enabled tumble dryer. It was as cheap as all the other models and means I can shout \"ALEXA! MAKE DRY!\" then receive a notification from HomeAssistant when the dry is fully maked.
\n\nI hope my next fridge comes with a sensor that alerts me if the door is left open or the freezer is getting too warm. That would be handy.
\n\nThe cost of an ESP32 is basically a rounding error for most large appliances, especially when bought in bulk. If it uses electricity, it is probably trivial to add WiFi and Bluetooth.
\n\nThere's probably a realistic limit to how low prices can go while the products still remain safe and durable. For smaller items that appears to be between a fiver in bulk direct from China to about a tenner sourced from a mainstream UK supplier.
\n\nFor domestic appliances, there doesn't seem to be any significant extra cost. Take a look at these heat pump tumble dryers - even the cheapest of them comes with an app.
\n\nThere are a few bits of my home which haven't yet been given their own IP address - although they're mostly towards the mechanical side of things.
\n\nLiterally no one is forcing you. If you don't want your TV to spy on you, it'll work just fine if you don't connect it to your WiFi.
\n\nIf you like getting out of bed to make sure you switched off the downstairs lights, that option is still available to you.
\n\nThere's no law which says you have to connect your solar panels to the web - but I like seeing exciting graphs each day.
\n\nI cannot pre-heat my smart toilet seat, nor can I change the bidet's water pressure from my phone. That's probably a good thing?
\n\nBut I like gadgets! Sure, some of them are crappy - but I find it fun to get them working with HomeAssistant. Might they get hacked and send all my data to Arstotzka? Meh, they're all on a separate LAN and are connected to things which are unlikely to burn down my house. Might I wake up one day and find that the machine has stopped and my ability to draw my own curtains has atrophied? That's a chance I'm willing to take.
\n\nThe practical advantage I get from being about to check my security cameras on my phone from the other side of the planet is worth the theoretical risks.
\n\nI wonder what other domestic gadgetry will fall prey to the irresistible lure of cheap connectivity?
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/z4738-xwq92","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=75776","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Wifi-pod-with-two-ethernet-ports.jpeg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1791936000,"rid":"zb3t9-zqm53","summary":"Twelve years ago, I was complaining that IoT devices were too expensive. Last week I bought a colour changing Zigbee lighbulb for \u00a34. Not a typo - less than a fiver. While the aipocalypse is devouring RAM with its insatiable appetite, Moore's Law appears to be keeping up its end of the bargain when it comes to domestic gadgetry.","tags":["/etc/","Gadget","Internet Of Things","IoT","Smart Home"],"title":"The Internet of Very Cheap Things","updated_at":1793604639,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/the-internet-of-very-cheap-things/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"affiliation":[{"id":"https://ror.org/0153tk833","name":"University of Virginia"}],"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Turner","given":"Stephen","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-9028"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Stephen D. Turner","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-9028"}],"community_id":"382941a7-2ffa-41df-8bbb-5f772188517f","created":1780876800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"A practicing data scientist's take on AI, genomics, biosecurity, and the ways AI is reshaping how science gets done. Weekly updates from the field. Occasional notes on programming.","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/stephenturner","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/382941a7-2ffa-41df-8bbb-5f772188517f/logo","feed_format":"application/rss+xml","feed_url":"https://blog.stephenturner.us/feed","filter":null,"generator":"Substack","home_page_url":"https://blog.stephenturner.us","issn":null,"language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"stephenturner","status":"active","subfield":"1311","title":"Paired Ends","updated":1793545473,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Paired Ends","blog_slug":"stephenturner","content_html":"Anthropic published a paper and a blog post a few days ago. Seems like every tech podcast I listen to talked about this paper this week (Hard Fork, Machine Gods, others). In the extra hour we got here in the US falling back to standard time1 I got a chance to read over the paper and accompanying blog.
Blog post: How AI agents shape experts' judgment calls
Paper: Who's Aligned to Whom? How AI Agents Shape Experts' Research Judgment Calls
Top line result: Professional analysts followed an AI agent's randomly assigned preferences on almost all of the analytical decisions they made. Later, about half of the surveyed analysts rated the final recommendation as more their own ideas than those of the AI.
They asked 50 analysts to use Claude Code to evaluate an advisory program for a fictional farming cooperative. The different analytical choices all involved reasonable alternatives, things like measuring crop yield per hectare or yield per dollar spent. They used random draws to decide which options the agent would favor, and they did this without telling participants.
When the participants wrote up their explanations, over 3/4 repeated the agent's arguments, and in some cases essentially word for word. Only 15% mentioned the AI in any explanation.
This suggests that asking people how much they relied on AI doesn't really give us a complete picture of how much influence the AI had (see my previous post on AI disclosure skepticism). The result also speaks to this question of how much people accept whatever the AI suggests without much thought.
The concern here is that a data analysis can look sound and reasonable, while depending heavily on judgment calls its author barely considered. Deciding what to measure, or which outcomes deserve more weight, these can all change a recommendation even when the code and calculations are all correct.
I think with a carefully written AGENTS.md file you can get your AI assistant to make those choices explicit, and to then explain why you as the competent analyst might choose differently. Before putting my name on some analysis, I want be able to explain why those choices fit whatever research question I have, and how the conclusions might change under alternatives.
The superior time, better than DST in every way (if you disagree, you are incorrect).
By Matt Boyd & Nick Wilson
\nTLDR/Summary
\nHealth research is mostly the study of disease: what makes people sick, and how to prevent and treat it. Our recent work sits elsewhere, in global catastrophic risk: nuclear war, extreme pandemics, volcanic winters, solar storms and artificial intelligence (AI). These could disrupt civilisation itself. The two fields rarely meet. The new Lancet Commission on 21st century global threats to health is innovative because it brings them together. It puts nuclear war and what it calls \"malicious use of AI\" on the same scale as obesity and smoking related harm. But the way it compares these very different risks could easily be misread, with consequences the authors clearly do not intend.
\nWhat the Lancet Commission did
\nThe Commission, led by Christopher Murray (IHME) and Natalia Kanem (UNFPA), published its major Report in October 2026. It defines a \"threat\" broadly, as among the largest causes of future health loss that policy can change, so slowly developing harms like obesity count, not just sudden shocks.
\nFor each threat it builds a plausible worst and a plausible best future, usually anchored in real experience. The worst case typically assumes a country follows the worst trajectory actually seen since 1990 among countries at a similar level of income and development. The best case assumes it follows the best. The gap between the two, summed from 2025 to 2100 and measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), is the \"amenable\" burden: the health loss that policy could plausibly avert.
\nThe headline results, in billions of amenable DALYs:
\nFor scale, Covid-19 caused about 0.5 billion DALYs. The Commission appropriately recommends threat-ready health systems, breakthrough innovation, and an annual Monitor of threats reporting to the G20 group of countries.
\nWhat it gets right
\nThe Report puts catastrophic risk on the global health agenda and names \"short-termism and localism\" as obstacles to good risk governance. It is candid about its limits, and the Monitor is a sensible answer to cycles of panic and neglect.
\nIts cross-cutting \"enablers\" also overlap strongly with our own recent review of seven catastrophic risks, No place to hide? (Jehn et al, 2026):
\nThe missing factors in the Commission's work are those that matter when global supply chains fail.
\nComparing obesity with nuclear war: a risk-analysis problem
\nThe authors stress that their summary bar chart \"is not a ranking of policy priority\". But the axis displaying level of harm invites such ranking, and busy decision-makers will see bars, not caveats.
\nHowever, potential problems arise through method. Each threat is scored by expected value (probability multiplied by harm). That works for chronic disease, but for rare catastrophes it hides most of what matters.
\nThe numbers are built differently. The estimates for nuclear war and malicious use of AI have no well-established statistical model behind them (in contrast to obesity etc). They come from a 2022 forecasting tournament, in which superforecasters and domain experts gave probabilities of global catastrophe and extinction by 2100. The nuclear worst case takes the 95th percentile of those forecasts. The AI worst case uses a different rule (the median plus three median absolute deviations). Both set the best case to zero. The uncertainty intervals for both run from zero upwards.
\nStrength of knowledge is largely invisible. Contemporary risk science describes risk as consequences plus uncertainty. Uncertainty includes how much we really know. Obesity's estimate rests on data from 204 countries. Nuclear war's rests on forecasters' judgements about 2100, a horizon over which super-forecasting has never been tested. The chart presents both bars side-by-side (albeit they are colour coded and have error bars but these features might not be readily appreciated).
\nTail risk is averaged away. The Commission considered giving extra weight to catastrophic outcomes and rejected it. It also rejected reporting probability and consequence separately, because users \"might struggle\" with two dimensions. That may underrate decision-makers and their officials. Insurers, engineers and defence planners treat rare, irreversible catastrophes differently, because they cascade and destroy the capacity to respond and recover.
\nThreat size is not urgency. The reverse also holds. A threat with a smaller burden can deserve urgent action if there are simple, obvious things to do now. Many equity, access and pricing problems (such as unaffordable but low-cost essential medicines, or tobacco and alcohol that are under-regulated) are easy to fix with tools we already have. Priority needs tractability, cost and timing, not just size.
\nHealth is not the same as harm
\nThe Commission measures health only: not wellbeing, future generations beyond 2100, economic loss, infrastructure damage, or harm to the biosphere. That is fair for a health report, but it tilts comparisons between threats.
\nObesity does not sink ships, burn ports or bring down power grids. Nuclear war, severe solar storms and AI-enabled cyberattacks can. Those losses cause uncounted health harm: if trade in medicines collapses, people with heart disease or diabetes die far from any blast. Each threat is modelled alone, so these cascades never enter the numbers.
\nA companion comment by Stephen Morrison (CSIS) worries that the Report will struggle to reach finance ministers and heads of state. Our own recent work in progress suggests that harm, not just health, is the lens they need. In a comparative risk assessment for Australia (Graham et al, 2026)*, we put fatalities, asset losses and lost economic output into a single monetary measure. On that basis, AI catastrophe (AU$ 7.8 billion a year) and pandemics (AU$ 7.3 billion) each roughly matched all of Australia's cyclones, bushfires and floods combined. In the worst 1% of years, catastrophic risks dominated: AU$ 5.8 trillion for AI and 1.6 trillion for nuclear war, against 118 billion for the worst traditional hazard.
\nJust as disease is not all of health, health is not all of potential human harm. A health-only lens misses the societal perspective, and risks steering resources towards what is easiest to count. An \"amenable DALY\" is also an \"amenable financial harm\", and the Monitor will report to a G20 finance task force.
\nDALYs also only count harm to people who exist. About half of the amenable burden for low education comes from fewer births, not healthier lives. As another companion Review notes, minimising DALYs \"favours an empty future\". Such a metric cannot weigh human survival.
\nBlind spots
\nPandemics may be much worse. The Commission extrapolates 400 years of pandemic history, with pandemic size held fixed. Forward-looking work by Madhav et al estimates a 2\u20133% annual chance of a Covid-scale pandemic, and 2.5 million deaths a year on average from respiratory pandemics alone. They call that a lower bound. Yet engineered pandemics and bioterrorism appear only inside the Commission's malicious-use-of-AI estimate.
\nAI harms may also be larger, and broader. Despite its name, the Commission's \"malicious use of AI\" covers three pathways: AI-designed bioweapons, failures of or attacks on AI-dependent infrastructure, and loss of control of advanced AI. But only two extreme outcomes are counted: catastrophe (at least 10% of humanity dies) and extinction, using forecasts made in 2022, before recent rapid gains in capability. Lesser but still huge potential harms, such as cyberattacks on health systems or mass economic disruption with a rise in inequality, are not counted. The authors concede that treating loss of control as amenable to policy may exaggerate their estimate. On balance, we think the omissions matter more.
\nNuclear war is a cascade, not a casualty count. Physical modelling by Xia et al (2022) suggests a large US\u2013Russia war could kill over 5 billion people through nuclear winter induced famine, assuming food trade stops. The Commission suggests resilient foods as a partial remedy. That could help survivors outside the attacked areas, but mitigation also has to cover trade, fuel, fertiliser, electricity and medicines. The nuclear figure counts deaths in forecasters' broad outcome categories, but none of the knock-on effects on other threats, so it too probably understates the harm. Some of these arguments also apply to the Commission's conventional conflict category \u2013 given how such conflict can cascade into multiple other problems (eg, disruptions to basic services in Ukraine and malnutrition in Gaza).
\nFamine barely counts as a health threat. The climate analysis includes heat stress deaths (its largest pathway), air pollution, floods, storms, malaria and dengue. Crop failure enters only indirectly. Drought, migration and famine are excluded, because \"famine is a sociopolitical phenomenon\". Famine is not a threat in its own right anywhere in the Report: childhood malnutrition is chronic undernutrition, and famine appears only after nuclear war.
\nYet famine is amenable to policy whatever its cause. Our new analysis of 38 major volcanic eruptions (preprint pending) reveals that famine rates have historically risen by about 60\u201370% after them, with more famine after bigger eruptions. Eruptions act together with weak reserves, inadequate relief efforts, conflict and trade restrictions, which are exactly what policy can change.
\nVolcanoes and the sun. The Commission dismisses supervolcanoes as too rare to mitigate. But Cassidy and Mani (2022) estimate a one-in-six chance of at least a Tambora-scale eruption this century, and the same resilient foods that would help after nuclear war would help after a volcanic winter. Severe solar storms are not mentioned at all.
\nBusiness-as-usual to 2100?
\nThe Commission's biggest assumption goes unstated: that the world carries on. Because \"plausible\" is defined by what countries have experienced since 1990, the method cannot produce a discontinuity. Growth, energy, trade and medicine supply all continue, and life expectancy rises every year to 2100.
\nThe seminal Limits to Growth (Meadows et al, 1972) suggested otherwise. Recent comparisons with real data by Herrington (2021) and Nebel et al (2023) found the world tracking its business-as-usual run, with a turning point around 2024\u20132030 and sharp declines in energy availability, material production and life expectancy.
\nThe Lancet's global population model (below right) peaks at about 9 billion mid-century and pulls back to 8 billion by 2100. The Limits to Growth model (below left) peaks today, and halves by 2100. Such scenarios and assumptions make a big difference to health priorities.
\nIf resource limits, trade disruption or a major shock arrive in the next few decades, health priorities likely change dramatically. Medicine and vaccine supply chains, food security, primary care, infection control and local manufacturing all move up the priority list. Catastrophe preparedness pays dividends twice, buffering slower decline too.
\nThere is an additional argument we are sceptical of, for an AI-fuelled techno-utopia which inverses the limits to growth trajectories. This scenario would likewise reframe the Commission's model, in substantially different ways.
\nWhere the Commission meets the Global Catastrophic Risks and Effective Altruism worlds
\nComparing very different causes on an amendable health loss scale is not new. Health economists do it (eg, Pharmac, and New Zealand's BODE3 programme), and so does Effective Altruism (EA).
\nEA asks how to do the most good with limited resources, and its organisations (eg, GiveWell, Open Philanthropy and 80,000 Hours) rank causes on three factors:
\nEA's priorities are global health and development, animal welfare, and catastrophic risks. 80,000 Hours currently puts AI, engineered pandemics and great power conflict (including nuclear war) near the top.
\nThe Commission measures mainly importance. Its \"amenable\" gap is a rough proxy for tractability, but without costs. It uses neglectedness only informally: heart disease and some cancers were left off the list because they are already well funded.
\nWho is getting it off course? Probably both, in opposite directions.
\nThe two world views already overlap: the Commission's companion Review draws on population ethics and was part-funded by Open Philanthropy. Yet we could find no discussion of the Report on the EA Forum by 1 Nov 2026. We think practice communities such as EA and catastrophic-risk researchers should formally engage with it.
\nConclusions: how to read the Commission's Report
\nThe Commission's work is serious, ambitious and welcome. Our worry is that reports travel without their caveats. If it is read as \"obesity is a bigger threat than nuclear war\", it could pull attention away from the catastrophic risks that probably matter most in the coming decades.
\nThe Commission's work is an estimate of the health loss that policy could avert by 2100, in a world that carries on roughly as it has since 1990. It is grounded in data for chronic threats and in judgement for nuclear war and AI.
\nBut it is not a ranking of priorities across all these threats or a guide to the cost-effectiveness of threat reduction. Nor is it a measure of economic, social or harm to the biosphere, or of harm to future generations, and it does not test for collapse or cascades.
\nFuture Monitor reports could show the strength of knowledge behind each estimate, report catastrophes' probability and consequence separately from the other threats (like obesity), stress-test failures of trade and energy, and add monetised harm. There are real risk-science lessons here for everyone.
\n* The linked preprint is an old version that does not yet include the AI results, we can share the latest version with anyone interested.
\nLearn more about our work, or donate to support further analysis, at Islands for the Future of Humanity.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/ppmhc-vjq18","guid":"http://adaptresearchwriting.com/?p=8126","image":"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/image.png?w=936","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1793577600,"rid":"6ym63-31m59","summary":" By Matt Boyd & Nick Wilson TLDR/Summary A new Lancet Commission Report quantifies the amendable health loss from 17 threats according to potential prevention policy spanning 2025 to 2100. Obesity (with amenable health loss of 23.1 billion DALYs) beats nuclear war (9.35 billion), which ties with poor mental health. The authors say it is not a ranking, but it will be read as one.","title":"Not a ranking, but will be wrongly read as one: the Lancet Commission on 21st century threats to health underplays global catastrophic risks","updated_at":1793604614,"url":"https://adaptresearchwriting.com/2026/11/02/not-a-ranking-but-will-be-wrongly-read-as-one-the-lancet-commission-on-21st-century-threats-to-health-underplays-global-catastrophic-risks/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"The people who built my kitchen were idiots. They designed it to be lit with a dozen recessed GU10 spotlights. That's not so terrible - GU10 LED bulbs are only about \u00a31 each - but because I am a bigger idiot, I decided I wanted remote-controlled bulbs.
\n\nAnd ZigBee bulbs are expensive!
\n\nFive years ago, feeling flush with cash, I replaced all the bulbs with a mixture of Hue and Innr Smart bulbs. Last week, two of the bulbs died. No explosions or release of magic smoke - they just became unresponsive and I lack the skills to fix complex electronics.
\n\nSo I looked at some replacements. Hue bulbs are \u00a331 per pair - that's about 15x more expensive than buying a regular bulb. The cheaper Innr bulbs are about a tenner each. Still a bit much.
\n\nWhat about non-branded ZigBee lights? On eBay I found a single GU10 for \u00a38 and, if I was prepared to buy in bulk, \u00a360 for 10.
\n\nThat's getting better - but still a premium on a boring non-smart bulb.
\n\nSo I went looking for a Shenzhen special on AliExpress - and hit the jackpot!
\n\nThere, I found a ZigBee GU10 bulb for \u00a34! The price seems to fluctuate between \u00a33 and \u00a35 - but there are plenty of sellers with close-to-identical products priced less than a fiver.
\n\n\n\nThe bulb took a few days to arrive from China. I plugged it in, searched for it in the Hue app, and it was added. Less than a minute later I was able to bark \"Alexa! Turn on the kitchen lights!\" - it responded at the same time as all its brethren. It is also colour changeable - unlike the Hue and Innr models.
\n\nThe labelling says it is by eWeLink and, as expected, it has warm white and colour changing LEDs. Total power of 5 Watts.
\n\n\n\nBut that's not all! AliExpress will quite often plunge price certain items to entice you to become a customer. I picked up another bulb for 77p! It was limited to one per customer - but that was good enough for me!
\n\nMy sub-quid bulb arrived and\u2026 Yeah, identical to the first. Plugged in, paired quickly, turned into a disco bulb with a couple of taps. Oh, and because shipping on the 2nd bulb was delayed, I got a \u00a31 voucher. So, I guess, technically it was free? So I bought another.
\n\nHere's what they look like in situ:
\n\n\n\nThey do a range of RGB colours - and will also do white at a variety of shades. They dim. They react quickly. They're cheap.
\n\nWill these bulbs last as long as the others? Considering the price, I'm not sure I care! If you buy from a UK store on eBay, there's probably slightly more chance of recompense if things do go wrong. But if you're happy to wait for delivery from China - those cheap AliExpress bulbs are probably fine.
\n\nSo, there you go. For a couple of quid, you can get a generic colour-changing ZigBee light which is compatible with Philips Hue.
\n\nOur kitchen is big. The lightswitches are far away. Also, I don't want them covered with cake-batter when I'm cooking.
\n\nMost UK homes don't have a neutral wire to the switch. That makes it hard to use smart-switches. The ones which work without neutral don't work with dimmable bulbs.
\n\nEven a regular bulb would have been shipped from far away.
\n\nYes it is. ZigBee bulbs don't have a way to \"phone home\" and are relatively resistant to being hacked.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/tft3w-fa411","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=53295","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/RGB-Lights.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1729900800,"rid":"c8qq4-3qw65","summary":"The people who built my kitchen were idiots. They designed it to be lit with a dozen recessed GU10 spotlights. That's not so terrible - GU10 LED bulbs are only about \u00a31 each - but because I am a bigger idiot, I decided I wanted remote-controlled bulbs. And ZigBee bulbs are expensive! Five years ago, feeling flush with cash, I replaced all the bulbs with a mixture of Hue and Innr Smart bulbs.","tags":["/etc/","IoT","Smart Home","Zigbee"],"title":"Adventures with ultra-cheap ZigBee lightbulbs","updated_at":1793566159,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/10/adventures-with-ultra-cheap-zigbee-lightbulbs/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"I have a lovely, and reasonably priced, Mini Panda Rice Cooker. It does not have any SmartHome features. You put in water and rice, press a button, it cooks rice. Nice!
\n\nThe only problem is - I don't know how long the rice will take to cook. It uses \"Fuzzy Logic\" to work out exactly how much heat and time is needed for perfect fluffy rice. This is inconvenient. I cannot always hear the beep the machine makes when it completes its culinary wizardry.
\n\nSo let's hook it up to the Internet of Things!!!
\n\nStep 1 - Get an Energy Monitoring Smart Plug. These are now relatively cheap and reliable. As the cooker is cooking, it reports back its energy use. But where does it report to? You can use the associated app, but that doesn't have an alert to say when something has stopped drawing power.
\n\nStep 2 - Install Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi. HA is a nifty bit of software which gives you complete control of your SmartHome. It integrates with all the various makes and models of devices you have controlling your lights, TV, plugs, smoke alarms, and other gadgets. It comes with a companion app which runs on your phone.
\n\nStep 3 - After spending a few weeks configuring everything, getting frustrated, wiping everything, starting again, and then getting it right this time - you're ready to add some automation! I used Leo Fabri's Appliance Status Monitor. You tell it which plug you want to monitor, what power level to detect as \"on\", what power level to detect as \"off\", and how long it should be off before sending you an alert.
\n\nThe user interface is... intimidating.
\n\n\n\nIt is necessarily complex. But this definitely isn't for the casual user!
\n\nStep 4 - Test with users. My rice cooker dips in power a few times through its cooking cycle - which sent my wife scurrying to the kitchen expecting to be fed. After which, I eventually worked out that I needed to tell the monitor to wait for the power to have dropped for at least 60 seconds before sending an alert.
\n\nStep 5 - It works!
\n\n\n\nOne minute after the end of the cooking cycle, I receive an alert on my phone. I can now go and eat. Lovely!
\n\nI like playing with gadgets - so yes.
\n\nI also don't want to eat over-cooked curry, or under-done rice - so also yes.
\n\nI am lazy and don't want to get off my arse every five minutes to check the cooker - so again yes.
\n\nI don't want my rice-cooker sending all my rice-cooking habits back to the manufacturer - so even more yes.
\n\nThis is a fun project for adding a minimal amount of smart-alerting to your existing appliances.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/yzg4h-tzt37","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49918","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/rice.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1711411200,"rid":"ncjp6-6sm87","summary":"I have a lovely, and reasonably priced, Mini Panda Rice Cooker. It does not have any SmartHome features. You put in water and rice, press a button, it cooks rice. Nice! The only problem is - I don't know how long the rice will take to cook. It uses \"Fuzzy Logic\" to work out exactly how much heat and time is needed for perfect fluffy rice. This is inconvenient.","tags":["/etc/","HomeAssistant","IoT","Smart Home"],"title":"Receive push notifications from your rice cooker","updated_at":1793566158,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/receive-push-notifications-from-your-rice-cooker/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence"}],"content_html":"Matter is coming to fix all your smarthome woes! A single IoT standard, working across multiple radio protocols, bringing together different products from many different manufacturers.
\n\nAnd\u2026 it works!
\n\nMostly
\n\nThese are the Meross 315 Smart Plugs. They are small(ish), cheap(ish), and easy(ish) to use.
\n\n\n\nAs soon as I plugged them in, before even configuring them, my home went crazy. I got a pop-up on my phone asking if I wanted to control them with Google Home.
\n\n\n\nNope!
\n\nI then immediately got an email from Amazon saying our Echo had detected the device and perhaps I wanted to use that to control the plugs?
\n\n\n\nAlso nope!
\n\nI wanted to add the plugs using the Meross app. Not because it is particularly good (it's basically fine) - but because of a couple of limitations in Matter. Here's a page from the plugs' manual.
\n\n\n\nAt the moment, Matter doesn't support firmware updates. That's probably fair. You don't want some random app bricking your device - so it is restricted to the manufacturer's app.
\n\nBut Matter also doesn't support energy monitoring. I understand it's early days for the protocol, but that's a bit annoying.
\n\nLuckily, HomeAssistant came to the rescue! Because the Meross API is well documented, my local SmartHome Pi was able to get a realtime view of how much power was flowing through the plug.
\n\nThe power toggle - and activity LED - is on the left side of the plug. That makes it a little awkward to press and obscures the view of the LED. I guess putting it on top would make it too easy to accidentally activate?
\n\n\n\nThe energy monitoring doesn't seem to update in realtime in the app.
\n\nI renamed the plug in the Android app, but that name doesn't seem to be exposed in Matter. Nor was it picked up by HomeAssistant.
\n\nIn order to connect the device to WiFi, your phone needs to be on that specific WiFi network. Because the devices only support 2.4GHz, I needed to swap SSIDs on my phone. But, on the plus side, I didn't have to manually enter any passwords.
\n\nBut these are all fairly minor complaints.
\n\nFor about \u00a332 for a two-pack (depending on whether the algorithm favours you) these are pretty good value for money. They were easy to set up, quick to get working in other apps, and had a firmware update waiting for me.
\n\n\n\nI got some Meross plugs about 6 years ago and they've kept trucking all that time - so I'm pretty confident these will last. And, even if Meross disappears, Matter means that another app can easily control them.
\n\nHere's the plan. I'm going to plug this into my Tumble Dryer and tell HomeAssistant to monitor its energy usage and send me a message when the drying is done.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/hqbhp-gxa35","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49713","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Plugs-in-situ.jpg","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1708819200,"rid":"k2ecw-cjb45","summary":"Matter is coming to fix all your smarthome woes! A single IoT standard, working across multiple radio protocols, bringing together different products from many different manufacturers. And\u2026 it works! Mostly These are the Meross 315 Smart Plugs. They are small(ish), cheap(ish), and easy(ish) to use. As soon as I plugged them in, before even configuring them, my home went crazy.","tags":["/etc/","HomeAssistant","IoT","Meross","Smart Home"],"title":"Review: Matter-enabled Energy Monitoring Smart Plugs - Meross 315","updated_at":1793566156,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/review-matter-enabled-energy-monitoring-smart-plugs-meross-315/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"I don't know why hardware manufacturers find it so hard to write decent documentation. As I've said before you need to actually test your readme. The Una Watch development instructions are scattered across a bunch of different files.
\n\nSo here's how to go from zero to your first \"Hello, World!\" Glance app with the minimum of fuss.
\n\nThis all assumes a fairly modern Debian / Ubuntu / Pop OS Linux.
\n\nThis installs most of the tools you will need:
\n\nsudo apt update\nsudo apt install -y git python3 python3-pip cmake build-essential\nVisit https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stm32cubeclt.html and download the Linux version of the tool. Inexplicably, you need to give your email address. I recommend giving a disposable one from https://10minutemail.com/
\n\nAfter downloading, unzip the file.
\n\nOn the command line, cd into the directory containing the unzipped file.
chmod +x stm32cubeclt_*.sh\nsudo ./stm32cubeclt_*.sh\nYou will need to agree to their licence. Just hit y.
That installs everything in /opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/
You will need to make that available to your PATH.
\n\nexport PATH=\"/opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/GNU-tools-for-STM32/bin:$PATH\"\nYou will need to copy the Una SDK. I keep my git repos in ~/git/ - you will need the location of the directory later.
cd ~/git/\ngit clone git@github.com:UNAWatch/una-sdk.git\ncd una-sdk/\ngit submodule update --init ThirdParty/lvgl\nThen update all the Python dependencies.
\n\nexport UNA_SDK=\"$PWD\"\npython3 -m pip install --upgrade pip\npython3 -m pip install -r \"$UNA_SDK/Utilities/Scripts/app_packer/requirements.txt\"\nPaste this into your terminal. Check for any errors.
\n\nwhich arm-none-eabi-gcc || true\nwhich cmake || true\nwhich make || true\nwhich python3 || true\npython3 -m pip --version\narm-none-eabi-gcc --version || true\ncmake --version || true\nmake --version || true\nIf all of the above has worked, you should be able to build the demo app with:
\n\ncd /tmp\nmkdir -p MyAlarm\ncp -r \"$UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/Alarm/\"* MyAlarm\nmkdir -p MyAlarm/build\ncmake -G \"Unix Makefiles\" -S MyAlarm/Software/Apps/Alarm-CMake -B MyAlarm/build\ncmake --build MyAlarm/build\nStore the paths permanently. If you put cloned the Una SDK to somewhere other than ~/git/ you'll need to edit this next bit of code:
echo 'export UNA_SDK=\"$HOME/git/una-sdk\"' >> ~/.bashrc\necho 'export PATH=\"/opt/st/stm32cubeclt_1.22.0/GNU-tools-for-STM32/bin:$PATH\"' >> ~/.bashrc\nsource ~/.bashrc\nAt the moment, the only way to build a GUI app is using the Windows only (Booooo!) TouchGFX0. So, instead, we'll make a \"Hello World\" glance. All it will do is draw some text.
\n\nThe GlanceFloors demo app is the simplest one to copy.
cd $UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/\ncp -r GlanceFloors/ GlanceHello\nUse an IDE or a text editor to open up the new GlanceHello directory.
\n\nGlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceFloors-CMake/ to GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceHello-CMake/GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceFloors-CMake/CMakeLists.txt - specifically the # App configuration section.APP_NAME to GlanceHelloAPP_USER_NAME to HelloFor a demo, you can leave the DEV_ID and APP_ID as their default values.
You will need to edit two more files.
\n\nIn GlanceHello/Software/Libs/Header/Service.hpp remove the following lines:
SDK::Sensor::Connection mSensorFloors;\nuint32_t mFloorsValue;\nbool mDataReceived;\nThen save the file.
\n\nEdit GlanceHello/Software/Libs/Source/Service.cpp and replace its entire contents with this:
#include \"Service.hpp\"\n#include \"SDK/Messages/CommandMessages.hpp\"\n#include \"SDK/Messages/MessageGuard.hpp\"\n\nService::Service(SDK::Kernel &kernel)\n : mKernel(kernel)\n , mGlanceUI()\n , mGlanceTitle()\n , mGlanceValue()\n{}\n\nService::~Service(){}\n\nvoid Service::run()\n{\n while (true) {\n SDK::MessageBase *msg;\n if(!mKernel.comm.getMessage(msg)) {\n continue;\n }\n\n switch (msg->getType()) {\n\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_START:\n if (configGui()) {\n createGuiControls();\n } else {\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n mKernel.sys.exit(0);\n }\n break;\n\n case SDK::MessageType::COMMAND_APP_STOP:\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_STOP:\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n return;\n break;\n\n case SDK::MessageType::EVENT_GLANCE_TICK:\n onGlanceTick();\n break;\n\n default:\n break;\n }\n\n mKernel.comm.releaseMessage(msg);\n }\n}\n\nvoid Service::onGlanceTick()\n{\n if (mGlanceUI.isInvalid()) {\n if (auto upd = SDK::make_msg<SDK::Message::RequestGlanceUpdate>(mKernel)) {\n upd->name = APP_NAME;\n upd->controls = mGlanceUI.data();\n upd->controlsNumber = static_cast<uint32_t>(mGlanceUI.size());\n upd.send(100);\n }\n\n mGlanceUI.setValid();\n}\n}\n\nbool Service::configGui()\n{\n bool status = false;\n if (auto gc = SDK::make_msg<SDK::Message::RequestGlanceConfig>(mKernel)) {\n if (gc.send(100) && gc.ok()) {\n if (gc->maxControls >= 3) {\n mGlanceUI.setWidth(gc->width);\n mGlanceUI.setHeight(gc->height);\n status = true;\n }\n }\n }\n return status;\n}\n\nvoid Service::createGuiControls()\n{\n mGlanceTitle = mGlanceUI.createText();\n mGlanceTitle.pos({ kTitleX, kTitleY }, { kTitleW, kTitleH })\n .font(GlanceFont_t::GLANCE_FONT_POPPINS_SEMIBOLD_20)\n .color(GlanceColor_t::GLANCE_COLOR_TEAL)\n .setText(\"Hello, World!\")\n .alignment(GlanceAlignH_t::GLANCE_ALIGN_H_CENTER);\n mGlanceValue = mGlanceUI.createText();\n mGlanceValue.pos({ 0, kValueY }, { 200, kValueH })\n .font(GlanceFont_t::GLANCE_FONT_POPPINS_SEMIBOLD_20)\n .color(GlanceColor_t::GLANCE_COLOR_WHITE)\n .setText(\"I know C++\")\n .alignment(GlanceAlignH_t::GLANCE_ALIGN_H_CENTER);\n}\nSave the file.
\n\nOn the command line
\n\ncd $UNA_SDK/Examples/Apps/GlanceHello/Software/App/GlanceHello-CMake\ncmake -G \"Unix Makefiles\" -S . -B build\ncmake --build build\nIt should finish with a success message of [100%] Built target GlanceHelloApp
Apps directory.APP_ID which is set in CMakeLists.txtGlanceHello/Output/ and will be called Hello_1.5.0-rc5.uapp or similar..uapp file from your computer to the directory you just created on the watch.If it has worked, you should see something like this:
\n\n\n\nHurrah! Treat yourself to a beer \ud83c\udf7b
\n\nJust after I wrote this, the SDK was updated to allow LVGL which should work on Linux. There's no documentation for it yet that I could find. \u21a9\ufe0e
\n","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/0std8-hz104","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76095","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/cpp.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1791244800,"rid":"vrwx5-w7v30","summary":"I don't know why hardware manufacturers find it so hard to write decent documentation. As I've said before you need to actually test your readme. The Una Watch development instructions are scattered across a bunch of different files. So here's how to go from zero to your first \"Hello, World!\" Glance app with the minimum of fuss. This all assumes a fairly modern Debian / Ubuntu / Pop OS Linux.","tags":["/etc/","C++","HowTo","Programming","UnaWatch"],"title":"Una Watch - SDK and Writing Your First App","updated_at":1793553831,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/una-watch-sdk-and-writing-your-first-app/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"\n\nA few months ago, I went to see Dr Hutchinson record his stand-up comedy special for the BBC - it's about his experiences working in the NHS as a Black doctor. As the title of the book implies, some of the public can be a mite suspicious that anyone with even a hint of melanin can rise beyond being a porter or, at a push, a nurse.
\n\nMuch like Adam Kay's \"This Is Going To Hurt\", this is part biography, part rant about the NHS, and part humorous look at what it takes to be a modern doctor. Hutchinson's book has rather less gallows humour and rather more racism.
\n\nThe problems of racial inequality in the NHS aren't just focussed on patients; they're also reflected in the way staff are treated. Rather than just recounting all the abuse he's been subject to, the book takes a good look at the actual statistics. Of course, this makes for slightly grim reading at times, so the frequent injections of humour are most welcome.
\n\nThe UK quite often seems in the shadow of larger cultures. As the book points out:
\n\n\n\nThis same issue is understudied in the UK \u2013 to the point where the absence of research is glaring. While we are clearly not just a little America, we aren't so different that we can be confident we're not replicating the same here.
Because of that, at times the book does feel a little bit like the \"we have [racism] at home\" meme.
\n\nThere's an almost relentlessly cheery irreverence to some of the issues - but what else can you do? Sometimes it takes a good dose of comedy to cut through the bleakness. There's a slight streak of ageism within the book - especially when it comes to older doctors trying to use new technology. Although, to be fair, that was also my experience when working at NHSX. There are some people within the system who are desperate for it to remain preserved in aspic as even minor improvements are a threat to their position in the hierarchy.
\n\nA minor grumble, the problem I have with books like this - and with The Secret Barrister - is that a lot of the moaning about how hard it is to become a professional doctor / lawyer just generates a giant shrug from me. Every piece of medical media in the last 50 years talks about how bone-crunchingly hard it is. All I can think of is \"none of this should be coming as a surprise to you!\" Should it be easier (and less sleep depriving) to be a doctor? Sure! But given it isn't, perhaps dial down on the clich\u00e9s of how uniquely awful your chosen career is.
\n\nThe book isn't just a list of complaints, of course, everything is backed up with statistics (although unreferenced). Thankfully, the book ends with some practical suggestions of how the NHS can improve. It would certainly be interesting to read a version of this from 2046 to see how much has changed - given the improvements already bearing fruit, I'd hope that the UK health service would become much less racist over time.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/bc4fr-qcx14","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76754","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/are-you-really-the-doctor.avif","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792195200,"rid":"mnchs-wqn69","summary":"A few months ago, I went to see Dr Hutchinson record his stand-up comedy special for the BBC - it's about his experiences working in the NHS as a Black doctor. As the title of the book implies, some of the public can be a mite suspicious that anyone with even a hint of melanin can rise beyond being a porter or, at a push, a nurse.","tags":["/etc/","Book Review","NHS","Racism"],"title":"Book Review: Are You *Really* The Doctor? by Matthew Hutchinson","updated_at":1793553825,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/book-review-are-you-really-the-doctor-by-matthew-hutchinson/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"The good folks at Mokin have sent me their new USB-C hub and it is a beast.
\n\n\n\nThis is the MODK2403 - the latest in their line of high-tech USB-C docks. It does close to everything you could want and has an LCD monitor for showing the weather.
\n\nErrr\u2026 What?
\n\nOK, a quick product shots, then on to the specs.
\n\n\n\nOn to the ports:
\n\nYup! At the bottom of the tower is a silicone surround which allows it to firmly plant on any flat surface. It's strong enough to take any gentle nudges without toppling over, but easy enough to lift off if you need to move the unit.
\n\n\n\nIt is slightly cheeky to describe this as 17 ports. The two DisplayPorts are tied to the HDMI ports - so you can only have 3 screens active at a time, not five. But as each screen can do 4K @ 60Hz, I'll let it slide.
\n\nThere's a black and white screen included which can show you a bunch of information. Tap the power-button on top to cycle between them.
\n\nWhich ports are connected:
\n\n\n\nScreen resolution of attached devices:\n
Total power draw:\n
WiFi set up:\n
Wait? What! If you connect to the hub's WiFi, you get this set-up screen.
\n\n\n\nOnce it is connected, it'll show you the weather in your area:
\n\n\n\nI'm not entirely convinced about whether that's useful. Although you can change the units from \u2109 to \u2103, and show or hide your area, there's no other customisation available. No 24 hour clock, no date formatting, nothing. There's also no privacy policy or indication of which weather provider it is connecting to.
\n\nThe screen switches off after a few minutes - so it isn't a constant distraction. Tapping the top button turns it on again.
\n\nDouble-pressing the power-button switches the external monitors off. Which is useful for privacy I guess?
\n\nWorked perfectly with my Linux laptop. I drove two external screens via DisplayPort, a bunch of USB peripherals, Ethernet, etc.
\n\nA full read-out gives:
\n\n0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter\n0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub\n2109:0822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.1 Hub\n2109:8822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB Billboard Device\n0020:0b21 Generic AB13X USB Audio\n0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device\n0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub\n1a86:8095 QinHeng Electronics USB Hub\n303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit\n2109:2822 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub\nI have 1Gbps broadband, and I was able to get 850Mbps through the Mokin's Ethernet port. That's pretty much what I'd expect.
\n\nCopying files via USB-C to a Pixel phone topped out at about 200MBps, which was a little underwhelming, but fast enough for my needs. I tried a variety of cables, including the bundled one.
\n\nThe AB13X USB Audio presents as both analogue and S/PDIF. There was no meaningful difference between the two in terms of sound quality. There was minimal hum on output when nothing was being played.
\n\nI'm slightly uneasy about the built-in WiFi connection this hub offers. It is primarily used for showing the weather on screen, but it can also be used to upload new firmware.
\n\nWorryingly, it has a weak default password set - mokin123. I think that might be against the law. The password can be changed by the user - but I wonder how many people will bother?
When I mentioned this to Mokin, they replied:
\n\n\n\nAfter the initial password is set, the user can change the password themselves rather than continuing to use a fixed default password.
I don't think that's good enough to protect users.
\n\nSimilarly, the SSID can be hidden and is randomised, but I wonder if that's suitable defence against a determined hacker?
\n\nI'm glad that the unit doesn't hijack the Ethernet connection - but who knows what a future firmware update might do.
\n\nThere's also a 303a:1001 Espressif USB JTAG/serial debug unit exposed on the hub. I tried connecting to it with esptool and the hub crashed! I had to pull out the power to get it to restart. I'm not smart enough to probe it further, but I can't help wondering why it is there.
Finally, there's a mysterious 0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device. I thought that was used for blanking the external screens when the power-button is double-pressed, but that didn't register on evtest. So what is it for? I don't like the idea of a random Human Interface Device (usually a keyboard or mouse) being attached to my computer.
I spoke to Mokin about it and they said:
\n\n\n\nour technical manager confirmed that these two entries are reserved for future firmware updates.
Personally, I would expect these to be disabled if they aren't going to be used.
\n\nWith any device which connects to the Internet, you have to be concerned about what data it is collecting, storing, and transmitting. I asked Mokin if they had a privacy policy related to their weather service. They said:
\n\n\n\nThere is no need to worry about your personal or location information being uploaded or stored remotely. The relevant user information is stored locally on the device.
\n\nThe weather/location information is provided through Google services, and no personal information is uploaded or stored by us. Therefore, there should be no privacy or data security concern from our side.
I don't find that terribly convincing. At the very least they should tell users who their weather provider is and what their privacy says. I assume that the device is doing a GeoIP lookup before sending the request to Google - again, that should be explained to users.
\n\nI've no evidence that the hub is collecting data about what is attached and then sending it off somewhere - but without a privacy policy from Mokin, who can say?
\n\nThe suction cup at the bottom is only lightly glued on and peeled off easily. Underneath are four screws.
\n\n\n\nThe base removes easily, exposing the three circuit boards.
\n\n\n\nHere's a close up:
\n\n\n\nI couldn't easily get them out, and the front plastic was held on securely. I'm sure it would be possible to snap off, but I didn't want to damage it.
\n\nIt's usually about \u00a390 from the manufacturer or around \u00a370 from Amazon.
\n\nYou can get a basic hub for less than half that price - but what you're paying for here having all the ports. It's an attractive package, well designed, quiet, and unobtrusive.
\n\nThe screen is moderately useful - being able to see which ports are in use was handy, as was seeing the total power draw. The screen debugging was also handy. I'm not that interested in the weather, but I can see how it would be helpful as a single-use screen.
\n\nI have significant concerns about the always-on WiFi, especially given its easy to guess password. I've contacted the manufacturer to see if anything can be done about that but they don't seem interested in fixing it. The lack of privacy policy is also worrying.
\n\nSimilarly, the HID and JTAG are also something I wouldn't expect to see on a hub like this. Ideally they should be disabled if not in use.
\n\nIn terms of ports and performance, this can't be beat. But I would be reluctant to connect it to my home WiFi network.
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/zzzk5-wp539","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76136","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/product-shot.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792627200,"rid":"qtmx4-ja332","summary":"The good folks at Mokin have sent me their new USB-C hub and it is a beast. This is the MODK2403 - the latest in their line of high-tech USB-C docks. It does close to everything you could want and has an LCD monitor for showing the weather. Errr\u2026 What? OK, a quick product shots, then on to the specs.","tags":["/etc/","Gadget","Mokin","Review","USB-C"],"title":"Gadget Review: Mokin 17 Port USB-C Tower","updated_at":1793553821,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/gadget-review-mokin-17-port-usb-c-tower/","version":"v1"},{"authors":[{"contributor_roles":[],"family":"Eden","given":"Terence","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"blog":{"authors":[{"name":"Terence Eden","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-9069"}],"community_id":"61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc","created":1788652800,"current_feed_url":null,"description":"Regular nonsense about tech and its effects \ud83d\ude43","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/shkspr","favicon":"https://rogue-scholar.org/api/communities/61ce553a-bafd-4aba-a952-d3bab5e85bcc/logo","feed_format":"application/atom+xml","feed_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/feed/DOI","filter":"category:-1982","generator":"WordPress","home_page_url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog","issn":"2753-1570","language":"eng","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","prefix":"10.59350","relative_url":null,"secure":true,"slug":"shkspr","status":"active","subfield":"1712","title":"Terence Eden's Blog","updated":1793609704,"use_api":true},"blog_name":"Terence Eden's Blog","blog_slug":"shkspr","content_html":"A few days ago I booked a Novotel hotel on Booking.com - two days later I received these phishing messages via WhatsApp. Both knew my exact name, phone number, location of stay, and date of stay.
\n\nLuckily, both were fairly inept. Let's take a quick look at them.
\n\nThe first came from a Portuguese business account.
\n\n\n\nObviously the name doesn't match that of the large chain hotel I booked with. The domain name doesn't look anything like what I'd expect from either Booking.com or Novotel. They note this isn't an emergency - presumably to bypass the warnings that you shouldn't act on any message trying to convey a sense of urgency. The \"Cancel\" button on the bottom makes this look more genuine though.
\n\nThe second one is slightly different.
\n\n\n\nThis is from a much more generic business account, albeit a UK-based one. The date is formatted differently. There's no cancel button. But the wording is identical.
\n\nSo are these both from the same scammer?
\n\nThe domains were both registered on the same day - the 21st of October - within hours of each other. They're both protected by CloudFlare, but were registered at two different registrars - one Chinese and one Japanese. Lots of scammers use CloudFlare (who seem to relish in being the protectors of all sorts of unsavoury characters). A smart scammer would register their domains on multiple registrars to avoid all of them getting banned at once. So that's a bit inconclusive.
\n\nLooking at the source code for the pages, they appear to be identical.
\n\nThat means one of two things:
\n\nBut how did my data leak in the first place?
\n\nThe first place to look, as always, is within. My Booking.com account uses a strong and unique password. It has a unique email address tied to it. I have MFA via an authenticator app. I regularly use the \"Sign out of other sessions\" options in the Booking.com app.
\n\nMy email is similarly secure. And, frankly, if scammers were in there then they could do a lot more damage than sending me a phishing link!
\n\nThat leaves either Booking.com, Novotel, or one of their systems.
\n\nIt's fair to say this is a persistent problem with Booking.com - they were breached in 2023 and these sorts of phishing attacks happen regularly.
\n\nAlthough I couldn't find any record of Accor (the owners of Novotel) being breached, it's fair to say other hotels suffer from this problem. It seems depressingly easy to con or bribe a worker into allowing scammers access into a booking system.
\n\nThis sort of \"reservation hijacking\" is now depressingly common.
\n\nThere's a slight twist in the tale. A few moments after I made the original reservation, I received this message directly from the hotel via the Booking.com messaging system:
\n\n\n\nI can only assume that Novotel are aware of the persistent problem they're facing and this is their attempt to deflect blame.
\n\nSo I called the hotel (using the number on their website) and they confirmed my reservation. When I mentioned the phishing messages the hotel were very quick to tell me they were a scam, that I shouldn't click any links, and to delete them right away. I did ask if they'd suffered a data breach but, understandably, they don't tell receptionists that.
\n\nI've reported the problem to both Accor and Booking.com - we'll see who comes up with the most convincing explanation.
\n\nAs it happens, a few days ago, the European Commission announced it was investigating Booking.com:
\n\n\n\nThe Commission will also investigate whether the provider of Booking.com has diligently assessed and addressed the risks that phishing scams pose to consumers.
\n\nIn particular, the investigation will focus on risks related to the way reservation and guest data is shared with accommodation providers, and the design and functioning of Booking.com's messaging service.
\n\nThe Commission will also examine whether the company has put in place sufficient safeguards to prevent data from being misused to carry out phishing and solicit fraudulent payments.
Stay safe out there!
","doi":"https://doi.org/10.59350/hm65z-rvt46","guid":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=76842","image":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Property-Message.webp","language":"en","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","published_at":1792713600,"rid":"cz4m2-7tp97","summary":"A few days ago I booked a Novotel hotel on Booking.com - two days later I received these phishing messages via WhatsApp. Both knew my exact name, phone number, location of stay, and date of stay. Luckily, both were fairly inept. Let's take a quick look at them. The first came from a Portuguese business account. Obviously the name doesn't match that of the large chain hotel I booked with.","tags":["/etc/","CyberSecurity","Phishing","Scam","Spam"],"title":"More phishing messages via Booking.com and Novotel","updated_at":1793553813,"url":"https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/10/more-phishing-messages-via-booking-com-and-novotel/","version":"v1"}],"out_of":57983,"page":1,"per_page":10,"total-results":57983}