Mixed bag of experience with Bluetooth devices. Some need persistent connection to internet to work.

Like most people, I first tried bluetooth keyboard and mouse. They worked on Windows and Mac but since I prefer to use Ubuntu linux primarily (that is whole another topic) I had to get a logitech 2.4GHz usb stick and it worked great.

Then I tried using garmin GPS with bluetooth to send addresses to Garmin for Navigation. That worked until I paired a 2nd phone to it. Then it got confused. Garmin was relevant when Google Maps could not navigate when offline. Now that is changing. Also, that is whole another topic.

My wife tried bluetooth headphones for the car. Battery drain on the phone and the need to remember to charge the bluetooth headset killed off that use case. To be fair to bluetooth, one of my sons swears by his bluetooth headset but I to have to strain to hear him when he calls. May be it is just a not so sensitive microphone.

Then I tried a device called Automatic connected to obd2 port of my minivan. It pairs with the phone and reports fuel economy, speed warning (you can set it) and in future may report more info about the car. It worked well in the minivan. The app automatically runs in the back ground and connects when in the car. However, in a different car, when the speed reached the set limit, the 2 or three beeps became a continuous beep and I had to disconnect it. Sad thing is I now lost it. $100 wasted.

I funded a kickstarter company called Pebblebee which uses bluetooth low energy device attached to the keychain with a button on it. Push the button and an app on the phone is supposed to sound an alarm tone for you to find it. Use the app on the phone and you could beep the keys or flash to find them. First they said that Android 4.3 or better is required. Then they said Android 4.4 or better is required. Now even with Android 5.0 on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 running the standard T Mobile version of Android, the app stops running in the back ground and therefore you can never find the phone using keys but you can find keys using phone. I wanted this company to do well but they are small and may be they will get it right...

Update June 27th: The support team and tech lead worked hard with me to get to the bottom of the issue why Pebblebee Hive App on Android cannot stay running so that it can interact with the Pebblebee bluetooth device. The heart of the problem was that the App seems to require persistent connection to internet rather than use Internet to authenticate and when connected to the server, send status. I think this is a classic example of how IoT (Internet of Things) has gone too far to need connection to internet. Even the cheapest phones has enough compute power to handle connection to a bluetooth device. Requiring connection to internet to function seems too extreme. I had a couple of hubs which connect to my router for connection to internet while they interact with devices in the home. Initially they were looking for the server too often and failed. Now they do not connect as often. I think they still do connect more often than they need to. If there is internet outage, home security and automation must still work over Wifi. Even if there is power outage and the router is connect to UPS WIFI can work.

Having said all this I am told that most of Pebblebee's users are always connected to internet and so offline feature is a plan for the future. Until then, if you want to find your phone just use the method offered by Google or Apple.

I look forward to updating this review when the offline feature is implemented by Pebblebee and it works.

California drought is the worst perhaps but we will recover.

Just look at the history of California and the way people reacted to a crisis.

1989 Loma Prieta earth quake caused damage but very few people died. Building construction standards and codes were improved.

1994 Northridge earthquake most people died in the collapse of a single apartment building.

California responded.

"Advances in the technology associated with testing systems, design and seismic modeling software, structural connections, structural forms, and seismic force resisting systems have accelerated dramatically since Northridge."

California had energy crisis in 2000-2001.

What did we do? Replaced halogen and incandescent bulbs in a big way. Deployed solar power. In fact utility companies really do not want residential customers to install solar. They try to discourage but people are smarter. I paid $14k for solar and got back my money in 5.5yrs of a 25yr life of the solar system. No one talks about energy crisis anymore.

Forget about natural disasters. Think about the dot com bust back in 2001.

Nasdaq Index which exploded from 2500 to 5000 collapsed to about 1100 and there was lot of unemployment. Real estate slowed down as well. Every state wanted to claim that they can do better than CA. Look what happened. Companies re-tooled. Innovations like iPhone, Android, Tesla, Facebook, Google happened. Nasdaq Index is now 4500 in 2015. Real estate tripled since 1996.

Just how bad is the drought?


 

So what is California going to do about it?

People found that lawns really do not need that much watering to keep them alive. They cut lawn watering 30 to 50% in 2015 compared to 2014. All toilets are lot more efficient. Lot of people have replaced their landscape to use much less water. Gray water is used lot more. You can expect a lot more innovation in agriculture and in residential use. Moisture sensors and water use monitors will come to identify when and if to water and how much. Eventually the drought will end but just like we replaced incandescent and halogen bulbs with CFL and now switching to LEDs, we will continue the conservation and we will overcome. That is the spirit of people who live in California. People here accept and respond to change much faster even by US standards.