Wink can kiss my ass

Several years ago I received a smart home hub. It was a Wink hub and I happily set it up, added some smart lights and some automation to turn those lights on and off depending on certain events. It worked great...

...for about 3 years.

Then one day, it received a software update and I immediately noticed it was having problems maintaining its connection to the Wink service. I also noticed that it was having trouble with the automation.

One thing I programmed was to have my outside lights turn on 10 minutes before sundown every day. Sometimes they would turn on, other times they wouldn't. I also programmed them to turn off at 10:00 every night and that just wasn't happening.

So suffice to say that the service was sketchy at best and the hub was unstable.

Flash back to two weeks ago and I got an email from Wink saying they were changing their business model. They were now going to charge $4.99 per month for the service.

The last thing I'm willing to do is pay $60.00 a year for a sketchy, unstable service. I'd rather pay $60.00 for a new hub from a reputable company.

Jump forward to today and my brand new shiny $59.00 Samsung SmartThings hub arrived. I plugged it in, set it up, created my account and set about connecting all my lights. Once the smart hub found my lights and was all set, I set up my automations. Finally, I tied it into my Alexa account and I can once again tell Alexa to turn on my lights.

I realize this makes me the epitome of lazy but dammit, I like my gadgets.

And I know I said it before but it bears repeating: Wink can kiss my ass.

Their POS hub is in my pile of old dead gadgets in my basement. One of these days I'll crack it open to see if there are any usable parts inside and throw the unusable crap away.

⧫

Tonight's baseball game is from July 8, 2011 when the Orioles came into Boston to get their ass kicked by the Red Sox. During yesterday's game, NESN ran a promo that said this week was brawl week which explains why every game they've shown this week has included a brawl.

I have a feeling that tonight's game will also include brawl.

Here are a few links:

• Accidentally?



• This may be the best idea yet.



• Freeze-Dried Black Soldier Fly Maggots would be a petty good name for a 1980s punk / metal band.



• Religious fanaticism is stupid, no matter what your religion is.



• It's 1967 all over again.