Windows 10: It's Time

It's been just shy of four months since Microsoft released the latest edition of Windows, version 10. Back in July, I advised that the best course of action was to hold off on upgrading to Windows 10 (unless you were really dissatisfied with your current OS). My advice was to wait until the bugs get worked out, and see if any issues arose as the operating system was installed on the huge variety of Windows PCs that live out in the world. Well, we've gone through a quarter of the year, and I would say that this new version of Windows, which has been installed on over 100 million computers, is ready for primetime.

I never had too much concern, but in general I advise most users to hold off on major upgrades until all the kinks are worked out. This month, Microsoft released a significant update to Windows 10. Long-time Windows users might recognize the term "Service Pack." These were major updates to previous versions of Windows that fixed problems and added features. The Service Pack term isn't being used here, but everyone pretty much agrees that it's analogous. This major update should address most of the glitches that may have been experienced, fix security holes that might have been found, or improve user interface elements that users have complained about.

For this reason, I'm now changing my position on Windows 10 upgrades, and advising that it's safe to jump into the water. This doesn't mean that an update is certain to go smoothly with zero ill effects. I can't emphasize enough that before you upgrade to 10, you should make sure all your files are backed up (though I hope everyone is backing up already!). If you're at all nervous about updating to Windows 10, I'm happy to offer my services. I'll back up your data first, then go through the update process.

In the end, though, you'll have to decide if you even want to update. Personally, I'm still a huge fan of Windows 7. I think that at every point of Windows 7's life cycle, it's been the best operating system that Microsoft has ever made. I've been running it on my main computer since August of 2009 (since it was in beta), and for me, it's always been great. In that time, I've never even reinstalled the OS. If you don't have any problems at all with your current version of Windows, then you might not want/need to update. The main consideration you'll need to make is that Microsoft has given you a deadline. You will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free for one year from release. That means that after this July, you'll have to pay for Windows 10. However, if you really are fine with your current version of Windows, this won't be a problem. Windows 7 will be supported by Microsoft until January of 2020. Most likely, you'll end up getting a new computer before then, and that computer will come with Windows 10 anyway.

(If you're using a computer with Windows XP, I strongly urge you to purchase a new computer - Windows 10 isn't available as an upgrade to XP, but XP is no longer supported and shouldn't be used for security reasons. Purchasing a new computer is the least expensive way to upgrade.)

Cutting the Cord

Logo for the Cordkillers podcast, a weekly show all about cord cutting.

Cord cutting is a term you may have been hearing lately. "Cutting the cord" is the practice of divorcing your self from one or more of the content services you pay for, and replacing them with an alternative that's [usually] delivered over the internet. Commonly, this means dropping your television package through Comcast, Cox, or Verizon and instead watching things online. Some people do this to save money, and others do it for technological advantages. Here I'll attempt to explain some of the possibilities of cord cutting and whether it might be right for you.

First, though, lets talk about cord shaving, which when you just try to pay less for the services you already use. It's always a good idea to call up your service provider(s) and ask them how you might save some money on your subscription. Most of the time they're happy to help you, but you might have to lead the way. The representative might try to up-sell you on services/speeds/channels/etc, when all you want to do is lower your bill. Go into the discussion knowing what you need. With Fios, for example, most people don't actually need anything but the lowest-tier internet package, which in our area is currently 25Mbps down/up. That's enough for three people to simultaneously stream HD Netflix, and that's plenty for most households. You should also ask the representative to tell you which channels you would lose if you went down a tier in your TV package. I dropped my house to the lowest possible TV tier and we haven't missed any of the channels we lost. Lastly, try agreeing to a new contract period (usually two years). This will tie you into their service, but given how often most people change or drop their provider, combined with how little competition there is, usually a contract isn't too bad. I was able to save $25/month by agreeing to a new two year contract.

But the biggest way to save money off your bill is, of course cutting cords. The only one that can't really be cut these days (for most people) is the internet. But everything else can go! Phone service can be done over the internet, and TV can use the internet or old-school broadcast TV signals.

Lets start with Phone service because it's a shorter discussion. The service I recommend is from a company called Ooma that sells a device called the Ooma Telo. Once you have an Ooma Telo, Ooma can port your number from Verizon over to their service (possibly for a small one-time fee). Once that's done, you'll never pay for phone service again. Ooma makes their money by promoting a second tier, for-pay service with additional features that most people won't need (like call forwarding and multiple lines). The Ooma Telo connects to your router to transmit phone calls over the internet. On your end, it also connects to a telephone that will operate just like any other landline phone you've ever used. This could be a single phone, or it could be a base unit with wireless handsets you can place around your home. This model gives you five phones to place around your house. You can either leave voicemail responsibility up to Ooma or to whatever phone system you attach to it. I would recommend Ooma, as it can give you access to your voicemails on the internet as well.

Now lets talk about TV. TV is far more complicated for a myriad of reasons. There are way more players - old and new - and they all have different approaches and goals. Getting your TV "over the top" (a phrase to describe the circumvention of traditional subscription TV sources) is more fractured than simply paying for a cable subscription, but for some people it does make more sense. If you find that you don't watch much TV, cutting the cord might work for you, but there are several things to look at and consider before doing so. Here are some questions to think over:

• what shows do you watch, and which ones are most important to you?
• are most of your shows on a small number of channels?
• do you mostly watch TV on network television or cable channels?
• approximately how much is your current monthly bill for TV alone?
• do you watch ESPN?

This should get you started. Here are some of the options you can look at:

Media streamer

The most popular devices for streaming video to a TV are the Roku 3 and the Apple TV. If you're already in the Apple ecosystem, and everyone in your home has an iPhone, the Apple TV is probably best, although it doesn't have nearly as many video sources as the Roku. The Roku has apps on it for streaming video from Amazon, Google, vudu, and dozens of other companies. If you like Netflix, don't worry. Netflix is everywhere.

What the Apple TV is good for is if you want to buy episodes of TV shows. Their library of TV is usually larger than most, although Amazon and Google are catching up.

Streaming TV Services

Most people who want to watch a decent amount of current TV, though, will subscribe to a service like Hulu. This will give you access to most of the shows on most of the major broadcast networks (but not CBS - they didn't join in). They're also starting to add original programming. The only downside to Hulu is that even if you pay for the service, you still get ads during the programs. You can try it out for free to see if you can live with that.

Netflix has been the leader in streaming video for years now. While you could get almost any movie from their DVD mailing service, unfortunately their streaming video service has very little by way of recent movies you might want to watch. They do, however have a very good selection of television series from the broadcast and cable networks. They also have what is considered to be the best slate of original programming in the field, with the Emmy-winning series House of Cards, for example.

Another up-and-coming streaming service is one called Sling TV. For $20/month you can access live TV from these channels. This is good if you're the type of TV viewer who just wants to turn on HGTV and watch whichever episode of House Hunters is on that moment. It's also the only way to get ESPN without a cable subscription.

Over the Air

It's funny, but the best TV signal you can get is actually the one being broadcast over the air (check your location here to see how well you're situated to receive OTA signals). It's the oldest way to get TV, but at the moment it's the clearest, least-compressed signal you'll find. Getting an OTA signal into your house after you've cut the cord is also the only way to watch locally-broadcasted live TV events like awards shows and sports.

There are several ways to capture this signal. If you don't care about recording it, and just want to be able to watch live network TV, you can pick up an antenna, plug it into your TV and be done with it. But if you want to record your programs and pause live TV, you'll need to attach a DVR to that antenna. There are generally two recommended options:

Tivo Roamio OTA - This limited offer includes a lifetime service fee, so you won't have a monthly bill. It has the easy to use Tivo interface, and can record up to 4 shows at once and store 500 hours of TV. Plus, if you purchase Tivo's Mini product, you can attach it to other TVs and give them instant access to all live and recorded content that the main unit can access. Lastly, adding a Tivo Stream lets you access all the recorded content on the Roamio from anywhere you are in the world.

Channel Master - The Roamio lifetime service is a limited offer, but this device is never sold with a subscription plan. Beyond that, it's a little more complicated. You have to supply the hard drive, and the software isn't quite up to par with Tivo's. But it's a very popular product that will work well to get you access to live and recorded over the air content.

Summary

This info should be enough to get you started thinking about what you'd like to do, but the advantages and disadvantages of cord cutting - especially at this stage - are going to depend on the individual. I'd be happy to give a free assessment to anyone interested.

Postscript

Another way to "shave" the cord is to own your equipment. Instead of paying a certain amount for your cable company's DVR and set top boxes is to buy your own. Buying a Tivo and the associated products can be a big up-front cost, but depending on how much you pay Verizon every month, you could break even after 2-3 years.

Should You Upgrade to Windows 10?

On July 29th, Microsoft will release their next version of Windows, Windows 10. Leading up to this release there have been many preview releases distributed to curious PC users, and Microsoft has been pushing hard to win back their customers who may have fled to Apple products. They've also been working hard to raise awareness of this new release, with the most visible move being the icon seen by all Windows 7 and 8 users in their system tray:

Clicking on this icon will start the reservation process for Windows 10. Completing this process doesn't do anything now, but sometime after the new OS (Operating System) is released on July 29th, you'll receive a notice that your upgrade is ready, and you'll have the option of upgrading.

So that leaves us with the question: should I update? The short answer is no, but the long one is yes.

Lets start with that short no. I would recommend waiting to upgrade to Windows 10. It's always tricky to move to a new OS, and it's possible there may be some bugs to work out, particularly as variations in computer hardware are encountered when Windows 10 is released to everyone. Even if 10 is rock solid, there's other things to look out for. Some applications may not work properly anymore, particularly if you're upgrading from Windows 7. You also might lose support for some of your hardware devices, at least until new drivers are written for Windows 10.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be much harm in upgrading. It's entirely possible that most or all upgrades will go off without a hitch. However, considering there isn't a tremendously compelling reason to upgrade right away, it's probably wise to take a wait and see approach.

As far as anyone can tell, there's no problem with reserving your upgrade. The only question that seems unanswered is how much the system will nudge you to upgrade once it's available. As long as it doesn't bother you all the time, reserving won't hurt anything. It will be possible reserve or to download reserved copies of Windows 10 for free for one year. After that point, you'll need to pay full price. I will be sending out another newsletter in the future, long after any bugs have been worked out, to let you know my thoughts about upgrading and whether it's ready.

You shouldn't upgrade (yet) if...

• you're happy with your operating system
• you worry about bugs
• you worry about breaking support for legacy software/hardware

You should upgrade if...

• you just can't stand Windows 8 (I understand, and 10 will be much better)
• you're running Windows XP, in which case you should upgrade to anything else

If you decide to upgrade and are nervous about the process, I'd like to help. I will come to you and back up all your data and run the upgrade. This way you won't lose anything if the upgrade goes wrong. Call me with any questions.

Lastly, lets address that long-term "yes" to the question of "should I upgrade?" Eventually, I absolutely recommend upgrading to Windows 10. All reports indicate that it's a really solid operating system that fixes most or all of the problems that users had with Windows 8/8.1. But for the moment, I'm recommending to wait until the coast is clear.

* This will also technically be the "last" version of Windows. It's rumored that Microsoft will simply continue to upgrade Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. In the end, this doesn't mean a whole lot for consumers, it's just kind of interesting.

** There are only theories as to why there was no Windows 9. Some say there's code in some software that breaks if the version starts with a 9 (to avoid installing new software on Windows 95 and 98). Others say the concern is that the number 9 is an unlucky number in Japan. In the end, it's merely marketing anyway. The actual in-house version number for every Windows since Vista has started with a 6, as did early copies of Windows 10. But just to confuse things even more, Windows 10 is now also version 10 and... now my head hurts...
All I know is that I like Windows 7, and that it's the real reason there's no Windows 9, because 7 8 9.

Home Automation Hub Impressions

This article was originally written for the Engadget forums. There are many good follow-up comments there if you're interested.

In my previous post about home automation, I outlined the basics of starting out with a ZWave system, using available products that could all work together.

Since then, the product category of home automation - and indeed the entire concept of the Internet of Things - has been getting really big. The #1 overall topic/theme at CES this year was IoT, with dozens of companies announcing products and services. Some even announced brand new proprietary platforms (which is the last thing we need in this area).

I thought it might be good to follow up with my opinions of two of the biggest platforms in this space, as well as some new thoughts I have about the platform I've recommended previously.

SmartThings

Samsung's SmartThings is probably the most popular smart home platform, and for good reason. They were the first company to put a tremendous effort into supporting a wide variety of home automation products. They also created a much more attractive interface than seen previously on competing devices.

I recently picked up a SmartThings hub to try it out, as I was starting to get tired of my old hub, the MCV Vera, and it's not expensive (only $99 on Amazon). I was looking for something that would support more device types, and for something more current and well-designed. I partially found what I was looking for, but I also found something that had me running back to the safety and comfort of my Vera.

I set up my SmartThings hub and added a few lamp modules to it, so I could test out the device without horribly disrupting my entire home and making my wife mad (tip: try not to do that). I also added one of SmartThings' very cool presence sensors, a little thing the size of a thick dog tag, that lets the hub know when you're in the vicinity. In a smart move, SmartThings also lets me add my smartphone as a presence sensor, which adds geofencing to your home automation setup. Very cool, and it all worked great. The Hub could tell when I was out and run things accordingly.

I thought the SmartThings app was very attractive, but a little clunky to get around in. For example, I added two lamps to my hub. If I want to control those lamps directly from the app, there are two places I can go: "Things" and "Lights and Switches." "Things" has a nice, block layout of all the devices you've added to your hub (so it includes the presence sensor and my phone), and I can turn the lamps on/off by tapping the middle of their square, or I can tap the settings gear on each of them to adjust their brightness levels (that annoys me slightly, but it's one tap). The "Lights and Switches" option takes me to a screen with each lamp listed as a "Shortcut" that just turns the lamp on or off, with no option to change the brightness levels. I found this confusing, but it might be ok for others.

In general, I just found it difficult to figure out how to do things in the SmartThings app. Some tasks are clear, like making things happen when a certain trigger occurs. I can make a tripped motion sensor turn on my lights, for example, very easily. But other things, like setting up something I could trigger manually through the app, were difficult, as was simply moving through the app.

I stopped short of adding any more devices for two reasons: first, I have no doubt that they'd work fine, and second, I ran into a dealbreaker: Smartthings is terrible at lighting scenes.

I define scenes essentially as macros. Either a trigger or other manual action initiates the macro, and the scene carries out until it's done. In my home, the most common type of scene is one that turns on a bunch of lights to present dim levels. I'll hit a button on a remote or choose a scene using my phone, and all the lights in my living room will turn on, for example. Another button dims those lights to a late-evening TV-watching level. Another dims them to extremely low movie levels. SmartThings, at best, can only dim all lights in a scene to the same exact level.

Technically, I could accomplish what I wanted with a series of apps, as I was informed by users in the Smartthings community, but I found the process to be a huge hassle, and even if I accomplished it the scenes would have been very annoying to operate from the app, ending up in a very long list on a page a couple levels deep.

Because of this, I went back to Vera, which makes scenes extraordinarily easy right out of the box. I can even set up scenes that will set lights at one dim level one moment, then another level the next. Part of it, I'll admit, was the familiarity of the Vera system and setup process, but I was surprised that Smartthings did not have the equivalent of scenes that Wink and Vera do.

Speaking of...

Wink

The Wink hub from Quirky (and, largely, Home Depot), is probably the best value of the hubs on the market. It retails for $50, and I picked one up on Amazon for about $38 (doesn't seem to be available at the moment). Like the SmartThings hub, it talks to a really nice variety of devices like Hue, Nest, and Dropcam, as well as a bunch of more traditional ZWave devices (light switches, thermostats, door locks, etc.).

In my opinion, the Wink app is much easier to use and wrap your head around than SmartThings. The home tab lists your devices, the shortcut tab lists what I would call scenes, the robots tab is where the automation happens, and you set up events to trigger devices around your home. The interface is very clean and well designed.

But there are limitations.

Currently, the Wink hub doesn't have support for as many devices as SmartThings. One of the big omissions, in my opinion, is support for a hardware remote to have around the house. In my current setup, I'm using something called a Minimote to initiate scenes in various rooms in my house. It's nice for when I don't want to dig out my phone. But these don't work with Wink (they do with Smartthings).

Another drawback for me - and one that applies to SmartThings as well - is that both platforms are entirely dependent on the cloud services that run them. If you don't have an internet connection, you're back to the dark ages where you had to actually get off your butt, walk over, and flick a light switch! The horror! But to be completely serious, this can be a big deal. If your SmartThings or Wink hub loses its connection to the services that run them, you cannot control your lights and none of your triggers are activated. Even if you have a reliable internet connection, these companies can experience outages of their own, and there's been talk that Wink has had their issues with this. While this issue may not sound like a big deal, there are some things you may rely on with these systems. For example, my automation system feeds my cats for me at regular intervals. If Wink's servers are down, I don't want my cats to miss a meal or two. You might also end up with lights on all day because they didn't turn off at sunrise like you wanted them to. These systems really need to be rock solid and reliable, and despite being a big cloud services proponent, I'm not wild about how these companies have structured their services. I also think it makes the control of your smart home slower, since your signals have to go over the internet and back.

There are a couple other issues I have with Wink. I don't like that when I set up a robot, I can't make it initiate a shortcut (scene). Essentially, I have to recreate the scene all over again, resulting in a duplication of work in a lot of cases. I'm not sure why they didn't simplify things and add that ability.

The other huge problem I have with the Wink app is that everything in it is absolutely enormous. The icons all take up about 1/6th of the screen, so even on my Nexus 6 the most items I can see on my screen at one time is 4, plus half of two more. That's absurd, in my opinion. I have 43 lights and lamps in my automation system, and the thought of scrolling forever through them all doesn't appeal to me. This app is very pretty, but it boggles my mind that they made these icons so gigantic.

One of my absolute favorite things about the Wink system is that I can grant limited or full access to other users. For example, if I had a teenager in my house, I could give them access to the devices in their room and not the whole house. Even here, though, there are design issues. I can either give access to the entire system or specific devices. I can't give access to shortcuts, for example, which seems like an oversight.

I found so much to like about the Wink hub, but I had reliability issues, slow response times, and several major design issues as described above. I think they could improve the device, but we'll have to see.

MCV Vera Lite

Which brings me back to the MiCasaVerde Vera Lite. It's the hub I was recommending in my first post, and the one I'm still using. However, after about 3 years of using it I'm starting to have a change of heart about the platform.

First is the stability. For the most part, it works great. It'll be reliable and consistent. But if there's a hiccup, things can spiral pretty fast. For example, if the system thinks it noticed a delay or a bad route at some point during the day, it'll initiate a heal process in the middle of the night (about 2-3am, I believe) to try to fix its self. In theory, this is great! A system that fixes its self! But I recently had this go horribly wrong, and suddenly nothing worked right or wouldn't work at all. Fortunately, a call to MCV support got me back up and running with a system backup, but it still gave me concerns about the platform.

The other problem I have with the Vera platform is that when I recommend it, I'm recommending something different from what I use. See, the Vera product I have is almost 3 years old and is running version 5 of their software. The current version of the Vera Lite being sold on Amazon is running version 7. One would assume this would be a good thing, but I personally think that the new version is one of the most horribly designed user interfaces I've ever seen. It has the worst use of white space in the history of mankind, for example. Both in the web interface and the mobile apps, every device seems to take up a third of the screen. It's the same problem I had with Wink but twice as bad. Even worse, in some cases there's even less on these device tabs than before, meaning that in their efforts to modernize their platform, they removed features. You can see in the image at the right how terrible the UI is. I can see, at most, one and a half devices at once! I have no idea who designed this, but an Ive or Duarte they are not. And yes, that portion that says "Click on * to select favorites" is a static block that goes down to the point where "Dimmable Switch" is cut off. They really devoted about 1/8 of the usable space to a tool tip that cannot be removed. Astonishing.

I'm still recommending Vera despite their UI issues. SmartThings and Wink have the best cross-platform device support and the prettiest apps, but they both require a constant cloud services connection, and SmartThings can't do scenes correctly. Wink and Vera do scenes well, but Vera is starting to become a bit of a mess.

I'm hoping that someone will come along and fix all of this, but I absolutely do not expect that company to be Apple or Google. For now, I still think you're best off with a Vera Lite or Vera 3, but many users will be completely happy with a Smartthings or Wink hub. Personally, I really disliked using the Smartthings app, but other people might not have the same issues I did.

I still think you can put together a fantastic home automation system using products on the market right now. The current hubs that control them all have definite quirks, but there should be something for everyone.