Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by spike021

also I don't mean NFC football :|

I mean these or similar:

I know, but I suspect there is a category of football fan that will snap them up.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by spike021

Weird random question. Does anyone here have unused NFC stickers and mind sending me one? I can pay postage. I can't find a single local computer store that sells them here. And Amazon mostly only has them listed as like 50-packs. While $15 isn't a lot, I'd rather not spend that much on 49 stickers I'll probably never use lol.

gotta go nerdy.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10128
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11319

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2800
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3781
https://www.adafruit.com/product/362
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4032

electronic goldmine used to have some surplus one's, not finding them right away in my searches though.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by soundman98

gotta go nerdy.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10128
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11319

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2800
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3781
https://www.adafruit.com/product/362
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4032

electronic goldmine used to have some surplus one's, not finding them right away in my searches though.

Thanks! Ended up ordering the RFID/NFC Sticker - NTAG203 from Adafruit since that was the only one that would be readable by an iPhone as far as I could tell. Still was like $12 with the cheapest USPS shipping, but whatever.

[soundman98]

i used to have some of the key chain rfid tags from some old keyscan/netaxs123 access control training, but i haven't seen them in years, otherwise i would've offered them up. i didn't keep much of that(shocker) as the batch code off the box was always needed for programming setup, and by the time i got to keep any of it, there was never a box in existence anymore.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by spike021

Weird random question. Does anyone here have unused NFC stickers and mind sending me one? I can pay postage. I can't find a single local computer store that sells them here. And Amazon mostly only has them listed as like 50-packs. While $15 isn't a lot, I'd rather not spend that much on 49 stickers I'll probably never use lol.

What are those used for?

[spike021]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

What are those used for?

A lot of things. These days they can be part of ticketing systems so you can ride the bus or train and there's a scanner that pings your phone when you swipe it nearby to charge your transit card. Or for point of sale devices to get your credit info for a payment.

These specifically can just be used as like an identifier. So some Bluetooth headphones or the LG tv remote include a similar chip so you can put your phone near it and it'll ask on your phone if you want the app or to easily pair it with your device.

In my case, my apartment has a "smart" deadbolt and it actually has NFC built in but only android can use it.

The way I unlock mine is I use either my watch or my iPhone and open the app, which then finds the lock using low energy Bluetooth. But if my hands are full it means fumbling with my watch or phone to open the app.

Apple has a thing called an Automation Shortcut you can set up where it'll scan an NFC chip and you can have the phone automatically do something based on the one it scans. So my idea is literally just sticking one of these on or near my door and setting it up so if I put my watch or phone next to it it opens the app automatically and then the app handles the unlock mechanism as normal.

There's no privacy concerns added to the process because the nfc chips only use here is existing to tell my phone to open the lock's app without my input. The unlocking and stuff still requires the app to be logged in and stuff.

Anyway that's if it works how I expect. We'll see whenever I get the nfc chip lol.

[soundman98]

in other shouting-into-the-void news, i interviewed at a different job last friday. just mulling things over.

things have been going ok lately, but i had started the looking process a few months ago when things were bad, finally got an interview. things tend to swing dramatically one way and then the other, so the next wave of 'bad' is coming...

it's a place that i'd be more of a mechanic role-- upfitting trucks for dump beds, service bodies, strobe lights. almost none of my professional electrical experience applies, but the last 15+ years of my hobby of modding vehicles does. mixed feelings as to 'what have i been doing with my life' so far in that respect. but then my electrical experience basically means nothing anywhere else for the most part because i don't have any PLC experience, despite 2 years at the security place teaching myself to strip apart dvr software and re-build it into workable install discs.

biggest thing is the pay, and all the tools i'd need-- i have the toolbox in the garage i can shift over to work duties, but still missing about half the tools i'd need to get started.

with the pay, it'd be about a $6/hr pay cut to start off, but they pay benefits with raises at the 3/6/9 month milestones the first year and then cost of living adjustments after that. so it'd be a rough first year, but then would put me within about $3/hr different by the end of the first year. second year, according to what they said, should put me close to $1/hr behind what i'm currently making.

i'm currently making more per hour, as well as about 5-10 hours overtime every week, but paying 10% of a pretty abysmal insurance plan--disadvantage of a tiny company.

i dunno... i'm just under the boss on the totem pole where i'm at, but being under this boss leaves me with very little confidence in myself, which is what started the process of seeing what else was out there a few months ago.

is this place better? maybe? always hard to tell in a 1-hr interview sometimes. but at least i'd be working in 1 place, and be indoors consistently, maybe even get home before 6-7:00 some nights, which would be cool to not spend 12-13 hours a day dedicated to work. it had that 'small company feel', but was a rather large company (husband/wife/barking-dog run the office, they sold to become a subsidiary of a major corp a few years ago, so less than 30 people, but then major corp paperwork stuff). so the internal politics somewhat worry me being similar to what i'm trying to escape. but then the husband at least had a little of a southern drawl, so he's not as much of a talker as my current boss...

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by spike021

A lot of things. These days they can be part of ticketing systems so you can ride the bus or train and there's a scanner that pings your phone when you swipe it nearby to charge your transit card. Or for point of sale devices to get your credit info for a payment.

These specifically can just be used as like an identifier. So some Bluetooth headphones or the LG tv remote include a similar chip so you can put your phone near it and it'll ask on your phone if you want the app or to easily pair it with your device.

In my case, my apartment has a "smart" deadbolt and it actually has NFC built in but only android can use it.

The way I unlock mine is I use either my watch or my iPhone and open the app, which then finds the lock using low energy Bluetooth. But if my hands are full it means fumbling with my watch or phone to open the app.

Apple has a thing called an Automation Shortcut you can set up where it'll scan an NFC chip and you can have the phone automatically do something based on the one it scans. So my idea is literally just sticking one of these on or near my door and setting it up so if I put my watch or phone next to it it opens the app automatically and then the app handles the unlock mechanism as normal.

There's no privacy concerns added to the process because the nfc chips only use here is existing to tell my phone to open the lock's app without my input. The unlocking and stuff still requires the app to be logged in and stuff.

Anyway that's if it works how I expect. We'll see whenever I get the nfc chip lol.

the way i understand it, nfc is different than rfid. nfc is to provide specific info-- ie. force-open an app, or provide specific information. rfid is just a hard-coded number sequence.

rfid has zero relevance outside of the program that it's been accepted into, which is always on the program-side. it's just a bunch of numbers. nfc has some security concerns in this case, as the app info is coded into the nfc chip.


the last time i fussed with any of that stuff was about 13 years ago. it might've changed some since, though i doubt it, i was running on the bleeding edge for a bit, and haven't seen too much new tech pop up in that space since.

it definitely never caught on like they were saying it would 13 years ago. we were all supposed to have an implant in our finger to pay for gas station stuff by now.

[cjd]

@soundman98 Unless it's work you'd love, doesn't sound like the right move to me.

[villainous_frx]

Originally Posted by soundman98

so the internal politics somewhat worry me being similar to what i'm trying to escape.

Current job might suck, but at least it's a known quantity. Certainly something to be said for that. Might be worth looking into the insurance thing as well, could simply that HR or whoever is complacent with how it is and hasn't reevaluated in a while.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by villainous_frx

Current job might suck, but at least it's a known quantity. Certainly something to be said for that. Might be worth looking into the insurance thing as well, could simply that HR or whoever is complacent with how it is and hasn't reevaluated in a while.

yeah, definitely part of my consideration. "the devil i know over the devil i don't know"

i'm definitely not good at change, which is why i've been here for 12 years, and know all the other local electrical companies. all the other companies i could move to with my present experience all pay less, and the bosses just yell different, few manage any better, imo.

the current company re-evaluates insurance every year, mostly because with the changes since the healthcare-for-all implementation, whatever plan we used last year always ceases to exist the next year.

first problem is it's a small company of less than 10 people. it's been discussed more than once that we're a short hop away from just getting a stipend from the business for the typical cost and then individually acquiring our own personal insurance plan, as there's zero cost savings or plan accommodations via the business.

every company has it's flavor internal politics of course, i know there's no getting away from that, but my hope was/is to provide a little separation from the top-boss to the worker. i'm learning i don't get along great with the boss level stuff, i just want to do the work and not get involved in all the nuances of the runnings of the business end like i currently am.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Unless you are extremely unhappy at your current job (like I was in my last job), I wouldn't really consider it too much. I hated my last job enough to take a 20k a year hit/cut and doubled my commute.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Unless you are extremely unhappy at your current job (like I was in my last job), I wouldn't really consider it too much. I hated my last job enough to take a 20k a year hit/cut and doubled my commute.

OKaaaaa ........

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by humfrz

OKaaaaa ........

Yeah, hated it that much. It wasn't bad the first 2 years, but the last year it went downhill super fast. I just knew it was better for my mental health if I got out of there. The commute doubled in mileage, but time-wise, it ended up being the same (minus going home, that was worse).