Building Cool Things
In A Digital World

Chances are that you, one of your children, or at very least someone you know is taking school classes online. This number has obviously exploded with the pandemic and basically the entirety of the world’s schooling being virtual, however at this point we’re more or less “back to normal”. Prior to the pandemic there absolutely was e-learning software out there, but for obvious reasons they’ve become far more prevalent since March 2020.

Enter Lanschool. A program initially developed in the 80’s, but really went into the modern era in 2018 with their “Lanschool Air” version. Think of their classic program as being a parental control program on a computer, but their “air” version being exactly the same only it’s completely remotely administered. Oh, and it’s also got a really cool feature that allows the “teacher” to have complete control over the user’s computer. Yes that’s right, they can secretly enable microphones, the webcam, have full access to view, edit, and deleted your files – heck, they can even add ones of their own! They can log all of your keystrokes, meaning that they can even record all of your usernames/passwords, or credit card information, all in the background. Simply put, Lanschool is a completely evil tool and you need to be aware of what you’re giving someone access to if you’ve got it installed on any of your devices.

I’ve automated a good portion of my own home and that of many others over the years. Rarely it’s an easy task, complications come quickly, and navigating endless integrations is near impossible for people who aren’t tech-savvy. That’s arguably one of the biggest downfalls of the home-automation landscape today.

We’re in a time where every company is trying to figure out ways to make it easier for the average person to use their products without having any sort of tech-experience. The problem is we’re in a stage of limbo, and will likely remain in this stage for at least the next decade. Devices can get smarter, but there’s the problem of having them installed, configured, and integrated. This problem extends to having to install 20 different apps on your phone to allow the integrations of all the different brands. It’s a disaster. But, I’ve got the keys.

I’ve built a lot of cool things over the years, but one thing has haunted me for quite some time. My laundry.

Have you ever owned a printer, more specifically anything that called itself a BubbleJet, InkJet or any one of the other ridiculous names they used? You’re probably already in pain reading this. However if you own a LaserJet, maybe you’re still smiling. The difference is considerable in many ways.

Your standard issue Bubble/Ink Jet is usually a small form factor, typically costing under $100 and the ink comes in little cartridges. They’ll boast this stupid claims such as “print on a CD label, photo paper, print banners, colour everything!!111!!1!!”. It’s all nonsense. These things aren’t even good enough to hold your door open, or act as an anchor for your boat. They’re trash, and that’s where they belong – but people still buy them in droves. Why? Because they’re cheap and look like they do a million things, only you don’t realize they do none of them well. The print quality is about the level of the runny watercolour painting done by a toddler.