recursive
a year ago
Other than turning down the speaker, what possible reason could I have to know that it's "too loud"? This reminds me of smart refrigerators that can notify me when the door is ajar. I'd rather have it constructed so that it just closes automatically. This is the general philosophy anyway. I know that something could be physically obstructing the door. But in that case, I'm more likely to notice a physical alarm than I am to see the notification on some tech device.
In that spirit, it seems better to have a speaker that can't be set higher than the "approved" maximum. If this thing is measuring actual sound level rather than set volume, a slow release limiter, either in software or hardware would just make it automatically correct without the whole notification cycle thing.
BalinKing
a year ago
The README says that the tool "adjusts [the speaker's] volume if it exceeds a specified maximum" and that the notification is actually just to let you know that this has been done.
mulmen
a year ago
Why would I want to know that?
shakna
a year ago
To answer the question, "Wait, why did my computer just do that!?", that pops up every time it does something unexpected.
mulmen
a year ago
A Sonos speaker isn’t my computer though. This program only does one thing. Turn down Sonos speakers. Why would I want to know that worked?
Notifications should be actionable.
“The Sonos speaker is too loud” is a sort-of helpful message. I can infer the action.
Better is “the Sonos speaker is too loud, you should turn it down”.
Even better is “the Sonos speaker is too loud, click here to go to the volume settings”.
And better yet is “the Sonos speaker is too loud, should I turn it down?”
But best is the program just doing it and shutting up about it.
And best of all is just setting the volume limit on the speaker: https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/setting-a-volume-lim....
csallen
a year ago
Agree that setting a volume limit on the speaker is the best solution. It gives the person operating the speaker immediate feedback: "It doesn't get any louder than this."
A program that turns the volume down once a speaker gets too loud is, functionally, the same thing? Assuming the feedback is instant, i.e. it instantly decreases the volume.
If there's a delay, however, I can see how a notification might be helpful, if only to alert people, "Hey, this isn't just magically getting quieter. There's a program we've set up that does it."
mulmen
a year ago
With API latency there’s a zero percent chance this program responds instantly. According to the README it polls the volume setting every CHECK_INTERVAL seconds. It’s not like this program hooks the volume input event and blocks anything over the max, which is what the actual Sonos setting does.
What would be cool is an ambient noise sensor that can turn down the music if a room gets too loud, say from people talking over the music.
shakna
a year ago
You want to know, because someone in management has decided its a problem, and are intentionally taking choice away from you. It isn't meant to be actionable, but a slap on the wrist.
mulmen
a year ago
I have never experienced this. Notification fatigue is always engineering’s fault.
I have faced my share of micromanagers but nobody has ever told me how to set my notifications.
user
a year ago
paxys
a year ago
You may not. Doesn't mean the same preference applies to everyone else in the world.
serf
a year ago
>This reminds me of smart refrigerators that can notify me when the door is ajar. I'd rather have it constructed so that it just closes automatically.
a world of liability is escaped by avoiding that feature add. This is similar to why self-closing doors/trunks/hatches took so long to catch on. It wasn't a technology problem, Cadillac and Rolls Royce showed this stuff in the 60s -- it was a liability gamble.
Brian_K_White
a year ago
"auto close" doesn't have to mean "unstoppably closed by hydralic press". Every fridge closes itself by simple and gentle gravity.
marcellus23
a year ago
Not my fridge :( I'm renting an apartment and they installed some awful fridge where the doors don't close on their own. In fact, there's actually some resistance so that you have to push it with some effort to close it.
I've been living here for months and I still forget to close it half the time. But, at least it has a "helpful" feature that beeps at me (very quietly) if it's left open.
Brian_K_White
a year ago
I bet it's still designed to and trying to, and simply failing to for any number of reasons.
It's fine if it tries but only weakly, and fails sometimes because of that.
One fridge failing every time is still just "sometimes" for the design.
Failing to chop off a babies head is an intentional part of the design, and it's still auto-close even when it fails to close because of an obstruction or improper installation or manufacturing defect or even because of a bad design that would never work well but was intended to.
There's no way any fridge is actually designed to stop before closing. That will be some assembly or desgn flaw like the seal rubs or something.
I had to hack my mother in laws fridge to prevent the door seals from interfering and preventing the doors from closing all the way. It worked fine when it was new, but after a short while the shitty design of the door to door seals, the seals hit and rub on each other and and after a while the seals started to pull out to where they then interfered. The door was still designed to close itself, and tried to, just another part of the design sabotaged that intention.
It's such a weak force normally that it's easy interfere with. A hinge installed slightly off will look fine and work fine, but the seal on the hinge side maybe rubs just a bit, and that's enough to spoil it. Or a nick in a teflon washer acting as a bearing, producing a detent resting spot. Could be anything but there is no way it's in the drawings and designed to do that.
grayhatter
a year ago
have you tried cleaning the hinge and applying some oil formulated for metal?
perryizgr8
a year ago
Yeah my new fridge also has this for some reason. There is a sort of detent at the quarter open positon and it won't go past that on its own. You have to push it past that point to close it. And it will beep if you leave it open for a few minutes. Absolutely baffling design.
marcellus23
a year ago
This is exactly the case for me. People suggested oiling the hinge or something but from examining the mechanism, it just appears to be designed this way. No idea why.
thaumasiotes
a year ago
> a world of liability is escaped by avoiding that feature add
Huh? There are no refrigerators that don't have that feature.
GavinMcG
a year ago
“That feature add” referred to auto-closure, I’d imagine.
thaumasiotes
a year ago
> “That feature add” referred to auto-closure, I’d imagine.
Yes, of course; what do you think the alternative was? There are no refrigerators that don't have that feature.
GavinMcG
a year ago
Based on my experience, that statement is not only wrong, but obviously so. Because of that, I assumed it was not what you meant.
thaumasiotes
a year ago
You should try using a fridge sometime.
mulmen
a year ago
Every refrigerator I have used does this with gravity.
progval
a year ago
Perhaps a regional specificity? Personally I've never seen such an auto-closing fridge in France.
mulmen
a year ago
It’s nothing special. The fridge is just leveled so the hinge is slightly higher on both sides. The door then naturally swings closed. Do French refrigerators have some kind of mechanism that would prevent this? Like a latch of some kind?
progval
a year ago
We just have them perfectly level, so the door does not move at all on its own.
poincaredisk
a year ago
You are not insane, I have also never seen any fridge that auto closes (I'm from central Europe).
recursive
a year ago
Kind of. My home refrigerator does this and it just works. The one at work regular gets hung up nearly shut. There's a local minimum in the almost closed state. It only has enough momentum to close if builds up enough speed.
The ideal refrigerator should self close from any angle of open-ness. This is definitely not the case in general today.