smart*stuff

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/matter-was-more-of-a-nice-smart-home-concept-than-useful-reality-in-2023/
Long-winded article saying smart devices suck.
I still remember a commercial years ago where a hacker ruined it for an office, making the lights and the AC go nuts.
I don't actually remember what they were selling...
But a commenter has a point, why do you need internet to turn on a light?
Regardless....I see visions of throngs in Best-Buys wondering what to buy on sale. 
My personal opinions won't affect shoppers (because they're too busy shopping)
but  remote-vacuum bots, cat shitters and light-bulbs are terrible gifts.

What else to buy, ugly sweaters? (Because there's a sale on ugly sweaters?)
The cheapest toys break too easily, the cheapest light-bulbs won't work, and bot vacuums are overpriced, and cats know how to shit outdoors. OK cats are a problem, always running away and becoming road-pancakes. 

How much is a cat-shitter anyway...(I just wonder)

Why don't they make one for dogs? Do cats have to be toilet-trained (so dogs would too, I'd think.) It beats locking the poor pup-sized mongrel in the bathroom....
For $874.⁰⁰ You can buy a "wi-fi enabled" shitter for (My PC is blocking the sponsored site) 

Dogs are more practical and will poo in a box with a teeny lawn. 
(But you still have to water and clean the lawn)

Is, uhm, (hmm) there a convention of creepy middle-aged guys every christmas?
I've only noticed last year and this year.
OK nevermind, maybe it's the streetcorner, or the free meal close by, IDK....I wish I had more to write, but it's a blog and I wonder.
The guy with the huge feet and the hospital-sandals either no longer sits next to a perilous pit next to the sidewalk, (so I don't have to avoid his feet and get stuck in the pit, you lexus drivers prolly wouldn't unnerstand) or I've successfully avoided his sitting schedule.
I'll be in my bunker, until the 26th. Anything I *don't* have, I'll do without.
But I'll keep writing irrelevant little thoughts.

The one about it being December 24th, the one single day you could play christmas music out loud, and have twinkling lights and a wreath, and my Christmassy coffee cup actually means something, so once a year it's not insane to use it (I should prolly clean it.)
The OTA movies get lousier every year, a middle-aged Fred Astaire dances like it was 1934 all over again.
Fictitious Bums line the streets, last minute traffic and extra-loud bell ringing from the store santas, Buy something, donate something, *SPEND SOME MONEY*, 'tis the season.

(Bah! Humbug)