Comments on: How Many Engineers Does it Take to Turn on a Light Bulb?

by: Michael McDaniel

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:50:36 +0000

I’d love to have these switches, actually. We’re remodeling and need 3-way dimmers (so knobs and sliders don’t work for us). This sort of gracefully-degrading electronic dimmer switch is just what I’m looking for. Anybody know the name brand?

by: Ken

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:46:48 +0000

They installed one of these goofy light switches in our new remodeled office conference room. It lasted about 10 days before the CEO walked in literally bashed the crap out of it one Saturday (still installed and powered on!) with 2 swings of a sledge hammer. He now keeps the hammer in his office in a case on the wall with the caption “Break Glass in case of Braindead Designs” on it.

by: Tom

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:09:02 +0000

> But why would you bother? It’s a waste of time. There are already clocks
> on every damn thing. I don’t look at the VCR when I want to know the time.

No, but your VCR needs to know the time if you want to record things at a certain time. You know, the whole “R” part in “VCR”.

by: Claus

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:07:14 +0000

The problem with the switch is the explanation. The interface is really easy to understand when you use it - it’s the language that sucks.

*And* they degrade gracefully, if you have no expectation that they’re smart. Tapping is simple on off.

by: Michael

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:53:01 +0000

I guess if its only so big in order to provide room for the sticker with the manual …

by: Stan Leigh

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:32:55 +0000

What’s wrong with these switches? They’re simple and intuitive to use when you don’t need their advanced features, and the advanced functions are easy to access. Anyone walking into the room for the first time will easily turn on the lights.

As for the question on fast/slow fade — I can see where the slow fade is useful when you’re leaving a room and want to keep the lights on while doing so. Although that would mean the lightswitch is too far from the door The fast-fade is usable in media rooms where you need to switch off lights for your projector and such.

by: Tym

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:17:48 +0000

I wonder how you read the instructions when the light is off and you are in the dark?

by: Harvard Irving

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:03:50 +0000

I bet most of the people who would be overwhelmed by these instructions are also the ones who also never bothered reading through the instructions to set their VCR/DVD player clock.

But why would you bother? It’s a waste of time. There are already clocks on every damn thing. I don’t look at the VCR when I want to know the time.

It’s not a matter of being overwhelmed. It’s a matter of being smart enough to be lazy, rather than being a slave to idiocy.

by: Harvard Irving

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:03:04 +0000

I bet most of the people who would be overwhelmed by these instructions are also the ones who also never bothered reading through the instructions to set their VCR/DVD player clock.

But why would you bother? It’s a waste of time. There are already clocks on every damn thing. I don’t look at the VCR when I want to know the time.

It’s not a matter of being overwhelmed. It’s a matter of being smart enough to be lazy, rather than being a slave to idiocy.

by: turrican

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:36:20 +0000

This switch isn’t that complicated, and the functionality would certainly be nice to have in certain business/presentation situations. Though, as stated in another comment, a good old-fashioned dimmer switch would probably suffice.

I bet most of the people who would be overwhelmed by these instructions are also the ones who also never bothered reading through the instructions to set their VCR/DVD player clock.