Mastodawn

Dan Ports

@dan@discuss.systems

3.7K Followers

527 Following

10.3K Posts

Distributed systems, operating systems, networking research.

Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research; affiliate faculty, University of Washington.

But realistically: mainly cat photos, food and wine, and bad jokes.

I also administer https://discuss.systems/

web	https://drkp.net/

Dan Ports 8m ago

Nicholas Grossman 10h ago

There are only three political positions in America today 1) I like the fascism 2) I'll acquiesce to the fascism (reasons for this one vary: cowardice, access, denial, misguidedly thinking that acquiescence is savvy, etc) 3) I oppose the fascism The rest is details

Dan Ports 13m ago

ACM SIGCOMM 1h ago

The 9th Asia-Pacific Workshop on Networking will take place on August 7-8, 2025, in Shanghai, China. The early-bird registration deadline is June 30, Anywhere on Earth. And the registration deadline is July 23, AoE. Please check the website for more details: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/events/apnet2025/registration.php.

Keynote talks: Matthew Caesar, UIUC, ACM SIGCOMM Chair; Dongsu Han, KAIST
Industry Spotlight Talks: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/events/apnet2025/industry.php
Academic Insight Talks: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/events/apnet2025/sigcommnsdi.php

Registration Information - APNET 2025

Dan Ports 3h ago

Irene Zhang 7h ago

Miso is back and back to being a gremlin. He’s really settled in to our house well and he’s been consulting with Pixel on the schedule. #caturday #cats #catsofmastodon

Dan Ports 3h ago

Irene Zhang 7h ago

Edit: Apologies to #mosstodon, this is not actually moss, which I knew when I planted it but then proceeded to forget.

I’ve been so excited about this moss that I planted because I love the vibrant color and texture but today, I noticed that it BLOOMED. I didn’t even know that moss did that!! #mosstodon

Dan Ports 4h ago

enargeia 1d ago

Dan Ports 22h ago

Really love how this week's email from my CSA starts off with a Pride message about resistance and then immediately pivots into talking about the joys of garlic scapes.

Dan Ports 23h ago

Adrianna Tan 1d ago

Ahahah my employer posted photos of us hoisting and flying the trans flag outside the aquarium and the haters are so angry it’s so funny they’re trying to say fish aren’t gay and people are like uhh some of our fish do actually change genders

#LGBTQ #Trans #Pride

Dan Ports 1d ago

Rob Ricci 1d ago

@mcc I, as a cis man, am more free because trans people exist and can live as themselves

Dan Ports 1d ago

Someone recently told me that they knew of multiple people who thought that women only go to CS grad school to find husbands, and there are so many obvious things wrong with that statement, but I want to focus on: wouldn’t… *literally any other option* be better?

Dan Ports 1d ago

If we are all at the trans march who is watching the internet

×

uhhhhhhhhh
so... i have a home assistant install with me for my demo.

it lives on a raspi. which has bluetooth onboard.

someone at con brought a bluetooth toothbrush. and home assistant found it. and i added it.

soo... now im tracking a bluetooth toothbrush at a security con.

sooooo
these toothbrushes publish rssi.

.. and im graphing it now

it.. publishes via btle that the user went into the settings menu?

so heres the oral-b site for these things:

https://oralb.com/en-us/products/electric-toothbrushes/oral-b-io-series-9-rechargeable-electric-toothbrush-black-onyx/

Oral-B iO Series 9 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, Black Onyx

The Oral-B's iO Series 9 utilizes powerful, but gentle micro-vibrating bristles. Experience the WOW of a professional clean feel at home.

Oral-B

hackcon day 2:

a third toothbrush has arrived.

I have added it to the tracking card, watching its rssi

and then there were four

... and now there are five.

and ive had to switch to apex charts, because the built in HA ones dont handle 5 items on one chart well in the legend

@Viss Are attendees practicing good dental hygiene? We expect a full report.

Fritz Adalis Feb 13

@Sempf @Viss
Can it tell who has [picard voice] the gum disease GINGIVITIS?

Apicultor 🐝Feb 13

@FritzAdalis I HEARD HIS VOICE 🥹

synthBirba Feb 13

@Viss I'm following this story more than Italians are following Sanremo now

Xavier «X» Santolaria

@Viss When do I know whey they brush their teeth? Because truth to be told, this is the most important intel you want to get

Xavier «X» Santolaria

@Viss The early birds brush their teeth!

ClickyMcTicker Feb 13

@0x58 @Viss either they brushed in three seconds or they had a different mode they were in prior. I’m hoping it’s the latter.

@ClickyMcTicker @0x58 i think whats happening is that whenever they click through the menu, it squirts btle out, and i guess its so that if they have the mobile app open, the app can track what the user is doing? i dunno. its wild.

@Viss
Actually bought an Oral-b IO toothbrush recently... Thankfully you can use it just fine without ever installing the app and connecting it to your phone, otherwise wouldn't have bought it. After all, it's a frigging electric toothbrush and has absolutely no reason to connect to anything other than power for charging. The silly trend of making everything "smart" and slapping "AI" on the packaging is seriously annoying.

@caranea im not sure this has anything to do with its app, necessarily, because its the toothbrush itself thats spraying btle everywhere

@Viss
Hm. Will have a peek later. My understanding was that it at least shouldn't communicate a status if it was never activated in the first place.

@caranea i dont think there are three people at a security con brushing their teeth during presentations

@Viss
That would be quite something... 😂
Should have been clearer. Meant that in terms of tracking and communicating the past and current status if it was never connected to anything. Assumption is that the folx at the conference use it with the app when brushing their teeth, so the toothbrush is looking out for the connection. This last part would likely not be 24/7, but only when it is activated (tilt sensor, so being jostled in a backpack is enough for it to think you're picking it up to brush your teeth).

@caranea im guessing folks just have these things in their backpacks and theyre getting jostled and buttons are getting pressed

@Viss
Tested it last evening. Indeed it tries to connect any time the brush turns on (just the display, no need for the motor etc.). The tilt sensor actually seems to become more sensitive with the Bluetooth function turned on, leading to even slight jostling activating the brush, no button press necessary. You can deactivate Bluetooth on the brush though, which saves battery and stops the silliness (obviously not an option if you install and use the app).

@caranea heh, so yeah, we were assuming correctly. toothbrushes in backpacks just kicking around squirting btle all over the place.

the crowd really liked it though, i added several slides about WTF TOOTHBRUSHES to the end of my deck

@Viss tried sending a ping to get it to buzz yet?! LOL

@thejikz not sure its possible, sadly

@Viss well, not with that attitude, why can't it play doom yet?! bzzbzz. XD
still, real cool but weird thing.

@thejikz thats a good question, it does have a display!

Tim Panton Feb 12

@Viss Silly story time...
A _long_ time ago at a devcon I mentioned how stupid some IoT was and said that it would be fun to hack on but that they were too expensive for a joke...

Unfortunately the guy sitting next to me organised a whip round and $100 later I was kinda committed to hacking on a toothbrush.

In the end I tied it to voicemail so that it said "Mr Panton is brushing his teeth right now, but will be available to take your call in 97 seconds". There may be a video somewhere.

Tim Panton Feb 12

@Viss If I remember right, @jcolp was the instigator of the whip-round .

Joshua C. Colp 🇨🇦 🚴 🏃 🚣‍♂️Feb 12

@steely_glint @Viss Kicker is, it was funded before it even got to me. :P

CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch)

@Viss *Toothbrush Noises* I'm in...

@catsalad *bzzzzzzzzzzzz*

For bystanders: RSSI is Received Signal Strength Indication

Xavier «X» Santolaria

@Viss Someone will really have to explain to me the use case for that.... Can't wrap my head around anyone who'd want to have such connected toothbrush

@0x58 there isnt one? is just thoughtless dipshittery

Trammell Hudson Feb 12

@Viss dashboard all the things! This is a workout on our rowing machine.

@th hah, beefcake grafana mode!

Xavier «X» Santolaria

@Viss RUN IT!

@0x58 i wish

Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE Feb 12

@Viss #HomeAssistant is rather good at picking up anything and everything that anybody brings within radio range, isn't it. Weird stuff tends to show up here whenever the kids visit.

F4GRX SÃ©bastien Feb 12

@Viss this is amazing

@Viss
Thankfully the base models don't have any of that nonsense, but still do the thing you actually bought them for...

Brushing Mode: I N T E N S E

Gallen 🔜 EF Feb 12

@Viss
Whelp guess my toothbrush needs a Faraday cage...

@Viss so...are you reminding them to brush their teeth?

@robinsyl i wil be :D

Frost, glow wolf 🐺

@Viss Brushing mode: INTENSE

Martin Hamilton Feb 12

@Viss "You're my toothbrush now!" <evil laughter>

Tim Lavoie Feb 12

@Viss Weirder still maybe, is why is this thing on? Can you do anything with it?

@tim_lavoie im sure ill find out more tomorrow at the con, but so far ive discovered that because these things will let me get rssi data out, i can track their proximity to my home assistant install, and ive even made a graph - so in theory i can do some light sigint work by way of ... toothbrush radio signals

RossMadness Feb 14

@Viss This has quickly become one of my favorite threads on here.

@Viss why does a toothbrush need bluetooth? Aren't toothbrushes by themselves enough land field without adding a chip and a lithium battery?

@Lamb ask oral-b :D

@Viss how long 'till we get the first "AI powered" toothbrush?

@Lamb they have that already

https://www.oralb.co.uk/en-gb/product-collections/genius-x

Power of AI with Genius X Electric Toothbrush | Oral-B

The Oral-B Genius X Electric Toothbrush powered by artificial intelligence recognizes your brushing style and guides you to a superior clean and healthier gums.

@Viss My God...
I hate the future

@Lamb yup. its incredibly stupid here

@Viss And here I am struggling to figure out how to use ANY sort of BT device I can stuff in my bag as a way to determine if I'm home or not

@hellomiakoda home assistant can do that for you! its called 'presence detection' and its built into the platform by design! you can also do it at the network level if youre running a unifi network, because HA can talk to unifi as well, and it can straight up tell 'is my phone on the network'. and from there you can write automations! :D

@Viss Yeah, I know. I was using "is my phone on the network" and found it kept falsely triggering that I'm away.

One of the few things I miss from my Android phone was the HA app telling my server where I am with GPS.