September 2011

Schreck in der Morgenstunde

by Volker Weber

03:08 Disk failure detected. (readynaspro)
09:00 Zimmermann Electronic.
09:26 Data volume will be rebuilt with disk 1.
09:28 RAID sync started on volume C.
17:13 RAID sync finished on volume C.

How to get your Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update today

by Volker Weber

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Microsoft started rolling out the Windows Phone 7.5 update yesterday. They stage the rollout so that at first only one in ten users get the update, then one in four. And within a month everybody else. The reason is that if disaster strikes, it won't effect everybody. So you just sit back and wait for your ticket.

Yeah. Right.

We want this now. And there is a trick, that I could only get to work on the PC. It may work on the Mac as well. To cut a long story short: you let the PC Zune software check for an update, and then, about two seconds after your pressed the button, you disconnect from the Internet. I am not sure how this works, but I think that it does find out in those two seconds that there is an update, and then it fails to check for your serial number, and then finally it errs on the safe side.

You have to get the timing right. If it tells you there is no update, you pulled the plug to late. If it tells you, it can't reach the update service, you pulled it too early.

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The G11 has legs

by Volker Weber

Danke, Henning! Die Wunschliste wird kürzer. ;-)

Nokia erklärt NFC

by Volker Weber

Ein wunderbar unaufgeregte Erklärung, was man mit NFC machen kann. Gefäät mir gut, wirft aber ein paar Fragen auf. Geht das hier gezeigte nur zwischen Nokia-Spielsachen? Wie sage ich dem Telefon, was ich eigentlich will, wenn ich ein NFC-Tag berühre. Wenn ich zum Beispiel den Fahrplan anpacke, kann der dann auch meine Visitenkarte abholen? Das muss ich mir noch viel genauer anschauen. Ich denke, auf der Nokia World werde ich jede Menge Gelegenheit dazu haben. Ich nehme einfach mal mein Nexus S mit.

Facebook confirms 'Like' tracking, but says they don't inhale

by Volker Weber

Facebook has confirmed that the way it collects information from its users may result in the transmission of user data from third-party websites, even when they are logged out, but has asked for users to trust the company and will fix a total of three cookie-related issues within the next 24 hours.

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This should worry Microsoft

by Volker Weber

A similar B.Y.O.D. program at Citrix Systems, a software maker that also helps its clients implement such programs, saves the company about 20 percent on each laptop over three years. Of the 1,000 or so employees in Citrix’s program, 46 percent have bought Mac computers, according to Paul Martine, Citrix’s chief information officer. “That was a little bit of a surprise.”

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Logging out of Facebook is not enough

by Volker Weber

Facebook knows every account that has accessed Facebook from every browser and is using that information to suggest friends to you.

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Reiseschreibmaschine

by Volker Weber

Das ist der Traum. Superleichte Bluetooth-Tastatur mit Umlauten, ordentlichem Anschlag und großen Tasten. Cursorblock, Home-Taste, laut/leise, Start/Stop, Copy/Cut/Paste. Macht aus einem iPad eine Reiseschreibmaschine. Die Tastatur kommt mit einer dicken iPad-Mappe, die mir nicht gefällt. Also habe ich die Tastatur vom Case befreit und rundum sechs schwarze Filzgleiter drunter geklebt. Wunderbar!

Das Case ist sehr dick gepolstert und taugt, wenn man alles zusammen haben will und einen tiefen Tisch hat. Im Flugzeug oder der Bahn taugt es nicht. Da stelle ich das iPad lieber anders auf. Die Tastatur ist in das Case geklebt und mit etwas Geduld kann man die beiden trennen und später auch wieder einkleben, wenn es sein muss. Da die Tastatur auf der Unterseite in der Mitte etwas erhaben ist, muss man rundum kleine Füßchen ankleben. Ich habe schwarze weiche Gleiter in 10ct-Größe draufgeklebt. Die fallen nicht auf und sorgen für eine stabile Unterlage.

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Ausgebucht

by Volker Weber

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T minus 22 days

by Volker Weber

iPhone is currently no fun

by Volker Weber

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The iPhone 4 is acting up. I think it's time for a new one.

HP Names Meg Whitman President and Chief Executive Officer

by Volker Weber

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced that its board of directors has appointed Meg Whitman as president and chief executive officer. ...

In addition, Ray Lane has moved from non-executive chairman to executive chairman of the board of directors, and the board intends to appoint a lead independent director promptly. These leadership appointments are effective immediately and follow the decision that Léo Apotheker step down as president and chief executive officer and resign as a director of the company.

What HP really needs, is a new board.

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Let go

by Volker Weber

Google+ gets plenty of improvements today

by Volker Weber

The Google+ project has been in field trial for just under 90 days, and in that time that we’ve made 91 different improvements (many of which are posted here). Google+ is still in its infancy, of course, but we’re more excited than ever to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. Today we’re releasing nine more features that get us that much closer.

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OS X Lion security flaw allows anyone to change your password

by Volker Weber

Security blog Defense in Depth has found a glaring security flaw in OS X Lion that enables hackers to change the password of any user on a machine running Lion.

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Air Ballet

by Volker Weber

The Red Arrows, as filmed by Yannick Barthe

Facebook continues to fail

by Volker Weber

I have completely cleaned my wall a number of times. It should show exactly one post. Although I deleted the older posts they keep coming back. That's a double fault:

  1. Facebook does not delete stuff even it they appear to.
  2. They can't keep the stuff out of your profile even after you told them to.

It's not only that you cannot remove stuff from Facebook, they even fail to hide the stuff they keep.

Factory Reset for a Nokia Booklet 3G

by Volker Weber

I need a really small computer for my travel season. Abdelkader reminded me that I already have one: the Nokia Booklet 3G. The only problem is that it has become completely unusable. Time for a wipre and Windows 7 reinstall. How do you factory reset a computer? Well, Nokia has planned ahead. You can reset your Booklet in 30 minutes.

And then you can rebuild your work environment in a week or so. Or in minutes, if you live in Chrome.

Facebook trying to help

by Volker Weber

They are quite busy inventing new things to annoy their users.

Two good things happening for the BlackBerry PlayBook

by Volker Weber

In its latest earnings call RIM disclosed they shipped only 200,000 PlayBooks in their second quarter. That is two days worth of iPads. In order to sell through the excess inventory, RIM is taking a loss and drop the price of the PlayBook significantly. I am expecting a 299 price point.

In October the PlayBook will also receive a significant software update, bringing native email and calendaring to the device so that it no longer depends on a companion BlackBerry. The software update and the lower price are going to make this a really compelling offering.

Small pleasures

by Volker Weber

Maybe they are going to call it Lotusphere after all

by Volker Weber

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Now you see it, now you don't

by Volker Weber

Nothing tells you more about Facebook than posts you have long deleted showing up again.

Jürgen Kuri: Die Reaktionen mancher Nerds auf Tablets und Clouds

by Volker Weber

Die Reaktionen mancher Nerds auf Tablets und Clouds (und die Berichterstattung darüber, bzw. Tests von Hardware und Diensten) wirken ja schon wie unwilliges Füßestampfen. ... Gut möglich, dass in beiden Fällen Existenzangst mitspielt: Man bekommt mit, dass sich etwas grundlegend ändert. Und dass dies das eigene Berufsbild in Frage stellt.

Die Kommentare belegen seine These.

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Nicht reingucken

by Volker Weber

Why Facebook is the New Yahoo

by Volker Weber

Sure, Facebook looks massively successful. With a mind-boggling 750 million users, the social site can do no wrong, right?

Wrong.

Look closer, and it looks like Facebook can do nothing right. The company has tried and failed to launch or integrate new services that might thrill users. But users aren’t thrilled. And now its strategy appears to be: Just copy Google+.

Don’t look now, but Facebook is quickly becoming the new Yahoo.

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Eltima Elmedia Player, Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse

by Volker Weber

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A couple of weeks ago a friendly lady from Eltima Software asked me whether I would like to review their all-singing and all-dancing media player. She wanted to supply me with an upgrade key to the Pro version and discounts for my readers, and so forth. I am usually quite hesitant to take up any of those offers, but then I noticed something in the Elmedia player I found very convenient: download videos from the web. So eventually I gave in and received a key.

I have only used the software a couple of times, since the interface is quite busy. VLC serves all my video watching needs and I have mostly used Evom to grab videos from the web. Today I wanted to watch Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - Body And Soul, from Tony Bennett's official channel. And there it was again, our friendly reminder how much YouTube sucks:

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While Google is not working to resolve their troubles with Gema, the video is also on DailyMotion. And through the help of the Elmedia Player, also on my desktop, in 720p:

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IBM Hired by Huawei for Brand Advice on Tablet, Cloud Expansion

by Volker Weber

International Business Machines Corp. was hired to advise Huawei Technologies Co. on branding strategy as the Chinese telecommunications gear supplier expands into tablet computers, smartphones and cloud computing.

That should be easy. Rotate managers every three years. Rename everything.

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Homeopathic leak threatens catastrophe

by Volker Weber

An accidental release of highly dilute homeopathic waste from a research institute in Swindon has led to calls for the centre to be shut down.

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Higher

by Volker Weber

Mixed Tape 41 "Vision Pearl" is out

by Volker Weber

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01 RICARDO | CHRISTOPHER SCHWARZWÄLDER | 3:18
02 CLOSE TO ME | NOSOYO | 4:25
03 INTUITION FEAT. MINNIE MALLOI | JONNY DROP | 3:44
04 ANIMAL |JAMIE H | 3:03
05 IRRESISTIBLE | INDIGO CHILDREN | 3:55
06 ABOUT US (LES ENFANTS À POINTS REMIX) | WELCOME BACK SAILORS | 3:26
07 CONGREGATION | MUD & MIST | 5:23
08 LITTLE BIRD | WIDE OPEN MIND | 7:42
09 LUV | GIRAFFAGE | 3:57
10 ADELAIDE SKY - BONUS TRACK | ADHITIA SOFYAN | 4:04
11 PRELUDE | CRYSTAL JOY | 2:52
12 DISCOVERED PLACES | BLINDS | 4:20
13 RISE & RISE AGAIN | THE APRIL SKIES | 3:07
14 DESTROY SHE SAYS | ZOE.LEELA | 3:39

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DS5

by Volker Weber

Während der Pressetage fahren auf dem IAA-Gelände Shuttles der Hersteller. Opel hatte eine Ampera-Flotte und Citroen fuhr mit DS5s. Und das ist ein unglaublich präsentes Fahrzeug. Ich kann mir nicht so recht vorstellen, ein so stark geschminktes Auto zu fahren, aber ich bewundere den Mut der Franzosen.

Free Citrix Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook

by Volker Weber

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IAA 2011

by Volker Weber

If you watch the photo for a couple of minutes, you may spot a car in the background.

Box for BlackBerry PlayBook with 50 GB of free storage

by Volker Weber

Box provides simple, secure sharing from anywhere - letting you easily store files online, send big files fast, access content on your BlackBerry PlayBook, and collaborate with others. Box for BlackBerry PlayBook gives you 50 GB free ...

Free personal accounts are limited to 5 GB, but PlayBook owners get 50 GB. That would ideal to move videos in and out of the PlayBook. Unfortunately free personal accounts are limited to 25 MB file size.

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Mindjet for iPad free today

by Volker Weber

Mindjet for iPad lets you easily enter ideas, tasks, and meeting notes into intuitive visual maps that help you quickly organize concepts and prioritize action items. Instantly create new maps or import them from Mindjet MindManager.

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You will lose all your photos, and your books, and your music

by Volker Weber

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Today was a sad day. A friend has asked me two weeks ago, whether it's possible that he filled up the 80 GB disk in his Macbook. I said, absolutely. That is quite easy once you buy a good camera. I told him to buy a new 500 GB disk and have the old one replaced. Two week have passed and today he called again and said his computer won't start. Well, that is quite possible as well, if you fill up the disk completely.

So I asked him to buy the new disk today and come to my house to replace it now. After all, it should be easy to install Snow Leopard and then use Migration Assistant to read the data from the old disk, even when it is full. To cut a long story short, the Macbook would not start at all. No reaction to the power button. And the disk has a fatal error. I could not start it from an external dock. It emits noises it really should not.

I think the Macbook can be fixed, and even the disk could be saved by a specialized service. These guys are expensive though. Very expensive. Very, very, very expensive. Money you would pay to save your business, but not your vacation photos.

So why the green icon, why the link-bait headline?

Most people, even if they are being told, will not make backups. They won't buy an external disk, they won't schedule automatic backups. Apple makes it extremely easy. You just need to go to a store and buy an external hard disk and then plug it in. The Mac will ask you for permission to use the disk for backup. It will reformat it, it will backup each and every hour without asking you again. But you have to go out and buy the disk. And once you have the disk, you need to connect often. If you can't do that, you need to buy a NAS that supports Time Machine.

Even if this is easy to understand, it does not work. People procrastinate. Had my friend bought the external disk in time, he would still have a backup. Had my friend replaced the disk two weeks ago when it was filling up, he would still have his data in the first place.

This is where the cloud comes in. There will be people who tell you that your data is not safe in the cloud. I believe your data is not safe when it is not in the cloud. The only people who will not lose their data are those who backup to the Internet. And pay for it.

RAIDiator 4.1.8 and RAIDiator 4.2.19 available for your ReadyNAS

by Volker Weber

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Netgear updates the firmware for both Sparc and x86 based ReadyNAS devices. The new firmware supports Mac OS X Lion and Time Machine.

Marko Ahtisaari on ‘Patterns of Human Interaction’

by Volker Weber

Microsoft Apps are coming to Symbian

by Volker Weber

Today, Nokia and Microsoft announced that they would deliver Symbian software updates called Microsoft Apps. These updates will add some serious business productivity tools for anyone buying a new Symbian Belle device, as well as anybody looking to upgrade from Symbian Anna to Symbian Belle. Read on to find out exactly what’s coming, and when.

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Laughs

by Volker Weber

Wir haben ein Luxusproblem

by Volker Weber

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Nun ist es passiert. Wie vorhergesehen ist die erste Veranstaltung ausgebucht. Und ich bin ziemlich sicher, dass die zweite auch bald voll ist. Wer dabei sein will, sollte sich jetzt wirklich anmelden.

BlackBerry Certification Program continued

by Volker Weber

Dear BlackBerry Certification Program Candidates,

Thank you very much for your continued patience over the last few weeks. After an internal review RIM has decided to continue the BlackBerry Certification Program. Please note that all exams will now be available to be written, but for the time being the beta exams BCX230 and BCX231 are still closed. Should we decide to proceed with the development work and the beta exams are reopened, we will re-invite you. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at certification@blackberry.com.

Regards,

BlackBerry Alliance Team

They don't really know what they are doing, do they?

iOS Facebook app gets a huge update

by Volker Weber

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Feeling safe?

by Volker Weber

Battle at F-Stop Ridge

by Volker Weber

Sonos updates software to support OS X Lion

by Volker Weber

Sonos 3.5.2 (build 15444250) with support for Lion is ready for download. Thanks for the heads up Alexander and Frank.

Caution: the Android controller has not been updated yet in the Android Market and is not compatible with Sonos 3.5.2.

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Update: 3.5.2 is now also in the Android Market and it is safe to update.

The Glif has legs

by Volker Weber

Once in a while, people send me stuff from my wishlist. Recently the Glif. Now it has legs, thanks to Bodo, who not only cleared one but several items off the list. That's a first. Thank you, Bodo!

Why Amazon's tablet will challenge Apple in a way that Google cannot

by Volker Weber

Charles Arthur is one of the smarter people in this business. So listen up:

The key difference between Amazon and Google is that one of them holds millions of credit cards and is a famous name in retail

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Google translates

by Volker Weber

I am ditching Last.fm

by Volker Weber

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This is the Android controller for my Sonos, showing all sources that are not my own music. And I will be ditching Last.fm soon. It's always been a great ride. I paid for music with my data through scrobbling. Now they also want money, so I stopped delivering data. Mind you, it's very little money, but I already have so many sources that I don't have to pay for yet another one.

Travel season starts soon

by Volker Weber

In September my dance card for the last quarter is filling quickly. After the fall travel season I only want to stay home. But it's a great time while it lasts.

We are kicking off with a heise event that I am moderating:

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Since it's a german only event: Das wird ein Riesending. Wir mussten schon einen größeren Veranstaltungsort buchen. Ich wäre nicht überrascht, wenn das total ausverkauft wird. Wer kommen will, sollte sich jetzt bewegen. Anders als bei allen anderen Heise-Veranstaltungen, die ich bisher gemacht habe, ist das eine Mischung aus unabhängigen und Firmen-Vorträgen, mit dem Schwerpunkt auf den unabhängigen. Der erste Firmenvortrag, den ich bisher gesehen habe, sieht aber schon mal sehr gut aus. Ich denke, dass jeder, der hier war, am Abend weiß, wie er das mit den Smartphones und Tablets machen wird.

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After a short break, I will be heading to the fourth installment of the BlackBerry Developer Conference. This year, they will have one in San Francisco (Oct 18-20), one in Bangkok (DEC 7-8) and one in Amsterdam (FEB 7-8 2012).

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Back from BlackBerry Devcon it's time to head to London to the second Nokia World in London. This should be a pivot one, where Nokia has to ramp up its Windows Phone business, without sinking the Symbian business altogether. Should be really interesting.

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A short break and then it's time for the last iPhone/iPad/Android event and on to the IPv6 event in four cities. This one is designed to bring the IPv4 network professional up to speed on IPv6 in a single day. I am so looking forward to this event, since it's our dream team of speakers: Joerg Heidrich, Johannes Endres, Dr. Christoph Wegener, Patrick Koetter, Alexander Pilger and myself.

After that much travel, I hope to be coasting into the Xmas season.

iPhone 4 macht gerade keinen Spaß

by Volker Weber

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Der Button auf der Vorderseite löst meistens, aber nicht immer aus. Das fixen wir dann mit dem nächsten iPhone. Ist ja nicht mehr weit. ;-)

Josie covers Gorillaz

by Volker Weber

IBM Web Service

by Volker Weber

Our Research servers are not available during the U.S. Labor Day weekend (yearly planned maintenance). We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause; the servers will be available again by Tuesday, September 6th.

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Nokia Maps is getting even better

by Volker Weber

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You can still download map data over Wifi so that you don't need to connect to the Internet while abroad. It will still allow you to augment these maps with live traffic data. And it's completely free with your Nokia phone. You only pay your operator for the data.

Übung macht den Meister

by Volker Weber

Keine Parkfläche

by Volker Weber

Silver

by Volker Weber

The new N8 is here. The old one is on the way back. Unsurprisingly, the new one works really well. Thank you, and have great weekend, unknown mechanic. ;-)

HTC TITAN - the first pretty Windows Phone 7

by Volker Weber

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Belkin to introduce another iPad DVB-T receiver

by Volker Weber

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While on the road I often use the tizi DVB-T hotspot. It's working well, but it does have one downside: you have to disconnect from regular Wifi to connect to the TV receiver. The tivi go is designed to plug right into the iPad. The loop is the antenna.

I will let you know how well this works when I have seen one. I find the dock connector very delicate, so I hesitate to have a device this size attached while I handle it. The press release also specifically mentions the iPad 2. We will see whether it works with other iOS devices as well.

TomTom iOS app to be optimized for iPad as well

by Volker Weber

TomTom is doing the right thing for once*. If you bought the iPhone app, you will be able to run it on iPad as well, optimized for the larger device. I can't see myself attaching this big display to the screen, but it's a great device for your co-pilot. Not available yet, but supposed to be in the fall. 2011.

*) I have had lots of difficulties with recend PNDs, but I love the iPhone app.

On heavy rotation

by Volker Weber

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Red Hot Chili Peppers, I'm With You

Don't forget the emotion

by Volker Weber

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I had a couple of friends asking me "don't you have a Sonos"? How did this suddenly happen? Well, they had seen ads with the new PLAY:3. Sonos has changed the message. Small, sexy. Want one.

They really wanted to buy the PLAY:3. Now. Right now. Only when they tested the PLAY:3 against the S5, their ears said "get this one instead". I believe, the PLAY:3 is so much sexier than the S5, that Sonos is going to sell tons of them, literally.

Branding is important. Design is. Emotion is. Eat this, engineers.

Very long boards

by Volker Weber

How to switch your Sonos on and off at arbitrary times

by Volker Weber

Sonos has an alarm, which can play your favorite music to wake you up in the morning. It has all kinds of settings to repeat the alarm on certain weekdays, you can play in connected zones, it lets you preselect the volume. And you can set the alarm time from 15 minutes to 2 hours, or indefinite. But you can't turn it on in the morning and turn it off in the evening. Two hours is the maximum interval.

Use case: you have a store that opens at eight and closes at midnight. Here is a clever workaround:

  1. Set an alarm for 8:00 and set the duration to "No limit".
  2. Set a second alarm for midnight. Select the Sonos chime and set the volume to zero.

The first alarm switches the music on. There is no "off" event. The second alarm switches it on again at midnight. It does not care that it's already on. And then it switches it off.

You can also use multiple alarms for different volumes or different playlists.

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