Tech Diary | At Home with Tech

November 1, 2020

How I Listen to SiriusXM at Home

The sounds of your SiriusXM Satellite Radio subscription don’t have to be silenced, because you’re stuck at home. Here’s how I moved my SiriusXM stations from my car to my Sonos speakers…

I’m not driving nearly as much these days, because I’m fortunate to be able to work at home during these challenging times. While I don’t miss all of that traffic on I-95, I must admit that I actually do miss the visceral experience of driving.

That sensation of movement
Acceleration
Controlling the machine

I also miss listening to my SiriusXM Satellite Radio stations while driving
my Toyota RAV4.

I always considered my satellite radio subscription a luxury. But I rationalized its relatively expensive cost through daily use. When my car began hanging out next to my garage as a new norm, my SiriusXM value equation disintegrated.

Bringing SiriusXM Home
But of course, SiriusXM does offer the opportunity to stream its channels in your home. So, I decided it was time to do exactly that. But I didn’t want to spend more money on additional hardware.

The good news is there are a variety of ways to bring your SiriusXM subscription to your existing devices. The most direct approach is to listen on your computer, or through SiriusXM’s smartphone app.

Instead, my preference was to connect via my Wi-Fi speakers. (You may recall that I’ve been enjoying my Sonos devices.)

So here’s how I connected my SiriusXM stations to my Sonos wireless speakers at home.

SiriusXM on Sonos Play:1
First, I brought my SiriusXM world into my iPhone’s Sonos app, which controls my older Play:1 Sonos speakers. (They’re not voice-enabled.)

Here’s how to do that:

Open your Sonos app
Tap ‘Settings’ on the bottom right
Under ‘Music & Content’ tap ‘Add a Service’
Search and choose ‘SiriusXM’
Log in

You’re done!

SiriusXM on Sonos One Using Alexa
Next, I focused on connecting my Alexa-enabled Sonos One smart speaker.

To empower Alexa to play SiriusXM via voice command, you have to ‘enable the skill’ and link to your SiriusXM account.

Alexa sent me easy instructions via my Alexa iOS app.
(She’s so helpful.)

Keeping Up with the Times
While researching this little audio project, I realized there are actually numerous ways to bring SiriusXM into other devices in your home, including Apple TV, Google Nest speakers and Roku.

The SiriusXM value equation can easily be restored. It’s just about adjusting your mindset that SiriusXM is not only for car use.

That said, do I actually need satellite radio at home? There are already plenty of ways to stream other radio and music sources.

(pause)

Well, I hope that one day in the not too distant future, I’ll be spending at least a little more time in my car. Until then, I feel so much better knowing that I’m not burning money by entirely ignoring my SiriusXM subscription.

Control Restored
As I write this, I’ve got the sounds of SiriusXM gently playing in the background on my Sonos One speaker. Alexa awaits my next voice request for a station change.

I’m at home. And now, so is my SiriusXM subscription.

One more component in my life I’ve got back under control.

I’ll take it.

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October 25, 2020

Why It’s Time to Focus on the Details

**What I discovered on my hike with my family led me to realize how to better handle the stress so many of us are feeling these days…**

“You can’t see the forest for the trees.” That’s what someone might tell you when you don’t see the big picture. But I think much of today’s global outlook is so daunting that it might make sense to take a little pleasure in the smaller details you could be missing while COVID-19 dominates our collective.

This past weekend, my family and I took a hike through Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Pound Ridge, New York. There’s nothing like taking a brisk walk on a fall day during foliage season. Unfortunately, we found the forested terrain past its peak colors, and disappointingly, many of the leaves were already on the ground.

But that’s not my headline. That’s because I decided to take another look and focus in on the detail. I pulled out my Panasonic Lumix LX10 camera and adjusted it to manual focus. And then it was time to get close. Really close.

You know what? There was plenty of color. Everywhere. It was usually hidden amongst the muted browns. But it was there. Color was everywhere in a forest of browning foliage decay. And so I started snapping away.

Winter is coming, and this could be an especially tough one. But that doesn’t have to be the only outlook. I think in stressful times like these, it’s especially important not to lose track of some of the happier details that may matter more than you know.

And discovering warm color in the middle of a cold forest on a gray day is one way to keep a balanced perspective… so you can also continue to see the forest for the trees.

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October 18, 2020

What Would my Younger Self Think of Me in 2020?

As a child, I thought about flying cars, especially when I got my haircuts. 2020 was a distant year I could barely count to. Here’s how my expectations met reality…

When I was a young boy growing up in New York City, I dreamt of living in my distant future, and 2020 was the year that represented that faraway reality. To me, it felt like a time beyond which I could not fathom myself inhabiting. Too much would be different. And I would be… old. Someone else, in fact.

Technology would be infused into every part of my life. I had “Star Trek” as my guide, and though I was fully aware of the limits of science fiction, I was hopeful that the future would still have many crazy-cool gadgets to play with. (As we all know, pieces of ‘Trek’ tech are now real, like hand-held communicators, universal translators, and yes, motion-sensor sliding doors.)

When Barrett meets Barrett in a Temporal Nexus
Fast forward to 2020, and the truth is I got about half of it right. Although there are no flying cars and we can’t travel at warp speed, technology is indeed infused into many parts of our lives. And while I have, in fact, aged, I’m kicking the can of ‘old’ down the time portal a couple more decades. (I reserve the right to revise my view again in 2040.)

I think what I got most wrong was my prediction that I would be someone else. To know for sure, I would need a time machine to bring the two Barrett’s together. (And we’d sit six feet apart to avoid both a temporal paradox and COVID time travel.)

If my younger self sat me down and interviewed me, I think he would be surprised.

I know I’ve changed in any number of ways. That’s supposed to happen due to the slings and arrows that life throws at you. But I think my fundamentals haven’t changed. He would still see himself in me. And I expect he’d be pleased to admit his mistake.

This is the Year to Tap into your Inner You
Still, he’d also be a little suspicious. That’s because it wouldn’t only be a one-way interview. And he’d pick up on that. I’d be asking him questions too. I’d want to tap back into some of the refreshing simplicity of his boundless optimism.

Life doesn’t often support that naive level of positive energy for any extended period. But just touching that memory is always enough to refuel the soul.

And 2020 is the perfect example of needing to tap into your inner you during this global stumble.

We probably won’t get the chance to spend nurturing time in a temporal nexus with our younger versions. So, we’ll just have to find the strength to move forward using what’s in our existing bag of tricks.

That’s life, baby.

Using Tech in our New Normal
How ironic it is that as a boy, I couldn’t imagine a future beyond 2020. It was always a sort of temporal mystery, being so far out. And of course, now that it’s here, our global reality has been reset in so many ways due to COVID. Disruption and change is clearly the norm of 2020. Much is still a mystery.

So, what comes next? What will the future look like now? Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have that answer. (My time machine is in repair.)

All that any of us can do is ride this turbulent wave and looks for ways to maintain balance and hold onto whatever sense of normality we can. On the home front, I’ll keep playing with the technology that boy Barrett hoped I would. And I’ll continue to try to use this tech to improve (or at least maintain) my day to day.

Whether that’s truly happening or my gadget purchases are simply masquerading as a cozy blanket to help me feel good remains an open question.

Maintaining Order with a Robot Vacuum
Case in point: I just bought an iRobot Roomba on Amazon Prime Day.
(Yes, I succumbed to the marketing machine. But I’ve got to admit it felt great to buy something on Amazon that wasn’t related to supplies for our home during COVID.)

I’m not sure how our cat is going to react to our Roomba, but at least boy Barrett would be proud of me. A robot vacuum? How cool is that!
(Just please don’t tell him there are no flying cars yet.)

And my choice to talk about robot vacuums is a good sign that things could be worse. In fact, I’ve got a lot to be grateful for in 2020.

#LookingontheBrightSide

Category: Tech Diary

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