News & Notes XLV: Simply Having A Wonderful Canesmastime

[Derailed75]

Trust me, well aware and I've worked on the system that is running it.

Which, it comes with a creepy ass AI head that talks to you as well (which most companies disable in lieu of a chatbox)

If the AI for the Soda machine is a Max Headroom I'll cut them some slack if not f*** em

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

I can’t name company names, but the industry is working on an AI avatar that won’t be distinguishable from a real person.

Of course, they said that about the CGI in Phantom Menace.

I won't name names, but I will sure as shit post an easily to find with a Google search image of what the AI head looks like

 

[tarheelhockey]

I won't name names, but I will sure as shit post an easily to find with a Google search image of what the AI head looks like

See the post immediately above yours.

 

[MinJaBen]

Easier access to food has been a driver of technology since the invention of agriculture, so... yes?

Probably well before agriculture, no? I mean, the flint tool knApps they had were on point.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

See the post immediately above yours.

I mean, better Mr Headroom than whatever the heck that woman is supposed to be.

And let me tell you, when that AI head is sitting there talking to you with those dead eyes while you're testing functionality, its straight up dystopian nightmare territory

 

[Stickpucker]

I can even understand it with TVs, because of streaming apps and whatnot.

But my toaster does not need an internet connection. The soda machine does not need an internet connection. I have literally seen a goddamn coffee mug with an internet connection. It’s madness.

God help us all if there’s ever a power failure and we can’t open our doors because the locks are all bricked.

My dryer has an internet connection and an app required to see error codes. Too bad the mfr hasn't updated their security cert and no one can get into the app for 2 years.

Old stuff used to just put out error codes with blinking lights....that would be nice now that my dryer is on the fritz.

 

[MinJaBen]

My dryer has an internet connection and an app required to see error codes. Too bad the mfr hasn't updated their security cert and no one can get into the app for 2 years.

Old stuff used to just put out error codes with blinking lights....that would be nice now that my dryer is on the fritz.

Old appliances used to just work for twenty f***ing years. Now they need the damn apps and connections to figure out why it died in three.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Old appliances used to just work for twenty f***ing years. Now they need the damn apps and connections to figure out why it died in three.

It’s much more profitable to sell you something every three years vs every 20.

 

[MinJaBen]

Old appliances used to just work for twenty f***ing years. Now they need the damn apps and connections to figure out why it died in three.

 

[SvechneJerk]

What, you don't want to go to the fridge to get a slice of your favorite cake, only to met by this on the screen?

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Old appliances used to just work for twenty f***ing years. Now they need the damn apps and connections to figure out why it died in three.

Not only that, but if you actually do get a good piece of smart hardware right now and it does manage to last because it was well made, don't worry, the asshole companies will be along soon enough to push an update that disables all smart connectivity in the future that you actually went out of your way to pay for.

Yes, I am talking about Google announcing they are disabling all smart functionality with the 1st and 2nd generation Nest thermostats in October. You know, the primary reason why anyone actually bought the Nest thermostats in the first place, and they are not making the source code available for any 3rd party entities to continue supporting it. It just stops working in October.

 

[MinJaBen]

Not only that, but if you actually do get a good piece of smart hardware right now and it does manage to last because it was well made, don't worry, the asshole companies will be along soon enough to push an update that disables all smart connectivity in the future that you actually went out of your way to pay for.

Yes, I am talking about Google announcing they are disabling all smart functionality with the 1st and 2nd generation Nest thermostats in October. You know, the primary reason why anyone actually bought the Nest thermostats in the first place, and they are not making the source code available for any 3rd party entities to continue supporting it. It just stops working in October.

Yeah, and Google seems to be the worst offender for disabling apps. I won't ever buy hardware from them. Not that others can't/won't or haven't done similar, but they seems to be particularly egregious at dumping older products support/features.

 

[AD Skinner]

“Don’t be evil”

 

[DaveG]

Yeah, and Google seems to be the worst offender for disabling apps. I won't ever buy hardware from them. Not that others can't/won't or haven't done similar, but they seems to be particularly egregious at dumping older products support/features.

yep, legit ticked me off when I found out they were acquiring Fitbit. Functionality has been slowly going to shit since then and they try to push people towards getting Google Watches instead when at all possible.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Yeah, and Google seems to be the worst offender for disabling apps. I won't ever buy hardware from them. Not that others can't/won't or haven't done similar, but they seems to be particularly egregious at dumping older products support/features.

Google is horrible with it. They routinely kill devices and apps that work in hopes to lure you over to something that does a similar thing, just worse. They recently killed off Android Auto for people who don't have a head unit to hook up to, and it makes absolutely no sense on why they did it. My car doesn't have a touchscreen, but I did have a mount to hook my phone up to, and now I have to fiddle with more clunky design when I'm trying to follow Maps while driving, because of their stupid ass decisions.

And its really frustrating because the Pixel is legitimately a great phone, so I can't fully sever, and Google Fi might be the best wireless provider out there. Those alone make staying in the infrastructure worth it, but damn, everything else sucks.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

yep, legit ticked me off when I found out they were acquiring Fitbit. Functionality has been slowly going to shit since then and they try to push people towards getting Google Watches instead when at all possible.

And their watches suck. I have the PW3, and its a buggy mess. Their watch faces seem like they are all designed for people with the emotional maturity of a toddler, it has minimal functionality overall, the battery life isn't remotely comparable to its peers... But its Google, and they were giving it away for Fi customers, so I got one.

Kind of wish I went with the Garmin instead.

 

[Chrispy]

And their watches suck. I have the PW3, and its a buggy mess. Their watch faces seem like they are all designed for people with the emotional maturity of a toddler, it has minimal functionality overall, the battery life isn't remotely comparable to its peers... But its Google, and they were giving it away for Fi customers, so I got one.

Kind of wish I went with the Garmin instead.

I have stuck with Fi, but moved over to Samsung for my phone and got a Galaxy 7 watch that I like a lot when it launched.

Then my kid's hand-me-down phone got to end of support so I used the special deals to get her a Pixel 9a. And now I'm a little envious of my own 14 year old's phone.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

I have stuck with Fi, but moved over to Samsung for my phone and got a Galaxy 7 watch that I like a lot when it launched.

Then my kid's hand-me-down phone got to end of support so I used the special deals to get her a Pixel 9a. And now I'm a little envious of my own 14 year old's phone.

The cameras on the Pixel phones are stupidly good. 5x optical zoom plus another 20x digital zoom is really impressive for a phone, and then there is further software enhancing on it that does have it taking really good pictures that I do need with the kids. Otherwise, I'd be all over the Galaxy Flip for my next device.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Old appliances used to just work for twenty f***ing years. Now they need the damn apps and connections to figure out why it died in three.

Just recently a family member’s microwave died. She bought it in 1993, and it only died because she tried to run it for 10 minutes straight on a frozen thing.

There is no way in hell that any microwave being sold today will still be running in 2058. Even if they could do it physically, they’d be obsolete because of changes in internet tech.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Just recently a family member’s microwave died. She bought it in 1993, and it only died because she tried to run it for 10 minutes straight on a frozen thing.

There is no way in hell that any microwave being sold today will still be running in 2058. Even if they could do it physically, they’d be obsolete because of changes in internet tech.

The fact that we’re as close to 2058 as we are to 1993 is really f***ing me up.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Shrug. I'm pretty happy with the smart connectivity. Being able to check to see if a garage door is closed remotely, putting a smart bulb on a timer and auto-shutoff of a TV has been beneficial, for my own piece of mind, wallet and the environment.

I wish smart toilets weren't so damn expensive. Scheduling flushes in the middle of the night when it's freezing out would be a game changer.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Shrug. I'm pretty happy with the smart connectivity. Being able to check to see if a garage door is closed remotely, putting a smart bulb on a timer and auto-shutoff of a TV has been beneficial, for my own piece of mind, wallet and the environment.

I wish smart toilets weren't so damn expensive. Scheduling flushes in the middle of the night when it's freezing out would be a game changer.

I’m good with those things because the garage door and the light bulb still work the way they used to, they just have the added feature of remote control.

I think the specific frustration is with things that don’t need a remote control, don’t really even have any “smart” element to them, and become non-functional when disconnected.

Don’t even get me started on video games which are built around an offline experience which still become unplayable when internet connectivity is disrupted (e.g. getting booted from an NBA2K MyCareer game due to an internet blip).

 

[LakeLivin]

Shrug. I'm pretty happy with the smart connectivity. Being able to check to see if a garage door is closed remotely, putting a smart bulb on a timer and auto-shutoff of a TV has been beneficial, for my own piece of mind, wallet and the environment.

I wish smart toilets weren't so damn expensive. Scheduling flushes in the middle of the night when it's freezing out would be a game changer.

Just wait until you get a bit older. Your prostate will take care of that for you organically.

 

[Bub]

The fact that we’re as close to 2058 as we are to 1993 is really f***ing me up.

Yeah... When I was in high school in the early 80s my dad went through an oldies phase, really digging into the music he grew up with in the late 50s. I thought it sounded so old and dated. And now... I'm more than twice as removed in time from "my" music than he was back then...

 

[Lempo]

The fact that we’re as close to 2058 as we are to 1993 is really f***ing me up.

The future that Marty McFly traveled to was ten years ago.