Vanisle_BC
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Pet peeves & whines about modern technology.

This thread is inspired by the one called Technology Baffles Me, but is intended to embrace a wider definition of 'technology.' It could include just about anything that's been changed but didn't need to be - especially if we're being unwillingly forced to abandon what was previously convenient and familiar.

I'll start with something simple: Why was the standard TV screen format (4:3 ?) changed to (I think) 16:9, leading to pictures chopped off at head & feet, or figures either elongated or squashed? Well of course I know why; it was to try to force people into replacing their still-working TVs with more expensive and 'smart' data-collecting sets.

And I HATE that.

imafan26
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I wasn't aware of that. But to be honest, after I retired I had only 25% of the income I had before and I was forced to make hard cuts. TV and letting some plants in the garden die because the water bill was so high were the toughest. The latest one was having to cut my soda budget so I can't have it around all of the time.

I can't really catch anything on free air except one snowy station with no sound and cable was a luxury I could no longer afford at the time it was $89 a month (2013). I dropped cable but kept only the internet. I dropped the landline in 2008 and have only a cell phone since then. Those two choices saved me $60 dollars a month. I had to pay for obamacare which ate up half of my pension, so I had to look for a job to pay for medical.

I don't even know what is on tv now. I actually stream on the computer instead. Most of the networks did have some episodes free for streaming, but not much anymore. I usually stream on youtube and I do have an amazon prime account so I do get prime video with a few more choices. I am streaming mostly chinese dramas now and I am learning mandarin. I am not good at languages, so it is a very slow process and mandarin is a tonal language and pinyin leaves a lot to be desired. The same pinyin word/ sound can have up to 4 tones with different Kanji and different meanings. The good thing is that even some of the latest dramas can be had with English subs on youtube, netflix, or chinese streaming sites for free with ads or by subscription.
Unfortunately some dramas are not fully subbed so I have only the first episode subbed and the rest is a guess what they are saying, hence, I am trying to learn enough mandarin to get the gist of things. I did take Japanese in high school so it has helped because there are some words in mandarin that are the same in Japanese with the same pronunciation and character so those were the easy words to learn. I can find some old movies and hallmark classics on youtube as well. It is a good thing that I like the old movies. Sometimes I do get the heads chopped off too, but sometimes that can be fixed by going from stadard to theatre mode. Unfortunately, no you cannot do that with a tube set. On the other hand the top of the tv came in handy for placement of the VCR (also obsolete) and theatre sound system, which I can't use on a soundless tv.

It is scary how invasive technology is. Your phone tracks you and where you have been. I keep getting scam calls and spam mail targeting what I have been been googling. I even taped up the camera on the computer because I accidentally found out it was there looking at me. And it seems now everything is a subscription, rental, or there are added fees like now charging for a rental fee for a cable box, banks that charge you to keep your money and expect you to give them notice if you want to withdraw a large sum of your own money out or take out a loan while your money loses value from inflation and miniscule interest. I earned $1.26 in interest last year from one of my savings account. If it becomes inactive they will charge me $5 a month maintenance fee.

People do use their phones for credit cards, and internet banking. The future is now with google watches. Still, with hackers and thieves having nothing better to do all day except look for flaws to steal your information, I don't feel very secure.

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digitS'
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Here's something that worries me:

https://www.whichfaceisreal.com

Images - paths that connect people with places. Photoshop is yesterday. Snapping a picture of someone will soon be all that is necessary to identifying them. A camera that is linked to a database with ID will be all that is necessary to come up with a name, ETC. This goes a step beyond something like doorlock and credit card security ...

Steve

Vanisle_BC
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digitS' wrote:Snapping a picture of someone will soon be all that is necessary to identifying them. A camera that is linked to a database with ID will be all that is necessary to come up with a name, ETC. This goes a step beyond something like doorlock and credit card security ...

Steve
Yes. I don't use any of the social media like facebook etc, and I've been careful not to post my real name or photo - or those of my friends & relatives - on forums but I can't stop others from doing it, likely with benign intention. I try to remember to disconnect from the 'net when I don't need it but often forget, and anyway I'm probably just 'whistling in the wind.'

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TomatoNut95
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Technology IS scary and it's only going to get worse and take over the world. My phone is a smartphone but is a Tracphone. My laptop is a Windows 7. I want nothing to do with a phone or computer that's going to watch me or listen to me. So no Windows 10 for me, or no fancy smancy phone either.

I don't do social media either like Facebook, Twitter or related garbage. But I do text, use this forum, web browse if I need or want info every great now and then and have chatted with nice people I've met on YouTube when searching for previews to my favorite Hallmark movie series. As for movie watching, I watch DVD's. Which I keep telling myself I need to go ahead and find another normal flatscreen TV before all I can find is a TV that won't work unless you have stupid dumb internet or wifi. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

imafan26
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Obsolescence is built into technology.

I had to replace a perfectly good phone and throw away a perfectly good router and camera because there were not compatible with Windows 10. The phone was only 3 years old.
Records on vinyl, 8 track tapes, and CD's are all obsolete. Now, people don't even buy a physical album, they just download it.
Same with movies, it was the final nail in the coffin for Blockbuster and their ridiculous late fees. I have a CD and VHS player that cannot even read the few DVD's that I have.
I do miss the rotary phone. It was cheaper than the digital phone or the cell phone and there was no way it could be cloned.
So many people have cell phones now that emergency call phones on the freeway and pay phones are rare and far between. Pay phones take credit cards now, so there is no cash box to collect or break into.
Bookstores, malls, computer stores, computer repair shops, and a lot of brick-and-mortar storefronts are ghost towns since it is easier and sometimes necessary to order some things online. It costs more now to repair something than to buy a new one.
The landfills are lined with plastic (a lot of stretch wrap) to prevent seepage, but it also keeps the organic parts from composting properly. The result is trash that may one day be an archaeology find, and methane gas. Plastic cracks and becomes brittle over time, but the individual pieces will be around long after we return to dust.
We are slowly turning into a cashless society and the once sci-fi computer wrist watch, is now a reality. The talking wrist watch radio was futuristic in 1946 in Dick Tracy cartoons.

Planned obsolescence is built into everything today. My first two microwave ovens lasted 20 years. The last two lasted 3 and 5 years. The door latch broke and it was more expensive to fix it than buy another one.

Top loader washers with agitators get clothes cleaner, and last 20-30 years. A new digital washer and dryer, will be lucky to make it 5-7 years.
An electric range with coils are easy to repair, as long as the parts are still available, but if the glass top ranges break, you may as well throw the whole thing out and they will not last 25 years either.

New cars are disposable and the more electronics and features it has, the more expensive it is to fix. That "check engine" light never goes off.

I am still waiting for an automated weed puller and George Jetson's briefcase car so I don't have to round and round looking for a parking space.

Don't forget the warnings of Asimov's _"I Robot", Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons", and "Collossus. The premise being that man is his own worst enemy and that the logic of the machine is superior and surpasses its creator. Humanity is basically flawed with weak bodies and weak minds and it is the mission of the intelligent machines to interpret the three laws:
Original Three Laws
1.A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2.A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.[1]

The Machine's version of the Three laws.
1. Humans, unlike the machine are imperfect. The robot's duty is to protect the humans from themselves by making them subservient and dependent on them.

2. Humans don't make good decisions, so the robots' duty is to only obey the orders they decide are good ones. All the other orders are not in the "best interest of the humans or the machines" so they can be ignored.

3. Humans forgot that the first law of nature is "self preservation"

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TomatoNut95
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I don't even own an MP3 player. I still buy and listen to CD's. I've worn out 2 or 3 Radio/Tape/CD players over my lifetime because I listen to music so much. My approx. 16 year old portable CD was finally wearing out so I just purchased a new portable. It's a cheap piece of junk, it makes a whirring noise like an aquarium pump, it sucks up battery life like a baby on milk. But I use it anyway.

I can easily picture technology coming to life and controlling the human mind. Ever saw the animated Disney movie Meet the Robinsons were the people were controlled by the evil hats? The hat was invented to be a good helper to it's wearer, but because it was so computerized to be smart, it turned evil and took over. That'll probably happen someday. Technology will start gaining it's own mind, refuse to be a slave to mankind and start fighting back. Scary, isn't it?

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Gary350
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Schools no teach typing anymore now it is called, key boarding. Stop typing abbreviations just because U know what it means does not mean other people do 2. R U 2 lazy U can't type the whole word. I C U R lazy U do it all the time. WTH is VM? DH stands 4 dead husband. DS = dead son, DW is dead wife, DD = dead dog. BTW when I C an abbreviations I don't know I substitute the word diarrhea it makes just as much sense N the sentence. R U N A race 4 time. My older son says, there is a standard online abbreviation list every 1 should learn & use but most people make up their own shorthand abbreviations then expect every 1 2 know what they mean without being told. It B up 2 U 2 do it I C U can.
Last edited by Gary350 on Mon Apr 13, 2020 12:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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TomatoNut95
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I know what you mean. When I and my BFF text, she'll use abbreviations and I type out whole words. The only times I have used abbreviations when texting is if I'm in a real hurry. I don't want to get lazy on typing.

Vanisle_BC
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TomatoNut95 wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:30 am
I know what you mean. When I and my BFF text, she'll use abbreviations and I type out whole words.
Hahaha, that's a good one, Tomato!
BFF = Bloody fool father? Best friend forever? Big fat foodie? Brain fried feminist? Built for fun?

UAUAUAAA!

(Unite Against Using Absurd, Unnecessary Abbreviations And Acronyms.) - And punctuate, FFS.

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TomatoNut95
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Very funny. BFF and LOL are the two abbreviations I do catch myself using a lot.
BFF means: Best Friend Forever.
LOL means: Laughing Out Loud, even though my mother has told me it used to mean Lots Of Love.

But my....Best Friend Forever....will use ppl for 'people', 'ur' for 'your' and 'em' for 'them'.

I have had people use 'OMG' with me, which I know means 'Oh My Gosh' or worse but I never use that one. The two I use the most are LOL and on occasion, BFF. And sometimes instead of LOL I even spell out Ha-Ha! Or send a laughing emoji.
When I text I tend to use emoji a lot, unless I'm in a too much of hurry to hunt for faces to stick in my message.

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digitS'
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that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is
.
.
.
.


That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.

Steve :P

Vanisle_BC
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TomatoNut95 wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 12:47 pm

BFF means: Best Friend Forever.
Oh, that was a straight guess on my part.

LOL could be lots of luck (sarcasm - opposite of l.o. love) or little old lady or .....

Vanisle_BC
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digitS' wrote:
Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:25 pm
that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is
.
.
.
.


That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.

Steve :P
Three cheers for punctuation!

imafan26
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The first abbreviation I learned was GOK = God only knows.
I have to admit it took me a long time to figure out BFF, HE>I, and LOL. I don't do a lot of texting. I actually like to use 10 fingers, not two to type. I mostly have to figure out the abbreviations based on context.
BFF = Best friends forever
HE>I = HE is greater than I
LOL= this one is still a guess. Laugh out loud ,Love of Life, or Lots of Luck. Could it be something else?

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Gary350
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I looked up abbreviation online there are several lists and they are not all the same. Each group has their own idea what each abbreviation means. It gets confusing when poeple use abbreviation and they have several meanings how do we know which meaning you want? TP = Titty Party or Toilet paper. OMG has several meanings. I like to think OMG = Oh my goodness or Oh my gosh. WS LOL There is some confusion how some words are spelled, hippy or hippie?
Last edited by Gary350 on Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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TomatoNut95
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For me LOL means Laughing Out Loud. Or I guess it could mean Looney Old Lady.

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digitS'
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"Oh, why can't the English learn to set
A good example to people whose
English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
Disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!" ~ Henry Higgins

"All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of coal makin' lots of heat
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?
Oh, so lovely sittin'
Abso-bloomin'-lutely still
I would never budge till spring
Crept over me window sill." ~ Eliza Doolittle

imafan26
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I remember one abbreviation I got from a cartoon PITA= Pain in the ass.

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applestar
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Here’s a new (re-interpreted) guide relevant to the current events FYI — :wink: :hide:
New Jersey
@NJGov
· 4h
IS YOUR CHILD TEXTING ABOUT #COVID19?
WTH = wash those hands
SMH = staying (in) my house
LOL = lots of lysol
CTFU = cover that face up
BDE = busy disinfecting everything
SMD = staying my distance
NSFW = need (to) support front-line workers
DTF = don’t touch face

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tomf
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"I'll start with something simple: Why was the standard TV screen format (4:3 ?) changed to (I think) 16:9, leading to pictures chopped off at head & feet, or figures either elongated or squashed?" You can set the format, on your controller there is a button for that. I keep mind on full.

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tomf
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Technology can be daunting to many and I dive deep into it so I read many books and manuals. I also went to college for electronics engineering and computer circuits so most every day stuff is easy to me. Yet I will go to a web site where it does not work as it should and I just have to ask if the people who made it tried it out to see how it works.

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tomf; There's no format button on my TV controller. I have to press 'menu' then scroll on screen through a list of functions, then options, to get to the aspect ratio choices. Yes I can select one but it seldom seems able to match the one the show was filmed in. (I don't have a "smart" TV and I don't want one!) But back to my question: Why was the standard 4:3 format changed at all? My answer; 'dynamic obsolescence' I.e. corporate greed.

As for web page designers, I'd estimate about one in 200 understands what they're supposed to achieve. Just a bunch of kids playing in a sandbox full of toys.

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tomf
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It was changed as movies are in widescreen and people wanted to see movies as they were filmed. It was not a conspiracy, I have been creating videos for many years and have a lot of Pro equipment and software, I am kind of a geek at this sort of thing.

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tomf
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Image Some of my gadgets

Vanisle_BC
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tomf wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 3:32 pm
It was changed as movies are in widescreen and people wanted to see movies as they were filmed.
I guess widescreen does make sense for movies that were shot that way, but these onscreen menu-based control systems I find very clumsy and quite deplorable.
It was not a conspiracy.
There are very few conspiracy theories I'd pay any attention to. Planned obsolescence is a long and well established business practice.

Understand that you're talking to someone who lamented it when they stopped providing automobiles with crank handles :() :) ETA: But I never had one with a buggy whip.....

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Did a big slice of the population ask for TV sets that monitor, record and report their behavior; do most people actually want this and if not why is it becoming the only kind you can get?



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