Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

also the smog test isn't *not* checking emissions as much as it can't officially and legally pass the test until the dumb software gets its kinks worked out. i asked the guy if there was something wrong, he said the car seemed fine, but i had to literally drive 25-30 miles and then it would be ok and pass the test. he said it happens all the time and he tells people to take the same route and it always fixes it.

There was an article recently about people getting locked out of Zipcars because they were out of cellphone range, in a parking garage, etc. That’s not a problem people had to worry about in the old days of rental cars.

The software determines a lot about how the car drives now. Check out some car forums and you’ll find people hacking the codes to get higher performance. The potential performance is literally held in check to meet efficiency and emission standards.

You’re working overtime to miss the point. Cars break down and have quirks, not working because they need a software update like it’s Windows 98 is new.

― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Wednesday, September 11, 2019 1:41 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm not missing the point. I just don't think the point, which overstates the difference between "needing a software update" and other car computer "quirks," is so profound.

Allow me to break it down for you: yes, I agree that analog/mechanical cars experience wear & tear sometimes rendering the car inoperable...

Yet the title of this thread is focusing on technological "backward steps", and one of those is not just that these newer, more technologically "advanced" cars will also have the same wear & tear issues as their analog/mechanical predecessors, but will be additionally hobbled with firmware cooldowns, be prone to hacking or theft, and other quirky complications that will render them inoperable.

Thank you.

"advanced"
this thread is ridiculous

More ridiculous than sitting in your inoperable vehicle on the phone for 38 minutes with tech support waiting for your firmware to push?

I'm not saying it isn't inconvenient. One person does that with an electric vehicle. Another fails a smog check in their Accord. trade offs. but the spirit of this thread is to low pass filter one's perception of convenience vs. time and then complain about the subzero regions and how they are "backwards steps".

excuse me *high pass filter

Sorry, which way is the comb-filter effect thread?

now the wah wah pedal was a real backwards step

then a forwards step...then another backwards one...forward again

drol wah-wah

I'm not missing the point. I just don't think the point, which overstates the difference between "needing a software update" and other car computer "quirks," is so profound.

It doesn't "overstate the difference." Your car still runs with other computer quirks like a check engine light that's on for no reason or even an open door ding or even if you can't get your emissions test right away.

there are yet other quirks, such as a bad crankshaft position sensor reading, that can make a car (without firmware updates pushed over the air) refuse to start.

Except then it won't work and you have to take it in before it will.

Your Tesla will work the moment the software update is done.

can make a car (without firmware updates pushed over the air) refuse to start.

There are very, very few cars aside from Teslas with OTA updates. Ford and GM are only starting it on a limited scale with 2020 models.

When your 2020 Focus also does this, feel free to complain.

the parenthetical is saying the failure mode exists in non-OTA vehicles

I've never had a car just arbitrarily break down. It's always been a dead battery or a flat tire or the reverse gear not working any more. And in any of those cases, the cause has been me not replacing the battery soon enough, me running over a nail, or me noticing that the clutch was feeling a little soft lately, but kicking the can down the road because I didn't have any money.

What that Tesla could do and what Microsoft Windows could do is what my office's silly little photo archive service does (or your browser) "An update needs to be installed. Would you like to schedule a time?"

The Tesla thing feels of a different category to all other car failures, though, because it sure feels optional: what exactly about the upgrade means that a car that could start and drive an hour ago can't now? Even if it was talking to APIs over the air to do ~stuff, presumably there must be offline modes available. "We want to make you update the software" is not the same as "the car needs this update".

Or are do we think they're saying "we've found a bug so terrible (like your brakes won't work any more) that we had to push a fix"? That's more defensible, but also terrifying.

(This is a general thing that pisses me off, because it's so often just shitty development. Had to stand in the cold to download an update recently because the bike app had pushed a mandatory upgrade out and refused to work like it had the day before. Could they really not have made their new API call backward compatible?)

my iPhone just died, completely, and i'm going to be going without a phone for a few days til i can get into and pick up a new one. a) it's nice to be disconnected tbqf, and b) we don't have a land line which would be considerably easier to replace and also my parents i think still have the same phone in their bedroom from when i was in elementary school. my iPhone lasted two years, just out of warranty.

In our expensive new kitchen I can't grill food, or roast or bake it at temperatures much over 200 degrees celcius without activating the smoke alram, which in turn sets off every smoke alarm in the house, at deafening volume for about five minutes.
The house is not burning down, its inhabitants are in no danger, I am preparing dinner.

I hate my smoke alarm deeply. It it ever saves my life it won't be enough

Oh, and then one of them starts beeping becuase the battery is low. At 3am. Again. Didn't I change it a couple of months ago? Oh wait, it's not the one in the hall beeping, it's the one on the landing, etc. etc.

well you joke but

i have in the past smashed one up with a broom but that was before our fire which refocused my priorities somewhat

Batteries in my smoke detectors are fine, the carbon monoxide detector needs new ones every two months though, is this normal? Maybe I should stop buying cheap batteries.

this is off-topic btw, I do appreciate having a co detector, someone I knew died from co poisoning because they didn't have one

I appreciate they might save me from dying in my sleep, but do I have to forego a browned topping on my cauliflower cheese?

i mean isn't that a ventilation issue with yr cooking setup tbrrwu

my smoke detectors are wired to the mains yet also have batteries that need replacing (i guess an electrical fire could short them out?). the little covers are absolute murder to remove

yep, dealt with one at the weekend and noticed that the actual removable part itself also has an expiry date, which was news to me.

(three years out of date if yer asking)

Websites that only load as one scrolls down, rendering ctrl-f useless

Otm

Yes

I'm shopping for a phone now and who decided that all phones need to have huge screens? This is ridiculous, a phone should fit comfortably in your pants front pocket

I want a keyboard on a phone, I have fat clumsy arthritic fingers and autocorrect hates me.

xp Right?? I've had the same phone for 4 years & even that one is too big. I'm not sure there are any iPhones available now that are smaller than the 6s.

https://www.palm.com

damn that actually looks pretty sick

tell me about palm tombot

I just heard some nerds talking about it. I avoid Android phones

ugh. i am chained to ios

🤨

Logging into an account and getting asked how many traffic lights/buses/cars etc I can see.

why have these people bought the Palm name and then got completely different branding and no reference to the old Palm anywhere

why not just... have a new name, for your new company with new tech and new branding and entirely new staff

I guess it gets old British nerds like me to click on it

(seriously I get mad daily at my 2017 phone not fitting in my jeans pocket like the 2012 one did so I should be target market anyway, except the "crew" pics are full of hiply bearish dudes whose leather jacket pockets are surely bigger than any ladies' clothing pockets, so maybe I am not target market after all)

mah big phone

my phoon is too big

The palm thing is daft, it’s not meant to be a ‘main’ phone it’s meant to be a companion phone for you main phone for those times when your main phone is too big, or you don’t want to loose or drop a $1500 phone.

I'd take it as my main phone tbh, it's weird they advertise it as a "companion piece".