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

This thread is bonkers:

So, starting in 2010 Fisher Price re-released their Music Box Record Player, in a classic-toy version that doesn't work like the original. I got one, so I'm gonna take it apart pic.twitter.com/DytUrgzlCj

— foone (@Foone) October 29, 2021

Are ppl thinking too much or not enough or in the wrong way in either extreme about their zoom backgrounds during this global pandemic and remember #bekind

wowwwww at the fisher price exposé, that should become shorthand for an entire category of these things.

woah!
Fisher Price have completely fucked over their cash register as well. Don't get me started on that one.

it would be cool if they were also secretly connected to the internet.

Ooo, and voice activated.

ty for FP thread

Fisher Price has invented skynet

Lmao at the record player just being a repurposed music box

it’s not, though. the original was a music box, the new one had a design requirement that required a steady stage spring->consistent motion transformation mechanism. and apparently the way to do that (probably by the third contractor down the line) was to buy bulk-sourced music boxes. it could be anything in there

the level of “we need input A to get to output B” in advanced electronics has utterly gone to shit to the point where buying remaindered little computers has meant you have all kinds of shit crammed into everything. in toys and mechanical devices it’s just rube goldberg all the way down

I would so much read a further investigation into the series of decisions that led that toy to be made that way. I can't believe it's somehow cheaper to make it so elaborately.

this is how shit happens on the bulk market!

like, a mechanical temperature sensor isn’t something people make anymore, so I would not be surprised to pop open an electric tea kettle in a few years to find a sensor capable of running a portable weather station with humidity, barometric pressure, etc just not wired to anything

how many things can you think of exist that want a constant energy output off of a low-tension wound spring? music boxes and this thing

yeah but why not just make it the old mechanical way? Why did it need chips at all?

Presumably because it's cheaper this way. I'm no expert on mass production economics, but this assembly approach, inelegant as it is, costs less than setting up production lines for producing bespoke mechanical products.

This is maybe the opposite of this thread, but twice in the last hour I've had services and sites, in this case expressvpn and the new yorker, offer me an email link to sign in. It's like they've finally realized everybody forgets their passwords and is constantly having to click to change their password and then just do it over and over again. Is getting an email every time you need to sign into something ideal? No, but as an option for when you forget a password it's a step better than being forced to make another password what you're just going to forget.

And yeah, I use 1password, but it's not always updated.

Yeah, a few sites do that now. Slack, for one.

Oh man, the email to login drives me bat shit crazy. Especially when I’m on my work laptop where I can’t access my personal email without disconnecting from VPN. So I have to request the email, forward it from my phone, then click it on my laptop.

I am very thankful for the rise in alternative login options

It's like they've finally realized everybody forgets their passwords and is constantly having to click to change their password and then just do it over and over again.

I don't do this ... am I weird for not forgetting passwords and in cases where I do (or have a complex password on purpose), I use passpack and am diligent about updating it? My first instinct was, I'll admit, "what is wrong with everybody else?" but maybe everybody else is normal, and I'm the weird one?

I even have a folder for emails from mailman-type systems where they assign you a password.

how many things can you think of exist that want a constant energy output off of a low-tension wound spring?

Mechanical watches most commonly, which nowadays cost more than those with an electronic quartz movement pushing the hands around. Same thing goes if you're making a toy record player.

If I lose or ever misplace my phone, I'm fucked work-wise - all these double-authentication stuff comes to the phone, I don't have contingencies in place

Your phone number is tied to the insertable SIM card; your mobile carrier can provide a replacement.

sarahell, you are probably doing it right, but you are also way more organized than many of us too

I guess I remember about 10 passwords and the rest are handled by a password manager. I’ve no idea how people could live without them one these days unless they’re reusing passwords. I guess by repeatedly resetting their passwords by email, yeah, but that seems a massive faff.

them one

I’m about the same. Remember 5-10 passwords and have 720 in 1password.

on my laptop I have an encryption app you start up by entering a password. that unlocks a file with all my passwords and other info like bank account numbers. Lock when done entering password.

on my iPhone I use icloud password keychain which fills in the password after Touch ID/Face ID verification; this also works on newer Macs with a fingerprint reader.

My password is bigbuttz69 hope nobody figures out my username

xp I’ve got two-factor in apps instead of text messages because it’s convenient. I’ve botched migrating them before, but think I’ve got it down now. We’ll
find out in a couple weeks!

my mother's maiden name is yourmom

xxp - what do you use when it requires at least one capital letter or special character?

Or is it like:
Bigbuttz69

and

Bigbuttz69!

The requirement of an "account" and therefore password for every goddamn merchant is definitely a step backwards, like how many fucking times do you really think I'm going to be ordering from vinyldeerfencing dot com after this?

xpost B!gbuttz69

not sure if it might be a wrinkle of my wacky setup or what, but more and more higher security type stuff (banking, credit cards) don't seem to think my password is enough anymore and send me a new code via email every single sign-in. Even when all my sign-ins have been at home.

my mother's maiden name is yourmom

― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, November 1, 2021 2:19 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao same, maybe they're related????

maffewperman and mapman

no way we'd both be descended from the Dildo Yourmoms?

man alive extremely otm

i agree but then.... no way i am doing the Facebook or Google logins. Guest checkouts for stores are a good idea though.

ime plenty of stores have guest checkouts. I'm paranoid though and always create a login. What if I want to return it, or it gets lost... I imagine calling them up and them being like sir, I have no record of your account. Unlikely but I'm getting a little (more) insane as I get older.

ime plenty of stores have guest checkouts. I'm paranoid though and always create a login. What if I want to return it, or it gets lost... I imagine calling them up and them being like sir, I have no record of your account. Unlikely but I'm getting a little (more) insane as I get older.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, November 1, 2021 8:30 AM (one hour ago)

hahahah -- I definitely get paranoid like this too, though most of the time I do guest checkout anyway

you're always fine as long as you get a confirmation email with the order/tracking info. That's just schtick they pull to get you to give them your data -- they always try to make it seem like it benefits you.

my mother's maiden name is yourmom

― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, November 1, 2021 2:19 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao same, maybe they're related????

― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Monday, November 1, 2021 8:14 AM (two hours ago)

I am now beginning to think that the best man at my wedding, Hugh G Cock, might have played that role at other weddings other than my own?!!

my phone (pixel3a) wants to update (Android 12). it's a 1.5GB download. over 3g.

I'm at a mall for the first time in years. I don't know where to go. They have electronic kiosks everywhere, oh surely there is a map at one of these kiosks. No! Just a QR code to scan for a map, on your phone,which does not actually lead to a map. Also cell coverage here is terrible.

trying to read any map on a phone is a nightmare anyway

ha, in London is usually a case of zoom in so you can see the road names and the nearest tube is off the screen. zoom out so you can see the nearest tube and it stops showing you the tube station name...

my bank used to accept scans of checks as deposits

now, as part of its efforts to deliver best in class service, that function is no longer available. instead, you can try to take photos of both sides of the check with The Mobile App That Doesn’t Fucking Work

i mean i can literally mail you the checks with a physical deposit slip but is that really what you want

ha, my bank *sends* me cheques (dividends from Lloyds shares) and also keeps asking why i didn't deposit the one for £1.53 that it sent me two years ago.