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

Leave room for the entree

How much to print 500 stickers with QR codes leading to carfree.com or thewaroncars.org to paste over those parking signs.

QR code leading to pics of Tubgirl

I like parking apps. Hated having to find ways to make change before taking a trip downtown.

Count me among the haters. I don't own a car, so I only encounter these things when I'm traveling in a rental or a borrowed car. So I'm on the road, going from town to town, and inevitably it's some different app than the one before, or the app wants me to enter my password which I certainly don't remember, etc. etc. I guess I'm just annoyed at the idea of keeping multiple different apps installed on my phone so I can hypothetically park if I'm ever again in a town that happens to have been suckered by the same app company as one that I've used in the past. (The entire thing seems like an obnoxious way for a private company to slip in and grab a slice of what should be a fairly basic and easily-implemented municipal function and revenue stream...)

My city still has parking meters that take change as well as an app for the same spaces. Half an hour is something like 25¢ while the app charges you 35¢.

I'm comfortable with this. Making more options available rather than taking some away. I carry around quarters in an Altoids tin like an old man, but the app is convenient (and worth the small surcharge) because I can extend my time without going back to the car to plug in more quarters.

However, I don't frequent the private lots anymore since they removed the cash option and now have QR codes on the kiosk. I was carrying around an Android J3 up until last year. It barely could read QR codes for restaurant menus.

put it this way - I'd be fine w/ an app if that wasn't the only way to pay for parking, like give me options!

and also don't make me go through hoops in the process, like there's one parking app I have which even if you scan the QR code, doesn't know exactly which parking lot you're at, you have to search for it or enter the number from the sign or some shit, before you can even get to the stage of paying.

whereas there's one local lot here which literally you click a link, go right to payment and enter your space number, and boom...it's easy and over in two minutes. I wish they were all like that.

xpost pplains otm

I carry around quarters in an Altoids tin like an old man

you are literally my dad

I'm still proud of you.

i have somehow managed to avoid these up until now, but i don't doubt that i will hate them in the future when they are imposed on me.

Last year I stayed at a hotel in New Orleans that used a parking garage with a really bad and confusing online app. Parking was supposed to be covered in the price of the room, but the garage had many signs giving dire warnings about not leaving your car there for any tiny amount of time without registering on the app. So I registered and paid for a space and of course was told by the hotel that under no circumstances would they refund anything I already paid for parking. There was zero information about how any of this was supposed to work, which I'm pretty sure was the point, it all felt extremely scammy.

The entire thing seems like an obnoxious way for a private company to slip in and grab a slice of what should be a fairly basic and easily-implemented municipal function and revenue stream...

this

^^

maybe by city is just so dysfunctional they haven't even thought of this additional way to fuck things up?

I can’t even guess at the number of accounts I’ve made for sites/apps that I only needed to use a single time.

what I also hate is meters of any kind where you're in a part of the day/week where paid parking isn't required, but the system doesn't shut off intake of payment and willfully accepts your money. obv intentional because they know they'll bilk a lot of people who don't realize.

I used to go to see shows at the Orpheum at its old location in Ybor City and always parked in the same paid lot across the street, for about 4-5 years, including Sundays. One day I got out to pay and someone said "you don't have to pay on Sundays" and pointed at the part of the sign I missed. so for four years I probably paid like $80 in parking I didn't have to because they intentionally didn't program the machine to indicate parking was free during those off hours/days.

there's also the paranoid part of me that always assumes I misread the sign so I probably DID notice but just assumed that since the machine was telling me to pay that I had to. been towed out of town before and it sucks bad enough that I like to prevent it.

_The entire thing seems like an obnoxious way for a private company to slip in and grab a slice of what should be a fairly basic and easily-implemented municipal function and revenue stream..._

this

thing about ParkMobile/ParkWhiz and similar sites is a lot of the companies who partner with it don't always account for it properly.

there was one time I used ParkWhiz to park at a lot out of town and the attendant had never heard of it and had to consult his supervisor as to whether he could take my "confirmation" without paying. and on multiple occasions, where the parking site didn't account for the # of prepaid spots when determining capacity, so I showed up and the lot was full already (one of the times I got out, moved the cones, and parked on the side somewhere because I had no time to find another spot).

(referring to prepaid parking that is)

the app is convenient (and worth the small surcharge) because I can extend my time without going back to the car

I did forget to mention the time I drove a different car to work, forgot to update the info and got a parking ticket anyway.

you know what's a technological step backward we all just accept now? the automobile 😎

if we're talking Flintstones car there are steps forwards and backwards

they only work if you have a good pair of bongos

you know what's a technological step backward we all just accept now? the automobile 😎

I'm too traumatized by the parking app I tried to use in Leeds to post here. All I can say is that it took 45 minutes to get to the cruel "I'm sorry, but cannot add foreign credit cards or banks to your account" knifetwist at the end.

i mean the most prominent thread result on ilx for leeds does read, iirc, "that vile remnant of the north" so you ought to have been on notice imo

if it bleeds, it's Leeds

FWIW, I had been in the UK for ten days and may have let my guard down and/or was thrown off-axis by Scotland

when LOST was on, we all felt bad for the guy punching in meaningless numbers around the clock, but now I have to do the same every time I want to look at my bank balance or look at my paystubs

We had to take a step backward during Y2K, but I think it would be a safe bet for the bank to start putting 20__ on the date lines again.

again?

youknowwhatimean

if your power blinks for a split second due to a nearby lightning strike, you won't be able to serve soft drinks for 10+ minutes as the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines take that long to reboot

(at a Wendy's)

10+ minutes is a long time, but Freestyle machines are overall a net benefit for allowing me to add Cherry flavor to any type of soda.

oh yeah I love the machines as a customer for realz.

though I'm also the dude who worked at Steak 'n Shake as a kid and added vanilla to every soda I poured myself

Dutch electric bike brand's bankrupcy could render all their bikes unusable (the electric part only, I suppose, it's still a bike)

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/07/15/233244/if-vanmoof-ebikes-locks-you-out-of-your-own-bike-a-rival-companys-app-could-help

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/003/194/001.jpg

> (the electric part only, I suppose, it's still a bike)

if they are anything like the ebikes that litter london streets then it'll lock the brakes on and make them impossible to ride. i often move badly parked disposable bikes out of the way of pedestrians / pushchairs / wheelchairs and you have to pick them up and roll them by the one unlocked wheel. and those things are heavy.

oh, i's those bikes, i saw someone riding one the other day

website says

Security:
Kick Lock with active-retract pin
Integrated Theft Defense
Automatic Rider Recognition
Manual disarm with backup code
Anti-theft nuts and bolts
GPS and Bluetooth location tracking

so i'm hoping the manual disarm works

Man, I hope my electric toothbrush company never goes bankrupt.

same for electric toilet paper

Seems like the way things are going, your toaster will stop working whenever it needs a firmware update, or if you fail to pay your monthly subscription for toast

The moral is, keep your old stuff

Stopped analog clock still has the right time twice a day.

A broken digital clock never does.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/rival-e-bike-maker-helps-vanmoof-owners-grab-bike-keys-while-company-struggles/

Less than a week after US outlets caught on to VanMoof's Dutch business troubles, Cowboy, another European e-bike maker, had released Bikey, an iOS app that does what it says in its description: "Save your VanMoof bike key." The app was developed "during a one-day hackathon," according to its description, as Cowboy "shares the belief that every single bike deserves to be on the road." The app supports S3 and X3 models at the moment.

Along with accessing keys, the app aims to provide basic functionality, like unlocking, changing assistance levels, and adjusting lights. Cowboy told TechCrunch that an Android version is forthcoming and that anyone with a VanMoof bike should grab their key soon, as it will be inaccessible if the company's servers are shuttered.

VanMoof's apparent mismanagement (how do you go bankrupt in an e-bike boom?) is pretty disappointing given what seemed like a festive approach to bike theft. (They made an upbeat youtube series where they tracked down and recovered stolen bikes without a lot of rage-spiking drama that you might think that would entail.)

Cowboy isn't the most healthy company either, they've needed investor money 5 times already and are still in the red. Proprietary batteries and other unique parts mean that repairs are hella expensive and can take months. They are now looking for normal bike shops that want to help service the Cowboy bikes.

a good mantra in these times is: wait for the second (generation/model/version) of everything before you buy.