The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[JSWolf]

AI SUCKS because it caused the price of RAM to more then double and that in turn raises the price of computers. A computer I bought at the Amazon Prime sale earlier this year has gone up in price because of AI.

Trying to look for a reasonably priced laptop is not easy because of AI.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

...

I would not doubt that stores goes up in price because of AI.

What is the price for a store these days?

[Solitaire1]

Why is there such a push to make everything smart? I was considering a replacement for my watch (Casio A168) since they were discontinuing it, and discovered the Casio had released it replacement (the ABL-100). Although the watch has many great added features (multiple time zones, a countdown timer), for some reason they added Bluetooth. Why? With that watch you have to put an app on your smartphone to access some of the watch's features (such as a step counter and auto time setting). Plus, it cuts the battery life to less than 1/3 of the battery life of the A168 (2 years versus 7 years).

I don't want a smart watch, I just want a watch that is a watch! Set the day, date and time, put it on my wrist and it is good to go, and all I have to do is replace the battery every few years.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I don't want a smart watch, I just want a watch that is a watch! Set the day, date and time, put it on my wrist and it is good to go, and all I have to do is replace the battery every few years.

I recommend the Casio LCW-M100TSE-1A2

Solar powered - never have to replace the battery
Radio controlled - set your home city, and it gets the appropriate time signal.
Sapphire cover - never gets scratched
Titanium case and strap - light, strong and doesn't rust.

I've had one for five years, and it's still as good as new.

[Quoth]

"Powered by Android"

What marketing idiot thought that up? It's powered by electricity, usually a Li-Ion cell (battery) unless a TV or similar.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I recommend the Casio LCW-M100TSE-1A2

Solar powered - never have to replace the battery
Radio controlled - set your home city, and it gets the appropriate time signal.
Sapphire cover - never gets scratched
Titanium case and strap - light, strong and doesn't rust.

I've had one for five years, and it's still as good as new.

I'll give it a pass, I dislike combination analog/digital watches. As far as setting the time, I've got a clock at home that ties into the time signal, so I just check my watch against it about once a month and that's good enough for me. Being off a few seconds isn't an issue for me, but being off minutes is.

Plus, I did a quick check and it looks like the watch goes a minimum of approximately $149. I am considering getting a mod kit for my Casio A168 to replace the standard case and crystal with a stainless steel case and bracelet, and a sapphire crystal and a less-colorful backplate. Even if I purchased a new A168 to go with the mod kit it would still be less than $150, and it would give me a great-looking watch.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

As someone has mentioned, the only thing that the USB-C standard does is ensure that a USB-C cord will fit into a USB-C connector on the device. Unfortunately, nothing else is guaranteed. From what I understand, the only way to ensure that a USB-C cord will work with the device is if it is the USB-C cord that came with the device.

Related to what I posted above, today I found the following YouTube video on this topic, which lays out all of the issues with USB-C:

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Why is there such a push to make everything smart? I was considering a replacement for my watch (Casio A168) since they were discontinuing it, and discovered the Casio had released it replacement (the ABL-100). Although the watch has many great added features (multiple time zones, a countdown timer), for some reason they added Bluetooth. Why? With that watch you have to put an app on your smartphone to access some of the watch's features (such as a step counter and auto time setting). Plus, it cuts the battery life to less than 1/3 of the battery life of the A168 (2 years versus 7 years).

I don't want a smart watch, I just want a watch that is a watch! Set the day, date and time, put it on my wrist and it is good to go, and all I have to do is replace the battery every few years.

I have a simple watch. It's not digital. It shows the date. It's solar powered. It's a Citizen watch. I also have an Apple Watch v3.

[JSWolf]

YouTube is now a pain in the ass. They require a log in for embedded videos. Yet there is no way to log in. So you have to open another tab to go to YT to watch the video.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Related to what I posted above, today I found the following YouTube video on this topic, which lays out all of the issues with USB-C:

Good video except it cuts out at the end.

[PeterT]

At time I feel I'm loosing my mind. As part of refurnishing my life I knew I needed new networking hardware at home, so decided to move from my usage of Asus routers to Unifi equipment.

Prior to moving back to my house I'd bought a router (Unifi Ex 7) and two switches (Unifi Flex minis).

After moving I setup the Rogers XFinity modem and the router but could only find one switch. I had a nasty feeling I might have been too aggressive in throwing out boxes, and thrown out the other switch.

Today I was looking at how to restructure my networking setup (shall we say that the renovators did a piss poor job of the low voltage wiring; both in terms of termination and location), and was giving serious thought to ordering a replacement switch which would be essential to making it all work.

I'd gone down to the laundry to start a load and looked on the shelves where all the network bits were and said "What the heck is that little white box; powered up but no other cables"? Nothing else but the missing switch!

So in the next day or so I'll relocate the modem, router and one switch upstairs along with the UPS and it's monitoring device; patch the incoming cable to the upstairs, and set up the second switch in the laundry room to extend the network to the other wired connections. (The wiring has 4 Ethernet lines from the Laundry room [Kitchen and the three bedrooms], and 3 cable runs [three bedrooms]. The incoming Rogers cable line terminates in the laundry room.)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

YouTube is now a pain in the ass. They require a log in for embedded videos. Yet there is no way to log in. So you have to open another tab to go to YT to watch the video.

I did write that a link is better than embedded. Embedded needs you to be logged in and allow extra scripts. A link just works.

PeerTube works

[DNSB]

One of my granddaughters was trying to watch an Australian cartoon on YouTube. She finally gave up after getting tired of hitting skip. In the first 10 minutes, she was treated to 7 commercials and 3 ads for YouTube Premium.

[Renate]

I've been scratching my head wondering how my setup or my profile is different.
I've not seen any commercials on YouTube at all in the last year.
I sometimes watch about one 10-15 minute video per day.
More often I scroll through a bunch then exit without selecting anything.

There's a TV where I'm staying right now with YouTube on it.
Maybe I should see how long I have to watch before I hit an ad.

[BetterRed]

Anyone know of a Search engine that has settings to ignore 'popular culture', 'sport' and 'celebrities' - I've tried all the usual suspects.

BR