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[Varche]

Anyone else noticed that things we buy or use have so much technology packed into them and yet we ( well me anyway) hardly use a fraction of the gizmos available. .?

It is not just computers but cars, radios, music equipment, TVs ,satellite decoders, dishwashers (who actually uses 7 different cycles!) , washing machines to name a few.

Do young people use every bit of the technology available?

[Kevin Wood]

The thing is, to add a programme to a washing machine, once you've developed a machine that is capable of washing clothes in the first place, is a relatively cheap one-off software development task. If this allows you to brag about your machine having more programmes than you competitors, you do it.

Add to the fact that you now need a default ECO programme to get the all important "A" rating for efficiency, then you need a normal programme that actually cleans the clothes!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Plus on a washing machine a controller will be cheaper to make than a mechanical timer.

What gets me is bloody air fresheners, why the hell do I need something with a PIR, timer and micro processor in it!

Or an iron I can access over the internet to make sure its turned off 

[Nick W]

They do it because they can, not because it might be worthwhile. Might is a good enough reason, but it rarely applies.


What really, truly irritates me about extra functions is the insistence on activating them with a number of mindboggingly complicated sequences of 3 buttons. If you're lucky the manual lists them in a sensible order, but even if it does, you have to keep the manual with the device. It's the physical equivalent of keyboard 'shortcuts'; you spend more time learning the bloody things than you ever will using them.

[Matchless]

 why the hell do I need an iron I can access over the internet to make sure its turned off 

Perhaps you dont need one just now but in another 10 years when she starts forgetting things....

[aaronjb]

I briefly considered the WiFi enabled kettle.

Then I realised I'd have to come downstairs to pour it anyway..

[Kevin Wood]

What really, truly irritates me about extra functions is the insistence on activating them with a number of mindboggingly complicated sequences of 3 buttons.

But a fourth button costs real money whereas a routine in the software that detects you holding down 3 buttons on 3 different sides of the device, for four seconds, while scratching your chin...

Perhaps you dont need one just now but in another 10 years when she starts forgetting things....

.. one that turns itself into a feather duster when it detects rapidly increasing proximity with your head would come in quite handy, mind.

[Nick W]

What really, truly irritates me about extra functions is the insistence on activating them with a number of mindboggingly complicated sequences of 3 buttons.

But a fourth button costs real money whereas a routine in the software that detects you holding down 3 buttons on 3 different sides of the device, for four seconds, while scratching your chin...

But then so does the sensor that detects what you're about to do and teleports the device away from the approaching sledgehammer. Safety goggles are an important part of this procedure.

[Kevin Wood]

But then so does the sensor that detects what you're about to do and teleports the device away from the approaching sledgehammer. Safety goggles are an important part of this procedure.

You're talking about TheBoy's new printer, I assume?

[Nick W]

But then so does the sensor that detects what you're about to do and teleports the device away from the approaching sledgehammer. Safety goggles are an important part of this procedure.

You're talking about TheBoy's new printer, I assume?

No. Personal history


I had hoped that touch screens would eliminate the problem, but even there the emphasis seems to be on the appearance rather than functionality.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Anyone else noticed that things we buy or use have so much technology packed into them and yet we ( well me anyway) hardly use a fraction of the gizmos available. .?

It is not just computers but cars, radios, music equipment, TVs ,satellite decoders, dishwashers (who actually uses 7 different cycles!) , washing machines to name a few.

Do young people use every bit of the technology available?

Yes...yes....and yes.

[TheBoy]

But then so does the sensor that detects what you're about to do and teleports the device away from the approaching sledgehammer. Safety goggles are an important part of this procedure.

You're talking about TheBoy's new printer, I assume?

Oi! I love my new printer.

Well, love is probably a bit strong.  I haven't had the urge to throw it down the stairs yet. Which is about as near as I get to loving a piece of technology.

But give me time, I only bought this one in the summer (after the previous LaserJet went down the stairs (which I bought after its predecessor LaserJet went down the stairs (which.....))).

This one is an AIO, yet actually does pretty much everything it claims. Colour Laser, duplex, duplex scanning, ADF, Fax, Ethernet, Wifi, Airprint.

I hope it behaves, as I'll bust a bollock picking it up to through down the stairs....

[Varche]

Well I have been trying and failing to cast or allshare an already downloaded BBC iplayer programme off my ipad to my Smart Samsung TV via WiFi.

There is a plethora of stuff I have found whilst trying to do what should be a simple task. Moral might be to have bought a Samsung tablet but then I would lose Facetime... which is streets better than Microsofts mangled Skype.