Those maddening LCD credit card signature pads at Home Depot that always draw offset from where I'm signing.
I don't even try to make it look like a signature anymore. Next time, try Kurt Vonnegut's (in)famous signature and I'll bet the machine will accept it.
Having to deal with Pandora's online flash player...
The way a "modern" user interface seems to be a designer's attempt to get a job at Apple...
People who have a $3000 DSLR and never take it off auto...
I'm too much of a beginner in these fields, but some annoying things that I've found are:
1. So many resistors! It seems like there's way to different kinds of resistors. It gets very confusing. At least the color bands are distinctively different.
2. At least where I live, electronic parts are very difficult to find. There isn't a Radioshack where I live, and our hobby store is fairly indecent for robot parts.
Biggest pet peeve right now is manufacture data sheets that leave out important bugs and faults of the product.
Case in point, I put a 12V 1A isolated DC: DC converter in a design recently. During testing I noticed a mysterious and rather powerful ~150MHz noise burst with a ~1MHz rep-rate in absolutely everything in my circuit. It's likely I could have lived with the noise burst, but it was killing my programming connection if I placed the wire wrong. After much head scratching and false accusation of other parts, I tracked the source down to the input of this DC: DC converter (switching noise) combined with the 3-4 foot loose leads I was using to connect up a bench supply. A ferrite clamped onto the leads fixed my problem. I've since hacked a miniature version of the ferrite filter onto the board. I would've LOVED to know about this issue before hand though. I would've added the appropriate filter to the layout, or found a converter without this "feature"
My longest standing pet peeve in this area is that mobile phones (cellphones for you Americans, I guess :-)) are almost universally designed to use a different battery for every model. I'm sure this is deliberate. I have 15 years' worth of GSM phones stacked away in drawers etc.
I have never replaced a phone because it stopped working. Every phone I have owned is still fully functional. However, their batteries would detoriate until unusable, and, as every newer phone model uses a different battery you can't buy a new, fresh battery that matches the old phone. If you can find an original battery it will have been stored on some hot shop wall hanger (not good for lithium) for 3 years or more, and be almost as bad as your original battery. Every replacement battery I have ever bought has been a waste of money - after a month or two it's as bad as the original.
If it were just phones I could kind of live with it, because a phone can almost always be replaced by another phone which is as useful as the first one. But I have a Nokia N800 internet tablet from Jan. 2007, this was an experimental (non-phone) device from Nokia which was the most useful device in my daily life (travelling everywhere and trying to fix hotel rooms and flights over the 'net from airports and the like) since when I got my Palm PDA years earlier. This N800 uses a large 1500mAH Lithium-Ion battery that was used in one or two Nokia phones back then, and it's been out of production since then. Now it's impossible to find even an old original one. The "replacement" 3party batteries available are all rubbish, I've tried them. Lower capacity, Lithium-Polymer, higher internal impedance, and don't like to be recharged too many times. I still use (and need) the device, I have to charge it daily now instead of bi-weekly.
I almost fell off my chair when we received a newer model Sony Ericsson phone at work some years ago and it actually used the same battery as the previous model. That was truly exceptional.
Phone chargers are now regulated in EU - for new phones you can (finally!) use the same charger with everyone. There should be enforced standardisation on batteries too. Obviously you can't get away with just one battery shape and size, but there should be a standard set of, say, 10-15 different batteries and no more.
-Tor (glaring into that open drawer full of good phones with no battery)
My longest standing pet peeve in this area is that mobile phones...
I'm beginning to think people should not be able to get their driver's licenses without passing a test that requires them to answer questions on a cell phone while driving in a straight line for 30 seconds.
I'm beginning to think people should not be able to get their driver's licenses without passing a test that requires them to answer questions on a cell phone while driving in a straight line for 30 seconds.
Most people would fail.
Where I live, it's illegal to talk (or text, etc.) on a cell phone while driving. The only way to still do that is with a Bluetooth headset.
@THAT guy – Fortunately for most things you can get by with a dozen or two standard values. For less frequent and more specific needs they can be ordered along with your other parts.
@Lawson – In most cases what the manufacturers leave out is what they consider common knowledge for that type of device. That switching regulator is a typical example, as are CRT monitors and PWM drivers. There should be a prominent warning in the data sheet, but then again “everybody knows that”. Unless of course you are new to that type of circuitry.
@Tor – I'm 100% in agreement with you on the need to standardize on batteries. As much as possible I buy items that use AA batteries (toothbrush, trimmer, camera, multimeter, etc.). They are also what I use in any portable devices I build. To me they seem to be the best compromise between cost, size, and capacity, as well as being widely available.
@Tor: Have you tried cracking the case on an old battery and replacing the cell with a high-grade 20-40C hobby LiPo? They come in a ton of different shapes, so you should be able to find one that fits with >80% of new capacity.
@Kwinn: yea, I was expecting some noise from the converter. I had a 1uF ceramic on the input and added 0.1uF almost underneath the converter during testing. The noise burst was still peaked >100mVp-p and ~10 cycles long at 150MHz when measured across the capacitors. That's a bit much to leave off in the datasheet.
@Piguy101: "wonderful" is certainly a diplomatic way to put my thoughts on this...
I'm beginning to think people should not be able to get their driver's licenses without passing a test that requires them to answer questions on a cell phone while driving in a straight line for 30 seconds.
I believe they have allready done a episode about that. It was something like is driving harder when driving tipsy or distraced (by being asked questions on a cell phone).
My mother's forst cell-phone was a Motorola(I think) that used XL AAA batteries.(eXtra Long, five fourths or something), and that's probably the closest I've seen to a cell with 'common sense' batteries...
As for putting LiPo cells in older equipment... Not a good idea...
I'vee only ever seen two models of computer that could use new battery tech, and that was the Psion MC(Laptop) and HC(Industrial handheld) as they didn't have the charging circtuits built into the machine, but in the actual battery packs themselves. (To use a new type, you just have to build a charging circuit that accepts 12V and handles 'all the messy control' stuff. And make certain the pack outputs 7.2V or thereabout)
Pet peeves...
People who use a GPS instead of brains when driving...
Cost cutting in consumer electronics...
(I have a dead 2005vintage Packard Bell laptop somewhere... Dead because PB didn't bother with reverse polarity protection on the power... )
All those bl**dy 'smartphones'... Just on general principles as they destroyed the REAL PDA market.
These days you can't find a proper PDA with keyboard and long battery-life anywhere.
I expect at a minimum 20Hours of active use on a recharge. And standby should be measured in weeks or months...
(It's the middle of summer here... and I spent most of yesterday searching for a PDA with some notes on it... Found it in the inside pocket of my winter coat... Still OK... )
Cell-phone 'keyboards'... I REALLY hate a phone where you need a toothpick to dial a number...
@Gadgetman: "All those bl**dy 'smartphones'... Just on general principles as they destroyed the REAL PDA market.
These days you can't find a proper PDA with keyboard and long battery-life anywhere.
I expect at a minimum 20Hours of active use on a recharge. And standby should be measured in weeks or months..."
I have an iPod, but I still occasionally get out my Palm T|X just for fun. :-) I have to say, after switching to the iPod Dec. 2010, I've missed the noted long battery life of the Palm. I would use it every night for at least an hour, and only have to recharge it once a week. The iPod must be charged at LEAST every other day. The iPod has no SD card slot, which I miss, and a closed source app system, both unlike the Palm. The ONLY reason I use the iPod is because it allows playback of YouTube video, whereas the Palm does not. If Palm was still in business, I would buy their products instead.
A 5x and 10x visor is just standard equipment on my bench these days. My monitors, printer, still-cam, and video-cam are all higher resolution now. My progressive bi-focals are not.
I always write a datetime stamp on batteries when I put them in the device "20110712". Sometimes "20110712-1120" if they have a very short like expectancy.
Helps me predict "time to replace". Very useful when checking the flashlights before storms and long trips. Wife cites this as evidence that I'm nutty.
I like your idea, but what I mean is when someone replaces a battery and puts the old one back in the box with the good ones.
Sorry for late reply, I was on vacation.
Comments
Is this your cell phone?!.
I can name that board in one note. Motorola D5! I spent many hours with one many years ago.
Jim...
P.S. I guess that the D5 wasn't a pet peeve for me for I really enjoyed using it.
I don't even try to make it look like a signature anymore. Next time, try Kurt Vonnegut's (in)famous signature and I'll bet the machine will accept it.
So it goes,
The way a "modern" user interface seems to be a designer's attempt to get a job at Apple...
People who have a $3000 DSLR and never take it off auto...
I sign those things with my initials.
1. So many resistors! It seems like there's way to different kinds of resistors. It gets very confusing. At least the color bands are distinctively different.
2. At least where I live, electronic parts are very difficult to find. There isn't a Radioshack where I live, and our hobby store is fairly indecent for robot parts.
Case in point, I put a 12V 1A isolated DC: DC converter in a design recently. During testing I noticed a mysterious and rather powerful ~150MHz noise burst with a ~1MHz rep-rate in absolutely everything in my circuit. It's likely I could have lived with the noise burst, but it was killing my programming connection if I placed the wire wrong. After much head scratching and false accusation of other parts, I tracked the source down to the input of this DC: DC converter (switching noise) combined with the 3-4 foot loose leads I was using to connect up a bench supply. A ferrite clamped onto the leads fixed my problem. I've since hacked a miniature version of the ferrite filter onto the board. I would've LOVED to know about this issue before hand though. I would've added the appropriate filter to the layout, or found a converter without this "feature"
Lawson
I have never replaced a phone because it stopped working. Every phone I have owned is still fully functional. However, their batteries would detoriate until unusable, and, as every newer phone model uses a different battery you can't buy a new, fresh battery that matches the old phone. If you can find an original battery it will have been stored on some hot shop wall hanger (not good for lithium) for 3 years or more, and be almost as bad as your original battery. Every replacement battery I have ever bought has been a waste of money - after a month or two it's as bad as the original.
If it were just phones I could kind of live with it, because a phone can almost always be replaced by another phone which is as useful as the first one. But I have a Nokia N800 internet tablet from Jan. 2007, this was an experimental (non-phone) device from Nokia which was the most useful device in my daily life (travelling everywhere and trying to fix hotel rooms and flights over the 'net from airports and the like) since when I got my Palm PDA years earlier. This N800 uses a large 1500mAH Lithium-Ion battery that was used in one or two Nokia phones back then, and it's been out of production since then. Now it's impossible to find even an old original one. The "replacement" 3party batteries available are all rubbish, I've tried them. Lower capacity, Lithium-Polymer, higher internal impedance, and don't like to be recharged too many times. I still use (and need) the device, I have to charge it daily now instead of bi-weekly.
I almost fell off my chair when we received a newer model Sony Ericsson phone at work some years ago and it actually used the same battery as the previous model. That was truly exceptional.
Phone chargers are now regulated in EU - for new phones you can (finally!) use the same charger with everyone. There should be enforced standardisation on batteries too. Obviously you can't get away with just one battery shape and size, but there should be a standard set of, say, 10-15 different batteries and no more.
-Tor (glaring into that open drawer full of good phones with no battery)
I'm beginning to think people should not be able to get their driver's licenses without passing a test that requires them to answer questions on a cell phone while driving in a straight line for 30 seconds.
Most people would fail.
Where I live, it's illegal to talk (or text, etc.) on a cell phone while driving. The only way to still do that is with a Bluetooth headset.
@Lawson – In most cases what the manufacturers leave out is what they consider common knowledge for that type of device. That switching regulator is a typical example, as are CRT monitors and PWM drivers. There should be a prominent warning in the data sheet, but then again “everybody knows that”. Unless of course you are new to that type of circuitry.
@Tor – I'm 100% in agreement with you on the need to standardize on batteries. As much as possible I buy items that use AA batteries (toothbrush, trimmer, camera, multimeter, etc.). They are also what I use in any portable devices I build. To me they seem to be the best compromise between cost, size, and capacity, as well as being widely available.
@Kwinn: yea, I was expecting some noise from the converter. I had a 1uF ceramic on the input and added 0.1uF almost underneath the converter during testing. The noise burst was still peaked >100mVp-p and ~10 cycles long at 150MHz when measured across the capacitors. That's a bit much to leave off in the datasheet.
@Piguy101: "wonderful" is certainly a diplomatic way to put my thoughts on this...
Lawson
Did you get that from a Mythbusters episode?
I believe they have allready done a episode about that. It was something like is driving harder when driving tipsy or distraced (by being asked questions on a cell phone).
One only needs to drive to the grocery store to witness a cellphone-related near miss. It's becoming epidemic.
As for putting LiPo cells in older equipment... Not a good idea...
I'vee only ever seen two models of computer that could use new battery tech, and that was the Psion MC(Laptop) and HC(Industrial handheld) as they didn't have the charging circtuits built into the machine, but in the actual battery packs themselves. (To use a new type, you just have to build a charging circuit that accepts 12V and handles 'all the messy control' stuff. And make certain the pack outputs 7.2V or thereabout)
Pet peeves...
People who use a GPS instead of brains when driving...
Cost cutting in consumer electronics...
(I have a dead 2005vintage Packard Bell laptop somewhere... Dead because PB didn't bother with reverse polarity protection on the power... )
All those bl**dy 'smartphones'... Just on general principles as they destroyed the REAL PDA market.
These days you can't find a proper PDA with keyboard and long battery-life anywhere.
I expect at a minimum 20Hours of active use on a recharge. And standby should be measured in weeks or months...
(It's the middle of summer here... and I spent most of yesterday searching for a PDA with some notes on it... Found it in the inside pocket of my winter coat... Still OK... )
Cell-phone 'keyboards'... I REALLY hate a phone where you need a toothpick to dial a number...
"All those bl**dy 'smartphones'... Just on general principles as they destroyed the REAL PDA market.
These days you can't find a proper PDA with keyboard and long battery-life anywhere.
I expect at a minimum 20Hours of active use on a recharge. And standby should be measured in weeks or months..."
I have an iPod, but I still occasionally get out my Palm T|X just for fun. :-) I have to say, after switching to the iPod Dec. 2010, I've missed the noted long battery life of the Palm. I would use it every night for at least an hour, and only have to recharge it once a week. The iPod must be charged at LEAST every other day. The iPod has no SD card slot, which I miss, and a closed source app system, both unlike the Palm. The ONLY reason I use the iPod is because it allows playback of YouTube video, whereas the Palm does not. If Palm was still in business, I would buy their products instead.
I like your idea, but what I mean is when someone replaces a battery and puts the old one back in the box with the good ones.
Sorry for late reply, I was on vacation.