I think that sometimes it is the Technologies that actually make that are the worst. The two biggest failures from my view are 802.11n (never even officially standardized, always problematic), and the conceptual tech 'Cloud Computing', who's only purpose is to abuse and make less usable the Internet.
Vista works fine. I am just annoyed that MS wanted vast amounts of money to upgrade from Chinese to English and the fact that the retailer provied 32bit Vista on a 64bit Quad computer.
It was so much less painful to install a dual boot with Linux that to give MS all the $$$ and get less support. I posted earlier in this thread that my Least Liked device was an ATM. That still applies. But the new iPhones also give me the creeps. I don't need a camera, don't want the government to verify where I am via GPS, and I'd rather have one real credit card that I know exactly where it is than to have my phone get involved.
Vista is a very pretty piece of software. In fact, most Windows software is a bit prettier than LInux. But it is just so much easier to get anything done in Linux. Why have an office machine that just looks good and is expensive. Save that for a trophy wife if you are so inclined.
Can I have more than one? First, anything Apple because it is all proprietary. Second, anything HP. It is really unnerving when I upgrade a clients computer to Windows 7 only to find out that their HP Laser printer that they spent a gazillion dollars on does not have Windows 7 drivers. It does not take that long to convert the drivers and this is very annoying, especially when the client blames me!!!! Yea, I know, run the upgrade advisor!!! Problem is for about half the HP printers it does not show any issues!
And in similar fashion, do you suspect that Microsoft used consumer feedback from triple blind focus group tests to carefully select the color palette for foreground and background colors for the BSOD in order to optimize the end users' restart experience?
I bought a RoboMop years ago for $5 (I think). It lives up to most of the hype. About cleaning. Not about being computerized. The random movement manages to cover the floor quite well. It isn't powerful enough to knock over anything. It gets all the dust bunnies, instead of blowing them around like a vacuum or broom would do. But it doesn't pick up anything that a Swiffer won't. The thin edge gets under things like the stove that nothing else can. It's the easiest way to keep under the bed clean. But the $46 that they charge from the website is way too much. I remember the replacement cloths being too expensive, so I found a washable cloth that I could cut to fit.
But it really doesn't fit into this category. High-tech device? Hardly. Except for the timer on the weasel ball, it is devoid of tech.
The cell phone along with the owners who think they have to yell into them to be heard on the other end. I really, really don't want to hear their drama from across the street! (Oh and the walkie-talkie phones... you get to hear both sides of the drama!)
In the world of "high" tech, practically anything of MicroSoft origin is likely to grate my nerves.
On the low tech side, I'd say wind chimes are a crime against not only humanity, but god and nature, too. If I want to hear Gong Show music every time the wind blows, I'd get an iPod powered by a windmill. How come people think it's perfectly okay to drown out the lovely sound of wind in the trees with some stupid quasi-random clanging of cow bells and whatnot? To me it's like powering a fart machine with a babbling brook.
I think a better option is that after one minute of turn signal operation, the steering wheel is forced into a hard left turn.
No good?
A friend told me a story of when he had a Ford Granada which had a lockable glove box he was driving along a straight bit of road and decided to get his sunglasses from the glovebox, which he forgot was locked so he thought as he was driving straight he would just quickly take the key out of the ignition and using his legs to keep the steering wheel straight he reached over to unlock the glovebox whilst still keeping one eye on the road, he noticed the road start to bend and used a hand to turn the wheel and click.......yep the steering wheel lock came into operation,
panic now ensuing he was fumbling for the keys trying to get them back into the ignition and luckily for him he managed to just manouver the bend.
He told me that forgetting about the steering lock was one of those absent minded moments, lucky guy!!
so he thought as he was driving straight he would just quickly take the key out of the ignition and using his legs to keep the steering wheel straight he reached over to unlock the glovebox whilst still keeping one eye on the road, he noticed the road start to bend and used a hand to turn the wheel and click
That this anecdote didn't end in a fiery Darwin-validating cataclysm proves that Karma does not exist.
Damn, you reminded me of a horible mistake I made.
As a teenager I had a Yamaha motorcycle that was kept off road at night in a very confined space. So confined infact that I could not lock the steering in the normal handlebar position. But I could lock it in such a way that it would be straight ahead or over to the left.
One morning I hauled the bike out of that space onto the street, jumped on and stated of down the road at speed. As teenagers are want to do.
At that point I discovered I the handlebars would not move even slightly to the right. I had forgotten to unlock the thing!
When I picked myself and the bike up off of the road I found that the steering lock pin had been sheered off. So I never had that problem again:)
Luckily there was no one around to crash into or, worse still, laugh at me.
@localroger.
That was one of my many applications for a Darwin award. Luckily rejected. Since then I have actually managed to reproduce so I guess I'm not eligible anymore.
My least favorite is either cheap combinations of useful things, like that flash light, radio, laser pointer, emergency alarm, phone charger, solar powered, shake it, crank it, end of the world thing with a compass and knife sharpener too!
So there are those. Actually, if I find one or something like that, it's good to take apart or give to a kid to play with.
Second least favorite are high tech solutions to mundane problems that high tech adds little value to. Somebody mentioned the "sleep coach", which embodies this class of devices perfectly. Good for parts, but that's about it.
Comments
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/fail-6-biggest-technology-flops-2011-145030727.html
Never saw those 99-cent Facebook phones or they would have surely made my daily deal list.
I must be the only happy Windoze Vista user. On one of my home machines.
The wife and I had Vista machines that were running fine and doing all we wanted....until they were struck by lightening. We took THAT as a sign!
It was so much less painful to install a dual boot with Linux that to give MS all the $$$ and get less support. I posted earlier in this thread that my Least Liked device was an ATM. That still applies. But the new iPhones also give me the creeps. I don't need a camera, don't want the government to verify where I am via GPS, and I'd rather have one real credit card that I know exactly where it is than to have my phone get involved.
Vista is a very pretty piece of software. In fact, most Windows software is a bit prettier than LInux. But it is just so much easier to get anything done in Linux. Why have an office machine that just looks good and is expensive. Save that for a trophy wife if you are so inclined.
Or a trophy secretary/receptionist instead?
That's just obscene. You think they commented every line?
You mean all values TBD, or WTF?, and Final Test FAILED are not valid coding comments?
You mean stuff like USB, SATA, PCI, ThunderBolt, and Intel CPUs? Or is it the software? Like Safari and iTunes (both cross platform)?
- Mark
I bought a RoboMop years ago for $5 (I think). It lives up to most of the hype. About cleaning. Not about being computerized. The random movement manages to cover the floor quite well. It isn't powerful enough to knock over anything. It gets all the dust bunnies, instead of blowing them around like a vacuum or broom would do. But it doesn't pick up anything that a Swiffer won't. The thin edge gets under things like the stove that nothing else can. It's the easiest way to keep under the bed clean. But the $46 that they charge from the website is way too much. I remember the replacement cloths being too expensive, so I found a washable cloth that I could cut to fit.
But it really doesn't fit into this category. High-tech device? Hardly. Except for the timer on the weasel ball, it is devoid of tech.
- Mark
Still wondering where the tails went . . .
@
On the low tech side, I'd say wind chimes are a crime against not only humanity, but god and nature, too. If I want to hear Gong Show music every time the wind blows, I'd get an iPod powered by a windmill. How come people think it's perfectly okay to drown out the lovely sound of wind in the trees with some stupid quasi-random clanging of cow bells and whatnot? To me it's like powering a fart machine with a babbling brook.
panic now ensuing he was fumbling for the keys trying to get them back into the ignition and luckily for him he managed to just manouver the bend.
He told me that forgetting about the steering lock was one of those absent minded moments, lucky guy!!
As far as I can tell it has been down hill ever since humans invented the wheel.
(There is a joke in there somewhere).
That this anecdote didn't end in a fiery Darwin-validating cataclysm proves that Karma does not exist.
Actual conversation between me and my partner of 35 years...
"Libby... I just got a call from _______. They say that the last time you changed your oil was in 2010. Is that right?"
The new Sorento reminds you to change your oil... the old ones don't.
Damn, you reminded me of a horible mistake I made.
As a teenager I had a Yamaha motorcycle that was kept off road at night in a very confined space. So confined infact that I could not lock the steering in the normal handlebar position. But I could lock it in such a way that it would be straight ahead or over to the left.
One morning I hauled the bike out of that space onto the street, jumped on and stated of down the road at speed. As teenagers are want to do.
At that point I discovered I the handlebars would not move even slightly to the right. I had forgotten to unlock the thing!
When I picked myself and the bike up off of the road I found that the steering lock pin had been sheered off. So I never had that problem again:)
Luckily there was no one around to crash into or, worse still, laugh at me.
@localroger.
That was one of my many applications for a Darwin award. Luckily rejected. Since then I have actually managed to reproduce so I guess I'm not eligible anymore.
So there are those. Actually, if I find one or something like that, it's good to take apart or give to a kid to play with.
Second least favorite are high tech solutions to mundane problems that high tech adds little value to. Somebody mentioned the "sleep coach", which embodies this class of devices perfectly. Good for parts, but that's about it.