Is Technology Dividing America
03-27-2018, 08:39 PM
#21
Ah, lap tops. I honestly forget about them, as I hate them. I love an ergonomic keyboard, so I want nothing to do with them.
Last edited by dlq04; 03-28-2018 at 06:27 AM. Reason: spell check couldn't read my mind
03-28-2018, 02:50 AM
#22
I like gadgets, but the gadget budget is limited. I'm not one to upgrade whenever a new iphone comes to town. I see no need to have Alexa or any of those types of devices in the house. I'm waiting for my printer to break so that I can purchase a wireless one. I hate tossing out stuff that still works, especially since I rarely use it. I love having the handy, dandy iphone and would not want to be without it. It is so very convenient for the reasons Dave mentioned. I still use a GPS which I prefer over the iphone. It's just easier for me to see and program, though I'll pop on to Google maps when traveling as well. As far as the cameras, yes the phones do a darn good job. WAY better than my first digital camera, but I do enjoy lugging my camera around....
03-28-2018, 03:53 AM
#23
bill you old curmudgeon, Luddite.
Bow before the tech god and all will be good.
and I will be employed.
that digital ass wiper sounds intriguing although I suspect proper calibration is an important part of the successful experience or a generally crappy day.
you have to admit, you probably don't want to go back to changing points and plugs every couple thousand miles.
and not all tech is electronics, I bet Barbara likes that titanium. Hopefully she's doing well. Please pass along our get well wishes.
Bow before the tech god and all will be good.
and I will be employed.
that digital ass wiper sounds intriguing although I suspect proper calibration is an important part of the successful experience or a generally crappy day.
you have to admit, you probably don't want to go back to changing points and plugs every couple thousand miles.
and not all tech is electronics, I bet Barbara likes that titanium. Hopefully she's doing well. Please pass along our get well wishes.
03-28-2018, 04:24 AM
#24
Actually I steered away from the fancy appliances when we re-did the kitchen. Too many things that can break. The recent storm and power surges wiped out the electronics in the cooking stove of one of Rick's co workers. I don't expect it will be too long before one appliance or another needs replacing in my house. Not so sure the "Plain Jane" appliances will still be available.
03-28-2018, 06:10 AM
#25
Is there a smart refrigerator? Mine doesn't even know how to make ice!! Actually I steered away from the fancy appliances when we re-did the kitchen. Too many things that can break. The recent storm and power surges wiped out the electronics in the cooking stove of one of Rick's co workers. I don't expect it will be too long before one appliance or another needs replacing in my house. Not so sure the "Plain Jane" appliances will still be available.
Actually I steered away from the fancy appliances when we re-did the kitchen. Too many things that can break. The recent storm and power surges wiped out the electronics in the cooking stove of one of Rick's co workers. I don't expect it will be too long before one appliance or another needs replacing in my house. Not so sure the "Plain Jane" appliances will still be available.https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/f...ator/overview/
I've heard they order your food for you too. Then your delivery service can drop it at the door. Your "drop cams" can see the delivery and notify you on your phone that you have groceries at the door. Maybe you can get a robot that opens the door and brings them into the house for you and puts them in the refrigerator. It's getting to be like the Jetsons around here. Remember how much we laughed at their stupid lifestyle? Now people are rushing to live it.
03-28-2018, 06:15 AM
#26
bill you old curmudgeon, Luddite.
Bow before the tech god and all will be good.
and I will be employed.
that digital ass wiper sounds intriguing although I suspect proper calibration is an important part of the successful experience or a generally crappy day.
you have to admit, you probably don't want to go back to changing points and plugs every couple thousand miles.
and not all tech is electronics, I bet Barbara likes that titanium. Hopefully she's doing well. Please pass along our get well wishes.
Bow before the tech god and all will be good.
and I will be employed.
that digital ass wiper sounds intriguing although I suspect proper calibration is an important part of the successful experience or a generally crappy day.
you have to admit, you probably don't want to go back to changing points and plugs every couple thousand miles.
and not all tech is electronics, I bet Barbara likes that titanium. Hopefully she's doing well. Please pass along our get well wishes.
Automotive electronic advancements stopped being helpful/useful about five or ten years ago. The people that shop cars for technology are crazy and I know that means many of you out there in S2K land. Lots of you are looking forward to the self driving car. Well, I guess I could use that when I've been out drinking. So the rest of you get one and after they work out the bugs, maybe I'll consider one. I hope it comes with a smart fridge!
03-28-2018, 06:20 AM
#27
Yeah, I don't like buying stuff with a lot of options that I will never use and don't want to. But the streamlined/simple versions are no longer made.
03-28-2018, 06:24 AM
#28
Yup. Big problem. The manufacturers stuff this junk down our throats and it is all built to become obsolete when those circuit boards start acting up.
03-28-2018, 07:57 AM
#29
Appliances have become "smarter" while becoming so horribly designed they last 3 -5 years. LG is a great example. Came from a second rate crap electronics manufacturer (remember Goldstar VCR's? .... That is Lucky Goldstar ... aka LG). Rebranded and started stuffing more features into every appliance to create a "high quality brand" that makes low quality products with fancy gadgets all over them and sells them at high prices. People gobble them up, then wonder why they dont last as long as a 1985 Whirlpool Fridge. So in this case, we just make short lived appliances with higher prices supported by features you do not need most of the time.
While social networking should be a great thing, I feel it has caused vastly more bad than good, to the point I would be happy to see its demise entirely. Instead of it being used wisely, we let kids that are 8 years old have facebook accounts, where they can communicate without being face to face and bully each other in front of thousands of "friends" online. And to double up on this, they are utterly incapable of handling this turmoil since they spend more time staring into a screen than talking face to face. Not to mention, they get to witness their parents acting like 3 year olds, bullying each other and berating each other like little ethugs over every political discussion online. ... acting exactly as they tell their kids not to. I honestly feel this disconnected "connnectiveness" for most of the violence issues we are facing in schools today. It is a breeding ground for hate and is slowly removing our ability to deal with each other directly.
We have made ourselves believe we need to be so connected electronically that identity theft and privacy breaches are a daily thing. We arrogantly think we can connect the world, yet stay ahead of the bad guys that steel our data.
And here is the more scary part to me about connected everything. People miss the point that many companys are in the person information business. Google bought up lots of other SW and gadgets (even the Nest thermostat). It does not take much reading to figure out that Google is in the business of collecting data on people. They meet with goverments around the world, and they have a collection of personal data rivaled only by the NSA. Between all the applications they own, they know your internet search history (and can also tailor what results come up first if they want to ... you know ... to sway political opinion), where you drive and how fast (if you use Waze or Google maps), who your friends are, what kinds of items you order online, what hours you are on the internet ... who you receive email from and who you send it to, how warm you keep your house (Nest), etc. At best this is just sold to advertisers so they can bother you and try to scam you. At worst, they suffer a data breach (yes they will, many of them ... and likely already have many times) and ALL of that info is in someone elses hands. And we dont really know what other motives Google itself has to use your data. It is a huge corp run by humans
Now, on the flip side, tons of good can come from the technology itself. I spent a few years developing IoT products and now develop medical devices, and the advances in technology are making amazing strides in helping people.
So .. while technology alone is a great tool, the fact that we, as people, are tools is the issue While I am a geek and like the techy side of things, I have started pulling way back over recent years. I all but stopped using most social media, have started shrinking a lot of my presence online (to try to minimize where my data goes to some degree at least), make it a rule that my cell sits downstairs out of site for a huge chunk of my evenings, etc. I have even started paying cash for a lot of items again. Maybe I am "getting old" at 41 (ok ... 42 in a week) but I keep looking around at what is going on and feel less and less interested in being a part of most of it. I look at it all and it seems plain as day to me why our youth are in so much trouble, and then look at news and social media and see just how blind people are being towards it. Maybe because most dont want to believe the way they have gone has made society worse. Its hard to admit we fostered a broken society, but I believe we have and our attitude towards the technology is a huge part of that in my opinion.
While social networking should be a great thing, I feel it has caused vastly more bad than good, to the point I would be happy to see its demise entirely. Instead of it being used wisely, we let kids that are 8 years old have facebook accounts, where they can communicate without being face to face and bully each other in front of thousands of "friends" online. And to double up on this, they are utterly incapable of handling this turmoil since they spend more time staring into a screen than talking face to face. Not to mention, they get to witness their parents acting like 3 year olds, bullying each other and berating each other like little ethugs over every political discussion online. ... acting exactly as they tell their kids not to. I honestly feel this disconnected "connnectiveness" for most of the violence issues we are facing in schools today. It is a breeding ground for hate and is slowly removing our ability to deal with each other directly.
We have made ourselves believe we need to be so connected electronically that identity theft and privacy breaches are a daily thing. We arrogantly think we can connect the world, yet stay ahead of the bad guys that steel our data.
And here is the more scary part to me about connected everything. People miss the point that many companys are in the person information business. Google bought up lots of other SW and gadgets (even the Nest thermostat). It does not take much reading to figure out that Google is in the business of collecting data on people. They meet with goverments around the world, and they have a collection of personal data rivaled only by the NSA. Between all the applications they own, they know your internet search history (and can also tailor what results come up first if they want to ... you know ... to sway political opinion), where you drive and how fast (if you use Waze or Google maps), who your friends are, what kinds of items you order online, what hours you are on the internet ... who you receive email from and who you send it to, how warm you keep your house (Nest), etc. At best this is just sold to advertisers so they can bother you and try to scam you. At worst, they suffer a data breach (yes they will, many of them ... and likely already have many times) and ALL of that info is in someone elses hands. And we dont really know what other motives Google itself has to use your data. It is a huge corp run by humans
Now, on the flip side, tons of good can come from the technology itself. I spent a few years developing IoT products and now develop medical devices, and the advances in technology are making amazing strides in helping people.
So .. while technology alone is a great tool, the fact that we, as people, are tools is the issue
While I am a geek and like the techy side of things, I have started pulling way back over recent years. I all but stopped using most social media, have started shrinking a lot of my presence online (to try to minimize where my data goes to some degree at least), make it a rule that my cell sits downstairs out of site for a huge chunk of my evenings, etc. I have even started paying cash for a lot of items again. Maybe I am "getting old" at 41 (ok ... 42 in a week) but I keep looking around at what is going on and feel less and less interested in being a part of most of it. I look at it all and it seems plain as day to me why our youth are in so much trouble, and then look at news and social media and see just how blind people are being towards it. Maybe because most dont want to believe the way they have gone has made society worse. Its hard to admit we fostered a broken society, but I believe we have and our attitude towards the technology is a huge part of that in my opinion.
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Legal Bill (03-28-2018)
03-28-2018, 08:45 AM
#30
I’m not sure why you singled out LG. When it comes to the appliance industry I believe they are all motivated by planned obsolescence. The manufacturers intend for their machines to be replaced every ten years. Imagine a bell curve with the peak at ten years. Some machines will fail sooner, some later. Our personal experience with LG has been Ok. We bought a LG washer and dryer in 2008. In 2013 we replaced the main board on the washer for $355. Have never serviced the dryer. We bought our LG refrigerator in 2011 with no issues.
My grandsons, 13 and 14, are hooked on iPhone games. But, so is their dad! And, so is his mother!! I bought her a new iPad for Christmas and I don't think she's missed a day since then when she wasn't playing games on it.
Personally, my Facebook friends has been limited to my children and no others. And I never post on it. But if someone wanted to find out about me all they would have to do is come here and read 17 years of posts (OMG is that possible). Certainly it is troubling how Goggle, etc. can know everything about us by tracing on moves online.
My grandsons, 13 and 14, are hooked on iPhone games. But, so is their dad! And, so is his mother!! I bought her a new iPad for Christmas and I don't think she's missed a day since then when she wasn't playing games on it.
Personally, my Facebook friends has been limited to my children and no others. And I never post on it. But if someone wanted to find out about me all they would have to do is come here and read 17 years of posts (OMG is that possible). Certainly it is troubling how Goggle, etc. can know everything about us by tracing on moves online.