Posts Tagged: ‘Ranting’

Planned Obsolescence – Originally Published April 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

After a year of cult worship of the iPad, the iPad 2 is now being sold.  There isn’t a lot of difference in the two models.  The iPad 1 is now $100 less than before (but I’m sure consumers weren’t being gypped before the price reduction).  The new model has a couple of cameras and a dual core processor.  The technology was available a year ago.  Why didn’t they use it then?

When I read about the iPad 2, I was reminded of a MAD magazine article I read about thirty years ago.  It was a satire of Thomas Edison.  There was a picture of him in his lab working on the phonograph.  On the shelves behind him was a reel to reel tape recorder/player, which at that time was the latest audio technology.  The caption said that Edison didn’t get rich by patenting his best products right away.

Ever notice when you buy a new phone, there will be a new model or major update long before you complete the contract?  Same thing for computers.  You can bet that within two months of buying one, there will be a better model released.  Even though it sometimes appears suspicious, I don’t believe that companies would stoop so low as to profit by withholding their best.  I think they bend even lower.

How old is your cell phone?  Does it work as good as it did when you first bought it?  How much longer do you think you’ll be using it?  How about your cassettes.  Do you still listen to them?  Maybe you listen to your phonograph records instead.  No?  It must be the reel to reel tapes that you like to listen to.  Why is it that you can buy a new computer, set it up and find that it is already out of date?

The answer to all of those questions and many more like it is planned obsolescence.  That is why so many things work great until about the time the warranty expires?  I think it is because companies deliberately design their products to fail early.  Is it a coincidence that printers quit printing when the ink is low, but not empty.  Doesn’t it seem that a lot of software isn’t compatible with prior programs or files?  Didn’t automobiles made fifty or sixty years ago last a lot longer than modern cars?

It isn’t just electronics technology that manufacturers plan to become obsolete.  Textbooks are revised every year even though with most topics there isn’t much change in the subject material.  When I was younger, my Mother had a Hoover canister vacuum cleaner that she must have used for at least twenty years.  These days, it seems like my wife needs to replace the vacuum every three years or so.  The cuckoo clock in my living room is at least 100 years old.  I wonder if I could buy a new model that would last as long.

I could probably rant on for another ten pages or so, but I think you probably know what I mean.  Companies plan for their products obsolescence so they can make more profit by selling new stuff.  Of course, that’s just my opinion.

Now that I think about it, it’s not just manufacturers that plan for obsolescence.  After all, next month this column will be obsolete.

Thanks for reading.

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Automobile and Technology – Originally Published March 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

My oldest Grandson just got his Learner’s Permit and has become the official driver for many of our family outings.  That got me to thinking about the fact that I never cared much for driving.  I didn’t get my first driving license until I joined the Navy.  For some reason, they needed it for identification purposes.  I guess that the automobile is just one of those things I have that I could easily live without.  If Lake Charles had a decent city bus system, I probably wouldn’t drive at all.

Like so many other things, our vehicles are loaded with computers and other technology.  I’ve decided that I could live without most of it.

When the check engine light in my pickup goes on, I can’t hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, start the task manager and begin diagnosing the problem.  I’m stuck with visiting a repair place that is certified to do the repair.  I know I can interface with my vehicle’s computer.  Of course, to do it efficiently would cost at least a hundred dollars for the proper equipment and the software.  Then I would still probably end up having to go to the certified technician for my repair.

Do I really need to have a computer tell me when I need to stop and check the air pressure in my tires?  Could a missed firmware update cause a flat tire?  Do I want to take a chance on my transportation being infected with a computer virus?  I guess there isn’t any sense in complaining.  Computer chips in our automobiles are here to stay.  Since we have them, I can only wish the technicians would install some useful programming.

I remember a Plymouth my father had when I was a young man.  It had a push button gear shift.  On the left side of the dashboard was a light sensor that automatically dimmed the headlights whenever another car approached.  Your headlights also dimmed when they were reflected off of a white building.  I wonder why the designers/technicians have decided automatic dimmers aren’t as important as your tire pressure?

I wish that someone would invent an automobile application that automatically turns on the radio and tunes in programs I want to listen to.  I would never miss Kim, Leo or Ira again.  A good program could also change the station when a show I don’t like comes on.

If that GPS thing knows where I stop to use the toilet and can help them unlock my car from afar, why can’t they program my vehicle to hit the brakes when an accident is imminent?  It would sure be a lot cheaper than my car telephoning for the ambulance.

I sure wish they would hurry up and invent those robot car drivers that I’ve read about for years in the Popular Science magazine.  Then we wouldn’t have to worry about the other driver talking on the phone, reading the newspaper, eating their lunch, combing their hair, etc.

How come automobiles don’t have a program that keeps them from drifting into the adjacent lane?  Couldn’t they put in a subroutine so the car will stop when the traffic light turns yellow?  I sure hope they put in a line or two of code to stop tailgating.

I think they should incorporate Bluetooth into our automobiles.  When you can’t find you car in the parking lot, you just pull out your smart phone and locate your network.  Of course, you’d have to be within 30 feet of where you parked.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just say, “Play CD” and your sound system would start.  You could say “Set cruise control” and never get a speeding ticket.  Sometimes I’d like to say “Eject passenger”, but that would probably be illegal.

Enough of my wishful thinking.  They’ve already made the best technological advancement possible.  You can plug your coffee cup in and keep the coffee hot.  What will they think of next?

Thanks for reading.

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Bah! Humbug! – Originally Published December 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of the year again.  The retailers want us to spend all of our hard earned nickels on lots of things that we don’t really need.  I remember last year when I got suckered into buying a multifunction printer that also copies, scans, faxes and probably would clean my nose after a sneeze.  The problem is that I don’t need to do all of that stuff and would probably have saved some money if I’d just bought a scanner and a box of tissues.

About the only difference in the holiday season every year is that it usually seems to start earlier and earlier.  This year, I saw my first Christmas display on labor day.  Newegg started advertising Black Friday deals sometime during the first part of November.  I’m expecting the 2011 season to start around the Fourth of July.

Bah! Humbug!
During the holiday season, I spend a lot more time online getting my news.  I refuse to pay extra for a newspaper on Thanksgiving Day.  Do they really expect me to pay more for the extra advertising?  I can look at all the same ads online for free.

You can predict the news.  On Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can be sure that we’ll read about celebrities working at some homeless shelter or at a soup kitchen.  Where are they the other 363 days of the year?

Bah! Humbug!
This is the time of the year that the scammers are out in full force.  I consider myself to be pretty computer literate, but I almost got scammed when I got this e-mail from order-update@amazon.com:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,
Your order has been successfully canceled. For your reference, here’s a summary of your order:
You just canceled order #823-2346426-4655389 placed on November 23, 2010.
Status: CANCELED
ORDER INFORMATION (this was the link)
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
Because you only pay for items when we ship them to you, you won’t be charged for any items that you cancel.
Thank you for visiting Amazon.com!
Amazon.com
Earth’s Biggest Selection
http://www.amazon.com

I do quite a bit of shopping at amazon and I almost clicked on the order information.  If I hadn’t noticed that it wasn’t addressed to my amazon e-mail address, I would have been scammed.  The bad guys have sure advanced from pickpocketing, breaking into cars at the parking lots and giving us all a free I-Pod.

Bah! Humbug!
Every year, I’ve got to listen to some novelty song about five zillion times.  I’m just happy that Grandma doesn’t get run over by a reindeer as often as she used to.

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of year when we get to watch all of those TV specials and rerun movies that are better off forgotten.  It was a Wonderful Life when it was a movie, but 9000 times as a TV special leaves something to be desired.  Did you know that Jimmy Stewart has been dead for thirteen years?  The only good thing you can say is that during the holidays, we don’t have to watch the regular lousy television programming.  Don’t get me started on the commercials.

Oh well. Time for me to stop bah humbugging and write some club related stuff.  As I hope you know by now, our club web site (SWLAPCUG) is back up and running.  Travis and Tom have spent lots of time getting it tweaked to be user friendly.  All club members will soon be able to read the minutes of club meetings, view the treasurer reports, download newsletters, share computing tips, laugh at my inane jokes and many other exiting things.

When you go to the site, click the login button and you will be asked to register.  Your login information from the old site will not work.  Just pick a user name and password and enter your e-mail.  After a few minutes, you will get an e-mail with your registration information and a verification link to click.  This is the only time you will have to go to the web site from your e-mail.  The next time you are on the main page, enter your new username and password.  Click the login in button and you’re in business.

You don’t have to register to view many of the items on our web site; however, you won’t be able to participate until you do.  After you’re registered, one of the moderators will move you to the club members list.  More features are available to club members than to general visitors.

All of the features on the new site aren’t working yet.  In the Forums is a “Suggestion Box” topic.  If you’ve got any ideas for improving things, let us know.  Remember, we can’t make the site easier to use if nobody knows that you’re having a problem.  Once again, the link for our web site is: Southwest Louisiana PC Users Group.

Bah!  Humbug!  My wife just told me to put my shoes on because she wants me to go and help pick out the son in laws Christmas present.  I know what that really means is I’ll have to carry something.

Thanks for reading.

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Over-Technologied? – Originally Published November 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I remember back in the early 1960’s when my father, a feed salesman, was received a Texas Instruments calculator from his company.  At that time, the TI was a top of the line calculator with an electronic memory.  This machine could add, subtract, divide and multiply.  He was proud of that calculator.  If you would ask him to add multiply 2 times 3, he would get the machine out to do the problem.

I was reminded of that calculator a few weeks ago when someone I know turned on their global positioning system to get directions to drive to Beaumont from Lake Charles.  Luckily, we got to the right place because he knew where it was.  The GPS address put us a couple of blocks away.

Every month or so, I scroll through the saved television programs list on my digital video recorder and delete programs that I’ve recorded.  I realize now that I just don’t have the time to watch them all.  Besides, I have to make some room for the new programs I want to record.

These incidents are starting to make me wonder if our society might be getting “over-technologied”.  Don’t bother to look that word up in your dictionary or thesaurus.  Over-technologied is a term that I made up to describe a situation where technology is used either unnecessarily, stupidly, inadequately or in some other silly manner.  I think that people who have the latest, greatest, newest technology and then don’t know how to use it are extremely over-technologied.  I made up the word, so I guess I can make up the definition.

For example, how many people do you know that have thousands of pictures and movies saved on their huge hard drives?  With high speed digital cameras it is easy to take ten pictures instead of one.  You have a better chance of getting the “perfect” picture but end up not being able to find it because you have to sort through a thousand pictures to find it.  Isn’t that being over-technologied?

It’s election season again and I get countless phone spam calls urging me to vote for candidate Mr./Mrs./Ms. over-technologied.  I call them that because they have used technology to call every phone number and irritate the people on the other end.  I use my own technology to keep track of who I get unwanted calls from.  The over-technologied candidate doesn’t get my vote.

How many people do you know have a microwave oven that will defrost, weigh the food and then start cooking so as to be finished just in time for dinner?  Many of them have more than timer, a whole bunch of built in programmed recipes and many other features.  If they’re like most people, they use their microwave to reheat their leftovers or make popcorn.  Do you think they might be over-technologied?

I could probably write three or four articles on how our cell phones are over-technologied.  Personally, I don’t even carry a cell phone.  I usually just carry my pocket computer which also happens to be able to connect to Sprint if I want to make a phone call.  If you don’t agree that cell phones are over-technonologied, ask the next ten people you see how many applications they have on their cell phone.  Then ask them how many they actually use.

When I was a kid, my old junker car would break down on the side of the road.  It was usually pretty easy for me to fix it.  These days I drive an over-technologied pickup.  If there is a breakdown, I might as well call for a tow truck because the mechanic would have to run a computer diagnostic before he could fix the darn thing.

Do you think that modern cameras are over-technologied?  My camera is a couple of years old and still has more features than I ever use.  The instruction manual is about three fourths of an inch thick.  I often wonder if I will ever learn how to do some of the advanced functions.  I probably would have the time to memorize the instructions if I could just get away from my over-technologied television.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tongue-in-cheek article about having too much technology.  Be careful, technology can also be dangerous.  An incident with my debit card is what got me thinking about too much technology in the first place.  If you’ve got the time, just Google “dangers of too much technology” and read the 239 million articles for yourself.

I could probably ramble on for a couple more pages about how we are over-technologied.  I just realized that having five computers on my home network isn’t enough.  I’ve got to go do some research on that tablet computer I want to buy.  After all, I want to stay over-technologied.

Thanks for reading.

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Things I Hate About Computing – Originally Published October 2009

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

This month I’m going to rant, criticize and complain just a little.  The other day, my wife and I were in one of the home improvement stores and I thought that it would be a good time to pick up a new water filter for our refrigerator.  I went over to appliances and told them I needed a new filter for a Whirlpool.  He immediately asked me which of the nine filters I needed.  Of course I had forgotten to memorize the filter number so I found our refrigerator on the sales floor and told the salesman, “One to fit that model.”  Naturally, it was the wrong size filter.  When I went back to exchange it, I found out that a different model year takes a different filter.  What does all that have to do with computers and electronics?

It got me to thinking about some of the things I really hate about computing.  I’ve probably got 30 or 40 different USB cables in my junk box in the closet.  Every time you buy something that is USB supported, you get another cable.  Why is this?  It’s because each manufacturer has their own proprietary plug.  They have to include a cable because none of my other 30 cables will fit the darn thing.  I recently got a new cell phone.  Same manufacturer, different model.  You guessed it.  I’ve got another USB cable in my collection.  Wouldn’t it be nice if everything had a standard plug and didn’t have the cable included?  Think of the money that could be saved.  Wait a minute!  Then they couldn’t sucker people into paying $20 for 3 dollars worth of wire.

Another thing about electronics that makes me made are the End User License Agreements (EULA).  I’m one of those persons that read them pretty carefully before installing anything on my computer.  My complaint isn’t the fact that they are written by lawyers.  I can use the internet to identify the legal terms.  I have yet to find a EULA that can be read full screen.  Instead they write them in a little window that usually covers about a tenth of my screen.  I really think this is done to discourage people from reading the agreements.  Just get them to click “I agree” and get it over with.  I wonder how many people downloaded Google Chrome before the EULA was changed?  Do you suppose Google changed their EULA because someone finally read the EULA and told others what it said?

I can live with SPAM (I usually don’t even see it) and I don’t mind being bombarded with internet advertisements (I can always go to other sites).  I really hate it when websites pop up a window asking for information that they will probably never use.  For instance, the Des Moines Register wants to know my age, sex and country.  They then store the data in a cookie on my computer.  When I tell them that I‘m 22 year old female, I get the same advertisements as the dirty old men get.  Why waste my time?

My last big frustration is forwarded e-mails, which I usually just delete.  Should I really have to click page down 2 or 3 times to read the cute story or learn about the latest internet scare?  Besides, I think it would be a good thing if the government made business e-mails pay a 10 cent tax.  I bet we’d all get a lot less Viagra offers.

That’s enough ranting and complaining.  Next month I’ll write something useful for the newsletter.  By the way, did I mention that the two water filters had two different prices?  Does that remind you of anything computer related?

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