I Hate/Love Technology

[HBergeron]

This is the very first thread I'm starting, hoping it doesn't end up on page 20 within a few days...

This for observations of all things tech, from the revered to the ridiculous. What do you hate? What do you love? What is just plain stupid?

Pizza Hut and Toyota are teaming up to develop e-Palette vehicles: driverless cars that will make your pizza on the way to your house, but you will have to go out to the curb to get your pizza.

There go a ton of porn scenarios.

Also: I really don't need my toilet to be connected to the internet (they're developing it).

 

[justasimplegirl]

I hate Google drive or the cloud or whatever you call it. I hate having to put documents out there in the universe and then email a link to the person I'm sharing it with so they can edit it. I hate that I put an excel spreadsheet up and it becomes this funky Google sheets thing that has limited options for editing. I just want to email the doc to its intended recipient, have them review it and email it back.

And I hate video conferencing. You wanna screen share? Fine. I can do that. You can do that. I don't need to actually look at you while we talk. I don't need you looking at me. If you're staring at me, I feel like I have to stop everything and just sit in front of the camera during our "meeting." Guess what? I have tons of work to do and a lot of it can be done while I listen to you recap some other meeting you had or discuss at length things that need to be changed without making any move to change them. Trust me, if something you say deserves my full and undivided attention, you'll get it. In the meantime, I'll be running reports and putting out fires.

 

[Pantyboy74]

I love all technology that connects to the internet. Because without it I wouldn't have a job.

However I also hate all technology that connects to the internet. Because too many idiots out there fail to research the items they are buying and then its your ISPs fault that it doesn't do what you wanted it to do.

 

[islandjoe2]

As JustASimpleGirl mentioned, I hate video conferencing. I'm not vain, but for whatever reason video conferencing makes me incredibly self conscious about my appearance, as though right before the video commences my hair starts falling out in clumps and it looks like I'm growing a lettuce patch in my teeth. If it's that important that we see each other's faces, get on a plane and come see me, or tell me to come see you. Don't be dumb.

I do love the ability to talk with my son over Skype while I am traveling.

Also, I made some upgrades to the ol' homestead at Christmas. Alexa is incredibly helpful and user friendly. And the Roomba is doing wonders for the dog hair that gathers constantly. I never thought I'd be getting texts from my vacuum letting me know how proud it is to have cleaned the house, yet here we are!

I love having remote start on my truck, but I hate how paranoid all the electronics in it make me. If my center console screen ever goes out I'm hosed Tommy.

 

[tnman03]

Just a Simple Girl pretty well summed it up. I'm not a fan of anything cloud based and detest video conferences. It's much easier to do an audio conference because I can either multitask or kick back in a chair, drink coffee and close my eyes while I'm thinking.

Otherwise like Island Joe said I like using Skype to stay in touch with extended friends and family. Alexia is a handy electronic helper and a Roomba is on my want list.

But I really don't like the overreliance on electronics and proliferation of CPU's in vehicles and powered equipment. Those complicate owner repair work and create continued added expense. It comes down to necessary evils a lot of the time.

 

[HBergeron]

Thank you everybody, for posting! I was hoping there would be enough techno love and hate to a least get a few responses.

I hate that in CA, you can fail a smog test JUST for having your 'check engine' light on, even though you would otherwise have passed. Every two years I have to fix it before my test - it has yet to cost under $250.00, and I always ask, and it's NEVER A): anything serious or B): anything that would make me fail a smog test.

My light is on now.

 

[Hornblende]

Thank you everybody, for posting! I was hoping there would be enough techno love and hate to a least get a few responses.

I hate that in CA, you can fail a smog test JUST for having your 'check engine' light on, even though you would otherwise have passed. Every two years I have to fix it before my test - it has yet to cost under $250.00, and I always ask, and it's NEVER A): anything serious or B): anything that would make me fail a smog test.

My light is on now.

Frustrating, I'm sure, but it isn't the fault of technology, it is a calculated corporate strategy.

Me - generally speaking I love technology, and have made my living from it. "Alexa" has recently made an appearance in our house, but she won't talk dirty to me.

 

[jaF0]

I hate most everything 'connected' and will never have any of those IoT type of devices or appliances, thermostats, etc.

I also hate G (the search beast) and most everything associated with them. I hate they they have infiltrated and infested nearly everything to the point that you cannot avoid them entirely.

But I hate A even more, and the fact that if you want a phone you have to choose one or the other. At least I can choose a brand/style/model of phone that uses the G Beast's O/S which I cannot do with the Rotten A.

One thing I have found useful to the point of being tolerable is 'Keep', a simple note taking tool for shopping lists and reminders that updates and displays on both phones and my PC.

 

[Hypoxia]

Culture is what humans do. Technology is how they do it. Technologies are tools. Tools can be used as constructive devices, as toys, and as weapons.

The weaponized tech I fear now is that mix of sensors, networks, and AI comprising ubiquitous surveillance, the modern fulfillment of Bentham's Panopticon. Everything you do can be seen. You never know just WHEN you are being watched, so you must assume you're watched constantly. Do you feel constrained yet?

 

[Hornblende]

Culture is what humans do. Technology is how they do it. Technologies are tools. Tools can be used as constructive devices, as toys, and as weapons.

The weaponized tech I fear now is that mix of sensors, networks, and AI comprising ubiquitous surveillance, the modern fulfillment of Bentham's Panopticon. Everything you do can be seen. You never know just WHEN you are being watched, so you must assume you're watched constantly. Do you feel constrained yet?

I agree. By the way, you left your bathroom light on.

 

[HBergeron]

The intrusion of personal data gathering is the scariest aspect of all technology, aside from the 'what happens when every device in my life is Smart and connected together and becomes self-aware' sci-fi scenario.

What makes me apprehensive is not even the government collecting and using my data - as a responsible, law abiding American, fear of my government is a daily bedfellow, no matter what party is in power. It's the as yet unchecked power of Google itself, not to mention Apple and Microsoft.

That, and the fact that every time a device becomes smart, it becomes subject to Ransomware. There are already cases of smart thermostats having been taken over and set at an unchangeable 95 degrees until a few hundred dollars is paid in one of the online currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum etc.).

 

[lakesailer_mi]

Oh! I like this idea!

I am not fond of Google Drive either, as many above have said. It seems clunky and stupid (as has been mentioned, it converts my docs to other formats...um...fuck no, I like my formats thank you very much).

But I LOVE dropbox. I love it for so many reasons. First and foremost, I can access it from any computer anywhere in the world. OMG. No more "emailing presentations" and bringing them on sticks and crap like that.
Plus, I can share folders with people and work. As many know, I'm doing an England gig later this year. I've already got a shared dropbox with my peeps there....we skype and then share work. It's so nice.

I love skype. We did an interview with someone we want to hire over skype. We now have a dedicated "skype" room with high quality cams/speakers etc. IT. WAS. AWESOME. Almost like sitting in the same room (minus the transfer of viruses between people... ).

I love the amount of FLOPS on a computer these days. For background. When I was finishing school, I had a program that took 4 days to run. This was on "the best" PC's available at the time. Over the years, I would run it, just for shits and giggles on every new computer I had. By about 15 years ago, that program would run in less than 1 min. Think about that folks.

I love my phone. I love the fact that I can use it to navigate around a new city. I love that I can look up things (via internet) on it. I love that I can text and call people on it. Back when I first was going to conferences and stuff, trying to meet up with friends was...a nightmare. Now, not a problem at all. Easy peasy.

I do have concerns about intrusion and data collection.
I do have concerns about whether we are giving up something when we spend so much time on line.
I do have concerns about how this technology gets used and abused.

 

[HBergeron]

One thing I love about technology is the fact that if you guess right, you can make a lot of money. I'm considering dipping my toe into Ethereum (alternative to Bitcoin) mining. It's called mining, but really it's setting up computing machines and aligning yourself with the folks who send you huge allotments of financial transactions to verify. These transactions are encrypted, so you cannot see them, but the machines verify the details and verify that they are sound.

Once you complete your allotment, you are paid in 'coin'. That's a very layman's description. I work surrounded by these machines, and I've been told that for an investment of about $1500.00 for four of these machines, I could turn out about 1 Ethereum coin every two months - today's value is about $1200 and change.

I am sorely tempted, but I would have to learn how to maintain the machines, and I am severely tech-challenged. Bitcoin continues to slide down from its recent high, and as the very first of its kind, I'm convinced it's on the downside of its Bell Curve.

Anybody else checking into this? Any thoughts?

 

[Hornblende]

One thing I love about technology is the fact that if you guess right, you can make a lot of money. I'm considering dipping my toe into Ethereum (alternative to Bitcoin) mining. It's called mining, but really it's setting up computing machines and aligning yourself with the folks who send you huge allotm ents of financial transactions to verify. These transactions are encrypted, so you cannot see them, but the machines verify the details and verify that they are sound.

Once you complete your allotment, you are paid in 'coin'. That's a very layman's description. I work surrounded by these machines, and I've been told that for an investment of about $1500.00 for four of these machines, I could turn out about 1 Ethereum coin every two months - today's value is about $1200 and change.

I am sorely tempted, but I would have to learn how to maintain the machines, and I am severely tech-challenged. Bitcoin continues to slide down from its recent high, and as the very first of its kind, I'm convinced it's on the downside of its Bell Curve.

Anybody else checking into this? Any thoughts?

For me the inexcusable part of Bitcoin is the ridiculous energy cost of mining for new coins. These statistics are horrifying:

Number of U.S. households that could be powered by Bitcoin 3,689,260
Number of U.S. households powered for 1 day by the electricity consumed for a single transaction 11.07
Bitcoin's electricity consumption as a percentage of the world's electricity consumption 0.18%


Click here for the source of these statistics.

There has to be a better way...

 

[HBergeron]

For me the inexcusable part of Bitcoin is the ridiculous energy cost of mining for new coins. These statistics are horrifying:

Number of U.S. households that could be powered by Bitcoin 3,689,260
Number of U.S. households powered for 1 day by the electricity consumed for a single transaction 11.07
Bitcoin's electricity consumption as a percentage of the world's electricity consumption 0.18%


Click here for the source of these statistics.

There has to be a better way...

I really don't even look at Bitcoin, because while it's not really over, it's fairly long in the tooth. I prefer Ethereum for a number of reasons, and the cost certainly has a lot to do with the ROI:

Ethereum's amount of time it takes for a set of transactions (block time) is set to about 14 to 15 seconds. Bitcoin's is set at about 10 minutes. This allows for faster transaction times, and a quantum leap in the number of transactions using the same amount of energy. Ethereum does this by using the Ghost protocol.

Ethereum uses a lot less energy, and costs less than a third of the cost of a Bitcoin to produce.

This is not a zero sum business model.


My rough cost analysis:

Ethereum.

Energy is one of the major expenses, short of equipment procurement. All businesses use energy, bearing in mind that these transactional verifications were once done by people, using plenty of energy to do so (I have no figures for that energy expenditure)

These are approximate figures:

Cost of 8 rigs, capable of producing 1 coin per month:
About $3,000


KWh to produce 1 coin: 1,280
MY cost (I’m in a fairly high rate area): $ .16/KWh
Monthly energy cost: about $683.00
Price per coin: about $1200.00, (recently, it was $900)
Net profit: $517/month

Recoupment of the initial $3,000 capital expense needs to be scheduled -
Take no profit for 6 months and that cost is repaid:

Very rough, as the price of the coin fluctuates, but the trick is knowing when to sell a coin once you’ve produced it.

 

[Sexybritches69]

It might sound strange but I love my crock pot that I can control with an app on my phone. Makes dinner on weeknights a little easier.

 

[Hornblende]

I really don't even look at Bitcoin, because while it's not really over, it's fairly long in the tooth. I prefer Ethereum for a number of reasons, and the cost certainly has a lot to do with the ROI:

Ethereum's amount of time it takes for a set of transactions (block time) is set to about 14 to 15 seconds. Bitcoin's is set at about 10 minutes. This allows for faster transaction times, and a quantum leap in the number of transactions using the same amount of energy. Ethereum does this by using the Ghost protocol.

Ethereum uses a lot less energy, and costs less than a third of the cost of a Bitcoin to produce.

This is not a zero sum business model.


My rough cost analysis:

Ethereum.

Energy is one of the major expenses, short of equipment procurement. All businesses use energy, bearing in mind that these transactional verifications were once done by people, using plenty of energy to do so (I have no figures for that energy expenditure)

These are approximate figures:

Cost of 8 rigs, capable of producing 1 coin per month:
About $3,000


KWh to produce 1 coin: 1,280
MY cost (I’m in a fairly high rate area): $ .16/KWh
Monthly energy cost: about $683.00
Price per coin: about $1200.00, (recently, it was $900)
Net profit: $517/month

Recoupment of the initial $3,000 capital expense needs to be scheduled -
Take no profit for 6 months and that cost is repaid:

Very rough, as the price of the coin fluctuates, but the trick is knowing when to sell a coin once you’ve produced it.

Thanks for the detailed analysis - I should say, though, that my reservations are not related to the cost of the energy to the miner, but rather the cost to the environment. If all the energy used is solar/wind then that is fine, but I doubt that is usually the case.

 

[jaF0]

It might sound strange but I love my crock pot

So, when's the wedding?

And will Lit be invited to watch the consummation?

 

[jaF0]

Ethereum does this by using the Ghost protocol.

That's because it doesn't exist. It's all fake bullshit. A new form of Pyramid scheme.

 

[Sexybritches69]

So, when's the wedding?

And will Lit be invited to watch the consummation?

Alas, it can never be. My crockpot and I are but two star-crossed lovers, from different sides of the tracks, forever parallel.

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes(5) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows Doth, with their death, bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage,(10) Which, but their children's end, naught could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend...."
- Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet

 

[HBergeron]

This isn't about technology exactly, more like administrative incompetency, but when Time Warner cable/internet etc became Spectrum everything went to shit. After years, literally without problems or downtime, now there are constant problems - service outages, and three times, large chunks of channels have just gone missing (usually after a service interruption) until I spend an hour trying to talk to these idiots.