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Topic: Do your appliances talk to you?
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xrcrguy
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1562
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posted 25 November 2002 05:27 AM
Why marketers push excess tech quote: American manufacturers also induce consumers to upgrade by designing products that easily malfunction or cost a great deal to repair, a tactic known as built-in obsolescence.
Just thought this was an interesting article.Sounds like they're desperate to come up with the next big thing. A friend of mine once mentioned that he noticed that it seems like there haven't been any "new" inventions for the past 50 years. Everything is an improvement. He also thought that we were about to hit the next big tech advancement age and that major new ideas come and go in cycles. Interesting thought. Comments?
From: Believe in ideas, not ideology | Registered: Oct 2001
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Arch Stanton
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2356
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posted 25 November 2002 10:46 AM
Cara Sposa heard from a colleague that frozen potato chips and those potato nugget things are processed up the yin yang (most start from rotten spuds that are bleached and otherwise chemically treated), so we'll not be buying them any more.That leaves us with a dilemna. Wither poutine? Deep-frying chips in an open pot is smelly and messy, so we want to get a deep-fryer. And we don't want to pay very much money for one. I've never used one and hence know nothing about them. Which one do we get? Any recommendations?
From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 25 November 2002 12:01 PM
My appliances already talk to me. The clothes washer is the mouthiest: it says things like, "I don't want to do anything today, anything at all. Find me a therapist, or I won't spin dry again in this century." So these guys are looking for the next "killer application" because that's what North American stockholders think matters? And that in the face of the fact that that application itself will be cheap trash in a few years? Charming. What these people are not looking for is improved design, and I think that's going to be a problem for NA business in the future. Forgive yet another nod to Europe, but some of us started noticing in the late eighties that European gadgets -- even in formerly benighted Britain -- were getting way, way better -- by which I mean not only more handsome, although they are, but also more sturdy, more functional, just plain more impressive -- than the flashier but tinnier stuff we get here. American gadgetry led the world in the fifties, no question. But if these sorts of high-tech gimmicks are just being pasted on to the same old fridges and stoves, as I think they are, then U.S./Japanese manufacturers are one day soon going to find themselves playing catch-up to the much more craft-minded Germans, Scandinavians, etc.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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Lima Bean
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3000
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posted 25 November 2002 12:43 PM
I have suspected just this very thing for quite a while now. This is the reason why I shop at garage sales and thrift shops for most things. Chances are, if you can find an old one (of anything) that still works, it'll work for a lot longer than a brand new one. And it's also likely to be prettier and sturdier. And if it does break down, it's likely to be more mechanical than electronic, and therefore easier to fix (unless you need some crazy replacement bit or another...). Like my toaster oven, for example, or my old blender. Such a lovely blender. Ahh, the good ol' days.
From: s | Registered: Aug 2002
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 25 November 2002 01:05 PM
quote: Deep-frying chips in an open pot is smelly and messy, so we want to get a deep-fryer. And we don't want to pay very much money for one. I've never used one and hence know nothing about them. Which one do we get?
Arch, I had a deep fryer about 10 years ago. It was just as messy and smelly as doing them in a big pot - in fact, basically all the deep fryer WAS was a deep pot that plugs in instead of going on the stove element. My parents used to make the most amazing french fries when I was a kid. They had this big, ugly, sturdy metal pot with a lid (this thing was huge) and they used it for nothing but deep frying. I think since they didn't use meat, they would only have to change the oil once in a while (they kept it in its own corner of the fridge). And it worked just as well as, if not better than, a deep fryer. Geez, nice grammar on me. It worked real good. brr. [ November 25, 2002: Message edited by: Michelle ]
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 25 November 2002 04:05 PM
Ah. Laptop. I understand laptop. In fact, I understand little else. But say "Laptop," and I am engaged. Why does anyone have anything else? Gosh, but it's nice to find that I have at least that one wee connection with modernity.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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WingNut
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1292
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posted 25 November 2002 04:09 PM
I totally agree. The technology behind them is sound. The problem is the useful technologies, at the moment, are limited to what already exists. And businesses hawking this technology instead of selling it to improve the things you already do, instead push the things that are novell but stupid. Selling the sizzle not the steak, I suppose.But an example, wireless technology can give someone with a hand held device or a laptop high speed access to their office networks. That is far more useful and desirable than the stupid fridge. Problem is it is not sexy. It is not novel. But in the end it is what will sell the technology. And here is a prediction: In the coming years palms, desktops, notebooks, as they are now will all be obsolete. The flash memory technology, prevalent with digital cameras, will evolve to allow you to store your operating system, applications, and files on a single tiny card. You will be able to carry the card around with you and plug it in almost anywhere and have full access to your data. Wireless technology will ensure you are always plugged in to the Internet. The question is what embedded OS can best take advantage of the opportunity.
From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001
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Mandos
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 888
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posted 25 November 2002 04:11 PM
Laptops are not extendable. There was a time (only a few months ago, really) when my computer had no external case. Just the eviscerated guts cascading down a pile of books on my desk. That way, I could move things around easily, which I did on a regular basis (video card for me, video card for brother, movable internal CD writer, etc, etc). This simply doesn't work on a laptop, where I can't share parts with the rest of my family. A laptop and a desktop would be an ideal combination but I can't yet justify the investment. And if I'm going to get a laptop, it'll be a darn good leading edge one, pricey.
From: There, there. | Registered: Jun 2001
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DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490
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posted 25 November 2002 08:33 PM
skdadl: Desktop computers are favored by types like yours truly because they're further along the cutting edge than laptops. They're more modular, easily upgradable, and you can just do more to squeeze as much performance as you can out of it.A classic example is the warranty-voiding overclocking. You take this big huge heatsink that weighs a half pound, with a fan that spins at 7000 RPM so it sounds like a perpetually roaring hair-dryer (*BrooooooOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH* is the noise my FOP38 makes as it first fires up), and slap that sucker onto a CPU that you want to boost up a couple hundred megahertz. Why the big heatsink? Heat. Gotta take it away from the CPU or it goes boom. And when it goes boom, you have no computer. You have an expensive post-modern piece of art. And your normal el-cheapo $12 heatsink with a 5000 RPM fan isn't gonna take the heat away fast enough before the temperatures get too high for comfort. That's just one example. Another is that the whizz-bang fancy-ass graphics cards you need to play all them new games you can't get with laptops. Hell, until recently most graphics chips for laptops were barely worthy of the name. But you can lay down 500 bucks and get an ATI all-in-wonder Radeon, play games, do TV and video capturing, and output to a TV as well. Laptops have a place, but for geeks like me they're as auxiliary machines rather than primary machines.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001
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WingNut
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1292
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posted 26 November 2002 09:39 AM
We are already racing that way, Mandos. Computer peripherals are becoming modular and are being adopted in a big way. USB and FireWire add-on devices has already had a tremendous impact. Where once tech companies could expect a call to install and configure a SCSI drive, now people just plug 'em in and turn 'em on. And sometimes not even have to turn them on like digital cameras or flash memory sticks, for example. As computers become more modular they also become cheaper and more disposable. I don't like it much either. But I don't like SUV's and I can't escape them.However, I do not think we will lose total control of hardware just a lot as it moves toward a standard base and toaster format. But, then the OS becomes more important. You will need a scalable* OS and one that can adapt and reconfigure itself to whatever you plug it into. For example, while I think hardware will become more standards based and more modular, your computer might be a Sony, at work you have a Dell, and at the cybercafe they have something els all together. While they might all look and behave the same they might also include different chips for different tasks. Your OS must be able to recognize the different chips and configure itself to operate on boot. For that, I would suggest there is Linux and BSD. *I find words like scalable can mean different things to different people at different times. For me, in this discussion, it means it can be as large or small as purposes and available resources dictate. For example, we know Linux can be used on embedded systems as well as monstrous clusters. But I envision flash RAM will eventually be gigabytes in size allowing full system installs and even host application and data for suchs tasks as video editing, for example.
From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 26 November 2002 09:01 PM
Remember when everyone rented their phone from Bell? Those things never broke. After a nuclear war, the cockroaches could have used them to talk to each other.Now, we own our phones. What crap they are. I have resolved that when my hot water heater bites the dust, I will own my next one instead of renting. I will buy the same make and model as Union Energy offers to rent. I've been looking for a T.V. off and on for a while. It's interesting to see what bells and whistles they offer, which I wouldn't use. Picture in Picture, yadda yadda yadda. I compared two t.v.'s side by side. One had more lines of resolution than the other, and the one with less looked sharper to me. Cars bug me. A century of manufacturing, and Ford and G.M. can't get a starting motor to last one go round on the odometer? Not to mention water pumps, heater cores, etc, etc. I make truck wheels. Truth be known, most could be taken off at the scrap yard and put on new vehicles, and you'd never know the difference for the life of that vehicle. That's value.
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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flotsom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2832
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posted 26 November 2002 11:58 PM
Question: Given that heat rises, does it make sense to put the fridge motor at the bottom of the fridge?Obviously refrigerator motors should be at the top. Edited to add: Both my (newly purchased) VCR and DVD 'talk' to me in print. Not audibly. My printer talks audibly to me - in a rather rude and abrupt manner, too. Does everyone's printer talk to them? [ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: flotsom ]
From: the flop | Registered: Jul 2002
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