Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[james_s]

Yep, this was my point. My little Honda S2000, now 17 years old and not quite at 100,000 miles, is on the original brakes. It's also on the original clutch.

Since most drivers have no idea about manual transmissions, they are surprised to the point of almost rear-ending me when I downshift to decelerate when coming to a stoplight. They can't figure out that I'm actually slowing down even though the brake light isn't on. I have to heel-and-toe when doing this just to hit the brake pedal enough to let the tailgater behind me know I'm slowing down.

I generally don't downshift unless it's something like a mountain pass where there is a risk of overheating the brakes. I remember discussing this decades ago and the conclusion was why put wear on the engine, gearbox syncrhos and clutch instead of the brakes? Brake pads are cheap, easily replaced consumables. Every other part of the drivetrain is more expensive and more effort to service. Engine braking would be perfectly sensible if it regenerated fuel back into the tank but it doesn't, it just exchanges wear of a cheap consumable for wear on expensive core components. On top of that there is the safety issue you bring up, slowing down substantially without the brake lights illuminating increases the risk of an accident. For the vast majority of typical driving it seems to offer very few advantages.

[PlainName]

I remember discussing this decades ago and the conclusion was why put wear on the engine, gearbox syncrhos and clutch instead of the brakes? Brake pads are cheap, easily replaced consumables. Every other part of the drivetrain is more expensive and more effort to service.

It's not just about wear and tear and being cheap. Mostly it's about forward thinking, planning, observation, knowing your vehicle's capabilities pretty exactly. That is, being a better driver.

[james_s]

I remember discussing this decades ago and the conclusion was why put wear on the engine, gearbox syncrhos and clutch instead of the brakes? Brake pads are cheap, easily replaced consumables. Every other part of the drivetrain is more expensive and more effort to service.

It's not just about wear and tear and being cheap. Mostly it's about forward thinking, planning, observation, knowing your vehicle's capabilities pretty exactly. That is, being a better driver.

Ok yes, all those things are good, I know how to downshift, I do it occasionally when it makes sense to do it. I am more familiar with the capabilities of my vehicle than most, having done some mild autocrossing in the past, I've done slides, I've maneuvered my way out of some close calls, I've towed trailers over the pass, but I still don't see a practical reason to downshift in most situations. Unless you are in a situation where overheated brakes are a real possibility, what is the compelling advantage of downshifting beyond showing off that you know how? I would argue that part of being a better driver is not only knowing the capabilities of the vehicle, but knowing when and how it makes sense to utilize them.

[PlainName]

what is the compelling advantage of downshifting beyond showing off that you know how?

Not downshifting per se, but that kind of stuff - the forward planning, etc - atrophies unless you practice.

[james_s]

Well of course I do the planning, I consider myself a better than average driver with the stats to back it up, to this day I've never had a ticket, not even a parking ticket and the only accidents I've been involved in I was sitting still and somebody crashed into me. I am of the opinion that people who drive manual gearbox cars are overall more engaged, more attentive and more skilled drivers because it forces you to focus on operating the vehicle and provides a more direct connection to the physics.

[free_electron]

scissors or knives packaged in material that needs ... scissors or knives to open... and if they come in a box filled with those styrofoam peanuts ... that stuff should be outlawed.

[mansaxel]

the iconification of software. Case in point : the "hamburger" menu.
I literally spend 5 minutes figuring out what the hell the "hamburger" menu is. Somebody was explaining something to me and said , just click the hamburger menu ... the what ? yeah, the icon that looks like a hamburger . so i look aroudn for something brownish , bulging on top maybe a green and red strip (lettuce tomato) .. nothing.. i gave up had to ask : where do you see this ?
top left. the three horizontal lines.

WHAT ARTCLOWN HAS INVENTED THAT ? AND WHY CALL IT HAMBURGER MENU ?

This is ridiculous. you go and explain somebody in china to click the hamburger menu ...

Had it been open source you coulda changed it! (FX: ducks, runs)

[free_electron]

the iconification of software. Case in point : the "hamburger" menu.
I literally spend 5 minutes figuring out what the hell the "hamburger" menu is. Somebody was explaining something to me and said , just click the hamburger menu ... the what ? yeah, the icon that looks like a hamburger . so i look aroudn for something brownish , bulging on top maybe a green and red strip (lettuce tomato) .. nothing.. i gave up had to ask : where do you see this ?
top left. the three horizontal lines.

WHAT ARTCLOWN HAS INVENTED THAT ? AND WHY CALL IT HAMBURGER MENU ?

This is ridiculous. you go and explain somebody in china to click the hamburger menu ...

Had it been open source you coulda changed it! (FX: ducks, runs)

too late, i sent the ducks.

[james_s]

scissors or knives packaged in material that needs ... scissors or knives to open... and if they come in a box filled with those styrofoam peanuts ... that stuff should be outlawed.

I'm a big fan of the cornstarch based packing peanuts. You can dump them in the toilet or in a compost bin and they go away. They don't generate static electricity and cling to everything the way the foam ones do either.

[PlainName]

I wish they'd use packets of peanuts. Might order more stuff then.

[PlainName]

Hidden web links.

A while back Google changed the play store which used to be reasonably OK in that you could see at a glance what an app was about, recent reviews, etc. Then they changed it and it seemed that the useful info was gone. The attached screenie is typical.

But, no, it's still there. You just have to click the short description which doesn't follow any convention of hinting that you could click it. The only clue is the mouse cursor changing as it passes over (great if you're using a touch screen). So not it takes another click to get to info that was up front before, and the means of accessing is deliberately hidden.

(And this is a major reason why many are still on W7 - stupid anti-user, undiscoverable interface 'improvements' in 10+)

[free_electron]

new gmail. All of a sudden the entire gmail screen has changed, it now automatically classifies emails by importance based on some algorithms. FUCK OFF GOOGLE

Half of the emails are missing, they get moved from inbox to the important category automatically. i never asked for that or set that up. been missing emails for two days now. i move stuff manually. i don't go in the other mailboxes unless i need to find something i personally stored there.

Why do they do this kind of shit ? i don't want it , i don't want to re-learn it , i'm too old for this crap. Stay off of my mail. I'll manage it.
Same thing with those bloody photo organizing tools. they start moving stuff in the file system. you have no idea where stuff physically resides anymore. i organize my photos using the filesystem. i know where they are i know how to copy them and make backups. stuff now is all fuzzy.

does anyone want to launch a class action lawsuit against google for invasion of privacy ? i never gave them permission to start sniffing through my emails and sorting them based on analytics.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/186543?hl=en

this is the crap they turned on without asking me

Modern technology is becoming annoying as hell. we are no longer in control of our systems, and evolving to a pay-for-anything model. Soon you won't be able to buy a computer anymore. You'll lease a terminal-like device with the actual computing happening as a service you need to pay for. It will have a finite predefined life span, it won't have local storage apart for the stuff needed to make it run. they will no doubt come up with all kinds of marketing bullshittery.
"you will always have the leatest and greatest device" , " the best one yet"
" you will never run out of storage space"
"your data is accessible from anywhere"
"if you lose the machine, or it breaks, your data is safe as it is in the cloud and nothing was on the machine"

Great idea, but what will this cost me ? ah, yes -evil grin and lots of hand rubbing- only your firstborn, your soul, one kindey and all of the money you make. We are modern slaves. We own nothing , we have to do the bidding of master and we only get enough scraps we don't die. I fear for the next generation. Once we die our children will be bombarded with automated emails for cremation services , inheritance settlement service, estate service and whatnot. That is, if governments have not decided by then that inheritance is illegal and everything goes to the state. They are already cutting a huge chunk , why not go for everything ?

What crappy world we live in ... modern slavery. panem et circenses...

[JohanH]

new gmail. All of a sudden the entire gmail screen has changed,

There's no right to complain. It was never free to begin with. The product is YOU and your data.

But I know, I use gmail myself, because it's so much easier than running your own mail server (been there done that).

[PlainName]

new gmail. All of a sudden the entire gmail screen has changed, it now automatically classifies emails by importance based on some algorithms. FUCK OFF GOOGLE

Not free but if you cough a few bob I think you can access the gmail account with POP3/IMAP. Then you can use whatever mail client you like to view stuff whilst still benefiting from gmail's cloud storage/access.

Although the thought occurs that since IMAP stores mail on the server in user-defined folders, whether gmail would still dick around moving mail between those. Probably.

[coppice]

new gmail. All of a sudden the entire gmail screen has changed, it now automatically classifies emails by importance based on some algorithms. FUCK OFF GOOGLE

Not free but if you cough a few bob I think you can access the gmail account with POP3/IMAP. Then you can use whatever mail client you like to view stuff whilst still benefiting from gmail's cloud storage/access.

Although the thought occurs that since IMAP stores mail on the server in user-defined folders, whether gmail would still dick around moving mail between those. Probably.

Anyone with a gmail account can use POP3 or IMAP. There is no fee for that. I don't even know what the gmail app screen looks like. I've never used it.

[Bassman59]

new gmail. All of a sudden the entire gmail screen has changed,

There's no right to complain. It was never free to begin with. The product is YOU and your data.

But I know, I use gmail myself, because it's so much easier than running your own mail server (been there done that).

Instead of using gmail and instead of running your own mail server, you can register a domain and pay a hosting company a few bucks a month to deal with it. I've been doing that for ages. No gmail bullshit (either the client or the fact that you're the product) and it just works.

[PlainName]

Anyone with a gmail account can use POP3 or IMAP.

I am probably thinking of a custom domain with gmail, then.

[IDEngineer]

And this is a major reason why many are still on W7 - stupid anti-user, undiscoverable interface 'improvements' in 10+

Which is another way of saying "changing the user interface for no good reason". Casual computer users may be entertained by the idea of learning a whole new interface. Those of us (like the members of EEVblog) who use computers as tools, to get real work done, don't have the time to waste (re)(re)(re)learning how to configure and manage those tools just to get back to Square One and start generating useful output again.

Where did Microsoft hide that configuration option THIS time? Where in the Registry did THAT variable move? And what did they rename it? And for the love of all that's holy... why did they change it at all when it worked just fine before?!?

...which leaves unsaid the whole nonsense of Windows Phoning Home all the time with all versions past Win7. Any one of these annoyances is enough to stick with known, stable, reliable Win7.

[free_electron]

Smoke alarms ! Those freakshows invariably beep in the middle of the night to tell you the battery is low. during the daytime , when it is warm , the battery works fine but, as it cools down in the night, the voltage drops and they start beeping. not funs at 2am with an alarm in a vaulted ceiling 25ft off the floor...
Whatever engineering clown that invented that concept (beep for low batt) should be forced to eat one.
Flash a light , or at least put in a daylight sensor so it will beep only during daytime to tell you battery is low. not at 2am when i'm trying to sleep

[Ed.Kloonk]

Smoke alarms ! Those freakshows invariably beep in the middle of the night to tell you the battery is low. during the daytime , when it is warm , the battery works fine but, as it cools down in the night, the voltage drops and they start beeping. not funs at 2am with an alarm in a vaulted ceiling 25ft off the floor...
Whatever engineering clown that invented that concept (beep for low batt) should be forced to eat one.
Flash a light , or at least put in a daylight sensor so it will beep only during daytime to tell you battery is low. not at 2am when i'm trying to sleep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot

[PlainName]

Smoke alarms here signify dinner time.

[james_s]

Smoke alarms ! Those freakshows invariably beep in the middle of the night to tell you the battery is low. during the daytime , when it is warm , the battery works fine but, as it cools down in the night, the voltage drops and they start beeping. not funs at 2am with an alarm in a vaulted ceiling 25ft off the floor...
Whatever engineering clown that invented that concept (beep for low batt) should be forced to eat one.
Flash a light , or at least put in a daylight sensor so it will beep only during daytime to tell you battery is low. not at 2am when i'm trying to sleep

Nobody would notice the flashing light, the beeping is deliberately designed to be obnoxious so that you can't ignore it and I appreciate that. I do think that a light sensor would be a big improvement though, I don't want to be awakened in the middle of the night to deal with it.

[IDEngineer]

Nobody would notice the flashing light, the beeping is deliberately designed to be obnoxious so that you can't ignore it and I appreciate that. I do think that a light sensor would be a big improvement though, I don't want to be awakened in the middle of the night to deal with it.

And since the device already obviously has the ability to sense a threshold voltage on the battery, they could guarantee it has enough remaining power to operate in case of a fire on that first night. In other words, no additional risk.

I'd have the following sequence:

* Flash a warning LED (they all have LED's anyway, no extra expense) - your opportunity to deal with it with minimal life intrusion
* After a couple days of that, step up to beeping when light is detected - your opportunity to avoid sleep interruption
* After a couple days of that, beep regardless of light/dark - you ignored the previous warnings, so now your safety is paramount

If they don't have an MCU to count time, they could use battery thresholds instead.

If they were really clever, they could probably use the existing LED as a photodiode light detector during its off periods. But the support circuitry might be more expensive than just a simple detector.

[free_electron]

where is this big "internet of things" when it comes to smoke detectors ? i finally found some that have z-wave AND allow remote reading of battery status. you get a nice notification on your phone when it is time to replace the batteries. But, they are expensive and there is only one or to models. They come with CR123 cells or lithium cells.

That is the problem with the regular smoke detectors : they come with a wet-paper-bag variety of a 9 volt battery. it holds as much charge as that bag can hold water.

[IDEngineer]

That is the problem with the regular smoke detectors : they come with a wet-paper-bag variety of a 9 volt battery. it holds as much charge as that bag can hold water.

All off-the-shelf products come with cheap carbon-zinc "starter" batteries. Same business model as the "starter" toner cartridges and "starter" ink jet cartridges. All they have to do is make it work initially. They're not setting you up for several years of battery life. True for TV remote controls, etc. Always the cheapest batteries with manufacturer names I've never seen elsewhere.