Tech you miss/ new tech trends you hate - ok boomers

[Flabba Wabba Jabba]

This is extremely true, and there's a general movement towards answering, "how does your app / device / whatever work" with "you don't need to know."

This is combined with the whole deliberately making things an arsepain to repair to lock in people to planned obsolescence, of course. But it also has the side effect of normies increasingly thinking technology is magic. I would not be surprised if in 30 years' time there was a full on cargo cult about it, with Apple Geniuses as a sort of priesthood and technical manuals being withheld from the public for their own good like how the Catholic Church wouldn't translate the Bible into the vernacular.

Obligatory Mechanicus comment here.

 

[Darksy DePhil]

I absolutely hate how every internet router these days wants you to download their app, register an account with them, and connect it to the internet to use it. There's literally no reason for it because routers have worked for decades prior without needing any of these things. They always say they require it so that you can configure it remotely and receive updates automatically. What if you don't want or care about these features? Too fucking bad, you're still making an account if you want this thing to work. And then they wonder why people are worried about data harvesting.

Personally, I hate ISPs that literally fucking lock down your router settings. Which means you can't access your admin page, edit the password, forward ports to host any sort of server, etc. This shit should be lawsuit-worthy.

 

[tygressofaera]

Shortwave radio when there was still worthwhile content in English to listen to and not just lunatics that aren't even as entertaining as lunatics that are a dime a dozen on Youtube. Most national broadcasters moved to the Internet.

CB has also mostly gone downhill. I kind of enjoy the lunatics, though. It's a very unique brand of lunatic. The other day I heard a sikh and a hillbilly argue over who could merge.

I miss recording songs off the radio on cassette. I remember when my parents first got a boombox I would sit around waiting for songs I like to come on and record them. Actually, I miss cassettes in general (and CDs to a lesser extent). Think I mentioned in this thread already but having thousands of songs on my phone just doesn't have the same magic to it as carrying around a couple of tapes for your walkman.

I also have a lot of nostalgia towards cassettes. I was only allowed to listen to Christian music and programs. A relative gifted me an old walkman with an FM tuner, and I realized I could record favorite songs off these banned stations. There were a lot of evenings where I'd wait for my parents to go to sleep so I could safely listen to and record verboten music! I ended up spending all pocket money on AA batteries, or swapping dead batteries into the remote.

What I miss most though, is buttons. Especially in work gloves, or winter gloves, buttons are king. Having to take off your glove to fiddle with temperamental screens isn't worth it.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Just out of curiosity. When a program hangs and you force quit it Windows will pop up a "looking for a solution online" prompt, I don't know how long it's been around but let's say maybe 20 years, in all of those 20 years have windows ever found a solution or done anything for anyone? What can it even hope to do about the instability of alpha software from Finnish open source spergs?

 

[Maurice Caine]

People have worse sound systems than they did 20+ years ago.

I still can't get over how late 90's subwoofers are light years ahead from the shit we have today.

 

[need shoeonhead nudes]

Just out of curiosity. When a program hangs and you force quit it Windows will pop up a "looking for a solution online" prompt, I don't know how long it's been around but let's say maybe 20 years, in all of those 20 years have windows ever found a solution or done anything for anyone? What can it even hope to do about the instability of alpha software from Finnish open source spergs?

 

[Cuntflaps]

You can still legally change your name to Stevedave Gherbelle if you want.

Cactus.

I miss:
quirky old internet populated by barely sane people
wired headphones

I dislike:
oversimplification of software
psychotic levels of surveillance
everyone advocating for censorship of various forms in "tech"

 

[ToroidalBoat]

The thermostat where I live has this exceptional "energy saving" feature that keeps resetting to bullshit temperatures (like 70F for heat or 85F for AC) at certain times during the day.

I figured out how to program the thing to overwrite those settings.

But still, must a thermostat be something that has to be programmed?

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

The thermostat where I live has this exceptional "energy saving" feature that keeps resetting to bullshit temperatures (like 70F for heat or 85F for AC) at certain times during the day. So on a hot day, the place gets uncomfortably warm, and sure enough, the thermostat has reset to a dumb "energy saving" setting.

Dads everywhere rejoice. No longer do you need to booby trap the thermostat during a heat wave.

 

[Enig]

Dear current year Lenovo:
Fuck you for turning Thinkpads into your normal shitty business laptops but with a clit mouse. Some of us enjoy things like having more than 40GB of RAM max because the RAM isn't soldered, external batteries, not needing a ton of breakout boxes and cables because of USB-C fetishism, being able to use the WWAN slot for spare drives without needing autistic auction hawking for a newer NVMe type, and so on. Also fuck you for taking until last year to give people screens brighting than 300nits (if even that). Thinkpads are meant to be beater machines, not Applel for office workers (who just buy Applel anyway).

 

[Pee Cola]

Dear current year Lenovo:
Fuck you for turning Thinkpads into your normal shitty business laptops but with a clit mouse. Some of us enjoy things like having more than 40GB of RAM max because the RAM isn't soldered, external batteries, not needing a ton of breakout boxes and cables because of USB-C fetishism, being able to use the WWAN slot for spare drives without needing autistic auction hawking for a newer NVMe type, and so on. Also fuck you for taking until last year to give people screens brighting than 300nits (if even that). Thinkpads are meant to be beater machines, not Applel for office workers (who just buy Applel anyway).

Don't get my started on how shit current year Lenovo T-series machines are. There's a reason why users would rather keep their old T430s going than buy a current year T-series.

On a similar note, the move away from magnesium alloy chassis to plastic chassis on many laptops aimed at corporate use is a real disappointment. For example, I remember when there was a demonstrable difference in build quality between a Dell Inspiron and a Dell Latitude. These days, a Latitude is just an overpriced Inspiron - shitty plastic chassis and all.

 

[need shoeonhead nudes]

never got to type on an oldschool thinkpad keyboard, just the modern chiclet shit
brb kms

 

[Pee Cola]

never got to type on an oldschool thinkpad keyboard, just the modern chiclet shit
brb kms

Old school ThinkPad keyboards are the tits. Current year chiclet keyboards are AIDS. TBH I'd rather use a rubber ZX Spectrum keyboard than many of the shitty chiclet keyboards out there these days.

 

[Road Work Ahead]

Don't get my started on how shit current year Lenovo T-series machines are. There's a reason why users would rather keep their old T430s going than buy a current year T-series.

On a similar note, the move away from magnesium alloy chassis to plastic chassis on many laptops aimed at corporate use is a real disappointment. For example, I remember when there was a demonstrable difference in build quality between a Dell Inspiron and a Dell Latitude. These days, a Latitude is just an overpriced Inspiron - shitty plastic chassis and all.

I keep thinking I should replace my t420, but maybe I should just stick 16 gb of ram in it and upgrade the screen. Hell, if I want to get really autistic I could get a custom bios and get a quad core cpu.

God I miss when you could actually upgrade laptops......

 

[Pee Cola]

I keep thinking I should replace my t420, but maybe I should just stick 16 gb of ram in it and upgrade the screen. Hell, if I want to get really autistic I could get a custom bios and get a quad core cpu.

God I miss when you could actually upgrade laptops......

That T420 will survive the heat death of the universe. Throw plenty of RAM, a fast SSD and a new battery at it once in a while and enjoy.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Current year chiclet keyboards are AIDS.

What if they're replaced with "virtual keyboards" one has to use VR gear or "augmented reality" to use?

(do not want)

 

[Kosher Dill]

Old school ThinkPad keyboards are the tits. Current year chiclet keyboards are AIDS. TBH I'd rather use a rubber ZX Spectrum keyboard than many of the shitty chiclet keyboards out there these days.

I could even put up with the chiclets if not for the layout.

 

[U 'MIRIN BRAH?]

That T420 will survive the heat death of the universe. Throw plenty of RAM, a fast SSD and a new battery at it once in a while and enjoy.

Suggestions on new batteries? I bought a new OEM 14 cell (or whatever the bigger one is) when I got mine years ago but it only charges to roughly 2/3s design capacity now. Last I checked it was only chink knockoffs you could get now.

 

[Regenbogen]

white keyboards

 

[Never Scored]

I keep thinking I should replace my t420, but maybe I should just stick 16 gb of ram in it and upgrade the screen. Hell, if I want to get really autistic I could get a custom bios and get a quad core cpu.

God I miss when you could actually upgrade laptops......

I think T420 tops out at 8 gigs, doesn't it? Or is it a thing like the old unibody macbooks, where Apple said the max ram was 4 gigs, but it was actually 8? This is great news if true. I'll have to look into it.

I too love my T420, but they're getting a bit long in the tooth. I talked myself out of getting rid of it in an effort to reduce clutter a few months ago.