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

[Puff]

That's another thing I dislike about modern cars. I'm sure others besides Tesla are doing the same thing. GM has been inserting their cars with Onstar and a 4G hotspot for a while now. No doubt it would be easy to interface the 4G modem to the rest of the car's OBC for OTA updates that can potentially brick the car on command. I feel a lot safer knowing the car's computers are a fully isolated system with no outside connection other than manually connecting a OBD dongle to it to read/clear codes.

The manufacturers take tons of telemetry data over that. GPS data, usage stats, mileage. They use it for QC. Never saw anything on the internet about it, so I don't know if it's a known thing, but I've encountered it.

 

[Ron Jeremy Stan Account]

Oh man, over using internet stock footage sure made everything look samey. Could that be considered a tech trend?

I'd say Thoughty2 is the worst offender at this. Then true crime channels often follow suit with the same exact slow motion 60fps stock videos.

 

[Toolbox]

I'd say Thoughty2 is the worst offender at this. Then true crime channels often follow suit with the same exact slow motion 60fps stock videos.

Even some of the relatively quality channels suffer from bowing into this trash. How hard is it to pay someone on fiverr to make drawing representing what is happening or something? Rob Dyke (sadly forced to rename to Rob Gavagan) solved this issue years ago by hiring someone to draw for him which only adds to his content and doesn't actively subtract by drawing you out of the topic with stock models acting out roles poorly.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I think I said it before, but I'm glad CFL bulbs are gone. Seems like they were everywhere, and LED bulbs were crap, overpriced, and hard to find - until just recently. Then again, the 2010s flew by fast.

I also miss incandescent bulbs being more common, but I don't miss how fragile and short-lasting they are.

 

[Kosher Dill]

I think I said it before, but I'm glad CFL bulbs are gone.

I'm glad they're gone now that we have better, but I was glad when they arrived too and I was an early adopter. Light bulbs that don't emit as much blazing, scorching heat as incandescents were a game-changer in my book.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

scorching heat

Incandescents produce natural "black body" light, as "just a byproduct" of heating tungsten filament to literally hotter than fire. If one could magically heat just the filament to the same temperature without electricity, the filament would glow the same, and the bulb would give off the same amount of heat.

(fun fact: the light from red dwarf suns may be the same color as incandescent bulbs)

I think LEDs more or less directly "convert" electrons into photons - a photon for every electron. The wavelength of the the photon depends on the substance being used in the LED. Red ones were invented first.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

One new trend I wish would spread more is dark mode for all websites. Now I don't mean black, I mean something like KF a gray or perhaps a dark blue. A few days ago after several hours of staring at a Research library website that is only available in blinding White I got a horrible migraine, and this is the only thing that I ever get migraines from.

If anything I'm starting to look at not offering a dark mode a fuck you to your readers. None of the add-ons are a perfect solution, one research website I use in particular seems to break when I try to force a dark mode from an add-on on it.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

One new trend I wish would spread more is dark mode for all websites.

There's a "quick and dirty" way to get colors you like, at least in Firefox.

about:config --> search for "color" --> change values to what you want

then view --> page style --> no style

But the downside (or upside?) is that it makes the site look like a really old Web 1.0 site.

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

I fucking hate how phone screens (and smartphones in general) are getting bigger and bigger.

I've noticed that too. I kept my personal smartphone for years until I needed to replace it and the replacement phone was noticeably bigger when I first put it in the pouch I use to hold my phone.

When I ported my former office number to a mobile phone, the phone they shipped me was even bigger than my personal smartphone is and the former barely fits in my front pocket. If phones get any bigger, it will be more difficult for them to be as mobile as they once were.

I totally get that mobile phones have pretty much morphed into personal digital devices that do more than send/receive calls. However, they will become too cumbersome if they get much bigger (think of the original cell phones that came with their own carry pouches and antennae because they were so large/bulky for use in one's car).

 

[AnOminous]

I've noticed that too. I kept my personal smartphone for years until I needed to replace it and the replacement phone was noticeably bigger when I first put it in the pouch I use to hold my phone.

When I ported my former office number to a mobile phone, the phone they shipped me was even bigger than my personal smartphone is and the former barely fits in my front pocket. If phones get any bigger, it will be more difficult for them to be as mobile as they once were.

I totally get that mobile phones have pretty much morphed into personal digital devices that do more than send/receive calls. However, they will become too cumbersome if they get much bigger (think of the original cell phones that came with their own carry pouches and antennae because they were so large/bulky for use in one's car).

The main thing I remember about using one of those is just how heavy they were. They had a giant lead-acid battery in them, too.

And after that, the ones you could carry but look ridiculous now when you see them in movies.


But at the time, they were really cool. If only because you could call someone up and say "I'm calling you. . .from my car."

 

[Return of the Freaker]

What was the POINT of all that when the official address bar and home page setting could do that?

Back in the day you had search engine toolbars because that functionality wasn't yet merged with the url bar. Otherwise, getting boomers to install malware and/or gib shekels.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

But at the time, they were really cool.

the virgin Current Year smartphone vs the Chad '80s cellphone

 

[steel-eel]

One new trend I wish would spread more is dark mode for all websites. Now I don't mean black, I mean something like KF a gray or perhaps a dark blue. A few days ago after several hours of staring at a Research library website that is only available in blinding White I got a horrible migraine, and this is the only thing that I ever get migraines from.

If anything I'm starting to look at not offering a dark mode a fuck you to your readers. None of the add-ons are a perfect solution, one research website I use in particular seems to break when I try to force a dark mode from an add-on on it.

I'm the exact opposite. I used to love dark mode sites, used them and extensions almost exclusively. Then for a brief period of time I tried out palemoon and fell in love with light mode. There's something so sleek and unique about light mode websites. Now I only have dark mode enabled in a few sites (maybe around 4ish?) out of habit/dislike of their light theme. I will give you this though, native dark mode would be super handy for situations like headaches/migraines or light sensitivity.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

I'm the exact opposite. I used to love dark mode sites, used them and extensions almost exclusively. Then for a brief period of time I tried out palemoon and fell in love with light mode. There's something so sleek and unique about light mode websites. Now I only have dark mode enabled in a few sites (maybe around 4ish?) out of habit/dislike of their light theme. I will give you this though, native dark mode would be super handy for situations like headaches/migraines or light sensitivity.

I had no preference until after I turned 30 awhile back - long periods of looking at websites that were the typical black text on white background - would cause me to eventually get blurred vision/migraines. Never had this happen until I was over 30. IMO, alot of the internet still looks as though it were designed for 4:3 monitors, where you have black text and large white empty blank spaces on the side (where before there would be nothing as it was 4:3). This is especially true for news sites or academic institutions. I did an experiment on my own about a year ago with mobile devices and going dark mode everywhere also saved a ton of power on those too.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I had no preference until after I turned 30 awhile back - long periods of looking at websites that were the typical black text on white background - would cause me to eventually get blurred vision/migraines. Never had this happen until I was over 30. IMO, alot of the internet still looks as though it were designed for 4:3 monitors, where you have black text and large white empty blank spaces on the side (where before there would be nothing as it was 4:3). This is especially true for news sites or academic institutions. I did an experiment on my own about a year ago with mobile devices and going dark mode everywhere also saved a ton of power on those too.

Website text towers are the new culinary food towers.

But to be honest, sometimes I paste long and wide texts into Notepad++ and format them to 72 char per line and paste them into regular notepad, some things just feels easier to read that way.

 

[AmpleApricots]

That's part of the reason why I went back to a 5:4 1280x1024 screen. No bars, websites actually fill up the browser window which I don't even run maximized. Also I can use bitmap fonts and don't have weird DPI problems with a lot of programs. I do have a recently made Eizo screen though, the early 5:4 panels were kinda garbage. Looks a lot better on the desk than a huge black oblong too.

I feel the whole panel and monitor industry is in that weird corner many other industries are where there's simply not much to improve about the product anymore in a cheap or easy way as there are limitations set by human physiology but they still have to come up with new stuff all the time to make money.

Also if you have eyestrain, try adjusting the brightness down. I find many people have monitors that are set way too bright by default to fullfill the marketing promises. Most monitors can be set neatly anywhere between 20-33% brightness. It'll at first appear very dark and the colors might look dimmer but your eyes will adjust and it'll feel better. Try one of the websites that let you test how accurate your monitors contrast and gamma curve is. Also look for one of these monitors with light sensor, especially if you are in a room where lighting varies a lot over the day. It's worth it and not a marketing gimmick. Also consider eyedrops. Also check if you're sitting too close to the monitor. I actually think it's straining on the eyes and kinda stressful if your entire field of view is covered up by the monitor at all times and you have no chance to peek next to it occasionally to look out of the window or something, another reason why I prefer my 5:4 monitor.

I'm older than most here and actually prefer light and contrast rich themes like black on white. Definitively not an age thing.

 

[Blamo]

Is it only me or there are no more dislikes on YouTube?

 

[L50LasPak]

Who designs Powersave settings that aren't overridden in the middle of a FUCKING FACTORY RESET?

Just lost a computer to this shit. Its old and the tech people claim they can fix it, but I shouldn't fucking have to send it to them in the first place. Why the fuck aren't powersave settings disabled specifically during a fully automated function that displays in plain view "DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR PC"?

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Is it only me or there are no more dislikes on YouTube?

If it's not just you, it's probably in response to woke crap getting downvoted. They were considering removing "Dislike" after the failtastic YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video on the site.

They don't like that people don't like The Narrative.

 

[seri0us]

If it's not just you, it's probably in response to woke crap getting downvoted. They were considering removing "Dislike" after the failtastic YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video on the site.

They don't like that people don't like The Narrative.

Imagine having a userbase that only "likes" you because you've made yourself practically the only game in town.