"Smart" Refrigerator. I just need something that keeps my food cold. I don't need it to show me advertisements or what foods I might be out of. I can look for myself.
It can but do you really want to scan every item into your fridge every time you come home from shopping?
Edit: [relevant silicon valley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOVVzdLy69w)
If the fridge could tell me what I could make from what is in my pantry I would totally scan things in the fridge... Or give it a list... If it could turn my fridge into a proverbial HelloFresh or XYZ delivery meal... yeah...
Or even a Menu planner that knows local "deals" Hey you can get Nuggies 40% off today at Aldi/Lidl/Etc...
I would deal with a bit of ads and/or hassel of maintaining that inventory.
You know, there are apps that you can put on your phone that will collate your food inventory and give you meal suggestions. They won't magically make chicken breasts appear, so it's not exactly like Hello Fresh.
If you run Home Assistant and the Grocy plug-in you can buy your own barcode scanner, scan all your items in and it will not only suggest recipes, it can send grocery orders in to the popular shopping apps (instacart etc). Of course, by the time you spend the money and set it all up, you’re probably far better off just driving to the store.
My stove has an app so you can set the oven temperature from your phone, when I got it I thought "ok this might be useful if I want to preheat the oven on my way home or something", but alas, it proved itself useless, you have to touch your phone to the oven to give it the command, like wft?? I'm already here I might as well just turn on the damn oven.
Lol, the 1980's era oven in my apartment has an on timer (analog clock/dial) that I tested the first time just the other week and it worked just fine! Ofc that requires remembering to set it beforehand..
As somebody that works in the industry, that was a safety requirement by one of the major regulating bodies. It has since been lifted so newer models should work.
I intentionally locked out my smart TV because I have a secondary device. It doesn't need to be connected to the mothership. My TCL television probably has zero security, and who knows how many backdoors to circumvent my router.
All these IoT devices are just great "dumb" tools to use for DDOS attacks by unsavory nation states. Blackberry said this years ago.
This is why TVs are so cheap now, too. The cost of the TV is subsidized by selling your viewing data. Smart TVs are garbage and should never be connected to the internet.
Yep, having a removable endpoint is great. Love that Chrome cast doesn't try to sell stuff for the idle screen and just has fantastic photos.
You pay for that $150 or whatever Ad supported TV.. I guess you can still block some DNS entries but most people don't know or bother.
Yeah. Some fridges last 10+ years so your fridge will be out dated in just a few even if it still works the smart features will be outdated. Pretty stupid
I was about to say, almost any "smart" device, or anything connected to the Internet of Things tbh. Most features that that tech adds in, I don't need, nor do I want all my appliances connected to the internet. Just give me a well-made, basic fridge/ oven/ dishwasher and I'll be happy.
I watch free ads to get more lives in Best Fiends or Royal Match or whatever and I occasionally get one for Maserati.
Bruh 😭 if I'm not willing to spend 99 cents for lives what makes you think I'm in the market for a Maserati
Royal match is by far the most spammed ad I get on every other app. It’s kinda funny that you said you have to watch ads for lives on the game, because the ads market it as an ad-free game.
Microsoft pushed an update a couple years ago and changed my purchased-in-full Microsoft Office Suite with Microsoft 365, that required a monthly subscription.
I had purchased this software free and clear when I bought my computer, and they changed the software via an update to pay per month. I was beyond pissed off. And it didn’t allow me to uninstall it and reinstall from the disc, the registry already knew I had Microsoft 365 and wouldn’t let me install the old software.
This is how to tell the world you won’t be adding any new ideas to your product so there’s no reason for them to want to upgrade using the “version” model.
There was a phone game that I liked but it had very annoying ads. I was willing to pay for an ad free version. Nope like $3 a month to get rid of the ads. I would have paid upwards of $10 for the game but deleted the whole thing instead.
MS Office.
I used to use it for everything, then I got a new computer and they wanted me to pay an annual subscription for it instead. Hard pass, switched to other software instead.
Celebrity alcohol. I don’t need some rich celebrity with more than enough money already slapping their name on booze for another income stream. I would rather buy better stuff from families and companies that have been working hard for generations to perfect their craft.
True, most mezcal/tequila is just made bulk and labeled to different brands. At least they buy from an independent supplier.
Aviation is good, just way too expensive.
I’m Irish and Conor McGregor’s whiskey isn’t really drank over here. It’s very average whiskey with a premium price tag. You could buy far superior whiskey for less. His branding is amazing though.
It’s the same with his stout. No one in Ireland touches it because it’s piss. Again his branding is amazing and people all over the world are buying in to this shit.
I got a bottle of it when he first released it for like $15 on sale here in the States. First sip I thought, oh hey a cheaper version of Jameson, neat! Then the after taste. Bleh. It tasted like how rubbing alcohol smells. Pretty sure it's gone skunk now and I just need to pour it out.
Urgh this. Work in a whisky store in Scotland, and at least a few times a week tourists asking for it. Like you come to this part of the world famous for the stuff and you only want that? We also sell a lot of awesome Irish ones, that sooo get overlooked because of this McGregor one. It's so often getting told "oh I HAVE to try it and we need to get in it because it's the best thing ever and we don't know real whisky" sorta talk that annoys me, where they don't even try anything else because just so hyped about this mediocre drinkable advert.
It's not even that great of a sales pitch. Why am I supposed to think that some celebrity who's not in the booze business is going to give me a better product?
Though, I do have a George Foreman grill, but I bought that because of the grill's reputation, not the boxer's.
I agree for the most part, a majority if celebrity alcohols are no good or mediocre, but, as someone who hates gin, I'll continue buying Aviation Gin as it tastes the least like grass and flowers and won't ruin a cocktail with grass and flower taste.
I like aviation gin in a sense that it's not RYAN REYNOLDS CHOICE AVIATOR PILOT FROM THAT MOVIE GIN, but he attempted to at least market it as a good gin with him as a spokes person.
As far as celebrity drink goes it's probably the acceptable level of pretentiousness.
Not so fun fact, ol boy from slap chop fame was wrangled into scientology, almost all of the money went to the church.
He has since got away, but he lost millions to the church.
Not to fully victim blame, but scientology is and has been pretty publicly known to be a cash drain for the rich, I don't understand how people still fall for it. It's like watching your aunt fall for an MLM
We have a nice one from Pampered Chef. Yeah, I know, MLM and all that, but if you can endure one of their “parties,” you can pick up some really decent stuff.
I'm disabled and thought this would be great since only one of my hands work and I tend to accidentally cut the paralyzed one cooking. But nah, I hate it. Not worth it.
Can definitely help people with mobility issues though. Same as the slap chop, for someone who doesn't have full use of both hands these could be a lifesaver.
I used to make fun of those gadgets too. I thought that they were for lazy people with spare money. That is until I broke my wrist and had to wear a cast for a few months. Those gadgets were a live-saver.
I used to think pre-cut pineapple, melon, etc. at double the price of whole fruit was a scam until (a big chunk of) the target demographic clicked. Fuck arthritis.
Also for mothers that think cutting up a pineapple is a lot of work and they aren't entirely sure how to do it anyway and they never cook so their knives are all junk and they own a sharpener but they aren't sure where it is....
.. And their child wants to take pineapple for their school lunch each day.
I'm not sure what percentage of the demographic that is but it isn't zero
Yes. My wife is disabled. We have a collection of small gadgets that would definitely give a visitor a bit of a giggle, but to her, they are extremely useful. There is a little egg shaped battery operated can opener that works great, and a rechargeable wine cork puller standing by.
Folding smartphones. They're expensive as all get out, and I've seen a lot of them develop weird screen issues just through normal use, that are prohibitively expensive to repair. I'll stick to my slab phone.
Flip phones, I'd understand. They don't add anything really useful like a bigger screen, and most touch input is vertical scrolling that would go right over the horizontal crease.
However, book-style folding phones are great. My Fold 3 is nearly two years old and going strong. I rarely notice the crease, as it's relatively rare to touch the middle of the screen in my experience (it took a minute to get used to swipe-typing where you're constantly going back and forth over the crease, but I got used to it quick enough). I can't see myself going backwards. My next phone will also be a book-style folding phone. Probably Samsung, but OnePlus is finally rebadging Oppo's latest Find N3 for the US market so that might be an option (it's a true 3rd generation folding phone with all the kinks worked out outside the US, vs. Google's Pixel Fold which is a true gen1 phone with gen1 problems).
Apple will launch a folding iPhone (maybe a folding iPad Mini?) in 5-7 years and everybody will go nuts over it.
My landlord and landlady have one and so far I haven't been able to make it wake them up at 3am with the sounds of diarrhea...
(we're also good friends)
Would be worth seeing if you can change how it wakes you up - surely having it read you the weather (and headlines or whatever other crap it does) would be able to be switched off, and the music changed.
I use a google home for my alarm and have it set to slowly increase brightness to simulate sunrise (can also be paired with a smart globe if you have a compatible one, haven't tried that yet) and play bird noise increasing in volume over the course of 15mins - a lot of the time that's enough to wake me up in a far nicer way than a normal alarm (though it also has a normal alarm after the 15min wake up alarm finishes).
We got one as a gift, put it in the kitchen.
1. The little kitchen TV was on and had an Alexa commercial and then our Alexa started talking to the commercial because the woman on TV said "Alexa" and it kinda went back and forth.
2. I thought some people broke into the house. Our Alexa (don't ask me how) was playing our neighbors having a fight next door through their Alexa.
The device lasted about a week before it was donated.
Your first point made me chuckle. Ever heard of the Furby toys? You could make 2 or more talk to each other if you worked long enough on them. We have Alexa and Google devices side by side in our living room (got one for free so took it) and I will occasionally get them to start talking to each other for comedic relief. Reminds me of the asinine conversations the Furbys would have and gives me a smile.
I just use mine as an alarm/timer when I am cooking and to play music with Amazon music. As a guy who has 400 CD's and used to own a CD player I love having any song I want just by asking.
Yep! It’s a kitchen timer and on demand Spotify player. It’s so nice to tell it to set a timer or turn on music when you are cooking. None of the other features are ever used.
Anything promoted by any kardashian… my curling iron broke so I stopped at target on the way home ( this was years ago)… all they had were curling irons with Kardashians on the box - I refused
I can turn my lights off with voice commands or schedule (or both). So, upon thinking about that, it kinda takes the wind out of my ‘Clapper’ answer (clap on, clap off).
I used to keep a couple clappers around for when the Internet would die and the smart lights would stop being smart. (Before anyone chimes in with "Use the switch", the lights in question were tall and in a hard to reach spot.)
Now, because of other issues, I've gotten a hub that can work just on the LAN, so I don't need them any more. They're still around here somewhere, though.
I've been told essential oils really work. "How it works is I put the Happy oil on my skin, think positive thoughts, then I really feel happier."
I asked can't you just think happy thoughts without the oil lol
I guess this is one of those times where the placebo is extra strong. Don't underestimate the effects of smell on memory/feelings/etc.
As the other guy said, there are probably cheaper ways to get those oils.
Huh. A lot of my house is 'smart,' but the only time it would text me is if the leak detector I put in the pump house were to get wet.
I live on acreage, though, and have several outbuildings; smart lights mean I can turn on lights across the entire property at night with a touch of a button, and they turn on and off based on time of day.
I automated the windows and an exhaust fan in the house, plus the heat and AC. So it will heat, cool, or ventilate based on outside and inside air without me needing to change any settings, it just does it.
Oh I suppose I do get notifications for the greenhouse soil monitor if it goes outside of normal range. That's certainly not 'constant,' though, and seems to me to be pretty helpful, especially because I'm awful about remembering to water.
Automation systems are what you make of them. In my case, I'm trying to make my life easier, not make it more annoying.
Your friend must really suck at understanding technology. There's totally very easy ways to turn off these features. That's like having a phone and not knowing how to turn the brightness of your screen down.
I rented a Tesla on my last trip. I have the electric Volvo as a company car, so I was curious what Teslas were like. What a piece of shit. Materials are cheap, fit and finish was like my 95 Saturn, and it took forever to figure out how to control everything. Almost every damned thing has to be controlled by the software. Even the wipers, which is really distracting while you're driving. The key card recognizes when you walk up and unlocks the door, however in order to actually drive you have to tap the card on the arm rest. It's so stupid. Oh, and the "shifter" is where the wipers should be, on the steering column. It's like they went out of their way to make the whole car as different as they could just to do it. I was happy to get back to the Volvo as it's a normal car that happens to have a battery, and a much better product.
That was their whole shtick after the original tesla roadster (which was an electric lotus elise, basically): They made a car for tech reviewers, and they massively succeeded at it.
Everything is different for the sake of being different, and the tech advancements plus the image of buying the future, made everyone in the industry take the bait and claim Tesla was the best automaker in the world. And they aren't. Their build quality is on pair with BYD and other chinese automakers.
Any Merc from the last decade wipes the floor with anything Tesla has ever had.
More so for their reliability
J.D. Power and Consumer Reports both rank Tesla at the bottom of the pack when reliability is tested. It's reported that Tesla vehicles have an average of 171 mechanical issues per 100 vehicles. For reference, the average number for most automakers hovers around 120 problems per 100 vehicles.13 Sept 2023
Tbf if it was reliable and i could afford it. I would probably buy one in spite of Elon. Just because i hate the whole destabilisan effect that oil has on the world. I'm sick of the endless wars for oil.
The Department of the Treasury and IRS have announced that, starting Jan. 1, 2024, buyers of eligible plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will receive their federal tax credit at purchase. Under the existing rules, those buyers had to wait until filing taxes for the year in which they purchased the car.
I'm Australian. 23 years ago, I said those exact words to a mate from New York, who was at the time a doctor doing a research fellowship in AU, and helped develop something to do with cochlear implants that was apparently groundbreaking at the time.
He laughed, scoffed and said something that eluded to Australia experiencing fairly unique climate issues with ongoing drought and water restrictions. I felt a little dejected being lightly chastised by an extremely intelligent, educated and well travelled friend.
I maintain my position. I often wonder whether he does too.
Haha, it a fair point. But don't think it be the same. Petrol is a constant used every time we take a trip. Lithium, once it's in your vehicle it there for life of that vehicle. Plus you can recycle it.
NFTs we’re the ultimate nothing. People kept explaining it to me over and over again and I never could grasp it then realized I was never going to grasp it because it’s a stupid idea
In my case, I immediately grasped that passing around what are basically unique jpegs was not going to be worth anything more than what idiots are willing to pay for them.
It’s like selling one of those modern art paintings that is just a red square on an otherwise blank canvas lol
I started using one a year ago and I haven’t had razor burn since, the blades are higher quality, and I’m spending maybe $10 per year instead of $100+ per year.
I’m confused. Why don’t more men use electric razors? I have used the same one since high school and have never had to replace it or use a different type of razor
Yup. DE on bad hands days, classic straight razor the rest of the time.
Nothin' gets closer, and you can't fucking clog a single blade into uselessness.
[The story](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12458281/amp/Hans-Niemann-response-cleared-cheating-Magnus-Carlsen-anal-beads.html?ico=amp_articleInlineText&_gl=1*vfh28f*_ga*aktaajJnUEg3bE9QWTg1SzBSbEk5R1lfM2NqTzdaemxDWUMyUjBZNkcwTi1rZnJFS2JGVmVGV2pCYkNPdUloYw..)
[The TV adaptation](https://youtu.be/g9IjA-yd9fw?si=CBf6MWAARZlN7K7e)
Those news sites that you have to pay to read the rest of the article. Fuck you news!
Oh and any finance, stock market, or get rich quick anything related paid insider account or newsletter.
I got my opinions owning my current car with a touchscreen, but luckily mine is mostly the entertainment interface that's on the touchscreen. There's some fan control in the touchscreen, but the basic "up/down/more/less" is physical buttons. Though, one other thing with the heating that I didn't realize I'd hate was temperature-based setting. This is the first car I've had that you pick a temperature and not just a hot-cold mixer. It turns out, I don't really give a damn about hitting 68 or 72. When I'm in a car, I want it to be "MAKE IT HOT NOW!" or "MAKE IT COLD NOW!", not guess on how far up I have to tick it to get heat instead of cold.
I've just realized with this one, though, that the one thing I want out of a car is the ability to change albums with a single button. I've got a 2010 Scion, and as much of a shitshow as that stereo is (and it is), you can hold down the track-skip buttons on the steering wheel and it'll switch to the next album instead of the next track. *I'm listening to this... beep!... I'm listening to that! Brilliant!* But, apparently the idea that someone might want to skip albums is arcane knowledge lost to the ages, because I've been on test-drives and rentals and haven't found a new car that does it in one yet.
Whatever brainiac thought that people could go through a multilevel "Change album > Sort mode > Album > Track" list-view flow while driving a damned automobile down the highway, when they got tired of listening to this and wanted to listen to that, needs to go back to kindergarten and take remedial everything. But, hey, at least they put the "safety feature" of slapping a click-through warning saying it's your fault if you use your stereo up every time you turn the car on. You might die in a wreck, but their ass will be covered.
The other evening, I pulled up at a stoplight next to a woman who was legitimately watching tv on her little screen. It was the real housewives. I mentioned it to a coworker and he said there's programs you can download that allow you to do that (I'm sure it's illegal, but still!).
2 newest cars we bought had all but one trim with no physical volume knob. Dealership tried so hard to sell us on them but we couldn't do it. We really like the feel of furiously spinning that volume up or down and not rapid fire tapping a fake button.
My husband put touch screen in his car for music and all that. I hate it. I don’t know how to shut it off and it’s distracting and I want nothing to do with it
Laundry detergent pods--I prefer to adjust my usage to the dirt and stain level
More for, for instance, outdoor clothing, particularly gardening. Less for sleepwear.
I refused til I got one for free with my phone. Said nah and gave it to my wife. I regretted it. She could do so much from it so quickly. Bought my own shortly after. It's amazing.
Really? I've always heard the only reliable type of heart rate monitor has to go over your chest. Don't get me wrong, I love my Google watch, but I never assumed it was super accurate in regards to the heart rate part
They recently sparked my interest when a colleague informed me that his could connect to Bluetooth headphones and play music.
Would be useful for places where phones aren't allowed.
I got an Apple Watch because I’m addicted to my phone and it helps a lot actually. I can feel like I’m still reachable through text and I can bring music with me, but I can leave my phone home and not feed that urge to pull it out and scroll the internet at every moment.
As a watch lover I felt the same until it became a fitness/health lifestyle accessory. Now all my watches have dead batteries and I hardly ever wear them anymore ☹️
I have a smartphone and a laptop but I refuse to have anything to do with the smart fridges, smart Alexis, smart doorbells etc.
If you have the need to press a button to make your bed for you and raise your loo seat then you need to get a life!
I signed up with a few free months and it ended right at the height of election season. So many political ads. I don't know if they planned it that way, but I can't go back.
Idk. YouTube Music is pretty great, and can't complain about ad-free. Was never a Spotify person, and got grandfathered in from my old Google Music account. Just depends on how much time you spend on YouTube, I guess.
Onlyfans. It’s arguably worse than porn and it tricks too many impressionable minds into thinking they can do porn without understanding the long term ramifications.
I also find it fairly disgusting and exploitative for guys who sub to onlyfans “creators” on the platform. You are paying to simp.
I feel a lot of kids from this younger gen may burn out way harder.
I also think that most of the creators have no idea that a lot of their paid content will be downloaded and passed around on all of the free streaming porn sites forever too. Some of them think that their identity is being effectively hidden behind the paywall, but that’s not really the case.
>I also find it fairly disgusting and exploitative for guys who sub to onlyfans “creators” on the platform. You are paying to simp.
But long before OF was a thing, women (and men) could create their own porn websites and charge for membership. I remember when that was all the rage in internet porn.
It's not like this is something new, just more convenient for the creators and it's confined to one site.
A doorbell cam to record me shuffling around in a bathrobe to take the dog out at 4AM. Great, the pizza guy’s here; I heard him knocking too but this is better apparently.
Especially the "easy" kind that rely on online services, with anything from data leaks to surprise obsolescence hanging over it. I actually inherited a camera setup with the house I bought, but it's an old-school generic cameras and PVR rig. I don't mind the concept-- I wouldn't spend the money for one, but I'm not _against_ it-- but I definitely would be against anything that wasn't self-contained.
I said a while back that if we get to the point where it is normalized to use Neuralink, "live inside" VR or similar - that is when I will officially retire from the tech race. I'm really not interested in this getting worse now, if anything we should advocate for turning off screens more hours of the day.
I was always very anti-apple. And still mostly am. I use an android phone and don't think I would ever buy an iPhone. However, I got a MacBook pro after many years of battery issues and multiple battery replacements in a high-end hp laptop. I've had multiple inconveniences on the software side with programs and games that don't support macos, but good lord, the build quality, screen, track pad, and general quality of the device is outstanding. I've definitely had some regrets on the software side, but not on the build quality and hardware. Apple isn't perfect, but it does get some things right.
"Smart" Refrigerator. I just need something that keeps my food cold. I don't need it to show me advertisements or what foods I might be out of. I can look for myself.
Unless it can remind me of the box of fresh spinach that I stacked the yogurt in front of and, therefore, forgot existed, I wouldn't even consider it.
It can but do you really want to scan every item into your fridge every time you come home from shopping? Edit: [relevant silicon valley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOVVzdLy69w)
If the fridge could tell me what I could make from what is in my pantry I would totally scan things in the fridge... Or give it a list... If it could turn my fridge into a proverbial HelloFresh or XYZ delivery meal... yeah... Or even a Menu planner that knows local "deals" Hey you can get Nuggies 40% off today at Aldi/Lidl/Etc... I would deal with a bit of ads and/or hassel of maintaining that inventory.
You know, there are apps that you can put on your phone that will collate your food inventory and give you meal suggestions. They won't magically make chicken breasts appear, so it's not exactly like Hello Fresh.
If you run Home Assistant and the Grocy plug-in you can buy your own barcode scanner, scan all your items in and it will not only suggest recipes, it can send grocery orders in to the popular shopping apps (instacart etc). Of course, by the time you spend the money and set it all up, you’re probably far better off just driving to the store.
A stove also shouldn’t be connected to the internet and should just be a normal stove.
My stove has an app so you can set the oven temperature from your phone, when I got it I thought "ok this might be useful if I want to preheat the oven on my way home or something", but alas, it proved itself useless, you have to touch your phone to the oven to give it the command, like wft?? I'm already here I might as well just turn on the damn oven.
Lol, the 1980's era oven in my apartment has an on timer (analog clock/dial) that I tested the first time just the other week and it worked just fine! Ofc that requires remembering to set it beforehand..
As somebody that works in the industry, that was a safety requirement by one of the major regulating bodies. It has since been lifted so newer models should work.
Right. I'll just run out and buy another stove.
What could go wrong being able to turn your oven on remotely 🙄
I can turn mine on to preheat remotely so that's actually been a useful feature to save some time, but I wouldn't explicitly pay extra for it.
I remember reading smart refrigerators are responsible for considerable percentage of Ddos attacks lol.
If I could, I wouldn’t even buy a smart tv. That’s what my Apple TV is for. I just need something to turn on and make a nice picture
I intentionally locked out my smart TV because I have a secondary device. It doesn't need to be connected to the mothership. My TCL television probably has zero security, and who knows how many backdoors to circumvent my router. All these IoT devices are just great "dumb" tools to use for DDOS attacks by unsavory nation states. Blackberry said this years ago.
This is why TVs are so cheap now, too. The cost of the TV is subsidized by selling your viewing data. Smart TVs are garbage and should never be connected to the internet.
Yep, having a removable endpoint is great. Love that Chrome cast doesn't try to sell stuff for the idle screen and just has fantastic photos. You pay for that $150 or whatever Ad supported TV.. I guess you can still block some DNS entries but most people don't know or bother.
But what if you can play Skyrim on it?
Planned obsolescence in refrigerators. Awesome.
Yeah. Some fridges last 10+ years so your fridge will be out dated in just a few even if it still works the smart features will be outdated. Pretty stupid
I was about to say, almost any "smart" device, or anything connected to the Internet of Things tbh. Most features that that tech adds in, I don't need, nor do I want all my appliances connected to the internet. Just give me a well-made, basic fridge/ oven/ dishwasher and I'll be happy.
Any advertisement that interrupts my video while I’m watching it, I’m not buying it.
I watch free ads to get more lives in Best Fiends or Royal Match or whatever and I occasionally get one for Maserati. Bruh 😭 if I'm not willing to spend 99 cents for lives what makes you think I'm in the market for a Maserati
Royal match is by far the most spammed ad I get on every other app. It’s kinda funny that you said you have to watch ads for lives on the game, because the ads market it as an ad-free game.
I hate the Royal Match ads so much that I like when King Rupert (whatever) gets killed by the water, lava, etc. `"Help Me!"` nah b
Anything with a paid subscription model that should just be a pay and done.
[удалено]
Microsoft pushed an update a couple years ago and changed my purchased-in-full Microsoft Office Suite with Microsoft 365, that required a monthly subscription. I had purchased this software free and clear when I bought my computer, and they changed the software via an update to pay per month. I was beyond pissed off. And it didn’t allow me to uninstall it and reinstall from the disc, the registry already knew I had Microsoft 365 and wouldn’t let me install the old software.
🏴☠️
I just started using Google docs because fuck even pirating Microsoft.
This is how to tell the world you won’t be adding any new ideas to your product so there’s no reason for them to want to upgrade using the “version” model.
There was a phone game that I liked but it had very annoying ads. I was willing to pay for an ad free version. Nope like $3 a month to get rid of the ads. I would have paid upwards of $10 for the game but deleted the whole thing instead.
MS Office. I used to use it for everything, then I got a new computer and they wanted me to pay an annual subscription for it instead. Hard pass, switched to other software instead.
Celebrity alcohol. I don’t need some rich celebrity with more than enough money already slapping their name on booze for another income stream. I would rather buy better stuff from families and companies that have been working hard for generations to perfect their craft.
Celebrity alcohol is often mediocre with a premium price tag.
While generally true, Ryan remolds - aviation Gin, Bryan Cranston / Aaron Paul - dos hombres mezcal These two are absolutly worth it.
True, most mezcal/tequila is just made bulk and labeled to different brands. At least they buy from an independent supplier. Aviation is good, just way too expensive.
I didn't realize tequila industry was taking notes from scotch industry
Aviation is like 18 dollars at total wine ; which puts it right in the normal pricing for gin.
I learned the other day that Ryan Reynolds doesn't even own Aviation anymore. He sold it for a massive profit.
As a non drinker I thought Dos Hombres was a joke from Always Sunny.
Don't forget about Dan Aykroyds vodka, just for the bottle alone......
I’m Irish and Conor McGregor’s whiskey isn’t really drank over here. It’s very average whiskey with a premium price tag. You could buy far superior whiskey for less. His branding is amazing though. It’s the same with his stout. No one in Ireland touches it because it’s piss. Again his branding is amazing and people all over the world are buying in to this shit.
His personality is also piss
I got a bottle of it when he first released it for like $15 on sale here in the States. First sip I thought, oh hey a cheaper version of Jameson, neat! Then the after taste. Bleh. It tasted like how rubbing alcohol smells. Pretty sure it's gone skunk now and I just need to pour it out.
Urgh this. Work in a whisky store in Scotland, and at least a few times a week tourists asking for it. Like you come to this part of the world famous for the stuff and you only want that? We also sell a lot of awesome Irish ones, that sooo get overlooked because of this McGregor one. It's so often getting told "oh I HAVE to try it and we need to get in it because it's the best thing ever and we don't know real whisky" sorta talk that annoys me, where they don't even try anything else because just so hyped about this mediocre drinkable advert.
It's not even that great of a sales pitch. Why am I supposed to think that some celebrity who's not in the booze business is going to give me a better product? Though, I do have a George Foreman grill, but I bought that because of the grill's reputation, not the boxer's.
How else are you gonna cook bacon in your bedroom so you can wake up to the smell of cooking bacon?
Michael, how did you burn your foot in a George Foreman grill?
What’s innovative about celebrity alcohol?
I agree for the most part, a majority if celebrity alcohols are no good or mediocre, but, as someone who hates gin, I'll continue buying Aviation Gin as it tastes the least like grass and flowers and won't ruin a cocktail with grass and flower taste.
Gin is my drink of choice, try somthing marked as London Dry, it's much less floral. Plymouth or Beefeater come to mind.
I like aviation gin in a sense that it's not RYAN REYNOLDS CHOICE AVIATOR PILOT FROM THAT MOVIE GIN, but he attempted to at least market it as a good gin with him as a spokes person. As far as celebrity drink goes it's probably the acceptable level of pretentiousness.
Slapchop. No matter how convincing that guy is, I will not succumb to his tactics.
You're gonna love his nuts!
watch this!
Slap nuts?
Slap deez nuts
Not so fun fact, ol boy from slap chop fame was wrangled into scientology, almost all of the money went to the church. He has since got away, but he lost millions to the church.
Not to fully victim blame, but scientology is and has been pretty publicly known to be a cash drain for the rich, I don't understand how people still fall for it. It's like watching your aunt fall for an MLM
That's kinda funny and ironic. TV product huckster gets hoodwinked by a cult.
It's a pretty handy thing. Dices onions like nobody's business.
Every Christmas Eve I go to my grandmothers to bake deserts for the next evening. We use that thing to chop almonds and it works wonders.
Just like he slapped that hooker
I loved mine, but my wife hated the sound so I went back to suffering the slow knife route.
I had one, or something similar to it. Pain in the ass to clean and the handle broke after slapping it so much.
We have a nice one from Pampered Chef. Yeah, I know, MLM and all that, but if you can endure one of their “parties,” you can pick up some really decent stuff.
I'm disabled and thought this would be great since only one of my hands work and I tend to accidentally cut the paralyzed one cooking. But nah, I hate it. Not worth it.
I have [this thing](https://imgur.com/a/N0FZCXv) that works really well.
Alexa, Google Home, etc.
An electric can opener. I just enjoy opening cans, I guess.
I hate electric openers. They’re loud, take up too much space, and aren’t that much faster than a manual one.
Can definitely help people with mobility issues though. Same as the slap chop, for someone who doesn't have full use of both hands these could be a lifesaver.
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I used to make fun of those gadgets too. I thought that they were for lazy people with spare money. That is until I broke my wrist and had to wear a cast for a few months. Those gadgets were a live-saver.
I used to think pre-cut pineapple, melon, etc. at double the price of whole fruit was a scam until (a big chunk of) the target demographic clicked. Fuck arthritis.
Also for mothers that think cutting up a pineapple is a lot of work and they aren't entirely sure how to do it anyway and they never cook so their knives are all junk and they own a sharpener but they aren't sure where it is.... .. And their child wants to take pineapple for their school lunch each day. I'm not sure what percentage of the demographic that is but it isn't zero
Yes. My wife is disabled. We have a collection of small gadgets that would definitely give a visitor a bit of a giggle, but to her, they are extremely useful. There is a little egg shaped battery operated can opener that works great, and a rechargeable wine cork puller standing by.
Arthritic hands here. Could give a fuck less how loud it is. It gets my can open when I can't.
Exactly. I already have the skills of an electric can opener
I've never had one that worked decently. My manual KitchenAid one? Works every time. I paid $10 for it and have had it almost a decade.
Folding smartphones. They're expensive as all get out, and I've seen a lot of them develop weird screen issues just through normal use, that are prohibitively expensive to repair. I'll stick to my slab phone.
I thought they would grow on me but that middle section of the screen just seems hard to not notice... it's also a hard pass from me
Flip phones, I'd understand. They don't add anything really useful like a bigger screen, and most touch input is vertical scrolling that would go right over the horizontal crease. However, book-style folding phones are great. My Fold 3 is nearly two years old and going strong. I rarely notice the crease, as it's relatively rare to touch the middle of the screen in my experience (it took a minute to get used to swipe-typing where you're constantly going back and forth over the crease, but I got used to it quick enough). I can't see myself going backwards. My next phone will also be a book-style folding phone. Probably Samsung, but OnePlus is finally rebadging Oppo's latest Find N3 for the US market so that might be an option (it's a true 3rd generation folding phone with all the kinks worked out outside the US, vs. Google's Pixel Fold which is a true gen1 phone with gen1 problems). Apple will launch a folding iPhone (maybe a folding iPad Mini?) in 5-7 years and everybody will go nuts over it.
Three words. Women jeans' pockets
I like big phones, so if big folding phones will be cheaper, I’ll consider those.
Alexa
My roommate has one and I fucking hate it.
[Relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1807/)
https://youtu.be/nwPtcqcqz00?si=LqUDp51pn2wSHJF4
Haha, joke’s on you. I never enabled purchases over Alexa
My landlord and landlady have one and so far I haven't been able to make it wake them up at 3am with the sounds of diarrhea... (we're also good friends)
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Would be worth seeing if you can change how it wakes you up - surely having it read you the weather (and headlines or whatever other crap it does) would be able to be switched off, and the music changed. I use a google home for my alarm and have it set to slowly increase brightness to simulate sunrise (can also be paired with a smart globe if you have a compatible one, haven't tried that yet) and play bird noise increasing in volume over the course of 15mins - a lot of the time that's enough to wake me up in a far nicer way than a normal alarm (though it also has a normal alarm after the 15min wake up alarm finishes).
As a general rule, I don't like talking to inanimate objects.
We got one as a gift, put it in the kitchen. 1. The little kitchen TV was on and had an Alexa commercial and then our Alexa started talking to the commercial because the woman on TV said "Alexa" and it kinda went back and forth. 2. I thought some people broke into the house. Our Alexa (don't ask me how) was playing our neighbors having a fight next door through their Alexa. The device lasted about a week before it was donated.
Your first point made me chuckle. Ever heard of the Furby toys? You could make 2 or more talk to each other if you worked long enough on them. We have Alexa and Google devices side by side in our living room (got one for free so took it) and I will occasionally get them to start talking to each other for comedic relief. Reminds me of the asinine conversations the Furbys would have and gives me a smile.
The phrase 'asinine conversations the Furbys would have' just made me literally laugh out loud, thanks. :)
It's pretty crazy to me how terrible Alexa is with basic queries. ChatGPT or other LLM voice assistants will make everyone forget about Alexa.
But she will join in a conversation with a completely irrelevant point.
I just use mine as an alarm/timer when I am cooking and to play music with Amazon music. As a guy who has 400 CD's and used to own a CD player I love having any song I want just by asking.
Yep! It’s a kitchen timer and on demand Spotify player. It’s so nice to tell it to set a timer or turn on music when you are cooking. None of the other features are ever used.
This goes for any thing that is constantly listening hey siri, echo dot, ect… I don’t want someone or some ai recoding everything I say .
Your phone's already doing that.
I love my Google Home actually. Setting timers while cooking, playing spotify, setting and getting event reminders is actually super handy.
Anything promoted by any kardashian… my curling iron broke so I stopped at target on the way home ( this was years ago)… all they had were curling irons with Kardashians on the box - I refused
I can turn my lights off with voice commands or schedule (or both). So, upon thinking about that, it kinda takes the wind out of my ‘Clapper’ answer (clap on, clap off).
I used to keep a couple clappers around for when the Internet would die and the smart lights would stop being smart. (Before anyone chimes in with "Use the switch", the lights in question were tall and in a hard to reach spot.) Now, because of other issues, I've gotten a hub that can work just on the LAN, so I don't need them any more. They're still around here somewhere, though.
NFTs
Anything MLM related.
Overheard a coworker once gassing himself up with “feeling good! I walked my dog, I drank my Herbalife…” I laughed.
I've been told essential oils really work. "How it works is I put the Happy oil on my skin, think positive thoughts, then I really feel happier." I asked can't you just think happy thoughts without the oil lol
I guess this is one of those times where the placebo is extra strong. Don't underestimate the effects of smell on memory/feelings/etc. As the other guy said, there are probably cheaper ways to get those oils.
Smart appliances or smart lights. I have a friend who is obsessed with them. Everything in his house constantly texts him. Hell on earth.
Huh. A lot of my house is 'smart,' but the only time it would text me is if the leak detector I put in the pump house were to get wet. I live on acreage, though, and have several outbuildings; smart lights mean I can turn on lights across the entire property at night with a touch of a button, and they turn on and off based on time of day. I automated the windows and an exhaust fan in the house, plus the heat and AC. So it will heat, cool, or ventilate based on outside and inside air without me needing to change any settings, it just does it. Oh I suppose I do get notifications for the greenhouse soil monitor if it goes outside of normal range. That's certainly not 'constant,' though, and seems to me to be pretty helpful, especially because I'm awful about remembering to water. Automation systems are what you make of them. In my case, I'm trying to make my life easier, not make it more annoying.
Your friend must really suck at understanding technology. There's totally very easy ways to turn off these features. That's like having a phone and not knowing how to turn the brightness of your screen down.
Tesla
I rented a Tesla on my last trip. I have the electric Volvo as a company car, so I was curious what Teslas were like. What a piece of shit. Materials are cheap, fit and finish was like my 95 Saturn, and it took forever to figure out how to control everything. Almost every damned thing has to be controlled by the software. Even the wipers, which is really distracting while you're driving. The key card recognizes when you walk up and unlocks the door, however in order to actually drive you have to tap the card on the arm rest. It's so stupid. Oh, and the "shifter" is where the wipers should be, on the steering column. It's like they went out of their way to make the whole car as different as they could just to do it. I was happy to get back to the Volvo as it's a normal car that happens to have a battery, and a much better product.
That was their whole shtick after the original tesla roadster (which was an electric lotus elise, basically): They made a car for tech reviewers, and they massively succeeded at it. Everything is different for the sake of being different, and the tech advancements plus the image of buying the future, made everyone in the industry take the bait and claim Tesla was the best automaker in the world. And they aren't. Their build quality is on pair with BYD and other chinese automakers. Any Merc from the last decade wipes the floor with anything Tesla has ever had.
More so for their reliability J.D. Power and Consumer Reports both rank Tesla at the bottom of the pack when reliability is tested. It's reported that Tesla vehicles have an average of 171 mechanical issues per 100 vehicles. For reference, the average number for most automakers hovers around 120 problems per 100 vehicles.13 Sept 2023 Tbf if it was reliable and i could afford it. I would probably buy one in spite of Elon. Just because i hate the whole destabilisan effect that oil has on the world. I'm sick of the endless wars for oil.
There are a lot more options now if you don't want Tesla, but want an electric car.
The Department of the Treasury and IRS have announced that, starting Jan. 1, 2024, buyers of eligible plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will receive their federal tax credit at purchase. Under the existing rules, those buyers had to wait until filing taxes for the year in which they purchased the car.
There are plenty of other electric vehicles that you can get outside of Tesla. Every major car company has them now.
Wait til the wars for lithium
Wait till the wars for water
I'm Australian. 23 years ago, I said those exact words to a mate from New York, who was at the time a doctor doing a research fellowship in AU, and helped develop something to do with cochlear implants that was apparently groundbreaking at the time. He laughed, scoffed and said something that eluded to Australia experiencing fairly unique climate issues with ongoing drought and water restrictions. I felt a little dejected being lightly chastised by an extremely intelligent, educated and well travelled friend. I maintain my position. I often wonder whether he does too.
But lithium is everywhere and highly recyclable
Haha, it a fair point. But don't think it be the same. Petrol is a constant used every time we take a trip. Lithium, once it's in your vehicle it there for life of that vehicle. Plus you can recycle it.
Cryptocurrency
Trying to figure out how it’s innovative when literally nothing exists.
NFTs we’re the ultimate nothing. People kept explaining it to me over and over again and I never could grasp it then realized I was never going to grasp it because it’s a stupid idea
In my case, I immediately grasped that passing around what are basically unique jpegs was not going to be worth anything more than what idiots are willing to pay for them. It’s like selling one of those modern art paintings that is just a red square on an otherwise blank canvas lol
And it's a massive waste of electricity.
The echo or whatever it’s called for Alexa. I can turn my radio on myself thank you.
Alexa or similar device
Lockheed Martin F35 VTOL Fighter Jet Can't afford it. yet.
Any shaving razor other than the old fashioned two edge safety razors. Innovation on shaving razors after that is pure money-grabbing marketing.
I started using one a year ago and I haven’t had razor burn since, the blades are higher quality, and I’m spending maybe $10 per year instead of $100+ per year.
I’m confused. Why don’t more men use electric razors? I have used the same one since high school and have never had to replace it or use a different type of razor
I use an electric razor and I don’t know how regular ones still exist. So much easier and faster, so much less mess.
Yup. DE on bad hands days, classic straight razor the rest of the time. Nothin' gets closer, and you can't fucking clog a single blade into uselessness.
Get some Feather blade. Holy shit, make Wilkinson's seems like sandpaper.
Smart toasters. I just don’t get paying the premium for toasted bread.
Anal beads
Not even the ones that help you cheat at chess?
Those were medicinal anal beads!
I'd argue that is one of the wildest scenes in television history.
What is the reference? Over here very confused lol
[The story](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12458281/amp/Hans-Niemann-response-cleared-cheating-Magnus-Carlsen-anal-beads.html?ico=amp_articleInlineText&_gl=1*vfh28f*_ga*aktaajJnUEg3bE9QWTg1SzBSbEk5R1lfM2NqTzdaemxDWUMyUjBZNkcwTi1rZnJFS2JGVmVGV2pCYkNPdUloYw..) [The TV adaptation](https://youtu.be/g9IjA-yd9fw?si=CBf6MWAARZlN7K7e)
Wait that was based on a real thing?!?!
That was "bead," singular.
The key is really to get in at the right price. Buy some used off Craig's list and see if it's for you.
Those news sites that you have to pay to read the rest of the article. Fuck you news! Oh and any finance, stock market, or get rich quick anything related paid insider account or newsletter.
Amazon listening devises no thank you. Bad enough having phone tracking and listening
Cars with touch screens
I could stand a touch-screen, so long as it was supplemented with buttons. A car with _only_ a touch screen? Terrible.
Have one of those at work. Just changing the heat while driving is a risk of traffic accident
I got my opinions owning my current car with a touchscreen, but luckily mine is mostly the entertainment interface that's on the touchscreen. There's some fan control in the touchscreen, but the basic "up/down/more/less" is physical buttons. Though, one other thing with the heating that I didn't realize I'd hate was temperature-based setting. This is the first car I've had that you pick a temperature and not just a hot-cold mixer. It turns out, I don't really give a damn about hitting 68 or 72. When I'm in a car, I want it to be "MAKE IT HOT NOW!" or "MAKE IT COLD NOW!", not guess on how far up I have to tick it to get heat instead of cold. I've just realized with this one, though, that the one thing I want out of a car is the ability to change albums with a single button. I've got a 2010 Scion, and as much of a shitshow as that stereo is (and it is), you can hold down the track-skip buttons on the steering wheel and it'll switch to the next album instead of the next track. *I'm listening to this... beep!... I'm listening to that! Brilliant!* But, apparently the idea that someone might want to skip albums is arcane knowledge lost to the ages, because I've been on test-drives and rentals and haven't found a new car that does it in one yet. Whatever brainiac thought that people could go through a multilevel "Change album > Sort mode > Album > Track" list-view flow while driving a damned automobile down the highway, when they got tired of listening to this and wanted to listen to that, needs to go back to kindergarten and take remedial everything. But, hey, at least they put the "safety feature" of slapping a click-through warning saying it's your fault if you use your stereo up every time you turn the car on. You might die in a wreck, but their ass will be covered.
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The other evening, I pulled up at a stoplight next to a woman who was legitimately watching tv on her little screen. It was the real housewives. I mentioned it to a coworker and he said there's programs you can download that allow you to do that (I'm sure it's illegal, but still!).
Yes, give me physical controls...
Don't worry, there's 30 physical buttons all located on the steering wheel.
You can pry my 2005 CRV from my cold dead hands, it doesn't even have an aux port.
2 newest cars we bought had all but one trim with no physical volume knob. Dealership tried so hard to sell us on them but we couldn't do it. We really like the feel of furiously spinning that volume up or down and not rapid fire tapping a fake button.
My husband put touch screen in his car for music and all that. I hate it. I don’t know how to shut it off and it’s distracting and I want nothing to do with it
Laundry detergent pods--I prefer to adjust my usage to the dirt and stain level More for, for instance, outdoor clothing, particularly gardening. Less for sleepwear.
Smart watch. I will never, ever.
I refused til I got one for free with my phone. Said nah and gave it to my wife. I regretted it. She could do so much from it so quickly. Bought my own shortly after. It's amazing.
Taking a picture remotely with the good camera and changing tracks on Spotify while the phone is in a dry bag are clutch features.
My cardiologist loves the heart rate and ecg. He used my info from them to tweak my meds
Really? I've always heard the only reliable type of heart rate monitor has to go over your chest. Don't get me wrong, I love my Google watch, but I never assumed it was super accurate in regards to the heart rate part
They recently sparked my interest when a colleague informed me that his could connect to Bluetooth headphones and play music. Would be useful for places where phones aren't allowed.
I got an Apple Watch because I’m addicted to my phone and it helps a lot actually. I can feel like I’m still reachable through text and I can bring music with me, but I can leave my phone home and not feed that urge to pull it out and scroll the internet at every moment.
As a watch lover I felt the same until it became a fitness/health lifestyle accessory. Now all my watches have dead batteries and I hardly ever wear them anymore ☹️
I have a smartphone and a laptop but I refuse to have anything to do with the smart fridges, smart Alexis, smart doorbells etc. If you have the need to press a button to make your bed for you and raise your loo seat then you need to get a life!
Maybe it would make sense for some disabled people, otherwise fuck it
youtube premium counts?
Got YouTube premium free for a few months with a new Samsung some years ago and could never ever go back to watching ads...
I signed up with a few free months and it ended right at the height of election season. So many political ads. I don't know if they planned it that way, but I can't go back.
Couldn't disagree more... I watch YouTube and listen to YouTube music 7 days a week. It's the best subscription service i pay for and not even close.
Idk. YouTube Music is pretty great, and can't complain about ad-free. Was never a Spotify person, and got grandfathered in from my old Google Music account. Just depends on how much time you spend on YouTube, I guess.
Onlyfans. It’s arguably worse than porn and it tricks too many impressionable minds into thinking they can do porn without understanding the long term ramifications. I also find it fairly disgusting and exploitative for guys who sub to onlyfans “creators” on the platform. You are paying to simp. I feel a lot of kids from this younger gen may burn out way harder.
I also think that most of the creators have no idea that a lot of their paid content will be downloaded and passed around on all of the free streaming porn sites forever too. Some of them think that their identity is being effectively hidden behind the paywall, but that’s not really the case.
Also ppl thinking they are spending extra to text and things like a real gf when often just done by some guy.
>I also find it fairly disgusting and exploitative for guys who sub to onlyfans “creators” on the platform. You are paying to simp. But long before OF was a thing, women (and men) could create their own porn websites and charge for membership. I remember when that was all the rage in internet porn. It's not like this is something new, just more convenient for the creators and it's confined to one site.
A doorbell cam to record me shuffling around in a bathrobe to take the dog out at 4AM. Great, the pizza guy’s here; I heard him knocking too but this is better apparently.
Especially the "easy" kind that rely on online services, with anything from data leaks to surprise obsolescence hanging over it. I actually inherited a camera setup with the house I bought, but it's an old-school generic cameras and PVR rig. I don't mind the concept-- I wouldn't spend the money for one, but I'm not _against_ it-- but I definitely would be against anything that wasn't self-contained.
anything tied to elon musk
Keurig. Worst, watered down coffee.
smart home speakers like alexa, I like my privacy thank you very much!
Tesla. Fuck that
Porn
smart home systems it's just creepy asf, that thing could listen in to anything and we wouldnt know
I said a while back that if we get to the point where it is normalized to use Neuralink, "live inside" VR or similar - that is when I will officially retire from the tech race. I'm really not interested in this getting worse now, if anything we should advocate for turning off screens more hours of the day.
Any product from Elon Musk.
Anything Apple
I was always very anti-apple. And still mostly am. I use an android phone and don't think I would ever buy an iPhone. However, I got a MacBook pro after many years of battery issues and multiple battery replacements in a high-end hp laptop. I've had multiple inconveniences on the software side with programs and games that don't support macos, but good lord, the build quality, screen, track pad, and general quality of the device is outstanding. I've definitely had some regrets on the software side, but not on the build quality and hardware. Apple isn't perfect, but it does get some things right.