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Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

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Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#82

Literally every IoT device! These things are terrible. My dishwasher can't wash dishes once it does a software update. My TV spies on me and shows me targeted ads. Every useless piece of hardware has a microphone and camera in it.... Heck, I've spent countless days breaking the microphones and cameras on my new "smart" devices before I feel comfortable using them. Even after spending thousands of dollars on a car, I'…

Agreed. Smart TVs are at the top of my list of hated IoT devices. Why can’t one just buy a dumb tv terminal to do what a tv was designed for … display images?

Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#83
post #76
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds ugly, on a tesla it's the left thumb wheel on steering wheel. So not only do you not have to take your eyes off the road, you don't have to take your hands off the wheel.

Tesla doesn't have touchscreens?

The parent complained about not being able to feel the volume knob, but it's just a roller ball on the steering wheel.

The Tesla does have a touch screen, but you don't need them to change the volume, the cruise control follow distance, play a new song, pause a song, make a phone call, use voice nav, manually overwrite the wipers (wipe now), etc.

Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#84

School's curriculum and grading system being connected to email alerts + doing standardized testing 3-4 times a year. It takes a lot of energy to raise children and be a good partner. The anxiety introduced by constantly getting notified of what is being taught, what the grades are, what is missing EVERYDAY is not only overkill, but I think harmful. My philosophy is that school (elementary, middle, high school) is a…

I like knowing what they are teaching my kids. I also like knowing when they are marked absent from school … in case I was not aware of their absence.

Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#86

Programming languages! It is ironic because I am a programmer and I write programs and develop software for a living. But proliferation of programming languages has made my life worse. Too many programming languages and every company has their own favorites! It may be an unpopular opinion on HN but I don't enjoy learning new syntaxes every year for relatively few benefits in new concepts or paradigms. In my ideal wor…

it's not the programming languages, it's the programmers.

people can't stop reinventing the wheel. everyone thinks they know better.

Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#87
post #77
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car touchscreens are actively making the world a more dangerous place to live in. And everyone seems ok with it.

Dunno, I consider it a win. 99% of my looking at a touchscreen is at the map/car for more situational awareness. I look for things like is there a traffic jam coming up? Or see some motion out of the corner of my eye, turns out it's a motorcycle splitting lanes behind me. Or the car two cars ahead of me flashes red because it's braking. The always present current speed limit is handy as well, didn't realize how often…

Congrats, we don't all have a Tesla? I'm thinking of the mediocre touchscreen in my Honda.

Re: Ask HN: What technologies have made your life worse?

#88
post #37
post #32

LED vehicle headlights. How long will it take before they figure out how to make them without burning out the retinas of the general public?

I think the bulk of this problem is just people not aiming their lights correctly.

The bulk of the problem is that it's not even being recognized as a problem by municipalities, traffic safety administrations and police departments.

I shouldn't have to avoid driving after sunset because 80% of the general population are idiots who put LEDs in housings where LEDs shouldn't be used.

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