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We need physical audio kill switches

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Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#91

Post by mhh__ »

dheera wrote: post #56
mhh__ wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cooking on gas is much more pleasurable than most electric stoves. There's much more "feel" to control the heat

I use an induction stove and it is even more pleasurable than gas in terms of the speed of response of the pot. Response is literally instant because the pot is the source of heat, and not something external. They are also by far the safest since the hottest thing in the entire system is the bottom of the pot, which is usually at about 100-200 C depending on what you're cooking, which is usually not hot enough to sta…

I don't mind cooking on induction but I like to manage the heat by moving the actual pan i.e. if I am cooking bacon I will hold the pan edge up to catch the oil and concentrate the heat up

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#92

Post by wvenable »

brandon272 wrote: post #29

I let my spouse, who likes the novelty of a touchscreen, talk me into a Whirlpool oven a couple years ago that is controlled by touchscreen. I had no idea it was possible to hate an oven so much. The only saving grace is that the stovetop elements are still controlled by knobs.

My work coffee maker has a touch screen and the interface is so laggy it's insane. The manufacturer controls every aspect of the hardware and software so it makes no sense -- either make the hardware more powerful or make the software simpler!

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#93

Post by heavyset_go »

armada651 wrote: post #6

The real design flaw here is not conveniently being able to set the volume per application. Most systems are able to do this, but don't expose that functionality conveniently. In my opinion the volume keys should only be adjusting the volume for the application/website currently in focus.

You can do this by default with Plasma Desktop on Linux.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#95

Post by somehnguy »

MawKKe wrote: post #61
tetris11 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every microwave I have ever owned have been under $30, purely because I didn't want to go digital. Analogue egg-timer knob - good enough accuracy, and instantly pliable

Yeah. It's one thing that does not need improving. My parents bought a new microwave with all kinds of fancy digital features that nobody uses 99% of the time. In addition to being really difficult to use, it also makes a very loud BEEEP on every button press. Insanity.

Beeping appliances is one thing I can't stand. They're always too loud and rarely offer any adjustment or mute functionality.

I got a new microwave recently. It beeped on every button press, 5 beeps after a cook cycle, no way to mute (yeah, I checked). Within a day of owning it I took it apart and ripped the beeper off the board. Problem solved.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#96

Post by jrockway »

formerly_proven wrote: post #44
onion-soup wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wondered if these physical switches are actually reliable and now reading your comment actually terrifies me. This behavior can cause irreversible social damage in say during high steak business meetings. One could absolutely sue the microphone manufacturer for this.

"It depends". Digital built-in microphones use DMIC, which aiui is a one-wire interface where the microphone just sends a delta-sigma bitstream. If you implement the switch through a multiplexer or logic gate this kills the signal 100 % essentially. Analog electrets can't be just shorted, because that causes a loud BANG when you switch due to the bias voltage, so you use a capacitor in series, which only shorts the A…

Why do you need to short it? Just move the wires from "on" to "high impedance" (similar to what a pair of scissors would do when applied to the cable).

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#97

Post by appleiigs »

puranjay wrote: post #45
brandon272 wrote: post #29

I let my spouse, who likes the novelty of a touchscreen, talk me into a Whirlpool oven a couple years ago that is controlled by touchscreen. I had no idea it was possible to hate an oven so much. The only saving grace is that the stovetop elements are still controlled by knobs.

My office (well, former office) used to have a touchscreen coffee maker. Why does a coffee maker even need a touchscreen? There are literally three options!

I love my cuisinart ddc-1200 coffee maker. Has two knobs and an old fashion toggle switch. I realize it's not a pure mechanical switch but at least they're still using a physical switch.

https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/appliances/coffee_makers/...

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#98

Post by dheera »

lopmotr wrote: post #42
amiga-workbench wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Topping DAC/Amp has an optical rotary encoder for volume control and it is awful, it will randomly jump 10x the amount of steps you have rotated it, sometimes even in the opposite direction. There's something to be said for a good old fashioned potentiometer.

Potentiometers have that problem too when they get worn, which they always do if they also double as on/off switch like on most cheap radios.

They could use something like an AS5048A for 14-bit (effectively analog to humans) magnetic position sensing instead of a potentiometer or variable inductor.

Considering they already need digital control circuitry to interface to a touch screen it shouldn't be significantly cost-prohibitive to use that to make knobs that are immune to oxidization.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#100

Post by amelius »

formerly_proven wrote: post #44
onion-soup wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wondered if these physical switches are actually reliable and now reading your comment actually terrifies me. This behavior can cause irreversible social damage in say during high steak business meetings. One could absolutely sue the microphone manufacturer for this.

"It depends". Digital built-in microphones use DMIC, which aiui is a one-wire interface where the microphone just sends a delta-sigma bitstream. If you implement the switch through a multiplexer or logic gate this kills the signal 100 % essentially. Analog electrets can't be just shorted, because that causes a loud BANG when you switch due to the bias voltage, so you use a capacitor in series, which only shorts the A…

Can't you switch the bias voltage off?
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