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Everything with a battery should have an off switch

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Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#361

Post by falsenapkin »

teekert wrote: post #10

…And, one should be able to turn of every led even when powered on… At Ikea I almost bought a nice brushed steel extractor hood, except it had this obnoxiously bright blue led on the front. Why? I know when that thing is on without it drawing my attention constantly. Same with my Lenovo X13 gen 2, there is a bright white led next to the power button… just why…???

I have a TV with a flood light on the bottom when it's off and the IR receiver is also behind the translucent plastic for the light. It's in my bedroom and is bright enough to keep me up, so I have electrical tape over it which I then have to remove to use the TV because it doesn't have buttons.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#362

Post by ars »

rootusrootus wrote: post #353
ars wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The device belongs to the insurance company and they're only willing to pay for it if it's actually being used. They are quite expensive machines, and they don't want people having them in their house, and not actually using them (CPAP has a very low patient compliance rate). And that's why they have tracking built-in. You're perfectly able to buy the machine yourself without insurance and then you don't…

IMO it's a misuse of the technology. Controlled remote access was a good idea for doctors to see how therapy was working and adjust when necessary. I'd argue that newer APAP machines are so good at self-adjusting that it's less clear that remote access is necessary. And using it for insurance purposes should never have been permitted to begin with. Price it into the premium and skip the dystopian monitoring part. Per…

I agree APAP is so good you no longer need a Dr. involved. People should be allowed to purchase an APAP machine if they want it, with no prescription.

However I disagree about insurance - they are paying for it, so they can chose how they want to monitor usage. If you don't like it, then pay for it yourself, exactly like you did.

Also, the older machines don't have remote access, they have a little card you have to bring periodically to the Dr. so they can confirm to insurance you are actually using it. Remote access was meant to make it less annoying for patients, and cheaper too since you don't have to go to the Dr. so often.

Pricing it into the premium is a terrible idea - it would raise premiums for everyone, for very little gain.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#364

Post by superlopuh »

gumby wrote: post #312
arinlen wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I increasingly subscribe to the thesis that many designers and design teams design primarily in an effort to impress other designers. They don't have to use the things. They often don't even really care if the things work at all. They care that other designers - their artistic peers - are impressed. To put things in perspective, this is how we get stuff like the Eiffel tower.

Which I never saw the point of, even (especially?) during my periods of living in Paris.

Turned out to be useful in WWI

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#365

Post by brewdad »

bombcar wrote: post #211
lavela wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the real problem is that you can't keep all those little features you'd wish for in your head, so while you are making a buying decision they don't factor in as much as the lower price achievable without those features.

Perhaps we need government labels like we have on food - little boxes for common things like “battery: removable” or “on/off”.

We'd need some regulation for the regulations. My son's laptop battery died last week. Today, it is considered non-removable. But, he did remove it, after removing about 20 screws, carefully prying open the case, removing a few more screws and layers of insulation inside. Eventually, he was able to remove it and test that the battery was the fault and order a new one.

If we require labels, without the necessary strictly defined definitions, today's non-removable battery becomes tomorrow's "removable" battery. Because, hey, it is possible to remove it. Good luck getting everything back together if you aren't an engineer or extremely careful in how you disassembled things.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#366

Post by zippergz »

gumby wrote: post #312
arinlen wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I increasingly subscribe to the thesis that many designers and design teams design primarily in an effort to impress other designers. They don't have to use the things. They often don't even really care if the things work at all. They care that other designers - their artistic peers - are impressed. To put things in perspective, this is how we get stuff like the Eiffel tower.

Which I never saw the point of, even (especially?) during my periods of living in Paris.

Do you also not see the point of art?

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#367

Post by botdan »

go_prodev wrote: post #200
thaumasiotes wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've lost track of the number of times I've lamented "did anyone actually use this?" We have a combination oven and microwave (yes...) that seems to have been designed with the primary purpose of enraging the owner. The microwave can only be set in 15 second increments. But you can fine-tune it, in five-second increments, by spinning a dial. Except that you can't do that while the oven is on. The microwave makes a…

That must be frustrating, but was quite funny to read. I would happily invest in kitchen appliances that have a silent mode for apartments and shared living spaces. My microwave beeps at the end, and then beeps again 10 minutes later once the food has been removed. My old toaster beeped 5 times when the toast popped, which is unnecessary when the popping action is loud on it's own.

Have you looked to see if your microwave has a volume control menu? After years of listening to my microwave blare across the house I saw a tweet that informed me that most microwaves have a menu setting somewhere to control the volume and sure enough, my Frigidaire microwave actually does. I had just never thought to look.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#368

Post by Wowfunhappy »

brewdad wrote: post #365
bombcar wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps we need government labels like we have on food - little boxes for common things like “battery: removable” or “on/off”.

We'd need some regulation for the regulations. My son's laptop battery died last week. Today, it is considered non-removable. But, he did remove it, after removing about 20 screws, carefully prying open the case, removing a few more screws and layers of insulation inside. Eventually, he was able to remove it and test that the battery was the fault and order a new one. If we require labels, without the necessary stric…

If a battery is "removable", that means replacing the battery is a normal, reasonable use of the device. Ergo, if the device breaks while the customer is replacing the battery, the manufacturer would need to replace it under warranty.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#369

Post by brewdad »

swader999 wrote: post #141
throwaway049 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great. Now I need to buy a faraday cage to fit my refrigerator.

Think bigger. Do the whole house. There's paint you can get for this.

It rains 9 months a year here. Much of the US gets quite cold or hot for a significant part of the year. I really don't want to step outside to use my phone. WFH means I need to leave it on my porch in order to receive work calls, I guess.

Re: Everything with a battery should have an off switch

#370

Post by felixhandte »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #289
maxerickson wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The caliper and kitchen scale already have buttons. (they would both be shitty without a zero/tare button)

My $20 "Pittsburgh" calipers from Harbor Freight (don't judge) are still on their original batteries, after 6 years. They have a power button, and a separate zero button.

They don't actually turn off though. It just turns the display off. They need to continuously sense position since digital calipers measure movement increments rather than absolute position. That's why if you take the battery out and put it back in it will prompt you to re-zero the calipers.

Amusing video explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDype-j3hk

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