Technology Thread

Onhell

Onhell

Infinite Dreamer
One of my students saw me pull out my smartphone and said, "Teacher, you're rich." "Oh am I? How do you know if I'm rich?" "Because you have a smartphone." To which I said, "I recently bought it with my Christmas bonus, for the past 2 years I had a 'cacahuate' (peanut, slang for the most basic of cellphones). He just laughed. Then the conversation turned to consoles. I put a stop to their "you're rich you're poor" argument by stating that ANYONE with a smartphone/console or major piece of tech in Mexico is technically well off. That it isn't the case in the U.S. "Are they cheaper in the U.S?" they asked.

I explained that they cost the same ($500 dollars to $10,000 pesos at an estimated 20 exchange rate.) but the earning power of your average consumer is different. If the middle income of the middle class is say... 2,000 dollars and your console is $500, yest it is a big expenditure, but it won't break the bank. When the middle income of the middle class in mexico is 20,000 pesos and your console is 10,000.... yeah... not the same.

While I relish in my detachment from nearly everything (still can't live without electricity and a washing machine.) I realized I crafted a rather tech comfy existence. It has taken me years to build do to my relative low income, but now that it is finally in place it is rather sweet.

So what tech have you filled your life with?

As stated in the spoilers I recently bought a Huawei Y6 smartphone due to pressure from work. 99.9% of communication at work and life revolves around the fucking app Whats App. After two years of putting it off I finally caved. I loaded Whats App, NHL, Facebook and messenger. That's it. Can't really call it a phone, more like a small tablet with a phone app. But I still want it to perform mainly those basic functions, call, text/message via other messaging apps. NHL and Facebook are my "luxuries." I haven't filled it with music like I did my iPod, because I want it to work efficiently and quickly. I usually erase pictures as soon as I upload them. I recently lost my iPod in a cab (long story), and it still hurts. I have been using the FM radio app on my phone instead lol. It works as I don't use data and if I get a call while on the bus or walking to work I can just use the hands free.

At home I have a 40" TV a friend gave me for Christmas two years ago, a surround sound system I bought on credit three years ago, an Xbox one I got two years ago on sale. Also hooked up to my TV is a recently purchased Lenovo Winows 10 laptop. 1TB hard drive, can't remember teh RAM, but they never come with enough, I'll upgrade that eventually. I have a 160GB external hard drive I bought 6 years ago and an external CD/DVD reader/burner I bought 4 years ago plugged into that. I loaded it with CCleaner and defraggler, open office, avast anti-virus, added an ad-blocker to chrome and have already uploaded most of my music collection to it. Since it is by the TV I connected a Bluetooth keyboard my mom got me for Christmas last year and a recently purchased wireless mouse.

As you can tell from the timeline it has taken me literally years to put all of this together and I can't express how satisfying it is to finally have a vision come together, no matter how mundane.

The reason I have the laptop hooked to the TV is the ad-blocker on the web browser. something I am not sure is possible on consoles. So now Youtube videos play uninterrumpted as do movies on pirated websites. On this last note, a friend of mine from the U.S groaned at my criminal activity. But there are no rental places anymore in Mexico. My options are overpriced theaters, by original blurays/dvds, Netflix (which I have) or... the internet. To be fair the movies don't come out on the websites until they've had their run in theaters. So by the time I see it they've made their money. Most people still like watching Avengers on the big screen.

Why I still buy CDs is a little more complicated. In short I like supporting the record labels that in turn support the artists I like. But having physical media is still important to me. For example, My internet connection went out for 5 hours the other day. No Youtube, Netflix, etc. I still own CDs and DVDs so I still had media entertainment the old fashion way. As I also mentioned, I lost my iPod, had that music been "downloaded" and only downloaded it be gone forever. I've had laptops stolen as well. I rather rip my cd, put it back in it's case where it is safe and burn back ups which can be done with downloads as well. Highly recommend it.

So What kinda tech you got or what is your favorite tech toy? Least favorite?

My least favorite is my xbox one. I hate that I have to wait hours for games to download and they take up hard drive space. That wasn't the case with the 360.
 
Smartphones are extremely common around the world - they are ubiquitous in Africa, for example. People don't have laptops there, they organize themselves around smartphones.

I currently have 3 TVs in my house, two in the main room - one on the wall by the game table and one in the viewing corner. I only use the latter TV when it's a viewing party and people want to sit on the couch, otherwise we sit at the game table and play games with the TV used for digital enhancements/music/movies etc. I have a retropie with thousands of games on it connected to the game table TV as well. I have my work laptop and I also have my gaming PC, which is now 5 years old but still runs well - Sandy Bridge i5 overclocked to 4.20 ghz (liquid cooled), 16gb of DDR3, GTX 1070 gpu, 360gb 550mbs SSD and an additional 6 tb of storage on 3 drives at 7200rpm and 3x 24x monitors. I have a 1000w 5.1 sound system that I barely use, because it's too powerful for my apartment.
 
LooseCannon said:
Smartphones are extremely common around the world - they are ubiquitous in Africa, for example. People don't have laptops there, they organize themselves around smartphones.
Click to expand...

Same thing here. Why buy a 6,000-20,000 peso laptop/desktop when you can buy a 2,000 peso smartphone that you can take anywhere and is way more practical? I have the lap top for work, that way I don't have to fight other teachers for the department laptops. Many of my students use the lab computers or literally write their papers on their smartphones. Some status obssessed people do by the 20,000 peso iPhone, of course, but most go for the cheapest functional ones which are from 2 to 3,000 pesos. Divide by 20 for a conservative estimate in U.S dollars.

That is some sweet tech. I had a second tv, used to be the ex's but she left it to me. a multipurpose 20" that still has VGA entrance lol. I gave it to my brother since his 20" started to malfunction. He told me he might get a new laptop as his old laptop is 19 years old, his desktop is 15 and his tablet is about 10. All dinosaurs in the tech world. Most of their problems outside of viruses are due to the aging components, so I agree with him it is time to upgrade. I'll get a second TV eventually to have downstairs where there is more space for parties and most Wii games.
 
I've got a computer (workstation, case about 2000e in 2015, i7), and a ton of peripherals (some of them expensive, like fiber optic equipment) and shit ton (*) of computer equipment/spares, couple of tablets, an older laptop of 2014ish vintage, smartphone. Wii (hacked, shitton of games on it), two GC pads with it. I have my music gear which should be couple of processors some rack some not, two amps, cab, pedals and stuff, one electric guitar. Good 80W RMS stereo audio system. I also have some electronics-related equipment like scope and multimeters. In the Guggenheim department you will find one Atari ST and my first computer, Olivetti M19.

(*) and that's a brutto ton. I had to throw a lot of stuff recently, still have a ton. I had at least one cable for every imaginable purpose you could find.

And Onhell, to answer your question, I don't consider myself wealthy for buying this because I never bought a car. Those are my priorities. The computer stuff generates money. Some of it isn't essential like tablets. The music is a hobby. I don't really see this as any kind of wasting money, things are bought for a function and they are used until they hit end-of-life.

P.S. The phone is Galaxy S9, purchased summer 2018. I could've saved there. I decided I won't because my previous purchase was Galaxy S in late 2010. That one still works.
 
Laptop: Asus UX410UQ. A tiny laptop I recently purchased for work. Does its job well. Can't play games on it but I'm not a gamer anyway.
Phone: Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra. Long time Sony user, mainly because of their physical reliability. With how often I drop my phone, I'd be shafted if I used an iPhone or a Samsung.
Headphones: SteelSeries 3Hv2. Broke them on the day of purchase, I tie a bandana on top of it to hold the two sides together. Good sound, lousy design and material quality.
Loudspeakers: Q Acoustics Q3010. Recently purchased on a discount, don't have an amplifier to go along with it yet.

Instruments: Cort EVL-X4, Sire Marcus Miller V7 and Ibanez SR300. Electric ones count as tech, right? Want to buy a new electric guitar but can't afford it right now.
Amplifiers: Marshall MB15 and Roland Micro Cube. The Cube's speakers are blown out. Friend of mine has the same model, I'll get his via trade.
Audio Interface: Steinberg UR22 mkII
Microphone: Shure SM57
Recorder: Zoom H1. I'll trade this one in exchange for the amp.

Parents are in charge of home appliances, so can't recall what we have at the house.
 
^ I have both micro cube and 60W model. I gave micro to my brother together with one dubious Jackson Dinky years ago, when he went to learn electric guitar. To tell you truthfully I liked micro better. No volume but good sound when in quiet room, especially the marshall "classic" preset. The big combo one has decent volume but the sound is very very meh.
 
Zare said:
I
And Onhell, to answer your question, I don't consider myself wealthy for buying this because I never bought a car. Those are my priorities. The computer stuff generates money. Some of it isn't essential like tablets. The music is a hobby. I don't really see this as any kind of wasting money, things are bought for a function and they are used until they hit end-of-life.
Click to expand...

I don't have one yet. Public transportation works for now. I will get one only because of the brutal rainy season we have here. I had to get one in the U.S because Western states were designed with the car in mind, not with public transport/pedestrians. I've bitched about Tucson's buses enough elsewhere. But yes, not having a vehicle opens up the wallet for other things. I save for certain items, take advantage of birthdays and holidays, etc. Like I said. It has taken me over 5 years to complete a decent set-up lol.

When I was a young adult (18-23ish) I spent most of my disposable income on CDs. Now I spend it on food and bills... it sucks being an "adult," lol, priorities definitely change with time.
 
I just bought a 43 inch HD LED panel with a 5 year guarantee in local store for about $300. It's a "dumb TV" so the price has dropped a ton. Well I plugged in my ThinkPad and now it's a very smart TV.

For some computer work...well, it can be used, but it needs to be in a sweet spot from your point of view, about 1.5m of distance. The letters are too murky past that. The eye strain is big before that. Also being 1920x1080 at 43 inch means you can discern every pixel and actually spot the LED matrix even if you're far enough to keep the whole screen in your view.

The brand is called Hisense and that's probably some local-Chinese integration. It has DVB-S built in together with the card slot. The software is ok and menus are of good design and you can get around fairly quicky. The picture type color balance and lighting presets help out of the box. The build quality is highly dubious, it weights significantly less than my 23" Philips LCD monitor, and a single drop from the floor level, a flip, would probably render it wide open.

But due to the weight, it is highly portable, and I could hook up my old gaming tablet via HDMI for some old games and to provide the "smart TV" component.

archos-gamepad-android-gaming-tablet.jpg


This thing is actually quite sturdy and the pad controls are very high quality. The built in software allows mapping of those to touchscreen games, if the game itself doesn't allow physical button input. It works great for the emulators. What I found out is that some paid non-indie games that allow physical input actually have a so dumbed down interface that you cannot remap the buttons, which can be very annoying.
 
I have a simple Iphone SE, Ipad Air 2, an ancient Ipod Nano, basic electrical equipments/TV/Blu-ray player at home, and a fairly new Lenovo laptop and HP printer for work/business, don’t really need anything else. Prefer to keep it simple in my Walden home with my family.

Have loads of high-tech stash at work, as I’m working with some of the most advanced technology in the world.
 
I decided to change the title to "Technology Thread" to be able to speak tech in general. Benefits, detriments like Londoners not being able to go more than 3 feet without being caught on some sort of security/traffic camera.

At any rate, before CWBL brought it up in the Mental Health thread, I had planned talking about the future of the job market based on automation. John Oliver had a relatively optimistic episode about it:


I say it is optimistic, because an outdated view of automation and what robots can do. He concludes that like ATMs of the 80's modern automation will take over routine tasks and as long as we do things that require more complex, critical thinking, we'll be fine. However, This other video shows that the future is not only not that bright, it's actuallly pretty bleak:


In other words, it no longer is just mechanical muscles, but but mechanical minds. These things are ALREADY here, it isn't the future, it is NOW, and it is only going to progress. As the video says, doctors, lawyers, even professors are at risk. Bina48 was the first robot to take a college course and it also became the first robot to co-teach a college course at West Point:

https://www.axios.com/robot-ai-teac...int-98ce5888-873b-4b72-8de5-0f7c592d66b0.html

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have had very public debates on this. Zuckerberg being very optimistic and Musk being much more pessimistic. You can Google/Youtube A LOT of material on this, but the basic rundown is. Zuckerberg feels it would be like the mechanical muscles; beneficial, friendly, etc. Musk sees more of an I, Robot, Terminator, Matrix future where if we create A.I smarter than us, it will destroy us. Musk has been quoted saying, "I've spoken to [Zuckerberg]... and his understanding of the subject is limited." Facebook created two Chatbot AIs and they created their own language and they shut them down. There are some sensationalistic headlines claiming it was done out of fear, but fact of the matter is, the programs still went rogue, they did something unexpected, and it showed that we still have no clue about the capacity of even "simple" AI.

https://futurism.com/a-facebook-ai-unexpectedly-created-its-own-unique-language/

Again, it isn't the future, it is our present, sure it is the beginning, but it is only going to get worse for us and we need to figure out what comes next. I will still be active in the work force when this is common place in developed countries.

So what say ye? Again, this IS happening, to what extent do you think we will be realistically affected and in how long?
 
I thought about putting this in the Rant thread, mods feel free to move it if deemed appropriate, BUT it has to do with technology.

This morning I'm checking my account balance and I notice I'm being charged for a "card replacement fee." I don't recall reporting my card lost or stolen! So obviously I think my identity has been stolen. I immediately call the bank and I'm told that there was a system update and that my card had the wrong expiration date and therefore it was cancelled and the process for a new one was started automatically. Of course I did the whole, but I didn't ask for a new one, can't you tell your system the correct date printed on my card and well.... No. They were magnanimus enough to refund the replacement fee, but I do have the added inconvenience of having to wait 5 to 7 business days for the new one.

Two weeks ago my bank, along with like 3 others, had a server crash which made doing things through the app impossible. I withdrew money from the ATM to do all my payments and suddenly I felt back in 1995. I wonder if this "system update" had anything to do with said crash.

I bring this up because this pay period I don't need any cash, thank god, but if I did? I used to be able to just walk inside the bank and get money directly from the teller, but the last time I had this issue I was told they couldn't do that. "You can't give me my money?" "No, you must go to the ATM for that." "I don't have a card, the old one expired and I haven't received the new one." "Oh, through the app you can request a cardless transaction, you will be texted a code and you can get your money that way." "Or, here's a thought, YOU could give me said money." Dude just stares at me....

This is a pain for several reasons. I'm still fairly tech savy, but my mom, for example, can't do jack shit on her bank app. My brother and I do everything for her. The enormous inconvinience this supposed convinience is on a great deal of folks. Also, cell plans don't work here the same way as in the States where you pay for monthly plans and most are unlimited talk and text nowadays. Here it still works by purchasing minutes. So let's say I don't have a card, no cash and no minutes.... how the fuck do I get my money? Thankfully I have friends and family that can spot me, but I have been in situations (back in the States) where I had NO ONE. There are millions of people and said situations, are they just fucked?

I bring this because for easily 15 years or so the tech industry has been pushing for all digital plataforms. Sure the most visual is video games with the current gen consoles sporting a cheaper all digital versions, but if the Microsoft leak is true and the next version of the Series X is all digital... this spells a bigger problem. Alan Wake II is already a digital only release, but far from the only one. Apple has been pushing for this for easily 15 years. Physical media disappearing is only the tip of the iceberg, as exemplified with my earlier dilemma, it's our money too. "All digital" sounds cool and it is very convinient.... when it works. When it doesn't, and we HAVE seen it fail, it sucks. Meta has had crashes, banks have had crashes, Microsoft and Playstation have had crashes and hacks.

I'm reminded of another scenario well before an all digital future was ever more present. When I worked at the pharmacy, we couldn't fill prescriptions when our system crashed. It didn't happen often, but when it did, we could be down for an hour or a weekend... Unable to fill prescriptions. I asked the pharmacist why we couldn't just keep a manual record, you know, like the good ol' days and then update the system when it came back up. Much like the bank teller from my other anectdote he just said, "No." "But why?" "Because... reasons." Ugh.

So what do you guys think of our increasingly digital future? The loss of physical media, "ownership" and a rise in problems and inconveniences through no fault of our own?
 
Online welfare applications....now that is scary.

People who have no money, and who are far more likely to have no money because of issues like literacy problems, intellectual disability, neuroduversity, and low educational attainment. Not to mention if they don't have a smartphone and need to rely on free public Internet facilities where available

And to get help, they're supposed to manage their application online, and only by phone as a last resort.
 
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