I’m a technical kinda guy, doing technical kinda stuff.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 27th, 2023

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  • TVs that do anything more than displaying a signal exactly as it’s input shouldn’t exist.

    Some of that input could do with a bit of tweaking though.

    I wouldn’t mind if the TV was able to do things with the audio track, like remove background music, or lift the volume of people speaking, or erase laugh tracks/live audience hooting& hollering.

    There’s probably similar manipulation that you could do on the video side (eventually, once TVs stop getting the worst processors ever, not here and now). Imagine a prompt that says “Airbrush every recognisable brand name on-screen so that it blends with the background”.

    I seriously doubt if any major manufacturer would do that kind of thing though, so better get working on jailbreaking those TVs.


  • Samsung front loader washing machine here.

    It is generally musical while selecting program options. It sings a little song when finished, which is only after it unlocks the door. The little song only plays once. The little song can be changed to other tunes by subtle and undocumented button presses.

    After about 10 minutes it plays a few notes while turning itself off that are easily recognisable as the notes it plays when it turns itself off, so if you miss the first little song, once you hear that you know it’s definitely finished. After that it is done. No more door locking shenanigans or tumbling or clothes.

    Generally I use the “sportswear” cycle which is about 1 hour, my clothes are generally not that dirty. Sometimes I treat towels / linen to a hot cotton cycle which is 2.5 hours and a 90 degree (Celsius) wash.

    Had it for 10 years now, no mechanical or electrical issues. I always leave the door ajar when finished and once every few months I do a cleaning cycle.

    I also have a Fisher and Paykel dryer. I have owned it for 8 years, in which time it has needed a replacement drive belt as it gets used heavily. The bushes on the drum need replacing soon, but I just turned it upside down so it will last for a while longer

    Regarding your door issues, well that’s because idiots try and open the door during a load, and then when it’s locked, they turn it off and still try and open the door. They subsequently complain about the water going everywhere. Don’t forget that manufacturers have to deal with the lowest common denominator end user.














  • You’ve got the motive back to front.

    yah, let’s get rid of these cheap, easily manufactured and implemented dials and knobs

    In modern cars those buttons are an input to a body computer which then sends commands over the vehicle data bus to another module that performs the appropriate function. The touchscreen option is much cheaper once you have more than a few buttons to deal with.

    Buttons have different physical shapes, the little decal for the button on each one has to be printed and put on top, each one needs to be connected to power, each one needs to be slotted into the dash somewhere , each one needs to be backlit so you can use it at night, and the signal for each one has to be routed somewhere through increasingly bulky harnesses, etc etc.

    A touchscreen sits on the vehicle data bus and with a bit of software, sends whatever command is needed.

    Is it a great user experience to press fiddly buttons on a touchscreen while driving down a bumpy road? Fuck no. But it is definitely cheaper and less complicated for the manufacturer.