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Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it

by GuiA 10y ago

Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router. Last week, iOS decided to randomly delete all of my saved locations in the Maps app. I've never had stable, fast internet anywhere I've lived in the US in the past 8 years - every few days or so, shit just doesn't work for a bit. I've owned things like a Nest or Philips Hue in the past, and they randomly reset to factory mode or desync'd from my phone . Half the time I try to play my PS4, some stupid patch fails to download, or PSN is down, etc. The more things like the Amazon Echo I would have in my house, the more irritating my daily life would be - because I don't want to deal with the 5% of the time where I have to repeat my request 5 times for it to tell me the weather, or the connection to the Amazon server is lost and I can't play any music. This 5% of the time across dozens of devices results in being annoyed 100% of the time. All of this is why I mainly use a record player to listen to music at home (no DRM, no problem with servers being down or albums removed remotely), really like my GameCube for video games (put a disk in and play, no patches to download), still exclusively buy paper books, am fine with dumb light switches, and so on. If you think this entire thing is ridiculous, I fully agree - I make my living contributing to this industry! But either people are living through these same annoyances as I am and they're fine with it (in which case please teach me your secrets), or somehow I'm getting a worse experience with technology than 99.9% of the population (I guess statistically such a person must exist, and it is me).

WalterSear 10y ago
I work on voice-enabled smart device control systems, and I agree with pretty everything you mention.
new299 10y ago
A lot of technology is pretty flaky. I think you have a couple of issues however: 1. You have sucky Internet. Bad Internet is going to cause numerous issues. From what I've heard it's hard to get a really good Internet connection in the US. But in many places in the world, great Internet connections are available at low cost. Bad Internet means devices are going to have issues with firmware updates. Things will be more flaky in general, data will be lost part way through transfer and you'll hit issues with devices not robust to this more often. 2. There's no reason why your macbook should keep disconnecting from Wifi. Perhaps you live somewhere with a lot of RF noise? Or you have a cheap/crappy router? Again, this is an issue which many people don't face. Mostly Wifi just works.
- microcolonel 10y ago
  I've had considerable problems between MacBook Pros and Airport Extremes in both noisy and extremely radio-quiet locations. I'm not shocked if somebody drops $3,000+ on a MBP, and can't reliably connect to an AP from the same vendor, let alone any other vendor.
  - ianlevesque 10y ago
    Not a panacea but for me using exclusively 5 GHz fixed wifi once and for all.
    - manarth 10y ago
      To offer a contradictory piece of anecdata, I had to disable 5GHz to maintain a consistent wifi connection.
      - ianlevesque 10y ago
        Isn't technology fun?
  - realstuff 10y ago
    Why you're not shocked?
    - MagnumOpus 10y ago
      Because he had "considerable problems" with his Apple products? Basically Apple release unfinished product and let users test it - and it shows in the software quality. (Don't even ask about the quality of any of their "1.0" products - full of bugs every time, newest example is the touch bar.)
  - jsz0 10y ago
    That's quite unusual in my experience. Even most low end / lost cost routers are pretty damn reliable these days. In an office complex with more than a dozen competing networks I use wifi 8 hours a day and rarely have a blip. Have you by any chance being moving one of the same wifi devices between all the different places you've had problems? Another thing, which wouldn't explain all the different locations, is a problem with your electrical wiring / loading. For example I used to have a Dell ethernet switch that would reliably reboot itself whenever other devices it shared a power strip with were under a heavy load. I could actually force reboot it by starting a dd between the right combination of disks in a server. I guess that does technically qualify as out of band management.
wapz 10y ago
I am the same way with net connection. I used to get so annoyed when I was living in the US and randomly my connection would start moving pre-56k speeds (AT&T). I've moved to Japan now and have yet to have a problem with my ISP. Also, I hate using voice assistants. By the time I say "weather" I could have typed it into the browser (and 1/10 times it doesn't hear me properly and gives me some jibberish I'm not interested in).
- rblatz 10y ago
  Voice assistants aren't (in my opinion) for when you are at your computer. They are for when you are doing random daily tasks like getting dressed, cooking, watching tv, walking around the house... That's where the Echo shines.
  - wapz 10y ago
    Ah, I was referring to my phone when I said type it in the browser. I don't use OK Google, so I have to hold down the home key or push the mic button to start talking (hence I'm better off just typing it). Always listening would probably be more convenient but I didn't want to take a hit to my battery life.
m_mueller 10y ago
I have similar experiences as you. I think it comes down to what is each persons' relative level of 'good enough' for each of the usecases. My 2013 Macbook and even more so my iPhone SE are 'good enough', and so far I haven't found anything else in their categories that can come up to that level. But when it comes to smart home or networking or car electronics or various other places where markets are still fragmented such that earnings per device are small to negative, it's clear that the simpler the better. There's just too many edgecases that engineers don't consider, but will annoy people like you and me tremendously. This discussion also reminds me of this thread, see also my list of links there: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12333471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12333471
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  > But when it comes to smart home or networking or car electronics or various other places where markets are still fragmented such that earnings per device are small to negative, it's clear that the simpler the better. It's not just about markets being small. Many times it's about designers pushing form over function, and people not realising what they're losing. Take induction hobs, for instance. I had to go out of my way to get one with mechanical knobs, as opposed to touch controls, and it's such a huge UX improvement that I now feel handicapped in other people's kitchens. Yet I've had several friends and colleagues express genuine surprise that this is even possible; they've only ever seen induction hobs with touch, and thus assumed it's necessary to have touch on induction.
  - m_mueller 10y ago
    Funny that you mention induction stoves - that's exactly what I was discussing among other things in above link. I hate those touch stoves with a passion. What were they thinking? It has one job!
    - lmm 10y ago
      > I hate those touch stoves with a passion. What were they thinking? It has one job! They're easier to clean. They look better. They're possibly cheaper.
wakawakawaka 10y ago
You had me until the part about using a record player, at which point I realized you're just a prima donna. Next.
SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
I feel much the same way about technology you do (and work in tech myself). I just like to think I have a keen sense of where technology doesn't make things better, just more complex. I still mostly use paper books, paper to take notes, have a physical journal, whiteboard, and calendar, and generally not a lot of home automation. It's not even that the technologies don't work so much as they don't offer anything I need -- eg, why manage the overhead of a digital online calendar between multiple accounts when some paper and a thumbtack works fine to share plans for meals with roommates? I just don't think complexity is the same as progress, which makes a lot of modern technology sort of unappealing -- it's complex (and hence error prone) solutions to simple problems, usually with a side helping of exploitative psychology and selling your personal information. Pass.
hkmurakami 10y ago
"The industry" will have to pry my "dumb house" out of my cold, dead hands. :)
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  The same for me, even when all this stuff works it rarely provides the value it promises.
marcoperaza 10y ago
You're not alone kindred spirit. Everything sucks and they keep inventing new ways for things to suck. Bluetooth devices randomly won't sync, internet randomly goes down for a few hours a week, console always needs to download a multi-GB update when I just want to watch a youtube video, OS install starts acting up after a couple of months, Siri goes into an infinite loop repeatedly confirming my new alarm, I switch to FM/AM with a button on my car center console but to bluetooth/usb audio with a button between the seats (wtf MINI?). There's still no single way for me to get all of my content onto my TV/speakers, only different subsets with Airplay, Bluetooth, Chromecast, and my XBox. Oh, and NEVER NEVER NEVER press cancel on a progress dialog; that's the doorway to the Twilight Zone. On the other hand: I pay $10 a month for unlimited music, $8 for tons of movies and tv shows, I get most of the stuff I buy in the mail in two days, Google Maps can navigate me anywhere, and I do all of my trading instantly online with low fees. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
_greim_ 10y ago
I've definitely noticed certain people seem to deal with more glitches and breakage than others. Not saying any of these are you, but here's some speculation as to why: 1. Some people customize more, so their setup tends to operate in ways that weren't as heavily tested, or anticipated by the makers. 2. Some people are more technologically fluent, and instinctively avoid common failure modes, and/or tend to get everything humming along with minimal effort. 3. Some people push their tech harder, or more thoughtlessly, like people who open ninety browser tabs, or are oblivious to the fact that their laptop fan runs constantly. 4. Some people like to have the bleeding edge latest tech, which has had less time for the kinks to work out.
- thaumaturgy 10y ago
  I'll add: 5. Some people are more bothered by little glitches. This is me. I get irrationally furious when, oh, KDE decides one day to consume all available system memory and then hang and I have to ssh into my own laptop to reboot it. (It's an otherwise reliable, not heavily customized system, so not so much an example of #4.) Meanwhile I see people walking around all the time with totally busted smartphone screens like it's no big deal. They just don't seem to mind very much if email stops working for a while or they have to reboot a computer or whatever.
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- manarth 10y ago
  5. Some peoples' environment is innately hostile to tech. A modern flat with plasterboard partition walls will give better wifi reception than a victorian house with stone walls.
- VLM 10y ago
  5. There is a social media effect where the planet has billions of people and every single person who has a problem, socially talks about it, much as some folk monday morning quarterback football games at the water cooler. This leads to horribly inflated perceptions. As an analogy from another totally separate yet strangely parallel hobby, back when social networking meant ham radio morse code radios, I can personally assure you that every ham radio operator who can not solder a PL-259 RF connector, can not crimp an Anderson Powerpole DC connector, or can not solder surface mount components makes certain via social networking (over radios, back then) that everyone knows they can not, and that makes everyone think no one can perform those tasks because negative reports is all they hear endlessly repeated. However the reality is all those tasks are pretty easy and problems are rare and usually its possible to learn how to do it correctly with little time investment. None the less, its a common "design pattern" of social media / networking that once the numerical problem count exceeds, say, the tribal count number around 100, the entire population no matter how many billions will all "know" that problem is universal for everyone, while perhaps they're the only person out of billions not experiencing the reported problem. Meanwhile the reality of the problem is there are (billions minus one hundred) experiencing total success. I'm just saying its a social networking or social media problem, not a wifi problem.
capex 10y ago
I like your sense of entitlement, but most of these devices are novelty stuff. You shouldn't expect your macbook or wifi router to not work 5% of the time, but I guess you could live a happy life with wireless speakers, light switches and bluetooth connections work 95% of the time.
microcolonel 10y ago
I get it. I think every time I work on a type of software for work, I can never trust it again. I have javascript disabled by default, images disabled by default, cookies disabled by default. Smartphones are too inconvenient to carry around, so I use a Nokia and keep a smartphone plugged in at home for tinder. Even on my workstation, I got fed up with desktop environments so I don't use them. Echo, at least, does not need to be charged.
arjie 10y ago
My desktop and console are wired and I have reliable 200 Mbit Internet. There are a few things my phone is very good at picking up and I use it for voice commands there. My friends have Echos and Dots and they're great! No one has to get up from the table to pick a song! Man, my life is good. The secret? Get good Internet. Wire what you can. Get a damned good wifi router for the rest. Know your tools. I buy paper books because they're much cheaper but take my Kindle when traveling.
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vlunkr 10y ago
Living in a house with no great internet options for a couple of years kind of cured me of my impatience with technology. I have co-workers who get ticked off immediately if the internet is out for more than a minute and get Comcast on the phone. I think it's good to lower your expectations with technology a bit. You really can live without internet or Bluetooth connectivity for a few minutes. But I'm also in the same boat with using older "dumb" tech. People can't believe I buy cd's still, but hey, you can get nearly anything used on amazon for a few bucks and it's DRM free!
- GuiA 10y ago
  > I think it's good to lower your expectations with technology a bit. You really can live without internet or Bluetooth connectivity for a few minutes. I just get annoyed if something that would work instantly otherwise doesn't work at all. Say I want to put on music while cooking - putting on a record or CD would take 5 seconds, and work 100% of the time. But if Spotify is down, or asks me to update my password, or has removed the album I've played every week for the past year from their library, or I have to re-sync my bluetooth speaker, etc., then now I'm dealing with this instead of getting on with my cooking. Whether this expectation is unreasonable or not is clearly a personal matter, but for me it seems like a pretty basic thing to demand from the objects I own.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    putting on a record or CD would take 5 seconds, and work 100% of the time That's not my experience at all; the damn scratches in CDs made me switch to an MP3 player as soon as I could afford one, back in the early 2000s. Streaming audio is still shitty, that's true, but MPD reading off of a local disk actually works reliably.
    - cyxxon 10y ago
      In addition to that the 5 seconds seems really low. I own around a thousand CDs, I guess, and can guess where each is sitting in my shelf, but I would have to go to the shelf, scroll along it a bit to pick the correct album, get it out, go to the player, take out the old disc, put that in its tray, put in the new disc, hope it is not scratched or otherwise damaged (I have discs where the simply information-carrying layer simply disintegrated behind the coating), and carry the old disc to the shelf and sort it in. Oh, and when I am done in the kitchen I now want to continue the music in the living room, so... I don't know? Since I got Sonos I just search for the album, doubleclick it, and group the speakers. I also use a local library on a NAS in addition to GPM, so it works without internet.
krisroadruck 10y ago
You sound like my brother. I swear he emits a wifi-disruption field around his person. We can be in the same house connected to the same router and I'll have 180 days of perfect pings and no dropped packets and he'll get 10 connection issues in an hour. Doesn't matter which computer he uses or where he goes, always with the bad internet. Meanwhile the last time I can remember having serious wifi troubles was way back in 2005 when I had a crappy netgear router that had to be reset once a day or it'd go a little funky on me.
pixard 10y ago
I am not in the US, but I've also had many of the issues you describe. For me everything originated in the network equipment. I kept upgrading to more and more expensive routers until I came to the conclusion they are all just shit. I literally bought the best router you could buy from Asus for like $300 and I kept getting disconnects and issues many times a day. I tried the custom firmwares and what not as well, but I think it's all just so badly designed that there's no saving it. I had a hunch that it must somehow be "me" and not my ISP, so I replace ALL of my network gear with Ubiquiti stuff. I got a UniFi USG (handles actual routing), UniFi Switch (US-8-150W), UniFi AP AC Pro (Wireless AP), CloudKey (runs the software that powers all this, but it's not strictly needed, you can run it on your PC/Mac as well just to setup things and it doesn't need to be running 100% of the time). Since I've done this I've had ZERO disconnects. Not a single one. No WiFi problems either. I'm not sure if it would fix what you're experiencing, but I thought I'd share my experience.
- Sanddancer 10y ago
  The Ubiquiti APs really are the key here. My household had the same problem with the various makes, models, etc until we switched there. For wifi, we use a mini-itx box running pfsense and it works fantastically. If you want reliability, you need to not use consumer gear, period, because it's all crap.
- adinobro 10y ago
  It depends on where you are but if you are in a hot country you may have been able to fix your network issues with a $5 laptop cooler. A lot of the wireless routers do not have enough cooling for hot environments. My cheap hack that usually fixes problem is a cheap USB cooling mat that I put under the router and plug it into the USB port of the router. Almost always improves the reliability.
  - ukyrgf 10y ago
    My wireless issues directly correlate to my power bill here in Florida. The more the AC runs, the more it overheats and fails me. It's smooth sailing once the temperature drops, though.
Answerawake 10y ago
In the case of your flaky wifi this guy seems to have the same problem and in his case it was caused by the non apple branded dongle he had connected: https://youtu.be/NYVjIjBMx6o?t=92 https://youtu.be/NYVjIjBMx6o?t=92
tlow 10y ago
Had some weird wifi issues with Apple. Ended up creating a new "Location" (the top setting under Network in System Preferences) and the issue resolved. This is probably a combination of factors like your ability to understand that your issues are technology ones (hopefully accurate), noticing and remembering problems comes more easily than remembering situations where you might not notice, that sort of thing...
zodiac 10y ago
> does modern technology suck just for me To try to counter potential selection bias I'll give my boring answer: I would be really pissed if those things kept happening to me, so you're not particularly intolerant, but they don't. I get hard to fix wifi problems maybe once a year.
mahyarm 10y ago
I try to ethernet connect every stationary thing I can. It reduces wifi congestion significantly and the wired items are rock solid. The only things I have that aren't wired are iDevices, my laptop, a petnet feeder, a harmony hub and the echo. I hope amazon comes out out with an ethernet adapter like chromecast has. I don't have much hope for the other two.
bryanrasmussen 10y ago
Well some of it is everything is amazing, nobody is happy syndrome, but I suspect another thing is the same thing that happens with me. I am cranky when I know someone could have fixed a bug or UI defect and since I know what the problem is, have some good clues as to their thinking on the issue it makes me more cranky. Also I'm getting older.
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a_imho 10y ago
Here's hoping kiss is waiting around the corner to be the new fad.
csomar 10y ago
Thank you for your comment. The Tech world is similar to the under-developed countries and their shitty infrastructure. I've always been amazed how good the physical infrastructure on the developed world is, but tech doesn't seem to follow through. Regarding the Macbook, you might have a hardware defect. I changed the Wifi/Bluetooth adapter (Macstore) and it now works flawlessly. It used to drop weirdly on some Wifi networks.
madaxe_again 10y ago
Technology used to be a product sold to consumers. Now consumers are sold through technology to data brokers. The priority changed, and you are no longer it.
davidiach 10y ago
What you really need is a self-driving car! /s
Thimothy 10y ago
"The only reason coders' computers work better than non-coders' computers is coders know computers are schizophrenic little children with auto-immune diseases and we don't beat them when they're bad." https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks As software has taken over everything, we can safely extend this to all technologies.
godzillabrennus 10y ago
Consumer networking gear is fantastically bad. The exception for most consumer purposes has been the Apple AirPort Extreme paired with a Mac but now that's about to be cut. I use Ruckus Wireless WiFi paired with PFSense and HP Layer 2 & Layer 3 switching at home. I chose a building with 1Gbit fiber to my unit. Things work great for me. The cost is crazy high for the typical consumer though. If I didn't run my own business from home I couldn't afford it.
lmm 10y ago
It's hard to compare objectively. I'm used to retrying or even working around some issues without consciously noticing (like the story of Turing's bicycle chain). I don't think my tech goes wrong very often - certainly not often enough to be worth putting up with the weight of paper books or the immense size and fragility of records. But sometimes that's because I'm working around it without noticing.
ThomPete 10y ago
I don't think what you are doing is ridiculous at all, in fact I myself strive for that myself but in a different way. The reason why many people love it (me and my family included) is that they don't think of it as technology but as a product. In my family we are two grown ups, a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Google Home understand us all first time in most cases. The ones where it doesn't are so rare it's note even 5% of the time. I look for technology which: 1) removes the layers of abstraction when it comes to interacting with it. 2) Helps with banale tasks such as weather (can't be underestimated, when you have kids), starting some random music (Play smooth jazz, play Pat Metheny, Play dance music), play latest episode of "Startups for the rest of us", play the news, timer when you cook, add things we need to buy, ask something we are unsure about. 3) Gives us back some of the tangibility of the physical products. All these things can be done via your phone, but once you have a voice interface you realize how much faster and less intrusive it is. These voice interfaces are not yet good enough for really detailed needs but for our mostly simple needs.
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blazespin 10y ago
iOS is Pretty reliable for me. Probably why it's so popular
drvdevd 10y ago
Some personal anecdata for you: 1) Q4 2015 MBP, top of the line - kernel thread crash on suspend, causing it to wake back up. Semi-random, kinda interesting except when it woke up in my bag and seemed to almost catch on fire ... repeatedly. People told me to take it to the Genius Bar .. I seriously doubted they could figure the issue out. It would've been a back to the factory situation (I sold it -- after verifying the hardware was still good of course). 2) Sometime in 2014-ish? I change the wireless bandwidth on a ubiquiti router at the office -- all the Macs go offline, Linux machines do not. Suggesting a bug in WiFi. This is not unusual for WiFi on any device (not just macs) in my experience. I disagree with the idea that it Just Works generally. 3) Macbook Pro 2013 - enabling IPv6 stack causes kernel crash when trying to disable. 4) and to make it clear I'm not just picking on Apple: Sony PS4 with a dual band 802.11a/b/g/n wireless router -- constantly drops connection. Figured out it was because of the 5GHz band. Had to set up a separate wireless network just for PS4 with an older router. Sony should put up some time and money to help fix these driver issues instead of leaving it entirely on BSD volunteers (assuming they're not using a custom driver, in which case they should, you know, fix it). 5) Making PSN a requirement was a terrible decision for the PS4: lizard squad DDoS the day after I got it. Updates kicking me out of PSN. Unable to log back in, etc. I will never buy another console gaming system with this requirement, if I can avoid it. If I can't I will do serious research first. This is why I'm back to homebrewing/hacking hardware and putting Linux/BSD on all my stuff ... at least I then have a clue of how to debug this kind of weird shit, even if it is a PITA, and at least if things don't work, I can blame myself, rather than having to say I paid for it. Certainly no sense paying for premium consumer stuff either, even if you have the money. Spend it on something else. No it's not just you.
rovek 10y ago
This started a discussion in my office (software dev team). The summary is that I'm never satisfied with the quality of tech as paltry as smartphones but my colleague with a smart watch, smart TV and Alexa in his house views their defects as "quirks". Seems to be a question of disposition, in my circles at least. There was a bonus anecdote about how Alexa has ignored his girlfriend for a year though.
tclancy 10y ago
Another kindred spirit here, another programmer who can't tell if they're just getting old or if electronic devices are getting worse. I describe each of our AppleTVs as "something that works perfectly, except when you really need it"-- when we finally have time to watch a movie we want to see, when our daughter is losing her mind about wanting to see some video, that's the only time it craps itself. >2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router I have had two different Macs that did this. I did a ton of research (those 5-10(!) year-old bookmarks in Pinboard are unsurprisingly dead) and found certain wifi chipsets had problems (which is why other people with the same model as you will say they've never had a problem). That said, when we moved into our new house a year ago I had to buy a new router and add an access point because of the step up in square footage and I haven't had a problem since. Of course, that new router was one of the Netgear ones with the giant security hole that was revealed a couple of weeks ago . . .
- ajford 10y ago
  Have you considered upgrading your Wifi setup to something like Ubiquiti Unifi hardware? I'm trying to convince the spouse that I need ~1k$ upgrade our home network to Ubiquiti... There's a blog post that was on HN a few days back about it: https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-finally-fixed-my-dodgy-wifi/ https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-final...
  - r1ch 10y ago
    Consider going with Mikrotik gear instead. It's the same hardware, but you aren't locked into Ubiquiti's proprietary Java cloud management software - everything can be managed with SSH if you prefer. It isn't as user-friendly or as pretty as Ubiquiti's web interface, but you can get deep down into all kinds of internal settings and it also ends up being significantly cheaper. For example, three dual band triple chain 802.11n/ac APs (https://routerboard.com/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD https://routerboard.com/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD) and a router (https://routerboard.com/RB750Gr3 https://routerboard.com/RB750Gr3) have an MRSP of $330, including POE for the APs.
    - 10y ago
nkrisc 10y ago
I know exactly how you feel. We used to use my Xbox One to watch DVDs and such. Oh, but since I don't play it that often when we settle down to watch the movie: 30 minute download and update. Movie night ruined. I finally bought an old, dumb DVD player that first came out in 2005. We're much happier with that.
heydonovan 10y ago
Just turned on the PS4 to play Final Fantasy XV, and was forced to update. The wireless signal was strong enough to actually complete it this time, but I ran into this bug: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5jh1em/103_patch_black_border_on_regular_ps4/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5jh1em/103_patch_blac... While waiting for the update, I wanted to comment on HackerNews, so I clicked on the 1Password icon in Google Chrome, and attempted to login. It crashed, and a bug report was sent to their team. I think I've come to expect that most software is poorly written. What further compounds that fact is a lot of it is not open-source. Tons of bugs are out there, with only a handful of people to actually fix them (when they have the time of course). Also, I try to avoid consumer grade equipment when possible. I'll be switching to the Ubiquiti products soon enough, as I've heard nothing but positive remarks. The same issues exist in other fields as well. For example, a friend of mine does painting for a living. Consumer grade equipment like rollers and hand brushes can't even come close to expensive machinery such as a spray machine. Or a mechanic using a hydraulic lift on a vehicle versus common jack stands.
Raphmedia 10y ago
You are not alone. I also have some gremlins messing with my technology. I like to believe that there is an AI out there that managed to avoid CAPTCHA and is messing with us at the worst moments.
balls187 10y ago
My biggest problem with the Echo is that if the volume is too loud, I have to shout at it. Outside of that, big fan of it. Despite only using a few features. I'm less bothered by flaws in implementation, and instead bothered by failing to live up to potential due to artificial limits. For example, the original Xbox had Ethernet and a harddrive, but it's capabilities were completely hamstrung by the OS. It wasn't until the device was hacked did it really come into it's own (spawning XMBP=>XBMC=>(Kodi|Boxee|Plex|...). I got the Echo when Amazon was offering it to select Prime members for $99, so I didn't have much expectations for it. I was happy that I could change the wake work (Because Alexa is the name of an ex-gf), and the kitchen timer, and news feature were more than enough for me. Once they added Spotify integration, it was well worth the cost to me.
20years 10y ago
I feel the same way. We bought an echo for the kids a month ago. It wore off within a week. They now really only use it occasionally for music. I could be partly to blame for that though because I don't like that fact that every thing they say into the echo is recorded and saved into the cloud so I limited what they could do with it. Don't want all my kids silly activities saved and tracked like that. The Echo gets things wrong a lot more than 5%. I agree, that takes the fun out of it and becomes increasingly annoying. Sometimes, its quicker and easier to simply type in the search in Google. I love my paper books!! I still truly do not understand the full appeal of the IoT. I play with this stuff as a hobby, but I am always asking myself "would, I really use this in real life?" and 95% of the time the answer is no.
brilliantcode 10y ago
You had me at record players :) I think there's an entire world of record albums that never saw the light. Sites like discog makes me want to start a collection. But I very much agree with what you wrote. I'm not sold on voice interfaces, that one time where it asks you "Sorry, can you repeat it again?" is the last time I'm using Google Now. But more importantly I just feel like I look stupid talking to the air alone. Also feel like I have to strain my voice and focus when I'm talking to a machine which adds some friction. I do miss the days when we didn't have such bloat. Games would load instantly and ready to play without signing into facebook or being awarded without doing anything.
acchow 10y ago
> a 2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router I've been using macbooks for 5+ years. Have never had a wifi issue with Airport Extreme. Not even once.

by GuiA 10y ago

WalterSear 10y ago

I work on voice-enabled smart device control systems, and I agree with pretty everything you mention.

new299 10y ago

A lot of technology is pretty flaky. I think you have a couple of issues however: 1. You have sucky Internet. Bad Internet is going to cause numerous issues. From what I've heard it's hard to get a really good Internet connection in the US. But in many places in the world, great Internet connections are available at low cost. Bad Internet means devices are going to have issues with firmware updates. Things will be more flaky in general, data will be lost part way through transfer and you'll hit issues with devices not robust to this more often. 2. There's no reason why your macbook should keep disconnecting from Wifi. Perhaps you live somewhere with a lot of RF noise? Or you have a cheap/crappy router? Again, this is an issue which many people don't face. Mostly Wifi just works.

microcolonel 10y ago
I've had considerable problems between MacBook Pros and Airport Extremes in both noisy and extremely radio-quiet locations. I'm not shocked if somebody drops $3,000+ on a MBP, and can't reliably connect to an AP from the same vendor, let alone any other vendor.
- ianlevesque 10y ago
  Not a panacea but for me using exclusively 5 GHz fixed wifi once and for all.
  - manarth 10y ago
    To offer a contradictory piece of anecdata, I had to disable 5GHz to maintain a consistent wifi connection.
    - ianlevesque 10y ago
      Isn't technology fun?
- realstuff 10y ago
  Why you're not shocked?
  - MagnumOpus 10y ago
    Because he had "considerable problems" with his Apple products? Basically Apple release unfinished product and let users test it - and it shows in the software quality. (Don't even ask about the quality of any of their "1.0" products - full of bugs every time, newest example is the touch bar.)
- jsz0 10y ago
  That's quite unusual in my experience. Even most low end / lost cost routers are pretty damn reliable these days. In an office complex with more than a dozen competing networks I use wifi 8 hours a day and rarely have a blip. Have you by any chance being moving one of the same wifi devices between all the different places you've had problems? Another thing, which wouldn't explain all the different locations, is a problem with your electrical wiring / loading. For example I used to have a Dell ethernet switch that would reliably reboot itself whenever other devices it shared a power strip with were under a heavy load. I could actually force reboot it by starting a dd between the right combination of disks in a server. I guess that does technically qualify as out of band management.

wapz 10y ago

I am the same way with net connection. I used to get so annoyed when I was living in the US and randomly my connection would start moving pre-56k speeds (AT&T). I've moved to Japan now and have yet to have a problem with my ISP. Also, I hate using voice assistants. By the time I say "weather" I could have typed it into the browser (and 1/10 times it doesn't hear me properly and gives me some jibberish I'm not interested in).

rblatz 10y ago
Voice assistants aren't (in my opinion) for when you are at your computer. They are for when you are doing random daily tasks like getting dressed, cooking, watching tv, walking around the house... That's where the Echo shines.
- wapz 10y ago
  Ah, I was referring to my phone when I said type it in the browser. I don't use OK Google, so I have to hold down the home key or push the mic button to start talking (hence I'm better off just typing it). Always listening would probably be more convenient but I didn't want to take a hit to my battery life.

m_mueller 10y ago

I have similar experiences as you. I think it comes down to what is each persons' relative level of 'good enough' for each of the usecases. My 2013 Macbook and even more so my iPhone SE are 'good enough', and so far I haven't found anything else in their categories that can come up to that level. But when it comes to smart home or networking or car electronics or various other places where markets are still fragmented such that earnings per device are small to negative, it's clear that the simpler the better. There's just too many edgecases that engineers don't consider, but will annoy people like you and me tremendously. This discussion also reminds me of this thread, see also my list of links there: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12333471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12333471

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
> But when it comes to smart home or networking or car electronics or various other places where markets are still fragmented such that earnings per device are small to negative, it's clear that the simpler the better. It's not just about markets being small. Many times it's about designers pushing form over function, and people not realising what they're losing. Take induction hobs, for instance. I had to go out of my way to get one with mechanical knobs, as opposed to touch controls, and it's such a huge UX improvement that I now feel handicapped in other people's kitchens. Yet I've had several friends and colleagues express genuine surprise that this is even possible; they've only ever seen induction hobs with touch, and thus assumed it's necessary to have touch on induction.
- m_mueller 10y ago
  Funny that you mention induction stoves - that's exactly what I was discussing among other things in above link. I hate those touch stoves with a passion. What were they thinking? It has one job!
  - lmm 10y ago
    > I hate those touch stoves with a passion. What were they thinking? It has one job! They're easier to clean. They look better. They're possibly cheaper.

wakawakawaka 10y ago

You had me until the part about using a record player, at which point I realized you're just a prima donna. Next.

SomeStupidPoint 10y ago

I feel much the same way about technology you do (and work in tech myself). I just like to think I have a keen sense of where technology doesn't make things better, just more complex. I still mostly use paper books, paper to take notes, have a physical journal, whiteboard, and calendar, and generally not a lot of home automation. It's not even that the technologies don't work so much as they don't offer anything I need -- eg, why manage the overhead of a digital online calendar between multiple accounts when some paper and a thumbtack works fine to share plans for meals with roommates? I just don't think complexity is the same as progress, which makes a lot of modern technology sort of unappealing -- it's complex (and hence error prone) solutions to simple problems, usually with a side helping of exploitative psychology and selling your personal information. Pass.

hkmurakami 10y ago

"The industry" will have to pry my "dumb house" out of my cold, dead hands. :)

tonyedgecombe 10y ago
The same for me, even when all this stuff works it rarely provides the value it promises.

marcoperaza 10y ago

You're not alone kindred spirit. Everything sucks and they keep inventing new ways for things to suck. Bluetooth devices randomly won't sync, internet randomly goes down for a few hours a week, console always needs to download a multi-GB update when I just want to watch a youtube video, OS install starts acting up after a couple of months, Siri goes into an infinite loop repeatedly confirming my new alarm, I switch to FM/AM with a button on my car center console but to bluetooth/usb audio with a button between the seats (wtf MINI?). There's still no single way for me to get all of my content onto my TV/speakers, only different subsets with Airplay, Bluetooth, Chromecast, and my XBox. Oh, and NEVER NEVER NEVER press cancel on a progress dialog; that's the doorway to the Twilight Zone. On the other hand: I pay $10 a month for unlimited music, $8 for tons of movies and tv shows, I get most of the stuff I buy in the mail in two days, Google Maps can navigate me anywhere, and I do all of my trading instantly online with low fees. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

_greim_ 10y ago

I've definitely noticed certain people seem to deal with more glitches and breakage than others. Not saying any of these are you, but here's some speculation as to why: 1. Some people customize more, so their setup tends to operate in ways that weren't as heavily tested, or anticipated by the makers. 2. Some people are more technologically fluent, and instinctively avoid common failure modes, and/or tend to get everything humming along with minimal effort. 3. Some people push their tech harder, or more thoughtlessly, like people who open ninety browser tabs, or are oblivious to the fact that their laptop fan runs constantly. 4. Some people like to have the bleeding edge latest tech, which has had less time for the kinks to work out.

thaumaturgy 10y ago
I'll add: 5. Some people are more bothered by little glitches. This is me. I get irrationally furious when, oh, KDE decides one day to consume all available system memory and then hang and I have to ssh into my own laptop to reboot it. (It's an otherwise reliable, not heavily customized system, so not so much an example of #4.) Meanwhile I see people walking around all the time with totally busted smartphone screens like it's no big deal. They just don't seem to mind very much if email stops working for a while or they have to reboot a computer or whatever.
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manarth 10y ago
5. Some peoples' environment is innately hostile to tech. A modern flat with plasterboard partition walls will give better wifi reception than a victorian house with stone walls.
VLM 10y ago
5. There is a social media effect where the planet has billions of people and every single person who has a problem, socially talks about it, much as some folk monday morning quarterback football games at the water cooler. This leads to horribly inflated perceptions. As an analogy from another totally separate yet strangely parallel hobby, back when social networking meant ham radio morse code radios, I can personally assure you that every ham radio operator who can not solder a PL-259 RF connector, can not crimp an Anderson Powerpole DC connector, or can not solder surface mount components makes certain via social networking (over radios, back then) that everyone knows they can not, and that makes everyone think no one can perform those tasks because negative reports is all they hear endlessly repeated. However the reality is all those tasks are pretty easy and problems are rare and usually its possible to learn how to do it correctly with little time investment. None the less, its a common "design pattern" of social media / networking that once the numerical problem count exceeds, say, the tribal count number around 100, the entire population no matter how many billions will all "know" that problem is universal for everyone, while perhaps they're the only person out of billions not experiencing the reported problem. Meanwhile the reality of the problem is there are (billions minus one hundred) experiencing total success. I'm just saying its a social networking or social media problem, not a wifi problem.

capex 10y ago

I like your sense of entitlement, but most of these devices are novelty stuff. You shouldn't expect your macbook or wifi router to not work 5% of the time, but I guess you could live a happy life with wireless speakers, light switches and bluetooth connections work 95% of the time.

microcolonel 10y ago

I get it. I think every time I work on a type of software for work, I can never trust it again. I have javascript disabled by default, images disabled by default, cookies disabled by default. Smartphones are too inconvenient to carry around, so I use a Nokia and keep a smartphone plugged in at home for tinder. Even on my workstation, I got fed up with desktop environments so I don't use them. Echo, at least, does not need to be charged.

arjie 10y ago

My desktop and console are wired and I have reliable 200 Mbit Internet. There are a few things my phone is very good at picking up and I use it for voice commands there. My friends have Echos and Dots and they're great! No one has to get up from the table to pick a song! Man, my life is good. The secret? Get good Internet. Wire what you can. Get a damned good wifi router for the rest. Know your tools. I buy paper books because they're much cheaper but take my Kindle when traveling.

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vlunkr 10y ago

Living in a house with no great internet options for a couple of years kind of cured me of my impatience with technology. I have co-workers who get ticked off immediately if the internet is out for more than a minute and get Comcast on the phone. I think it's good to lower your expectations with technology a bit. You really can live without internet or Bluetooth connectivity for a few minutes. But I'm also in the same boat with using older "dumb" tech. People can't believe I buy cd's still, but hey, you can get nearly anything used on amazon for a few bucks and it's DRM free!

GuiA 10y ago
> I think it's good to lower your expectations with technology a bit. You really can live without internet or Bluetooth connectivity for a few minutes. I just get annoyed if something that would work instantly otherwise doesn't work at all. Say I want to put on music while cooking - putting on a record or CD would take 5 seconds, and work 100% of the time. But if Spotify is down, or asks me to update my password, or has removed the album I've played every week for the past year from their library, or I have to re-sync my bluetooth speaker, etc., then now I'm dealing with this instead of getting on with my cooking. Whether this expectation is unreasonable or not is clearly a personal matter, but for me it seems like a pretty basic thing to demand from the objects I own.
- icebraining 10y ago
  putting on a record or CD would take 5 seconds, and work 100% of the time That's not my experience at all; the damn scratches in CDs made me switch to an MP3 player as soon as I could afford one, back in the early 2000s. Streaming audio is still shitty, that's true, but MPD reading off of a local disk actually works reliably.
  - cyxxon 10y ago
    In addition to that the 5 seconds seems really low. I own around a thousand CDs, I guess, and can guess where each is sitting in my shelf, but I would have to go to the shelf, scroll along it a bit to pick the correct album, get it out, go to the player, take out the old disc, put that in its tray, put in the new disc, hope it is not scratched or otherwise damaged (I have discs where the simply information-carrying layer simply disintegrated behind the coating), and carry the old disc to the shelf and sort it in. Oh, and when I am done in the kitchen I now want to continue the music in the living room, so... I don't know? Since I got Sonos I just search for the album, doubleclick it, and group the speakers. I also use a local library on a NAS in addition to GPM, so it works without internet.

krisroadruck 10y ago

You sound like my brother. I swear he emits a wifi-disruption field around his person. We can be in the same house connected to the same router and I'll have 180 days of perfect pings and no dropped packets and he'll get 10 connection issues in an hour. Doesn't matter which computer he uses or where he goes, always with the bad internet. Meanwhile the last time I can remember having serious wifi troubles was way back in 2005 when I had a crappy netgear router that had to be reset once a day or it'd go a little funky on me.

pixard 10y ago

I am not in the US, but I've also had many of the issues you describe. For me everything originated in the network equipment. I kept upgrading to more and more expensive routers until I came to the conclusion they are all just shit. I literally bought the best router you could buy from Asus for like $300 and I kept getting disconnects and issues many times a day. I tried the custom firmwares and what not as well, but I think it's all just so badly designed that there's no saving it. I had a hunch that it must somehow be "me" and not my ISP, so I replace ALL of my network gear with Ubiquiti stuff. I got a UniFi USG (handles actual routing), UniFi Switch (US-8-150W), UniFi AP AC Pro (Wireless AP), CloudKey (runs the software that powers all this, but it's not strictly needed, you can run it on your PC/Mac as well just to setup things and it doesn't need to be running 100% of the time). Since I've done this I've had ZERO disconnects. Not a single one. No WiFi problems either. I'm not sure if it would fix what you're experiencing, but I thought I'd share my experience.

Sanddancer 10y ago
The Ubiquiti APs really are the key here. My household had the same problem with the various makes, models, etc until we switched there. For wifi, we use a mini-itx box running pfsense and it works fantastically. If you want reliability, you need to not use consumer gear, period, because it's all crap.
adinobro 10y ago
It depends on where you are but if you are in a hot country you may have been able to fix your network issues with a $5 laptop cooler. A lot of the wireless routers do not have enough cooling for hot environments. My cheap hack that usually fixes problem is a cheap USB cooling mat that I put under the router and plug it into the USB port of the router. Almost always improves the reliability.
- ukyrgf 10y ago
  My wireless issues directly correlate to my power bill here in Florida. The more the AC runs, the more it overheats and fails me. It's smooth sailing once the temperature drops, though.

Answerawake 10y ago

In the case of your flaky wifi this guy seems to have the same problem and in his case it was caused by the non apple branded dongle he had connected: https://youtu.be/NYVjIjBMx6o?t=92 https://youtu.be/NYVjIjBMx6o?t=92

tlow 10y ago

Had some weird wifi issues with Apple. Ended up creating a new "Location" (the top setting under Network in System Preferences) and the issue resolved. This is probably a combination of factors like your ability to understand that your issues are technology ones (hopefully accurate), noticing and remembering problems comes more easily than remembering situations where you might not notice, that sort of thing...

zodiac 10y ago

> does modern technology suck just for me To try to counter potential selection bias I'll give my boring answer: I would be really pissed if those things kept happening to me, so you're not particularly intolerant, but they don't. I get hard to fix wifi problems maybe once a year.

mahyarm 10y ago

I try to ethernet connect every stationary thing I can. It reduces wifi congestion significantly and the wired items are rock solid. The only things I have that aren't wired are iDevices, my laptop, a petnet feeder, a harmony hub and the echo. I hope amazon comes out out with an ethernet adapter like chromecast has. I don't have much hope for the other two.

bryanrasmussen 10y ago

Well some of it is everything is amazing, nobody is happy syndrome, but I suspect another thing is the same thing that happens with me. I am cranky when I know someone could have fixed a bug or UI defect and since I know what the problem is, have some good clues as to their thinking on the issue it makes me more cranky. Also I'm getting older.

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a_imho 10y ago

Here's hoping kiss is waiting around the corner to be the new fad.

csomar 10y ago

Thank you for your comment. The Tech world is similar to the under-developed countries and their shitty infrastructure. I've always been amazed how good the physical infrastructure on the developed world is, but tech doesn't seem to follow through. Regarding the Macbook, you might have a hardware defect. I changed the Wifi/Bluetooth adapter (Macstore) and it now works flawlessly. It used to drop weirdly on some Wifi networks.

madaxe_again 10y ago

Technology used to be a product sold to consumers. Now consumers are sold through technology to data brokers. The priority changed, and you are no longer it.

davidiach 10y ago

What you really need is a self-driving car! /s

Thimothy 10y ago

"The only reason coders' computers work better than non-coders' computers is coders know computers are schizophrenic little children with auto-immune diseases and we don't beat them when they're bad." https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks https://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks As software has taken over everything, we can safely extend this to all technologies.

godzillabrennus 10y ago

Consumer networking gear is fantastically bad. The exception for most consumer purposes has been the Apple AirPort Extreme paired with a Mac but now that's about to be cut. I use Ruckus Wireless WiFi paired with PFSense and HP Layer 2 & Layer 3 switching at home. I chose a building with 1Gbit fiber to my unit. Things work great for me. The cost is crazy high for the typical consumer though. If I didn't run my own business from home I couldn't afford it.

lmm 10y ago

It's hard to compare objectively. I'm used to retrying or even working around some issues without consciously noticing (like the story of Turing's bicycle chain). I don't think my tech goes wrong very often - certainly not often enough to be worth putting up with the weight of paper books or the immense size and fragility of records. But sometimes that's because I'm working around it without noticing.

ThomPete 10y ago

I don't think what you are doing is ridiculous at all, in fact I myself strive for that myself but in a different way. The reason why many people love it (me and my family included) is that they don't think of it as technology but as a product. In my family we are two grown ups, a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Google Home understand us all first time in most cases. The ones where it doesn't are so rare it's note even 5% of the time. I look for technology which: 1) removes the layers of abstraction when it comes to interacting with it. 2) Helps with banale tasks such as weather (can't be underestimated, when you have kids), starting some random music (Play smooth jazz, play Pat Metheny, Play dance music), play latest episode of "Startups for the rest of us", play the news, timer when you cook, add things we need to buy, ask something we are unsure about. 3) Gives us back some of the tangibility of the physical products. All these things can be done via your phone, but once you have a voice interface you realize how much faster and less intrusive it is. These voice interfaces are not yet good enough for really detailed needs but for our mostly simple needs.

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blazespin 10y ago

iOS is Pretty reliable for me. Probably why it's so popular

drvdevd 10y ago

Some personal anecdata for you: 1) Q4 2015 MBP, top of the line - kernel thread crash on suspend, causing it to wake back up. Semi-random, kinda interesting except when it woke up in my bag and seemed to almost catch on fire ... repeatedly. People told me to take it to the Genius Bar .. I seriously doubted they could figure the issue out. It would've been a back to the factory situation (I sold it -- after verifying the hardware was still good of course). 2) Sometime in 2014-ish? I change the wireless bandwidth on a ubiquiti router at the office -- all the Macs go offline, Linux machines do not. Suggesting a bug in WiFi. This is not unusual for WiFi on any device (not just macs) in my experience. I disagree with the idea that it Just Works generally. 3) Macbook Pro 2013 - enabling IPv6 stack causes kernel crash when trying to disable. 4) and to make it clear I'm not just picking on Apple: Sony PS4 with a dual band 802.11a/b/g/n wireless router -- constantly drops connection. Figured out it was because of the 5GHz band. Had to set up a separate wireless network just for PS4 with an older router. Sony should put up some time and money to help fix these driver issues instead of leaving it entirely on BSD volunteers (assuming they're not using a custom driver, in which case they should, you know, fix it). 5) Making PSN a requirement was a terrible decision for the PS4: lizard squad DDoS the day after I got it. Updates kicking me out of PSN. Unable to log back in, etc. I will never buy another console gaming system with this requirement, if I can avoid it. If I can't I will do serious research first. This is why I'm back to homebrewing/hacking hardware and putting Linux/BSD on all my stuff ... at least I then have a clue of how to debug this kind of weird shit, even if it is a PITA, and at least if things don't work, I can blame myself, rather than having to say I paid for it. Certainly no sense paying for premium consumer stuff either, even if you have the money. Spend it on something else. No it's not just you.

rovek 10y ago

This started a discussion in my office (software dev team). The summary is that I'm never satisfied with the quality of tech as paltry as smartphones but my colleague with a smart watch, smart TV and Alexa in his house views their defects as "quirks". Seems to be a question of disposition, in my circles at least. There was a bonus anecdote about how Alexa has ignored his girlfriend for a year though.

tclancy 10y ago

Another kindred spirit here, another programmer who can't tell if they're just getting old or if electronic devices are getting worse. I describe each of our AppleTVs as "something that works perfectly, except when you really need it"-- when we finally have time to watch a movie we want to see, when our daughter is losing her mind about wanting to see some video, that's the only time it craps itself. >2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router I have had two different Macs that did this. I did a ton of research (those 5-10(!) year-old bookmarks in Pinboard are unsurprisingly dead) and found certain wifi chipsets had problems (which is why other people with the same model as you will say they've never had a problem). That said, when we moved into our new house a year ago I had to buy a new router and add an access point because of the step up in square footage and I haven't had a problem since. Of course, that new router was one of the Netgear ones with the giant security hole that was revealed a couple of weeks ago . . .

ajford 10y ago
Have you considered upgrading your Wifi setup to something like Ubiquiti Unifi hardware? I'm trying to convince the spouse that I need ~1k$ upgrade our home network to Ubiquiti... There's a blog post that was on HN a few days back about it: https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-finally-fixed-my-dodgy-wifi/ https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-final...
- r1ch 10y ago
  Consider going with Mikrotik gear instead. It's the same hardware, but you aren't locked into Ubiquiti's proprietary Java cloud management software - everything can be managed with SSH if you prefer. It isn't as user-friendly or as pretty as Ubiquiti's web interface, but you can get deep down into all kinds of internal settings and it also ends up being significantly cheaper. For example, three dual band triple chain 802.11n/ac APs (https://routerboard.com/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD https://routerboard.com/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD) and a router (https://routerboard.com/RB750Gr3 https://routerboard.com/RB750Gr3) have an MRSP of $330, including POE for the APs.
  - 10y ago

nkrisc 10y ago

I know exactly how you feel. We used to use my Xbox One to watch DVDs and such. Oh, but since I don't play it that often when we settle down to watch the movie: 30 minute download and update. Movie night ruined. I finally bought an old, dumb DVD player that first came out in 2005. We're much happier with that.

heydonovan 10y ago

Just turned on the PS4 to play Final Fantasy XV, and was forced to update. The wireless signal was strong enough to actually complete it this time, but I ran into this bug: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5jh1em/103_patch_black_border_on_regular_ps4/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5jh1em/103_patch_blac... While waiting for the update, I wanted to comment on HackerNews, so I clicked on the 1Password icon in Google Chrome, and attempted to login. It crashed, and a bug report was sent to their team. I think I've come to expect that most software is poorly written. What further compounds that fact is a lot of it is not open-source. Tons of bugs are out there, with only a handful of people to actually fix them (when they have the time of course). Also, I try to avoid consumer grade equipment when possible. I'll be switching to the Ubiquiti products soon enough, as I've heard nothing but positive remarks. The same issues exist in other fields as well. For example, a friend of mine does painting for a living. Consumer grade equipment like rollers and hand brushes can't even come close to expensive machinery such as a spray machine. Or a mechanic using a hydraulic lift on a vehicle versus common jack stands.

Raphmedia 10y ago

You are not alone. I also have some gremlins messing with my technology. I like to believe that there is an AI out there that managed to avoid CAPTCHA and is messing with us at the worst moments.

balls187 10y ago

My biggest problem with the Echo is that if the volume is too loud, I have to shout at it. Outside of that, big fan of it. Despite only using a few features. I'm less bothered by flaws in implementation, and instead bothered by failing to live up to potential due to artificial limits. For example, the original Xbox had Ethernet and a harddrive, but it's capabilities were completely hamstrung by the OS. It wasn't until the device was hacked did it really come into it's own (spawning XMBP=>XBMC=>(Kodi|Boxee|Plex|...). I got the Echo when Amazon was offering it to select Prime members for $99, so I didn't have much expectations for it. I was happy that I could change the wake work (Because Alexa is the name of an ex-gf), and the kitchen timer, and news feature were more than enough for me. Once they added Spotify integration, it was well worth the cost to me.

20years 10y ago

I feel the same way. We bought an echo for the kids a month ago. It wore off within a week. They now really only use it occasionally for music. I could be partly to blame for that though because I don't like that fact that every thing they say into the echo is recorded and saved into the cloud so I limited what they could do with it. Don't want all my kids silly activities saved and tracked like that. The Echo gets things wrong a lot more than 5%. I agree, that takes the fun out of it and becomes increasingly annoying. Sometimes, its quicker and easier to simply type in the search in Google. I love my paper books!! I still truly do not understand the full appeal of the IoT. I play with this stuff as a hobby, but I am always asking myself "would, I really use this in real life?" and 95% of the time the answer is no.

brilliantcode 10y ago

You had me at record players :) I think there's an entire world of record albums that never saw the light. Sites like discog makes me want to start a collection. But I very much agree with what you wrote. I'm not sold on voice interfaces, that one time where it asks you "Sorry, can you repeat it again?" is the last time I'm using Google Now. But more importantly I just feel like I look stupid talking to the air alone. Also feel like I have to strain my voice and focus when I'm talking to a machine which adds some friction. I do miss the days when we didn't have such bloat. Games would load instantly and ready to play without signing into facebook or being awarded without doing anything.

acchow 10y ago

> a 2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router I've been using macbooks for 5+ years. Have never had a wifi issue with Airport Extreme. Not even once.