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My microwave has a wheel to turn the timer, a wheel to set the WATT, a stop button and a start button. If you press the start button it’ll automatically run for
by moksly 6y ago
My microwave has a wheel to turn the timer, a wheel to set the WATT, a stop button and a start button. If you press the start button it’ll automatically run for 30 seconds, if you press it again it’ll add another 30 seconds to the current run. It took me maybe 4 years of owning it before I learned of the start button feature. Not sure what the hell people are doing with microwaves that connect to the internet, but I sure as hell like mine simple enough for me to operate it. A general theme with most of my kitchen/home appliances really. If something doesn’t work out of the box, or if it has a gazillion “smart” features, then it’s likely just not for me.
A tad ironic to some people, I know. I work in public sector digitisation after all, we’re working with cutting edge tech every day, to help make the lives of citizens easier. Like how to distribute medicine so people with dementia actually take it. So many people naturally assume I’m a gadget person, and in fact a lot of my colleagues are, but I just don’t get why you’d want your TV to be “smart“.
So I’ll happily enforce your message about simple Designs.
- lb1lf 6y ago-AOL. I work in automation&controls in the oil industry, and my customers are always puzzled when I start to whittle away at the features suggested, rather than adding to them; my mantra being that 'If it isn't there, it cannot fail.' My experience echoes yours - I keep my appliances as simple as possible, both at home and professionally. Add complexity wherever you have to, not wherever you want to.
- jiggawatts 6y agoI work in the IT systems integration industry, and I have unironically used the phrase "fewer moving parts" when describing the benefits of my preferred architectures.
- tuatoru 6y agoThis could be interpreted either way in this context. So, in the context of microwaves, does this mean you prefer software-controlled ovens instead of simpler ones with mechanical timers (which have lots of moving parts), or the reverse?
- ethbr0 6y agoIf no one attempts to remove features, bad features make it into the product, adding complexity and sapping time from good features. If someone attempts to remove a good feature, someone on the team should be able to successfully argue for it in 3-5 sentences.
- toomanybeersies 6y agoNo code runs faster than no code. No code has fewer bugs than no code. No code uses less memory than no code. No code is easier to understand than no code.
- xmprt 6y agoTech can often make complex processes simpler but it can also make simple things complicated by adding too many unnecessary bells and whistles. That's how I feel about a lot of the IOT products coming out today.
- bakuninsbart 6y agoI don't own a microwave, but find routers to be one of the most frustrating machines to deal with. All communication is done via different lights either on/off or blinking, and none of it makes any sense. How much is a freaking display these days?
- whatch 6y agoI've just bought new xerox printer with wifi feature. No display, just couple of leds and buttons. After half an hour and numerous google searches I was able to use it over wifi, but only 2.4GHz. Spent another hour trying to set it up with 5GHz. Now it is connected via USB only and I am happy.
- dwighttk 6y agoI never look at my router’s lights. I use 192.168.0.1 or whatever to do stuff in the browser. (There is actually an option on mine that lets me turn off all the lights. (Except the power on light, dang it!))
- dkersten 6y agoThere are only two lights that matter to me: power and WAN. They let me see if there are problems that I can't do anything about through the browser UI. If there's no power, then obviously its a hardware problem and if there's no WAN then its an upstream problem that I cannot fix myself. All other lights are meaningless to me and I use the browser UI instead, like you.
- fomine3 6y agoIt's useful to quickly check whether the connection is 100BASE-TX or 1000BASE-T.
- ajsnigrutin 6y agoI have a router with a lcd display... I never use it (the display), because well.. it's a router, and it's hidden (literally) behind a couch.
- ascar 6y agoI want a smart TV so I can access Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ etc. right from the TV and don't need a separate device for it. Many people suggest buying a dumb tv and then an apple tv. The problem is, now I have two devices and instead of trusting [TV manufacturer] I have to trust Apple. I don't see a big gain in it and also don't consider Apple to be especially trustworthy. [TV manufacturer] should just sell me a smart tv without customer hostile "features".
- jon-wood 6y agoWith a standalone smart box connected via HDMI if it becomes obsolete, or you want to use different software it’s just that which needs replacing. With a smart TV the entire display has to be replaced, to no real benefit.
- Mindwipe 6y agoNot really. Why not just use the TV until it becomes obsolete then buy a box if you have to?
- patrickk 6y agoOften the TV box apps run better, gets obsoleted much more slowly and you can customise it much more easily than your smart TV (e.g. you are out of options if your TV doesn't support some new streaming service). I have a random, no-name Android TV box and it's one of the best value for money devices I've gotten in years - covers every single streaming service, has IPTV, web browser, and any other conceivable option you'd want in a TV box. You can add a VPN trivially, use it as a music client for LMS....and so on. Plus it doesn't have unblockable ads covering half the screen like recent Samsung TVs.
- ryukafalz 6y ago> [TV manufacturer] should just sell me a smart tv without customer hostile "features". Unfortunately there are basically zero TV manufacturers who will do this.
- narwally 6y agoI buy smart tvs because they have ads on them, which makes the initial purchase price cheaper. Then I just connect it to my media server and never bother with the smart features.
- chihuahua 6y agoExactly. If you don't connect your smart TV to your home Wifi network, it can't connect to anything and exfiltrate your data. I doubt manufacturers are secretly putting LTE modems inside TVs.
- shyn3 6y agoThis is not true. It connects to open wireless and updates your software and probably ads. There was a post on here a while ago about it which I can't find from a preliminary search.
- textman 6y agoIs this the post you refer to? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21002745 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21002745
- shyn3 6y agoYes there is a reply that takes you a reddit comment [1]. However now it appears as though that commenter deleted their account so I don't know the validity. https://www.reddit.com/r/security/comments/bpjky4/worried_about_your_smart_tv_listening_in_simply/enxk1cr/ https://www.reddit.com/r/security/comments/bpjky4/worried_ab...
- justnotworthit 6y agoEnd the torture: What's the make/model of the microwave?
- robocat 6y agoI bought a Breville with jogger knobs for power and time, just because I liked the UI. Most importantly they can be changed even while cooking. I think this is the current revision: https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/microwaves/bmo850.html https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/microwaves/bmo850.ht... It does have all the feature buttons, which are just inside the door, although I admit I have never used them. Alternatively buy a really cheap microwave that just has two physical knobs.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- natch 6y agoOne knob is even better. https://www.usaequipmentdirect.com/sharp-commercial-medium-duty-1000w-microwave- https://www.usaequipmentdirect.com/sharp-commercial-medium-d...
- natch 6y agoA simpler UI is Sharp R21LCFS. Link elsewhere in thread.