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I can only afford crap. I show this crap to my friends who are jealous. They buy this crap, then forget to install the aftermarket firmware I spend hours of m

I can only afford crap. I show this crap to my friends who are jealous. They buy this crap, then forget to install the aftermarket firmware I spend hours of my time installing so that it's a lot safer than it was. How do I get them through the second step when half of the "normies" I know can barely pair their phone with their car without reading the manual?

southerntofu 5y ago
> pair their phone with their car Please don't. Just like with the rest of "smart" and "IoT", "just don't" is the correct answer in terms of privacy, security, and other basic human rights. Just use a jack cable for audio "pairing" and an actual button for turning on/off lights, and a key for opening your door. It's as simple as this: really ecological, secure and user-friendly.
- lucian1900 5y ago
  Bluetooth in cars is useful, especially since it allows the car’s built-in ergonomic media controls to affect your phone. Being able to take a call or pause your music without looking anywhere or moving your hands away from the wheel is a safety improvement.
  - southerntofu 5y ago
    I understand this UX argument: there's however arguments against it as well. For example, "taking a call" (at all) while driving could be illegal in your jurisdiction, and is in any case a safety risk. The computerization of the car has other negative consequences: - cars are increasingly more expensive due to electronics (which represent up to 50% of the price of a car nowadays), and are victims of chip shortage - cars are much harder to repair and require cracked firmware downloaded from sketchy websites or an official and super-expensive maintenance kit, which of course only works for one brand/manufacturer - cars are much less reliable and electronics are responsible for a great number of recalled products I miss my old autoradio with a jack input. Overall, i miss when my car was not a computer: we computer people can barely display a few pixels on a screen without writing a dozen bugs, why the hell would we responsible for making software for cars?! see also boeing scandals. So while bluetooth is a safety improvement over the worst-case of using a mechanical car and a phone at the same time, it's part of a trend that overwhelmingly makes cars less safe and reliable.
    - lucian1900 5y ago
      Bluetooth is entirely unrelated to other computers in cars. In fact, it's just the car's "radio" component that speaks bluetooth. You can easily install such a component in 70 year old cars. You'd only lack the ergonomic steering wheel controls, which are generally connected to the "radio" directly. Other car functions use computers for very different reasons. The most successful is injection timing, which does significantly improve performance. It's why we have extremely efficient small diesel engines and reasonably powerful 1L petrol engines.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
> I can only afford crap. "Crap" to me would be low-tech non-smart light bulbs. That's what I buy. IMO, "smart" bulbs are dumb and unnecessary. The only time I ever need to turn a light on or off is when I'm entering or leaving a room, in which case I'm passing the light switch anyways. I have no need to be able to turn my lights on and off from my phone, and don't understand the use case.

southerntofu 5y ago

> pair their phone with their car Please don't. Just like with the rest of "smart" and "IoT", "just don't" is the correct answer in terms of privacy, security, and other basic human rights. Just use a jack cable for audio "pairing" and an actual button for turning on/off lights, and a key for opening your door. It's as simple as this: really ecological, secure and user-friendly.

lucian1900 5y ago
Bluetooth in cars is useful, especially since it allows the car’s built-in ergonomic media controls to affect your phone. Being able to take a call or pause your music without looking anywhere or moving your hands away from the wheel is a safety improvement.
- southerntofu 5y ago
  I understand this UX argument: there's however arguments against it as well. For example, "taking a call" (at all) while driving could be illegal in your jurisdiction, and is in any case a safety risk. The computerization of the car has other negative consequences: - cars are increasingly more expensive due to electronics (which represent up to 50% of the price of a car nowadays), and are victims of chip shortage - cars are much harder to repair and require cracked firmware downloaded from sketchy websites or an official and super-expensive maintenance kit, which of course only works for one brand/manufacturer - cars are much less reliable and electronics are responsible for a great number of recalled products I miss my old autoradio with a jack input. Overall, i miss when my car was not a computer: we computer people can barely display a few pixels on a screen without writing a dozen bugs, why the hell would we responsible for making software for cars?! see also boeing scandals. So while bluetooth is a safety improvement over the worst-case of using a mechanical car and a phone at the same time, it's part of a trend that overwhelmingly makes cars less safe and reliable.
  - lucian1900 5y ago
    Bluetooth is entirely unrelated to other computers in cars. In fact, it's just the car's "radio" component that speaks bluetooth. You can easily install such a component in 70 year old cars. You'd only lack the ergonomic steering wheel controls, which are generally connected to the "radio" directly. Other car functions use computers for very different reasons. The most successful is injection timing, which does significantly improve performance. It's why we have extremely efficient small diesel engines and reasonably powerful 1L petrol engines.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

> I can only afford crap. "Crap" to me would be low-tech non-smart light bulbs. That's what I buy. IMO, "smart" bulbs are dumb and unnecessary. The only time I ever need to turn a light on or off is when I'm entering or leaving a room, in which case I'm passing the light switch anyways. I have no need to be able to turn my lights on and off from my phone, and don't understand the use case.