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My partner bought an eye mask with built-in Bluetooth headphones so they could sleep listening to audio books or podcasts or whatever. But it had a bright blue

by M2Ys4U 3y ago

My partner bought an eye mask with built-in Bluetooth headphones so they could sleep listening to audio books or podcasts or whatever. But it had a bright blue LED, which was not only disturbing to me but could also be seen through the damned mask. How on Earth anybody signed off on that design is beyond me.

jraph 3y ago
Yep. My Sony headset too. The WH-1000XM3. Once, this blinking blue led messed up with the dreams of the person sleeping next to me. Turn it on? Blinking forever. Pair it? Fast blink for almost 10 seconds, then blink again for a while. Trigger an action by mistake or because of your sweat through its touch interface? Blink 6 times, slowly. That last one is particularly crazy, there's already an audio feedback for this, no need to tell the world I decreased the volume of my headset one step. It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. At the point it can be heard by someone close, despite the closed design. Especially that the default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time, making a loud blow noise in one hear, and that the mode in the middle, that badly recreates the noise around, for which I have no use. Tough luck if the device establish a Bluetooth connection when it's speaking, it cancels the operation and the process needs to be done again. Please, please remember the last mode I used, this is the one I most probably want to use next time. This device is gratuitously both noisy and very luminous. The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape, the later requires a mobile app I can't install and it would disable any feedback, and reverts next time it needs to be reset. Despite its comfort and good sound, when it dies, I'll probably buy something else. But I have to admit, a blinking eye mask has to be a whole level of craziness higher.
- lbourdages 3y ago
  The XM4s have a red LED. I love the sound and noise cancelling of these headphones, but it's true the UX is clunky.
  - jraph 3y ago
    > The XM4s have a red LED. That's most certainly a massive improvement. It's great hardware, they are so close to have the perfect product, but they are ruining it with these small annoying things. Get rid of the loud voice, of the bright led and of the tactile interface that both hard to use and triggers at inappropriate times and I'm sold!
    - cassianoleal 3y ago
      That touch interface is awful. I've had an XM3 for several years and it's an amazing pair of headphones but I can't even count how many times I had pauses, skips or other interactions because I was stretching my neck or arms and accidentally touched the can.
      - jraph 3y ago
        Try laying in your bed on your back during a warm night or right after a shower, and then turning your head, putting the touch interface on your wet pillow.
      - lbourdages 3y ago
        I have disabled basically all extra features. Touch interface, the sensor to auto pause, two-device pairing... It could have worked well, like Airpods do, but it doesn't. If my phone rings and I remove my airpods and answer holding my phone to my head, I expect the sound to come out of the phone. But the Sonys just stole the phone audio even if they were not on my ears at that moment.
- bkor 3y ago
  > It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. You can disable that through the Android app. > default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time That's not my experience. Wonder if that was since the start as for me the noise cancelling is the sole reason I have it. If you want great sound quality it's often advised to buy something that's solely made for sound. > The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape I've used "write everywhere pens" on annoying LEDs. Though up to now only on low-value devices (smoke alarms). This as I am terrible at only covering the LED, I often by accident write the area around it as well. You could cover everything except for the LED with some tape to prevent this though.
archerx 3y ago
I have started putting electrical tape over leds. My external sound card had the brightest white flashing light when the computer was off but the sound card is still plugged in. Impossible to sleep with that obnoxious white blinking.
- SilasX 3y ago
  When first heard the song “LEF (loud electronic ferocious)” it occurred to me that LEDs could be backronymed to Loud Electronic Dysphoric. But it seemed pointless because that didn’t describe LEDs. Now it seems like it does!
  - brudgers 3y ago
    The LED on Mackie mixers is labeled “Rude Solo”.
- brudgers 3y ago
  Gaffer's tape works better for me than electrical tape did.
  - Dan_Sylveste 3y ago
    I've not encountered a non-white LED that was even vaguely visible through a layer of black electrical tape, and there's always room for a second layer.
    - brudgers 3y ago
      Nothing wrong with electrical tape (or duct tape). I’ve used both many years and only bought my first roll of gaffer’s tape a few years ago. Gaffer’s tape works better for me because its material properties and packaging make it suitable for a wider range of applications. It handles many of my off label uses for electrical tape and duct tape. It is designed for versatility.
      - drbobmd5 3y ago
School-Cotton 3y ago
I have a desktop computer with LEDs in the fans. Absolutely no way to disable them. It used to be in my bedroom, and I eventually had to physically destroy the wires to the LEDs with scissors to prevent my girlfriend from going insane trying to sleep with them on. Absolutely terrible design.
- doubled112 3y ago
  I’ve done this. Got really stabby with a craft knife because I couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve also kept HDD and power LEDs unplugged for that reason, resorting to the motherboard’s RGB lighting set dimly as my power light.
brudgers 3y ago
How on Earth anybody signed off on that design Will people buy it? Yes. Let's make it, then. Design is always driven by business considerations. If it made money, it was a good design.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > If it made money, it was a good design I disagree. If it made money, it was a successful product, but there are tons of products that are successful despite them being the embodiment of terrible design.
  - brudgers 3y ago
    I understand your position. I suppose the difference is I consider good enough design to be good design…and that the client is the customer for design and hence the client’s customers are not the customers for designs. If the client wants a bright blue LED, they get a bright blue LED. They might also get an informed opinion as well. Or not. So long as nobody dies and the check doesn’t bounce, we’re on to a winner.
    - thiht 3y ago
      I’m sorry but your position is wrong. A face mask that doesn’t filter all light is bad design. A face mask that doesn’t filter the light it produces itself (blue light even!) is awful design. It certainly is not good enough. Whether it makes money or not is irrelevant. Tons of people buy stuff because they don’t know better. Maybe it was a cheap mask, or maybe it was the only one sold at airports, or maybe it had aggressive marketing, or the Bluetooth feature was niche at the time. None of that has to do with design.
      - brudgers 3y ago
        Well designed prisons are not designed to delight their prisoners. A designer designing a prison designs according to the objectives of the person writing the check, not the check writer’s customers. A designer is just another service worker working a day job to buy a hamburger.

by M2Ys4U 3y ago

jraph 3y ago

Yep. My Sony headset too. The WH-1000XM3. Once, this blinking blue led messed up with the dreams of the person sleeping next to me. Turn it on? Blinking forever. Pair it? Fast blink for almost 10 seconds, then blink again for a while. Trigger an action by mistake or because of your sweat through its touch interface? Blink 6 times, slowly. That last one is particularly crazy, there's already an audio feedback for this, no need to tell the world I decreased the volume of my headset one step. It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. At the point it can be heard by someone close, despite the closed design. Especially that the default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time, making a loud blow noise in one hear, and that the mode in the middle, that badly recreates the noise around, for which I have no use. Tough luck if the device establish a Bluetooth connection when it's speaking, it cancels the operation and the process needs to be done again. Please, please remember the last mode I used, this is the one I most probably want to use next time. This device is gratuitously both noisy and very luminous. The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape, the later requires a mobile app I can't install and it would disable any feedback, and reverts next time it needs to be reset. Despite its comfort and good sound, when it dies, I'll probably buy something else. But I have to admit, a blinking eye mask has to be a whole level of craziness higher.

lbourdages 3y ago
The XM4s have a red LED. I love the sound and noise cancelling of these headphones, but it's true the UX is clunky.
- jraph 3y ago
  > The XM4s have a red LED. That's most certainly a massive improvement. It's great hardware, they are so close to have the perfect product, but they are ruining it with these small annoying things. Get rid of the loud voice, of the bright led and of the tactile interface that both hard to use and triggers at inappropriate times and I'm sold!
  - cassianoleal 3y ago
    That touch interface is awful. I've had an XM3 for several years and it's an amazing pair of headphones but I can't even count how many times I had pauses, skips or other interactions because I was stretching my neck or arms and accidentally touched the can.
    - jraph 3y ago
      Try laying in your bed on your back during a warm night or right after a shower, and then turning your head, putting the touch interface on your wet pillow.
    - lbourdages 3y ago
      I have disabled basically all extra features. Touch interface, the sensor to auto pause, two-device pairing... It could have worked well, like Airpods do, but it doesn't. If my phone rings and I remove my airpods and answer holding my phone to my head, I expect the sound to come out of the phone. But the Sonys just stole the phone audio even if they were not on my ears at that moment.
bkor 3y ago
> It also screams loudly and for long times whenever I power it on and when I want to switch the ambient noise mode. You can disable that through the Android app. > default is active noise cancelling, and it's broken most of the time That's not my experience. Wonder if that was since the start as for me the noise cancelling is the sole reason I have it. If you want great sound quality it's often advised to buy something that's solely made for sound. > The latter can be somewhat fixed with some good electrical tape I've used "write everywhere pens" on annoying LEDs. Though up to now only on low-value devices (smoke alarms). This as I am terrible at only covering the LED, I often by accident write the area around it as well. You could cover everything except for the LED with some tape to prevent this though.

archerx 3y ago

I have started putting electrical tape over leds. My external sound card had the brightest white flashing light when the computer was off but the sound card is still plugged in. Impossible to sleep with that obnoxious white blinking.

SilasX 3y ago
When first heard the song “LEF (loud electronic ferocious)” it occurred to me that LEDs could be backronymed to Loud Electronic Dysphoric. But it seemed pointless because that didn’t describe LEDs. Now it seems like it does!
- brudgers 3y ago
  The LED on Mackie mixers is labeled “Rude Solo”.
brudgers 3y ago
Gaffer's tape works better for me than electrical tape did.
- Dan_Sylveste 3y ago
  I've not encountered a non-white LED that was even vaguely visible through a layer of black electrical tape, and there's always room for a second layer.
  - brudgers 3y ago
    Nothing wrong with electrical tape (or duct tape). I’ve used both many years and only bought my first roll of gaffer’s tape a few years ago. Gaffer’s tape works better for me because its material properties and packaging make it suitable for a wider range of applications. It handles many of my off label uses for electrical tape and duct tape. It is designed for versatility.
    - drbobmd5 3y ago

School-Cotton 3y ago

I have a desktop computer with LEDs in the fans. Absolutely no way to disable them. It used to be in my bedroom, and I eventually had to physically destroy the wires to the LEDs with scissors to prevent my girlfriend from going insane trying to sleep with them on. Absolutely terrible design.

doubled112 3y ago
I’ve done this. Got really stabby with a craft knife because I couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve also kept HDD and power LEDs unplugged for that reason, resorting to the motherboard’s RGB lighting set dimly as my power light.

brudgers 3y ago

How on Earth anybody signed off on that design Will people buy it? Yes. Let's make it, then. Design is always driven by business considerations. If it made money, it was a good design.

JohnFen 3y ago
> If it made money, it was a good design I disagree. If it made money, it was a successful product, but there are tons of products that are successful despite them being the embodiment of terrible design.
- brudgers 3y ago
  I understand your position. I suppose the difference is I consider good enough design to be good design…and that the client is the customer for design and hence the client’s customers are not the customers for designs. If the client wants a bright blue LED, they get a bright blue LED. They might also get an informed opinion as well. Or not. So long as nobody dies and the check doesn’t bounce, we’re on to a winner.
  - thiht 3y ago
    I’m sorry but your position is wrong. A face mask that doesn’t filter all light is bad design. A face mask that doesn’t filter the light it produces itself (blue light even!) is awful design. It certainly is not good enough. Whether it makes money or not is irrelevant. Tons of people buy stuff because they don’t know better. Maybe it was a cheap mask, or maybe it was the only one sold at airports, or maybe it had aggressive marketing, or the Bluetooth feature was niche at the time. None of that has to do with design.
    - brudgers 3y ago
      Well designed prisons are not designed to delight their prisoners. A designer designing a prison designs according to the objectives of the person writing the check, not the check writer’s customers. A designer is just another service worker working a day job to buy a hamburger.