Virtual assistants, e.g. Alexa, Cortana, Siri
I don’t want to interact with the companies they represent basically at all, let alone give them nearly unfettered access to my electronics and their data.
I confess to having an iPhone and other apple products, but they will Always have that “finish setting up” message forever because I will NEVER turn Siri on. Ever.
I mean I’m
openly a hypocritenot a purist either when it comes to these companies, especially Google and Amazon. Like my phone is an Android and I posted an Amazon link the other day. But, I’m still trying to find ways to get them out of every possible aspect of my life. I’m just done with their particular brand of bullshit.
I’ve dabbled in the virtual assistants because I wanted to see what they can do. Siri (it’s been years so I don’t know if it improved), Alexa, Google, are all horse shit. Every time I try to use them it works like garbage. They either trigger incorrectly or try to implement something I don’t want. The few times they do work correctly I don’t trust them because of all the other garbage experiences so I have to double check what they did. That negates the entire point from a time and convenience standpoint.
Google really wants to refer me to a garage door company instead of closing the damn thing.
I have never used Bixby, I’ve used the Google assistant a few times but other than that, no thanks
I use Google assistant to set timers and alarms, and check the weather. Besides that, nothing. The times I tried, I wrestled with it for a few minutes until I did it myself.
Whatsapp and all the other Zuckware shit.
Smart speakers with personal assistants like Amazon Echo etc. Not remotely useful enough to be worth placing spying Equipment all over my home.
Wireless headphones. So now I’m supposed to recharge my headphones and get worse sound quality for it? In a few years they become e-waste, while good wired headphones can last decades. No thanks.
I agree with everything you’ve said, but you have to admit that wireless headphones are convenient if you’re on the phone with someone and cooking dinner, or doing laundry, for example.
I persisted with my wired earbuds until only very recently picked up some wireless ones and can say they’re better in every way. Unless you only ever use them while sitting still. Exercising, gardening, mowing the lawn, working on the car or in the garage, anything where you’re moving about really. Not having the stupid wire getting caught on anything or accidentally pulling your phone out is a godsend.
Audio quality is fine for 99.9% of people. I think some people are stuck on views from 5 or 6 years ago. The tech has come a long way.
I find the audio quality to be pretty irrelevant when all I can hear is the bump bump bump of the wires bouncing against me with every step I take!
They certainly have their place but they can’t/don’t check all the boxes to replace wired headphones. It’s not like having a thin cord running from your ears to your pocket is a big enough issue that having to charge another device before eventually throwing it in the garbage after a couple years is a worth tradeoff.
Bluetooth and nfc audio codecs have gotten so good that unless you’re running high impedance headphones with an amp/dac, wireless is effectively indistinguishable from wired, at least for most applications, and especially if using a mobile device.
Until it can stream hi-res lossless without compression I’m sticking to wired. For a long time I’ve been eyeing the AirPods Pro and I finally tried them out at the Apple Store; they sound like trash. I don’t know how people put up with it.
I’ve got the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (Bluetooth version, can’t think of the specific model number) and it’s just terrible unless I use the cord with a nice DAC.
Audio quality wasn’t even on my radar since I’m not an audiophile, but them being at parity doesn’t sway the argument one way or the other. Good technology typically outpaces the thing it replaces in all aspects. In this case, BT is effectively neutral or worse in many cases which is why I don’t feel like it should replace the old method (headphone jack removal) but rather coexist alongside of it. I feel like we’re going backwards wheh dongles enter the picture. It gives me flashbacks to the very early days of mainstream cellphones/smartphones and all the proprietary connectors that came with it.
So much this
No smart speakers
It’s a mic sitting there waiting for your commands and everything it does I can do myself easier
Wireless headphones. So now I’m supposed to recharge my headphones and get worse sound quality for it? In a few years they become e-waste, while good wired headphones can last decades. No thanks.
I tend to avoid any wireless peripherals, I still have a wired mouse because I don’t need to think about charging my mouse and whether it’s going to run out of charge.
Wireless mice are such a weird one to me. Like your mouse will never move more then a foot away from it’s normal spot so why do you need wireless?
Wires get in the way of the rest of the clutter on my desk.
Everything that need a pay subscription to work.
Most social media.
I used to use reddit, I have moved all my presence over here. That’s about it.
I have a FB Messenger account because that is how a lot of my family keeps in touch with me, and I have this. I had a proper FB account back when I was in uni and Facebook was still only for uni students, but I think I dropped it shortly after that.It’s not some grand principled stance, I just don’t get most of them because I am apparently an old man. Like Instagram, why do I want to share pictures with just random people? How am I networking with anybody by doing so? I honestly don’t get why it is so popular.
most things that have internal, irreplaceable batteries
@mayflower
Anything that has something to do with Meta.
I trying to ditch all non open source software, it’s hard but I’m hopeful.If you’re using Linux, there’s a bunch of open-source code from Meta running on your PC. Same with some small parts of Windows. :)
Yeah, but with Meta’s open source contributions we know what they are and what they do.
Apple Ecosystem. Since I learned that iTunes changes mp3 files when “sync” to iTunes I stopped using apple products. That was back when iPhone 5 was released.
Voice commands on anything. It just feels silly.
expired
Smart watches.
I do not need an additional notification screen. I see 0 benefits
overpriced. limited utility. inferior to smartphones.
One solid benefit is heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring
Anything that has the word “smart” in it.
Where do you find a non-smart TV these days? Seems like nobody makes them anymore
LLMs. Despite how absurdly useful they are, I can recall a time when I had the skills of remembering phone numbers naturally and being able to easily navigate with no maps of any kind.
These skills have deteriorated significantly in the past 10 years, and they’re not the only ones. The common thread they all have is my smartphone replaced them.
I fear losing a skill that is less innocuous, from the new tech effectively replacing my need to practice it.
Try not having a smartphone with you when you leave the house. Actually many starting returning back to basic phones just for calls and SMS.
Kid who doesn’t remember a time without a phone, using a “dumb” phone is impossible despite a want for it. So many things are qr based or require a phone at my college. I learned this the hard way when my phone broke and I didn’t replace it for 2 weeks. Couldn’t even access my accounts cause of 2fa.
I would love to use a “dumb” phone for text only but the most random shit will require a “smart” feature.
Facebook, Twitter and now Threads. Have no interest and zero use for that stuff.
Self driving cars or honestly the majority of car tech introduced in the last 5 years or so, such a lane keeping assist or other drivers “aids” which ultimately seem to distract drivers more than ever help them.
Only thing I left on in my newish car is the lane change/blind spot warning and the “you are about to ram someone” alarm. Can’t remember the official names. They rarely actually help, but when they do, it can mean avoiding a collision.
the blind spot detector is a game changer for SUVs and other vehicles with limited visibility. I don’t feel safe without it anymore.
I drive a 2006 Corolla.
How bad are you at driving that you need a computer to let you know when you need to pay attention?
Lol that’s rude. I drove a 94 Corolla for like 20 years. Regardless of what an expert driver like you thinks, these sort of safety features are useful. Not often, and usually one would notice the issue without them and avoid a collision, but there’s that occasional situation where they can save your life.
I’m sorry for being rude. I must have been in a bad mood.
I’m not an expert driver, just a careful one. I’ve never had any driver assistance at all and don’t really see the need for them unless you’re distracted while driving.
Like, the only way they’d save my life is if they could avoid a front end collision, getting t-boned, or rear ended. They just seem annoying to me.
Tablets, I don’t see the appeal of a big phone device that can’t fit your pocket and can’t make calls
