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Creating personal data/special folders
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Thu, 28 May 2015 06:21:36 -0600, Ken Springer wrote: On 5/28/15 6:17 AM, Mayayana wrote: Just because new technology is available that doesn't necessarily mean it's better.) +1 on the last sentence. G I also agree. However, as far as I'm concerned, new technology is better than older technology the great majority of the time. Until someone finds the caveats in it, and shines a light on it. ******* That 4GB/sec PCI Express connector in your new PC ? It only delivers data at ~2GB/sec. The cause ? Intel using too-small buffers on the bus host controller. That new-fangled USB3 technology ? The USB3 cable stretching from the back of your PC, emits RF signals in the 2.4GHz band, wiping out Wifi/Bluetooth/Wireless Keyboard for people. Not everything new, is unblemished. How about this one ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlu...rline_Alliance Even though nominally, that one has frequency notches to prevent spill into other RF bands, that device causes the ham operator next door, to no longer be able to pick up distant signals. Your ham radio operator next door, is ****ed at you. Of course, calling the FCC or DOC doesn't work, because the device is "nominally compliant", not really truly a non-interfering device. Or even Wifi devices, where someone with an 802.11N and three antennas and a "power booster", tries to wipe the floor with your home Wifi LAN. And suddenly your Wifi doesn't work. Yes, new technology is wonderful. SSDs that brick themselves. Hard drives that brick themselves. Every device with a processor in it, that can get hacked. It's a brave new world. I can see that new self driving car I bought, drive off a cliff some day, while some kids with an Android on an adjacent hillside, watch... Coming to a theater near you. As a savvy consumer, you can do your part by not accepting new technology that has holes in it. For example, do I need smart lightbulbs I can control from my Android ? Or is a regular light switch and bulb, safe and effective ? Your choice. ******* The other day, we had a power brownout here. What technologies alerted me ? 1) The old-fashioned UPS shut down. It detected 93 VAC was too low, so it switched to batteries. A new-fangled UPS with AVR, would not have said a word. The AVR feature would have boosted the voltage for you. 2) An incandescent light bulb in my bathroom, confirmed the low voltage problem. The LED lightbulbs my computer room uses, are self-regulating, and put out as much light at 100VAC as at 115VAC. They cannot alert me to trouble. And as near as I can tell, none of my neighbors on the street, even noticed. So the new technologies helped hide the details. Only someone boiling a kettle, and noticing it was taking twice as long to boil a kettle, might have noticed. So yeah, I love new technology. Sure glad I didn't replace the old UPS with a new one. As it alerted me to trouble right away, with a persistent beep tone. It even automatically shut off the computer I'm using right now (so I finally got to confirm that feature works). It's a shame my hydro (power) company doesn't know how to run a utility. They've done this before, brownout on purpose while switching the wiring plan of the neighborhood. I don't know why I have to be the guy to phone up and complain. And then they pretend "we're already working on it". Bull****! The reason I'm a bit ****ed about this stuff, is they came close to damaging my refrigerator. The fridge switched on, and the compressor nearly didn't come up to speed. It could have "cooked" and even if the thermal cutout on it was still working, one thermal event might have been enough to ruin it. My fridge isn't exactly new. Paul |
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Creating personal data/special folders
On Thu, 28 May 2015 07:58:07 +0100, Mike Barnes
wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Wed, 27 May 2015 23:23:34 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote: Char Jackson wrote: I'm just thinking that by the time you fire up Quicken, you probably could be done already. Hardly. Firing up Quicken takes approximately one second. [I'm principally talking about credit card accounts, not "balancing my checkbook", if that makes a difference.] Makes no difference to me. I balance my bank accounts and my credit card accounts in near real time. What does "in near real time" mean? For credit card transactions, I get notified within 2-3 seconds of every transaction, so I can approve or deny them at that time. No need to reconcile paper receipts. For credit union transactions, I don't have proactive notifications set up, but I log in at least daily to stay on top of what's happening there. I don't write checks, (I'll say one or two a year, just to cover myself), so it's not like I have to actually balance anything. It's just a quick glance to confirm that everything looks legitimate, so by the time EOM or EOQ rolls around, I have nothing to reconcile. For investment-related financial institutions, I also check those online, so by the time EOM or EOQ rolls around, I have nothing to reconcile. BTW I suspect that what you mean by "balance" isn't what I'm talking about. Could be. |
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Creating personal data/special folders
| I also agree. However, as far as I'm concerned, new technology is
| better than older technology the great majority of the time. | | | Until someone finds the caveats in it, and shines a light on it. | Indeed. In addition to your list, just off the top of my head: * Keurig coffee makers that produce waste for no reason. * Pre-primed wood moldings, made of glued up scraps that later fall apart. * Acrylic deck stain, which wears away nearly as soon as it's painted on. * Dryer sheets and plug-in air fresheners that fill the air with noxious "fresh" scent. * Roundup-ready corn and soy, designed to tolerate even more toxic herbicide than regular grain, while also being a patent-protected life form, so that farmers are banned by Monsanto from saving seed. (Even if they did, it's also designed to be sterile.) * Frankenfood in general. I read the other day that Panera Bread hopes to remove the 350-odd chemicals they use in their products. One example: Titanium dioxide, the stuff that makes white paint white (along with chalk) is used to keep the cheese looking light colored as it ages. Normally it would turn brown. The Panera people think removing the fake ingredients will be good for business. But they're having trouble: No one knows what their suppliers suppliers suppliers are actually putting into the product. Bon Apetit. Thinking of bad technology is like shooting fish in a barrel. The truly odd thing is that most people will think these technologies are good, based on nothing more than exposure to marketing. |
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Creating personal data/special folders
Mayayana wrote:
* Dryer sheets and plug-in air fresheners that fill the air with noxious "fresh" scent. I'm with you on that one. My next door neighbor goes through a metric ton of that stuff. And no two dryer loads use the same "flavor". I'm really impressed by the group of organic chemists who design that stuff. So many "flavors", all with the same electrical (antistatic) characteristics. And none of them catch fire in the dryer :-) I've stopped using dryer sheets here. One day I got to the end of a box of them, and said to myself "exactly why am I using these?". And I couldn't come up with a good answer. I'd switched from the aroma-filled ones, to the aroma-free ones. And when the box of those was gone, there just didn't seem to be a reason to buy more. (Yeah, sometimes the clothes stick together. But they also used to stick together before dryer sheets, and we somehow survived.) Paul |