What's a tech trend you disagree with?

[E-waste]

Smartphones with 6 years or less of updates.  We have phones with over one gigabyte of ram, NOBODY, needs a new phone, ever.  Just replacement battery and extra screens.

 

I hope both Linux phones get software worked out, and also a way to upgrade the cellular modem / antenna of cellular devices in a standardized way for everyone with minimal effort required to replace the equipment.

 

To do this, consumers will have to stop treating technology as a status symbol.  On this point I remember in middle school that someone wanted the new LG Chocolate, and I was just thinking, what in the flying fuck does that thing do that ANY other similar device won't?  I bet they didn't have any care, it was all in the name.  Chocolate, just a way to show off how "cool" you are because.. you have a flip phone called chocolate.  O.K. so that's where we still are.

 

Will this ever stop?  Are we going to start caring how terribly WASTEFUL this is, to release six different models of basically the same equipment, yearly for the last 25+ years?  Will we ever care about the people who dig for the cobalt in our batteries or whatever else?  If we all weren't spoiled with tools that connect us to information in a few blinks of the eye or faster, could we start to care about the impact of our technology purchases.

 

No.

 

Because that's inconvenient and annoying to hear so would you please shut the hell up and quit whining?

 

I feel like that's our response as a society.  We just simply DO NOT CARE.

 

Well this text won't do anything, so we must MUST devise a solution to this madness that has overtaken industrialized society.

 

How can we, the consumers, start learning the skills needed to become the producers.

 

Looks like we have excellent ideas in this thread, but they'll never happen.

 

Unless we make it ourselves.  So it seems that it would benefit not only us, but the entire Planet Earth, if we could "crack the code" of how to develop our own circuit boards, metal frames and custom upgradable / user-replacable components, and then after we learn and do all that, somehow sell it by the hundreds of thousands and somehow sustain a business with only some spare replacement part sales every few years.  Hmm.

 

If I could design anything it would be a very basic cellphone without a camera, with a way to upgrade the cellular modem chip parts and antenna to be able to work on any cellular network, forever.  But I can see why that might not make as much money as forcing people to upgrade their horribly insecure android device every four years, and any apple device every six years.  I am thankful for Lineage OS even though my bootloader is locked (which I don't understand how that continues to benefit my software security--I bet that could be settled in court quite easily) but my phone will still turn into a brick once 4g is phased out and to me, that's just unacceptable.  Why can I not change the cellular component as easily as swapping a sim card?  Wow, that'll be the day!

[Kisai]

7 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

The problem with that is that installing M.2 drives would be an absolute nightmare. It would be a decent solution, but just using expansion cards would be the better option IMO. 

That doesn't solve the problem, it just creates another one when the drives need heatsinks and impede the neighboring slot anyway. This is just asking to use the most available real estate that already exists, and by which I mean you'd take the back cover off the computer to access it without having to remove the MB at all. That requires a standard "M.2" cutout location on the MB mount.

 

Like remember back during the ISA/PCI/VL-BUS transition? Prior to PCI, you needed:

- Super I/O (serial and parallel port) card

- Video card

- IDE controller card (sometimes integrated with Super I/O on VLB cards)

- Sound card

- Network card

The only "onboard" thing PC/XT/AT/386 systems did was the Keyboard.

And all 8 ISA slots were usable, and I indeed was able to max out a 386 with a SCSI card, and an expanded memory card at the time.

 

Now all of those are available on the motherboard by default.

 

Here's how I would re-design the "ATX" standard, (simple way):

 

Move the CPU-connected "GPU" lanes to the bottom-most slot of the MB, so it doesn't matter how chonky the GPU is. That's the easiest solution. When that's out of the way, the next slot above the GPU should be an x16 slot with either:

2 M.2 slots + 2 TB ports

or

4 M.2 slots.

 

And this card comes with the MB (to match the PCI3/4/5 the MB uses,) while only having a single M2 on the MB that sits next to the RAM.

 

Chassis manufacturers then only need to have "extra slot openings", or users can use the mATX version of the MB to make it fit in current generation chassis at the expense of 3 pcie slots.

 

That leaves the user with the option to still have 5 full size expansion cards. Ideally those would all be PCIe x8 or x4, and the MB can migrate the lanes to the active card at will for cards that aren't usually maxed out (Eg a 4K capture card would need 4 lanes) but that gets into "how many lanes does power user actually use?" question.

 

Intel and AMD believe that you'll only ever have at most one GPU and one SSD, so they only connect 20 lanes to the CPU (24 for AMD), and everything else shares the bandwidth of the chipset with the USB type-A ports, Network and Sound i/o. 

 

[Rex Hite]

-touchscreen controls on commercial equipment 

-Soft power switches

-power bricks on monitors

 

I'm counting the last 20 years as recent.

 

 

 

 

 

[suicidalfranco]

companies going public

investors

expectation that a company is supposed to do record profit YoY in perpetuaty

Glass sandwich

Glue as a premium material

IoT

"don't ask questions, coonsume product then get excited for next product"

worshipping companies

 

[E-waste]

Ranco, I'm curious, you striked out the Lumia device, is that because it's no longer supported, software-wise?  It's a shame I never got into the Windows phone.  I didn't really like the fact that Windows is completely closed-source, and just didn't want that in a phone either, and even so, now I wish I'd at least supported it.

 

I think if we all supported it, we'd have much better, longer lasting battery runtime in our phones, and cleaner, less spying / data-hoarding software for operating system.  But it just didn't take off enough.

[Chiyawa]

For me, smart phones. I still like the dumb Nokia 3310 that is solid like a brick, does what it does best, no nonsense crap load of shits that I don't want/need, and battery last for days without charging when on idle. And also the physical keypad, handsfree, screen as a torch light, Snakes, and some cool accessories that light up when an incoming call is about to reach. Bonus is the privacy, no GPS tracker, no apps tracking your every move.

[Zodiark1593]

On 12/3/2022 at 5:53 AM, TetraSky said:

Impossibility to listen to FM radio on a smartphone, just because there's no headphones plugged in. It literally works without it, I confirmed as much when a bug happened in my FM radio app. But nope, need to have wired headphones plugged in, "bEcAuSe ThEy AcT aS anTeNnAs". Now that they are removing the headphone jack, you basically HAVE to pay for data, to listen to what should have otherwise been free.

 

Also, quite frankly, I don't understand the whole wireless ear buds thing. How are they not falling out your ears!? I tried a few pairs and they just noped out of my ears within a few minutes at best (apple airpods, samsung buds and some other brand). Plus I hated having to carry that stupid case everywhere in my pocket, as another large plastic crap I need to carry in my already tight pockets. I had to buy one of those cords that hooks to the earbuds and rest on your neck so as to not lose them. At that point, why didn't I just buy a pair that already had a damn wire connecting the two!? I gave up on those and just got ones with a over the ear "hook" on them, at least when they "fall out", they still remain on my ears, even if they are not "fashionable".

In a workplace that may otherwise frown on earphones, wireless earbuds are a very low profile solution, and easily allow the use of only one with no unnecessary wires or bulk. They're also fast to use. If I want to listen to a podcast, it takes but a few seconds to slip an earpiece in.

 

However, battery replacements are an issue, as well as keeping them in place. My own ears get oily very rapidly, so friction-fit buds are not suitable for me for active wear (such as exercising, or my work). As a result, sound quality is generally poor for me (not a the end of the world with podcasts, but music wasn't enjoyable). At my new job, I've had to resort to 3M surgical tape to keep the earpiece in reliably, as I can't adjust the earbud after putting on all my PPE (full-body suit with hood and respirator). Not fast, nor easy tbh, but probably a wash vs older bluetooth earbuds for single-ear use. Getting earbuds with a hook would probably be the sensible solution here, though it looks like there may be replacement airpod tips that have hooks as well.

 

If I'm listening to music, I much prefer the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ears I bought some 8 years ago.

[suicidalfranco]

4 hours ago, Timpster said:

Ranco, I'm curious, you striked out the Lumia device, is that because it's no longer supported, software-wise?  It's a shame I never got into the Windows phone.  I didn't really like the fact that Windows is completely closed-source, and just didn't want that in a phone either, and even so, now I wish I'd at least supported it.

Cause i still have it, but don't use it. Great device hardware wise, one of the best designs ever, looks amazing too, the proof you can make plastic feel better than glass and metal.

Software was were the let down stood. And software is what killed it for me.

If only Nokia had done like they did with Lumia 800 and released an identical phone that cane with MeeGo instead of Windows phone alongside the 920. Maybe that one would have made me use it for far longer.

 

[Zodiark1593]

On 12/4/2022 at 9:40 AM, aisle9 said:

Laptops. Everything about laptops since the word "Ultrabook" was invented has been a dumpster fire. RAM is soldered more often than not, very few (if any) new devices have a removable battery, and ports? All you really need is one USB-C to plug your hub into, right? And the predictable end result of that is laptops that are usually not user-serviceable and are impossible to upgrade. And because they're slim, shiny and quiet, the consumer "wow" factor has driven their prices upwards to the point that a basic Celeron or 3015e-driven system with a bog-standard 14" 1366x768p display, 128GB of eMMC, a cheap plastic shell and 4GB of RAM now costs $300 USD. Five years ago, $300 was an entry-level i3 build that came with a 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM (both user replaceable) to go with that 768p screen and cheap plastic shell. The battery would also have been user serviceable, but most systems would have had it glued into place and more difficult to do by then.

 

Upwards price pressure is another that bothers me. It was inevitable once other OEMs started seeing how much people were willing to pay for Apple stuff and "adjusted" their pricing to match without really changing quality. My issue is that the entire world of consumer products, everything from Mountain Dew to high-end supercars, has joined the chorus of, "Supply chain issues! Supply chain issues!". Do those play a part? No. Is that the whole story? Of course not. Manufacturers have seen how much people will pay for something, and they're moving their pricing up to match. And that's how you end up with plastic-shelled N4500-powered junk laptops with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $300.

I definitely like my $500 Dell I picked up last year. Core i7-1165G7, 16 GB RAM (kind of slow at 2666 MT/s, but at this price, I'm not picky), a 512 GB NVME SSD, a semi-decent 1080P display, and east-to-open chassis.

 

CPU aside (which there are only a couple slightly higher clocked models for the socket anyway), the components are easily replaceable. I swapped the Intel 660P drive for a WD SN750 1 TB drive, and there's also an empty 2.5" bay with cables to quickly add more storage. Cleaning out the heat sink is also easy on this thing My 2009, and 2011 laptops required a full disassembly to clean. The battery is pretty easy to access as well. In a tech world that is focusing on small, and mostly sealed devices, this was definitely refreshing to have a device more accessible than my old laptops. As the cherry on top, this laptop is decently thin and easy to carry.

 

The Iris XE graphics are actually capable of playing games as well. While the newest titles are probably out of reach, watching Doom (2016) run at Medium settings, 1600 x 900, and staying above 50 FPS, was kind of remarkable to see on integrated graphics. Aside from a couple games which suffer from bugs (one likes to crash, but runs fine when it works, and the other suffers from shader compilation), the vast majority of my PC library is more than playable, enough so that I can hit settings that look good on larger TVs, so I find myself frequently bringing the laptop to friends' places to play games on. Once upon a time, I remember lusting over big, heavy gaming laptops that had less gaming chops than this inexpensive thing.

[Imbadatnames]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:21 AM, 7412 said:

For me, it's how smartphone companies have completely given up on pop-up selfie cameras, despite them having suffered no catastrophic failures when they were a thing.

They held up well, and the OnePlus 7 Pro remains to this day the best looking smartphone screen you can get in 2022 despite despite being a 3 year old device.

 

But they went back to notches. All brands did, even Xiaomi (Poco) and Asus (ZenFone).

Because it creates expense, it limits the camera abilities and it’s moving parts meaning it’s hard to waterproof. Plus if you’re apple for example FaceID kinda stops you 

[Imbadatnames]

On 12/4/2022 at 5:40 PM, aisle9 said:

Laptops. Everything about laptops since the word "Ultrabook" was invented has been a dumpster fire. RAM is soldered more often than not, very few (if any) new devices have a removable battery, and ports? All you really need is one USB-C to plug your hub into, right? And the predictable end result of that is laptops that are usually not user-serviceable and are impossible to upgrade. And because they're slim, shiny and quiet, the consumer "wow" factor has driven their prices upwards to the point that a basic Celeron or 3015e-driven system with a bog-standard 14" 1366x768p display, 128GB of eMMC, a cheap plastic shell and 4GB of RAM now costs $300 USD. Five years ago, $300 was an entry-level i3 build that came with a 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM (both user replaceable) to go with that 768p screen and cheap plastic shell. The battery would also have been user serviceable, but most systems would have had it glued into place and more difficult to do by then.

 

Upwards price pressure is another that bothers me. It was inevitable once other OEMs started seeing how much people were willing to pay for Apple stuff and "adjusted" their pricing to match without really changing quality. My issue is that the entire world of consumer products, everything from Mountain Dew to high-end supercars, has joined the chorus of, "Supply chain issues! Supply chain issues!". Do those play a part? No. Is that the whole story? Of course not. Manufacturers have seen how much people will pay for something, and they're moving their pricing up to match. And that's how you end up with plastic-shelled N4500-powered junk laptops with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $300.

Because laptops usually last a decent amount of time and the CPU is actually the limiting factor not the RAM etc. Batteries are also user replaceable you just need a screwdriver, plastic picks and some isopropyl alcohol, it’s just cheaper and less hassle to get it replaced by the OEM. 
 

Then don’t buy that product? Theees a reason the MacBook costs a grand, if another manufacturer comes in at the same price with a lower quality product just don’t buy it. 

[Kimmaz]

I dont like the strict way the phones lock you out of your device if you forget your email, password, username and phone number. I have tried to help friends and family get into their phones and its also a problem when you loose/break your phone and buy a new device. Its almost impossible to sign into and start using the phone for many people.

My mother has had her Nokia Android phone for 2 years and is still unable to download apps without a user, she uses the apps it came with and calls/texts.

[Neroon]

Probably been mentioned already, but for me it's a lot of the stuff in cars these days.

 

For 1 I'm very much against moving all the controls to touchscreens or other touch input, I think this is flatout dangerous. Obviously a bunch of controls are fine, we are talking about things you set maybe once, or things that you really set before driving, for example mirror placements, car seat, navigation etc that's fine. But when we are talking about wipers, lights, climate control, music etc that should all be done through physical buttons and knobs.

 

On top of that I'm not a fan of systems these days, I've already started to notice that when I bought a 2009 BMW E93, which has an early infotainment system (the old iDrive), which effectively means that Bluetooth music isn't supported, and maps were supported up to 2018 (this system dates back to like 2004?), so I switched to an Android Headunit, but this brings some complications.

Now this only gets worse on newer cars, when more and more gets integrated in the system, and while they are fine when they are being supported, down the line you will be shit out of luck. 

We replace our phones fairly quickly, most people don't last longer than a few years, and once we pass 5 years it's quite old. Now sure you can keep using it and that's fine, but you can also replace it for like 200.

 

With cars they just last way longer, my car is 13 years old, this can easily double, yet it hasn't been supported for nearly 5 years. Now with an aux cable and a phone with a 3.5mm jack, you could do alright with 5 year old maps, but in 5 years this would just be trash. My phone doesn't have a jack (Fold 3), and with how quickly things are build here, there are quite a lot of places that I cannot find in the navigation.

 

If I compared that to my 2 previous cars (BMW E46 - 2000 and Peugeot 307cc - 2006), the difference is pretty massive, because the E46 basically had nothing, and the Peugeot had a seperate display for it, so I installed Android headunits in both, and they were super easy and clean installs, and didn't interfere with anything.

 

The worst part of it all, is that people buying these cars don't give a fuck. If you are the type of person that buys a brand new car, why would you care if the maps still get updated 10 years later? You very likely won't be owning it anymore anyway.

 

Systems like Android Auto does solve this somewhat, but not all cars support that, especially the older ones that predate that software.

 

Oh and it also leaves the question as to functionality, with more and more cars having all these extra screens, huds etc, the question remains if those will work with other inputs.

[Coaxialgamer]

Not directly tech-related, but I hate the fact that everyone and their moms are ditching sedans and hatchbacks for SUVs and crossovers. Those cars are heavier, less aerodynamic, and even more dangerous to pedestrians. People bought them to so they could feel secure, driving above most of the traffic, but the net result was a tall car arms race with everyone ultimately ending up at the same height again. And don't even get me started on the topic of 3-ton electric SUVs with 500+hp being marketed as "green".

 

Not to mention they all pretty much look the same now, to an even greater extent than previous generations of cars.

 

[BetteBalterZen]

The Lightning connector

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, Coaxialgamer said:

Not directly tech-related, but I hate the fact that everyone and their moms are ditching sedans and hatchbacks for SUVs and crossovers. Those cars are heavier, less aerodynamic, and even more dangerous to pedestrians. People bought them to so they could feel secure, driving above most of the traffic, but the net result was a tall car arms race with everyone ultimately ending up at the same height again. And don't even get me started on the topic of 3-ton electric SUVs with 500+hp being marketed as "green".

 

Not to mention they all pretty much look the same now, to an even greater extent than previous generations of cars.

 

The bright, and raised headlights are of no help to the holdouts of smaller cars. I’m unsure what the appeal of SUVs are. They handle like poo. 
 

1 hour ago, BetteBalterZen said:

The Lightning connector

Tbf, the Lightning connector was dramatically superior to MicroUSB, and that 40-pin cable Apple was using before. Not going to fault Apple for adopting it in the first place, though criticism may be fairly directed at holding onto it for too long. 

[BetteBalterZen]

Just now, Zodiark1593 said:

Tbf, the Lightning connector was dramatically superior to MicroUSB, and that 40-pin cable Apple was using before. Not going to fault Apple for adopting it in the first place, though criticism may be fairly directed at holding onto it for too long. 

Good point hehe

[Neroon]

3 hours ago, Coaxialgamer said:

Not directly tech-related, but I hate the fact that everyone and their moms are ditching sedans and hatchbacks for SUVs and crossovers. Those cars are heavier, less aerodynamic, and even more dangerous to pedestrians. People bought them to so they could feel secure, driving above most of the traffic, but the net result was a tall car arms race with everyone ultimately ending up at the same height again. And don't even get me started on the topic of 3-ton electric SUVs with 500+hp being marketed as "green".

 

Not to mention they all pretty much look the same now, to an even greater extent than previous generations of cars.

 

While not a fan of them personally, the extra height can definitely be beneficial. My gf drives a Kia Ceed (stationwagon), and getting our daughter out is hard on her back because she has to bend too much. Elderly have trouble getting in the car. Like I said, I drive a BMW 3 series, and both my mom and mother in law have real trouble getting in, due to how low the car is. I mean I got the car because I wanted a luxure 4 seat hard top convertible, but man when I get in a SUV, it really is nice getting in.

 

But yeah I follow your train of thought, with them getting more and more popular here as well, my vision gets harder and harder because of all these higher cars, headlights are often too high blinding me in my mirrors, and I remember when the Model X was the first SUV to max the safety rating for not rolling over, because the car was so extremely heavy on the bottom due to the batteries, that it offset the instability due to it's height. 

All in all, I do like the somewhat higher cars, so usually the crossover type cars, but my brother drives a Mazda Premacy, which is listed as an MPV/Minivan, which is a great mix between things if you want to be a little bit heigher. It's about 6 cm's lower than a BMW X3.

[SimplyChunk]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:52 PM, Kisai said:

What I want is for the M2 drives to be put on the BACK side of the motherboard and give me back my 7 PCIe slots.

Plus not only that.  If you were installing drives in to these back sided M.2 slots you'd lose the PCIe lanes anyway.  Then you'd have the headache of "If PCIe M.2 installed in M.2 slot 2.  PCIe slots 2-3 cannot be used"  "If all M.2 slots occupied.  Only PCIe slot 1 available" Same as back when SATA M.2 used to take away SATA port availablity from the user

[Coaxialgamer]

2 hours ago, Neroon said:

While not a fan of them personally, the extra height can definitely be beneficial. My gf drives a Kia Ceed (stationwagon), and getting our daughter out is hard on her back because she has to bend too much. Elderly have trouble getting in the car. Like I said, I drive a BMW 3 series, and both my mom and mother in law have real trouble getting in, due to how low the car is. I mean I got the car because I wanted a luxure 4 seat hard top convertible, but man when I get in a SUV, it really is nice getting in.

 

But yeah I follow your train of thought, with them getting more and more popular here as well, my vision gets harder and harder because of all these higher cars, headlights are often too high blinding me in my mirrors, and I remember when the Model X was the first SUV to max the safety rating for not rolling over, because the car was so extremely heavy on the bottom due to the batteries, that it offset the instability due to it's height. 

All in all, I do like the somewhat higher cars, so usually the crossover type cars, but my brother drives a Mazda Premacy, which is listed as an MPV/Minivan, which is a great mix between things if you want to be a little bit heigher. It's about 6 cm's lower than a BMW X3.

they are nice indeed. My parents drive a crossover precisely because of the ease of access you mentioned. And I will admit that driving high is nice. However, with most cards being of this type now where I live, you're hardly "above traffic" anymore either. You're just higher up

[wasab]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:42 AM, Arika S said:

more of a consumer tech trend:

 

upgrading every generation

 

the amount of people i've seen on this forum and else where on the internet with the last gen top of the line hardware saying they are upgrading to the top of the line for the next gen (3090 > 4090, i9 12900k > i9 13900K etc)

only enthusiasts  and computer nerds which this forum is full of. normal people just buy consoles and then some none gaming computers for productivity 

[DeadnightWarrior]

Quite a few, actually.

 

About smartphones:

- Displays getting bigger and bigger. I want a phone that can easily fit in my pocket, not a chopping board!

- Less and less physical buttons: if the touchscreen fails, you're screwed.

- Removal of headphone jack.

 

About computers:

- The need to have online accounts for everything (Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc.): having to be logged in just to barely USE my PC is ridiculous.

- Software sold as recurring subscriptions and no more as full copies. I can cope with that but at least, let me use my old PAID full copy without forcing me to a monthly payment!

- The same goes for games, with the disappearance of physical copies. Say one day Steam goes bankrupt or even just offline for a few days, and you can't even start your PAID games.

- Removal of all external drive bays from cases, even the bigger and badder ones: it would be so easy to just implement a nearly invisible cutout on the front panel and, say, a 2x4" removable piece of metal on maybe 1 out of 5 case models but nope...

- The awfully awkward USB nomenclature: 3.0, then 3.1, then 3.2 gen1... ARGH!

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something!

[Takumidesh]

3 minutes ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

The same goes for games, with the disappearance of physical copies. Say one day Steam goes bankrupt or even just offline for a few days, and you just can't even start your PAID games.

I find that this is only a problem with PC games.
I think the middle ground solution of course is the removal of DRM. I have no problem with keeping games on a HDD, the problem comes in when you need Steam or another service to actually use them.
IMO, a game on a disc vs a hard drive is effectively the same, If I wanted to keep cold storage copies of games I can easily do that by writing them to a disk and storing that.

[DeadnightWarrior]

Just now, Takumidesh said:

I think the middle ground solution of course is the removal of DRM. I have no problem with keeping games on a HDD, the problem comes in when you need Steam or another service to actually use them.

This is precisely what I was talking about. I paid for a piece of software, so I just want to be able to use it whenever and wherever I want.

GOG is maybe the only good example among gaming services.

[Takumidesh]

@DeadnightWarriorYea i agree, I was just expanding because I think sometimes the concept of the storage medium and the DRM itself can be conflated.