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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 22nd, 2023

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  • A fridge keeping track of inventory is a massive PITA until all food has NFC chips in it and that raises further concerns.

    I’d rather have a barcode scanner over the trash can if I’m gonna connect that much. Or even better, a full on camera. Then I can use it to scan barcodes on stuff as I throw it in the trash, plus semi-important mail and receipts.


  • That’s actually a cool little gimmick of some of the smart features. Downloading extra finish jingles.

    Of course these are only a few bytes (or so I’d hope). And limited to what they do. Still sometimes they have seasonal selections. It’s cute and gimmicky and totally unnecessary, sure. But that’s the charm.


  • Push notifications are nice. Especially when the washer is uneven. But especially nice just to get a notification when it’s done.

    Maintenance reminders too.

    Best is when you leave the house with a blanket and a hoodie in the dryer on “remote start” mode. Turn it on when your 10-15 minutes from home and have a hot blanket and hoodie to snuggle up in as soon as you walk in the door.




  • Bluetooth does, legitimately, suck, for gaming though.

    The only official two-way audio profile (that is, mic and speaker working simultaneously) mandates a low bitrate mono audio.

    Stereo audio itself has a slight latency which may be fine for music or even movies (especially with lip sync adjustments), but for gaming it can be a problem when your audio is a big part of your situational awareness.

    I don’t mind not supporting Bluetooth for games, at least for multiplayer. 3.5mm to controller and a proprietary protocol for the audio is the perfect compromise. For single player or media, though, I’d agree it’s dumb.


  • jasondj@ttrpg.networkto196@lemmy.blahaj.zoneRule
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    1 year ago

    This is a beautiful analysis. They can make perfect people, or plants, or whatever, and they know what we would identify as “perfect”…but by being perfect, they can’t be real, and our brains recognize that. So the art has to be intentionally made imperfect. But intentionally making an imperfection that seems real is actually a lot more difficult than it sounds.

    This is like how I feel when I see amazing vocalists intentionally sing way off-key. Like, you can tell they are singing badly on purpose.


  • Wait, what do you think is happening? Do you think the car just wants to see a tow truck driver and is acting out to get its way?

    The vehicle is immobile. There is more to do to prep it for towing than simple shift-to-neutral. The message explains how to do that. What the fuck about the message is keeping it from functioning?


  • That message is for the tow truck operator pulling out the car.

    Believe it or not, sometimes the tow truck operator sees something for the first time. Sometimes, even, the savvy car owner sees things for the first time.

    I had an 86 Cougar that got struck in the rear quarter panel and wouldn’t start. While I was waiting for a tow, as luck would have it, my regular tow truck driver lived right in front of where I broke down (I’d crossed paths with this guy a lot of times because my dad was restoring a car and had bought a couple donor cars to pull parts from). He showed me that there’s a safety switch in the trunk that turns off power to the fuel pump. He reset it and it started right up.

    Now, guaranteed, at one point in time this guy had never seen a post-Pinto Ford that wouldn’t start after a collision. I’m sure a screen that told him (or the owner) that there’s a safety switch would’ve helped him that day.

    Now, when my jeep radiator hose cracked and I didn’t want to risk driving it home overheating, the tow truck driver (AAA) saved me a tow by cutting back a bit of the hose and reattaching it with the good part in tact. That’s the type of trick that a good driver knows and can share. But you can’t expect them to know of the safeties and bypasses of dozens of different configurations that come out every year, off-hand, potentially somewhere without internet access.


  • Modern cars have some stupid functions in the form of nicities.

    How are you going to put a car in neutral if it’s a push-button shift that’s unresponsive because the infotainment system has to boot for the transmission control module (probably for some stupid reason like being able to display errors like this).

    My wife’s minivan has a push button shift. And automatic headlights. You want to go to the drive-in? Gotta hit the (pushbutton) park-brake to disable the auto headlights. And the radio will turn off every 30 minutes during the movie to save battery.



  • There’s other factors than just brushing your teeth but brushing is probably the easiest factor that most people can reasonably take control of.

    Genetics, obviously you can’t do much about. But you can avoid sweets and decide not to get pregnant (hormonal changes during pregnancy can cause mouths to get more acidic and make plaque harder to remove, and can also soften the gums and bones that hold teeth in, or even weaken the teeth directly). Also, if you want nice teeth, it’s especially important to abstain from smoking crystal meth. And that’s even more important during pregnancy.

    But telling everybody “brush twice a day for two minutes” is a small ask with huge returns.


  • Guidance for preschools around me is for them to brush kids teeth after every meal that’s served at school.

    That was recently reinstated after being suspended for a couple years and the teachers are practically (as much as they legally can) begging the parents to sign the waivers to opt their kids out of it. I don’t blame them. It seems excessive and it’d take a ton of time for two teachers to scrub a dozen or so sets of toddler teeth, while also controlling said toddlers while they wait for everyone to finish.






  • jasondj@ttrpg.networktoLinux@lemmy.mlThe future of Linux
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    1 year ago

    I’m a big fan of retired systems for every day use. A 14 year old server has more function as a space heater and whitenoise generator than a desktop, though.

    7th-8th gen Intel retired corporate desktops and laptops from Dell/Lenovo/HP are a dime a dozen on eBay man. Lenovos tend to run Linux very well out of the box. And Linus himself sent his daughter to college with a Dell XPS.


  • Large smart appliances aren’t dumb about what they do. I have LG smart dishwasher and washer/dryer…can’t remote start any of them unless I power them on and press the remote start button and shut the door first.

    If the door opens again, then remote start gets locked out again, until the remote start button gets pressed on the console.

    Also, people talk shit but I love getting a push when the washer/dryer/dishwasher is done, or when the kids leave the fridge door open. And tossing a quilt/blanket/comforter in the dryer and hitting “remote start” before leaving for the day, and then turn it on to tumble a bit on your way home so you can just snuggle up with a fresh hot blanket is next-level living my man.

    One thatsurprisingly can’t be solved by electric blankets, since most default to “off” when power is restored, so you can’t use them effectively with a smart plug.