What's been a backwards step in technology for you?

[Blue Hills]

Keyless entry on cars. You've now got to put a huge physical lock on the steering wheel to stop it from being stolen.

And folks used to of course use those anyway.
So much for progress.
I recommend the reintroduction of the starting crank.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

One more thing that genuinely concerns me. Tech can easily become proprietary, so tamper proof. That is a good thing isn't it? Yes and no. For example, take a car. You don't want a fool who thinks he knows what he is doing messing about with critical systems, which could cause a big accident. But on the other hand, you might be forced to go to main dealers for repair, updates etc which then removes choice and puts you at the mercy of their prices. There are excellent mechanics out there who are cheaper, more trustworthy and more competent than main dealers but they don't want you to go anywhere else, they never have done but they have a way to lock that down now. So, im not sure that is a step forward for customers AKA the majority of people who drive.

Renault did this a few years ago, each injector had effectively a MAC address & the only way you could install in in your engine was to get Renault to program it in otherwise the ECU would not recognise it as being there, not sure if they still do this.

Keyless entry on cars. You've now got to put a huge physical lock on the steering wheel to stop it from being stolen.

We've had a keyless entry car for 8 years & never put a physical lock on it or had it stolen, brilliant piece of kit.

 

[MichaelW2]

Keyless entry on cars. You've now got to put a huge physical lock on the steering wheel to stop it from being stolen.

Auto unlock on all doors is a security issue if you need to keep bad people out of your car.

 

[byegad]

It genuinely seems like the manufacturers WANT their cars to be stolen. 30 seconds tops in, started and down the road..

Yes. Our last car had keyless entry, we kept our keys in a Faraday cage bag when not using the car. I've always used a lock on the steering wheel or gear lever to handbrake lock. I know they can be defeated quite quickly, but I work on the fact that other cars don't have them so a thief will go for their car first.

I'm old enough to remember bad publicity about Porsche vulnerability to theft. They made a huge fuss about their latest model being unstealable. Esther Rantzen on her programme arranged for 'an ex-car thief' to attempt to take one from a London street. The deal was that they film, but not interfere, except to come to his rescue should he be challenged. The Porsche main dealer was invited to watch the film. In which the 'ex-thief' walked up and looked at the car, walked off, (the dealer was looking smug enough to win prizes) and returned with the kind of lorry the police use to lift badly parked cars off the street. The moment he lifted it the alarm in the car went off, nobody even looked in his direction, this on a busy street, as he drove off.
The dealers face was a picture!

Nothing, especially a car or and bike is unstealable, but you can make it hard enough that they'll go to another, unless they really want yours that is!

IMHO keyless entry, where the key signal an be scanned and boosted through a house wall was/is a retrograde step.

 

[Drago]

I was a late adopter of smarphone but find it really useful. When I am out shopping I can get product info and prices, location etc. The map is quite useful. On holiday I can access all the info without overloading my luggage.

Never had the need to do any of that.

And thats the issue. People surivive decades without one just fine - this demonstrates no genuine need.

They then acquire one, then they invent the need to retrospectively justify ownership.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

And thats the issue. People surivive decades without one just fine - this demonstrates no genuine need.

Bit like open heart surgery, civilisation survived millenia without it, oh & penicillin yeah we survived without it long enough.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I just find the smartphone useful.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I spent last week off grid with just the radio and some books. It was bliss.

 

[Blue Hills]

Bit like open heart surgery, civilisation survived millenia without it, oh & penicillin yeah we survived without it long enough.

Well actually nothing like open heart surgery at all.
But then i don't know you - maybe your smartphone is plugged into your left ventricle.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

There are definitely solutions out there that'll never find a problem. I'm reminded every time I see a newish Audi indicating to turn (so not too often)... those long strips of LEDs which light up sequentially, appearing to move in the direction that the car will turn.

Yes, because a flashing orange light on that side of the car was just too confusing.
Utterly, utterly pointless invention.

 

[mustang1]

Keyless entry on cars. You've now got to put a huge physical lock on the steering wheel to stop it from being stolen.

If you buy a Porsche with that option, you have to sign a disclaimer.

 

[mustang1]

There are definitely solutions out there that'll never find a problem. I'm reminded every time I see a newish Audi indicating to turn (so not too often)... those long strips of LEDs which light up sequentially, appearing to move in the direction that the car will turn.

Yes, because a flashing orange light on that side of the car was just too confusing.
Utterly, utterly pointless invention.

I like it, but I would not pay extra for it (assuming it's an option - idk). But at least Audi have long indicators that makes the pulsing action look ok. On other cars (Lexus and Range Rover come to mind), the indicators are so short that I cannot really tell if they are indicating or not.

Talking of car lights, new Vauxhall Astras have really small rear indicators and I see some cars like Nissans have really small front indicators that are right next to the LED DRL. In other cars, the DRL switches off when the indicator comes on which is far better.

Oh, another thing about those lights ... those dumb fog lights, which are now called turning lights, that come on when you turn the steering wheel. I cannot tell if someone is flashing at me and one of the lights is not working, or if they have the turning light on (in broad daylight no less).

 

[mustang1]

My old Samsung S4 mini's just been replaced for a new Google Pixel 3a phone after the 3 main apps I use stopped working for Android 4.

The apps function in the exact same way (so why the forced upgrade? ) and the phone holds charge a bit longer. But everything seems to take longer to do and is more complex. The old one just worked.

Maybe I'm getting old ...

IIRC, those 3A only get support until 2022...

 

[mustang1]

Planned obselesence in general. Also things like MS Office - it can be made so cheaply now that they've resorted to charging an annual fee for it's use (£52/year IIRC). SAying that, bluetooth things like headphones and car stereos, mine alwys work faultlessly. I've got BT headphones that work fine and were £15. I had a pair of Sony ones 8 years ago and they were £100, required a huge dock for pairing and charging, and never worked very well.

I find the purchasing of Adobe software sometimes confusing. I'm not sure if that's a deliberate ploy.

 

[MichaelW2]

I like it, but I would not pay extra for it (assuming it's an option - idk). But at least Audi have long indicators that makes the pulsing action look ok. On other cars (Lexus and Range Rover come to mind), the indicators are so short that I cannot really tell if they are indicating or not.

Talking of car lights, new Vauxhall Astras have really small rear indicators and I see some cars like Nissans have really small front indicators that are right next to the LED DRL. In other cars, the DRL switches off when the indicator comes on which is far better.

Oh, another thing about those lights ... those dumb fog lights, which are now called turning lights, that come on when you turn the steering wheel. I cannot tell if someone is flashing at me and one of the lights is not working, or if they have the turning light on (in broad daylight no less).

Indicators used to be on the corners of cars. They no longer have corners so the designers can do anything no matter how stupid. Putting indicators inside the main light clustre, putting indicators in the same position as other diffetent coloured lights.
You can see the far side indicator of cars at junctions now.