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Technology needs to slow down

G

guyver_dio

Member
I think technology needs to slow down and improve what is currently available.

Does anyone find they spend more time getting some things to work than actually using whatever it is for what it's intended to do? I've spent a few days trying to get videos to stream from my pc to my girlfriends ipad2 and after trialing almost every app available and a buttload of troubleshooting I still can't get the damn thing to work.

I've also been working in the IT industry for years so I'm quite adept at troubleshooting and have approached this in every way that i can think of.

Really, approaching the end of 2011 don't you think this should be a pretty standard thing to do, seeing as portable devices are used so frequently and have more than enough power to do this, I would have thought I could simply click on the app and browse my files, but no, yet again I'm having to spend hours looking up possible ways to fix the problem.

This by no means is the only thing I've had to do this, alot of things I try to do with portable devices takes hours of setting up and troubleshooting. Anyone else feel the same way and getting sick of it?
 
I have to disagree with you simply because what you're trying to do is very simple for some people, so I see no need to slow technology down just for you. I am in no way trying to be insulting.

I have my Droid X connecting to my PC easily, I even have remote desktop working to my PC and ssh.

Is it possible that you have firewall rules in place that are not allowing you to accomplish your goals?
 
pool_shark said:
I have to disagree with you simply because what you're trying to do is very simple for some people, so I see no need to slow technology down just for you. I am in no way trying to be insulting.

I have my Droid X connecting to my PC easily, I even have remote desktop working to my PC and ssh.

Is it possible that you have firewall rules in place that are not allowing you to accomplish your goals?
Click to expand...

I was thinking this could be the problem as well. I was having trouble setting up a remote desktop, but as soon as I did a port forward I was able to get it working.

It's nice seeing tech develop so quickly, it's just a matter of time before we have some Minority Report technology. :)
 
You need to slow down on how you use technology!
When I grew up, things were not automatic. We had a wringer washer, and doing the laundry took most of the day. You planned for it. You cleaned on a different day.
You made time to weed flowers/garden, and still managed time to sit and listen to or watch your soap operas (mother was addicted) or get to the beach for the afternoon.

Since there are more 2 income and sometimes more than 2 job households now, you can't plan and get overwhelmed.

One thing you never say with anything digital - especially computers.
"I can do this in 5 minutes"
That's exactly the time you will run into a glitch!
 
I think we need to improve our focus with technology. I love the segment during Lewis Black stand up where he said we cared more about iPhone and Twitter, but not renewable energy. A lot of this is tied in with the appalling copyright laws today too.
 
someguy43210 said:
I think we need to improve our focus with technology. I love the segment during Lewis Black stand up where he said we cared more about iPhone and Twitter, but not renewable energy. A lot of this is tied in with the appalling copyright laws today too.
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Yeah our focus is waaaay off. It seems that most of the innovation we have seen in the past few years is based around our entertainment. Entertainment doesn't advance society...Actually, with the kind of entertainment we have today, I think its moving us backwards. I mean, when was the last time a scientific discovery (and there have been plenty) got as much attention as Justin Beiber's twittering?

With regards to the topic at hand. It isn't technology that needs to slow down, it's you that needs to keep up, or get left behind.
 
I only adopt technology that's worth my time. That means I don't even own a cellphone (I've always hated talking on the phone), and still watch a tube tv, and record movies off it with a VCR. But I do own a tablet computer now, because it does so many things that I want to do. If it took me a little time to get used to it, and add apps (I need to visit the library to do this), it's more than worth it.
I think the main problem with technology is that people let it drive them, rather than driving the technology. You really don't have to buy the latest gizmo's if you don't want to.
And actually, having had one of those black & orange monochrome screens & 286 computer to match, I remember the days when NOTHING was plug and play <--gosh that does make me feel ancient.
 
I would say that tinkering with my device all day to get it to work is much more enjoyable and more rewarding than having to spend the entire day doing laundary like in the olden days.
 
I remember one of my first laptop computers. A nice little 486, with 4 megabytes of RAM and a 40 Mb HDD. Crappy screen, but it was cool and it took considerable effort to fill up the HDD. I seem to recall that a 486 with 4mB of RAM and a 40mB HDD stayed current for several years, perhaps three. Now, I don&#8217;t think I can give it away. For a long time, 4 MB was standard and few manufacturers offered 8 MB. At least that is how I remember it. The price difference was high.

Mine cost around three grand or so. Lots of cash.

Then laptops exploded, the market grew rapidly and my laptop became "worthless" in short order. Today, I can buy last year's model for less money because something "better" arrives the next day.

I remember when an IBM memory expansion board with LESS than 1 megabyte of RAM was about a grand. It was 512K as I recall. I can only imagine how much RAM I can buy for a grand today. I remember Palm Pilots. Amazing at the time, but replaced with a phone that is cheaper, faster, in living color and wireless.

I once manufactured Modems. Now they are outdated and useless. When we started building USRobotic&#8217;s 56K models, it was cool beans. Blazing speed at the time. Wireless WIFI arrived and I can do almost anything from almost anywhere I want to do it from. I can use an AirStash drive to transfer files to my iDevices wirelessly and it streams media, too. Built-in magic allows me to do this sans a router.

I can buy a cheap flat screen TV that is better than my tube TV. And the costs for tech drop daily, as newer, better, faster, and cheaper arrives. I can set a recording from Spain if I was in Spain and I wanted to. I can watch thieves break into my house from a laptop or a phone on the beach and I can purchase a robot to vacuum the carpets.

The Internet allows me to quickly research any topic imaginable and find hundreds of places to learn all sorts of new and inaccurate things. I can watch cute kittens doing cute, kitteny stuff on the YouTube, while eating my Moons over My Hammy at Denny&#8217;s or learn how to tie a proper knot, or the secrets of how Denny&#8217;s gets all that flavor into Moons over My Hammy in the first place, all from the comfort of a booth.

I can order a pizza and wings from the comfort of Denny&#8217;s to be delivered tonight while I watch TV on Demand controlled from the iPad in my kitchen. And stream it to a device in my bathroom. You can pause live TV for God&#8217;s sake. It ain&#8217;t your father&#8217;s Oldsmobile.

I now know that the earth is flat, Bush is the Devil, and the Harley-Davidson "K" Model was the first Sportster, or not, or no mention of the bike.

So there is much to condemn and thank technology for giving us. Things never dreamt of in your philosophy. I can sell something to some wanker and I do not need to print, package, or ship. And I do not need to go to the bank or outside the house because we get UPS/FedEX here in Utah.

All thanks to technology.
 
Bob Maxey said:
I remember one of my first laptop computers. A nice little 486, with 4 megabytes of RAM and a 40 Mb HDD. Crappy screen, but it was cool and it took considerable effort to fill up the HDD. I seem to recall that a 486 with 4mB of RAM and a 40mB HDD stayed current for several years, perhaps three. Now, I don
Click to expand...
 
trackball said:
Yeah our focus is waaaay off. It seems that most of the innovation we have seen in the past few years is based around our entertainment. Entertainment doesn't advance society...Actually, with the kind of entertainment we have today, I think its moving us backwards. I mean, when was the last time a scientific discovery (and there have been plenty) got as much attention as Justin Beiber's twittering?

With regards to the topic at hand. It isn't technology that needs to slow down, it's you that needs to keep up, or get left behind.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree, but remember, in the good old days, when there was a Hollywood, there were more than a hundred gossip magazines and "Yellow Sheets." I am certain many people thought some forms of entertainment we love today, was terrible crap back in the day.

I think Twitter and Face Book will go away when something else arrives that is just as silly and goofy.

I recall reading in one of PAiA's old magazines (I think it was a PAiA publication) several interesting quotes about how terrible the music of the day was. The author was talking about composers some of us love from the Classical Era.

My parents thought the Beatles and the Stones were a waste, and some people thought fins on a car was a bit too much.

Every generation feels the entertainment of the day stinks, so it will require allot of time before we can determine just how bad today is.
 
Whether you like the entertainment or not, what matters is people seem to be more obsessed with it. I remember mother and sister-in-law calling up every day to discuss the latest soap, but only when they had time to spare. If the kids were coming home from school or it was time to start cooking, down went the phone. You tended to business or duty first before enjoying yourself.

There are complaints about people and cell phones in movies, in restaurants, etc.
These people don't even have the manners to ignore the phone if they are placing an order at a drive-in fast food place.

I am not a fan of having someone's kids running wild since mom is too damn busy with texting, twitter or FB. Those kids are her responsibility, not mine.
 
Bob Maxey said:
I tend to agree, but remember, in the good old days, when there was a Hollywood, there were more than a hundred gossip magazines and "Yellow Sheets." I am certain many people thought some forms of entertainment we love today, was terrible crap back in the day.

I think Twitter and Face Book will go away when something else arrives that is just as silly and goofy.

I recall reading in one of PAiA's old magazines (I think it was a PAiA publication) several interesting quotes about how terrible the music of the day was. The author was talking about composers some of us love from the Classical Era.

My parents thought the Beatles and the Stones were a waste, and some people thought fins on a car was a bit too much.

Every generation feels the entertainment of the day stinks, so it will require allot of time before we can determine just how bad today is.
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Yeah, my point wasn't meant to be about the old vs. new or the "quality" of entertainment, it was meant to be about how we focus too much on entertainment in our daily lives and not things that actually matter, things that have consequences to civilization. I tend to feel we are an over-entertained culture.
 
Anything that entails duty. If you have kids, it's your duty to raise them, not society.
If you have a house, that means budgeting for mortgage, food, other necessities. If you have a pet, take care of it. Sometimes your job.

That means putting all this well in front of what you really want or want to do.

The Verizon ad about deserving a certain phone - you don't deserve it unless you can pay for it. And that means all the necessarys like data, text, tethering charges.
You don't buy the phone, then scamp on other payments that are more important.
Playing Angry Birds isn't as important as your family, or other commitments.
 
If they are flash videos they will not play, IPad, IPhone any Apple products do not support flash because Steve Jobs got a hair up his back side, so he decided to screw his customers by taking flash support out of all Apple products.

If they are not flash, what are they?
 
Are we implying that it is entertainment that takes away from people's duty? There have been ads stating that we deserve things since back when ads were invented I am sure.

I asked this question because it seems to me that entertainment is the easy answer as to why we are the way we are, much like violent video games are the easy asnwer as to why kids kill each-other in school.

There have been, currently are, and always will be crappy parents that don't take proper care of their kids. Stating that entertainment is the reason behind this is quite the serious accusation IMO.
 
androidfonefan said:
If they are flash videos they will not play, IPad, IPhone any Apple products do not support flash because Steve Jobs got a hair up his back side, so he decided to screw his customers by taking flash support out of all Apple products.

If they are not flash, what are they?
Click to expand...

I am so incredibly confused by this statement (rather why it is in this thread) that I can't even begin to explain it.
 
trackball said:
Yeah, my point wasn't meant to be about the old vs. new or the "quality" of entertainment, it was meant to be about how we focus too much on entertainment in our daily lives and not things that actually matter, things that have consequences to civilization. I tend to feel we are an over-entertained culture.
Click to expand...

That said, take a look at what happened when TV arrived or ticket sales during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

There were no video games, but amusement parks and carnivals and the circus blew up. No 345 television channels, but had there been, chances are, people would have been glued to their crazy boxes just like today.

I do not think things are different today, just more options available. People would have inhaled the tech of today, decades ago had it been available.
 
androidfonefan said:
If they are flash videos they will not play, IPad, IPhone any Apple products do not support flash because Steve Jobs got a hair up his back side, so he decided to screw his customers by taking flash support out of all Apple products.

If they are not flash, what are they?
Click to expand...

Perhaps it would serve you well to read the statement made by Mr. Jobs before you come off as an under informed Apple Hater in need of a little more education. Mr. Jobs makes a pretty good case and I find it hard to argue against.

So fund the statement, have a read, and come back for a little logical debate.

I play (or can/could) flash this and that on my iPad. Frash is available even though I have yet to use it.

The need for Flash is over discussed and not as important as you seem to think.
 
lordofthereef said:
What are some of these things that we should be focused more on?
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I had an answer, but I am at a loss. I do think it is good to leave the PC alone and occasionally read a book. Have a party, play with the dog, rebuild a vintage Indian, drink more single malt and a nice cigar is fine, too.

You could say forget FB/Twitter/Forums but so many people make these things a part of their life, I am not so sure they can just say no. In my day, we read books and in my day, Mom encouraged us to get outside and play rather than read books.

We play, but it is often video games. I recall spending lots of quarters in the arcades playing.

I think we should celebrate National Be A Luddite Week and eliminate high tech for the week. By that time, we will have forgotten our passwords and we can start over.
 
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