General design stupidity

[somebodyelse]

Isn't that a bit dangerous in that the gas can be on and flooding the environment with flammable gas?

That's what flame supervision devices are for. Some of them are mechanical.

 

[dasdoing]

why are remotes black? you never find them in the dark.

 

[Blumlein 88]

why are remotes black? you never find them in the dark.

Plus why are any video TV related remotes not made with lighting?

 

[Tks]

Plus why are any video TV related remotes not made with lighting?

Same reason they're black (saves them from having to apply a silver or lighter coating, meaning quicker out the door) but in this case, saves them from having to pay a few more cents for the better remote with lighting underneath.. In general AKA cost cutting measures like basically every damn thing on the planet is being subjected to these days. From conception to final stamping. Nothing on this planet gets done without the cost cutting hounds being present at every phase of production. The only place they're having a somewhat blind-spot, is for some technicalities within the software sphere in terms of programming. They're too stupid to concern themselves about learning where they can apply the cost cutting without gutting the product's functionality, so they've not had the green light from executives to focus much here since whenever they get involved it's usually be far more than the issue of a remote's color.

 

[mansr]

Plus why are any video TV related remotes not made with lighting?

The universal remote I use (in place of 3 others) has backlit buttons, but the light only comes on after you've pressed something, at which point it's generally a little too late. OTOH, there are few enough buttons that it's easy to find the right one by touch.

My old Samsung TV remote had a dedicated button to turn on the light, and this one glowed in the dark. Not a bad idea. Too bad it was hideously ugly.

 

[Koeitje]

I don't want a silver or white remote. Silver is ugly as shit and white just means it will get dirty so incredibly quickly. Also, if the remote is designed well you don't need to see it, you can just feel what you are clicking.

 

[mansr]

The only place they're having a somewhat blind-spot, is for some technicalities within the software sphere in terms of programming. They're too stupid to concern themselves about learning where they can apply the cost cutting without gutting the product's functionality,

For software, the cost-cutting efforts often have the opposite effect. Someone will insist on cheapening the hardware by using budget ICs, only to find that they don't work as specified, leading to costly engineering time spent on workarounds, sometimes even PCB redesigns and warranty replacements when things fail in the field. Keeps me paid, though.

 

[Emlin]

I think God fucked up with the universe. Or whatever designed God. That sort of thing.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The universal remote I use (in place of 3 others) has backlit buttons, but the light only comes on after you've pressed something, at which point it's generally a little too late. OTOH, there are few enough buttons that it's easy to find the right one by touch.

My old Samsung TV remote had a dedicated button to turn on the light, and this one glowed in the dark. Not a bad idea. Too bad it was hideously ugly.

My Marantz remote has a button on the side so you'll have no trouble finding it or confusing it. You push that button and the keys all light up at that point. The others I have also have to push a button to light it up. They should either have a glow in the dark button or a single side button for lighting.

 

[restorer-john]

The universal remote I use (in place of 3 others) has backlit buttons, but the light only comes on after you've pressed something, at which point it's generally a little too late.

My universal has a movement sensor and an ambient light level sensor. In the dark, it backlights the touch screen as you pick it up. Best part, I picked it up from a bargain bin for 50c. True, and the batteries have lasted five years so far (3xAAA).

 

[mansr]

My Marantz remote has a button on the side so you'll have no trouble finding it or confusing it. You push that button and the keys all light up at that point.

I have one of those as well. In normal use, though, only three of the myriad buttons ever see any action (power and volume). Same for the other remotes, which is why I went for a universal that condenses all the things I actually use onto fewer buttons than either of the originals alone.

 

[mansr]

My universal has a movement sensor and an ambient light level sensor. In the dark, it backlights the touch screen as you pick it up. Best part, I picked it up from a bargain bin for 50c. True, and the batteries have lasted five years so far (3xAAA).

I can't stand touchscreen remotes. Despite the name, they can't be operated by touch alone.

 

[DoubleWoofers]

This thread is for venting on bad product design, especially when this replaces something perfectly good. My credit card prompted me to start this so lets start there:

Why in the world are credit cards going from cards with nice large raised numbers to designs with a blank front side and small print on the back. And in my case not just small print but print with almost no contrast - light grey against slightly darker grey. I honestly cannot read these.

I believe the answer is security, it makes it harder to use a camera to pick up the numbers from a distance.

 

[DoubleWoofers]

When I tell Google to change the light to RED, it basically gives me a blank stare. Blue, Orange, White, anything else works, but RED? No. It is missing the ability to contextualize RED to the color and not READ, as in reading. I am pretty certain it used to work. Crimson Red, Blood Red, etc. and it works.

There are a lot of things about Amazon and Google automation that really makes me shake my head. Then again it boggles the mind some design choices in cars after a century.

 

[mansr]

When I tell Google to change the light to RED, it basically gives me a blank stare. Blue, Orange, White, anything else works, but RED?

It obviously thinks you're in the wrong district. Check your location settings.

 

[mansr]

I believe the answer is security, it makes it harder to use a camera to pick up the numbers from a distance.

On the other hand, if you do get a look at that side, you have both the card number and the CVV.

I suspect the change is largely due to aesthetics, though. A mostly blank front looks more "cool," and it seems to me this trend is largely confined to the "hip" new "banks" like Monzo and Revolut. Now get off my lawn.

 

[Tks]

For software, the cost-cutting efforts often have the opposite effect. Someone will insist on cheapening the hardware by using budget ICs, only to find that they don't work as specified, leading to costly engineering time spent on workarounds, sometimes even PCB redesigns and warranty replacements when things fail in the field. Keeps me paid, though.

Those disasters are only something I imagine mostly executive morons would be capable of. The sort of cost cutting to software I'm talking about concerns UI/UX grievances. Like having to restart your computer to change your resolution sort of cost-cutting (obviously this example isn't an actual thing, but you perhaps grasp my gist to the sort of things I allude to a bit more).

 

[Tks]

I can't stand touchscreen remotes. Despite the name, they can't be operated by touch alone.

The only one I had the displeasure of using is the one found on the older Nvidia shield TV remote (which they got rid of after years of people complaining about how idiotic the volume control was, basically impossible to use with any sort of precision... Imagine just a touch sensitive portion of the remote with no feedback of any sort, where you would slide your finger and try to adjust volume). It's hard to explain but it's that particular type of stupidity because volume steps aren't handled like something you see on an iPhone where moving the volume up and down easily shows on-screen because it's grounded on a precise plane the screen allows you to see. On these screen-less touch-remotes, the reference point is nonexistent.

Not only that, you'd be a clown to think "just use your television and look at the volume indicator move as you move your finger over the touch portion of the remote). Firstly, it's not smooth in two ways. The first way it's not smooth is due to the piss poor garbage sensitivity and acceleration curves on the remote itself. That is then paired with a piss poor amount of volume steps that jump like some stepped relay, but without the feedback associated with stepped relay controls in real life. So it stutters because the remote itself sucks, and it jumps because there is a limited amount of volume steps. This isn't like some iPhone sort of smooth operation, it's an utter disaster.

Multi-trillion/billion dollar companies, yet still forever will make mistakes high schoolers would avoid. Unbelievable that it's considered that adults work in some of these places.

 

[RayDunzl]

Due to a boo boo I locked the car keys in the trunk.

Locksmith put a wire though the doorframe to pull the handle to open the door.

At least that worked.

So the alarm went off - BEEP BEEP BEEP

Press the button to open the trunk, no good. The alarm is activated and the trunk button is defeated.

Locksmith partially disassembles the lock to see a code inside it.

All this with continuous BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Gets the code, goes to his truck makes a key (fancy side grooved thing), locks and closes the door, unlocks the door with the key - BEEP BEEP silence. Ahh.

Trunk button works now. Get keys.

Thank you $$$

Put new "spare" key in wallet,

Later, play with the key at home.

Discover the key made will open everything and even crank the engine but not start it.

Depressing advances in technology abound, just waiting to be discovered.

 

[Palladium]

Multi-trillion/billion dollar companies, yet still forever will make mistakes high schoolers would avoid. Unbelievable that it's considered that adults work in some of these places.

Because these are full of unproductive people convincing other unproductive people otherwise.