I'll give just one example. A few weeks ago I took my baby to the doctor for a routine exam, which includes weighing.
Scales are an ancient, pretty straightforward technology. If a skilled craftsman built a scale 300 years ago and it was well maintained over the centuries, I think its reasonable to expect it to still work adequately, and a minimally trained person would be able to operate it.
However, this electronic scale was so complicated and full of gadgetry (including bluetooth) that the hospital staff were unable to weigh my child and we had to go back home and reschedule.
I can think of a million other examples (Juicero...) but I'm more curious to hear of real-life examples like the one I shared.
Best microwave I've ever used was made in, I think, the late 70s. Didn't even have a turntable, and worked just fine without it, somehow. No clock at all. The "UI" was two heavy-feeling knobs, one for power and one for time. Turn the time knob, and it starts cooking at your selected power until the time runs down, with the knob itself tick-tocking down to zero and setting off a physical(!) buzzer. Want to add more time? Turn the knob while it's still running, no problem. Realize you added too much time? Ditto, but in reverse. Exactly as you'd expect. Simply pull the door open, no button for that, even.
Intuitive, simple, felt great to use, and did 100% of what I want out of a microwave.
Basically anything that used to have real buttons and knobs that have been replaced by shitty-feeling rubber-covered buttons and knobs that merely communicate suggestions, hooked up to an embedded computer, has a worse UI than what it replaced. And don't get me started on touch-sensitive buttons. At least touch screens have some excuse, some purpose. Dedicated touch-sensitive buttons are like some kind of practical joke, and have been central to several of my worst experiences with products.
Luckily I've found a workaround - I turn on the child lock once I've set up the wash program, so these accidental touches are ignored.
It probably had a microwave "stirrer" -- basically just a rotating metal-bladed fan that the microwaves bounce off and get reflected to all parts of the oven cavity.
I believe large commercial microwaves may still use these. Residential models tend to use turntables because they're somewhat more compact.
I didn't realise it was old technology being remarketed.
The minimalist smartphone market is developing but still rather anemic in its offering. I continue to watch companies like humane and blloc to see if they can ultimately produce something that is more compelling. Time will tell, but I feel like this is a market we really need more investment in.
I used to dream about getting rid of both completely when I retire, but the way society and tech are going I expect that means I'd almost never see or hear from my kids or future grandkids or whoever. So, stuck with the crap still, I guess.
It may be an unpopular opinion on HN but I don't enjoy learning new syntaxes every year for relatively few benefits in new concepts or paradigms.
In my ideal world everyone would be using Lisp (my username checks out!) but so much power. It has a simple syntax (some say it has no syntax but I think that is a little hyperbole). In my ideal world new concepts and paradigms are implemented in Lisp using Lisp. I'd much rather spend time solving real problems that real human beings care about. I'd much rather learning new ways of solving problems with new paradigms. I don't want to waste hours learning new syntaxes and their gotchas and edge-cases!
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I'm convinced that Clojure will be the lisp-uber-language.
EDIT: I shouldn't have said "simple"; nothing ever is. I was being arrogant.
The best one I’ve used so far is Kotlin, which is a pleasure to use in comparison to Java, but this might be because I used it in an IDE written by the language designers themselves.
I don't understand why you need to pick up every new language that comes out. Can't you just hold down one job for longer than a year?
That was always my impression, you're writing the AST directly, then manipulating it with fancy macros.
people can't stop reinventing the wheel. everyone thinks they know better.
At least in Tesla's, it seems like a win for safety. No switching channels, no loading CDs/switching stations (just say "play pink floyd"), no playing with volume (it's on the steering wheel), automatic wipers, (with manual do it now on the stalk), automatic temp control, voice based nav that works well. Seat adjustments are on the seat. Cruise control following distances are on the steering wheel. Pause music is on the steering wheel (or automatic when you receive a call or ask for voice control).
Car's without touchscreens still often require looking, can you change your channel to preset #3 without looking? Switch from heat to AC mode? Defrost your front/rear windshield? Seems about the same as a touch screen, and relatively infrequent.
Not sure what people are doing on their touch screens, but I rarely touch mine, and when I look it's for more info about my environment, not less.
Even after spending thousands of dollars on a car, I'm not allowed to install alternative privacy friendly firmware on it. It's bad enough that there are AI-powered cameras with facial recognition everywhere, but thanks to HD cameras in every $100 phone, it's hard to walk in a public place without being in the background of an Instagram story.
Everyone is spying on me and every damn "smart" device is turned against me..
It takes a lot of energy to raise children and be a good partner. The anxiety introduced by constantly getting notified of what is being taught, what the grades are, what is missing EVERYDAY is not only overkill, but I think harmful.
My philosophy is that school (elementary, middle, high school) is a time to explore, be a kid, make mistakes, and do your best to navigate puberty.
The constant reminder of grades, grades, grades puts too much emphasis on my more school-inclined child to be obsessed with their identity as an "A" student, and my art-inclined child to rebel at every turn with us constantly stressing if she's "missed" anything.
Same with daycares. It used to be that the teachers would tell us if we needed to actually do something or bring something in.
Now, our kids miss out on school events because they are buried in single lines in one of the 4+ e-mails a day from them. And the response is always "didn't you see the e-mail?"
I bought already a couple of them, and somehow none of them seems to work well, or they are too sensitive and I can't figure out where to measure my temperature and what counts as fever.
I finally found some thermometers that I used when I was younger, and now I can reliably measure my temperature and I can tell what counts as fever.
They didn't actually made my life worse, I don't want to be that dramatic, but I definitely dislike them.