Yep, that's an advanced design alright

put

is

I'm not all that impressed. Why, the clock on my microwave oven keeps time _even when the oven's off_!

Mark L. Fergerson

On a sunny day (Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:20:51 -0700) it happened "Joel Koltner" wrote in :

Philips uses Linux and GPL software in some of their high end TVs. Did *I* program this ;-) ??? No don't remember.

put

is

Product manufacturers have a deep compulsion to add as many features into a product as possible, even if they are completely useless or actually hinder the usability of the product. If you can't sell it, it doesn't matter how usable it is; after you sell it, it doesn't matter if all the features get in the way of use.

Apparently this is the reason why I have a DVD remote control with 168 buttons, but all I know how to use are "play" and "pause".

Tim.

Many remote controls haven't had a lot of thought put into their usability.

I have this car stereo:

Apparently Alpine couldn't make up their minds -- sometimes it's one button, sometimes it's the other. In no case does pressing the "wrong" button do anything at all; it's simply ignored.

Kinda makes you think they could have dropped one of those two buttons from the design... or at the very least, aliased the two buttons together so that either one would work?

...grumble...

---Joel

On a sunny day (Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:32:32 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Tim Shoppa wrote in :

Bet you know about 'power on / off' and 'eject' too ;-)

Back in the 60's we called it "snow".

usability.

ml .=20

"ENT"=20

knob?

button,=20

do=20

from=20

that=20

But they had to dance around the goofy patents.

My Sirius is OEM, so I don't know the manufacturer. But it has a fricking joy stick on the dash... dumbest g-d thing imaginable :-(

...Jim Thompson

They must have had dimbulb on the design team.

To add insult to injury, you push straight in to choose a menu option... try doing that at 100MPH ;-)

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

Chose your music, before you DRAG race. ;-)

Once I get west of Maricopa I can do 100+ all the way to Yuma without any stops whatsoever. (And, for Joerg, beating the "3:10" :-)

...Jim Thompson

Except you need to slow down for those photo speed traps along the way...

One of them got me on my last trip through Arizona - $118!

Charlie

Reminds me of a time back in the late 70's I was headed out of Las Vegas on a back road. I was doing over 70 mph in my 280Z and got stopped. He gave me a ticket for doing 70. It was $15.

greg

Where? On I10? On I8, Phoenix-to-Yuma, it's mostly straight arrow, you can easily see to the horizon, and I've not seen photo radar out there... yet.

But $118 is cheap. I got snagged about a month ago by a motorcycle cop on Pecos Road, of all desolate places, for 65 in a 50 zone... $190 :-(

...Jim Thompson

That would have been a Jimmy Carter "Energy Ticket" ;-)

I got one of those about the same time. In _my_ '77 280Z ;-) I had just installed an Escort radar detector (big boxy thing in those days, big as a car radio now)), hanging from the T-roof support ;-)

I'm tooting toward Tucson, on I10, and wondering why the Escort would periodically beep just once... couldn't see anything down the road, just a Cottonwood tree in the median more than a mile down the road.

All of a sudden full alarm! Followed by both feet on the brakes. That's when I found out that a rapidly decelerating car can't be timed by radar ;-)

The cop (behind the Cottonwood) stopped me anyway, due to the trail of blue smoke, and gave me a lecture, and an energy ticket ;-) ...Jim Thompson

I saw a bunch of them on I10 for about 20 miles outside of Phoenix, but I think the one that actually got me was on the loop through Phoenix, in the construction zone... :-(

Charlie

They're strung out between 7th Avenue and 7th Street to maximize the "take" from commuters ;-)

I rarely drive that region... I avoid downtown like the plague, but for all of July, I was down and back twice a day, taking a granddaughter to Valley Youth Theater summer camp, so I took note of the fixed locations ;-)

I note that several radar detector manufacturers now have units with GPS that can memorize fixed photo radar locations as well as be loaded with data thru a USB port.

...Jim Thompson

If you were just going _thru_ Phoenix on your way to Tucson, take 85 south from I10, then I8 east to Tucson. 12 miles longer, but way lower traffic, no city traffic snarls.

...Jim Thompson