Technology catch-all thread

[RockRaines]

Mine are definitely a cheap version. May have the first item on my Xmas list now.

My workout pair were only about 30-40 bucks and they are waterproof and seemingly last forever, my wife has torn through four pairs of 15-20 dollar ones and they are crap.

 

Of course my Bose ones are incredible but that price point is ridiculous. Luckily I got them for free.

[RockRaines]

Sure I do. In my car.

 

I have an amazing pair of noise cancelling headphones that aren't bluetooth. There isn't anything else, aside from "slight water resistance", another megapixel, and the missing headphone jack to go 7.

Technically the new phone has a headphone jack through the Lightning port in case

[lostfan]

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on what Apple did (I don't use an iPhone in any case) but I will call bulls*** on the following:

-Apple trying to force everyone into their own, overpriced proprietary standard

-Everything going all-digital, which means DRM will become the norm, and interoperability will die

 

As wireless becomes more of a mainstream standard, it will improve, and people will deal.

[RockRaines]

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on what Apple did (I don't use an iPhone in any case) but I will call bulls*** on the following:

-Apple trying to force everyone into their own, overpriced proprietary standard

-Everything going all-digital, which means DRM will become the norm, and interoperability will die

 

As wireless becomes more of a mainstream standard, it will improve, and people will deal.

The ironic thing is their own internal security team is HUGE on open standards.

[Chisoxfn]

I didn't know everyone was still so attached to headphone jacks, I've been doing everything wirelessly for a couple of years now.

 

A couple people have refuted this to me, saying Bluetooth quality is not as good as wired headphone quality, but that's really not what's going on here. The vast majority of people upset at Apple are not people listening to high-bitrate, lossless audio on a pair of $200 headphones, they are probably streaming music on a pair of cheap headphones and can't tell the difference (but like pretending they can).

Because I'm cheap and like my free apple headphones. Do everything I need and I don't have to pay a dime. I think it is total crap to force me to use bluetooth and add extra radiation to an already radiated life.

[Chisoxfn]

Technically the new phone has a headphone jack through the Lightning port in case

I don't think you can charge and listen to music though (when using the lightning port.

[RockRaines]

I don't think you can charge and listen to music though (when using the lightning port.

Do you do that often?

 

The Apple ear buds never once stayed in my ears for more than 2 min, I would never ever ever use theirs. And technically BT emits 1000 times less radiation than your phone.

Edited September 8, 2016 by RockRaines

[Brian]

Do you do that often?

 

The Apple ear buds never once stayed in my ears for more than 2 min, I would never ever ever use theirs. And technically BT emits 1000 times less radiation than your phone.

 

If mine stayed in my ears for two minutes, I'd call that a success. I hate their ear buds even though they're free

[Chisoxfn]

Do you do that often?

 

The Apple ear buds never once stayed in my ears for more than 2 min, I would never ever ever use theirs. And technically BT emits 1000 times less radiation than your phone.

I was being largely sarcastic with the radiation part (although I do think about it, I know that every freaking thing emitst that crap so I just pray they come up with a cure for cancer and any other things the increased wireless signal, etc, causes. I use wired headsets and absolutely love the apple earbuds (they are really good cheap earbuds). And regarding the whole charge and listen, I do it when I am traveling for business, but not on a very regular occurrence (not a heavy phone user anyway). I don't really want to spend money on bluetooth headphones (even though I am sure they are darn nice and once I had them I'd be like, why did I wait to get these). Like I said, I'm just really cheap.

[RockRaines]

You know what, I'm an idiot. I forgot to realize those vendors that have marketed and made the credit card scanners etc that plug into that port. They enable small businesses to do things like take credit cards on the fly. That's f***ed up and I'm pissed I didn't think of it.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on what Apple did (I don't use an iPhone in any case) but I will call bulls*** on the following:

-Apple trying to force everyone into their own, overpriced proprietary standard

-Everything going all-digital, which means DRM will become the norm, and interoperability will die

 

As wireless becomes more of a mainstream standard, it will improve, and people will deal.

 

It's because they are courageous.

[DrunkBomber]

You know what, I'm an idiot. I forgot to realize those vendors that have marketed and made the credit card scanners etc that plug into that port. They enable small businesses to do things like take credit cards on the fly. That's f***ed up and I'm pissed I didn't think of it.

Ya I have a small business and at times we have to use square for credit card processing. I didnt think of that either until you mentioned it.

[lostfan]

You know what, I'm an idiot. I forgot to realize those vendors that have marketed and made the credit card scanners etc that plug into that port. They enable small businesses to do things like take credit cards on the fly. That's f***ed up and I'm pissed I didn't think of it.

I was actually gonna post about this earlier. Just about every vendor in comic cons uses Square (though at the mercy of their data reception) and I wonder how that'd affect them? I guess they would use a converter.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I was actually gonna post about this earlier. Just about every vendor in comic cons uses Square (though at the mercy of their data reception) and I wonder how that'd affect them? I guess they would use a converter.

 

Would the dongle they supply handle that?

[lostfan]

Would the dongle they supply handle that?

It seems like it would I guess.

[RockRaines]

Would the dongle they supply handle that?

Not sure because supposedly the lightning is digital and the headphone jack was analog, it IS a use case that Apple doesnt give two s***s about. They really didnt like people making add ons without their permission.

[RockRaines]

Ya I have a small business and at times we have to use square for credit card processing. I didnt think of that either until you mentioned it.

Everytime I see someone be able to use that for their SMB it makes me happy that something like that exists. Charities, farmers markets, small vendors etc really rely on that s***.

[Chisoxfn]

I take my complaints back. As long as apple give me my free ibuds with the lightning connector when I get my new iphone (I won't get this generation, won't be until the next generation when I'm up) then I am happy

[BigHurt3515]

You know what, I'm an idiot. I forgot to realize those vendors that have marketed and made the credit card scanners etc that plug into that port. They enable small businesses to do things like take credit cards on the fly. That's f***ed up and I'm pissed I didn't think of it.

 

To Android they go

[StrangeSox]

My wife got me an Amazon Echo for my birthday. What cool things can I do with it?

[shysocks]

My wife got me an Amazon Echo for my birthday. What cool things can I do with it?

So far the things I do the most with ours are ask for the weather in the morning, check MLB scores, and play music (everything you have on Prime!). It sounds lazy, but it really is nice to be able to do all that without grabbing your phone. I'm sure we've just barely scratched the surface of what it does. I know you can link your lighting to it.

[RockRaines]

My wife got me an Amazon Echo for my birthday. What cool things can I do with it?

Lots of stuff.

 

https://ifttt.com/amazon_alexa/recipes

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=15144553011

[Brian]

Preordered the 7 plus. Don't use my ipad mini as much anymore so going to send that to Gazelle for some cash.

Expected delivery is Sept 26. WTF

[Jenksismyhero]

I'm pretty upset with AT&T. I ordered 2 Note 7's on 8/31 and took advantage of a buy one, get one free promotion that ended the same day. I received a confirmation email confirming my order. The same day the rumors about the recall came out, and within 24 hours of my order I got a second email stating that my order was pending and that I needed to call them or it would be cancelled. I called and talked to someone who had no clue what was going on and all she could tell me was that they could not process my order and that it would be cancelled within 7 days. I told her I didn't want it cancelled and she said at best she could refer me to Samsung.

 

So I wait a couple of days and try another person by phone. She tells me the same thing; they can't process the order because of the recall. I said that's fine, I just want to make sure that I get my buy one get one free promotion once the phones are back in stock since I put my order in on the 31st. She said no, because the order never fully processed. I said that's not my fault, that's your fault, I did everything I needed to do to accept AT&T's offer (trying to lawyer her). She of course being a customer service phone rep had nothing else to say but that she could't do anything about it, like give me a rain check, and said sorry. I told her screw it, i'm leaving for Verizon and hung up.

 

It sucks too because i'm getting a sweet 20gb/month deal for 2 phones for cheap ($115/month total after taxes/fees). I don't want to leave, but AT&T has had some super s***ty customer service ever since the DirecTV deal. They screwed me on my internet plan too, forcing me change to Comcast.

[Steve9347]

I'm enjoying my 6S Plus. I also enjoyed mowing the lawn today and using a pair of s***ty, wired headphones with no issue.

 

The size change from the 6 to the 6S Plus is life-altering.