That said, wristwatches are generally very very long lived. I own a Citizen marinaut which is powered through a solar cell in the face of the watch. I've been wearing it pretty much every day for 15 years now and I never had to charge or service it. Only the occasional shortening of the metal wristband.
I find on cheaper watches like this the band eventually breaks, and you can't really find replacement bands which are much cheaper than a whole new watch.
There’s a lot of places with extremely high data storage requirements that use tapes; they’re fairly dense and fail much better than spinning hard drives (as in, you can just splice out bad tape rather than toss the whole disk).
On my first ship in the Navy, we had a Windows 3.1 beige-box desktop PC (well, there were 3 of them, 2 for backups) that ran a tape drive emulator that connected to wiring in a bank of disconnected tape drives/computers (took a whole wall, these were the reel-to-reel kind) that ran some old targeting radar. The weapons that used that radar were gone, but they kept the radar running for auxiliary purposes. I'm surprised they wouldn't use something like that at NASA. We only left the drives installed due to weight distribution for the ship, but NASA could just replace a whole room of them with a Raspberry Pi, probably.
I think NASA (or space industries in general) has the same problems as Navy (or military industries in general), they don't want to change anything that works. Reliability is one of their paramount KPIs, and what has survived for more than a decade is considered tested for a decade and will have precedence for managers in this space.
I should have said "NASA has the specific tapes, dusty decks &C in archive which demand it keep a lot of otherwise dead technology working so it can read specific tapes"
These things are running on technology from the late 90's virtually unchanged. Even the most advanced ones are low end silicon with terrible thermal designs and horrible user interfaces (scrolling through pages of residents on a bad monochrome display one line at a time). Nothing competes with them. They have no high-failure parts and can last for decades. (And some have.)
These things are the worst. There was a YC startup that was building hardware to hack into these and make them smart but it seems like they have pivoted to pure software: https://www.doorport.com/
Funny you mention thermal design. I thought it was BS at first, but last summer, our intercom system went down, which also included door control, so you had to go down several floors to let someone in who had no way (without out-of-band communication) to tell you they were there (postman anyone?).
It took them months to fix it (this is a new build block in London) and when they finally did, it was a simple reboot.
The engineer told me it had overheated in the summer sun. I mean, really? I found this hard to believe this piece of equipment designed to be outdoors, overheated in British sun.
I was furious, I could have rebooted the damn thing myself and saved us months of pain if I'd had access.
This article is nonsense. The gadgets aren't refusing to die due to fan support - it's companies buying old nonsense tech and then trying to resell it. We'll be see these on late night infomercials soon.
I still wear my Pebble Time Round every day. The form factor is unequaled. Less than 8mm thick is just not where other companies are going with their watches, and I'm sad about that.
I was wearing mine until it fell apart and nothing on the market seems to be a decent replacement... everything else is really clunky and weird looking.
Ditto but for the Pebble 2. I bought a few backups that I can continue using for a few years until something similar is released (week long battery life, easy to read always-on display, hacker friendly, etc).
I have my eye on the PineTime, but it has quite a while to go before it's usable.
I have an HP TouchPad, the tablet that ran WebOS. Almost ten years later there are still people that are making Android versions for it. The battery sucks by now and the CPU is not very powerful so it’s not snappy but it’s still usable for light apps.
Ditto. I’ve an HP touchpad that i got in that famous firesale. It works like a charm even today and i like it as a minimal reading device. The UI was so ahead of its time
Still got my HP TouchPad, still works, mail app is quite superior. Screen is starting to go and casing is getting a little cracked in places but I just love the UI
It's a very nice Youtube viewer, with Android and NewPipe. I had hopes in the beginning we would see a free webOS for it, but sadly got disappointed there.
My HP Touchpad did not survive my last move, unfortunately. Can't tell if it had something pressed on it or if it was stored at an improper temperature, but the battery swelled to the point of pressing on the display (!), so the thing no longer turns on.
If it still worked, I'm probably still be using it as a comic book reader.
Interesting list...I didn't own any of those, though I would guess most of us here can name many others.
Last weekend while I was putting the finishing touches on a Bionic Puppy install on my MSI Wind (purchased through a Linux computer company years ago), I started to realize I need to get more serious about active care for my devices or get rid of them. From the Cybiko Extremes to the N810 to the Casio pocket organizers.
For now I'm going to move to a basic stance and just start text files for each set of devices. That usually gets me moving in a more organized direction. It feels good to be taking care of (some) things from my past, and I can tell my kids all kinds of stories about how I courted my wife via Cybiko text chat in University classes, etc. :-)
My Bose QC15s have lasted so long. AA batteries are easily replaced and cheap aftermarket parts on ebay keep is going. It is now my backup as having Bluetooth and better noise cancelling is worth upgrading for but they still work incredibly well on flights.
Sadly lithium batteries kill gadgets these days. I have an old gen kindle and I can't find a replacement battery for it. Seems such a waste for a device that is otherwise in excellent shape.
I always double check battery replacements before buying items for this reason. It is hard to predict what sizes will stick around, but I am also not against busting a device open and fitting a near-enough sized cell with the right output.
They do. I vaped for a while, and my wife bought a battery powered fan for when she went into labour and it came with some cheap 18650. Luckily I had a few high quality Samsung ones lying around from my vaping days that came in handy!
I have a cheap-ish bike light with 18650 battery. After it stopped working, I tried to replace it, but I couldn't solder it so well like the factory one. The mtb rides shake a lot, so my solder joints break.
In motorsport wiring they use crimped connections instead, due to it's mechanical strength compared to solder. It withstands the vibrations and movement better. You can get really small crimps so you should be able to find some that fit. If it's soldered to the PCB I haven't got much advice sorry. One option might be to mechanically support the wires near the solder, maybe hot glue the battery or wires in place so they can't pull on the solder.
Solder will wick up the wire and create a 'hard spot' where it breaks upon the wire flexing. Try using a blob of hot melt/sugru(sp?) around the wire in this area, to create strain relief.
Another tip is to use plumbers flux and an old soldering bit to 'tin' the battery first, the solder will fairly leap onto it with such flux. :) Don't forget to clean the flux residue off as it's quite corrosive.
The ones for vaporizers (and flashlights) may be overkill. They tend to cost extra because they're "high drain" batteries meant to be safely discharged at a rate higher than most electronics. Depending on the use, you can get much less expensive 18650s than the ones used for vapes.
Often you can get them with leads/connector pre-soldered (which is good for hobby electronics since you don't really want to be soldering straight to a lithium battery and not all electronics already have a cradle)
I lucked out with my Sony MDR-1RBT. I bought these things 7-8 or so years ago, the built in battery lasts a month with ~2 hours per week day use during my commute, and all I've had to do was that I recently replaced the ear cushions.
They were £400 when I got them from HMV at the time, that was tough money to spend as a student, but to this date are probably the best investment in technology I've made. I've used them for my commute almost daily for almost the entirety of those 7-8 years. I honestly don't believe I have any other gadget that's lasted that long with that much use.
That said, I got out my original Moto 360 watch yesterday to see if it could be of use for my running during lockdown.
That thing was useless the day it launched, and even less useful now. Probably one of the worst gadgets I've bought.
The Audio-Technica ATH A500 headphones I bought in 2008 are still going strong. The adhesive for the sodt ear muff degraded but that was easy enough to fix. I thought the novel headband design would cause issues but it has lasted just fine.
Seconded. I don't know what I'm going to do when my Pebble Time gives up the ghost. I'll probably buy a dumb, mechanical watch for a change. There's still nothing on the market remotely comparable with Pebble.
Yeah, I don't understand how there is still no simple smartwatch company without any fitness bs, with thin light >1 week always on screen. Years after Pebble did it. Does everyone but us really want and oled screen and heart rate monitor?
I'd don't understand where Casio is with cheap BT smartwatches that can just show texts/notifications.
Worked on the ecommerce and marketing teams at Pebble. I can tell you we tried to tell people about our strengths: 1 week+ battery life. Always on screen. Readable in sunlight. Water resistant up to X meters. But what gets people to buy isn't what gets people to stay.
I can tell you that by far, most people wanted the fitness angle with smartwatches. And all those features that you love about Pebble, while great, wasn't all that convincing for people after we ran out of die-hard fans like yourself.
I turned down a job at Pebble after a call with VP of Eng. and when we were discussing the product, I mentioned that health & fitness seemed like the next big hurdle for them. He seemed to agree, but was almost uncomfortable admitting it. As if, "yeah, we know...".
Anyways I turned them down and before May 2015 I started telling anyone who would listen that they were an amazing company full of smart people solving incredible problems that are completely unimportant to the world and FitBit would buy them sooner or later.
I imagined a more successful exit than they got, and I miss my Pebble dearly to this day. FitBit's products are garbage.
Here's the thing. I have a Garmin that also gets more than a week of battery life, with an always on display. It also does the fitness stuff very well. There wasn't an advantage to the Pebble angle.
But I don't/want need the bulk and the price of the fitness stuff. The last, cancelled generation of pebble had a black and white screen, many apps and was something like 125 euros for the watch.
I really loved the way I could control my Pebble (time steel), with just 4 buttons, so smooth.
But, ok, out of all brands, Garmin seems nicest to me and they have a payment solution as well.
The thing is that the heart rate monitor gives you an excuse to buy. As a notification device it can seem like a pointless luxury item. If it has a heart rate monitor you can tell yourself/parent/spouse that “this thing could save my life!”
Checkout the Amazfit Bip. Strange name, but it's inexpensive, has an always on display (think original game boy advance), and the battery lasts ~40 days on a single charge.
I second the Amazfit Bip. My battery lasts anywhere between 35-42 days on a single charge as well. (I take screenshots of the number of days every time it gets to 5%.)
Not quite the same, but I got a Withings Steel HR when my pebble died, and I love it! I charge it once a month, and it handles the most important notifications quite well. Far less hackable though.
Reading this article got me wistful for my Peek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peek_(mobile_Internet_device). You can do so much with email (todo lists, news, etc) and the device just felt good. It had a physical keyboard (!) and a real scroll wheel on the side.
Peek was also created by a small company but doesn't have the community support that the Chumby or Pebble has now. Maybe that's a product of being connected only to a cellular network?
Three console generations later, Nintendo keeps re-releasing them.
I'm not sure why they don't lean in harder and embrace the design as the standard Nintendo controller. It is the most ergonomic and intuitive game controller I've ever used. The asymmetric layout and shape of the A, B, X, and Y buttons make it impossible to forget which is which. All the controller needs for a 2020 refresh is a ZL button, a true analog for the C-Stick, and a slightly larger D-Pad.
The electronics underneath are rock solid--a favorite for modders. Nothing has really changed except the cord length and the omission of metal braces in the triggers.
They need to make an exact replica on all their controllers that are wireless. The ones available now are slightly smaller and not even made by Nintendo. The quality just isn't there.
Your post made it click for me that Nintendo's platforms make it where there's legitimate reasons to use different controllers regularly. I use the Pro controller, a Gamecube controller, and the joycons/wiimote all for different game types, and sometimes switch between two in the same game.
If you were to ask me whether I thought this was a good design concept, having never played any games on a Gamecube>>>Switch I'd say no, that seems wasteful and a cash grab on peripherals.
But I love it. Give me more ergonomic plastic things with buttons and games that use them.
The Pro Controller is a fine controller and sees a decent amount of competitive use in the Smash scene.
The octagon gate on the GC controller is advantagous for Smash and other games that benefit from precise directional inputs... It's to the point where there are Pro Controller mods to add an octagon gate. The Pro Controller analog seems to wear out faster than that of the GC controller and it's a tricky replacement to perform (on an already expensive controller).
Yup. It is the best controller for Smash (which is why Nintendo keeps re-issuing it).
Ultimate and Melee scenes are still alive and well. And even the 64 scene will cannibalize the analog sticks from GC controllers to replace the N64 controller sticks.
No other controller has come close to the GC triggers. Big swoopy buttons that cradle your finger and have both an analog measurement and a click at the end.
Much as I love the Gamecube controller, it's kinda crap for any fighting game that's not Smash Bros. The 6-button Street Fighter II layout from which all fighting games are descended simply does not lend itself well to the giant, single button in the middle of the controller.
I couldn't read the article because of ad blocker issues, but Logitech Squeezebox is going strong in this household. You can pick up the physical devices reasonably cheaply on ebay as people replace them with functionally worse and privacy invasive modern alternatives.
Our Squeezebox is still going as well, but with most using iOS devices at home, we’re not able to control it anymore because the app was discontinued. Does anyone know of a solution for iPhones?
Possibly the best solution would be an installation of the Logitech Media Server (LMS) on a raspberry pi (e.g. piCorePlayer [0]) or an already available home server. LMS can then handle all squeezeboxes (or squeezelite installations on other hardware) on the same network and allows control via a web interface.
Yes! I was amazed when I took it out of a packing box a couple of years ago and it still works just fine. I think Spotify doesn't work any more, but we use it as a old fashioned internet radio in the kitchen. The sound quality is surprisingly good.
Off-Topic: Can we ban links which redirect to advertising domains?
When I click this link, due to uMatrix I see that it redirects to https://guce.advertising.com/collectIdentifiers?sessionId=3_...
Which doesn't sound like something I would want to visit.
uMatrix also blocked the link for me. I'm at the point now where I stop bypassing it for links like this, and just don't read the article. The information in the comments is almost always more interesting/useful anyway.
I’m assuming the HN rules ban linking to spam and malware, so why is this malware (or more specifically spyware) allowed when it literally redirects you through a malicious link forcing you to provide consent (which is in violation of the GDPR) and probably collect a bunch of data considering the URL is named “collectIdentifiers”?
For anyone replying with "you can just bypass it or block it", that isn't my point. We know how to do that but the majority out there will just accept the privacy invasion because they have no choice. My argument is that we should be blocking nasty behaviour to force sites to change if they want to keep HN's readership.
The primary difference between this spyware site and others that HN users don't object to is that it doesn't take your consent to be tracked as implicit.
As in: others are doing the same, just in a more subtle, UX-friendly way that doesn't bother people as blatantly.
All properties owned by Verizon Media (formerly Oath) redirect through the domain "advertising.com" (which is one of the domains they own) for their GDPR consent popup (shared consent cookie set on one central origin across all properties owned by that company).
This is a really bizarre decision tbh as "advertising.com" is not a well-known brand and not something their users would implicitly recognise or trust.
For other users saying it doesn't happen to them, I'm fairly sure the redirect is region-targeted to Europe.
I'm in Europe but I don't get this redirect when using a VPN.
When i see guce, I simply dont visit the site. Voting with my wallet, if the site is so sleezy that it takes tactics like this on its users, it is not worth beeing its user.
208 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 255 ms ] threadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Mens-Watches/zgbs/fashio...
https://www.mlogic.com/products/mtape-thunderbolt-lto-7
https://www.mlogic.com/products/mtape-thunderbolt-lto-8
These things are running on technology from the late 90's virtually unchanged. Even the most advanced ones are low end silicon with terrible thermal designs and horrible user interfaces (scrolling through pages of residents on a bad monochrome display one line at a time). Nothing competes with them. They have no high-failure parts and can last for decades. (And some have.)
Buttons in elevators should operate by non-touch/finder proximity sensors.
I've not encountered systems like this. How do they handle accessibility for the blind? Are the physical buttons still present?
It took them months to fix it (this is a new build block in London) and when they finally did, it was a simple reboot.
The engineer told me it had overheated in the summer sun. I mean, really? I found this hard to believe this piece of equipment designed to be outdoors, overheated in British sun.
I was furious, I could have rebooted the damn thing myself and saved us months of pain if I'd had access.
I won't get back into wearables until they start slimming down.
Then, I'll unbox my backup Pebble and wear it until _that_ falls apart.
Hopefully they'll have something comparable by the time I run out of them?
I have my eye on the PineTime, but it has quite a while to go before it's usable.
If it still worked, I'm probably still be using it as a comic book reader.
Last weekend while I was putting the finishing touches on a Bionic Puppy install on my MSI Wind (purchased through a Linux computer company years ago), I started to realize I need to get more serious about active care for my devices or get rid of them. From the Cybiko Extremes to the N810 to the Casio pocket organizers.
For now I'm going to move to a basic stance and just start text files for each set of devices. That usually gets me moving in a more organized direction. It feels good to be taking care of (some) things from my past, and I can tell my kids all kinds of stories about how I courted my wife via Cybiko text chat in University classes, etc. :-)
Sadly lithium batteries kill gadgets these days. I have an old gen kindle and I can't find a replacement battery for it. Seems such a waste for a device that is otherwise in excellent shape.
As a plus you can pick them up in e-cigarette shops, apparently vape units use them too.
Any hints how to solder it better?
Another tip is to use plumbers flux and an old soldering bit to 'tin' the battery first, the solder will fairly leap onto it with such flux. :) Don't forget to clean the flux residue off as it's quite corrosive.
Often you can get them with leads/connector pre-soldered (which is good for hobby electronics since you don't really want to be soldering straight to a lithium battery and not all electronics already have a cradle)
They were £400 when I got them from HMV at the time, that was tough money to spend as a student, but to this date are probably the best investment in technology I've made. I've used them for my commute almost daily for almost the entirety of those 7-8 years. I honestly don't believe I have any other gadget that's lasted that long with that much use.
That said, I got out my original Moto 360 watch yesterday to see if it could be of use for my running during lockdown. That thing was useless the day it launched, and even less useful now. Probably one of the worst gadgets I've bought.
Finally, when I turned 32 (16*2), I bought myself one off eBay and set one up as a SSH console with a WiFi card. I enjoy the experience immensely.
Basically all 16-bit ISA PC Card(w/o bumped golden shield) can only handle WEP and 802.11b.
32-bit PCI CardBus card does WPA/WPA2 and 11g.
CF cards don’t seem to be bound by this but I haven’t tested.
I'd don't understand where Casio is with cheap BT smartwatches that can just show texts/notifications.
I can tell you that by far, most people wanted the fitness angle with smartwatches. And all those features that you love about Pebble, while great, wasn't all that convincing for people after we ran out of die-hard fans like yourself.
Anyways I turned them down and before May 2015 I started telling anyone who would listen that they were an amazing company full of smart people solving incredible problems that are completely unimportant to the world and FitBit would buy them sooner or later.
I imagined a more successful exit than they got, and I miss my Pebble dearly to this day. FitBit's products are garbage.
I really loved the way I could control my Pebble (time steel), with just 4 buttons, so smooth.
But, ok, out of all brands, Garmin seems nicest to me and they have a payment solution as well.
[0] https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Amazfi...
This is the app that I use: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mc.miband1...
https://github.com/boxeehacks/boxeehack
The remote still works great too.
Peek was also created by a small company but doesn't have the community support that the Chumby or Pebble has now. Maybe that's a product of being connected only to a cellular network?
Three console generations later, Nintendo keeps re-releasing them.
I'm not sure why they don't lean in harder and embrace the design as the standard Nintendo controller. It is the most ergonomic and intuitive game controller I've ever used. The asymmetric layout and shape of the A, B, X, and Y buttons make it impossible to forget which is which. All the controller needs for a 2020 refresh is a ZL button, a true analog for the C-Stick, and a slightly larger D-Pad.
The electronics underneath are rock solid--a favorite for modders. Nothing has really changed except the cord length and the omission of metal braces in the triggers.
Bluetooth adapter mod kit:
https://hackaday.io/project/165060-bluecubemod-bluetooth-gam...
Made my own "SwitchBird" using an 8bitdo gbros adapter:
https://imgur.com/a/e3OwU3I
I hope not; I've used it and a Switch Pro Controller and I much prefer the pro controller.
That doesn't happen for any other game, but there is just so much muscle memory for that specific game.
Also I still have a wavebird that is alive and kicking, shame it lacks rumble.
If you were to ask me whether I thought this was a good design concept, having never played any games on a Gamecube>>>Switch I'd say no, that seems wasteful and a cash grab on peripherals.
But I love it. Give me more ergonomic plastic things with buttons and games that use them.
The octagon gate on the GC controller is advantagous for Smash and other games that benefit from precise directional inputs... It's to the point where there are Pro Controller mods to add an octagon gate. The Pro Controller analog seems to wear out faster than that of the GC controller and it's a tricky replacement to perform (on an already expensive controller).
That's just because Nintendo ruined the design of their newer analogue sticks, though.
For shield drops you take it a step further and notch the gate.
Octagon gate also provides good reference point for MSDI.
Ultimate and Melee scenes are still alive and well. And even the 64 scene will cannibalize the analog sticks from GC controllers to replace the N64 controller sticks.
It did for me.
https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/ASCII_Keyboard_Controller
Those were so satisfying to actuate. The PS2s felt like trash by comparison (and we're easier to jam / break)
[0]: https://www.picoreplayer.org/
[0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ipeng/id767266886
archive.[is,ph,li,fo,vn,md,today] is like a condom for crappy websites like that.
https://archive.ph/agh5m
your.ip.address.foo.lots.of.stuff.pixel.archive.<x>/pixel.gif
that gets by most blacklists including umatrix and others
and they have a new domain name dujour so that too.
For anyone replying with "you can just bypass it or block it", that isn't my point. We know how to do that but the majority out there will just accept the privacy invasion because they have no choice. My argument is that we should be blocking nasty behaviour to force sites to change if they want to keep HN's readership.
As in: others are doing the same, just in a more subtle, UX-friendly way that doesn't bother people as blatantly.
This is a really bizarre decision tbh as "advertising.com" is not a well-known brand and not something their users would implicitly recognise or trust.
For other users saying it doesn't happen to them, I'm fairly sure the redirect is region-targeted to Europe.
I'm in Europe but I don't get this redirect when using a VPN.
Thanks god there is Droid48