I enjoy techie stuff as much as the next person but there is a fine line between enjoying and obsession...
I have witnessed over the last 25 years, this growing obsession people have with obtaining the next greatest " whiz-bang thingee" and then the inevitable updated one that follows it in less than 6 months which makes the first thing look like a paperweight....and for a lot less dough.
DVD is a great format for films and works just fine - BUT NO !! You need Blu-ray....we need you to rebuy all the movies you already own....because Blu-ray is sooooo much better....right....It may be, but my last name isn't "Lemming" and my DVDs are just fine, thank you very much!
I-Phone 4 madness is the latest saga that falls into this category -
There was an article in the UK Independent : "Revealed: What Apple really thinks about its customers - Fury at firm's secret memo to staff over problems with new Phone By Emily Dugan" and it gets into the nitty-gritty of how badly Apple mucked it up, and how stupidly blind the buyers of the latest I-phone really are -
" Angry customers have been told that buying a rubber bumper at a cost of around £25 will cure the problem. This weekend it emerged that Apple staff have been instructed not to provide these bumpers even though the problem stems from a design fault. In a leaked memo, helpline staff for AppleCare have been told: "We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON'T promise a free bumper to customers."
The memo suggests that customers should avoid covering the lower left hand corner of the phone when they hold it, and reminds staff to tell customers that the phone's wireless performance is "the best we have ever shipped". The news is a further blow to Apple's reputation, which has already been marred by a spate of suicides at the factory in China that produces its products.
The company is already facing lawsuits from at least three customers, relating to antenna problems with its latest model, but Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, insists that owners need to "just hold it right".
Excuse me??? Hold it just right??? - Hey, Stevie boy - HOLD THIS !!
When companies start to think that they can just shove products out the door, have people pay mega $$$ for said product and then act indifferent when the product turns out to be faulty by design, we have serious problems here.
The problem is two-sided - 1st is the company for being so slip-shod with the product and soooo eager to send it out to gain profits w/o doing the proper research - 2nd is that people are that addle brained that they line-up and ask for the abuse they get when they shell out mega $$$ for the latest thingee...and it doesn't frippin' work!
I have recently come to the conclusion that too much tech is not good. I like gadgets, don't get me wrong BUT I like things that work and are dependable. Reliability is the key factor in any product I will have around as if I can't depend on it to work, why bother having it in the first place????
Cars are another place where this is becoming an overriding issue....My wife's car recently was having problems and it all came down to computer issues and an imbalance caused by a crack in a manifold.....well that upset the oxygen balance and the computer didn't like that !! So it started changing the way the engine ran and the sensors were all out of balance......and the end product was it took the mechanic almost a month to figure it all out.....at a cost of $600. Computer turns on a warning light??? You just became ineligible to get your sticker unless you have some guy diagnose the car at rate of $100 an hour......whatta racket.....
This is why I have come to the conclusion that I will be making a plan to change my vehicles of choice as time moves forward....I have the 1963 Willys Jeep all but done and have been working on the getting the 1966 VW Beetle rebuild project started....These two vehicles will likely be my main methods of transportation in the near future....The reason why is because they work - dependibly, reliably and under most circumstances, without fail.
They are basic, reliable machines and don't need a computer talking to the O2 sensor, which needs to check with the mainfold sensor, etc. , etc. - They need three things - Air, Fuel & a spark....as long as those three things are present, the Jeep and the VW will run. And they are BOTH exempt from admissions standards based on thier age and grandfather standards.....so EPA and Global Warming idiots, you can kiss my arse too while you are at it.....HA!
And I can also fix said vehicles cheaply and easily....with parts readily available at any autoparts store...
NEW is not always IMPROVED....in this case, I will get more satsifaction and reliability driving a pair of 40+ year old cars than I would ever get out of the newest Whiz bang piece of crappola that is foisted on the public at a high cost and equally high failure rate.....
Nope, I like tried and true.....and it will work just very fine for me.....To the "lemmings" that line up for the newest gadgets, you fools get what you deserve....and at too high a cost.
And as a final note, back when I was a kid, they said by now we would all have whiz-bang stuff like Flying Cars.....what I want to know is, Where is my Flying Car?????? I wanted one for years...likely it would need the computer to tell it how to fly and then it would......aw, forget it.
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