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pookel posted:Here's something I miss doing: Most smartphones ship with headphones with a built in mic these days, use that. Or bluetooth...
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Jun 16, 2015 17:55
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thespaceinvader posted:Most smartphones ship with headphones with a built in mic these days, use that. Mine didn't. Besides, headphones aren't the same thing.
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Jun 16, 2015 18:50
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pookel posted:Mine didn't. Besides, headphones aren't the same thing.
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Jun 16, 2015 19:19
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On one hand, with landlines you have to play the "Do I need to dial this long distance or not?" game, usually followed by a *DO DOO DOO* YOU CHOSE POORLY On the other, my cellphone's mic is full of dust or something so I have to yell at the fuckin thing.
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Jun 16, 2015 19:40
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My smartphone likes to think that my cheek is trying to use the touchscreen, and turn itself off in the middle of calls. OTOH, I'd usually rather play Candy Crush than talk to people anyway, and it gives me a handy excuse not to call them. "Sorry, my phone sucks! I'll just email you later. Bye!"
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Jun 16, 2015 20:06
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pookel posted:My smartphone likes to think that my cheek is trying to use the touchscreen, and turn itself off in the middle of calls. Same but my ear. I have big ears.
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Jun 16, 2015 20:23
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pookel posted:Mine didn't. Besides, headphones aren't the same thing. If you don't need privacy put it on speaker I guess. Otherwise use a bluetooth ear/head piece. Sure they have a wanky reputation, but a big land line telephone handpiece is no good either when you're driving or crawling through a roof space anyway. I hate phones and talking and I'm not some "self important try hard businessperson", but had to get one for those reasons. Blueant is pretty good. Fo3 has a new favorite as of 20:35 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 20:32
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There's always this, if you're just standing around or driving or whatever... http://www.amazon.com/GoJo-Hands-Free-Adjustable-Headset/dp/B007RENZDQ
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Jun 16, 2015 20:37
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Fooley posted:There's always this, if you're just standing around or driving or whatever... RoyKeen has a new favorite as of 20:42 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 20:39
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Yeah, those look pretty lovely. I think I paid about $100 for a blueant (in a similar style to their original "T1", and that's after I gave up on OEM nokia, and random ~$50 cheapies.) That's Aussie prices though, and 4 years ago so they're probably cheaper now, and cheaper in the USA anyway. I wouldn't buy any other brand unless you like wasting your time, as I went through heaps of other brands, and I treated them hard and only blueant survived years of disdain and abuse. Nokia sucked poo poo - dropped calls, cheapies under $40 hardly synced, others around $50 had poor voice quality, the blueant had clear audio and mic and worked fine. e: VVVV Samsung would have been proud for it to fail 2 weeks out of warranty. That's what every manufacturer tries to achieve these days I think. "cheap enough sell, good enough to not cost in warranty repairs". The Colin Chapman school of design. And to settle for $100 off a refurb, they have to be laughing. Fo3 has a new favorite as of 21:03 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 20:45
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Gaz2k21 posted:My first DVD player was the Samsung 709 it cost about £300 at the time and was easily converted to a multi region machine which is what sold it to me, It would also play VCD but only retail version's home burnt VCD's would get spat out unless they we're burnt onto one specific brand of CD-R. Funny, I also had a Samsung 709 and it stopped reading disc about 2 weeks after the warranty was up. The problem was common enough that there was a class action lawsuit against Samsung. Participant got $100 off of a referb Samsung player (I forgot the model, but it lasted me years). edit: oh, and my 709 would play DVD-Rs before it died, but only if they were on high quality media that was burned at a low speed. Lowen SoDium has a new favorite as of 20:55 on Jun 16, 2015 |
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Jun 16, 2015 20:51
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Arrath posted:On one hand, with landlines you have to play the "Do I need to dial this long distance or not?" game, usually followed by a *DO DOO DOO* YOU CHOSE POORLY Is long distance still a thing? Pretty much every phone TV Internet combo I've seen for years has unlimited US calling.
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Jun 16, 2015 21:01
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ElwoodCuse posted:Is long distance still a thing? Pretty much every phone TV Internet combo I've seen for years has unlimited US calling. I realized this fact a few weeks back, dug out my old modem, and started dialing BBSes. BBSes kinda sucked... Usenet was a much better idea with a better implementation and more usable tools.
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Jun 16, 2015 21:06
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ElwoodCuse posted:Is long distance still a thing? Pretty much every phone TV Internet combo I've seen for years has unlimited US calling. In the sense that you have to append 1+Area Code before the 7-digit number, yes? Though that's something I have to do on my cell phone as well. You're right about the whole unlimited nationwide calling thing. Which reminds me of another obsolete technology: long-distance calling cards. I know international calling cards are still very much a thing, but I remember having to ask my father for the MCI card so I could dial the 1-800 number then the card account number then finally the actual phone number just so I could call my grandparents.
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Jun 16, 2015 21:13
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Pham Nuwen posted:I realized this fact a few weeks back, dug out my old modem, and started dialing BBSes. Counterpoint: You can't play Trade Wars, Legend of the Red Dragon, Global War, or Cripple Fight over Usenet. ...Speaking of which, I should see if there's still any decent Trade Wars servers out there and if Attack Terminal is still maintained.
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Jun 16, 2015 21:29
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For those of you missing landlines, they make Bluetooth adapters that connect like a headset, but let you plug in a regular old phone. It will ring, dial, etc and work just like you remember, they own.
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Jun 16, 2015 23:35
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Magnus Praeda posted:In the sense that you have to append 1+Area Code before the 7-digit number, yes? Though that's something I have to do on my cell phone as well. You're right about the whole unlimited nationwide calling thing. I've had to dial the area code for even local numbers since the mid 90's, is this not a thing everywhere? I thought the distinction between "long-distance" and "local" calls (aside from international calls) was obsolete technology
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Jun 16, 2015 23:45
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Super Waffle posted:I've had to dial the area code for even local numbers since the mid 90's, is this not a thing everywhere? I thought the distinction between "long-distance" and "local" calls (aside from international calls) was obsolete technology Nope. Regardless of if I'm calling from a cell phone or a land line, if the prefix of the number is "local" (i.e. it shows up as a number from this city), I just dial the 7-digit phone number. If I am calling a number from a different city, I have to add the area code. I do live in one of the few states that only has 1 area code--I don't know if that makes the difference.
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Jun 17, 2015 00:27
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Super Waffle posted:I've had to dial the area code for even local numbers since the mid 90's, is this not a thing everywhere? I thought the distinction between "long-distance" and "local" calls (aside from international calls) was obsolete technology Depends on where you live. Where I grew up, the population is small enough that to this day there's still only a single 3 digit exchange for a five-town radius. Even the largest town in the county (which was still local to my town) only had two exchanges, and that's just because they have a medium-sized college in town. For that matter, the whole state only has one area code...for all numbers...landline, cell, and fax. (Though after looking, several more states than I would think still only have one.)
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Jun 17, 2015 00:28
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Makes no difference here (Orlando). I literally can not make a call on a land line without putting in the area code, even if I am calling next door.
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Jun 17, 2015 01:30
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flosofl posted:The title Saving Ryan's Privates will always have a special place in my heart. Don't know if it's a real porn or not, but it should be. We're way off topic, but my two favourites are the simplicity of "Cum on My Big Fuckin' Tits", and for pure magic "Willy Wonked Her in the Chocolate Factory".
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Jun 17, 2015 02:15
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Super Waffle posted:I've had to dial the area code for even local numbers since the mid 90's, is this not a thing everywhere? I thought the distinction between "long-distance" and "local" calls (aside from international calls) was obsolete technology I grew up in an area where you didn't have to dial the area code, then moved to one where you did. It became so ingrained in me that even when I moved back I still instinctively dial the area code and give mine when people ask for my number. With mobile phones not needing to stay where they were issued and still get service, you often get people with area codes from around the country. The only time I don't hear people giving their area code with the whole number is either old people or local businesses on the radio.
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Jun 17, 2015 02:49
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Holy poo poo there's states with only one area code? I did not know that. I grew up in countryside NW Oregon and I remember how weird it was when we had to start dialing all 10 digits with every number, regardless of area code.
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Jun 17, 2015 02:54
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Code Jockey posted:Holy poo poo there's states with only one area code? Several, including (but not limited to) both Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Maine...Basically all the sparsely populated states.
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Jun 17, 2015 03:04
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I still have a VHS player and tapes of stuff I recorded off TV in 1983 that still play fine! In the late 90's this was a pretty cool but short lived technology: Certain Sony VCRs had a feature called SmartFile. These are labels that contained an RFID chip. So it would store info about what you recorded on a tape. Just basic stuff like the channel, the start and stop times, and the duration of what you taped, but it was cool because you could take a tape and wave it in front of your VCR and the info about what's on the tape would get displayed on your TV. It beat keeping a notebook of that stuff and always having to update it. Cat Hassler has a new favorite as of 04:10 on Jun 17, 2015 |
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Jun 17, 2015 03:54
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I have this, and actually used it a lot for work conference calls from home when I was 3 time zones away and didn't want to come into the office at 5 am because the speaker on my phone was basically indecipherable in a conference call. e: I got mine for like $3 from woot at some point though. I don't think I'd pay $20.
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Jun 17, 2015 04:02
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Keith Atherton posted:I still have a VHS player and tapes of stuff I recorded off TV in 1983 that still play fine! In the late 90's this was a pretty cool but short lived technology: My dad would have been so much more efficient at recording over precious family memories with Sunday football and cataloging them in his dungeon basement with this technology.
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Jun 17, 2015 05:30
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They also make Bluetooth versions, but they're all cheaply made. True hipsters get an actual ancient phone with a six-pound Bakelite receiver and cut/solder a Bluetooth earpiece into it. (Note: I have not personally done that. But I've seriously considered it.) If you're going to be using it a lot, consider getting one of these:  It must have sucked to be a receptionist or telemarketer before headsets were a thing. I mean, it still sucks, but at least now you don't gently caress up your neck. pookel posted:My smartphone likes to think that my cheek is trying to use the touchscreen, and turn itself off in the middle of calls. On a tangent, my grandmother never upgraded to touchtone service. She didn't even have a phone with buttons until she had her first stroke in 2007, when Mom and my aunt took over paying her bills and bought her a cordless landline setup and a cell (the latter to keep on her at all times in case she fell or something). Grandmother's one concession to semi-modern telephony was getting one of these so she could use her bank-by-phone:  Which, if I'd gotten into playing with electronics a bit earlier, was apparently really easy to convert into a blue box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXZMgHKhefk Both the pocket dialers and phreaking are obsolete now. I don't even have a landline, and I've seen maybe one payphone in the last five years. And, as the guy in the video says, if you do manage to find one the telcos upgraded the backend to make 'em phreak-proof around 1995. Super Waffle posted:I've had to dial the area code for even local numbers since the mid 90's, is this not a thing everywhere? Magnus Praeda just lives out in BFE and only has one area code in their area.
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Jun 17, 2015 05:36
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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I'm in a Dakota (the northern one), and A) we have only one area code, and B) we only have to dial it for long distance. Newcomers often find it odd that people who share an area code with us might be long distance.
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Jun 17, 2015 05:40
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Delivery McGee posted:You have a cheap lovely smartphone. Both HTCs I've had have a photocell next to the earhole that turns off the touchscreen when it goes dark. On the other hand, it's still annoying as hell -- you pretty much have to use speakerphone or a hands-free headset for touchtone menus because it's laggy as hell turning the screen back on These are usually in IR emitter/receiver than a purely PV cell (in which case it would turn off the screen in the dark.) I would guess his phone has a bad proximity sensor, its a fairly common failure across manufacturers. I don't think anyone has built a smartphone/all touchscreen phone without one.
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Jun 17, 2015 05:45
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Super Waffle posted:Makes no difference here (Orlando). I literally can not make a call on a land line without putting in the area code, even if I am calling next door. You're in a major city. There's probably not a geographical distinction between two or more area codes at this point.
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Jun 17, 2015 05:55
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It has to do with how new area codes are allocated. They used to split one geographic area into two smaller ones when they needed to add an area code, but that made a lot of people angry since they had to change their number. Now they do an "overlay" where everyone keeps their number, but most new numbers use the new area code. The downside to that is that you need to dial the area code on local calls, but that's less bad than the alternative, especially since most people are on cell phones anyway where it doesn't matter.
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Jun 17, 2015 07:18
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I remember my my aunt and uncle had an actual olde tyme phone with the thing on a cord that you put to your ear to hear, and you would talk into the unit to talk. They didn't depend on it but it worked! They also were on a party line so your call might get interrupted by someone. Also back then it only took 5 digits to make a local call. And your phone had a circular ring dial mechanism and you rented it from the phone company. You couldn't buy a phone.
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Jun 17, 2015 07:47
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Keith Atherton posted:Also back then it only took 5 digits to make a local call. And your phone had a circular ring dial mechanism and you rented it from the phone company. You couldn't buy a phone. And a lot of homes had phone lines directly hardwired into the wall - no RJ45 jacks. Hell, the house I grew up in didn't even have wiring for cable TV. 
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Jun 17, 2015 10:32
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Keith Atherton posted:Also back then it only took 5 digits to make a local call. And your phone had a circular ring dial mechanism and you rented it from the phone company. You couldn't buy a phone. I still remember the phone number for my home back in the late 70s - "47637". A friend of the family's phone number was something like "Darnmouth 191"
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Jun 17, 2015 12:01
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Keith Atherton posted:Also back then it only took 5 digits to make a local call. And your phone had a circular ring dial mechanism and you rented it from the phone company. You couldn't buy a phone. We had a government run phone system until 20 or so years ago and they made you rent a phone for every line you had. Since privatization, they have allowed for people to buy and use phones not supplied by the phone company, but made little effort to get people to return the ones they were paying to rent. About a year ago I happened to look at one of my parents' phone bills and they were being charged about $3.50 each month for phone rental. That means they spent more than 800 dollars renting a telephone over the past two decades. I have also been to places within the past two years that are so small everyone has the same exchange so they will only give you the last four digits to their phone number.
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Jun 17, 2015 12:03
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I think the Apple Newton had a feature where you could "dial" people from having it play back the tones into a receiver.
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Jun 17, 2015 14:11
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When I was a kid my dad had an electronic contact list gizmo which could dial contacts by playing DTMF tones. It was kind of neat in 1989 I guess.
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Jun 17, 2015 14:21
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Geoj posted:These are usually in IR emitter/receiver than a purely PV cell (in which case it would turn off the screen in the dark.) I don't actually want to return to the days of corded home phones (and I don't want a replica to plug into my smartphone, since it won't fit in my pocket), but I do miss them sometimes.
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Jun 17, 2015 14:35
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WebDog posted:I think the Apple Newton had a feature where you could "dial" people from having it play back the tones into a receiver. The coolest trick was tapping the hook to pulse dial a number. Doubly so on a courtesy phone.
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Jun 17, 2015 17:14
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