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mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

Kelp Me! posted:

Yeah I currently drive a '16 Passat and literally the only really enticing part of the upgraded trim package was an Android Auto-equipped, GPS enabled capacitive touchscreen vs. the base model's resistive, no-GPS, no Android center display.

Too bad the upgraded trim was like an extra $3k :( but I really wish I had it. It's nice that the base model has an SD card slot but navigating through a 64GB card full of music is kind of a bitch with a resistive touchscreen and no voice activation. Sadly like most new cars the thing is molded in so there's no easy way to put in an aftermarket replacement.
These cars will soon become obsolete technology themselves since you won't be able to replace the one component most likely to become quickly outdated. Like the built in early 2000s navigation systems.

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Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


Trebek posted:

It doesn't have bluetooth or a usb port?

It has a USB port, but playing music off my phone through it is super wonky. Bluetooth works but my phone's only 8GB with no external storage, and I have a low data plan. It's not the end of the world, but I don't trust myself to take attention off the road long enough to change albums while driving, for example.

The Sicilian
Sep 3, 2006

by Smythe

spog posted:

I think that they also used water at a hell of a rate, so you had to refill more often than adding fuel.

The Doble Jay Leno has is a closed loop system as de strayed in the video,

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
It still loses water, he said a few hundred miles per tank. It's just much slower.

GWBBQ
Jan 2, 2005


Kelp Me! posted:

I don't trust myself to take attention off the road long enough to change albums while driving, for example.
I really wish more people had this kind of common sense.

Trebek
Mar 7, 2002
College Slice

Kelp Me! posted:

It has a USB port, but playing music off my phone through it is super wonky. Bluetooth works but my phone's only 8GB with no external storage, and I have a low data plan. It's not the end of the world, but I don't trust myself to take attention off the road long enough to change albums while driving, for example.

I have just stuck a flash drive in the USB port and it plays just fine. I usually just shuffle and skip songs with the wheel controls.

Three-Phase
Aug 5, 2006

by zen death robot

mobby_6kl posted:

These cars will soon become obsolete technology themselves since you won't be able to replace the one component most likely to become quickly outdated. Like the built in early 2000s navigation systems.



"Hey Beavis, let's go to Wien uh Huh huh uh uh"

Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


Trebek posted:

I have just stuck a flash drive in the USB port and it plays just fine. I usually just shuffle and skip songs with the wheel controls.

Mine has the USB port but also an SD card slot, which I use instead. I loaded up a 64gb card with full albums, so shuffling can be inconsistent as hell. Technically I can navigate folders through the wheel controls, but again I'd still be taking my eyes off the road to look at the list.

I should cross-post this in the First World Problems thread :haw:

Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


Three-Phase posted:

"Hey Beavis, let's go to Wien uh Huh huh uh uh"

huh huh... munchen.

stealie72
Jan 10, 2007

Their eyes locked and suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass.
\

mobby_6kl posted:

These cars will soon become obsolete technology themselves since you won't be able to replace the one component most likely to become quickly outdated. Like the built in early 2000s navigation systems.



poo poo, my brand new 2017 navigation system is obsolete upon installation because it doesn't get live feedback from millions of users and give me real time traffic like my phone's Google maps does. I have no idea why cars come with built in navigation.

Mercedes Colomar
Nov 1, 2008

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Old folk who don't have smart phones, probably. My mom has an iphone now, but my parents still tend to print off mapquest (:magical:) directions.

Platystemon
Feb 13, 2012

as a person who never leaves my house i've done pretty well for myself.
Being able to flip the car’s nice big screen to a map with a button on the steering wheel is convenient. It works with no data connection, too.

I don’t use for routing, and I wouldn’t pay a great deal of money for it, but it’s nice to have.

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


Manuel Calavera posted:

Old folk who don't have smart phones, probably. My mom has an iphone now, but my parents still tend to print off mapquest (:magical:) directions.

Familiarity is a hell of a drug.

On the other hand, having a hard copy is useful because if your computer navigator cuts out it's better than ending up in The Woods or something.

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:

dont be mean to me posted:

Familiarity is a hell of a drug.

On the other hand, having a hard copy is useful because if your computer navigator cuts out it's better than ending up in The Woods or something.

I don't get people with no sense of direction, I was out and about just exploring some roads and my phone locked up and I couldn't get it to work within reasonable time since it was dying at that time, I just used road signs and scenery to orient myself. I still got home.

Gromit
Aug 15, 2000

I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

SEKCobra posted:

I don't get people with no sense of direction, I was out and about just exploring some roads and my phone locked up and I couldn't get it to work within reasonable time since it was dying at that time, I just used road signs and scenery to orient myself. I still got home.

I describe myself as having no sense of direction and I can read a map and follow signposts and look for landmarks no problem. But drive me out somewhere I've never been and I can't point my way home. I need to travel a path multiple times before it sticks in my head, and I find it very hard to memorise street names. I would describe what you're talking about as being a spatial awareness issue or something.
Then again, maybe I've got the definition wrong all this time?

joshtothemaxx
Nov 17, 2008

I will have a whole army of zombies! A zombie Marine Corps, a zombie Navy Corps, zombie Space Cadets...

Manuel Calavera posted:

Old folk who don't have smart phones, probably. My mom has an iphone now, but my parents still tend to print off mapquest (:magical:) directions.

I get travel reimbursements as part of my job. Last week's request was initially denied because I supplied a google maps print out as proof of route distance... they ONLY accept mapquest. I was flabbergasted.

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:

Gromit posted:

I describe myself as having no sense of direction and I can read a map and follow signposts and look for landmarks no problem. But drive me out somewhere I've never been and I can't point my way home. I need to travel a path multiple times before it sticks in my head, and I find it very hard to memorise street names. I would describe what you're talking about as being a spatial awareness issue or something.
Then again, maybe I've got the definition wrong all this time?

I would have used it the other way around, but I guess these are fairly flexible terms anyway. Luckily finding my way back has never been a problem for me either.

Keiya
Aug 22, 2009

Come with me if you want to not die.

whiteyfats posted:

Tape players got really fancy there towards the end of their life. Auto-flipping and everything.

I always wondered why they never used four-track heads and just switched which ones were playing and reversed the spinning direction. I know four-track heads exist, you saw them in some multi-track recorders that used tapes and such.

Keiya has a new favorite as of 07:20 on Apr 5, 2017

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

My dad always keeps a map book and compass in the car. It just seems like a sensible backup option. When I was a kid I liked to follow the route we were going on the map.

Cat Hatter
Oct 24, 2006

Hatters gonna hat.

stealie72 posted:

poo poo, my brand new 2017 navigation system is obsolete upon installation because it doesn't get live feedback from millions of users and give me real time traffic like my phone's Google maps does. I have no idea why cars come with built in navigation.

I have no idea why some people think their priorities are universal. The screen is bigger, they can support real-time traffic (Garmin and Tom Tom have been doing that for about a decade), usually have a more sensitive antenna, the radio turns itself down so you can hear directions, don't have to plug your phone into a charger and attach it to the windshield with a suction cup that sometimes falls down (and I think is illegal in some states), works in areas with poor cell reception...

I don't even have a navigation system in either of my cars, but I understand that they have advantages that some people find appealing.

repeating
Nov 14, 2005
I absolutely cannot wait for the moment that every POS card transaction is chip+PIN so I don't have to look like an idiot doing the wrong thing when there's no signage telling me which thing to do. As much as chip and PIN sucks, I'm ready to get back to consistency.

This also extends to the inclination toward the "we should all save the world and kill ourselves" mindset that flashes through your brain when there's a sign taped over the chip reader saying "NO CHIP YET JUST SWIPE" and it's been partially torn off by some idiot who thinks "out of order" has an addendum "except for you"

repeating has a new favorite as of 08:47 on Apr 5, 2017

GotLag
Jul 17, 2005

食べちゃダメだよ
I can't remember the last time I saw a non-paywave POS terminal.

repeating
Nov 14, 2005
To add another to the pile. Esp. being a phone company end-user support person: Voicemail.

I swear to god voicemail runs on caveman technology. Like the only thing that has changed in 20 years is being able to download a .wav or have a transcription texted to you. The IVR is still horrible. The transcription feature told one of my coworkers "I'm leaving you" instead of "Just got in a fender-bender." It still doesn't even know how to ID you when you're roaming.

Failed. Proven failure. Still in use with only cosmetic modifications.

WITCHCRAFT
Aug 28, 2007

Berries That Burn

GRINDCORE MEGGIDO posted:

I miss CB radio being a thing. Good times.

My dad had a CB radio in our ?? year station wagon with the fake wood panels on the side. At home, we had an Apple II, dot matrix printer, and his home CB radio setup in the weird side room with the cat litter box. I can't remember if it was the radio or a separate unit, but the home setup had knobs so you could pitch shift or add tremolo and other goofy poo poo to your voice. As kids we didn't get to play with it all the time because we would give truckers bad directions like turn right -> turn right -> turn right -> turn right and they would realize they went in a circle. I wish I could remember all the cool handles we used for our names... they were mostly allusions to Super Nintendo games.

Kelp Me! posted:

I remember playing Virtual On



This was my favorite arcade game back in the day. As a fighter game, it's not that different from Tekken or Soul Calibur. But the big seated cabinets with the joysticks were so dope. It felt like you were piloting a gundam. The in-game movement wasn't clunky, but had some heft to it. Really added to the feel. I also remember it was one of those games where a lot of the cabinets had hosed up joysticks from kids going berserk and slamming them like their life depended on it.

SEKCobra posted:

I don't get people with no sense of direction, I was out and about just exploring some roads and my phone locked up and I couldn't get it to work within reasonable time since it was dying at that time, I just used road signs and scenery to orient myself. I still got home.

If you're on or near a main road with route signs, the only excuse you have for not finding your way home is ignorance. I know the general layout of all the major roads in my part of the state. With that knowledge all you gotta do is drive until you hit one (or even a roadsign telling you where it is) then you can orient yourself and find the way home. You can go somewhere you've never been before and still figure it out. The only time I really get "lost" is hiking and camping, when you're in a rural country as gently caress landscape, or better yet a blob of state forest preserve. No cell phone connection, poorly marked/unmarked and sometimes washed out/impassable dirt roads if it's the wrong time of year. I keep a road map/topographical atlas of my state under the back seat for this, definitely obsolete for most drivers. Great when you're in bumfuck nowhere and the road just ends. The topo elevation maps are nice for bushwhacking off marked hiking trails or walking up dry creek bed as well.

I think it was this thread but maybe I'm wrong, Aus goons were talking about how open/empty it is between the heavily populated coastal areas. I think the farthest I've been from civilization here in NY state was about 30 miles deep in the Adirondack wilderness. You could still walk to the nearest house (lol if it's an empty seasonal cabin), or march back into town in a life-or-death situation. It's crazy to think about being 4 hours of highway from the nearest gas station/crossroads town.

Samizdata
May 14, 2007

Gromit posted:

I describe myself as having no sense of direction and I can read a map and follow signposts and look for landmarks no problem. But drive me out somewhere I've never been and I can't point my way home. I need to travel a path multiple times before it sticks in my head, and I find it very hard to memorise street names. I would describe what you're talking about as being a spatial awareness issue or something.
Then again, maybe I've got the definition wrong all this time?

I can even get lost in game worlds.

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:

Cat Hatter posted:

I have no idea why some people think their priorities are universal. The screen is bigger, they can support real-time traffic (Garmin and Tom Tom have been doing that for about a decade), usually have a more sensitive antenna, the radio turns itself down so you can hear directions, don't have to plug your phone into a charger and attach it to the windshield with a suction cup that sometimes falls down (and I think is illegal in some states), works in areas with poor cell reception...

I don't even have a navigation system in either of my cars, but I understand that they have advantages that some people find appealing.

Theres also air duct mounts, magnet mounts... Sygic also has live traffic and screen size is a preference with phones just as much as gps.

Kwyndig
Sep 23, 2006

Heeeeeey


Being able to navigate without directions is something you have to practice, it's just a learned skill. The problem is that with GPS navigation and turn directions you don't normally need to learn it anymore, so most people just don't. The only issue with this is apparently it might mess with your memory long term? The verdict's still out.

Pham Nuwen
Oct 30, 2010



repeating posted:

To add another to the pile. Esp. being a phone company end-user support person: Voicemail.

I swear to god voicemail runs on caveman technology. Like the only thing that has changed in 20 years is being able to download a .wav or have a transcription texted to you. The IVR is still horrible. The transcription feature told one of my coworkers "I'm leaving you" instead of "Just got in a fender-bender." It still doesn't even know how to ID you when you're roaming.

Failed. Proven failure. Still in use with only cosmetic modifications.

For some goddamn reason, work's voicemail now wants you to control it with voice commands, which is obviously better than pressing buttons :suicide:

GRINDCORE MEGGIDO
Feb 28, 1985


p-hop posted:

I wish I could remember all the cool handles we used for our names... they were mostly allusions to Super Nintendo games.

I was Inspector Clouseau. CB was a run of fun. I got hold of a 25w burner and could only use it at night, as it stackiced my parents TV.

One of the things I remember back then finding really exciting about CB was just flicking around channels and catching bits of conversations from people, and having no idea where they were from, or even the occasional French person from across the British channel if the skip was good that day.

I've only just realised this now, but I'm sure I picked up useful conversational skills from that, like keeping conversations going with total strangers, for hours. They were great.

GRINDCORE MEGGIDO has a new favorite as of 12:34 on Apr 5, 2017

Neon Noodle
Nov 11, 2016

there's nothing wrong here in montana

Pham Nuwen posted:

For some goddamn reason, work's voicemail now wants you to control it with voice commands, which is obviously better than pressing buttons :suicide:

There isn't much better a sign of upperclass cluelessness than the people who invented voice-powered phone systems. They couldn't conceive of any situations where a person wouldn't have privacy.

Lurking Haro
Oct 27, 2009

Kwyndig posted:

Being able to navigate without directions is something you have to practice, it's just a learned skill. The problem is that with GPS navigation and turn directions you don't normally need to learn it anymore, so most people just don't. The only issue with this is apparently it might mess with your memory long term? The verdict's still out.

AFAIK that was a badly worded article that actually meant that you don't remember routes as well if you just follow your navi.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




repeating posted:

To add another to the pile. Esp. being a phone company end-user support person: Voicemail.

I swear to god voicemail runs on caveman technology. Like the only thing that has changed in 20 years is being able to download a .wav or have a transcription texted to you. The IVR is still horrible. The transcription feature told one of my coworkers "I'm leaving you" instead of "Just got in a fender-bender." It still doesn't even know how to ID you when you're roaming.

Failed. Proven failure. Still in use with only cosmetic modifications.

A home user at my company was asked by her supervisor to get a phone with a blinking light to indicate new voicemail. Plenty of those on the market, only catch is that they only blink for a new message in the phone's built-in voicemail box. Couldn't get one that would indicate a new message in her Xfinity voicemails.

Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


Wilford Cutlery posted:

A home user at my company was asked by her supervisor to get a phone with a blinking light to indicate new voicemail. Plenty of those on the market, only catch is that they only blink for a new message in the phone's built-in voicemail box. Couldn't get one that would indicate a new message in her Xfinity voicemails.

Business phones can do that. We use AT&T's SynJ phone system and they can differentiate between new voicemails in our VoIP inbox and its own internal mailbox.

Dick Trauma
Nov 30, 2007

God damn it, you've got to be kind.
Although I will probably never need it I bought a copy of the last "good" edition of the Thomas Brothers map for L.A. and Orange County. Growing up here it was a rite of passage to get your own Thomas Bros. map for your car and I felt the need to have one stashed in the back just in case.

They were an awesome spiral bound monster with which you could find any address in the city but with the rise of smartphones they lost importance and after a certain year (2004?) the quality of the printed version took a big hit. I like maps and it's a shame to see a great system lose relevance.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Kwyndig posted:

Being able to navigate without directions is something you have to practice, it's just a learned skill. The problem is that with GPS navigation and turn directions you don't normally need to learn it anymore, so most people just don't. The only issue with this is apparently it might mess with your memory long term? The verdict's still out.
Nah. I got my first GPS in my late forties; up until then I always, always got lost when driving. GPS-based learned helplessness is not the problem. The problem is that my visual memory doesn't do sequence; I know that I recognize that bent tree, but I don't remember if it's before or after the exit. I just recognize it as a landmark. It's a joke with my family and friends; I once turned right into a motel room, talked to my friend, then walked out and turned right again, because I'd forgotten that I came in from the left.

It's like face-blindness, only with driving.

Gromit
Aug 15, 2000

I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

Samizdata posted:

I can even get lost in game worlds.

A friend of mine loves milsim and when we play Arma 3 he can read the heck out of a map and use the compass to cover many virtual square miles of terrain. Get him into Killing Floor and he gets lost going from the trader back to our camping spot which would be the equivalent of going about 150 yards through some corridors. It's weird.

For me with driving, I think my brain is actively working against me. If I don't know where I'm going and need to turn either left or right at an intersection and hope to get somewhere, whatever I chose is almost always wrong. If I second guess myself and do the opposite of what I chose, that's also wrong. GPS was invented for me specifically, I think.

Samizdata
May 14, 2007

Gromit posted:

A friend of mine loves milsim and when we play Arma 3 he can read the heck out of a map and use the compass to cover many virtual square miles of terrain. Get him into Killing Floor and he gets lost going from the trader back to our camping spot which would be the equivalent of going about 150 yards through some corridors. It's weird.

For me with driving, I think my brain is actively working against me. If I don't know where I'm going and need to turn either left or right at an intersection and hope to get somewhere, whatever I chose is almost always wrong. If I second guess myself and do the opposite of what I chose, that's also wrong. GPS was invented for me specifically, I think.

Back when I used to play Planetside, my buddies banned me from getting a drive a tank.

"Hey, dude. Where we going?"

"To the front!"

"Seriously, man, pull a 180..."

Platystemon
Feb 13, 2012

as a person who never leaves my house i've done pretty well for myself.

Samizdata posted:

Back when I used to play Planetside, my buddies banned me from getting a drive a tank.

"Hey, dude. Where we going?"

"To the front!"

"Seriously, man, pull a 180..."

It’s not the driver’s fault if the commander doesn’t give specific orders. :colbert:

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:

Gromit posted:

A friend of mine loves milsim and when we play Arma 3 he can read the heck out of a map and use the compass to cover many virtual square miles of terrain. Get him into Killing Floor and he gets lost going from the trader back to our camping spot which would be the equivalent of going about 150 yards through some corridors. It's weird

Honestly, a lot of the Killing Floor maps have a confusign layout, and I totally feel your friend, when you never really take the time to learn the layout and are focused on pulling constant headshots, certain maps have almost nothing identifying one end from the other.

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Samizdata
May 14, 2007

Platystemon posted:

It’s not the driver’s fault if the commander doesn’t give specific orders. :colbert:

I ended up a turret gunner, so it wasn't all bad.

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