Ask Slashdot: What Single Change Would You Make To a Tech Product? 508
An anonymous reader writes: We live in an age of sorcery. The supercomputers in our pockets are capable of doing things it took armies of humans to accomplish even a hundred years ago. But let's face it: we're also complainers at heart. For every incredible, revolutionary device we use, we can find something that's obviously wrong with it. Something we'd instantly fix if we were suddenly put in charge of design. So, what's at the top of your list? Hardware, software, or service — don't hold back.
Here's an example: over the past several years, e-readers have standardized on 6-inch screens. For all the variety that exists in smartphone and tablet sizing, the e-reader market has decided it must copy the Kindle form factor or die trying. Having used an e-reader before all this happened, I found a 7-8" e-ink screen to be an amazingly better reading experience. Oh well, I'm out of luck. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I'd fix it immediately if I could.
Here's an example: over the past several years, e-readers have standardized on 6-inch screens. For all the variety that exists in smartphone and tablet sizing, the e-reader market has decided it must copy the Kindle form factor or die trying. Having used an e-reader before all this happened, I found a 7-8" e-ink screen to be an amazingly better reading experience. Oh well, I'm out of luck. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I'd fix it immediately if I could.
Stop spying on everyone (Score:5, Informative)
Nobody wants to be stalked with creep ware.
Re: (Score:2)
For that to work you'd also have to come up with a scheme of monetary compensation or none of us will get to play with toys.
Re:Stop spying on everyone (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy it.
Re: (Score:2)
For that to work you'd also have to come up with a scheme of monetary compensation or none of us will get to play with toys.
Like this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3)
If $600 for a phone doesn't cover the cost of production, charge more.
No LEDS (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is the user (Score:4, Insightful)
If a led is on, the device is not "OFF", it's in standby mode, which means that is still suck a non-negligible amount of permanent electricity, like 10-20$ / Year.
These modes should be forbidden, or better, they should be taxed !
Re: (Score:2)
That'd require drawing 10-20W while in sleep.
I don't doubt that there are devices that do that, but my macbook pro draws something like 1-2W while sleeping (assuming it's done charging). I don't think my fridge even draws 20W when it's idling
Re:The problem is the user (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
Even with LEDs off, the power supplies still need power to work. LEDs draw so little power compared to SMPS ICs they make no difference.
Re:The problem is the user (Score:4, Interesting)
Well no, they don't NEED to work. If I unplug something and later plug it back in, it works. If I turn it off and it enters a standby mode, consuming trivial power, and then later I turn it on, it works. Since the case where no electricity is used and the case where trivial electricity is used both result in a working product, no, the power supply doesn't "need" to be doing crap.
The bigger issue is that the lights all add up and are ludicrous, especially the blue ones. It's annoying to have to consider this when choosing what goes in your bedroom.
Re:The problem is the user (Score:4, Insightful)
That article is over 7 years old! The first clue was mentioning at the bottom, "You can also check planned electronics purchases for the Energy Star approval sticker." Virtually everything is Energy Star certified these days, and uses a *LOT* less electricity. (There's no date on the article itself, but the first comment is 2569 days old.)
Re:The problem is the user (Score:4, Interesting)
1) In general, criticizing a citation is only valid if you can provide a better citation. In this case, a newer article would qualify.
2) People still use 7-year-old electronics.
3) Newer articles seem to indicate this is still a problem. Ex:
PS4: 10 watts
XBOX One: 13 watts
(Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/... [arstechnica.com])
"Is standby growing or shrinking? It's probably growing."
(Source: http://standby.lbl.gov/faq.htm... [lbl.gov])
Displays: 12 watts
(Source: http://www.energysavingsecrets... [energysavi...rets.co.uk])
Re: The problem is the user (Score:2)
Maybe if you keep the power brick plugged in. Apple might have slacked off and decided to not optimise for low idle power when the brick is plugged in, since the user won't notice... That's where legislation might come in eventually.
It should be way less than 1W assuming everything is working normally and the laptop is not plugged in.
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah, I can't wait to have TVs with a big "enable" button to enable the IR receiver, so that I can then use the remote to turn on the TV.
It would make remotes much more useful.
Re: (Score:3)
Except my TV uses less than 0.1W in standby. Just in case you missed that decimal point it is less than 100mW, and that is even with the red LED to tell me it is in standby illuminated. I am not actually sure what the real number is because the manual says just says less than 100mW and I my measurements say it is less than ~80mW, it all gets rather tricky as basically you are measuring the lowest amount of current that my multimeter is capable of doing on mains voltages.
It also has a hard off button on the
Re: (Score:3)
These modes should be forbidden, or better, they should be taxed !
They are "taxed"... every time you pay your electric bill. Don't want to pay it? Switch off your power strip.
Re: (Score:3)
Huh? Most computers can have their LED's unplugged from the motherboard. There are several monitors on the market where the LED can be disabled (look for anything that is used in production environments like monitors from NEC and EIZO). Not sure about most speakers but mine have a physical button.
I think what you want actually already exists.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:No LEDS (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm with you. I'm still trying to figure out why my DVD player and TV need a light on to tell me when they're OFF. And when I turn them on, the LED goes off.
Can anyone say "parasitic power draw"?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:No LEDS (Score:4, Insightful)
The LED is immaterial. The power supply is still there, and while on standby it's consuming way more power than the LED is.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Well ... then the easier solution is not to be up late at night on your computer and messing up your sleep schedule ... it's too late to worry about screwing up your sleep schedule while you're in the middle of screwing up your sleep schedule. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
...or at least make the freaking things not blink like crazy when I'm trying to sleep. Say what you wish about Apple, but at least they have figured it out and use light intensity ramps instead of ON/OFF patterns. I can put the macbook on the night table and be able to fall asleep without having to cover its LED. The HP printer, OTOH, had me look for an old floppy disk erase-disable tab sticker. The perfectly opaque sticker was a necessity given the absurd amount of light the indicator was giving off.
Re: (Score:2)
Plasti-dip.
Re:No LEDS (Score:5, Interesting)
e-Ink displays on more devices would be useful in general. For example, on a home router, it could display the initial password on it, and with a button or two, have minimal configuration done (set the IP), so it can have the rest of its configuration done via a web page (or SSH.)
For external devices like a home NAS, it can show a snapshot of what is going on every so often (5-10 minutes), as well as show that there is an issue with a downed drive or fan. Even external hard disks could benefit, since the display could show SMART status, or number of writes for a SSD.
For a time back in the 1990s, every device had a LCD readout that had verbose info on it. The computer case showed what was going on via POST. The monitor (CRTs, at the time) showed resolution and refresh rate. Printers showed stats like how much toner/ink was left in real time. Even tape drives showed how long until they needed cleaned, what density and blocksize was in use, and the capacity of the cartridge. If those displays could come back as e-Ink items, it would be quite useful.
Remove systemd from Debian. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd remove systemd from Debian so that Debian became usable again.
Re: (Score:3)
I'd remove systemd from Debian so that Debian became usable again.
Have you offered your support yet?
https://devuan.org/ [devuan.org]
Mac os X remove the apple only locks (Score:3)
Mac os X remove the apple only locks.
Yes you can do your self but it will be nice to have so you can install updates without braking stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
With the most recent Clover UEFI bootloader, it's more and more a case of plug-and-play with OS X on supported non-Apple hardware. It even installs from the original install media now.
Laptop stuff (Score:5, Informative)
I have many little ideas to improve laptops.
- Allow disabling LEDs or have them all under the lid. I don't want my whole room blinking when the machine is in suspend.
- Do not use eye-scorching low frequencies like 200 Hz for backlight PWM.
- Make Macs with matte screens.
- Put in place dedicated volume keys instead of clunky Fn buttons.
- Have a small maintenance hatch in every machine for easy dust removal from the heatsink.
- Include a trackball so I can play 3D games on couch without an external mouse.
Re: (Score:3)
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/po... [3m.com]
I'm sure there are many more vendors but that was the top of my google juice.
Re:Laptop stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
- Put in place dedicated volume keys instead of clunky Fn buttons.
Back in the mid 90's I really appreciated the external analogue volume control on my Thinkpad. One quick swipe before booting up to turn the sound off ensured no embarrassingly loud chime when Windows XP started.
Re:Laptop stuff (Score:4, Insightful)
Replace Gnome Shell with Cinnamon (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good luck getting the management at Red Hat to do this. For some weird reason, they're completely convinced that the Gnome team is on the right path.
Within the realm of possibility (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd force manufacturers to open their products and support them regardless of their users.
It's ludicrous that we live in a world of locked bootloaders and warranty fuses. How can you void a hardware warranty by running a different OS? How can we release a device that gets no updates after only the shortest time?
Devices have a useful life, they should be supported throughout that useful life.
Common keyboard for Windows and OS X (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hate to burst your bubble, but it's already here. I'm using a Dell SK-8115 keyboard with my mac. Works perfectly fine. Same for Apple keyboards and PCs.
Re: (Score:3)
Alt and Win are flopped. If you're trying to form finger memory between Mac, Windows, Mac w/ Windows keyboard, and Windows w/ Mac keyboard, it's a giant pain in the ass.
Given that things like cut and paste are totally different key strokes between Windows and Mac, worrying about key placement seems kinda pointless.
Re: (Score:3)
Remap keys
I'd make customizable... (Score:2)
Usernames (Score:2, Insightful)
I would definitely go back and make it common practice to use email addresses for usernames instead of letting users choose.
Re: (Score:2)
Good point. Perhaps the OP meant "login by email address." Although if you have a display name, and can login by email, then the username can just be a hidden guid.
I'd shrink the iPhone back to a 3.5" screen (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I don't want a tablet in my pocket thank you very much.
That's easy (Score:2, Insightful)
Right to Read [gnu.org] is fiction, but corporations have been trying to make it reality for a long time. Walled gardens are bad for our freedom (and frankly don't improve security, either).
Re: (Score:3)
Meh, many people want locked down worlds where hackers can't infect their systems. Given the picture of infosec these days, you'll only see this getting more acute. I'm all for the 'Do this complicated step to void your warranty but unlock everything' operation. But having said thing unlocked, uninformed users can be notified with big haggard warnings that they're living in an 'unsafe' platform. Said services could live through a user's connected services instead of the host itself, but once machine trust i
Remote login, please (Score:2)
I want to be able to login to my phone. And toaster. And dishwasher. ssh would be best, but even the silly old unencrypted telnet is fine. With the standard assortment of Unix command-line tools, of course, plus the phone-specific utilities.
The devices currently make certain things very easy, but other things remain impossible (MS Windows approach). Opening up would allow proficient users to do things, Apple/Google could not think of...
Re: (Score:2)
>> I want a backdoor in my devices, so every kiddie is able to login to my phone. And toaster. And dishwasher. ssh would be best, but even the silly old unencrypted telnet is fine.
Corrected that for you...
Uh, but this one is already done... Courtesy of phoney US agencies and similar.
Re: (Score:2)
Whether that's true or not, I do not have the shell-access to the device, and I want one.
Lose the obsession with thinness (Score:5, Interesting)
My phone (Nexus 5) was so thin compared to my previous (Galaxy S with a slide-out keyboard) that I dropped it more times in my first week owning it than I had dropped the old phone in 3 years. I ended up getting a case for it, not to protect it but to make it thicker so I wouldn't drop it so much. I don't need nor want it to be any thinner. Do something useful with that extra space - like pack in a bigger battery. (I'm happy to report though that with the Marshmallow update, the phone easily lasts 36-48 hours on a charge. Many days it still has over 70% charge left by the time I go to sleep. Maybe we'll manage to get back to the days when you only had to charge your phone every 3-4 days.)
PASSWORDS (Score:4, Interesting)
Everything should be two factor password system with one being a token/phone/pc, the second one should be a short, (no more than 6 symobls - including every key on a standard keyboard - and you should not have to change anything more often than twice a year.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course the problem with this is it somehow presumes I trust entities with my damned phone number.
And I'm sorry, but that's not happening ... if Google wants my cell number so they can ostensibly text me with two factor authentication, the reality is I simply don't trust them and fully expect this will be used for further marketing/tracking/analytics.
Take the marketing weasels out of the mix and make sure this stuff is to prote
Re: (Score:3)
Wow, that sounds like the exact opposite of what I want.
1. Short passwords = harder to remember and less secure.
2. Two factor authentication means I have to give my cell phone number to everyone and have it on hand, or I have to carry 500 keyfobs. I can't login quickly because I have to wait for a text, and if I lose my phone I can't login to anything. I personally choose never to use 2-factor authentication, and instead have good passwords. I *might* reconsider for my bank.
Windows (Score:2, Funny)
I'd roll Windows back in stages until it reached 1.0 and after that, back into oblivion.
Re:Windows (Score:5, Interesting)
That is a well-thought through list with meaningful improvements.
You realize that most of what you suggest (except possibly items 8-10) would make Windows into ... well ... something like Linux :)
Stop Preloading Crapware (Score:4, Insightful)
If for some inconceivable reason I wanted the Facebook app, I can find it and download it quite easily. After that, it every time I upgrade my device, I will automatically have that app pre-installed. If you must pre install it to avoid tech support questions, then at least make the God forsaken thing un-installable!
I have nothing against Uber, but if I wanted their app, I would install it.
Maybe you should pre-install a computer algebra system app? (CAS) Since I use it, I would tend to believe that everyone would be interested in such an app!
Change Windows' file path separator to forward-sla (Score:5, Insightful)
Backslash-as-a-filepath-separator is extremely annoying, both because it's gratuitously different from every other OS, and because it's also used (in C, C++, and elsewhere) as an escape character, which can cause endless hilarity for anyone who isn't very careful about that.
And I'd also like them to replace the Windows DOS prompt with bash running inside a proper terminal window. Installed by default.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
We could extend that to require POSIX compatibility for windows.
User Serviceable Everything (Score:2)
Phones with no way to replace the battery? Gosh, your battery is dead, you have to buy a whole new device.
The video card on your lap top is flakey? What a shame, time to buy an entirely new machine.
Your provider won't update the official version of Android (or whatever) on your device? Well it's really hard to do, I guess if you want that new version you better buy a new device, or figure out how to jailbreak the old one and pray you don't brick the thing.
Complete video stream pre-rolling (Score:5, Insightful)
Almost every streaming media player on almost every platform, from Windows to Linux to HTML5 Video to DRM-encrypted stuff like Amazon Video and Netflix, has severe limitations on its willingness to download the video while it's not actually playing.
This is not helping anyone. It's not a security feature, because anyone who wants to pirate the video will do so regardless of how they try to restrict it. It's not a bandwidth-saving feature, because most people who start to watch a video are going to either close the video player or watch it all the way through anyway.
The people it really hurts are, oh, I don't know, *the vast majority* (at least in the US), who don't have enough connection throughput to stream the video "live" at the highest-available bitrate. Almost no one has the ability to stream 2K or 4K at decent quality. Most people still don't have the ability to reliably stream at 1080p; "smart" streaming players will frequently drop down to 360p or 480p during playback when there are throughput bottlenecks caused by other customers or background programs or other users on the same uplink. There are even probably a lot of people who can't reliably stream 720p.
Yet streaming video players are deliberately coded to be as stupid as possible, and not allow the user to "pre-roll" the entire video, basically meaning that they open up the video player, then leave it paused for half an hour or an hour while the video downloads, then come back and watch the whole thing at full quality with no "graceful downgrades" due to their connection being slow.
This is a draconian and quality-killing misfeature that puts users in a bind, since most (good) streaming video content providers don't allow downloading, or if they do, it's in SD only. HD viewing is almost universally restricted to streaming only. And on the few devices and services where downloading in HD is allowed, often the video is encrypted and can't be streamed off of the tiny tablet you have to download it from (see the Kindle Fire lineup) without using some flaky, unreliable piece of shit like Miracast.
Apparently the video content providers are wholly uninterested in giving the best experience to the vast majority of their customers who aren't lucky enough to live in a high-income, high-population-density area that got fiber to the premises before all the big ISPs decided to stop rolling out fiber to new customers. They're perfectly content to let us watch video in varying levels of quality as the player constantly recalculates the data transfer rate and delivers quality varying between 240p and 480p most of the time, with occasional jumps to 720p.
It's galling to think that something as commonplace as streaming video has been implemented so incorrectly, and probably deliberately so, by so many tech companies -- Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and so on and so forth. And if it's actually the content cartels making them do this, well fuck them. I've stopped subscribing to their services and stopped handing them my money. They can get my money when they and/or the ISPs stop putting every citizen who doesn't live in Dallas or Seattle or San Francisco in a double bind, where they can't get a decent ISP, and can't take advantage of commonplace and desirable online services even if they pay for them, without moving their life, family, job and household into the inner city where they're choking to death on smog and can't even fart without being heard by a dozen neighbors packed in an apartment like sardines.
Re:Complete video stream pre-rolling (Score:4, Informative)
Did you ever think that it's not "stupid" but more related to customer preference?
What customer would EVER prefer that a paused video would not continue loading? Netflix, Youtube, Google Play, Vimeo - all of them stop downloading when you pause, which makes them unusable if your connection is slow for whatever reason - network congestion, bad wireless signal, etc.
I recently rented an online video from Google Play and demanded a refund, which I wouldn't have done if this feature existed... the video kept stopping to buffer every 30 seconds or so. That ruins a movie. If I could have left it alone for 20 minutes to load, and then watched the whole thing, it would have been fine. Google's choice to save bandwidth (or whatever their motivation is) cost them that sale.
So, there's no real "preference" at play here, unless your preference is for limited options. You can still stream it real time, the OP is asking that you also be allowed to download in one chunk when bandwidth is limited so you get a seamless viewing experience without frequent pauses to buffer.
Apple Eraser (Score:2)
An eraser on the other end of the Apple Pencil, or a button on the side that switches it to "erase" mode while pressed. Because I make mistakes, and even the Apple Mouse has always included a single button (real or simulated).
Turn off Sponsored Posts on SlashDot (Score:3)
Turn off sponsored posts on SlashDot. Or, at least, allow us to comment on them. (Boy are there some stupid ones posted. Looking at you, CA.)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Today I see, "From Renewable Content to Environmental Benefit, How 1 Company is Building a Sustainable Portfolio" by everyone's favorite munitions manufacturer: Dow Chemical. The only thing missing from the headline is the "...Using This 1 Weird Trick" bit.
Minor stuff? (Score:2)
LCD monitors displays frames when they get them. Quality of the panel be damned.
or
Games framerates are now stable, rock stable. Delta time and benchmark performance be damned.
or
Bluetooth sync is just to press sync on both buttons, and it just works after that without ANY hazzle.
Kill Bloat (Score:3)
I want fast, uncluttered software that doesn't bitch at me or offer to order me boner pills.
I'd alter Slashdot (Score:2)
I'd remove anonymous posting on political threads so we could have a productive discussion.
Kill Bloat (Score:2)
The gmail opening page (Score:2)
That screen (the gmail ad ) that greets you should be changed so you would NOT need to click a mouse (or touchpad).
the damn touchpad on laptops (Score:4, Interesting)
because IBM's trackpoint hits the right spot absolutely positively every f****g time.
Quit when I select quit (Score:2)
Not eventually when the program gets around to it.
LEDs (Score:2)
Oh my god LEDs.
My living room needs a warning sign for people with epilepsy. I don't need to know every flippin bit that is going across the wire for my router AND modem.
The 5 LEDs that are constantly on to indicate connectivity? Useless after the first 5 seconds of booting. I can tell if it's working by having internet or not! I don't need fancy blue then orange then green lights to tell me this.
I feel like marketing said "We need what people see in movies with huge machines and dancing lights that mean ab
Voicemail (Score:2)
Make it visual, so I can skip going through all of them but pick and choose which ones I want to process pronto. I'm making my schedule for the day, and I don't have the luxury of sifting through each and every one in that artificial sequence of yours, really.
Traffic Lights that aren't as stupid (Score:2)
Is Slashdot a tech product? (Score:4, Insightful)
If so, revert it to how it was about 8 years ago.
Also, make Apple not do about half of what they've done, design-wise, in the last 5 years, to both hardware and software. Thin gray letters on white? Buttons that look like text? Colors from the background creeping into every UI surface? A phone that's so thin, there's a bump for the camera lens to fit, and so thin that its battery doesn't survive one day of moderate use? Fuck all that.
Re: (Score:3)
No can do -- Android and MS suck even more. They take the worst of what Apple does and copy it badly and make it even more sucky. You wanna see sheep? Look at the design groups at Google and MS. "Fuzzy, indistinct crap? We're on it!"
Windows (Score:2)
That EULA should block the entire screen if you click 'do not accept' Here you are provided with a menu of other options.
a) Install an OS of your choice from CD or USB.
b) I need this as a paperweight for my flatbed.
c) I need this as a doorstop first, then wish to donate it to the library after (I have enough tablets and hardware, thank you)
d) why is still in beige, it doesn't go with anything I have in the den!
e) I wish to continue my descent into hell; please install the latest Windows.
add a @#!! USB port to iPads n/t (Score:2)
Smaller phones. (Score:3)
USB port on iPhone (Score:2)
I recently upgraded to an iPhone 6 from an Iphone 4. What a freaking nightmare because Apple only "allows" you to copy your data from what you have saved in their cloud,
And not everything is saved in the cloud. For example: If I download a PDF reader, and then download PDFs to read, what gets backed up by the computer is the PDF reader, and NOT the PDFs.
This could have been avoided by having a USB port or a card reader in the iPhone. This is something Android gets right, and Apple gets horribly, horribly wr
The Too Clever By Half problem (Score:2)
An example of this is the Kindle app, which I'm a heavy user of. I want to see pages left in book, and pages left in chapter. What the app insists on doing is displaying time left in chapter. To do this it has to go through a laborious "Learning your reading speed..." process at the beginning of each chapter, which it has to do all over again after any time when you momentarily suspend the app. A straightforward display of pages left would be easier to implement and a lot more useful.
Easy to upgrade Macs (Score:2)
The latest Macs (including the Mac mini and low-end iMacs - desktop computers) cannot even have their RAM upgraded, meaning you either get something that's not future-proof or you need to shell out more money right at the start to get more. It's a PITA to upgrade/change the hard drive too. Why do they need to make their desktop computers smaller and thinner? There's no point in doing that.
It makes Macs even more expensive because you can't save up to get one and then save more later to upgrade it.
Death to the touchpad! (Score:4, Insightful)
My change would therefore be for more manufacturers to use trackpoint (or trackpoint-style) keyboards. Laptops, desktops, even foldable bluetooth keyboards for tablets. Give us something that works. We've seen other vendors (Dell, HP, Toshiba, and even Sony) use them in past years, it can be done again.
Re: (Score:3)
Seriously, touchpads are the worst pointing devices in the history of pointing devices. Every manufacturer claims to have a "better" touchpad, but they all just end up sucking in different ways. I typed my thesis on a 10+ year old IBM keyboard with a trackpoint on it, because I couldn't stand any other option that was on the market (and I paid dearly to acquire it!).
My change would therefore be for more manufacturers to use trackpoint (or trackpoint-style) keyboards. Laptops, desktops, even foldable bluetooth keyboards for tablets. Give us something that works. We've seen other vendors (Dell, HP, Toshiba, and even Sony) use them in past years, it can be done again.
The problem with this comes down to personal preference. I can't stand trackpoints. I even prefer touchpads to mice. My current laptop actually has both a touchpad and a trackpoint and I never use the trackpoint because to me it's like trying to navigate with a joystick or controlling the mouse with arrow keys.
Make things user programmable (Score:3)
Simple rules are impossible for that, and everything else. I want my water heater to drop 10 degrees between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and again from midnight to 6 a.m. Better yet, have it learn my patterns, and provide the optimal water temp with the minimal power. Perhaps some of that can be done with home automation, but that doesn't work yet, at least not on a mass consumer level.
But the single biggest product change I'd make is 240V to the socket, with a single high efficiency power supply providing 5v/12v/48v to every socket as well. 5V so you can have USB charging at the wall with no adapters (except for Apple).12V for low-use DC, such as Christmas lights, cordless phones, and other uses that need more than 5V, and 48V for high-use DC, such as laptops and such. Have them all remote-switched so without anything plugged in they are zero draw. And every consumer device will be re-designed for the new voltages. Never hunt for a wall wart or charger again. Standard power plugs for everything, shared cords, and same voltage. Cut costs and boost efficiency.
4 inch screen high end Android phones (Score:4, Informative)
How about Kensington lock slots and keylocks? (Score:3)
For laptops, how about Kensington lock slots? Computers are not cheap, and it would be nice to be able to chain it down to a desk without having to either go with a laptop cage, lock it in a drawer, or use some slapdash method like a piece of metal between the hinges.
For desktops, I'd like to see real keylocks return. Not the crappy round-key cheapie type, but the real 5-6 pin Medeco locks that IBM used on their PS/2 machines. The keylock in front would be a soft-switch to the OS to disable all HID devices and blank the screen (so someone plugging in a USB keyboard or mouse would still be locked out.) The keylock in back would keep the case from being opened without leaving obvious damage. Combine this with some type of cable, and it will help ensure the desktop stays put.
Of course, it might be nice to have a fiber optic cable that each end plugs into a set of S/PDIF slots. If the cable is cut or unplugged, it acts as an intrusion sensor, and immediately hard-powers off the machine. This way, if a machine is physically grabbed, the data is protected.
Two, both for mobile devices. (Score:3)
(1a) Root/jailbreak everywhere, as an easy option (not called that any longer). Rather like the security control on Mac OS. "Security" on by default, but can be turned off with a click.
(1b) An unlocked SIM socket on every device, of every size, along with a dialer/calling app for mobile networks. So that I don't have to choose amongst the limited selection of "phablets" but can instead use an iPad Mini or a Samsung Galaxy S2 as my phone if I want to.
Just mod it ! (Score:2)
Just mod it yourself...
a bit of metalwork is not so difficult. And as a bonus, it's really cool.
Biggest oops (Score:2)
Oops, the launch vehicle lifted off with telemetry disabled, no UX, no command update, and with Moscow as a target.
Re: (Score:2)
Meanwhile, some of us realize there isn't much use for a clutch pedal in a fully automatic car.
Sometimes updates remove functionality; it's silly to keep a UI element if it doesn't do anything. Sometimes the needs of the majority outweigh the needs of the power user; if the function is confusing for new users or could cause severe problems if misused, perhaps it's better to put it into an advanced area.
I suspect what you really want is the same functionality/UI with security updates and such. Not a bad id
Re: (Score:2)
GIT and/or apt takes care of that. Just install or compile the older kernel.
fleshlight Re: milking machines are for cows (Score:4, Funny)
How about turning fleshlight into a girlfriend?
Re: (Score:2)
It probably will never happen, but getting rid of the Dice sponsored stories would be a good start.
Seriously, guys... we're smarter than the average Internet user. We can spot marketing drivel from a mile away.
Re: (Score:2)
Huh? I can install apps on an SD card, and I can easily move apps that are already installed between the unit and the card. This is true for my Galaxy S1, S3, and S5 phones, and my Tab 10.2 as well. All Samsung gear, but this seems to be an Android and not a Samsung feature.
Re: (Score:2)
It depends on the Android device. The manufacturer gets to turn this feature on or off, and many turn it off while only providing 8 GB on board storage, of which half is taken.