What modern things do you hate/dislike?
- Thread starter Telecolor 3007
- Start date
DesertRatt
All Bark, No Bite!
We recently went to Flagstaff for a week. The entire city uses a dumb-ass "parking app". They have hundreds ( guessing), of KIOSKS on the street - about 15% of them work, the rest have been gummed up, fricked up, screwed up, and are good for nothing but hat racks. So, you gotta get the app on your phone and load a credit card and all sorts of horsing around just to park.
Yeah. We have to carry our phones around to get into the work's parking lot for the first time — before the cameras take photos of the license plate and your face. To get into the building. To "clock in and out." To take breaks. To fart... (well, okay, that one I made up).
It's phone apps galore these days! So if your phone runs outta juice, so do you!
Spinning45s
Active Member
It wasn't even the middle of September, but Christmas merchandise is displayed in the stores already. There's always been commercialization of the holiday, but it gets worse each year.
One final thing, the way language is used to obscure truth and sugar coat the bad.
One final thing, the way language is used to obscure truth and sugar coat the bad.
The modern thing I hate is that you don't know what something is going to cost when you buy something on a Europe website. I've bought several items, all low cost - $15 to $100 from several vendors in Europe, and after you've checked out and paid for the item and shipping, and after they've shipped it out of the country, you get a bill for duties and fees. The minimum is around $22, even for a $10 item. In DHL's case, they ship the item to the US, and after it's in the US they text you that you own them money before they will deliver it. If you were to decide the fees were too high, they've already shipped it internationally, so you're not going to get a refund on shipping.
In Fed Ex's case, they bill you many days later. I received a shipment from Europe for a 55 EUR item, delivered by FedEx last week, and I just got a bill a few minutes ago from FedEx saying that I must pay another $23.80. The breakdown is $6.30 for customs duty and $17.50 for FedEx's "disbursement fee". The 55 EUR purchase is $66.29 in USD -- so the $6.30 is a 10% duty fee. But FedEx is additionally charging $17.50 for processing the international duty (in addition to the shipping cost already paid). So FedEx's fee for processing the duty is 26% (2.6 times the duty itself). I've bought parts from Europe before, and all of this is new (last year or two). In total, 36% fee for duty and processing - a $66.29 purchase becomes $90.09. Cue McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" jingle
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In Fed Ex's case, they bill you many days later. I received a shipment from Europe for a 55 EUR item, delivered by FedEx last week, and I just got a bill a few minutes ago from FedEx saying that I must pay another $23.80. The breakdown is $6.30 for customs duty and $17.50 for FedEx's "disbursement fee". The 55 EUR purchase is $66.29 in USD -- so the $6.30 is a 10% duty fee. But FedEx is additionally charging $17.50 for processing the international duty (in addition to the shipping cost already paid). So FedEx's fee for processing the duty is 26% (2.6 times the duty itself). I've bought parts from Europe before, and all of this is new (last year or two). In total, 36% fee for duty and processing - a $66.29 purchase becomes $90.09. Cue McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" jingle
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0b11011001
Active Member
It actually doesn't matter -- on most phones, the code can be read while the phone is still locked because the text popup shows the first few lines of the content
Pop up notifications can be controlled by you, the user.
Erik Tracy
Everyone's happy when the wizard walks by
Samsung "Smart" Refrigerators bricked during update
WTF?
WTF?
????
It's not our job to figure out that there is a massive security flaw, that applies to virtually all of the billions of phones that are running default text alerts, and then for us to modify our phone to avoid it (leaving billions-1 still prone
). It's the bank's (and other "secure" entities) job to identify serious security risks that apply to 99% of phones and fix them. The fix isn't rocket science -- simply adding text before the code would prevent it from being viewable in the popup. It's an unforgivable flaw -- to think otherwise is to not have thought through all the ways it can be exploited.
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If my refrigerator was disabled from being "smart" after a software update -- these days, with today's "prying eyes and ears" technology, I'd consider that an "upgrade"
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I have a Samsung fridge. I did not activate its Bluetooth. In fact, a lot of my appliances have that option. I do not download the apps.If my refrigerator was disabled from being "smart" after a software update -- these days, with today's "prying eyes and ears" technology, I'd consider that an "upgrade"
0b11011001
Active Member
????
It's not our job to figure out that there is a massive security flaw, that applies to virtually all of the billions of phones that are running default text alerts, and then for us to modify our phone to avoid it (leaving billions-1 still prone
If I disable notifications, I don’t have to worry about other ways notifications could be used to gain info.
And to rely on others for YOUR security is an unforgivable flaw!
And if you think about it, if I get a popup on my phone, it was because I did something on that phone to initiate a code being sent.
Now if your phone and desktop computer are linked, and both get a notification, well that is your fault.
Your security is your responsibility.
The above sentence is the disconnect -- somebody can easily initiate a security code pop-up on your phone, using their phone, simply by knowing your email address (login name) on an account that has a "text me a code to log in" option (which are for some reason becoming more and more popular
). They can do that while standing behind you in line at Starbucks -- and they can easily and discreetly read the code because they know exactly when the text is coming in (because they initiated it).Disabling all text alerts is "safest", but it entirely defeats the purpose of texts, because you won't get any proactive alerts to new messages. Configuring the phone to not show previews of text is a very good practice -- but that vast vast majority of phones are not configured that way, and the default is typically to show text in the popups.
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0b11011001
Active Member
The above sentence is the disconnect -- somebody can easily initiate a security code pop-up on your phone, using their phone, simply by knowing your email address (login name) on an account that has a "text me a code to log in" option (which are for some reason becoming more and more popular
I don’t conduct business matters when at some public place. I only do that when at home.
It really is not that important to me. I don’t have to know what is going on each minute of the day.
I am also not on other peoples schedules. I will answer their queries when I have a spare moment. If it is really important, they will CALL me.
Telecolor 3007
I love old stuff
Unfortunately, those wishes have gone the way of dinosaurs and K-Mart.
Oh, yes, the QR code. Somebody went to some kind of pumbling store in Romania and there where no prices, but just this codes. Screw them.
What I have a problem with is why you would respond to a random security code popup when you didn't do anything to initiate it.
I guess I should have directed that to Peterp1, but it's early and I'm not quite awake.
0b11011001
Active Member
No harm done. I have only had my first cup of coffee this AM.
I don’t respond to email or texts that are soliciting for sensitive information. But some people do, and even give out sensitive information over the phone, to a complete stranger.
H2oman7.62mm
Super Member
Telecolor 3007
I love old stuff
Oh, you can say that again. In Romania we had imported some "Chevrolet" cars. But not U.S.A. made ones, ones made in South Korea at the foremer "Daewoo" factory (who made some intresting models and also had a factory in Romania) . I called those "Căchelet", something like "Chevrolet poo". They had nothing to do with the American cars that I dreamed on...
