My daughter bought a new tv recently, and apparently it came with a remote control that has a built in solar panels underneath it. She asked ChatGPT what it was for and it’s to perpetually charge it with ambient light.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve grown used to all innovations in technology to be more or less a contrivance to extort money out of us. That solar panels idea is just a value add for the customer’s benefit which makes the product genuinely more valuable… In my opinion.
Is it just me? Are any of you as cynical as me about new technology and the motivation behind it’s creation?
Or, do any of you have examples of other products that are less “take” and more “give” (i hope that terminology makes sense).
I have on my desk, a TI-34 programmers calculator I’ve used daily for the last THIRTY NINE years :). It still works perfectly, nothing has failed, faded or broken, tho the slide-in glossy operators card has been lost over the years.
What is missing, that over the years always leaks acid or alkaline and always ruins electronics eventually ?
If this missing component doesn’t leak, then it fumes and the same thing happens, electronics tarnish and corrode slowly.
This non-fitted component is usually discharged when you want to use it, so it needs a compartment with a cover so it can be easily replaced, and these get lost, or if they don’t get lost then one needs to find a fine screwdriver to replace the screw holding it on.
This same mysterious part is also expensive and heavy. It’s guaranteed to burst forth from it’s compartment and shoot under a heavy piece of furniture if you drop the device …
What a tremendous discussion topic! The solar charging remote is a nifty idea too. I hope the rechargeable battery and extra circuitry doesn’t cause any reliability issues and end up being its downfall over the long-term.
I wholeheartedly agree with your cynicism. I’ve been pondering your question overnight and have struggled to find an example of something that hasn’t been “enshittified” or isn’t otherwise a pain in the bum requiring maintenance or consumables or subscriptions or repairs or isn’t going to be obsolete within a few years. I suppose that’s one of the appeal of the homelab - getting away of some of that garbage that comes with using technology now days.
It’s hard to beat the solar powered calculator as an excellent example, but after some reflection I’d like to put forward a Philips DAB+ clock radio which I semi-regularly use.
I picked my unit up as an impulse buy about 10 years ago on the last day that Dick Smith traded (in the same haul as the Seagate Personal Cloud I’ve mentioned on here before). I don’t think it cost more than $10 in the bundle of clearance stuff I picked up on the day.
The specific model I have does one thing, and does it reliably. Audio quality is excellent, the time automatically sets itself from the DAB+ signal, the alarm is easy to set and unset, there are no updates, or subscriptions, or consumables or other considerations. Even the screen dims and brightens itself, and is gentle compared to the bright red 7-segment displays that seem to illuminate a whole bedroom. Turn it on, spin the dial, pick the DAB+ station I want to listen to, and turn it off (or have it sleep) when done.
Interesting that the only example in my life I could come up with is something that’s entirely offline, no WiFi, no USB, no phone/iPod docks…
