"Everyday"/ubiquitous technologies you do not use

FAST6191

Techromancer
OP
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,311
Country
United Kingdom
Floating around the site as I do I see people mention not using a given technology that others are shocked to not see used so I thought a topic on such a thing would be interesting.

No need for a massive introduction so on to the matter at hand

Things FAST6191 does not use

Mobile phones- it has never occurred to me to get one/maintain one. I did have one for a couple of years (a £20 Tesco job) back when I wandering around but barely bothered to take it off charge (the very definition of landline replacement), the £10 of credit I got at the same time as the phone lasted for said 3 years and probably lapsed with most of that on it. To pre-empt "I need it for work" types while I hate doing personal examples I reckon in this case it holds as it at least shows it is possible- I play freelance IT*/engineering these days and it seems to affect nothing.
*I may be the luckiest bastard in all of IT in that I only get calls for serious matters (the grim spectre of company wide IT sortouts is looming mind) and similarly there are probably others in the organisation that can take calls.

Portable music players- I dislike moving with headphones in which is most of it, I do have devices that I can twist to function as such (handheld consoles and such).

Microwaves- they have fun components in so I do occasionally pull them apart but as for having one I think I was given one (that I later pulled apart).

RSS- never used it, never seen the need to.

Social networks- GBAtemp would be as close as I get to this. For real world associates I have yet to figure out how they would provide any advantage.

Credit/debit cards- the rare occasions I buy stuff online aside I only have a debit card as a cashpoint key (to the point where I will walk out of a shop to find a cashpoint if I am not sporting enough cash)

HDTV- if I buy another TV (I do not watch TV these days) HDTV will still have to prove itself worthy. Lump in "high definition" media if you want as well although I will concede that if you do not know what you are doing there is a difference.

Electric toothbrush- tried them on several occasions over the years, consider them no different to a throwaway brush.

Allen/Inbus bolts- I have yet to find a reason for their existence.

Alarm clock- I have one in a box but can not remember the last time it was powered.
 

Overlord Nadrian

Banned!
Banned
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
6,647
Trophies
0
Age
30
Location
Riviera
XP
158
Country
Belgium
-Alarm clock (no need, I wake up right on time every day)
-Electric toothbrush (manual is the way to go)
-Mobile phone with camera and a bunch of other extras (you only 'need' a phone to call)
-HDTV (nothing special, not worth the upgrade)
-RSS (useless)
-Twitter (yes, I know, I just made an account, only to see what it was like)
-Google Buzz (same)
-Windows 7 (I still use XP, never really saw the need to upgrade to Vista or 7)
-CoD:MW2 (obvious)

Yeah, not all of them are 'technologies', but they're still part of modern society, I guess.
 

ProtoKun7

GBAtemp Time Lord Regenerations: 4
Former Staff
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
7,525
Trophies
2
Location
Gallifrey
XP
1,361
Country
United Kingdom
  • Networking sites
  • RSS
  • I don't have an electric toothbrush at the moment, although I have used them and I like them.
  • I use alarms now and then, but not very often. My radio's set to turn on in the morning to help wake me up if I need it, if that counts as an alarm. (Often don't need it though)
Might post more if I think of more.
Also, 1,337 posts! :yayleet:
 

Psyfira

Credit: 0ml. Insert tea to continue
Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Messages
3,886
Trophies
0
Location
England
XP
270
Country
Maybe it's just me, but I don't know anyone with an electric toothbrush
wink.gif


DVD writer: never seen the need to buy one. For backups, it's safer sticking to blocks of 700MB than lumping 4.7GB on a single disc and losing the lot if it corrupts. (technically my new PC just came with one built in, but that's standard now rather than choice so I don't think it counts).

External hard drive: see above. Anyone using volatile storage as their only backup is just asking for it. Also I have no need to move large video files between PCs.

Satnav: is reading a map supposed to be hard?

Credit: it amazes me how so many people feel the need to spend money they haven't got.

--------------------------
I think when it comes down to it usage of a lot of these items depends on someone's lifestyle. Social networks compensate for distance between yourself and the people you're interacting with. An MP3 player isn't much use if you don't do a lot of travelling by walking / public transport. Alarm clocks is an unusual one not to have, most people's natural sleeping pattern falls outside the realm of standard working hours.

I can understand the microwave though. I rarely use mine; I lived without one for nearly a year until winter set in and I wanted to cook those little sponge puddings that take half an hour on a hob.
 

Law

rip ninjacat that zarcon made me
Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
4,128
Trophies
0
Age
32
Location
‭jerkland
Website
www.twitch.tv
XP
334
Country
Psyfira said:
Satnav: is reading a map supposed to be hard?

The worst thing about these is that people stare at them whilst on the motorway.

A SAT NAV TO NAVIGATE A STRAIGHT LINE!


edit: a straight line that has signs everywhere, gosh.
 

Slyakin

See ya suckers
Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
4,448
Trophies
0
Age
28
Location
Soviet Slyakin
XP
399
Country
United States
I don't use things, like:

-Extra Controllers = Why would I need one? I live by myself, and when friends arrive, they bring theirs.

-Netbooks (or laptops) = Why would I need something to overheat my lap and empty my wallet when I have a perfectly good desktop?

-TVs (except for gaming) = I literally never use my TV. I really only use it to play my consoles. Weather? I have a radio.

-Social Networking Sites = Why...? I opened a Facebook, and I never log in. I find it pointless and useless.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @Psionic Roshambo i didn't go amd for one specific reason, the AI performance is way behind nvidia
    +1
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    i just got a 4070ti
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    oh yeah also DLSS is a pretty solid reason to go nvidia since fidelityfx is kinda crap
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    and now with the rtx video upscaling, and sdr->hdr conversion, even more reason to go nvidia
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    both of which work well in potplayer
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    amd is a bit cheaper though
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Cheaper and they are less stingy with the RAM not a big issue now but I can imagine in a yard or two things might be different
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Year not yard lol
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    the vram is one advantage when it comes to AI but ends up being slower even with that and really AI is the only use case that needs more than 12gb vram right now
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Interesting lol
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    I think I watched a video where two games at 4K where eating just over 16GB of RAM and it's the one case where the 7900XT and XTX pulled ahead (minus RTX of course)
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    So my opinion is that they could age a bit better in the future, and maybe AMD will continue improving them via drivers like they tend to do. No guarantee there but they have done it in the past. Just a feeling I have.
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    cyberpunk at 4k without DLSS/fidelityfx *might* exceed 12gb
    +1
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    but that game barely runs at native 4k
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    I think it was some newer games and probably poorly optimized PS4 or PS5 ports
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    they definitely will age better but i feel dlss might outweigh that since it looks about as good as native resolution and much less demanding
    +1
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    When I played Cyberpunk on my old 2080 Ti it sucked lol
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    AMD could introduce something comparable to DLSS but nvidia's got a lot more experience with that
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    least amd 7xxx has tensor cores which the previous generations didn't so there is the potential for AI upscaling
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    They have FSR or whatever it's called and yeah it's still not great
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    so AMD seem to finally be starting to take AI seriously
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Oh yeah those new 8000 CPUs have AI cores built in that's interesting
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Maybe they plan on offloading to the CPU?
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Would be kinda cool to have the CPU and GPU working in random more
    Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo: Would be kinda cool to have the CPU and GPU working in random more