Frustrating Technology Riddles
Technology is awesome but far too frustrating sometimes - most of it caused by manufacturers who seem to have little clue about consumers and what they really want.
For example, I bought a Casio Exilim EX-275 digital camera last weekend after watching Loren Feldman wander around the mesh conference taking videos until the cows came home.
You know how much memory comes with the camera? According to the Best Buy salesman: “about enough to take 10 pictures”. Of course, this means you have to buy some memory to make the camera useful.
How come it doesn’t standard with more memory - say 1GB - given memory is so cheap these days and the average consumer is taking hundreds of pictures as well as video these days without even thinking about it.
Maybe it’s a way for the camera makers to keep prices down. After all, if you’re including one or two gigabytes of memory but your camera costs $25 to $50 more than the next guy who’s not including memory, that could have negative competitive consequences.
Here’s some more consumer-unfriendly technology riddles.
1. iTunes/iPod: Okay, I totally get why Apple and the music industry don’t want to give us the ability to hand an iPod to a friend so they can cut and paste our music collection into their iPod or personal computer. But what I don’t get is why it’s not easy to synch your iPod with the iTunes you have on different computers.
For example, I have two laptops and a desktop computer - all of which I use to rip, download and play music. In an ideal world, I could connect my iPod to all of them and get my entire collection to easily synched. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t seem to offer a way to make this happen, and I can’t track down another solution/hack that would make it easy to do.
2. The remote control: Since the first remote control probably appeared in the 1950s, they have become increasingly more complicated as opposed to easier to use. These days, you need an engineering degree just to figure out how to power up the TV, let alone control the DVD, digital box, Slingbox, etc.
The funny thing is the remote control industry believes the solution is simply adding more technology! The way they see it, it’s a matter of giving you a remote control that, in theory, can automatically connect with all your devices (assuming they aren’t a decade old). Of course, you then have to read through the entire manual to figure out how to control your devices once the remote control does its set-up thing. Sometimes, I yearn for the days when the remote control was just a box with about 20 buttons on it and a shifter that gave you ability to browse through 60 channels in no time at all.
3. Vista. I don’t use Vista but the frustrations I’ve seen from other people using Vista blow me away. Among the best (or worse depending on your point of view) issues is Vista asking if it has security permission so you access your security software. Ha!
4. Composite hockey sticks: A bit of a technology stretch but the newest rage in the hockey business is selling composite hockey sticks that are supposed to make your shot better and faster. The problem is some of these sticks last a long time but some of them only last a game or two before crumbling due to “quality control” issues. If the technology was that advanced, why is this happening, especially when you’re paying $100 to $200 for a “superior” product?
Anyway, enough of my ranting. If you’ve got any tech riddles to shares, fire away.
July 24th, 2007 at 8:24 am
On #4, I’d guess that 95% of hockey stick buyers also watch hockey. You couldn’t watch five NHL games without learning about the innate fragility of composite sticks. Not only do they break frequently during games, but the colour guys love to complain about the phenomenon.
I agree that it’s a consumer issue, but I’d argue that the vast majority of buyers are fully aware of the composite’s drawbacks when they slap down their $200.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Logitech’s Harmony line of Remote Controls has solved your concerns; it is the only way my wife can readily “Turn On/Off” the TV in our home threatre system. Configure once for your particular home theatre system (via a PC and Logitech’s Harmoney servers) - a straight forward process; then simply click Watch TV, Watch a DVD, Listen to Radio, Listen to a CD and you have the various operations in action. There are a minimum of buttons for other activies while viewing/listening.
Best part, it is a “made in Canada” solution which Logitech acquired a few years ago but left operating in Mississauga; they even have customer support on Chritsmas day.
July 25th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I think a lot of this comes down to one thing, the tech savvy that want the most for their dollar… that and bragging rights. I would say that most of what you have mentioned (except maybe the IPod market) is dominated by men. I am a man, I love technology, and I want the biggest and baddest thing in a remote or camera. I want to go to my friend and say “oh your remote control can’t do this? Mine can. You are so far behind the times”
It’s the ego in many cases and this fuels manufacturers to put more features into everything because it sells more. Being that I specialize in technology, I love it and probably part of the problem. However, I can see how the sophistication in everything we buy/use/sell can be daunting for non-tech folk.
Once I had to teach my mom how to use the automated gas pumps because she is not big on technology. Going from the regular gas pumps where you flipped a lever and watched mechanical wheels go around adding up to a price to something digital and tons of buttons was confusing.
In short you do have a few points, but increasing complexity in simple things is to be expected given how humanity buys because of wants and ego rather than needs.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Thanks for the insight. I’ll have to check out the Harmony remotes - another excuse to fool around with new toys!
Mark
July 25th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
On the composite hockey sticks. I’m a dying bread who up until recently still loved the good old wooden sticks. Problem is, I haven’t been able to find one that I actually like in over 5 years. I ended up trying a shaft with the wooden blades on the end. Completely useless. They saved no money whatsoever and broke all the time.
I finally broke down and bought an older end of the line composite. Best stick I’ve owned in about 10 years. I immediately went out and bought a second to have a backup before they were out of stock. Both of them (I switch back and forth between them during games) have lasted probably longer than about 3-4 wood or blades so far so I’ll soon have gotten my money’s worth even if they do shatter soon.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Perhaps more of a musing than a Tech-riddle, however it’s funny how the generation that grew up being told to ‘move back form the tv set’ now hover within inches for hours at a time!
J
July 30th, 2007 at 3:13 am
I agree. There are so many things out there which are a pain to use. I believe it is utter lack of concern for the end user. I don’t agree with what many people say that, it is because of more features.
More features make it difficult for a good design, but you can’t give that as an excuse for bad design.