Jeremy Garcia, Bryan Lunduke, Jono Bacon, and ginger idiot Stuart Langridge bring you all the Bad Voltage that's fit to print, including a special feature where three of us record with good microphones and one moron doesn't:
We give the second half of our predictions for where technology will go in 2015: this episode, Jeremy and Jono (2.30)
Wrong in 60 seconds: Jono on indicating in cars (46.48)
Skiplagged, a website for taking advantage of "hidden city" airline tickets through data analysis, is being sued by airlines. We discuss why, and what this indicates for this sort of air-quotes disruptive app (48.33)
Jono reviews the Logitech Harmony 650 all-in-one entertainment system remote control (62.35)
The S6 will reportedly have built-in wireless charging and a 2550mAh battery, which is larger than that of the iPhone 6, but a bit smaller than the HTC Oneâs.
Just a quick reminder as pointed out on the show Live Voltage is coming up soon.
@joe has provisionally booked the Wellington, Birmingham UK on 21st February 11am to 3pm for a few of us in the UK to meet up generally hang out and hopefully watch the Live Voltage video.
So, regarding the Harmony remote, first I have to get this out of my system:
@bryanlunduke said that he didnât want a lcd screen lighting his face while he âwatches dragons fighting women without their shirts on.â What kind of shirts are these and do dragons usually remove their shirts before they fight?
Now to a serious question about the remote. @jonobacon, do you have the Roku 3? If so, does the remote control it by IR or does it connect to the network like the Roku remote does?
Regarding Wrong in 60 Seconds: I agree with @sil in that there was nothing âwrongâ about it. One of my âfavoritesâ are the ones that are going to turn, sitting in the turn lane with out any signal going, but will turn on their signal as they are turning. If you were to have a mic in my car, you would often hear, in a red-neck voice âshoooo, I donât need to use no turn signal.â But, I will confess, I have, on occasion, forgotten to turn my turn signal on. Usually something else is going on, external to my car, that is distracting me enough for such an offense. So, my question is, when I do such a stupid thing, should I miss the Bad Voltage episode for that week for punishment?
How can airlines take such stupid decisions? How can such big companies in general behave so dumb? Is there really no single person in the management that lives in the real world? Why do they sue people that helps them to get customers and in counterpart they support comparison websites that suggest cheaper airlines?
Either provide a public API that is accessible to everyone or just go offline!
Another example is WhatsApp, theyâre currently banning people using third party apps (like WhatsApp+) and suing the developers. Thatâs bad for people using platforms where no native app is available, such as Jolla Phone. There was Mitakuuluu but I got banned for using that app.
Spotify shows how to do it right. In counterpart to WhatsApp they need to care about DRM and still give everyone the possibility to use their service. They canât provide an app for every single platform but they do provide libraries and allow developers to wrap it into native apps. CuteSpotify (again a Jolla app) is good example. I do pay Spotify for their service and I wouldnât if there was no possibility to use it on my Jolla.
(Sorry for always coming up with Jolla but it gives some pretty good examples to explain things )
I used to have the Harmony One remote, which is an old-style Harmony like @jonobaconâs 650. The whole Activities system is awesome, but the whole thing was a bit big and clunky.
Then, during last yearâs black friday sales on Amazon, I bought a Harmony Smart Control set, which is even more awesome.
Itâs a small box with IR blasters and bluetooth that connects to your wireless network, and accepts commands from an app on your phone. It also comes with a basic remote you can use for most day to day controls (several kinds of these exist, the Ultimate One being the big/expensive brother of the one I have).
It can even control my Hue lights and PS3, and the newer versions of the hub can be linked to IFTTT. And you donât need a clunky Windows or Mac app to configure it. It can all be done from the app.
To @jonobacon 's point. I think driving standards, in general, have decreased rapidly over the last few years. Itâs everything from indicating to poor lane discipline to dangerous parking. I think a lot of people are very selfish once they get behind the wheel and everyone else can âdo oneâ. Thatâs the impression i get.
On a side note, my commuter train has now instituted quiet zones so I have to keep from bursting out in raucous laughter while listening to show. I donât think the quiet zones are actually enforceable, but it sure brings out the self-righteous in the crowd.
Now on to the showâŚ
During the interview he mentioned Anjuta, so I looked at it, and their web site describes it as GNOME Integrated Development Environment which begs the question what is Christian working on? On Indiegogo he describes his project as Builder is a new Integrated Development Environment Iâm developing to make it easier to write software for Linux although during the interview he clearly said it was specifically for Gnome rather than generally Linux.
It would be nice to get some clarification on that.
I think the security issue they allude to might be that airlines have to make sure that only the bags of passengers who boarded the plane are loaded into the plane. But since they assume every who has checked-in will be getting on the plane they tend to just load the bags right away. Now if you check-in at La Guardia but abscond in Berlin then that second leg to Moscow is going to have to unload all the bags until they figure out you didnât check any bags, and then load them all up again. This causes delays, missed departure slots, missed connections, etc. Major PITA!!!
We were at a loss for who to fire or have executed this week until your message arrived to solve the problem. Stuartâs surviving family would like to point out in his memory that it was a mistake and he has already been brutally chastised by Jono and it wonât happen againâŚ
One would hope that the number of bags being loaded into the plan is automagically checked against the number of bags checked-in. People on the other hand⌠I mean, the aircrew is standing at the planes entrance and welcomes people, but do they also take an exact count?
Assuming that having to call out and wait for passengers presumed to just be late creates a significant annoyance for crew and other passengers (Iâm not sure if it does!), Skiplagged IMHO creates a free-riding/schnorring problem that needs to be solved. However, suing is obviously the worst âsolutionâ. Instead, the plaintiff(s) should have hired Mr. Zaman and asked him to work on optimising their flight plans, pricing schemes etc. so that this loophole could be closed.
I was going to comment my disbelief that anybody could possibly drive a car and not indicate, I must say Iâve never noticed such a thing in my five-odd years of driving in the UK and Croatia.
However, yesterday morning, I realised after the fact that I had not indicated at a junction and felt profoundly shamed. My excuse was a noisey toddler in the back seat, but the mistake still had me fretting the whole rest of the journey.
Re: Jeremyâs bonus predictions: I have no idea wha the first 2 mean and Iâm not convinced the last things he said were even words.
@jonobacon, your rant made me laugh, because when I visited California a few years ago, I was shocked at how civilized drivers were there. I mean, I even saw all the cars stop when they heard an ambulance in the distance!
I cannot imagine how angry you would be seeing how things are on the road here in Taiwan. Forget all the rules youâve ever learnt. In Taiwan, the only rule is âtry to check whatâs in front of you if you rememberâ. Taiwanese drivers (and scooter riders) never use their mirrors, never indicate when they want to turn, pass where there is space (left or right, who cares?) and donât give a fuck of any kind of priority (with pedestrians, at intersections, etc.).
As a pedestrian, I do take all the priorities that are mine (for instance, when the light is green, I go). Since Iâm a âgood foreignerâ (i.e. white, not a Filipino or a Vietnamese), they donât dare rolling over me. I usually stare at their tainted glass in anger and pass. Thatâs the best I can do.
Iâve never been to Taiwan so I canât comment but I know that the last time I was in Hong Kong all the traffic lights seemed to do was change colour. They had no effect on any of cars around them.
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