Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

was typing in word with track changes running and was getting pissed at the latency screwing up my flow. granted, turning off track changes sped up the response, but it reminded me of this article from a little while back:

https://gizmodo.com/the-one-way-your-laptop-is-actually-slower-than-a-30-ye-1821608743

Latency is also a big issue with audio sequencing and electronic music-making. Modern audio sequencers for Windows or MacOS sit on top of a complex operating system that manages everything with APIs, so they can't communicate directly with the bare metal. The greater speed of modern hardware compensates for the layers of abstraction but even small delays can sound off.

Early drum machines used a simple clock trigger input as a synchronisation source - essentially a sharp CLICK! - and because the machines didn't have an abstraction layer they responded more or less instantly to clock inputs. Before MIDI was introduced in the 1980s synthesisers used CV/Gate to communicate with each other. It was a mixture of control voltages and click pulses that responded at the speed of light without having to pass through an 8-bit CPU first. Vince Clarke famously gave up on MIDI in the 1990s because he felt that it had a jittery clock, and if there were a lot of MIDI devices in a chain the jitter became noticeable.

There has been a resurgence in CV/Gate over the last few years. In the late-80s-90s-early 2000s it was dead as doornail. A bunch of modern retro analogue synthesisers have CV/Gate ports, and Arturia and others sell modern sequencers with CV/Gate outputs. Korg's battery-powered Volca instruments have simple clock trigger inputs, as do the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators. Here's a video I did a while back where all the instruments are being driven by CV/Gate or clock trigger pulses coming from an ancient Power Macintosh G5:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRj2AOxwK5E

Digital audio sequencers also have trouble with latency. Again it's less of an issue than it was in the 2000s, but if you mix virtual and live instruments it can get awkward. In the early days of VST instruments a lot of musicians still hung on to Atari STs driving Akai samplers because the latency was lower; the ST still has a tiny cult following today because the signal path is basically Cubase -> MIDI Out -> Instrument rather than Cubase -> I/O buffers -> Windows I/O APIs -> Windows sound subsystem.

this right here is a motherfuckin POST

In the late-80s-90s-early 2000s

During which electronic music all sounded terrible because of “jittery clocks”

xxpost

Awesome post!

I can highly recommend an Innerclock Systems Syncgen pro to fix sync issues. Cost about £300 on Ebay and fixed all my issues syncing a load of Elektron boxes to Ableton back when I was doing live pa stuff. Total liberty having to do that in this day and age though!

I would legit pay £50 to have every device I ever use accept (the lowest level of) all cookies for lyfe without me having to click anything

my niece from abroad has been travelling round Europe and since she came to the UK she thought there was some setting broken on her phone due to constantly being asked to accept cookies
Also lots of US sites I can't access "due to GDPR"

i still can't read the ny daily news

I'm consistently shocked by how many mobile websites remain unnavigable garbage. The format has been around for a while now, y'all.

I miss cartoons, like actual cartoons as opposed to super-creepy uncanny valley 3D-rendered affairs where everyone and everything looks like custom fetishware

I have got used to the experience of clicking a link to a mobile website and getting an opaque grey box covering the text and stopping me from scrolling. I have no idea whether it's a pop up ad or a cookie or gdpr thing. Won't even bother clicking NYT or Times links any more.

I miss cartoons, like actual cartoons as opposed to super-creepy uncanny valley 3D-rendered affairs where everyone and everything looks like custom fetishware

I feel ya but I don't think this counts as a technological backward step so much as us not keeping up with the aesthetics of the time, sadly.

They redid the bathrooms at work so now when I'm sitting and move slightly it will flush automatically, resulting in 2-3 flushes per event rather than the usual 1.

Exact same here. Bloody things.

clicking on a headline and google opening an app or a formatted-for phone-page with a load of pain in the ass features

They redid the bathrooms at work so now when I'm sitting and move slightly it will flush automatically, resulting in 2-3 flushes per event rather than the usual 1.

I have got used to the experience of clicking a link to a mobile website and getting an opaque grey box covering the text and stopping me from scrolling.

https://media.giphy.com/media/l1BgRViJVF8ZW686s/giphy.gif

I miss cartoons, like actual cartoons as opposed to super-creepy uncanny valley 3D-rendered affairs where everyone and everything looks like custom fetishware

I feel ya but I don't think this counts as a technological backward step so much as us not keeping up with the aesthetics of the time, sadly.

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, November 12, 2019 5:00 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Oh yeah, totes mcgroats, and I realise I'm shouting at cluods here. But at the same time, it does mean that anything created on a computer a few years ago will look weird and dated. And I'm just not into nightmare dummy replicants walking around. I do like how the 'hauntology' aesthetic has moved from 70s stop-animation shows to the stilted polygons of original Playstation games. Vaporwave being the little brother of hauntology.

They redid the bathrooms at work so now when I'm sitting and move slightly it will flush automatically, resulting in 2-3 flushes per event rather than the usual 1.

They have motion sensors on the lights here, so if you sit there for too long you're plunged into darkness. And the sensor is outside the cubicle, so you can imagine the scenarios...

lmao

wmab

Remove sock, roll up sock, toss over the cubicle door

no thats when you discover theres no loo roll iirc

I stayed at an airbnb that apparently had a motion light in the bathroom! I had to wave my arm to let it know I was still on the toilet.

Ugh i hate those.

Thirty seconds ago:

-wave hand in front of faucet sensor
-water comes out of faucet
-wave hand in front of soap sensor
-soap comes out of dispenser
-lather
-wave hand in front of faucet sensor
-soap squirts into sink
-wave hand in front of faucet sensor
-more soap squirts into sink
-wave hand more fervently in front of faucet sensor
-soap puddle achieves volume sufficient to begin slowly running towards drain
-wave hand dejectedly in front of faucet sensor until the futility of doing so finally sinks in
-look into mirror
-sigh heavily
-water comes out of faucet without sensor being directly engaged

this is why you should never wash your hands

This is what I get for trying something new.

When i shake someone's hand and it's soapy, i always know who couldn't get the sensor to work

the case for never washing your hands is only getting stronger

Imo BYOS

https://www.tboake.com/images/film_images/playtime2/PLAYTIME_-9.jpg

One thing it took me a long time to realize is that most sensor-activated faucets work better if you simply hold your hands still in front of the sensor instead of waving them.

How about kicking them hard, does that help

we'll just all have an easier time if we learn to serve the machines, guys

Best thing to do is stay perfectly still. If you startle the sensor it may summon a security bear

we're through the restroom glass people

I stayed at an airbnb that apparently had a motion light in the bathroom! I had to wave my arm to let it know I was still on the toilet.

― mh, Wednesday, November 13, 2019 5:01 AM (yesterday)

i think it was akm a while back who posted about it, but some of these things are now written into building codes to be "energy efficient" -- maybe this is some Berkeley, CA specific thing, because I don't think this is a requirement in Oakland (the next city over, same county)

Smacking the faucets doesn't work, but smacking the sensor paper towel dispensers absolutely does work, without fail!

abuse yr appliances before they can abuse you

i know this might be overgeneralizing a bit, but in response to OP, can i submit the entirety of the years 2000-present? basically this whole century so far.

falling down the stairs is not a "backward" step, exactly, but it is still bad

this fucking headphone jack thing i think about very often, that was a dumb move apple

I just watched a man eat a sandwich on YouTube and I'm having complex thoughts

I seen a man die

the continuing erosion of anonymous/pseudonymous space online. This is bad and people will realise how bad when it’s eventually gone.

― gyac, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 06:26 (three months ago)

i think it was akm a while back who posted about it, but some of these things are now written into building codes to be "energy efficient"

yah this is starting to bubble up here http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2019/11/complaints-at-broadway-building-part-of-pushback-over-adding-smart-lock-and-home-automation-tech-to-apartments/

Regarding the various sensors and systemps in public bathrooms' sinks nowadays, it's become so complex to find out which system you're facing (hand sensors located in various places, foot button, leg bar, actual thing to touch/turn/push on the faucet, etc).
Often it takes me a little while to understand what to do (and often I have to help people besides me who can't find out) !

My auxiliary toilet across the street at the Convention Center flushes each time I make a motion. I can see why these things are in there for possible health reasons, but don't even try to bring the environment into it.

We've got two paper towel rollers in our restroom that are sensor-controlled. So now, not only are we killing trees, but we're using lithium or whatever to distribute them. Best part is when the battery goes in and none of us can dry our hands properly.

The day I see this done on a toilet paper dispenser, I'm just going to ... shit.