Modern Technology and times

[Lynx_Arc]

Not an apples to apples comparison, but reminds me of the Photobucket fiasco recently. All the photos shared for "free" for years suddenly went away overnight, turning so many forums into wastelands of garbage.

Even music on Amazon Prime. I have a decent amount downloaded, but sometimes you go to listen to something and it's now gone.

The problem with downloading media is likely that it is a proprietary format such that only that platform/app can access it. As you iterated other problems include the ability of the app/program to "check" the validity of the media and the account and either stop the program from accessing the downloaded content you have or deleting it entirely. A problem that happened to me is I downloaded movies in one app and when I tried to cast it to my TV..... wouldn't work at all but in another app it did. If they were normal data files able to be read by any program that can read "normal" media files that wouldn't be a problem at all.
I guess what I'm saying is in the end they have the ability to control what you can watch/view/listen to that is supposed to be "yours" but you are only able to "rent" it for the rest of your life at their whim. It is quite possible with some of this "correctness" going around that some titles you have could "vanish" because they deem it "hateful" or whatever.

 

[bykfixer]

You guys are making me glad I bought a few spare VCR's. lol

Some of the youngsters I work with have never known life without "press any key to continue".
Sadly some are still trying to figure out where the "any" key is. Sure their entire entertainment library is held on a device that fits in a shirt pocket, but will it be there tomorrow?

 

[raggie33]

i truuly hate old tech. i hated vcrs then and more so now beta was better

 

[markr6]

"Enter Disk 4 to continue..."

 

[orbital]

+

1 single Bitcoin, at it's current value, used the same amount of electricity as 33.8 homes for an entire year.

 

[raggie33]

+

1 single Bitcoin, at it's current value, used the same amount of electricity as 33.8 homes for an entire year.

for real? damn why would some one mine?

 

[bykfixer]

+

1 single Bitcoin, at it's current value, used the same amount of electricity as 33.8 homes for an entire year.

Happy Earth Day, huh?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

for real? damn why would some one mine?

often they get power for free, they do it at work or hack others computers and steal computing power.

 

[raggie33]

ill be glad when the bubble breaks. so there will be tons of gpus and cpus for sale

 

[idleprocess]

often they get power for free, they do it at work or hack others computers and steal computing power.

Mining Bitcoin proper has been the realm of ASICs for several years now, such is the nature of its difficulty. Other cryptocurrencies - i.e. Monero and Ethereum - can be mined with CPUs or GPUs.

Getting power for as cheaply as possible is important, especially with BTC. A typical BTC mining rig can easily consume 3400W. The other currencies are likely not as power intensive per unit of output, but power is still a significant factor in the profit calculations.

 

[raggie33]

Mining Bitcoin proper has been the realm of ASICs for several years now, such is the nature of its difficulty. Other cryptocurrencies - i.e. Monero and Ethereum - can be mined with CPUs or GPUs.

Getting power for as cheaply as possible is important, especially with BTC. A typical BTC mining rig can easily consume 3400W. The other currencies are likely not as power intensive per unit of output, but power is still a significant factor in the profit calculations.

wow in my country i think thats over how much are outlets can handle i think a 20 amd breaker is 2400 watts

 

[greenpondmike]

Not to change the subject at hand too much, but people quit posting anyway.

On another thread we were talking about electronic controls on appliances. I know they are convenient, but they aren't durable.

You might get 5-7 years out of them if that. The older style with the analog twist knobs lasted 20+ years. There are some still going from the 1940s.

I think high tech has taken a step backwards as far as quality and longetivity is concerned. Everything is just disposable at some point.

 

[greenpondmike]

I wonder if a person had all the money in the world...could they still buy quality appliances like was made from the mid 40s on into the 70s?

 

[bykfixer]

I'd speculate the United States government probably has some really reliable wahers and dryers in the White House. And Elon Musk too.

Electronics in machines often have advantages, but when they break so does the machine. Trouble is these days parts of capitalism is kept alive by building things that need replacing after a few years. When people were adding their first microwave oven for example they lasted a good long time.
But one day everybody who wanted one had one. Uh oh. Who's going to buy all of those microwaves from the microwave factory? Build them to fail in a few years, with lots of goodies to attract new buyers and bam! The wheels on the bus keep going round and round.

 

[greenpondmike]

So true my friend

 

[greenpondmike]

Please stay away from panasonic microwaves. The company has been sold and they are only relying on the past reputation of the name. I know because I own one with an inverter. Went bad in under a year- maybe a half year.....and then I found the bad reviews.

 

[Poppy]

Back in 1976, my fiancé's father showed me a want ad for a "obsolescence engineer". He told me that is a person who designs something to break after a certain period of time.

I had a 4 cylinder pinto that during a 3,000 mile trip developed a valve tap. Speaking with a guy at the parts store, he asked, what the mileage was... "Yeah, at about 60,000 miles the cam fails."

Probably designed like that.

Regarding electronics, I had a 1990 Bronco, and 25 years later the electronics were still working. We salvaged it when the oil pan rotted out. I bought a 1999 Crown Victoria new, and put 260,000 miles on her, and in 19 years the only electronic parts to fail were a few ignition coils.

Mechanical, or electrical parts can be designed to last, or designed to fail. It is a matter of need to last, or need to be replaced/fail.

Years ago, my lawn mower failed. It would have cost more for parts to rebuild the motor, than it was to buy a new one. That was disheartening, that we have bought into the replaceable mentality. :nono:

 

[greenpondmike]

I wonder how much things would cost if they were designed to last. Good to see another person who likes Fords Poppy.

 

[bykfixer]

A couple of years ago the Mrs was replacing coffee makers every 30-90 days. For about a year the coffee maker no matter what brand we tried would not last more than a few weeks. Then like somebody hit a light switch, the problem went away. The Mr Coffee we have now is about 3 years old. So far so good.
I have 2 spares stashed figuring if the one spare lasts 25 days we have a second 25 day machine already in stock in the event the one konks out on Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving while the fam-damily is at our house.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Please stay away from panasonic microwaves. The company has been sold and they are only relying on the past reputation of the name. I know because I own one with an inverter. Went bad in under a year- maybe a half year.....and then I found the bad reviews.

That's sad as I have 2 of them I bought the second one after the first one died after a decade as the outlet I had it on in this old house would trip the breaker on high mode but drop it to 80% and it would run no problem. The one that broke I managed to get ahold of another broken one different looking but same size that I swapped the inverter board out and fixed it. So my newer one and the old one both work now. The nice thing is you can turn the power down and run them off a lower output power source like a 12v inverter or a small generator.