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newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,088
6,400
Florida
I remember having only a.m. radio and one tv station. That's about all that was available as far as I know.

Now, I've got a remote controlled tv that plays dvd's and will accept a signal from my computer and allow me to watch all sorts of stuff on the 'big screen'.

That is, if I knew how to program the new controller I got today to replace the one that had finally stopped allowing me to access the mute function. I guess I wore it out. I took that sucker apart many times and swabbed it all down with 91% and cotton tips...it would work a few times and quit again.

I messed with it awhile, but, I find I have very low tolerance for this sort of experimentation.

I still can barely use my new android phone and don't know how the heck it uses all that battery when I'm just letting it sit on the shelf.

I had been getting all sorts of notices that my operating system was out of date and everytime I downloaded the upgrade it wouldn't run. I would just keep clicking on permissions to use the outdated version, thus, I guess, exposing myself to attack.

I'd discovered that something had been using up resources in the background, a couple months back, opened up the task master and scrutinized the list of processes till I found a likely culprit. Everytime since then that I boot up...I let er warm up, open taskmaster and look for that synchost.exe that explodes and stop the process.

Today, I booted up again after another failed attempt to upgrade Firefox and left that synchost alone until I'd accessed the download and got it to run, this time!.....

So, I have an aversion to these things, but I do eventually sorta figure out a work around at least.

It's good to have a pipe to turn to in times of trouble and stress. :puffy:

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,088
6,400
Florida
heh heh, well, the durned thing may be smarter than me, but it's not one o them smart ones, yet. I realize that all communications are monitored by all sorts of entities, all the time. Privacy is an illusion like a door lock.

Best be on good behavior or be ready to die for the right to act up. There's entirely too much of the latter going on these days.

 

jackswilling

Lifer
Feb 15, 2015
1,777
24
You can get a "universal remote" at Walmart as you probably know and many smart phones will work as remotes depending on your equipment and phone. Just need the app

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,088
6,400
Florida
jackswilling, I did get one. I got it today! It works the tv like a champ. the tv had a built in dvd player and I also have an hdmi hooked up and I haven't yet figured out how to get at those functions. (of course I read the instructions) I have a limited span of something regarding these gadgets, either attention or my patience.

Most likely its neither, it's just my own limitations and projections of failure due to a long history of messing with stuff to get it working. You win some, you lose some.

I figure I'll have it all worked out in a year or two and probably won't even make the attempt for a week or so.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,088
6,400
Florida
I'm sure that Madison Avenue had the formula for human brain stimuli many decades ago, but when you asked me if I could imagine a wifi operated refrigerator, I thought of a news piece I read recently suggesting that we are all living within a computer generation as SIMS.

I'm starting to think that the more time I spend online, the more I become part of someone's simulation.

Of course, I fear that I'm oblivious to even more sinister realities. Ignorance is bliss can turn on ya pretty quickly.

Living for the next tablet of soylent green and a bowl of Carter Hall.

 
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