Gyroscopic Investing

All of this demands we ask what the point is of having a mouse with a non-removable battery that recharges via a cord. You still need to have the cord with you in case it runs out of juice, and you still need a spare port to plug it into. So why not just use a wired mouse!?

I once had a Razer wireless mouse that recharged from a standard USB cable. I never even added any batteries and just used it as a wired mouse. Much more convenient, and no worrying about running out of juice, ever. It was a totally pointless feature. I suppose port congestion would be a problem if your computer only had one port, though, and it's used for charging!



Solution: don't buy a computer with only one port.

I don't buy Apple. I hate Apple. Probably because I worked at Palm, and WE should have been the smartphone for the masses, vs. fading away because of terrible management decisions. Remember when every show on TV had a "Palm Pilot" reference? Now it's iPhone this and that. Grrrr....

I also won't buy a product that I can't replace a battery on, which I think is virtually all Apple products.

My mice last >18 months on 1 or 2 AA batts. My keyboard I have never changed the battery on yet!

Cortopassi wrote:I also won't buy a product that I can't replace a battery on, which I think is virtually all Apple products.

While I am impressed with the battery life of my new ipad mini and ancient iphone, I only use a wired USB mouse (non-apple; it's made of wood) and a wired USB keyboard (Apple).

I can replace the battery in my Android phone (Samsung Siii) which is good, because it is godawful.

I guess that's the tradeoff. Apple has great hardware but limits what we users can do with it. Makes me feel like a baby.

Cortopassi wrote:I don't buy Apple. I hate Apple. Probably because I worked at Palm, and WE should have been the smartphone for the masses, vs. fading away because of terrible management decisions. Remember when every show on TV had a "Palm Pilot" reference? Now it's iPhone this and that. Grrrr....

I also won't buy a product that I can't replace a battery on, which I think is virtually all Apple products.

My mice last >18 months on 1 or 2 AA batts. My keyboard I have never changed the battery on yet!

I have a mid-2009 MacBook Pro in which I replaced the battery myself a few months ago. Want to buy it? Make me an offer I can't refuse.

I hate Apple products too, but beggars can't be choosers: I grab phones in my parents' junk drawer after they're "done with" them. I'm on the iPhone 4 right now. Luckily they moved on to Samsung phones, so those are the next discards! I'm very excited.

Haha, I've got a "discard" iPhone 5 right now!

I've got a Samsung G.... something in the pipeline, otherwise I'd want it!

Oh, the iPhone I have now? It was my mom's. I asked her what was wrong with it that it was in the junk drawer.

"I can't take any more pictures on it!"

The memory was full.

Kriegsspiel wrote:Luckily they moved on to Samsung phones, so those are the next discards! I'm very excited.

You might want to get a bomb disposal crew on site first.

Seriously, though, I have a Samsung s3 as my only phone with cellular service. It cost me $40 after a giftcard.
I just bought a new battery for it. It's no iPhone, but there are some things about it that are better. Like being able to use ES File Explorer.

Kriegsspiel wrote:I've got a Samsung G.... something in the pipeline, otherwise I'd want it!
Oh, the iPhone I have now? It was my mom's. I asked her what was wrong with it that it was in the junk drawer.
"I can't take any more pictures on it!"
The memory was full.

You cad, help her move the pics to a hard drive!

dualstow wrote:

Kriegsspiel wrote:Luckily they moved on to Samsung phones, so those are the next discards! I'm very excited.

You might want to get a bomb disposal crew on site first.

Seriously, though, I have a Samsung s3 as my only phone with cellular service. It cost me $40 after a giftcard.
I just bought a new battery for it. It's no iPhone, but there are some things about it that are better. Like being able to use ES File Explorer.

NOT the Note. They've had these phones since way before the fires started. I'm gonna be tickled to be able to put my music (and a custom ringtone?) onto my phone. I'm still listening to the same music I listened to about 7 years ago when I loaded my iPhone 3 (relegated to music-only duty after main button failure and screen crack). The iPhone 4 isn't linked to any computer so it has no music on it.

Kriegsspiel wrote:I've got a Samsung G.... something in the pipeline, otherwise I'd want it!
Oh, the iPhone I have now? It was my mom's. I asked her what was wrong with it that it was in the junk drawer.
"I can't take any more pictures on it!"
The memory was full.

You cad, help her move the pics to a hard drive! [/quote]

Hey now, she only has an iPad. I don't have the heart to tell her those have memory limits too

wouldn't it be cheaper to get a hard drive instead of another phone?
I know phones are largely subsidized, but how about, say, a single 1-terabyte drive and then back to phone buying?

Tortoise wrote:I've been told that Apple put the charging port on the underside of that mouse consciously, to enforce the Apple aesthetic. If they put the port anywhere else, lots of people would use the mouse with the charging cord plugged in (maybe even all the time), just like a filthy commoner's mouse

I'd believe that.

I have a lot of respect for Apple engineers. The quality of the hardware is tremendous. But I personally think the designers jumped the shark a while back and have gotten the form follows function mantra completely backwards. Another favorite lowlight example is the iPod Shuffle with no buttons.

dualstow wrote:wouldn't it be cheaper to get a hard drive instead of another phone?
I know phones are largely subsidized, but how about, say, a single 1-terabyte drive and then back to phone buying?

To me the lesson is no matter how easy you try to make some computer task/interface, it will never be good enough for a very large fraction of the computer-uneducated/uneducable user base. The iOS storage management UI is ridiculously easy to understand. When you're full, a pop-up tells you that the storage is full and offers to take you to the page that shows you what's using up all the space and includes helpful next steps and options for deleting things. It's about as easy as you can get while preserving the ability to make a decision about what to keep.

And still, many to most non-technical people don't get it, because it requires judgment about a technical matter--the one thing this audience does not and will never have. No matter how easy you make it, if it requires a decision, they'll freeze up and ignore the problem because they are the kinds of people who are incapable of making technical decisions. They need to get over this mental block, or hand the decision off to a trusted technically-knowledgeable friend.

From the perspective of a product designer or manager, there are only two options that work:
1) ignore these people because they're hopeless, and cede the market to another product or firm
2) have the software make the decision for them

#2 would look like a system that automatically deletes replaceable content (like large apps) and re-downloads them as needed, and backs up user data to the cloud, automatically enrolling the user in a fee-based plan. This sounds completely infantilizing, because it is, but it's the only way for non-technical people to use computer equipment without the assistance of their tech nerd children.

Yeah, when it comes to that kinda thing I feel like Apple does a good job of striking a nice balance. Not only do they make the software relatively simple, but also as option #3 they offer AppleCare for people who need help but don't have tech savvy friends or family on call. Even if I wouldn't get an Apple computer for myself, I'd still recommend them to my parents.

I think that's why Apple tries to force you to use iCloud. Well that and the subscription fees of course :-). Then from the point of view of a typical non-tech savvy user, the phone has infinite storage.

I think that philosophy is fundamentally correct, because most people really don't want to have to learn about computer design principles in order to make phone calls and read emails. One of my colleagues is a very successful mathematician with an extensive technology background, and he is absolutely hopeless at things like making skype calls without help from his students. Then there's my mother, who still doesn't understand that files are things that sit on internal hard drives, and not inside applications like Word. After my last attempt at phone support, I was near to suggesting that she forget about computers and just stick to good old pen, paper, fax machines, and files. I was hoping that giving her my old Macbook would help in that regard, but Apple has fallen so far from the tree of intuitive simplicity that it's now just as complicated to use as Windows - and more so in some ways, because of the extensive compatibility issues that Apple still has with just about everything.

The interesting implication here is that there are basically two types of users: technical folks who are cognitively capable of going any distance at all, limited only by their willingness to do so; and non-technical folks who cannot and never will--ever.

The technical users are best served by general-purpose computers that present an intuitive UI that can grow with them, allowing opportunities to learn first power user UI features (e.g. keyboard shortcuts), then UI scripting, basic command-line skills, shell scripting, and finally full-blown programming, with all of these paths being available but never required. The power is always there, but they can use it at whatever level of efficiency they're comfortable with.

The non-technical users are best served with single-purpose "computing appliances" that make decisions for them that are right 95% of the time, have no easy way to destroy anything, and offer professional support on demand. It's okay if they cost a seemingly amount of money, either up front or on a monthly basis, because these are the people who pay for convenience and safety.

As much as I wish iOS was the latter (because then I would have a lot less family support work to do), it's really not, unfortunately. It came close in the beginning, but has veered off track IMHO and now has no clear ideal user.

and then there was Chromebook...


Seriously though I love how simple Chromebooks are. I am technical but work on computers all day so I just want the simplicity in my own time.

I haven't been able to see it in action but I think the less technical elderly would have a really hard time breaking them.

whatchamacallit wrote:and then there was Chromebook...


Seriously though I love how simple Chromebooks are.
..
I haven't been able to see it in action

You haven't been able to see a Chromebook in action,
or an elderly person working on one?


Edit: fixed quote tag

dualstow wrote:

whatchamacallit wrote:and then there was Chromebook...


Seriously though I love how simple Chromebooks are.
..
I haven't been able to see it in action /quote]
You haven't been able to see a Chromebook in action,
or an elderly person working on one?

I haven't seen an elderly person use one.

Pointedstick wrote:To me the lesson is no matter how easy you try to make some computer task/interface, it will never be good enough for a very large fraction of the computer-uneducated/uneducable user base. The iOS storage management UI is ridiculously easy to understand. When you're full, a pop-up tells you that the storage is full and offers to take you to the page that shows you what's using up all the space and includes helpful next steps and options for deleting things.

I did not know that! I deliberately never have let my devices get full, so I've never seen the pop-up.

I certainly agree that things will never be easy enough for some (cough cough my parents).

WiseOne wrote: Then there's my mother, who still doesn't understand that files are things that sit on internal hard drives, and not inside applications like Word.

This made my smile, because I'm constantly teaching my dad to manage files via explorer's yellow folders, the way God intended. No matter how many times we've gone over this, the next time I visit he's doing everything from within Excel again.

My mom uses a Mac- well, nowadays mostly the smaller portable devices, and she goes to those Apple classes mentioned by Tyler. Move over Mother Theresa. Whoever's teaching Mom must have the patience of a saint.

OMG you guys are balm for a tech-support weary soul. My mother calls at least once a week with questions like this. The last one was about not being able to access the scanner. It turns out the usb cable wasn't plugged in. And, lord only knows how often I've carefully explained about files.

The person who comes out with an Elderly Person-Safe Computer is going to clean up big time! If it's a Chromebook, I'm willing to go out and buy one right now. Unfortunately, my mother loves her Canon scanner and it won't work with a Chromebook. It's bad enough that it only partially works with the Mac, because Canon, for reasons best known to themselves, decided they don't need to support El Capitan.

Do you all think we'll be like that one day? I promised myself I wouldn't, & I used to think I was immune because I grew up with computers. However, I'm clueless with cellphones, or rather half-clued.

There will be some new device that will disrupt things and evolve too quickly for us, perhaps.

There may be a good scanning solution for chromebooks but I haven't needed it because I just use my phone for scanning to google drive.

There are brother printers that have google drive built in:

http://www.brother-usa.com/connect/web/ ... drive.aspx



BTW, I think the DNS is broken to forum from http://www.gyroscopicinvesting.com/

I have been using http://77.104.139.218/~gyroscop/forum/ but it doesn't seem like others have this link.

Wow, Fedora 25 is apparently very easy to install on PCs and Macs.

I can't give up my main computer or the OS on it, but I've got to give this a spin when I get the chance.

I'm using it right now. It's really nice. Not perfect (judging by the list of bugs I've filed and am working on), but nonetheless very good.