Maybe I'm just becoming an old man(31 here).. but it seems as if tech is dumbing down, and DRM is getting way too tight. Also major things are removed from our everyday tech and sometimes marketed as features. Phones: Not long ago a smart phone with a keyboard was a feature. Manufactures like HTC that invented the keyboarded smartphone vowed never to produce them again. And it wasn't like demand was waning, up until manufactures started releasing third rate keyboard phones as their only option, there was huge holdouts for the next big keyboard phones that never came. I talk to younger generations and all they want is a HD display, the fastest processor, and the biggest/thinnest screen. A keyboard/removable battery/SD just adds bulk that could otherwise be used for a HD screen that by the way doesn't fit into a pocket; and that looks the same as a non-HD screen when there is a nice coating of finger prints from 2-3 foot away. I recently got a Nexus 5, due to my Galaxy relay keyboard phone getting stolen. I miss it so much. It had all the features I wanted-Expandable memory, removable battery, RFID, and of course a keyboard. While I do like that the nexus 5 is cheap, capable and has wireless charging; I could take or leave the HD display, and the lack of SD support and non-removable battery sucks. If most carriers charge for data, and online storage is free but only accessible half the time, why can't I have SD. If I want to do a battery swap before I go on a long trip, or have a spare battery hanging around for emergencies I cant(Unless I carry a bulky portable battery recharger) PC's: It seems as if the PC market is getting dumbed down too. After the failure of windows 8 it seems as if no ones buying PC's anymore. Why is a PC so archaic if I can see the screen while I type and I can have multiple monitors for multitasking? Tablets are the fad, even though they don't support java or flash, which are supposed to be dead with HTML 5. But website developers are lazy and still continue to develop in dead languages/formats. And entertainment companies don't like HTML 5 because its not DRM secured. To top it all off the hackish way to fix this is to embed flash in HTML 5(ala youtube). Lack of support for 50% of video online is my only holdout for the chromebook or having my asus transformer as a laptop.. And with windows 8 I complain about the lack of usable desktop and the obliteration of the start menu. They tell me get with the times. WTF???? I can remember a while back Microsoft was suing the pants off people for adding 3d elements to their OS's. an they come out with 2d animated tiles???? Am I supposed to stare at the purple background with blandly colored squares until I get an update on facebook or the weather? Please Microsoft hire the people who make compiz, or even a 5th grader to fix your abortion of an OS. BTW this is typed from my wife's windows 8.1 PC I won't even get into Ubuntus issues. Social Networking:Another rant I have is that everything has become "social" I can post on youtube without giving my real identity and every company I go to wants me to follow or like them. I unfortunately have never twittered(even though I know how, my wife does, but I don't see the need), I update my Facebook every 6 moths for family photos/long lost friends and get togethers. I am much more social on message boards, probably because I don't want to update everyone with my poop color or stare at meaningless posts like" you pissed me off today... you know who you are", or "I cleaned my room today!!!yay!!!" Gaming: Gaming has been more connected than I'm comfortable with. I like the Idea about sending updates, or having the ability to communicate to other players that I am co-oping or versing. I don't Like having to tell my 3ds/Wiiu a million times that I don't want to enable online pictures/word trading over and over again. I didn't buy an expensive machine just to have some random kid say "YAY I like this game!!" or "wow this level is hard!!" with a squiggly picture of Bowser. I also don't like having to connect to a game for no real reason, pay for needed items in a game, or pay extra for the ability to play online. If it isn't a multiplayer game don't make people connect. Incompatibilities: Netflix doesn't work in linux; there isn't an ability to have portable drivers for android; google drive doesn't work in linux; you can't use android apps in linux, even if the kernels match. Things that I do like about newer tech: Tablets last forever compared to laptops when watching video; Micro-controllers(Arduino) and embedded systems(raspberry pi) have become really cheap and easy to dev for, turning even the thriftiest/untechsavy peoples into Electronic Engineers with just YouTube videos; wireless charging and led lighting is now a thing; and opensource is becoming more and more prevalent. Anyone else suffering through this with me?
I think interconnectedness in general has (and is) going a bit too far, alot of technologies are being remade to require vast amounts of integration and I feel the internet is losing its unbiased objectivity, anonymity and balance because of it. The one thing that I always liked about the internet and technology was the ability to not need it should I decide not to use it, but I feel that this is changing, that the first world is becoming mandated to use modern technology, even tech that many individuals might not be comfortable using (delivery drones/drones in general, NSA spying/wiretapping, smartphones used as replacements for money, self driving cars ect) While Im glad to see alot of modern medical technologies I feel that this decades technology is primed for massive amounts of abuse, and that for alot of people, using modern technology comes at the cost of a more hectic and stressful lifestyle. I fear anyone in the near future will no longer be able to opt out of it using it.
