Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: What Single Change Would You Make To a Tech Product?
An anonymous reader writes: We live in an age of sorcery. The supercomputers in our pockets are capable of doing things it took armies of humans to accomplish even a hundred years ago. But let's face it: we're also complainers at heart. For every incredible, revolutionary device we use, we can find something that's obviously wrong with it. Something we'd instantly fix if we were suddenly put in charge of design. So, what's at the top of your list? Hardware, software, or service — don't hold back.
Here's an example: over the past several years, e-readers have standardized on 6-inch screens. For all the variety that exists in smartphone and tablet sizing, the e-reader market has decided it must copy the Kindle form factor or die trying. Having used an e-reader before all this happened, I found a 7-8" e-ink screen to be an amazingly better reading experience. Oh well, I'm out of luck. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I'd fix it immediately if I could.
Here's an example: over the past several years, e-readers have standardized on 6-inch screens. For all the variety that exists in smartphone and tablet sizing, the e-reader market has decided it must copy the Kindle form factor or die trying. Having used an e-reader before all this happened, I found a 7-8" e-ink screen to be an amazingly better reading experience. Oh well, I'm out of luck. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I'd fix it immediately if I could.
Nobody wants to be stalked with creep ware.
I have many little ideas to improve laptops.
- Allow disabling LEDs or have them all under the lid. I don't want my whole room blinking when the machine is in suspend.
- Do not use eye-scorching low frequencies like 200 Hz for backlight PWM.
- Make Macs with matte screens.
- Put in place dedicated volume keys instead of clunky Fn buttons.
- Have a small maintenance hatch in every machine for easy dust removal from the heatsink.
- Include a trackball so I can play 3D games on couch without an external mouse.
Here's a list of some common devices. A stereo receiver can end up costing you $40, but a desktop computer is more likely to be $7 a year (turned off, in standby mode).
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
We could extend that to require POSIX compatibility for windows.
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I miss 4 inch screen, high end Android phone. If I want a phone with a good screen I have to go to 5.5 inches or above, or settle for a low end, slower phone.
Did you ever think that it's not "stupid" but more related to customer preference?
What customer would EVER prefer that a paused video would not continue loading? Netflix, Youtube, Google Play, Vimeo - all of them stop downloading when you pause, which makes them unusable if your connection is slow for whatever reason - network congestion, bad wireless signal, etc.
I recently rented an online video from Google Play and demanded a refund, which I wouldn't have done if this feature existed... the video kept stopping to buffer every 30 seconds or so. That ruins a movie. If I could have left it alone for 20 minutes to load, and then watched the whole thing, it would have been fine. Google's choice to save bandwidth (or whatever their motivation is) cost them that sale.
So, there's no real "preference" at play here, unless your preference is for limited options. You can still stream it real time, the OP is asking that you also be allowed to download in one chunk when bandwidth is limited so you get a seamless viewing experience without frequent pauses to buffer.