I'm so fed up with tech stuff.

[JohnDBarrow]

I have just joined Sam's Club in America recently to try to save money on things like gasoline, dog food, eggs and meats. I have found some good savings, but I don't like the notion that I must be forced to use my mobile telephone in order to transact business at Sam's or anywhere else. My phone is OK to summon an Uber ride, I guess. 

 

Sam's Club will no longer issue physical membership card to its members forcing them to be a prisoner of their phone. I had to have a gas station attendant show me how to use my phone to pump gas into my automobile. The Sam's Club app is about as difficult and slow to load into my Android 9 Moto E6 phone as the Walmart app. 

 

What if the phone dies, is lost, is broken or the batteries run out? It is asinine that people don't have membership cards as backup. Some older and disabled people might have difficulty using phone technology to do a whole host of things.  I was born in 1964. Telephones plugged into the wall and had dials that turned to place calls. Telephones were once used to have voice conversations at a distance. They were by no means a workstation. 

 

Edited January 5 by JohnDBarrow

[iNow]

Boo hoo

[JohnDBarrow]

PS - I see your C. Sagan remark about time. People, and perhaps animals, are time aware when they are in pain, suffering or are hungry. Whenever we feel good, time flies and we seem to pay no mind to it. Humans place importance on time due to the understanding of our physical mortality and that we don't seem to have forever to accomplish whatever. Some Christians claim time is irrelevant and means nothing to God. 

[Phi for All]

17 minutes ago, JohnDBarrow said:

I was born in 1964. Telephones plugged into the wall and had dials that turned to place calls.

So, extremely limited as communication devices. Slow, clunky, and keeps you tethered to an area as big as your cord reaches.

The best part about this old arrangement was that you didn't own the phones, the Bell systems did, and they leased them to you. They were responsible for them, and they made those old rotary phones practically indestructible so they didn't have to come fix them when people got mad and threw them against the wall. 

For the rest of it, the apps are only difficult because you've decided you hate them. Use them a few times, get used to what you have to do to make them work, and then it becomes the norm. Does your phone often die or become lost or broken? Does it happen often enough to warrant carrying yet another card in your wallet?

[TheVat]

Simpler solution: skip Sam's and go to the nearby megalomart.  Sam's doesn't save that much, and encourages food waste due to selling perishable items in such large sizes that consumers don't use it up before expiration date.   And you then support the traditional retail model where cash is still accepted and anonymity is okay.  I buy groceries and most small fungible goods with cash, preferring to not leave a data track in every purchase.  With cash, all megalomart knows is "somebody bought some Silk almond yogurt today." And that is all they need to know.  (another benefit of cash: the clerk doesn't hand the money back to you and say your bill isn't working)

PostScript re Sam's - one thing estate executors often encounter (per a lawyer pal) are home-dwelling elderly who die and have accumulated enormous hoards of Sam's Club food, often years beyond expiration.  It gets landfilled, usually.  (once in a while, an eco-minded relative will take the stuff that has no animal product, like expired canned vegetables or dry grains)

Edited January 5 by TheVat
a sin of omission

[JohnDBarrow]

The only things I buy at Sam's are gasoline, dog food, eggs, chicken and meat. The meat and chicken is frozen at home and everything will be used up before it goes bad. I bought 90 (7 1/2 dozen) eggs in a cardboard box at Sam's at 21 cents per egg. These eggs will keep for months in the fridge and my big refrigerator offers the space for them. I have a chest freezer for meats in bulk. 

There are no meglamarts in my central Iowa that I'm aware of. I have yet to see anybody who can beat Sam's nearby for those things I do buy there. Almost anything else comes from Walmart. I buy Good and Gather frozen fruit from Target because the price is right for the quality. 

I use a VISA card to get the cash rewards and also so unscrupulous merchants can be charged back if there is dispute.  I bought some underwear at Walmart last month that did not fit. Walmart only refunded me half the total. I filed a dispute with Bank of America. Cash doesn't offer that level of buyer security and cash is hard to replace if it gets lost. 

Edited January 5 by JohnDBarrow

[Sensei]

3 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

The Sam's Club app is about as difficult and slow to load into my Android 9 Moto E6 phone as the Walmart app. 

Motorola Moto E6 is some ancient thing from 2019.. On eBay I see it for $30..

2GB memory, 16 GB storage, obsolete CPU, obsolete GPU etc. etc.

 

Try to install up Windows 11 on Core 2 Duo or horse ride 100 km/h..

 

1) developers make apps for clients.

2) developers and investors (clients) have the best cell phones.

3) clients expect the app to run on most modern operating systems and devices (percentage of the market does matter). This does not mean on all of them. Some are too old to bother with.

4) if a developer wants to upload an app to the Google/Apple store every year they increase the minimum version of SDKs that is allowed.

5) It doesn't make sense to support a marginal percentage of devices.

 

i.e. if somebody would come and tell to make app for Google Store which will support Android v4.x, I simply cannot do it - such an app won't be allowed to be put on Google Play Store.

https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk

i.e. new apps must be for Android v14+

old apps must be for Android v13+

Above is sentence of death - if you update your app, without increasing target SDK, Google Play Store starts showing your app as unable to be installed from newer devices.

I have/had an app that runs on Android v14. I have not followed this nonsense from Google. And if you go to the Google Store with a brand new Android v13-v14 device, it prevents my app from downloading. It works on Android v14. But you can't download it from the Google Play store. You can only manually or from 3rd party store. With Apple it would be event worse nightmare, as Apple is a piece of shit.. You would have to root your iPhone to just install your own app. They license you hardware and software, and don't tell it. Otherwise nobody sane would agree to pay $1000 for license a hardware and physically do not own it even if it is in your pocket or desk..

3 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

What if the phone dies, is lost, is broken or the batteries run out?

I completely agree. Therefore I don't install apps that I did not write with a few exceptions..

3 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

I was born in 1964.

..then you had a lot of time to study..

..have you been hiding under a rock for the entire mobile technological revolution?

How have you wasted your life?

If you are not moving forward you are moving backward. Haven't you heard the saying?

3 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

Telephones plugged into the wall and had dials that turned to place calls. Telephones were once used to have voice conversations at a distance. They were by no means a workstation. 

A smartphone is not a phone. I don't use a smartphone to make calls and I don't let anyone call me. It's a microcomputer that you have in your jeans pocket or in your hand.

Wait until Musk forces you to plug in a neuralink..

 

 

1 hour ago, JohnDBarrow said:

I use a VISA card to get the cash rewards and also so unscrupulous merchants can be charged back if there is dispute.  I bought some underwear at Walmart last month that did not fit. Walmart only refunded me half the total. I filed a dispute with Bank of America. Cash doesn't offer that level of buyer security and cash is hard to replace if it gets lost. 

This is silly. You should check the cloth before you buy.... Or you don't know your size...? I've never bought clothes online - it doesn't allow you to check before you buy..

OMG, you want to return the underwear you put on your butt and demand a refund.. ??? OMG! Here they would kick you in the butt.. The butt wearing their underwear..

In any shop I know underwear is non-refundable..

 

Iowa will now have terrifying dreams about who redeemed your panties that you returned..

Edited January 5 by Sensei

[Ken Fabian]

Weighing the conveniences against the inconveniences my mobile phone is hands down a winner. Not that there aren't annoyances and frustrations - took me 15 minutes and starting over again twice to work through to a particular purchase recently. If it worked better it would've taken under 2 minutes. But compared to phoning around shops to check availability, compared to driving to shops and... finding it isn't in stock? Clothing I probably prefer to go in person and try things for fit, but that is rarely an urgent, important purchase.

My phone - is about 1/5th the cost of a landline phone to use (Aldi have phone sims and plans here really cheap). Just that is enough to be worth using. But there is more...

The call log tracks calls and unanswered calls. I can make video phone calls. I can message, pass videos and pictures around easily. Email. It is a pocket watch of extreme accuracy, that handles time zone changes easily. Countdown timer, stopwatch, alarm clock. A calendar with reminder service. I can take quite decent (or indecent) pictures with it - and edit them. I can make videos with it. It has a calculator that also does unit conversions. A sound recorder. A guitar tuner. A metronome. I can do banking and could use it in place of bank cards  - tap and go for small transactions. It plays my music - through ear buds or feeding into our (vintage) "stereo".   I can look up all kinds of information, watch tv or movies or stream music or use the 64G of micro-SD and have my whole music collection available. I can read books and get new titles easily. It can be (and often is) our internet connection, sometimes faster than the satellite service. Not used so often that I ever have to add more data. (Unused data allowance accumulates). But there is more...

Yes, i can find myself wasting time scrolling around - or read stuff on it in a waiting room - but that is time I have more of because so many things can be done so quickly and easily using it.

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, Sensei said:

OMG, you want to return the underwear you put on your butt and demand a refund.. ???

JohnDBarrow, Ugly American Poster Child. 

1 hour ago, Sensei said:

Iowa will now have terrifying dreams about who redeemed your panties that you returned..

Way worse than that. He involved the folks at Bank of America, so it's a national nightmare.

 

[Sensei]

24 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Way worse than that. He involved the folks at Bank of America, so it's a national nightmare.

Didn't get the memo? The national nightmare is coming on January 20..

 

Edited January 5 by Sensei

[JohnDBarrow]

I still refer to my Moto E6 as a telephone. Every app on it works fine except for Walmart, Sam's Club and Mister Car Wash.  Being an environmentalist, I will not buy any new product I feel I don't need. I will "drive" my refurbished Moto from Tello/T-Mobile ($10.80 per month) until the "wheels" fall off, but it really has no wheels anyway. I will run it into the ground like my '95 Corolla. 

[iNow]

News flash. Nobody cares 

[TheVat]

22 minutes ago, JohnDBarrow said:

Being an environmentalist

 

You buy vast quantities of meat, requiring a large fridge and chest freezer.  While I don't want to discourage environmentalism, I would say that meat consumption and large appliances are an awkward fit.  And the meat, eggs, etc sold at Sam's is cheap in part because it is produced in a way that pledges fealty to Monsanto and the eco-destructive cutting corners of Big Ag.  It is not organic or free-range or anything else usually associated with environmentalism.  

2 hours ago, Sensei said:

OMG, you want to return the underwear you put on your butt and demand a refund.. ??? OMG! Here they would kick you in the butt.. The butt wearing their underwear..

He needs to be debriefed.

[Phi for All]

4 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

I have just joined Sam's Club in America recently to try to save money on things like gasoline, dog food, eggs and meats.

You don't save as much as you think on gasoline. It's about the same getting better discounts but paying more for groceries at the supermarkets who offer better gas discounts.

You don't save that much over PetSmart or even Amazon on dog food. I don't eat that many eggs, and I prefer paying more for a great cut of meat at a local butcher rather than buying beef in bulk. You have to watch out for the bulk stores like Sam's and Costco.

 

[swansont]

2 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

You don't save as much as you think on gasoline. It's about the same getting better discounts but paying more for groceries at the supermarkets who offer better gas discounts.

Even less if you have to drive some distance to get it. (I saw a story recently about people driving an hour each way to save $2 on some artisanal bread. I hope they were buying a half-dozen loaves)

[zapatos]

9 hours ago, JohnDBarrow said:

The only things I buy at Sam's are gasoline, dog food, eggs, chicken and meat. The meat and chicken is frozen at home and everything will be used up before it goes bad. I bought 90 (7 1/2 dozen) eggs in a cardboard box at Sam's at 21 cents per egg. These eggs will keep for months in the fridge and my big refrigerator offers the space for them. I have a chest freezer for meats in bulk. 

There are no meglamarts in my central Iowa that I'm aware of. I have yet to see anybody who can beat Sam's nearby for those things I do buy there. Almost anything else comes from Walmart. I buy Good and Gather frozen fruit from Target because the price is right for the quality. 

I use a VISA card to get the cash rewards and also so unscrupulous merchants can be charged back if there is dispute.  I bought some underwear at Walmart last month that did not fit. Walmart only refunded me half the total. I filed a dispute with Bank of America. Cash doesn't offer that level of buyer security and cash is hard to replace if it gets lost. 

 

Edited January 6 by zapatos

[JohnDBarrow]

9 hours ago, zapatos said:

 

Pardon? I'm sorry, I don't follow.

Edited Monday at 02:06 PM by JohnDBarrow

[Phi for All]

15 hours ago, swansont said:

Even less if you have to drive some distance to get it. (I saw a story recently about people driving an hour each way to save $2 on some artisanal bread. I hope they were buying a half-dozen loaves)

I still find it hard to believe that we played that game back in the mid-70s, where we'd drive across town to get gas 2 cents cheaper. I don't think my Datsun pickup had more than a 15 gallon tank. Was 30 cents really that dear back then, am I just remembering incorrectly? I often get more than 30 cents per gallon discount from my supermarket, so saving $3-4 seems worth it. 

[studiot]

13 hours ago, TheVat said:

 

He needs to be debriefed.

+1

😀

[CharonY]

While OP is a complaint post more than anything, I think there might be an interesting question regarding reliance on a specific type of electronics. While in isolation it is perhaps just a hassle, cell phones have become an universal tool for everything, ranging from purchases to entertainment. The way some folks interact with it, is pretty much close to addictive behaviour. By increasingly requiring it for services is likely going to make it more difficult to disconnect.

[swansont]

10 minutes ago, CharonY said:

While OP is a complaint post more than anything, I think there might be an interesting question regarding reliance on a specific type of electronics. While in isolation it is perhaps just a hassle, cell phones have become an universal tool for everything, ranging from purchases to entertainment. The way some folks interact with it, is pretty much close to addictive behaviour. By increasingly requiring it for services is likely going to make it more difficult to disconnect.

It’s also a regressive tax if it becomes a requirement to do anything; you force people with little disposable income to have one, and internet access.

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

While OP is a complaint post more than anything, I think there might be an interesting question regarding reliance on a specific type of electronics. While in isolation it is perhaps just a hassle, cell phones have become an universal tool for everything, ranging from purchases to entertainment. The way some folks interact with it, is pretty much close to addictive behaviour. By increasingly requiring it for services is likely going to make it more difficult to disconnect.

Is it addiction, or is it a natural desire to simplify complex processes? I never used to carry around a camera or television before my smartphone, but I did stop wearing a watch, gave up a  daytimer planner, ditched a pager, threw out the road maps and donated a few hand-held games. I haven't given up the wallet yet but its days are numbered. The smartphone took the place of all of that and more. I don't blame it for social media, it just a tool to keep it in our faces.

It wouldn't be too much of a step to have the smartphone as a cuff on your forearm, and use it in tandem with a universal healthcare system, so everyone gets issued a cuff. A smartphone that also monitors BP, O2, heart rate, etc. 

If you make the tools better or more serious or meaningful, does it ever become OK that it's a universal tool for everything? Is it the focus on one tool that's bad or the focus on one aspect of the tool?

 

[CharonY]

3 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Is it addiction, or is it a natural desire to simplify complex processes?

I should have clarified, what I meant are not tool uses, but the constant need to interact with it, even when there is no functional need. I started off with listing examples, but it got a little bit unfocused, so I am giving only one example for now:

When there is any down time, even if it was for a minute or two, especially younger folks immediately grab their cell phones, not to look up or note down info for example, but searching for distractions (social media, videos, messages etc.). In cases where they are not allowed to, they get visibly upset and fidgety, not unlike smokers who are not able to get their smoking breaks.

This extends to odd situations, for example if they are not able to follow training. I originally thought that they were looking up other instructions (rather than asking me directly) but as it turns out, they are actually looking at posts and videos to distract themselves. When confronted, they argument is that they are stressed out and needed something to feel better.

This is is just a limited example, but the use of a cell phone as soothing mechanism (or to give a dopamine hit), even if detrimental on many levels and the need to use it, even in inappropriate situations and to their own detriments does have strong similarities to addictive behaviour.

I will also add that we all know that the various engagement platforms use addiction-promoting algorithms and I do think that we are seeing associated behavioural patterns emerging because of that.

 

[JohnDBarrow]

I feel a prisoner to so much STUFF! The bible even says one day we will not be able to buy or sell unless the number 666 is stamped on us. Technology is The Beast of Revelation.  I still wear a watch on my wrist. It is still easier than pulling the damn phone out of my fanny pack to get the time of day. 

 

This 1950's documentary film taught Americans how to use a dial telephone. They had been so accustomed for so long to party lines and live human operators. You summoned the operator but turning the crank previously. 

 

 

Edited Monday at 10:51 PM by JohnDBarrow

[TheVat]

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

If you make the tools better or more serious or meaningful, does it ever become OK that it's a universal tool for everything? Is it the focus on one tool that's bad or the focus on one aspect of the tool?

 

As someone who still travels into remote areas without cellular service, I will note the remarkably enduring utility of maps printed on thin sheets of dead tree fiber.  Apparently they don't need batteries - the ink just stays in place!  A broader answer is that single tool reliance can create enormous vulnerabilities.  Cell towers can go out in storms.  Strong solar activity has great mischief potential, too, both on devices and networks.  Another thought is that too much reading or video watching on a tiny illuminated screen is hard on the eyes.  And, as physicians are reporting, the human neck.  Google cellphone neck hump or "text neck."  (and then look up, for godssakes)