> I don’t remember the German trains being this late, this often, a ~decade ago.
Except: they were - over 20 years ago, I did my „Grundwehrdienst“ in the German army, travel with DB from Nuremberg to Munich and back every weekend for 8 months.
The number of times the ICE was on time I can count on one hand. 15 minutes delayed regularly, sometimes more.
After a while we planned to use the last train to arrive in Munich, and having to go a bit further with S-Bahn, we most of the time missed the last one (on purpose).
We then went to the DB counter and got free coupons to head our final destination by Taxi.
Also already happening back then: broken aircon, often in comical ways - I.e. totally non working in one wagon, with everyone sweating at some 45 degrees Celsius or more, next wagon: freezing at 16 degrees…
If switch changes state to on, set scene depending on daytime (or other conditions) - should suffice?
To change for another scene, have a button or voice command?
I’m with you here - make control „as usual as possible“, also saves a ton of money and annoyances - and most important: home automation is about automation, not controlling manually via phone…
Really not getting much value out of it, despite being all-in on Apple otherwise (iPhone, Mac, AppleTV, Homepods).
I really feel like it absolutely should be more integrated into the other devices. Set a timer on the phone? Can’t see on watch. Stuff like this bugs me like hell. And I think there’s too much of it.
What would help just as much: people actually giving a fcuk - as in: researching how durable something is, how hackable, how cloud-dependant or not...
...and not act all surprised when something stops working once the manufacturer calling it quits (or starts charging for a previously-free service).
Today, whenever i talk to others how i evaluate products i still get blank stares and i might as well have talked in a foreign tongue.
Also not happening: learning from $companys previous behaviour - stopped supporting something after a year? No parts, no schematics, no nothing?
Well - welcome to my shitlist of companies that'll never see another $/€ from me, ever again.
Doing this eventually would force companies to change their ways, but as long as they can continue selling whatever dreck they come up with to the masses...
You're blaming the end users. Most end users aren't aware of this stuff, and even if they are, have no practical way to evaluate quality in the way you've described. Even I, as a very technical person, could not evaluate if something is "hackable" without a huge amount of work, and not before I've purchased it.
Like similar cases (is this car roadworthy? are airplanes safe?), this is the classic case for regulation.
Mostly by checking teardowns and reviews - that’s the one thing Amazon reviews are still good for - check them, especially the ones with a more negative sentiment and form an opinion based on that…
Also, certain brands more or less got similar issues over all the product ranges, for example power supplies giving up on Hisense TVs, compressors on certain fridge manufacturers etc - there are patterns to look out for - especially when the product has been on the market for some time.
The two times I had to open my Roborock S5 (once because our cat decided to vomit when the robo cleaned up and once to replace a broken Lidar motor) I actually was very delighted by its thoughtful design - basically none of what you describe, everything was very modular.
I mean, of course, you’re right - a different model can and probably will be designed differently - but that’s what teardowns are there for - fool me once, check the next time beforehand.
Except: they were - over 20 years ago, I did my „Grundwehrdienst“ in the German army, travel with DB from Nuremberg to Munich and back every weekend for 8 months.
The number of times the ICE was on time I can count on one hand. 15 minutes delayed regularly, sometimes more.
After a while we planned to use the last train to arrive in Munich, and having to go a bit further with S-Bahn, we most of the time missed the last one (on purpose).
We then went to the DB counter and got free coupons to head our final destination by Taxi.
Also already happening back then: broken aircon, often in comical ways - I.e. totally non working in one wagon, with everyone sweating at some 45 degrees Celsius or more, next wagon: freezing at 16 degrees…
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