Tech you miss/ new tech trends you hate - ok boomers

[Preacher ✝]

It used to be that when a free app contained ads, there was a paid version without ads.

So you had a choice between paying nothing and putting up with ads, or paying about 3-5 bucks for no ads.

Now its a free app with in-app purchases and instead of a one time fee the ad free experience is subscription based.

I hate this.

 

[Stabby_Pencil]

I kind of miss when technology was see-through and fun solid colors instead of this RGB hellscape. Like so.

Spoiler: See-through Tech

 

[Merton J. Dingle]

It used to be that when a free app contained ads, there was a paid version without ads.

So you had a choice between paying nothing and putting up with ads, or paying about 3-5 bucks for no ads.

Now its a free app with in-app purchases and instead of a one time fee the ad free experience is subscription based.

I hate this.

Fuck them and use an ad blocking DNS server to get that shit for free. No one should have to see a single advertisement on any part of their phone. It always felt like the device was not fully mine if I ever saw a fucking banner ad on it.

 

[Atypical Dog]

My Samsung Galaxy A71 got the white line on the screen error so I had to get a screen replacement. I was considering buying a screen and doing it myself, but I saw someone go through the repair on YouTube and I was surprised that you had to go through the back of the phone and nearly take the thing apart just to disconnect the screen. Needless to say, since I was visiting family at the time, I ended up caving and just getting it fixed rather than making a fun DIY project of it.

I miss DIYability.

EDIT: The screen is an OLED and not as sensitive. I am relearning typing in slow motion.

 

[Curry Teafag]

I miss when hardware was affordable: When a good SSD was a nice 88 and not some nasty 6-7 hundred.

 

[AnOminous]

I miss when hardware was affordable: When a good SSD was a nice 88 and not some nasty 6-7 hundred.

View attachment 8459065

Awesome hockey stick graph there at the end. Thanks Obama.

 

[crowabunga]

That I even need to make a special search for a new consumer router / switch / wireless router combo that I don't need a web account to configure & administer is madness. I'm scared that in 10 years I won't have any (non-rack-mounted, sub-$500, suitably modern) options left.

 

[DavidS877]

That I even need to make a special search for a new consumer router / switch / wireless router combo that I don't need a web account to configure & administer is madness. I'm scared that in 10 years I won't have any (non-rack-mounted, sub-$500, suitably modern) options left.

Mikrotik will probably be around. Otherwise you're in build it yourself land.

 

[Green Man]

I'm fucking tired of every software vendor moving to a subscription-based licensing model. Thus far, I've been able to find ONE piece of scheduled/automated backup software that just allows you to purchase the license and use it forever, AOMEI Backupper, which is honestly shit in some of its own ways [the automated cleanup function doesn't work half the time, thus necessitating manual deletion/organization of backup files, defeating the entire purpose of it], I specifically bought the paid version so I could make use of this feature and it just doesn't fucking work like 70% of the time. Looked into Macrium Reflect which has quite glowing reviews from users, apparently they offered one-time purchase of a license as recently as 2024, but moved to a subscription-only model at some point. I don't need even more shit automatically coming out of my checking account and having to keep track of all of these autopay dates and the like, sure a yearly subscription is more convenient than monthly, but why not just allow me to purchase it ONCE? I don't even give a shit if I'm only purchasing a single version and get no further software updates, that's fine, it's a backup tool - not something like anti-malware where it needs constant definition updates to remain effective. EaseUS Todo Backup seems to have a one-time purchase option, but the website is loaded with Engrish and has more pop-ups than a fucking porn website in the 90s.

But I suppose that one wouldn't even need to purchase said software if the built-in backup scheme for Windows wasn't so God-awful. Seriously, how in the fuck is it 2026 and if you want to set retention policies for backups, you still have to rig up .bat files and use task scheduler instead of simply having a built-in option? The File History option A) doesn't let you retain a system image and B) doesn't automatically remove old versions when it runs out of space, while if you use the older backup wizard [dating back to Windows 7 IIRC], you can retain a system image but it still won't autonomously remove ancient backups that are obviously no longer necessary. Neither of these have any options for incremental or differential backups, either. How in the fuck does an operating system in the year of our Lord, 2026, not have these basic fucking options that have been present in enterprise settings for decades now?

Not to mention, with subscription models - you never actually own the software, you have a temporary license which can be revoked at any time for any reason. It's quite tiresome.

 

[Curry Teafag]

I, too, use Macrium Reflect Free for my backups, but it's an older version from 2023 or so, when that stuff was still available. It's installed on each of my USB HDDs as a bootable, Windows PE-based, stand-alone app.

When I need to set it up on a new HDD, I simply clone an existing installation using its cloning function. You can do that while keeping existing partitions, only need to make room for the boot partition(s), which is very handy. You can image the bootable partitions and upload them to a cloud drive for external storage. That way, it's impossible to ever lose them.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Honestly my 980 held up until 2023 before new games realy started bogging it down.
You can pick up a 4070 from a good brand for around $600.


Tax: Has anyone ever taken a good photo with a non-samsung android phone? I cannot for the life of me remember a photo I took on one in the past 12 years I was happy with, but any I've taken with an android are amazing. I have a Motorola G100, it has 4 cameras, no matter what I do the photos look like ass. On the other hand, the 4K video recording is amazing on this phone. What the fuck am I doing wrong?

Yes, I have a Pixel 9 and before that a Pixel 7. They both took excellent photos.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

I noticed it when it from "free" to "GET", meaning nothing's truly free and there's always going to be some bullshit in-store purchase, with only a few rare, niche exceptions.

I work at a copy & ship store these days and it's appalling how many people can't print out even the simplest of labels (for things like Amazon returns) and have to get gouged in-store to do it there.

I understand that the "printer subscription" stuff scares normies off, but get a real printer! They're not expensive and a simple black-and-white laser printer will pay for itself within a year. And since everyone seems to be materialistic and buying inexpensive crap, then you might as well get those mini-thermal printers for smartphones that that are less than $20 if you just want to print out labels anyway.

Yeah ...... A need a cheap B&W laser printer bad

I genuinely put buying a laser printer as one of my best financial decisions. I use it mostly to print eBay shipping labels, and I only have to buy replacement toner cartridges once every few years.

I look back on the days of having to replace ink cartridges once every few months as incredibly wasteful.

Ugh I haven't owned a printer in almost a decade.

That said having to print all my shit at UPS or similar is a huge pita

We'll probably literally have none of these on any phone at all within the next 5-10 years.

1 violates security that movie companies and banking apps want
2 would stop people from buying new phones as often (and increases manufacturing cost)
3 stops companies from selling their own wireless earbuds along with their phones, so that's not happening
4 doesn't allow the company to upsell you on a phone with more storage, and also makes government's lives easier trying to track you

I looked at my MVNO website right now, and there isn't even many phones that have either headphone or SD, and eSIMs to top it off. (thanks Google and Samsung, fuck you) If I want to avoid all of those, I have to go with the Motorola lower-end phones, which luckily they at least offer those. I need to replace my very outdated LG K30 from 2019, which was low end even when it was bought and still runs Android 8, but at this point I'm not looking too forward to that because phones have devolved so much.

Not even sure how much of an improvement there is to gain at this point unless I bite the bullet and go with a high-end device despite the lack of good features. Wow, four cameras on the back, yay. Totally what I need in life.

Ouch.... Fair phone time

I broke down and went full niggercattle.
Got a 1TB phone with no expansion and no headphone jack. Had to transcode my flac collection that used to fit on the previous 1.5T MicroSD. Got a set of Shure Wireless IEMs, and was already using a set of Bose wireless over-ear.

Still Android because at the end of the day being able to start termux, enable sshd and go to my fileserver and just run rsync to update my movies and music on the phone sucks far less than Apple.

Moo.

I didn't know CAT made phones. Kinda neat

Well...they spec them from a Chinese odm.

Very few corps outside of Apple and Samsung and maybe 1-2 more actually design or make their own stuff.

Most just white label something from the OPPO group or similar.

Fuck them and use an ad blocking DNS server to get that shit for free. No one should have to see a single advertisement on any part of their phone. It always felt like the device was not fully mine if I ever saw a fucking banner ad on it.

Pihole time

Mikrotik will probably be around. Otherwise you're in build it yourself land.

Or installing openWRT or Tomato WRT on an Asus box

I, too, use Macrium Reflect Free for my backups, but it's an older version from 2023 or so, when that stuff was still available. It's installed on each of my USB HDDs as a bootable, Windows PE-based, stand-alone app.

When I need to set it up on a new HDD, I simply clone an existing installation using its cloning function. You can do that while keeping existing partitions, only need to make room for the boot partition(s), which is very handy. You can image the bootable partitions and upload them to a cloud drive for external storage. That way, it's impossible to ever lose them.

Interesting.

Sadly 2024 was the last year of non subscription Macrium

I use Acronis True Image (yes I know) and it's.... Alright.

 

[DavidS877]

I did enough ebay, and may again, that I got an old Zebra label printer. I mean, I have a laser, but the Zebra is so much simpler for labels. Currently I just ordered a new roll of small labels for it to print barcodes so I can go paperless. Any paper that comes in that I don't need to keep the original of will get a barcode slapped on it, scanned, and added to the "To Be Shredded Pile" Stuff I do need to keep, like taxes, will still get scanned just stuck in the "keep for now" pile.
And to the tech trend I hate. I've been using tesseract for OCR, so I figured I'd try out the new "AI" local OCR models. As usual nothing works, they released it 3 months ago, their docs are now already of date because the things they use for running the model have changed totally. I love progress.

 

[HairyBadger]

Subscription Software. Modern fucking AIDS.

 

[Curry Teafag]

Yes, I have a Pixel 9 and before that a Pixel 7. They both took excellent photos.

I have a Pixel 2, Pixel 6, and Pixel 9, and while each newer one would take better photos and videos, its screen would be worse than the previous one's in low-light conditions.

Specifically, the Pixel 9 has absolutely terrible dark-gray performance. My Space background image, which is the same on all three, looks flawless on the Pixel 2, with a smooth transition from black to the brighter parts around the planet and stars, okay-ish on the Pixel 6, but is one washed-out ugly gray patch on the Pixel 9.

I have no idea what they didn't get right when calibrating this thing, but if I had bought it new instead of used, at under €300, I would've returned it.

 

[stares at error messages]

Well...they spec them from a Chinese odm.

Very few corps outside of Apple and Samsung and maybe 1-2 more actually design or make their own stuff.

Most just white label something from the OPPO group or similar.

I know it all too well. The cat phone is a rebranded Ulefone. The United States has undergone a program of de-industrialisation since the '70s. United State companies have progressively outsourced more and more to the point where all the United States company is a just a label stuck on a completely foreign product.

The Boomers sold out everything and now act like babies who assume all the other companies held strong and didn't do the same. The United States only manufactures boutique products and stuff specially made for the military. Everything essential is made in other countries. It's very difficult to run manufacturing the United States, so companies always move to Mexico or Asia. Many people are stacking up at the bottom and tariffs just make life more difficult on top of how bad the economy has been for decades now. It's a leadership so out of touch with reality that it will only lead to war and foreign conquest. Boomers have never had any accountability placed on them their entire lives and now they eat for us with Social Security.

 

[56 others]

Yes, I have a Pixel 9 and before that a Pixel 7. They both took excellent photos.

Yeah my phone screen is slowly raping itself, might get a Google Pixel 9 used. Is it full of gay bullshit and locked down?

 

[Curry Teafag]

Is it full of gay bullshit and locked down?

Kinda. You have to turn off the protection stuff and reboot in order to sideload an app, then can turn it on again (need to reboot after this as well). The app will still run, they just make it inconvenient to install it in the first place.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Said it before: the internet of Current Year is getting so obsessed with "verification" BS. Speaking of, just about every site for making AI-generated stuff requires sign in or subscribing to a "Premium" account. Or it makes crap and requires "credits" to make more than that. Also searching on the 'net may yield useless lists of "related" sites.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Yeah my phone screen is slowly raping itself, might get a Google Pixel 9 used. Is it full of gay bullshit and locked down?

Nah it's actually the best one if you want Graphene. It doesn't have bloat, and any apps that come pre-installed are from Google and removable.