Nobody Cares: Technology-only Edition

[Veritable Quandry]

It lacks a pop-up invitation to join their newsletter, otherwise it's spot-on.

I miss the Blink tag.

 

[Free]

Electric vehicles are the future for everyone — except disabled people

Where are the accessible EVs?

www.theverge.com

In a Super Bowl commercial that aired earlier this year, GM declared that its electric vehicles were designed for everyone. The ad closed with the image of a one-armed surfer to emphasize its point. But sometime later, that surfer was replaced by an able-bodied counterpart, with no explanation for the switch. As a wheelchair user, I was left wondering whether people like me are being left out of the EV revolution?

There’s no doubt that EVs are going to be one of the pillars of our future, yet there are currently none on the market for the disabled. Retrofitting these vehicles with ramps seems close to impossible due to the architecture. And the only EV on the horizon that could be made accessible isn’t coming until 2023 — and even then, it’s unclear that it will be marketed toward disabled drivers.

 

[Noodles]

I have always preferred Google's approach (OK, Google) over naming a virtual assistant.

I don't understand why you can't set a custom name.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I don't understand why you can't set a custom name.

To change your nickname for Google Assistant, open the Google Home app, tap Settings, scroll all the way down and tap More settings, then tap Nickname under the You tab. You can then either spell out your nickname or record it to help Google Assistant learn to pronounce it.

 

[Noodles]

I meant for Alexa. You just get a few pre set options.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

That only seems to set what the app calls you, not what you call the app.

 

[Clara D.]

That only seems to set what the app calls you, not what you call the app.

As long as it doesn't call me late for dinner.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

That only seems to set what the app calls you, not what you call the app.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

They took multiple takes with different Spots, or at least the same spots with different loadouts, but sometimes they all have the arm attachment and sometimes only some of them do, and it's like they're poking my OCD in the eye.

 

[Free]

Old school: I work in DOS for an entire day

From the archives: Open source MS-DOS alternative lives—but using it nearly killed me.

arstechnica.com

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Best DOS text/programming editor was Brief. And DoubleDOS was an essential tool.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Best DOS text/programming editor was Brief. And DoubleDOS was an essential tool.

You can still get the basic version for free, but dedicated users will want the professional version for $120.

Brief

Brief text editor

www.briefeditor.com

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

You can still get the basic version for free, but dedicated users will want the professional version for $120.

Brief

Brief text editor

www.briefeditor.com

"Windows 2000 and later is supported."

I suspect it won't run under DOS. And regular expressions are kind of required, so you need to fork out $120.

I just remembered that its regexps were broken and you had to do some tricky things to massage them so they worked right. They did shortest-match for closures. Weird, no?

 

[Noodles]

Urg...

So I have been getting texts and now a letter about AT&T shutting down 3G and how three of the five phones on my plan will no longer be compatible.

Except I am 99% sure they will be compatible.

For starters, two of the five are the same phone, except one is listed as being compatible.

Which tells me they basically have no idea which phones I have because we buy unlocked phones from other, cheaper retailers besides AT&T directly. So now they are just sending me phones anyway, because I ignored the notices. The letter says "comparable phones" but researching online says it's some trash tier $70 Android piece of garbage, not a $200-$200 Motorola. Guess what, that is in no way "comparable".

So now I get to call them tomorrow, which means talking to some person in india whom reads from a script whom I can barely understand who will be zero help and just end up making me even more angry. Which I am not looking forward to.

Anyway, JUST VENTING.

 

[Clara D.]

some trash tier $70 Android piece of garbage, not a $200-$200 Motorola.

The only cheap phones I'll get are LG.

I avoid "never heard of that," or worse . . . ZTE.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Mi seems well regarded. My late friend with the hardware addiction bought a couple of Mi phones to play around with and they weren't horrible.

 

[Knutz Scorpio]

I'm on my second cheapo LG smartphone and have loved both. My father has an LG flip phone that I don't think you could pry away from him for any price, he tried an ZTE smartphone and that soured him on smartphones forever. We tried an Alcatel for my mother and that was a disaster.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Microsoft issues urgent security update

It seems a tech security company accidentally posted a "exactly how to hack this specific Windows vulnerability" article online regarding an exploitable weakness in a Windows printer process. It was only up for a short time, but during that short time multiple people grabbed it and reposted it all over the rest of the internet, so MS is now pushing an emergency security update. They have even issued a patch for this particular vulnerability for Windows 7 despite Windows 7 no longer being supported, which goes to show how bad they think the situation is.