This one has a selection of emoji keys. For someone that loves emojis, it sounds like a great idea in theory. However, at work, I tend to react to messages on Slack/Teams and I think this would only add them when you are writing text. Also, they have chosen very generic ones which they think are popular. Although I might use a laughing emoji, I like using more obscure ones based on inside-jokes. So it wouldn’t really work for me.
Lego
There is this Lego-like keyboard which looks bizarre, and the straight layout and limited keys makes it much harder to type. A total gimmick.
Dave2D made a video covering two AI Assistant devices; The two products Rabbit R1 and Humane AI pin are launching very soon. He was suspicious because he is unaware of anyone getting a review copy to promote them, and the existing marketing materials have been a bit vague or suspiciously misleading.
It reminds me of when there was some controversy over a computer game that wasn’t reviewed before release – which caused suspicion that it was going to be released in a broken state; because if the company really believed in it, they would send it for review to be praised. Restricting reviews seem an admission that the product isn’t good, or as what it seems.
The examples they have shown is that you can use voice commands just like an Alexa, and can book trips, bring up nutritional information for food by recognising what it is, live translations. You don’t need your phone or to launch any apps.
The Rabbit R1 is the more popular of the two (100,000 units on preorder) and is $200 device, featuring a cute design, small screen, camera, analog scroll wheel, speaker and button; very simple. The Humane AI pin is a $700 device and it also needs a $25 monthly subscription. Instead of using a screen, it projects the image. So you clip it to your clothes and hold your hand out to view. It’s a neat party trick, maybe a little gimmicky.
In the marketing, both companies deflect any questions using AI buzzwords and using very specific examples. It seems it might be the case that they just do a subset of what your phone can do, but worse.
Personally, I didn’t understand what most wearable tech did like the Apple Watch. In that example, it seemed to be sold on the idea that you no longer had to take your phone out of your pocket to check a message, but it seems a simple value proposition for a device that costs hundreds.
A mobile phone is more versatile and often more personal because it’s easier to hide the screen. Whereas, if a device relies purely on voice, then people can overhear, it causes a scene, and maybe could be hard to hear in a busy environment. The projection idea might even be difficult to see in different lighting, although might be easier to hide from other’s view, although you look a bit weird.
Since these devices can’t do everything your phone can do, you still need your phone with you. Certain devices like an mp3 player became obsolete when smartphones were widely adopted because people didn’t want to charge and carry two devices around… Or most people anyway; I don’t like the idea that listening to music is draining my battery that I might need to use for phone calls and text messages. I listen to a lot of music so I like to keep the devices separate.
So back to these two AI devices: A good question is “why isn’t this just an app?” Google already has a Google Assistant that you can talk to, although I have never tried that out. With how AI has progressed, the likes of Bing gives you easy access to quick searches, summaries, image generation etc, so it sounds like most of it could just be an additional app to download, or would be quickly obsolete if Google just adds the feature natively to Android. The possible limiting feature that Dave mentioned is that with all the permission needed to work, it might be seen as a security risk for Android to grant permissions to your location, images, contacts, microphone, camera, passwords etc. If it’s the company’s own device, then they can access all features of such a device.
When you are on your phone, you have the flexibility to react on-screen and look at images, reviews and follow links in order to make a decision. Having something that’s basically fully voice controlled has less flexibility. You are kind of forced down a specific path.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the marketing materials have often shortened the sequences to make it seem more impressive than it is. Wait time is a massive factor in the user experience. If there’s too much delay, then the usefulness and appeal is reduced.
The size and weight of devices can be a problem. If you are expected to pin the Humane AI device to your clothes, then it needs to be light without tugging on your clothes.
If these devices are using their own AI models, then another question is “how good are they?”. What is their training data, and are the initial versions going to be poor, but get better over time when learning from the early adopters?
Personally, I could see this being like the Google Glass where it sounds like a cool idea, but then it’s actually a bit limited, overpriced, and you look silly using it.
For my home internet and mobile sim, I have Virgin Media and a Virgin Mobile sim. They contacted me saying they were switching me over to o2, so in future, I would be billed by o2 instead, but I also qualify for a few extra benefits for the same price.
Once that was activated, they then said – because I have Virgin Media and an o2 mobile Sim, I now qualify for a bonus speed to my Virgin Media home broadband. Not sure how that makes any sense and why I didn’t qualify before, but cool – free stuff.
However, my current router cannot handle the new speeds or something, so now I have to have their latest “Hub 3.0”.
When I received the package, I had a quick look through the instructions and it seemed as simple as plugging it in. The only thing of note was that when you think you are ready to connect your devices, you need to look at the lights on the Hub:
“When the Wi-fi light is on and the base light is solid white, you are ready to move on. The arrows may still be flashing green”
Instructions
I assumed the flashing arrows meant it was updating (but couldn’t see anything in the instruction manual), and when they stopped flashing after 1 hour (why does it take 1 hour to update!?), I had a stable green Wi-Fi light, stable green update arrows, and a stable yellow main light. So what does that mean? it doesn’t match their description.
After a minute, the green update arrows and green wi-fi light went out, and I was left with a stable yellow main light and no internet connection. So I turned it off and on again. Same sequence of events happened.
So I reconnected my old router to check the internet was still working. It was.
The next day, I asked one of my colleagues (who I knew had Virgin Media broadband). He said he had a Hub 3.0 and his just has a stable yellow main light and had no idea what I was on about when I told him about the white light that the booklet mentioned. It was years ago when he had set his up, but he thought it was as simple as plugging it in, and away you go.
So after I logged off work, I plugged the “Hub 3.0” in again and got the same sequence of events. This time I went to the router’s IP page http://192.168.0.1/. Is it updating? Why so many updates?
I waited over an hour, but I was still stuck on the update screen. I turned it off-and-on again. Still says it is updating. But there’s no green arrows on the router itself. Can we trust the arrows?
I check Twitter and find a few people from various years with the same problem but some say that Virgin call centre staff resolved it – but didn’t say what the resolution was. Then there were some unresolved cases of people Tweeting into the void.
So since it was late, and I assumed Virgin’s call centre wouldn’t be available, I waited till the morning. I then plug it all back in, and call the number in the booklet:
“Connection issues? if you’re still having trouble connecting after following all the steps, waiting 30 minutes for your Hub to set up and making sure the connections are secure – call us on 0800 953 9500”
Instructions
I was greeted with an automated line asking me for my account number. I hung up and went looking for the letter. I call back, type in the account number, then it asks me if I would like to link my phone number to my account for faster calling in future.
That sounds great because I hate having to read out an account number, and go through the “security” checks. If I can bypass one or both of those, then it would be amazing. They always ask you for part of your memorable word and it always trips me up because I have only needed to call them 3 times in 9 years or something – so it is easy to forget. I was convinced I knew it, and this would test out my thoughts, so I went through the process of trying to link it.
The automated voice instructed “press the key that corresponds to the first letter”, so the 2 key would represent A, B, or C. Maybe not so secure when there’s ambiguous answers. I typed the 3 numbers in, and apparently it was wrong. So I hung up.
I went to the website, account details, “change memorable word”. You have to choose a word between 8 and 10 characters long, but it’s not quite a word because it needs 1 number. With that level of specific criteria, it probably makes it less memorable too. So I type in 9 characters and a number to get 10 characters in length. Apparently it didn’t match the rule “8-10 characters long”!? So “8-10” actually means 8 or 9?
Eventually I managed to set it to something slightly memorable, so call back. Enter the “Account number”, “memorable word”. Right, as long as I call using this mobile number, it should get me straight through in future.
Right, can I speak to a human now? no.
The automated voice says they know I have been sent a new Hub and if I press “1”, they can send a signal to activate it.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?
Me, raging
The instructions never said that. It said to wait 30 mins for a solid white light and wi-fi light, then only call if there’s connection issues. Yet this number is an automated line that is VITAL to call.
So I press “1”. The voice says it “may take 1 hour for the connection to activate”.
What!?
Super fast broadband, like 264 mbps and you are saying it takes 1 hour to transfer 1 signal to tell the router it is valid? What the hell. I was supposed to be working and thought I would be offline for 15 mins.
After waiting 1 hour, there’s still no connection. I waited another 15 mins. I checked the router settings page; “Update in progress”. It’s either lying, or completely broken.
So I called the number again to see what would happen. The automated voice tells me my account number is linked to my phone, so I press “1” to accept. Now I have to enter 3 letters from my memorable word. At least not entering the account number is convenient. I put my letters containing the account number in the drawer; I won’t be needing those again.
The automated voice tells me that the “signal” had failed to activate my router, so I have to be passed onto a human. I connect straight away, and first I need to state my name. Now I need my account number. WHAT!? I can’t have gotten this far without my account number which I had linked to my phone. So I scramble to get the papers out of my drawer so I can read off the account number. Now I need to specify 3 characters from my memorable word. (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
If it is a challenge to make a calm guy like me turn aggressive, then this is certainly the way to go about it.
So I explain that I have this new Hub and it doesn’t work. She asks me what lights I see, and she says it should be working. I then get put on hold for a minute, then she says
“We haven’t registered this Hub at our end”.
Virgin call centre staff member
Brilliant. Why is that even a thing? The connection is coming through to the inside of my house (my old router works perfectly fine). Why do they need to authorise a device inside my house? They sent it to me too, so why wasn’t it automatically registered? You would think they would have the process perfected after all these years.
So after holding a bit longer, she said she would then send the signal but it may take an hour. She then asks if “I am happy with the resolution?”.
“Eeeer. Dunno. If it works, then yes. If it doesn’t then no.”
Me, uncertain
“It will work, sir. We will send you a text message when it is activated.”
Virgin call centre staff member
The connection actually came on after 1 minute.
1 hour 45 later: Virgin via text: “We’ve activated the new Virgin Media kit“
Here’s a list of things that are dumb:
If you send someone some new hardware, make sure it is registered on your system
If it requires the customer to make a phone call, make sure it is clear in the instructions
The phone number should also state when the line is open, and if it is automated or not.
If there’s lights on the hardware device with different meanings – put them in the instruction booklet
Don’t tell the user they are looking for a white light, when it is actually yellow.
Don’t make a page stating “Update in progress” when the status is “Unregistered device”
If there is an Update process, explain to the user what this means and how often it should occur, and how long it should take. What if I turn off the device whilst it is updating? Does it become “bricked”?
Don’t send a text 1 hour 45 minutes late.
Don’t tell the user they can register the account number to their phone, then ask them to read out the account number.
Don’t say you can create a memorable word of 10 characters, then tell them they cannot.
As a human, don’t ask for 3 letters of a memorable word, and when the customer gets it wrong, ask for 3 different letters. There’s a good chance you could piece what the full word is by putting together the answers. I assume the call-centre staff cannot see the full word, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they could.
There must be a better way of activating a router than via signal that takes up to 1 hour. I assume there’s some serious leeway here, but it’s not good to keep a customer waiting that long before calling support again.
My Mum doesn’t call as much as she used to. So when I had a missed call from my Mum, I thought it could be an emergency. When I rang her back, she said her computer was stuck on the lock screen.
It’s hard work though because she is terrible at explaining problems or what she attempts to do, then she often finds it hard to understand my simple instructions.
She said holding the power button ain’t turning it off, which is weird. I thought the classic “turn it off and on again” would sort it out, so I said to “let the battery drain”. So she said “it can’t be the battery because she can see what is on screen”.
So I explained that the plan was that “letting the battery drain will turn it off. Then you can turn it back on again when plugged in“.
I couldn’t think of any other options.
She said she was “pressing Alt+F2 but it wasn’t doing anything”. I said “what does that shortcut do?“, and she said “I dunno“. I asked who told her to press it, and she said “myself“.＼（〇_ｏ）／
I wondered if she meant Alt+F4.
My Mum popped around to my house with her laptop. Clicking wouldn’t transition to the login screen, and you could move the mouse fine – so it wasn’t frozen. I pressed ctrl+alt+del and it unlocked. I locked it again and it went back to the login screen straight away and would respond to mouse clicks, so ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯
I bet letting the battery drain would have solved it as well, but she kept on charging it. I do wonder if her fictional shortcut of Alt+F2 was meant to be ctrl+alt+del. This is what I mean when I say she is terrible at explaining problems or what she attempts to do. Then it ends up being frustrating for the both of us.
We recently had a heatwave in the UK, and I think this was even experienced throughout the world. Even before that, one of my team member’s laptop battery bulged up due to excessive heat, which he noticed due to the raised keyboard. He ended up getting a brand new company laptop.
During the heatwave, another team member went into the office where it would be nice and cool, but I guess there’s a good chance it happened in transit (in his hot car) – he also noticed the raised keyboard, and so quickly disconnected the battery before it had a chance to explode.
“My new laptop is flipping awesome. I’m so happy we had this heatwave”
Colleague
I assume our IT department must have got many requests for new laptops, and then they sent out this very debatable advice.
"Your laptop may be struggling because it has to work harder to keep itself cool. Here are some tips to help get the best performance from the laptop until things cool down.
Move to the coolest part of your home, or work in one of our air-conditioned offices.
Run updates and give your computer a reboot
Limit the apps running to those you need
In Microsoft Teams, turn off incoming video (this allows you to share your camera but reduce the impact on your laptop’s display)”
So for point number 1, my first team member works in his conservatory. I normally associate conservatories with being cold but we often compare temperatures and his room is usually 6-8 degrees celsius warmer than my living room where I work. We are in those rooms because it’s the only space we have available for a desk and monitors. It’s not exactly easy to just “Move to the coolest part of your home”. I suppose you could try working on your laptop with no external monitors, but the advice should be just “to take the day off”. They also say to come into the office, but then the second colleague’s laptop battery presumably broke on the way there.
Point number 2: other than the rare circumstance that software is causing extra work for the processor (and they have fixed the issue in a new software update), running software updates probably isn’t going to make a difference. Maybe the update process will cause your laptop to run hotter whilst download/installing. Or what if the new update has a bug that causes extra processor issues?
Point number 3: That’s just good advice in general isn’t it? Don’t load up loads of programs when you don’t want them.
Point number 4: I found this a bit weird. If everyone turned off incoming feeds, then no one is watching the video feeds. Why not just say “do not use your webcams”?
Even Valve and Nintendo were putting out advice for their Steam Deck, and Switch. Those small devices just aren’t good in the heat.
Stranger Coding Tings 