[ale] Stupid smart phone

Fri Dec 10 19:11:35 EST 2021

Jim,

Well, I do remember the time that Unix systems allowed you to install them and attach to the Internet without having you set or change the root password, so I can feel your pain.

Default settings should protect the new user from bad effects, including putting them in your back pocket and calling people with your butt cheeks, a feature a lot of our politicians seem to use.

Maybe you can talk the Android people to put in a "curmudgeon" or "flip-phone" profile as a default.

md

>     On 12/10/2021 6:22 PM Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>     I left out the phone is a OnePlus 5, android 10.
> 
>     Settings for gestures were "default" as I never saw a "middle finger salute to fix all problems" setting anywhere. Maybe in a later version? I never looked at the gestures settings until today.
> 
>     Some days the advance of technology feels like the rush of a great roller coaster. Other days it's more like the vcr clock always blinking "12:00" for lack of a $0.10 rc circuit to keep the clock alive during a power blink.
> 
>     😁
> 
>     On December 10, 2021 5:18:55 PM EST, "jon.maddog.hall at gmail.com" <jonhall80 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>         > >         Great RANT!
> > 
> >         Did I miss something, or did you tell us the phone, OS and settings you used?
> > 
> >         Curious minds want to know.
> > 
> >         md
> > 
> >             > > >             On 12/10/2021 7:55 AM Jim Kinney via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> > > 
> > > 
> > >             Curmudgeon Alert!
> > > 
> > >             Wife complains she calls and my phone answers but I'm not actually on the phone. She can hear sounds from my end. I have no idea what she's talking about. Until one day I heard her yelling my name from my pocket.
> > > 
> > >             My security sense goes into high alert. Can someone call and my phone will automatically answer in my pocket and without my knowledge? What fresh, new level of personal privacy hell has android now sunk to?
> > > 
> > >             In settings, gestures, is a way to have the phone automatically answer a call by just the motion of moving the phone from a viewing location to the ear.
> > > 
> > >             Pretty much the same motion of walking with the phone in a mid-thigh phone pocket on my cargo pants.
> > > 
> > >             I turned off that setting.
> > > 
> > >             So what's next? A gesture that blocks callers if the phone is turned screen down?
> > > 
> > >             Maybe a bit of delay that involves the actual ringing of the phone? Maybe checking if the phone is in pocket mode? Or the case cover is closed? Or maybe stop writing stupid code for people too lazy to plop their cheeto stained thumb on the answer button.
> > > 
> > >             Can I still buy an analog flip phone I can dial by touch with numbers I actually remember?
> > > 
> > >             Get off my lawn!
> > >             --
> > >             Computers amplify human error
> > >             Super computers are really cool_______________________________________________
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> >     > 
>     --
>     Computers amplify human error
>     Super computers are really cool
> 
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