I see posts talking about good BIFL items but I don’t hear much about the other side of products that are bad or products you bought but don’t even use.
Bose Quiet Comfort II true wireless headphones.
I’d been toying with the idea forever. My earbuds are old, a little bulky, have some connectivity issues when one disconnects and it takes a lot of fussing to get them reconnected. So I decided to spend the money.
I get them from B&H. I get home, put them in, one of them has some sound issues—but other than that, the sound and fit were perfect. Like, they were my glass slipper. They fit perfectly, the seal was perfect, they wouldn’t ever hurt my ears after extended use…I was shocked.
But.
Having issues with one, I started messing with them, seeing if could get support or troubleshoot. Of course the first thing in the box is a QR for their app. Now, I never fuck with physical products apps. If I need an app, chances are I won’t use your shit. But I really wanted these to work, so I go to the app, and dig through the privacy policy.
Two addenda later, they’re trying to get me to sign the most obscene privacy policy ever. Listen to/record everything I play, collect a profile on me, listen to any ambient noise around the microphone, and weirdly, “map my head shape and movements?”
I deleted that app as quickly as I could. So I go to their support page on their site. Get into a chat with their customer service bot. It says, “replying to this message is agreement to our privacy policy.” So I open the link, read it…it kinda seems reasonable. Just talking about using my chat responses for training, standard. But then THREE layers of addenda deep I find here trying to get me to sign THE EXACT SAME FUCKIN POLICY.
I ran those fuckers back to the store. But not before trying to get someone on the phone about the legal matters. Yeah, nah. They wouldn’t connect me to someone in their legal dept. In fact, the very request seemed to puzzle them to no end.
FUCK BOSE. READ YOUR PRIVACY POLICIES.
Holy shit, was never aware of this. Will stay far away from this brand!
Is it possible to accept to those terms but disconnect the app from internet access completely so that prevents any calling back to the server? I believe you should be able to run it without internet.
Still a shame that there exists such an invasive privacy policy. I use IEMs when I’m on the go and wired akg k371 when I’m at home.
Well, that’s actually what I was trying to find out. I tried getting their legal dept on the phone because I wanted to be 100% sure I could use those earbuds without ever agreeing to the policy. When they wouldn’t or couldn’t give me an answer, I said fuck them.
They were great headphones. But I didn’t even want to chance that kind of invasion. And I doubt there’d be any way I could be sure of a company clearly willing to violate my privacy so hard would not be collecting that data without my consent. Using their fuckin site was a minefield in itself because they were trying really fuckin hard to get me to sign that policy—not even sign it, just tacitly agree to it by responding to one message in order to get help. Too dicey for my liking.
I read somewhere that GoPros and other action cameras are one of the least used purchases, so I figured “that should mean there’s plenty on eBay”. So grabbed up second hand bargain, played around with it for a couple of weeks, bought some extra batteries and other accessories, and since then it’s sat in the cupboard except for a single occasion.
Turns out you don’t need an action cam if you’re not getting any action.
A switch. There are a handful of good games but I prefer to play on my computer
My dental aligners :(
I’ve been trying to get braces since I was a teenager, so long that I kind of lost sight of why I wanted braces. I was almost 30 when I finally took my savings to an orthodontist and told him I wanted braces, and he told me that the aligners would work better than braces.
And he was right. That’s not the problem. I got so caught up with the general idea of braces that I’d forgotten that my goal as a kid was to fix my jaw, not my teeth. Even braces won’t do that at my age. Those savings would have been better spent on surgery.
Games on Steam sales.
So many untouched videogames.
My ab roller.
The 1kg bag of brown rice I bought to be healthier.
Amazon Prime.
A fake olive tree that sits in my living room.
Countless video games.
I bought a Steam Deck so I can play games while on the go. I just kind of forgot I’m never actually on the go, so 90% of the time it’s just gathering dust on my nightstand, because I’d rather play on my proper gaming PC when I’m at home.
I kinda regret buying my 3d printer. Not because it sucks, it’s more because it reminds me I don’t have any free time to do something this time consuming.
Another one is the cast iron wok. I love my cast iron pans, but the wok is just to damn heavy and it you can’t really use it like one would use a normal lightweight wok.
A cellphone in like 1995. Had if for a few days before realizing I didn’t have anyone to call. Returned it not long after.
I brought a drain snake for 3x the price of liquid drain unblocker and it got stuck in the drain and won’t come out.
Oh that’s unfortunate. Something made to get things unstuck in the pipes gets itself stuck there…
A gaming chair, one of those that look like racer chairs. It basically destroyed my back, worst purchase of my life
Best advice Ive heard on chairs "Fuck gamer and racer style chairs. Look for something that screams “Im going to fire 3000 people over Zoom in this shit”
Probably because in a real racing seat there’s a harness to keep you from slouching. I used to have terrible lower back issues with a Recaro bucket seat I converted for a desk chair. Never had a problem with it driving for hours when it was in my car (may it rest in pieces). Then it dawned on me that the seatbelt was maintaining my posture. Added a lap belt and the back problems abated.
Not only that. A racing chairs is not intended to be good for your back. It has a very different use, it protects you in the case of a crash. So unless you often get into car accidents while gaming, better to buy a chair that is specialised at ergonomics, not impact protection .
My Steam library
Have I got some good news for you then.
One cannot buy digital content with DRM, only rent it.
It’s impossible to regret acquisitions you’ve never made.
Point in case. You can sell on your physical games. Not so much the digital ones.
All that said, I too use Steam, just not mainly anymore.
Edit: Holy smokes did this blow up! I’m happy to drive engagement here on the fediverse, albeit I do believe I struck a nerve. Either that, or some people have poor reading capabilities - I see the comments refuting something I haven’t said.
This used to be true, but not anymore (if you live in the EU)! https://www.eurogamer.net/eu-rules-publishers-cannot-stop-you-reselling-your-downloaded-games
That said I know what you’re saying and this change doesn’t make it so you own the games, they’re just allowing you to resell the right to download and play on Steam, blabla. But it’s better than it used to be.
That’s amazing. How do I sell my steam games ? is there a way ?
My apple watch. So much on that watch either doesn’t work as it should or I was straight lied to by an apple employee of how it worked. Will never buy one again.
I also, am interested in your expectations of its functionality, as I have been pondering one for some time.
this is for you and @dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de since you both asked the same question.
this is a long comment so bear with me.
When I bought the watch I specifically asked how the step counter works. Not just a cover/generic question. I asked does it count if you are just moving your arms or how does it now if you are actually walking/taking steps? I explained that at my job I stand all day and my arms are moving a lot but I’m not actually walking and I wanted to know if the counter was even close to accurate.
What they told me (at an Apple Store) was that it uses a GPS to figure out if you are moving. (that is a Lie, no it doesn’t). As my hands and arms are going back and forth across the desk. It is counting steps. If i move my hands from right to left (for example) from one pile of papers to another on my left, it might count that as a step. It might count it as a step as my hands go from right to left AND then from left to right(might be counted as a step). It might count the round trip as 1 step, or 2 steps or maybe 5 steps.
It should not be counting it at all.
I can have thousands of extra steps counted. If the step counter is wrong, then the calorie counter is wrong. That also means the apple movement app is worthless. Think of all the health things it can monitor but are tied to the movement/calorie counter/step counter… they are all worthless because the base section isn’t working as I need it to.
I assumed what would happen if you got on a treadmill was you would have to hit something on the watch because it would need to know that you are walking in place, or maybe it counted the bounce/movement of your body as you were actually walking.
Apple music is another thing that doesn’t work as it really should. Now this could be a design choice by the maker or maybe it just doesn’t work as intended… I’m not sure.
I will have my iphone connected via bluetooth to a speaker. My watch is connected to my phone. If I grab my phone and start a playlist everything looks and sounds like it should. The phone will show the song playing and the watch will show the song playing. I can skip to the next song by tapping my watch and hitting skip… so far so good.
Here’s where things go side ways. If I use my watch to go back to the playlists and try to choose a different playlist, the watch will say I’m sorry but your watch isn’t connected to anything(the speaker). to which I say… bull shit. yes it is. The watch is connected to the phone and the phone is connected to the speaker. Everything is connected. I was told the watch would act as a remote control for the phone. So why is it saying the watch isn’t connected to a speaker? It should access the playlists on the phone and let me choose a new playlist and start playing a new playlist. (this is just logical that it would work that way.) I shouldn’t have to walk over to my phone and choose a new playlist.
If I don’t use the phone to start a playlist and just tap the watch and try to start a playlist that won’t work because it will tell me the watch isn’t connected to any devices. Umm yes it is. It’s connected to the phone.
When I purchased the phone I specifically said i think I have a sleeping problem and I need a device that will help to monitor (or at least give me an idea if there is an issue).
Middle of the night it will check one of my vitals (that’s good) but it will vibrate and wake me up. WTF?! Who would design a device that would wake a person up in the middle of the night after checking one of the vitals? The watch should be able to figure out via blood pressure and oxygen levels that “huh this guy is probably asleep” so it shouldn’t vibrate. It should look at what I have set as my normal sleep schedule combine that with my vitals and figure out I am asleep and not vibrate after checking a vital. This is either a broken system or just plain bad design.
Sometimes it will go for days and not check anything. Again what is the point?
Salt and Pepper grinder from a well recommended brand. Was like 80 bucks for the set and it’s not better than the ones I get from Sam’s Club. Infact it’s worse. Disappointing.
Infact
Not a word.
Not with that attitude
Who would downvote this? It’s true. It’s helpful. It’s free advice.
It’s untrue. ‘Infact’ is infact a word by the virtue of it being both used and understood. Language is defined by those who use it.
haters who complain about new words have no rizz
You are right in principle. New words can pop up. Them being accepted however is not just a matter of a few people using them and saying that it is so.
It’s about usage and being accepted in larger groups or areas. Language is defined by what’s surviving a generation or two. Everything else is slang.
It’s true, but not helpful. If it was helpful it would actually tell them it’s spelt “in fact” and not just say: not a word
