The official tablet (and other useless electronics) thread!

[.RJ]

You could pay in cash for services.

[Jake]

You could pay in cash for services.

I always pay in cash for "services," RJ.

[.RJ]

How much for a ZJ?

[Evan]

Add theater tickets to my list.

It's becoming clear that goods are, for the most part, covered. Services, where I seem to spend more of my disposable income than I realized, are shit for payment options.

I dont have a problem paying with a card in person. Online security breaches are significantly higher risks than a waiter skimming your card.
(but then you have home depot and target who store your credit card info from in-person purchases.... :evil: )

Ive never been out a dime when someone steals my CC, its not something to be careless about but its not the end of the world. Identity theft on the other hand makes me shake in my boots.

[Apoc]

Add theater tickets to my list.

It's becoming clear that goods are, for the most part, covered. Services, where I seem to spend more of my disposable income than I realized, are shit for payment options.

I dont have a problem paying with a card in person. Online security breaches are significantly higher risks than a waiter skimming your card.

I mean purchasing services online. If you look at all my recent purchases where Paypal wasns't an option, it's for services and not buying a tangible product.

[Sully]

Identity theft or even just identity distribution suck. I guess it would be distribution. I signed up for the Walmart online pharmacy my freshman year to try and speed up the process because we walked there all the time and I figured it would be easier. I'm almost positive this is what triggered it cause the online interface seemed a little sketchy like you were signing up for more than just prescriptions and shortly after, I started getting like 3-4 phone calls a day saying I won this or that or have been signed up for a cruise next month, etc. It was the most annoying shit ever trying to explain to these people I did no such thing. I would usually just say my identity was stolen, take me off all of your lists and don't call me again. But it was still a pain and went on for a few months.

When my debit card was "stolen" (I still had the physical card) the fraud team that worked for my bank actually called me before I even knew about it and I check my online statement quite frequently. Somebody was charging gas stations and fast food places like $30 a pop out on Ohio or some shit. Luckily my bank is small and knows me because apparently it would have been some big process (although it was still rather cumbersome and annoying) because I didn't personally catch the fraud. I had to sign a statement saying I did though and reported it to them, not the other way around.

But the big problem there was that it over drafted my account by like $150-200. Luckily I wasn't responsible for any of it including overdraft fees

[Steve85]

I just picked up one of those Vizio sound bars, 42 in 5.1 version.

It's replacing the Polk 40 monitor setup that Adam mentioned, fronts, matching center, powered sub and rears with Onkyo receiver. The sound bar is of course, not as good, but that setup is definitely more than $200.

Made the switch mostly because we moved our main TV area from one of the biggest (and coldest) rooms in the house to one of the smallest (and warmest, + fireplace) rooms and that setup was overkill and bulky. The TV is several years old and the speakers suck, they were never a good option.

Easy setup, very good sound for typical evening chill watching. Going to try out the BT phone connectivity tomorrow which is a nice bonus the old setup didn't have.

My only issue - surround wires are not long enough for me. I need to cross the room entrance for the right rear speaker and planned to hide the wire under a tile to hard wood transition molding but it's about 2-3 ft short. I'll see if I can find some sort of extension or longer wire with the coax ends.

I wouldn't buy it for a "home theater" but it's perfect as a good sounding system with a small footprint.

[JustinG]

If this new Parrot radio can do half the stuff it says it can do, I want one.

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[Evan]

If this new Parrot radio can do half the stuff it says it can do, I want one.

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yes yes yes yes.
perfect. parrot gets it.
except it will probably be $1k (and Im bettign the dashcam is a tack-on extra)

Im curious to see when it actually comes out, it seems a bit ambitious to be right around the corner considering android auto and apple iWhatever are both very new.

[HAULN-SS]

I still don't think they get it, actually. This is NOT streaming phone content to a cap screen. This is phone apps talking to other apps on a device that's still going to get updated way less than your phone.

[Evan]

I still don't think they get it, actually. This is NOT streaming phone content to a cap screen. This is phone apps talking to other apps on a device that's still going to get updated way less than your phone.

eh, I disagree. streaming phone content to a screen has been around for a couple years, and it sucks.

you shouldnt have to touch your phone, all interaction should be via the car screen

[HAULN-SS]

I'm not talking about touching your phone. I said stream to a capacitive touch screen. It would be easy in software to translate those coordinates to the phone's native coordinate system and thus detect which button you were pressing, etc. Then develop apps that are "car apps" that display nicely on the big touch screen and all you have to ever worry about from then on is updating the phone and phone apps. In other words, why isn't the in-dash unit just a remote control for the actual phone? It could be done.

[Evan]

I'm not talking about touching your phone. I said stream to a capacitive touch screen. It would be easy in software to translate those coordinates to the phone's native coordinate system and thus detect which button you were pressing, etc.

the car screen should have a different UI. staring at a phone 6" from your face is a lot different from glancing at a screen from a couple feet away. (and as a software dev, you should appreciate the benefits of API level interface versus simple duplication)
voice control is also going to be a huge part of connected auto, and will only increase as time goes on and voice tech gets better.

[JustinG]

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Kenwood and Pioneer also have some offerings. Pricing is on par with what previous high end nav units have run. Anywhere from $700 to $1400.

[Sully]

Will that parrot unit have regular fm radio? I dont update my music collection enough to actually use that nor is it on my phone because android. Would i be able to use it without my phone connected for basic functions like radio? Will it connect seamlessly with my phone when i get in the car or will i have to take my phone out and connect it(wirelessly but still requiring something that i have to press or go into)? Will it have steering wheel control access (actually extremely important to me if it doesnt have a volume DIAL) do 2005 Subarus even have steering wheel controls lol. I didn't see outputs. What type of outputs does it have. Where are the speaker outputs? Where are the preamp outputs? So many questions and I'm not even done

[JustinG]

Its called Google you lazy asshole.

[Sully]

I thought forums were meant for me to post my questions and you guys all Google it and just give me answers.

[Jake]

So, my issue with the CarPlay headunits, cool as they are, is that I don't really want a head unit that depends on my phone to do things.

What if my phone is dead, or someone else is driving the car, or I don't have service? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I would rather have a H/U that can handle Bluetooth audio streaming from whoever's phone(s), and some sort of "send to car" functionality where I could look up an address on my phone's Google Maps and send it to the car so I'm not pecking an address in to the H/U (but maps would be stored on the unit).

I just think these units are great, if you only drive places where you have quality LTE cell service all the time.

[.RJ]

I just think these units are great, if you only drive places where you have quality LTE cell service all the time.

You live in northern virginia and you have a new iPhone... come on now.

[Jake]

I just think these units are great, if you only drive places where you have quality LTE cell service all the time.

You live in northern virginia and you have a new iPhone... come on now.

...and I travel about once a month to racetracks where the idea of 3G is still a novel concept.