Useless Conversation

[01101010]

The idea of the bluetooth earbuds is fine, except they seem to have accidentally added a zero on the end of the price.  160?  Apple earbuds are utterly terrible, why for the love of God would anyone pay that much for a wireless version? 

The brave, courageous and bold leap to use the charge port as the headphone jack would would be all well and fine, except maybe a more courageous step would be for them to, I don't know, adopt a standard USB interface instead of being a bunch of shitty dickwads.

And the screen.  Is still.  1080.  P.  WTF.

Thought I read those earbuds for $160 are working on some Apple voodoo wireless system, not bluetooth. And it's Apple, they'll soon be charging you $5 admission to their stores.

[Yegolev]

http://appleplugs.com/

[WayAbvPar]

I see sex toy parody items in the near future.

[Cyrrex]

The idea of the bluetooth earbuds is fine, except they seem to have accidentally added a zero on the end of the price.  160?  Apple earbuds are utterly terrible, why for the love of God would anyone pay that much for a wireless version? 

The brave, courageous and bold leap to use the charge port as the headphone jack would would be all well and fine, except maybe a more courageous step would be for them to, I don't know, adopt a standard USB interface instead of being a bunch of shitty dickwads.

And the screen.  Is still.  1080.  P.  WTF.

Thought I read those earbuds for $160 are working on some Apple voodoo wireless system, not bluetooth. And it's Apple, they'll soon be charging you $5 admission to their stores.

Of course, what was I thinking.  No reason to make it compatible with everything else on the planet, because fuck our stupid customers.  I have been thinking long and hard about jumping into a new phone and was waiting to hear what the 7 was going to come out with.  Looks like either I am getting a Samsung or HTC phone.  Or maybe just nothing.

[schild]

This is a bit of leakage, but I don't care.

People who still like Apple, post Jobs, are basically the techno-equivalents of Trump voters, whereas before they were just weird urban cultists.

[Nebu]

I tend to think that Apple fans just hate money. 

[schild]

I tend to think that Apple fans just hate money. 

Just like Trump voters voting against their interest.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Part of me got angry about the lack of jack... then I remembered I've never actually used the jack on my iPhone in 3+ years.  I have an MP3 player (iPod) that I use for music.

Not that I'm in vested in Apple anything, but I do use my jack when I'm on a call driving and am wearing earbuds to talk.  Helps me hear whomever I'm talking to better.

At least I'm not the last person in the world to still own an iPod and use that for my music.  I have a nano and was listening to it at work the other day and a co-worker stopped by and just exclaimed in amazement that iPods still existed.  He didn't know people still used them. 

[Merusk]

Stat I heard yesterday said 70% of American adults have a smartphone, so his surprise isn't that remarkable. Particularly when you consider most people under our age range don't even buy music, they stream it from services.

[HaemishM]

The idea of not putting a headphone jack in the iPhone is fucking HILARIOUS. Why? What does its exclusion serve other than to force people to buy even more ridiculously overpriced, Apple-exclusive proprietary hardware?

Oh. Right.

Man, fuck Apple. I'm more than happy with Android and Apple can suck a big long aluminum 3.5mm plug.

[Chimpy]

The new wireless headphones are actually Bluetooth. The new "proprietary" part is the fast pairing/switching between devices stuff.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Stat I heard yesterday said 70% of American adults have a smartphone, so his surprise isn't that remarkable. Particularly when you consider most people under our age range don't even buy music, they stream it from services.

Oh, I'm sure most people either stream or have their music on their phones, but it sucks up storage space and kills my battery life like nobody's business.  Why use my phone and worry about battery life (which is getting sucky on it's own, being as I have an S4) when I can use my iPod which can last for days?

But I'm ancient.  I still prefer to actually buy a physical CD as well. 

[Engels]

What's gonna make me angry is that I am soon to see hundreds of people with the shitty Apple Bluetooth ear peices while there have been, on the market, very very good Bluetooth stereo earpieces around for years and years. I was using them 7 years ago from Plantronics and I sincerely doubt that Apple's are going to be better. Who the fuck cares about fast device switching with the ear pieces anyway.

[HaemishM]

The new wireless headphones are actually Bluetooth. The new "proprietary" part is the fast pairing/switching between devices stuff.

Yay, more douchetooth ear pieces.

[Chimpy]

Hah, Apple modified their screen replacement pricing do AppleCare+ yesterday, instead of $79 bucks it only cost me $29.

Only think I had to do was re-enter my fingerprints.

[Polysorbate80]

I had to switch away from ear buds after fucking up the hearing in my right ear last year.  Went with a pair of bluetooth headphones to fit over the hearing aid and haven't missed the cord at all.  Much easier to get work done without it dangling in the way all the time.

[Morat20]

Take a stick pin, stick it into the port all the way and dig around. I bet it is lint stuck at the end of the port making the contacts just barely mis-align. Don't worry, the back end of that port is solid metal.

I had the same issue and once I did that, no more problems.

My son fixed his the same way.

[Sky]

I've only had my s7 edge for a couple months and the old lady's s5 feels like ancient technology. It's weird when she plugs it in to charge. Wireless charging all the way. Hell, I keep it on the nightstand as my alarm clock because it doesn't actually need charging every day (I usually get 2 days of regular usage per charge). With the s5 I had a charger at home and at work.

I had bluetooth earbuds for my old phone, hardly used them (for mowing, mostly, to avoid the cord while working in the yard). If I got another pair, I'd go with the newer samsungs (I like samsung's stuff) that have internal storage of their own. I'm down with the idea of wireless ear buds, though, I hate headphones cords with a passion going back forever, such a pain in the studio.

Music? I'm old and mostly buy it, but then I stream my collection. Keep a stash on the phone for bad reception/low data times (being able to slap a 128GB card in the samsung is nice).

Hell, I'm even thinking about the gear s3 watch this holiday. Getting to be a pain in the ass constantly pulling my phone out to check email/messages at work all day long. And it'll be wirelessly charged, unlike the old lady's fitbit...

[Cyrrex]

Bluetooth earbuds or headphones are GREAT.  What is not great is that Apple is going to charge 160 bucks for theirs, and their earbuds are usually completely shitty.  Like not-worth-15-dollars shitty.  I have to assume their bluetooth earbuds will be terrible.

Sky, speaking of the S7...I listen to a metric shitload of music on my phone, so sound quality and output power are pretty important to me.  I am thinking about upgrading my phone, and an S7 is on the short list of possibilities.  Any comment on the general sound quality?  For reference, I am coming from a S5 mini, and the sound is what I would call "decent quality, but very weak at high volumes".  Over bluetooth it is okay, but the 3.5 jack is way underpowered and sounds like crap.  Before that I had an HTC mini that was basically awesome (HTC seem to do audio better than most and has me even considering their HTC 10 for that reason alone).

[Chimpy]

Have any of you railing about how shitty Apple's earbuds are even used the ones they have been giving out with their phones for the past couple of years? I have been using mine when I travel and they are actually really pretty good. I am not saying the wireless ones are going to be worth 160 bucks but they do come with the battery charging case (no fiddly tiny wire to plug into the buds to charge) and they are noise cancelling. Bose charges $200 bucks for shitty noise cancelling headphones that I see at least a dozen people wearing on every flight I take.

I hate to sound like the Apple evangelist because I really am not.

[Yegolev]

Next week is Spirit Week, and Tuesday is "dress like a music icon".  Unprompted in any way, my son says that he wants to dress like David Bowie.  I thought I was going to expire from pride.

Of course, there is no way to do a proper Bowie costume (that the proletariat will recognize) in such a short timeframe, so I believe we are going to do the Aladdin Sane makeup and hair.  The rest of the outfit is TBD.

There is one letter difference between "unpromoted" and "unprompted".

[Strazos]

Have any of you railing about how shitty Apple's earbuds are even used the ones they have been giving out with their phones for the past couple of years? I have been using mine when I travel and they are actually really pretty good. I am not saying the wireless ones are going to be worth 160 bucks but they do come with the battery charging case (no fiddly tiny wire to plug into the buds to charge) and they are noise cancelling. Bose charges $200 bucks for shitty noise cancelling headphones that I see at least a dozen people wearing on every flight I take.

I hate to sound like the Apple evangelist because I really am not.

Are they the same as the ones that come with an iPad? If so, they're sit and don't stay in my ears. Same with the ones that come with an S7. I always have to buy separate ear buds. Luckily, I've been using the same primary pair for about 7 years. I also have a pair of noise canceling ones I bought in an airport when I forgot mine - a little more bulky but they seem fine.

[Strazos]

On a completely different note, tried diving today, including a shore dive. Interesting, but not for me - I really wouldn't want to be gagging on seawater at depth.

[Sky]

Sky, speaking of the S7...I listen to a metric shitload of music on my phone, so sound quality and output power are pretty important to me.  I am thinking about upgrading my phone, and an S7 is on the short list of possibilities.  Any comment on the general sound quality?  For reference, I am coming from a S5 mini, and the sound is what I would call "decent quality, but very weak at high volumes".  Over bluetooth it is okay, but the 3.5 jack is way underpowered and sounds like crap.  Before that I had an HTC mini that was basically awesome (HTC seem to do audio better than most and has me even considering their HTC 10 for that reason alone).

I haven't used the jack at all, and my earbuds are not great anyway, some skullcandy or something. I listen to music through a bluetooth speaker. And even when I use the jack, it's just when I play drums so I'm not hearing a lot of the music anyway (unless I want to further damage my ears).

Bose charges $200 bucks for shitty noise cancelling headphones that I see at least a dozen people wearing on every flight I take.

Defending Apple's high cost by pointing out that Bose charges a lot for their crap to gullible people isn't exactly evangelism.

[RhyssaFireheart]

On a completely different note, tried diving today, including a shore dive. Interesting, but not for me - I really wouldn't want to be gagging on seawater at depth.

If you're gagging on seawater while at depth, then you're definitely doing it wrong.  But diving isn't for everyone either, and at least you can say you've tried it to not like it.

[Merusk]

I read that as "dRiving" three times before my brain said, "wait there's no "R" there."  I had no idea where the seawater came in.

[Yegolev]

Into his mouth.  Re-read the post.

[Viin]

I think the iPhone earbuds are fine for calls and listening to music casually. I use JBud earbuds with comply foam tips for flights (blocks out a ton of the noise).

That said, I will *not* be spending $160 on Apple-quality wireless earbuds. If I'm spending that much I will shop around and get something worth the price.

Still undecided if the 6 is the last iPhone I'll own or not - too bad I'm "locked in" with all the apps I've purchased over the years. And too bad the Android UI is mostly crap (though better lately!).

[Strazos]

On a completely different note, tried diving today, including a shore dive. Interesting, but not for me - I really wouldn't want to be gagging on seawater at depth.

If you're gagging on seawater while at depth, then you're definitely doing it wrong.  But diving isn't for everyone either, and at least you can say you've tried it to not like it.

At some point I got water up my nose in my mask - either forced in by regulator exhaust, or I didn't clear the mask correctly . So then I'm gagging on that, which probably meant that I stopped using my regulator correctly...at which point it felt like I was getting a mouthful of water, which wasn't clearing correctly. Rather than risk drowning, I just surfaced. Not a problem at 5m, but it would be fatal at 25m I think. Other than that, I was able to do all the other technical skills, so my instructor was shocked when I told him I wasn't going to continue with the Open Water cert. And maybe I'm out of shape, but the 200m pool swim (required for the open water cert) was just not going to happen - doesn't help that I don't float very well, so I have no way to take a break during the swim.

It was certainly interesting, but if I'm going to dump a whole lot of time, energy, money, and effort into something like this - I need to really want it. I love hockey, I love skiing. I really like paintball. I love my computer stuff, obviously. I love a good game of craps. I found scuba diving to only be merely...interesting. I'd place it below skydiving. It doesn't help that pretty much any real problem at depth can lead to drowning, which has got to be just about the worst way to go. 

[pants]

At some point I got water up my nose in my mask - either forced in by regulator exhaust, or I didn't clear the mask correctly . So then I'm gagging on that, which probably meant that I stopped using my regulator correctly...at which point it felt like I was getting a mouthful of water, which wasn't clearing correctly.

Yep, that comes with the territory.  I don't know if anyone enjoys it, but after enough diving you get used to water up your nose.  Course, if it freaks you out, then yeah maybe diving aint for you.  It is an expensive, time consuming sport that can kill you if you fuck it up, so you have to love it...

[Signe]

So what's up with the clowns in Georgia? 

[HaemishM]

You'll have to be more specific than that. 

[Sky]

The devil sent clowns to Georgia, they were looking for a Sol to steal.

[IainC]

The devil sent clowns to Georgia, they were looking for a Sol to steal.

 

[HaemishM]

I need a +1 button for that post.