None of the advances in technology of the last half-century have made it any easier to enter text via a remote control.
A technological black hole means anyone attempting to search for a film or TV show has to enter it letter-by-letter as if they were putting their initials by a Space Invaders high score in 1980.
Jim Bates of Congleton said: “I tell speakers to play music and they do so. I type a destination into my car and it shows me how to get there. But on my TV?
“There’s no slick user interface. To find a movie on Netflix I have to mash down flimsy rubber buttons while it brightly suggests movies that are not what I want or close to it. All the others are the same.
“Even on the PlayStation, a controller with at least 30 different inputs demands I do it one letter at a time. Why does all pretence of being user-friendly stop at the telly? Why has it remained in the Ceefax era?
“Every site online’s always checking I’m not a sophisticated bot buying tickets or logging into my bank account. They should get these fucking bots working on the telly. Then maybe I could watch 'Insidious 5' without first having to look up how to spell it.”
Technology expert Jack Brown said: “Now most of our technological agency is given over to machines it’s important to have such instances of human independence, even though typing in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' gave me an embolism.”
Of course.
LMAO!!!!!! Does rather look like a Space Invaders game doesn't it. Now with my television and cable company, the remote will let me say what I'm looking for and then it will bring it up.
ReplyDeleteI imagine your handset is more than familiar with all your favourite porn channels by now! Jx
DeleteAlways spot on but nevermore so than with this one.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It's always been a bugbear of ours. Jx
DeleteBugbear of mine as well! I wanted to watch something on a paid for channel but it had signed me out and I just couldn't be bothered to go through the rigmarole of signing back in - I knew it would take about half an hour. I found something else to watch.
ReplyDeleteSx
Oh yes - typing in your email address is ridiculously cumbersome. Stick to the good old Beeb, I say. Jx
DeleteI just press and hold the blue button on the remote and say what I want it to do , however, it doesn't always recognise common, so I have to put on a plummy voice for it to work. I tend to wince at British people when they use the word 'movie' and the same when I see non Chinese people eating with chopsticks at Yo! Sushi and various other foreign establishments.
ReplyDeleteAnother one with all the latest hi-tech gadgetry! No wonder you speak posh.
DeleteI hate the creeping Americanisation of our language, too - people who say "contra-versy" instead of "conTROVersy" annoy me most. I blame Prince. And don't get me started on idiots who use text message abbreviations like "OMG" in spoken conversation... Jx
Same re conTROVersy!! I’m often shouting that correction at the TV.
DeleteSx
I shout every time a presenter or correspondent gets it wrong! The BBC should be ashamed at letting standards slip so much. Alvar Lidell would be spinning in his grave... Jx
DeletePriv acy or pry vacy ? Teacher once lobbed a bit of chalk at me because I said truck instead of lorry, it stung.
ReplyDeleteIt should be pronounced as in "privet". Yes, that is another one that bothers me. Lately we've picked up on the creeping mispronunciation "pi-ah-nist" instead of "piaNIST". Hate that too! Jx
DeletePS Truck is an American term. It originally referred to the small strong wheels on ships' cannon carriages, apparently.
Yep, I have also noticed the word pianist being abused!
DeleteSx
Welcome to my "school marm" world! Who has time to type "f" and then 3 "shift " asterisk characters ffs!
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, Maddie and Mitzi can just shout it into theirs... Jx
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