Felger Sounds Off on Internet Insanity

Percy writes:

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How about listening to my conversation with my wife, remembering what I'm supposed to buy at the supermarket, then reminding me to stop at the supermarket before I drive by, then telling me what to buy and what aisle to find it in.

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No device that exists can listen in on your conversation and pick out the "important bits." Even if there were a way to be always on and not drain your battery, have good enough microphones to listen to multiple people, have intelligent enough voice recognition to be able to distinguish voices (especially when talking at the same time), there's no way for it to know what is "important" to create a reminder.You're going to have to do that for yourself.That said, most of the rest is already available. Both Windows Phone and Android have the ability to set up reminders based upon your location. That's one of the big selling points of Cortana on Windows Phone: You can tell it, "Remind me to X when I'm near Y," where "Y" is something vague like "A grocery store." I think iOS can do this, too. The system monitors your GPS location and if you are near a location that fits what you specified, it will remind you to do whatever it is you said.As for what aisle to find it, you'll need an app for that. The problem is that every store is different. There's no singular way to tell you that the sun-dried tomatoes are in Aisle 17. It requires the store to publish that information. They could develop an app for that if that's what you want. Talk to your store.Of course, then you have regional problems. Is it "soda"? "Pop"? "Coke"? When I ask for "popcorn salt," is that what the store calls it or do they call it "pickling salt"? But, that's for the app-makers to figure out. That was the point behind Alpha Beta which was long before the internet: The store was laid out alphabetically (thus the name) so it was supposed to be easier to find what you were looking for.But to your larger point, that's already happening. Many television shows are online only. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and Yahoo all have programs that aren't available on TV. Various sports things are already there, too. Want to watch all of the Majors in tennis? You're gonna have to go online. The broadcast only goes for certain hours and only shows certain matches.So why not the NFL? Technologies change. We had this discussion when we shifted from SD to HD signal. If you have an old TV, it won't work anymore for over-the-air broadcast since those signals aren't being sent anymore. If the technology is moving away from cable/satellite to the internet, we won't be able to stop it. If we could come up with a good standard (there is DLNA, but I'm not sure how robust it is), then it shouldn't be too difficult to tie it all together based upon whatever device you have: TV, computer, mobile.

Percy responds to me:

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My favorite contest is, "Make a list of five items: milk, cream, eggs, cheese, yogurt." I pull out my notepad and am done in literally seconds, minutes ahead of everyone else.

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While I see your point, you've made some unstated assumptions. What do you mean by "make a list"? That seems like a very simple question, but it really isn't. In order for the computer to know what you mean for it to do, it has to understand what you mean by "make a list." What application is associated with "list"?With Android, you can say, "OK, Google." Then you can say, "Remind me to get milk, cream, eggs, cheese, yogurt," and it will do so...so long as you then tell it when and/or where. "Make a list" isn't defined because there is no association between what "list" means and what app it's supposed to use (there is no default "list" app.)But, there is a reminder app. So if you say, "OK, Google. Remind me when I get to Ralph's to buy milk, cream, eggs, cheese, and yogurt," it will put it on your Reminders. And when you drive near Ralph's, it will buzz you to see your list.This is a variation of the regional problem I mentioned: Is it "list" or is it "reminder"?

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Omigod, just remembering where a show is will be a battle.

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That's not a technology problem, per se, but rather a marketing problem. That is, none of the companies want to work with each other lest you not watch their program but rather some other company's. There are devices such as TiVo that can aggregate this information, but it will require the media production company to conform to standards in order for it to show up as a "channel" on your end. There's no reason why it can't be displayed nicely. TiVo does try this a bit, as you note: You can search for a title and it will show you all the various locations it can be found: Broadcast, On Demand, Hulu, Netflix, etc. Choose the delivery method you want and it will provision it accordingly. What it can't do is let you browse programming like broadcast networks. That's partly because on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu aren't tied to dates and times and thus you don't browse them the way you would broadcast.

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The transition from SD to HD is one I think they got right. Both systems worked at the same time for at least a decade.

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And we're in that right now with more a-la-carte methods. You can still watch broadcast. And yeah, you're going to have to pay for all the various accounts. For whatever reason, the other providers don't want to work with the cable/satellite companies to aggregate the content into their On Demand section, probably because they don't want to pay the fee to the cable/satellite companies to gain access to the distribution network.Way back when when HBO was first coming around, it was its own service (at least, where we were...we didn't have cable. We did have HBO, though.) But then cable and HBO struck a deal so that you could subscribe to HBO as an additional service to basic cable. There's no reason why Netflix can't do this, technologically. It's just a question of marketing. This was a big suggestion I made when I was working at Sony back in 2000. Sony had a major contract with Cablevision in New York. They were going to replace every single set top box with a new "smart" box from Sony. Among the many functions this box would have was an expanded on-demand section. I was telling them that they could really make this amazing if they could strike deals with the various TV channels and maybe even with Netflix (which was only 3 years old) to get their content stored so that it could be accessed on-demand. Who would need a TiVo if you could call up last week's episode of Law and Order through your cable box?Unfortunately, the problem is the media providers don't want that. How can they advertise to you if you aren't forced to go to their site? That's going to be the big sticking point for a lot of what you're complaining about with regard to television programming: Who gets to advertise to you? There's a lot of money to be made and nobody wants to let anybody else have any of it if it can be avoided.

Percy writes:

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it can't be recorded off the Internet, it's not available for replay, so I guess I won't be seeing this football game. Gosh, golly, more incompletely thought through and implemented modern technology

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That's not a bug. That's a feature. There is advertising money to be made. By controlling how you see the content, they can make sure that the advertising money is collected. It's a big reason why various media providers have taken their sweet time in making their content available. Yeah, the Beatles had their beef with Apple over the use of "Apple" as a corporate name, but the other reason they wouldn't release the catalog to iTunes was due to marketing rights. They wanted more money than what Apple was willing to pay.The reason you can't see the game is because no marketing plan could be designed to make money off having it stored to be played later. And especially with digital content, there are ways to prevent you from copying material. That was one of the things we were testing with our set top box at Sony: Detection of the appropriate copyright signal and making sure it was transferred to the display device. I forget the name of the standard, but it's a bit in the digital stream that is used to determine if you are able to copy the stream.This is even part of physical medium. It's why the DVD you bought in the UK (Region 2) won't play on your DVD player you bought in the US (Region 1). They don't want you to buy DVDs cheaply in one region and then sell them outside that region. They have a marketing plan and don't want you mucking it up.Technologically, there is no reason for you not to be able to watch the game when you want on whatever device you want.It's the accountants who are standing in your way.

Percy responds to me:

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Translation: "I want to take something simple and make it complicated."

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Translation: "I didn't read the post."Try again, Percy. Pay attention to the following sentence: Pair that with the following sentence: What do you think that might mean? Oh, the concept of a list is pretty simple, but unless you teach the computer what a "list" is and what app you're supposed to use when making one, how on earth do you think it's going to figure out what you mean? Try telling a two-year-old to "make a list." Do they even know that word yet? Have you taught them what it means to "make a list"? Could they actually grip the pencil and spell out what it is that you want them to do?Of course not.If you don't know what "make a list" means, why would you expect the computer to be able to do it? Just because you can create a syntactically correct sentence? Is there a reason that "Make a note" or "Remind me" is so much more problematic for you? Yeah, it'd be lovely if "Make a list" were a command. But it'd be lovely if it spoke every single language on the planet and were able to distinguish every single inflected form that could be made regarding a request for it to remember something and remind you of it at the appropriate moment.That's never going to happen. Even humans can't do that. So is there a reason why you're insisting on using the right-handed scissors in your left hand and then blaming the scissors?I've been using it myself: "OK, Google. Remind me to buy soap." It then asks me if I want to be reminded at a certain time or when I get to a certain place. "When I get to Ralph's." And presto, there's a reminder in my phone to "Buy soap" that automatically buzzes me when I drive to Ralphs.That you're going apoplectic over the word "list" compared to "reminder" is quite telling. And it all goes back to the fact that you didn't pay attention to the post you were responding to:How is the computer supposed to know what "make a list" means when there is no application that is connected to the word "list"? There is no "list" app in Android. You can download certain ones like Evernote, but the OS doesn't have any hooks to make that the "default list app" so that when you say, "Make a list," it knows to use Evernote. There are some hooks for various apps: If you say, "Send a message," it will use the basic text message, but you can say, "Send to Twitter," and it will know to post to Twitter.And we're back to what I posted right at the very beginning: You aren't going to find a computer that will be able to be always on without sucking your battery in mere hours that is capable of listening at all times and able to distinguish multiple voices simultaneously let alone be able to figure out when you're talking to one person and when you're talking to it. For one thing, you ignore all the other cues that humans have to determine who is being talked to: Where are you looking? If you're looking at me, you're talking to me. How is your phone supposed to know who you're looking at when it's in your pocket?Yeah, it'd be really nice if a phone were as smart as a person. They aren't. Get over it.Screw your pipe dream.And yes, putting a modifier on the problem does make it not a problem. You are blaming technology for something that technology did not create and cannot fix. If the marketers don't want you to be able to access their content except on their terms, no amount of Apple engineering is going to change that. The problem isn't the technology: It's the marketing.

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but in the same way all radio and television companies were able to get their shows broadcast to the same radios and TVs

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It was called "standardization," it was imposed by the government, and it meant that there wasn't an improvement in broadcasting for decades.You think the computer market is going to stand for that? For crying out loud, countries can't even get their power connectors standardized world-wide. You think that's gonna happen for software?

Percy responds to me:

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A feature for who?

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The people marketing the content. You did read my post before responding, yes? You are again blaming technology for a marketing issue. Technology did not make the problem and technology will not fix the problem. If the people who own the content don't want to give it to you in a way that you want, no amount of Human Factors Engineering can solve that problem.No matter much iTunes can provide music to you, it cannot give you music that is not in its catalog and if the Beatles don't want to give their music to Apple to put on iTunes, then no amount of fixing the putrescence that is iTunes is going to make them change their minds.

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How could this happen?

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Did you read the article to find out? There appeared to be a very clear distinction in technologies that affected how it appeared. You could watch the game a minute behind reality which resulted in a cleaner picture due to a more reliable stream, or you could try to watch it as it was happening and get poor quality.This makes sense given how the Internet works.And it's something that Yahoo can't solve because they aren't an ISP. They can do lots of things to make sure there is good signal on their end, but if your Internet connection is crappy, they can't solve that.And if you don't want to watch the football game on Yahoo because you don't like the quality, then don't.They'll get the message and either abandon the project or work to make it better.That's the way it is with everything.

Percy responds to me:

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If they're not *way* exaggerating how well their voice interactive feature works, then I'm stunned. Anyone out there have a Buick with this feature?

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I have OnStar.Yes, it works like that.Now, the quickness has been exaggerated, yes. But it does work like that. Notice, however, that he's using a limited set of commands: "Reroute." When he says, "Call Papa Bear," that's because his phone has an entry for "Papa Bear." The "Hut Hut" doesn't mean anything. "Tune XM 60" is telling it to go to the stereo, bring up the XM band, and go to channel 60. You can't tell it anything, but you can tell it a fair amount.One of the great things about OnStar is the ability to figure out where you're going before you get in the car. Unless you're going to talk to a human and have them send the directions to the car (which OnStar can do), all you need to do is look up the place on your phone, which has a better interface than the front panel of the car stereo, and then punch the button to send the address to OnStar. You can do this while you're still inside. When you get to the car, the GPS has already been programmed.

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Sticking with the car example, the deepest period of driver inattention is probably right after you've given a command and are trying to figure out what your car is actually doing.

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But the car doesn't drive itself (yet). That's Tesla and Google. Tesla still tells you to put your hands on the wheel and Google's "millions of miles" were mostly done in a parking lot and can't handle most hazards in the road such as potholes or traffic cones.I just got a new notebook and it has Windows Hello. That's the ability to log you by looking at your face. It is blazingly fast. As soon as the login screen appears, you're being logged in.One of the big things that will help a lot of this is just figuring out meaning. To go back to the example given, what is meant by a "list." It seems so simple, but for a computer, it's actually quite complicated. I remember in my programming class in high school where the teacher asked us the simple question: How do you brush your teeth. There are an amazing number of steps because you can't make any assumptions about what anything means. Are you in the bathroom? If not, how do you get there? Are you facing the correct direction? Before you can even put toothpaste on the brush, you have to figure out where it is, describe how to pick it up, locate where the cap is, determine if it's a twist or flip, define that "twist off" means counter clockwise, determine how much turning is enough, and on and on.So what would be really nice is if we could get the speech recognition to understand the inflections we use to define series when speaking. That little pause that happens between items, the keeping of the tone slightly elevated that indicates that there's still more items to come followed by the dropping tone at the last one that indicates it's over. While English is hardly a tonal language, we communicate a lot through the way in which things are said as well as the words themselves.It's going to take a lot of work for computers to figure it out. But, to get back to OnStar, it does get that. When you tell it to dial a number as a number, you have to speak the digits in sets of three or four the way you do with a phone number "123...456...7890." Doing the numbers one at a time will confuse it.Another "wow" thing: Google Translate is now interactive. There's an app you can run on the phone and when you run it, it looks through the camera. Hold it up to some text such as what you might find on a sign or a menu and it will translate the context on the fly on the screen, even doing its best to recognize the font and make it look right. No need to type it in...it reads the text and translates it immediately.There's still a lot of work to do. Computer translation still isn't that good, accents throw speech recognition off, homophones and regional dialects throw wrenches in the works. It takes humans years to figure out how to communicate well and we've got brains that evolved to do it well. We're still at the point that for a computer program to do something well, it needs to do one thing in a specific way. Someday.

Percy responds to me:

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So when Manning says, "Large barrel. Reroute," the "large barrel" portion is ignored. The car is not rerouting around barrels. And the command "reroute" all by itself is insufficient. There has to be more to the conversation. This is an example of misleading the consumer about what the product can do.

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No, it works just like that. Yes, "orange barrels" means nothing, but "reroute" does: Get me off the road that I am on and find me an alternative destination. Though, since you are seemingly determined to find some sort of lie in the commercial, it's the word "reroute" that I'm questioning. It should be "update route."The way it works is that if you deviate from the planned route, you can tell OnStar that this is not you making a mistake (such as you missed a turn) but rather that you meant it and you need it to calculate a new route to the destination. This can be for any reason: Construction has created a detour, traffic is at a standstill and you want to get off the freeway, etc. In fact, if you deviate from the planned route without saying that you need an update, the system will prompt you to indicate if you are just making a temporary detour (such as you stopping to get gas) or if you need the system to recalculate the route.The button that I really wish GPS devices had is what I call the "California" button. All it would do is get you to the freeway. I'll take the full directions to get to my destination but to get home, all I need the GPS to tell me is how to get to the freeway. Once I'm on the freeway, I can take it from there. But instead, you have to tell it to go home and then once you get on the freeway, you have to cancel the trip to get the thing to shut up.

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And what about that button he hit. Does every command have to be preceded by hitting that button?

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Yes. It's how the system knows that you're about to give it a command. That way, it doesn't interpret something said on the radio or conversation in the car as a command.

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What if the passenger wants to give a command?

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The microphone is tuned to have best reception from the driver's seat.

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What if the passenger is talking at the same time.

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While reception is best from the driver's seat, you are advised to not have other people talk and to roll up the windows so that it can hear you clearly.

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What if the passenger becomes the driver - will it understand her?

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It is based upon standard voice recognition. There is no training for individual voices.

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And can it really reroute while the car is moving?

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Yes. All GPS can do this. After all, you can miss a turn and you get the ubiquitous "recalculating" message that I'm sure you've heard made fun of sometime. OnStar lets you pre-empt it when you know you're going to need to deviate from the planned route.

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My wife's car requires it be stationary when programming the GPS, I assume as a safety feature.

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Yes, to program the GPS using the screen (though if you talk to your stereo installer, that can be turned off....) But this is programming it using your voice. If you have a stored location, you can call that out or you can just connect to the OnStar representative, tell them where you want to go, and they'll send the directions to your car.That is, programming your destination by touching the screen requires the car to be stationary. Once you get going, you can use voice commands to make alterations.I haven't tried using my cell phone to look up directions and send them to the car while the car is in motion because, you know, I'm driving at the time. That's why you can just have the OnStar rep do it.

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Would that be a Bluetooth phone? That he must have with him in the car or the phone features of the car won't work?

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Because OnStar is satellite based, you can make phone calls without the need for a phone, but they do charge for the service (starting at $5 for 30 minutes a month). They do recommend that you keep some minutes on the account in case you are in need of assistance and are in an area where you don't have cellular service. If you have your phone, though, it will route the call through the phone first.All of this was discoverable on their web site. Is there a reason why you didn't look it up yourself?

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Is it dialing Frank Piazza or Frank's Pizza?

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It displays on the screen. I don't use it to make phone calls, though, so I don't rightly know if it repeats the name before it connects to let you know.

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Is it playing XM 60 or Extra Great Hits from the 60's.

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It displays on the screen and you'll be able to tell when the music starts playing.

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Is it turning on the air conditioning or the air defroster?

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It doesn't have access to the environmental controls.

Percy responds to me:

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You mean an alternate route to the same destination, right?

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Yes. A typo on my part. I need an editor.

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But it looks like we were talking about two different things, because I *did* think Manning was talking about a new destination.

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OK, you're being a bit creationist about this, Percy. You're doing absolutely everything you can to find something, anything wrong with the idea of it working the way it is displayed to work despite having no evidence to justify such hyperskepticism, certainly no direct experience with the item in question and someone who does have it telling you that it does what it says on the tin.

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With my wife's GPS nothing need be done when you leave the highway for a gas station.

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And you don't with OnStar, either. You can leave the route all you want...and the GPS will continually bug you to get back onto the route to your destination. Or, you could let it know to stop bugging you for now and you'll get back to it in a moment. But if you know you're going to have to change the current route, why wait for the system to try and tell you what to do? If you decide to get off the freeway here, do you need to turn left or right? It's a short offramp, so you're going to need to know well before you get to the offramp. If you want for the GPS to figure out that you've actually left the route (are you just in the right lane or are you leaving the freeway?) it may not know in time. So better to tell it now.

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So Manning is avoiding being prompted by telling OnStar to reroute before he leaves the planned route, but you mentioned that it likes to know whether the detour is temporary or permanent, so still, isn't there dialog that is missing from the commercial?

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Huh? If I'm telling you that I need a new route to my destination rather than the one that I'm on, why would it need more information? Do you not know how GPS works? You set up defaults about how the system is going to get you to your destination: Fastest route? Shortest distance? Avoid the freeways? Use toll roads? If you're manually programming the destination, you can often override those defaults but if you don't, then the system uses your default method for getting from here to there.So if you tell the system to find another route, it's going to use another method. If you told it to use the fastest route, telling it to reroute will have it find the next fastest route given where you are (and presuming that you need to deviate from the route immediately rather than having the deviation be right next to the destination which is likely not to be of any help). If you had set it to use the shortest route, it will find the next shortest route (again, presuming that you need to deviate from the route immediately).It's why if your GPS has automatic traffic updates, you'll sometimes hear it say something like, "Traffic disruptions on the route. The route has been updated." If you told it to use the fastest method and it knows about traffic, it will take that into account. As more traffic information comes in, it will adjust your route accordingly.

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And even when the information I want is on the website, it can be very difficult to find.

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Um...Go to onstar.com, click on "Plans and Pricing" right at the very top. It will tell you everything that OnStar can do and what it will cost. Scroll down a bit and you find "Hands-Free Calling Minutes." You seem to have clicked on buttons without actually looking at the site.Yes, there are three "Learn More" buttons on the front page. Did you bother to look at what they were under? The first one is under the "AtYourService" functionality. What did you think you were going to find when you clicked the "Learn More" button underneath it? Same for the second one (Ignition Recall) and the third one (Pre-Owned Vehicles).Of course, you could have clicked on the "Services" link and found out about the specific services offered by OnStar. Why didn't you?Again, Percy, you're acting like a creationist. You're deliberately misunderstanding things that are plainly displayed in front of you, absolutely certain that everyone is lying to you as if it were some sort of Grand Conspiracy to Suppress the Truth (C).

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We don't need more contributors to driver inattention.

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Then get rid of the radio and don't let anybody else in the car with you. Better not carry anything that you might be concerned with toppling over as you drive. No use of a cell phone at all, let alone hands free. If you're going to complain about distracted driving, let's do it all.Is there misleading advertising? Of course. I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Percy, you seem to have lost your mind, projecting onto others the things that you are doing.Hint: I don't really use OnStar. The stereo in my car doesn't have a full screen on it. The GPS from OnStar would put the directions into a heads-up display, but only with an arrow indicating turn right/turn left. There was no map. Plus, OnStar costs every month. Want to use the GPS? You can't just have a one-time payment like you do with any other GPS. You have to pay every month.So when my trial of OnStar was up, I replaced the stereo in my car with one that had built-in GPS, a full screen, and the ability to show a map. That's how I know that if you have a good stereo installer, you can get them to turn off the "safety restrictions" such as you have to have the car at a stop before you can program the GPS.You haven't made much sense this entire time. You made statements about things you knew nothing about and then, when you were shown you were wrong, decided to dig in and insist that no, everybody was lying to you.Take, for example, your response: NO. IT WORKS EXACTLY LIKE THE COMMERCIAL SHOWS.Why is that so hard for you to understand? Why are you so certain that they're lying to you? Why are you so certain that it can't possibly be true when I tell you that IT WORKS EXACTLY LIKE THE COMMERCIAL SHOWS? Do you think I'm lying? Misguided? Doing something completely different from what the commercial is showing? Why are you so certain that you're being sold a bill of goods?As for your picture, that isn't the screen I see. Right across the top: The OnStar logo and then Services, Plans and Pricing, Get OnStar, My Account and then a Log In button, a Sign Up button, and then the links for Help & Support, to change your language, and the magnifying glass to do search.Where on earth did you get that image? It isn't the OnStar home page. Ah, I see...you explain later: You're using a browser set to a low resolution and OnStar has readjusted the home screen to fit.And somehow this is OnStar's fault that you were incapable of clicking on the "Menu" button?My god, Percy, you're the reason I often get frustrated at my job. "This is so hard to use! I don't know how to switch my site!" You mean that great big yellow button in the middle of your screen that says, "Switch Unit Site" wasn't clear? It's somehow OnStar's fault that you couldn't think to look in the menu that was clearly labeled "Menu" that might provide you information about what it is you were looking for?Now, I admit to being oblivious. A few years ago, some friends and I were in Old Town and we saw the gorgeous tree in the park, wondering what it was. So we went into the information center. The person behind the counter was busy with someone else so I waited off the side, leaning on the counter, waiting for her to finish. When she was, I asked if she knew what kind of tree that really big one was.And she pointed to the map of the trees of the park spread out on the counter that my elbow was on. It's a ficus. If I had bothered to merely look down at what I was leaning on, I would have figured it out. And I was looking at the counter, reading all the other bits of information they had spread out there, oblivious to the map that I was literally touching.But when someone points out the great big yellow button in the middle of the screen clearly labeled with the thing that I was looking for, I chalk it up to me not paying attention.What's your excuse?And it seems you didn't read my post before responding. Once again, you're acting like a creationist. I never said OnStar only cost $5/month and I challenge you to find anything that I wrote that even suggests such a thing. Instead, what I said was that it is $5/month minimum to add calling services. You don't have to (and I don't).

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Excepting the part about rerouting, for which I don't yet have enough information

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OTHER THAN THE PERSON WHO HAS IT TELLING YOU THAT YES, IT WORKS EXACTLY LIKE THAT!Why do you think I'm lying to you? Why do you think that this is some sort of Vast Conspiracy to Suppress the Truth (C)? Why the hyperskepticism?Why have you lost your mind on this subject, Percy?

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I don't see how else I could have found out very much without asking skeptical questions, which seemed to bother you.

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BWAHAHAHAHA!Oh, that's just precious, Percy! The projection is strong in you. You asked skeptical questions and I told you that no, it really does work like that and I know because I have it.You then proceeded to post two more posts insisting that it can't be that way.Why does it bother you so much that IT WORKS EXACTLY LIKE THAT?

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The main point I've been making in this thread is that the technology industry provides us products of poor design, low quality, and low reliability, and they misrepresent their products in their advertising.

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So at what point do you say to yourself, "I made a poor choice of example," and let it go? If someone is giving a talk about the way the black cards in a deck of cards came to be and yet they keep showing you Diamonds as the example, do you really think it's appropriate for him to get upset when people point out the error? Do you really think that if he insists that no, there's still some doubt about it, people lie all the time, it's all misrepresentation, he has a leg to stand on?Is it really that difficult for you to say, "Oops. My mistake"? You're the one who brought up OnStar to try and make your point about hyped technology only to find out that no, it isn't hype. What's it going to take for you to let it go?

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My browser width is set to 960 pixels (half of 1920, two portrait browser windows side-by-side), and OnStar.com is using a JavaScript library that automatically assumes you're on a mobil platform if your browser width is less than 1000. Brilliant.

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Yes.They have a lot of stuff in the top navigation. If your browser isn't wide enough to display it, rather than forcing you to scroll side-to-side, they redesign the page to display the information in a way that fits the screen you have.That's why they have that big Menu button as the first thing on the screen.But somehow, it's OnStar's fault that you won't press the button. And how dare they actually pay attention to the screen you have and display the content appropriately? Why do I get the feeling that if they didn't but forced you to scroll, you'd complain about that?

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The GPS in my wife's car doesn't need a monthly fee to operate. I assume the same is true of the GPS in the Buick? That it doesn't need an OnStar subscription to operate?

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Nope. That's why I don't use it. You want OnStar's navigation services, you have to pay every month above and beyond the basic OnStar services.But you would have known that if you had clicked on the Menu button that was staring you in the face and then clicked on "Plans and Prices."Why didn't you?And why are you blaming them for your obliviousness?Edited by Admin, : Fix utube video.

Percy responds to me:

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You still haven't answered the question: There has to be more to the dialog, right?

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You still aren't reading posts you're responding to. Sixth paragraph. It's the first quoted text. Here it is again since you missed it last time: I even put it in all-caps so that you would have an easier time seeing it.What's your excuse for missing it? Why did you not read the post you were responding to? I repeated that statement multiple times in the message (four, to be exact), capitalizing it every single time to make sure you'd be able to see it. And yet here you are, claiming that I didn't answer the question.Why can't you let this go?

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Changing the browser window size doesn't affect resolution

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(*blink!*)You did not just say that, did you?Are you truly saying that on an HD monitor, a browser window that only covers half the width of the screen has the same horizontal resolution as a browser window that covers the entire width? 960 = 1920? You're confusing the resolution of the monitor with the resolution of the window (and then there's the resolution of the content, to make it even more complex.) This is my day-to-day job, Percy.Changing the width of the browser changes the number of pixels it can display without scrolling. They have programmed the page to detect the width of the window and adjust the display of the information to accommodate. The images change size to ensure that they don't bleed over the margins. The padding between them adjusts. The top navigation collapses into a menu or expands out. And if you make it really narrow, the graphics go away completely. This is good design: Pay attention to the device that is displaying your content and make adjustments to accommodate so that items aren't hidden. Having to scroll in two directions is bad. If you have to scroll at all, only choose one and up-and-down is better than side-to-side.And somehow, this is bad because you couldn't figure out how to use a menu clearly labeled "Menu." Because in the end, Percy, this isn't about the technology of how they displayed the web site. This is about you not doing your homework. You made a claim about a piece of technology that you had no experience with. All you had was a commercial and an attitude of certainty that it was nothing but hype. And rather than going to their website to find out what was up, you simply shot your mouth off.And when someone who has the tech in question came along to disabuse you of that notion, you dug in. You continued to refuse to do your homework until pointed out to you that you should. At which point, you decided to complain about the packaging (compounding the problem because that packaging is actually quite helpful) rather than recognize that the problem was you not doing your homework.

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It seems to bother you when people criticize technology.

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The projection is strong in you still. Consider that what is actually happening is that it seems to bother you to find out you're wrong.I have no problems criticizing technology. Get me on a good rant about Apple sometime. I even have problems with OnStar (I have to pay $15/month for GPS? Are you kidding? But then again, that's not a technology problem, that's a business-model problem.) But let's not pretend that this is about me, Percy. This is about you making a claim, being shown directly that you were wrong, and rather than simply saying, "Oops. I made a mistake," you have dug in your heels and have started casting about to find something, anything that could possibly help you in some bizarre attempt to save face.Why is this so important to you? Why are you so invested in the idea that the commercial for OnStar has to be a lie? Why are you so certain that I am not being honest with you when I say that no, it works exactly like it does in the commercial? To the point that you will deliberately ignore my multiple direct statements to you regarding that fact?If you truly are "criticizing technology because I know how good it *could* be," then why are you continuing to use an example that doesn't live up to that? If you're talking about the black cards in the deck, why do you keep mentioning the Five of Diamonds?

Percy responds to me:

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Obviously I'm skeptical and have asked you to help me understand how that makes any sense, to no avail as yet.

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Because you refuse to read the posts to which you reply. And when you do, you think you're being lied to.What part of "It works exactly like the commercial shows" are you having trouble with? The commercial doesn't show much. He gets directions. He makes a phone call. Exactly what is it you think is the problem?

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I don't know why you go on the way you do in the rest of your post.

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Because you are engaging in hyperskepticism. You are refusing to take any answer as legitimate. You have no experience with the product in question, have refused to do your homework, and despite being presented with someone who actually has the product, you are refusing to consider his description to be legitimate.Exactly how did you expect to be received, Percy?

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What does OnStar really do when you give the "reroute" command, for instance, when there a multiple route choices?

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Asked and answered. Why did you not read my previous post where I talked directly about this very thing?But since you didn't do your homework then, you get to do it now: What does any GPS do? What did you expect?

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Isn't changing to mobil mode on a PC a kind of dumb thing to do?

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No.Question: What do you mean by "mobile"? What, specifically, does that mean?

Percy responds to me:

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Because you refuse to read the posts to which you reply. And when you do, you think you're being lied to.

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Saying that in the absence of more information (for which I was asking) your answer makes no sense to me is not me thinking you're lying to me.

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Refusing to accept a direct answer to your question that specifically states that your interpretation of events is incorrect, especially when it results in you repeating the same accusation that a false impression is being presented in the advertisement, is you thinking you're being lied to.How many times do we have to go through this, Percy? IT WORKS EXACTLY THE WAY IT DOES IN THE COMMERCIAL. How many times do I have to reiterate this before you accept this?If you don't think it works like it does in the commercial, why? What is it you think you aren't being told? Why are you waiting for another shoe to drop when you've been told that there aren't any?Why do you think you're being lied to?

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Your feelings are quite obvious.

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Oh really? What are they. When you read my mind, is it like tuning in a radio station where all you hear is me or is it like being at a cocktail party where you hear a cacophony of voices and you have to strain to pick out mine? Because I dare say that you have very little understanding of what my "feelings" are.Remember, Percy: I don't know you. I have no emotional investment in you. I don't have any "feelings" for you. Don't project your internal monologue onto anybody else but you.

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You think you've shown me wrong and that now I'm just going to the nth annoying degree to avoid admitting it.

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That's not a "feeling." That's a fact. You made a claim. I contradicted you based on direct experience. You have then spent all of your posts trying to find something, anything that will allow you to save face regarding this matter rather than simply say, "Oops...perhaps this OnStar commercial wasn't the best example" and let it go.If you think otherwise, then prove me wrong.Let's go over the history of this, shall we? [My god, this is like the gay bashing incident all over again.]Message 30This was the post you made where you brought up the OnStar commercial. You claimed: So I responded in Message 33: That, however, wasn't good enough for you. You repeated your incredulity that it could possibly work like it shows in Message 35: Note the portion in bold. You're still hedging your bets. The hyperskepticism (which had started back in Message 18 regarding the ability of a smart phone to take a note and remind you of something) is rearing its head. Despite you admitting that you don't have the product ("Anyone out there have a Buick with this feature?"), you are going to take your own skepticism over the information being told to you by someone who does actually have the product.Is it because it's me telling you? You and I don't exactly get along (that's part of the reason that I don't have any "feelings" for you), so is it that underlying negative impression that is coloring your ability to simply accept what I am telling you?But back to the analysis of the posts. Your hyperskepticism engaged, you start wandering away from the point of the commercial to start nit-picking tiny details. Again, Message 35: But no, that's not the case, as I directly tell you in my response, Message 38: And thus, we start to see a pattern: You say, "It can't be like it shows." I respond that yes, it is exactly like that. You then say, "But there has to be more!" I point out that no, there isn't. It works exactly like it shows in the commercial. But you continue on with the hyperskepticism. You asked a bunch of questions such as listening to someone other than the driver, working while moving, etc., and I answer all of them directly. But still, you aren't satisfied and the hyperskepticism exerts itself again in Message 39: This is such a bone-headed statement that it's hard to take you seriously. Who, upon going over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house via GPS, upon seeing that the main bridge is washed out, decides to scrap the whole thing rather than look for another way over the river? Sorry, kids, but we're not going to grandmother's house anymore. If you are trying to drive to work and you find that there's construction along your usual route, do you routinely just decide not to go?So for you to claim that when Manning said to reroute, then you thought he was going to some brand new destination rather than simply getting a detour around the construction is disingenuous at best.But this is par for the course because every attempt to demonstrate to you that no, you're wrong, the technology works exactly as described has been met with the most bizarre responses from you. Because you continue on: I respond in Message 40 to tell you no, you don't need further dialog: Note the highlighted portions. It's explaining why you don't need more dialogue. You've already told the system how to manage routes. You set up a default that when you tell the system to find a route from here to there, look for the route that meets such-and-such criteria (fastest/shortest, use/avoid freeways, use/avoid toll roads, etc.) "Reroute" has a defined meaning and you don't need to tell the system more.But you didn't read that because the hyperskepticism is still in play because in Message 41, you try to save face: That was just answered: You have defaults set up. GPS, in calculating a route, comes up with multiple alternatives and then provides the one that most closely matches the defaults you have set. By asking for a reroute, it then goes to the next best solution. You will note, for example, then it doesn't alter the route close to the destination but rather close to the origin. Why? Because the people who made the GPS algorithm in the first place are of the opinion that you don't ask for a reroute because of a problem 20 miles away. You ask for a reroute because of a problem right here. So by asking for a reroute, it's looking for a good solution (given the defaults you've made) but which don't include you being on the road you are currently on.But that's the nature of GPS...which is why I asked if you understood how GPS worked.But still, you were trying to find something to help you save face: Note the hedging. It's important because your very next sentence shows it going full-blown: Suddenly, you make this about me. Unable to simply accept that the commercial does exactly what it was that it said, you start casting about for something, anything to allow you pretend that you were behaving rationally and thus, you decide to make this about me.Remember, you're the one who started in on this: "You seem to have gone off the rails a bit." So certain that you were right that there was some other shoe to drop, you blame me for your mistake. Somehow, I'm the emotional one. Somehow, I'm the one "going off the rails."Not once did you examine your own behavior.Again, I have to ask: Is it because it's me? Because you then decided to wander completely away from the original issue (the commercial is accurate) to complain about the flipping web site.And then you rewrote history in Message 48: You tell me, Percy: Didn't I answer your question in Message 33 where I said that it functions exactly like shown in the commercial? Didn't I answer your question in Message 38 where I repeated myself that it functions exactly like shown in the commercial? Didn't I answer your question in Message 40 where I directly state that it doesn't need more information? Didn't I answer your question in Message 47 where I put the answer in all caps four times?So for you to then come along and say in this message: And: Then you aren't exactly being honest, now are you? I don't pretend to understand why you're being so hyperskeptical, but it isn't because I haven't answered your questions.The problem is that you don't like the answers.

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Mobil mode means a display mode specifically for cell phones and tablets.

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And what does that mean? All you've done is describe an undefined term using other, undefined terms. Given the power of smart phones and tablets these days, what does "specifically for cell phones and tablets" mean? There's usually two traits: Smaller screen and no Flash. The processing power of cell phones these days allows them to view full web sites. In fact, for many web sites that detect you using what it thinks is a mobile device, there will be a link (often at the bottom) to view the full web site. Our own site at work does this: If we detect (through the browser itself, not the resolution), we show you a stripped down version of the web site because the purpose of our website, in general, is for viewing information. But, you can go to the full website through a link if there is functionality that you need that isn't available on the mobile skin. Why? Because what you'd need to do using the full website usually involves data entry which would likely require a full keyboard which you don't have on mobile (no soft keyboard is good for data entry.)The latest Lumia from Microsoft is pretty much a full computer. You can connect it to a dock and get an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse and run full applications using Windows Continuum which displays as a traditional desktop (since you now have a full screen, keyboard, and mouse to use).So, depending upon what you're trying to achieve with your website, it might make sense to merely look at the window size (if your desktop experience where you have things like a keyboard and Flash isn't any different than if you don't have them) while other sites might be more inclined to pay attention to the physical device (by checking the browser itself) and change accordingly.

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I don't understand why you think sending a webpage displayed on a PC into mobil mode isn't dumb.

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Asked and answered previously and expanded upon here.If all your website does is display information and doesn't use the dreaded Flash, then "mobile" merely means "I'm on a small screen." And thus, all the benefits you get for reorganizing content for a small screen are identical if you're on a desktop computer but have shrunk your browser window to smartphone-size. In OnStar's case (and it appears that you have already forgotten how this has been explained to you), that's the situation they're in: There isn't really much to their site with regard to functionality, so they rework the display of the information based upon the size of the browser window...and if you have a narrow screen, it becomes "mobile."

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Particularly for a webpage that scales (changes the resolution) as the webpage width changes. Can you explain?

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You just did: If the width of the browser is so narrow that it is what you might expect on mobile phones (and remember that smart phones these days have pixel resolutions rivaling that of some monitors...when I go to the OnStar site on my Xperia Z3, it displays one way when I hold it in portrait mode and another way when I hold it in landscape. Why? Because it's full HD and thus, you have more space horizontally when in landscape mode than in portrait mode), then why wouldn't you adjust the display of the site to accommodate so that your user doesn't have to scroll side to side? Most people on the desktop don't have mice with scroll wheels that work left and right, only up and down. So if my user has reduced their screen size (they've snapped it to half the screen width like you can do in Windows), why wouldn't I try to make their experience nicer by adjusting my site accordingly? And if I want to call that "mobile," what's the big deal?

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And reacting to a related criticism you made earlier, I don't understand why, when confronted with a webpage for the first time, that you think clicking on the "Learn More" link instead of "Menu" makes one an idiot.

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Because just as you haven't been reading my posts, you didn't read the web page. And this was already explained to you in Message 40, but you didn't read that so I'm not surprised that you're still asking a question that was already answered.There were three "Learn More" buttons on that page. Each under a very different picture and at the bottom of the page. Did you really think they were all going to the same place? That a "Learn More" button under a section for "AtYourService" would go to the same place as a "Learn More" button under a section titled "Understanding Ignition Recall"? And that they'd both go to the same place as a third "Learn More" button under a section labeled "Get 3 Months Free"?Are you really that nave?Or did you go into it with a negative attitude and for whatever reason ignored the very obvious visual cues that each of those buttons went to a different location and would only have information about the specific subject described in the picture/text that was right above the button?It's like someone getting upset that the box won't open and blaming the box because they couldn't be bothered to read where it said, in big letters: "OPEN OTHER END."

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You're making this discussion most unpleasant.

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Physician, heal thyself! You've been most unpleasant from the get go. Take a look at the very first post and tell me if that sounds like someone who wants to listen to other people. "I'm with Felger and you can screw your smart devices." Do you really think someone who starts like that is going to be amenable to saying, "Actually, they can do some of the things you want them to do and here's how"?When I first responded to you, I didn't say you were stupid. I simply said that the technology does exist, but you do have to do some accommodation due to the difficulty of the problem: "Make a list" only means something if you have an association for what "list" means. That would require a "list" app and at least for Android, there is no such app. It can, however, do reminders and can do so not only by time but also by location so that it can, as you had requested, "reminding me to stop at the supermarket before I drive by, then telling me what to buy."You immediately dismissed me, Message 18: Message 22: And once again, I remind you that you come from a position of having absolutely no experience with the product at hand ("I have no smart phone"), did absolutely no homework regarding the product at hand, and rather than listen to the person who actually has the product and is telling you how it works, you dismissed everything he had to say.Because if you want, I can go through all those posts, too, and show you how you immediately rejected all evidence put before you simply because you didn't like it. Here's me: Message 28: Here's your response: Message 30: Why would you doubt me? Why would you think I'm lying to you? Once again, I have to ask: Is it because it's me?Percy, this entire discussion has been unpleasant because you have been unwilling to listen to anybody who dares to contradict you. You have attributed ulterior motives from the get go (note, I said "ulterior," not "nefarious") and have only begrudgingly accepting things might not be the way you thought they were (and even then, I'm not sure that you have.)

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If it's something in my manner that is causing this just let me know what it is and I'll stop.

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(*blink!*)You did not just say that, did you?Percy, I've been telling you what the problem is for days now. How many times do I have to repeat the point? You're coming from a position of having no experience with the technology you are complaining about. You then don't do your homework regarding that technology. And then when someone who does have the tech tells you how it works, you dismiss them.What more do you need?You will note that I am not saying that these things can do anything and everything. You'll recall that there is, indeed, a problem with the idea of a "list" with regard to smartphones. You can set a reminder, but a "list" is something different. There's nothing stopping you from creating a reminder that says to buy the following five things when you make it to the store, but it's just a plain text string. A "list" would imply that you might be able to check off what you've done. Well, with no "list" functionality, the only way you could do that would be to create multiple reminders...a bad thing if you have many of them, especially all at the same place.So yeah, there are still things that can be done with smart phones. The very first thing I did was note the difficulty of some of what you were asking for and how tech can't do that.But the example you gave ("remembering what I'm supposed to buy at the supermarket, then reminding me to stop at the supermarket before I drive by, then telling me what to buy") is something that can be done.As I've told you at least twice previously: The words you are looking for are, "Oops. Perhaps that wasn't the best example."Why is that so difficult for you? For crying out loud, Percy: Look at this reply to you. I had to completely rehash a dozen posts all because you can't consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, you were wrong.

Percy writes:

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Oh, and if anyone knows any details about DirecTV over the Internet, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

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You mean the great big button labeled "Help Center" next to the icon of a question mark in a blue circle wasn't cutting it for you? On the right side, underneath the main banner, right above the section where you check for eligibility.Is your browser set to a tiny width again? This time, their page doesn't seem to recognize if it's too narrow and if it is, it doesn't redraw the content to fit. You'd have to scroll. I'll admit that when I look at it on my phone, the button isn't labeled "Help Center," but it still has the big question mark in a blue circle, very obviously being the place I'd go to for help if only I would click on it.And when you clicked on it (which you didn't), you didn't see the link: "How do I find out if I am eligible to purchase NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV?"And when you clicked on that (which you didn't), you didn't see the explanation? It would seem that the reason you aren't eligible is because you don't live at a location they have verified as being incapable of getting DirectTV.

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The OnStar site should have webpages where the kinds of questions I have are addressed, but it doesn't.

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Incorrect. It does.You just didn't deign to pay attention.Now, I couldn't get it to say no to me despite me using multiple addresses I know can get DirectTV, so I don't know if there is any other link on the rejection page that you were obtusely overlooking that would have done precisely what you asked if only had clicked on the obvious button. But your claim that they don't provide information is trivially shown to be false.Once again, you're simply not looking.

There's a more important reason to get rid of Apple Music:You lose ownership of your library.Apple Music scans your hard drive and uploads it to the cloud. It then scans the music and if it finds a match with the music it has ownership of, it replaces your copy with theirs. That means if your actual track is "close enough" to the track they have, your track is dumped in favor of the one they have. After all, they don't want to have everybody's individual copy of the Beatle's White Album. Only one track served to everyone makes their storage needs easier.Any music that is original to you is then kept on the cloud.And that music is then deleted from your hard drive.Are you a composer that had your own works on your computer? It's gone and on Apple's servers. And they will not be helpful in letting you have it back. You'll have to do each song individually.And it will be in mp3 or aac format, not the format it was originally in.And you can't sue them because the terms of use agreement you signed to use Apple Music directly states that they can do this.As the author of this article points out, Apple has become that Orwellian, 1984-like entity it was supposedly rebelling against with the introduction of the Mac. Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously.