Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Doozergirl

michaels wrote: »

Being a luddite I feel that an ereader offers big advantages in terms of contrast without brightness and battery life.

Me too. And no temptation to open other apps.

I love my kindle.

kabayiri

Spirit wrote: »

Try it. Pretend the left side of your body is paralysed. So no feet shuffling. or fetching string, nor cutting it or threading. Keep up the experiment for at least 5 weeks. Until you can manage it, get a complete stranger to help you. As they will be there, and you will be unable to sit without support, get the stranger to wipe your bottom when you have been to the loo.

No cheating.

The bra experiment lasts for about 9 months

People talk about automation and technology being dehumanising and unfit for sensitive medical care, but I don't think like this.

I think there is massive potential for devices which help us help ourselves with some pretty basic tasks like those as you point out.

We could become a world leader in devices like this.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

While that'd all be great, I see that the problem will end up that "regular Joe" won't be able to afford one. They'll be for wealthier people only.

We already have vacuums that vacuum by themselves - and automatic lawn cutters ... that nobody has because they're too expensive.

It'd be the same for "useful/vital" automated stuff too I bet.

You don't have to go back too far to a day when normal people had to beat the dust out of their carpets because who could afford a Hoover?

You can buy a robot hoover in Aus now for $100 (£49). Give it time and you'll struggle to buy a regular hoover and probably pay a premium for it. That was what ended up happening with twin tubs vs automatic washing machines.

kabayiri

PasturesNew wrote: »

While that'd all be great, I see that the problem will end up that "regular Joe" won't be able to afford one. They'll be for wealthier people only.

We already have vacuums that vacuum by themselves - and automatic lawn cutters ... that nobody has because they're too expensive.

It'd be the same for "useful/vital" automated stuff too I bet.

All products go through a price curve. It's one of the basic tenets of business and product development.

You need a plan as to how you get your R&D costs back.

Ultimately, the successful products become commodity items and the prices fall.

For example, digital ear thermometers were once considered leading edge product worthy of a serious price premium. Now you can go to a pharmacy in the high street and pick one up for the price of a takeaway.

ivyleaf

vivatifosi wrote: »

If your daughter has a smartphone, it is worth checking out whether your local library authority has an app. There's some really smart stuff going into library apps, easy renewals being at the simple end of the scale, the ability to use your camera phone as a bar code scanner to reserve books you see when you are out and about at the other.

Thank you viva I've checked and our library service does have one, so i'll let her know (though she's far more tech-savvy than me so she may already have it).

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

The trouble with a robot hoover is it's only useful in a large/clutter-free house. Only a human, with the pipe in their hand, can reach under the sofa (with 2" clearance), behind the sofa, in the corners of the room, round the back of any units/drawers etc.

It's where the dust collects that robots can't get to. Unless somebody's going to invent one the size of a PC mouse.

I don't know about you but I don't clean those places often.

Maybe I'm more slovenly than you.

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

I don't know about you but I don't clean those places often.

Maybe I'm more slovenly than you.

Just slovenly in different ways. We've all got the parts we do daily/weekly .... and the things we never touch/do. The little jobs that bring us a pleasure/joy from "doing them right", even though 99% of everything else is abandoned until critical.

When did you last vacuum the crease in the carpet on each stair tread? I hate doing the middle ones as you're neither half way up, nor half way down - and vacuums rarely reach to all the stairs from one socket.

I like to stick the pipe under the sofa and into the corners weekly, to prevent the potential for any random spiders to think it's a good place to live. It must work as I don't have any spiders

kabayiri

PasturesNew wrote: »

I didn't know such things existed! But then I've never had/used/needed a thermometer for measuring bits of my body

These will blow you away then
http://www.jabra.co.uk/sports-headphones/jabra-sport-pulse-wireless

Earphones which measure your Heart Rate and tell you when you reach different levels.

So much stuff out there.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just slovenly in different ways. We've all got the parts we do daily/weekly .... and the things we never touch/do. The little jobs that bring us a pleasure/joy from "doing them right", even though 99% of everything else is abandoned until critical.

When did you last vacuum the crease in the carpet on each stair tread? I hate doing the middle ones as you're neither half way up, nor half way down - and vacuums rarely reach to all the stairs from one socket.

I like to stick the pipe under the sofa and into the corners weekly, to prevent the potential for any random spiders to think it's a good place to live. It must work as I don't have any spiders

The last time I hoovered the stair crease? 2012. I've not had stairs since.

I like to do the top of the skirting boards and plug sockets.

SingleSue

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just slovenly in different ways. We've all got the parts we do daily/weekly .... and the things we never touch/do. The little jobs that bring us a pleasure/joy from "doing them right", even though 99% of everything else is abandoned until critical.

When did you last vacuum the crease in the carpet on each stair tread? I hate doing the middle ones as you're neither half way up, nor half way down - and vacuums rarely reach to all the stairs from one socket.

I like to stick the pipe under the sofa and into the corners weekly, to prevent the potential for any random spiders to think it's a good place to live. It must work as I don't have any spiders

I do them more often than behind the sofa...

I get one of the boys following behind me holding the cleaner as I go up or down the stairs to save me trying to do the delicate balancing act.

My house is so small for a 3 bed that I can plug in my Henry in the front room and then be able to go all around the house with it apart from the very last strip the other side of my bed. Generally though, I will do upstairs one day, get one of the boys (now just youngest), to carry it downstairs and then do the downstairs another day....gone are the days when I can do the whole house in one session, or even on consecutive days or even more than once or twice a week!

Only two of us here now though, so not much mess is made anymore thankfully.