Power Meters?

On Sun, 09 May 2021 09:54:42 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 5/8/2021 12:51 PM, Lou Holtman wrote:
Op zaterdag 8 mei 2021 om 18:45:34 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On 5/8/2021 4:42 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
Am Sat, 8 May 2021 02:35:45 +0000 (UTC) schrieb Ralph Barone
:

Read some Donald Norman or Bruce Tognazzi. Unfortunately, their teachings
appear to have fallen out of favour with whoever is programming modern
stuff. Right now the goal seems to be to make the user interface invisible
and completely inscrutable.
I heartily agree, and heartily complain. Examples abound. One member of
our extended family recently got a new refrigerator, and I volunteered
to hook up the water line for the in-door ice maker. But then I couldn't
figure out how to test it. I was sure the dim icons on the black panel
meant something to someone, but they might have been Martian code.

Vaguely related: Back in the 1970s, an artist friend of mine designed a
unique clock. It was a black panel with a series of hidden LEDs. The
LEDs lit up in an apparently random pattern, until you "got" the code.
Then you could read the time.

Back then it seemed to me a silly bit of exclusionary theater - "Hah, I
can tell time and you can't!" But the idea seems to have been adopted by
lots of gadget makers. "Look at our sleek black featureless control
panel. Isn't it cool?"

That's why I dislike almost every device having a touchscreen. I used a
Garmin GPSMap 60Csx for navigating on the bike, for a long time
which served me well.

https://www.mystrobl.de/Plone/radfahren/technik/komponenten/navi/IMG_1405.jpeg
A while ago, it got replaced by a GPSMap 64s, which has a faster
processor, more memory and slightly enhanced firmware.

https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/pic/fahrrad/garmin64s.jpg

I am very glad that the user interface didn't change much. I can find
and touch the various buttons easily without looking at them, even with
gloves and when it is wet.
Finding and touching buttons is un-stylish and passe'. To change a
modern car's radio station, you have to take your eyes off the road to
look at a touchscreen. If that makes you hit a bicyclist, just use the
SMIDSY defense.


--
- Frank Krygowski

The worst user interface is on our coffee machine at work. The guy/girl that designed that should be shot on sight. Touchscreen, browsing, swiping WTF. You have to 'program' your cup of coffee. The undrinkable kind is for free, for the just bare-able kind you have to pay euro 0.33 with your card which takes ages. I brought my own coffee machine (Senseo machine, one button operation) to work and installed it in the coffee corner and told everyone they can use it if they don't make a mess. I do clean it every day. It is heavily used.

Lou


I paid IIRC $5 for mine used about 35 years ago:

https://barnimages.com/wp-content/up...images-004.jpg

Brews great coffee; no stress, no codes, no disposable
filters, no troubles.

There are all kinds of manually operated coffee makers. My grandmother
used a "coffee pot" - put in the ground coffee, add water, set on the
stove and as soon as it boils take it off.

But they aren't "modern". and they don't require a "barista; or
"bariste" to produce coffee. :-)

And, as you say, the "Moka Pot" makes perfectly good coffee without
any push buttons or flashing lights. But after all the Moka Pot was
invented way back in 1933 and everybody knows that "MODERN" is best.
--
Cheers,

John B.