The Eight Laws of Robotics Calmness:
- Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention.
- Technology should inform and create calm.
- Technology should make use of the periphery.
- Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity.
- Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak.
- Technology should work even when it fails.
- The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem.
- Technology should respect social norms.
I’m a little suspicious about a certification body that’s paid for by producers, but it’s fine if they can make it work.
Can we also stop with the quasar-bright fucking white LEDs on every fucking thing in existence?
I just want doors that sigh blissfully when they open and close. Douglas Adams knew what the future should be.
I’m not sure where whimsy fits into that list, but my dishwasher plays a little victory tune when it finishes washing. It sounds like something from an early 90s jrpg. It makes me smile every time I hear it.
I’ve got an anecdote in a similar vein about my dishwasher. It has a little lighted screen that tells you what phase of the wash it’s in. At some point part of the screen broke so it doesn’t show the G in “washing” and “drying” anymore. When I look at it, it reads as Washin’ or Dryin’ and it makes me smile because it feels like my washer has gotten a little sassy in its old age
Whereas I think the opposite with my washer and dryer. It plays a little tune when it’s done. I’m sure that’s nice but I’d rather tha annoying loud buzz because I’ll actually hear it.
Maybe I missed the boat and no one else has laundry in their basement anymore, but I want a notification that successfully notifies me.
I always wondered why there wasn’t a basic pluggable notification capability. Consider a landline phone or a doorbell: you could buy devices to vibrate or flash, or be really loud, so hearing impaired folk get the notification. Don’t those same hearing impaired people also need to do laundry? Don’t lots of people with good hearing still have laundry in basements and garages? Why hasn’t there been a standard cheap notification output for decades, even from analog times?
You could plug in a power meter with wifi and look what power is used.
You could use a babyphone or a camera (e.g. an old phone).
I’m not sure if an Alexa (Echo Dot or so) would react on the little tune of your washer, but it hears the standard annoying beeps of my washer.
Being able to plug in a notification device would be awesome.
Oh God yes, this, love that! My washing machine makes a very cheesy victory music with 90’s beep speakers, it sounds like shit but it’s awesome and makes me smile every time I hear it.
It’s awesome but I do worry that now all producers will pick up on that idea and soon the fridge will be playing a shitty Melody every time I open it
I have a zojirushi rice cooker that’s similar and I love it!
Other then that my oven, coffee maker, kettle, kitchen fan all have the same shrill beep that’s hard to know what’s what.
Every device should sing its own song. Maybe if you start them together they can form a chorus? Like some sort of appliance band.
Many of these are meaninglessly vague, and others are outright incorrect depending on the type of technology
this would be more interesting comment if you explained what you were talking about? which of the many are vague and why etc
Here’s one:
Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity
This is a meaningless statement, especially the first half of it
Star Trek LCARS/computer/ship-communication/door noises
You know, we have all the technology to do that.
Has anyone done it? Why haven’t I done it?
Damn you know, I’m gonna do it
I have a work phone and personal phone and they both scream at the slightest news.
Newer app versions don’t heed the “fuck off and shut up” mode when I put the phones face down. So they get a time-out part-way through the day when I’ve had enough of the “every beep more jarring than every other beep” mentality: I throw them into the next room.
This calmer initiative sounds like a godsend.
You know they have “settings”, right?
What does 6 mean?
When my flashlight fails I can still beat zombies over the head with it. Is that what they are talking about?
Think of a smart house for example, or Tesla cars. When the internet is down, you should still be able to turn your lights on or off. When the battery is dead on a Tesla you should still be able to open the door from the outside with the door handle and not have to hotwire a 12v battery for the subsystem to work.
The new Alexa looks wild.
