Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[mendip_discovery]

My Discovery had a delay so the wash was on the screen before the wiping started.

My annoyance is when the car has ran out of wash and the wipers still move then 5 seconds later that extra auto wipe does as well. So you end up with a smeary windscreen.

Today's pet peeve for me was people who look at you as if you are weird. Can't a man sing along to his favourite song while sat in traffic on the M25. I dont care that you don't like the works of Britney Spears especially her breakout 1998 single "Baby One More Time". I had to find a way to cope with the 4hr drive in a van with no aircon and the hell that is the M25.

[paulca]

Another one that occasionally gets on my nerves is mice... the fact that mice nowadays don't last as long and experience wear and tear after a year or so.

Two logitechs in a row the left click button would "click", but not respond unless you pushed just a little harder.  Extremely annoying.  both only maybe 6 months old.

Decided to go back to Microsoft.  The M1500 .. the scroll wheel developed basic rotary encoder twitch at only 3 month old.  I went up a range to the M3500 and discovered it's a "silent mouse" with no detent or drag at all on the wheel, so it randomly scrolls things and makes gaming impossible.

I decided mice no longer cost £10.  maybe if I buy one that costs £75 it might last longer?  So I have a Logictech Triathalon M720 which is okay so far, I like how the wheel drag/clicker can be switched in and out and it supports binding to 3 different dongles.

[paulca]

Would you believe in 2017 Toyota sell a car which can't park the wiper blades correctly?  Know defect.  Sometimes they just stop about 3 inches up the window and you have to try again.  2017.

However, having spent a few years riding a motorbike all year round, I'll take any wipers.

[SilverSolder]

Another one that occasionally gets on my nerves is mice... the fact that mice nowadays don't last as long and experience wear and tear after a year or so.

Two logitechs in a row the left click button would "click", but not respond unless you pushed just a little harder.  Extremely annoying.  both only maybe 6 months old.

Decided to go back to Microsoft.  The M1500 .. the scroll wheel developed basic rotary encoder twitch at only 3 month old.  I went up a range to the M3500 and discovered it's a "silent mouse" with no detent or drag at all on the wheel, so it randomly scrolls things and makes gaming impossible.

I decided mice no longer cost £10.  maybe if I buy one that costs £75 it might last longer?  So I have a Logictech Triathalon M720 which is okay so far, I like how the wheel drag/clicker can be switched in and out and it supports binding to 3 different dongles.

I have a Logitech MX-310 here that's still going strong after what... 23 years or something like that?  - Still has beautiful feel, accuracy, smooth clicks.  They probably don't make them like they used to!

[PlainName]

I suspect the automatic wiping could be defeated by disconnecting the wire from the wash contacts to the intermittent wiper relay, at least on older cars like mine where everything is controlled by separate relays.

This is not an issue with new cars. They either have the sprayer on the wiper arms, or they delay the start of the wipe until the sprayer has got the glass wet. The latter can be a little confusing when you aren't used to it. If you keep giving little shots of washing the wipers don't start. You have to hold the wash on for a couple of seconds.

I think I'd find that even more annoying! Reason being that when I hit the wipe control I want it to wipe there and then - I will put off using the wipers until I'm in a situation where momentary loss of vision (or even an unrecoverable smear) won't have a big impact. It needs to happen then, not in a while.

[coppice]

I have a Logitech MX-310 here that's still going strong after what... 23 years or something like that?  - Still has beautiful feel, accuracy, smooth clicks.  They probably don't make them like they used to!

They still make a model called the MX-310. I don't know if its similar to the one you have, but I know it won't last. No Logitech mouse does these days. Even the rather expensive gaming ones. They seem incapable of debouncing a switch these days. The clicky buttons work well with new contacts, but as they age you get wacky results. The expensive mice have additional failure modes due to poor design. Like the MX Master 2S, where poor design of an extra button, which is of no value even when its working, manages to jam and foul up operation of the mouse entirely after some time. There are a number of descriptions on the web of how to strip the mouse and unstick this button.

[SiliconWizard]

Yep. The recent Logitech (now marked 'logi', which I find ugly for some reason, but that's not the point) mice look "nice" but they are mostly crap.
The "good" thing with these mediocre wireless mice on the market is that by the time the battery is dead, the mouse will long have had faulty switches and whatnot anyway, so you won't have to deal with trying to find a replacement battery, you'll just trash the whole thing.

[rdl]

I've replaced the cheap Logitech mouses I had that stopped working with cheap Kensington "Mouse-in-a-Box USB". They seem to last pretty good. The oldest one probably has 6 or 7 years of heavy use on it.

[Bryn]

I've replaced the cheap Logitech mouses I had that stopped working with cheap Kensington "Mouse-in-a-Box USB". They seem to last pretty good. The oldest one probably has 6 or 7 years of heavy use on it.

This is what I have also

[PlainName]

Only Logitech have the hyper-scroll wheel, though. That's the reason I buy 'em.

[SiliconWizard]

Only Logitech have the hyper-scroll wheel, though. That's the reason I buy 'em.

You mean the two modes, one being the wheel spnining freely? It's cool indeed, but it's actually not the only brand that offers this (as I remember, it was the first one though).
For instance, the Razer Basilisk V3.
Yes this is a "gaming" mouse, but it works fine for any purpose.

[PlainName]

Only Logitech have the hyper-scroll wheel, though. That's the reason I buy 'em.

You mean the two modes, one being the wheel spnining freely? It's cool indeed, but it's actually not the only brand that offers this (as I remember, it was the first one though).

Kind of - the hyper-scroll auto-switching between modes. I hate freewheeling normally because the slightest touch selects the thing above or below, but clicky-clicky doesn't lend itself to fast and continuous scrolling. The auto-switch means that you get the normal clicky-clicky but then if you spin the wheel a bit faster you go into freewheeling continuous mode.

Once you get used to that it's really hard to give it up.

For instance, the Razer Basilisk V3.

Didn't think anything else would, but a quick look suggests that does indeed do the auto-switch. Hmmm... thinking that (rather, a wireless version) might be a decent thing to try I had a browse of the range. Blimey, I had no idea anything could make Logitech prices look cheap 

[SilverSolder]

I have a Logitech MX-310 here that's still going strong after what... 23 years or something like that?  - Still has beautiful feel, accuracy, smooth clicks.  They probably don't make them like they used to!

They still make a model called the MX-310. I don't know if its similar to the one you have, but I know it won't last. No Logitech mouse does these days. Even the rather expensive gaming ones. They seem incapable of debouncing a switch these days. The clicky buttons work well with new contacts, but as they age you get wacky results. The expensive mice have additional failure modes due to poor design. Like the MX Master 2S, where poor design of an extra button, which is of no value even when its working, manages to jam and foul up operation of the mouse entirely after some time. There are a number of descriptions on the web of how to strip the mouse and unstick this button.

The "old" model MX-310 sell for silly money on eBay.  I guess they might still be worth it, being from the era before planned obsolescence became the norm with almost every product.   - back in the day I remember buying them for $3 or $4 each,  eBay was awash with them.

[Kim Christensen]

Google links to PDF files that force you to open the PDF in a browser before being able to save it. PDFs tend to download quicker if you can right click and "save link as"...

[SiliconWizard]

Speaking of search links, I find it utterly annoying that, when looking for a component with its reference, in general the first good ten links (sometimes you even have to go to the next page) are nothing like the actual product web page, but either direct links to files, or links to distributors, or random blogs.

That "probably" reflects what most people are looking for though, so I may be the only one annoyed here.

[vk6zgo]

Speaking of search links, I find it utterly annoying that, when looking for a component with its reference, in general the first good ten links (sometimes you even have to go to the next page) are nothing like the actual product web page, but either direct links to files, or links to distributors, or random blogs.

That "probably" reflects what most people are looking for though, so I may be the only one annoyed here.

I have been having this "fun" recently, trying to find 1980s devices used in an old Icom ham radio.
First up, it shows links which mention the device, but when I hit the link, the website has no reference to it.
The next page brings up just about anything that matches one or more words in my query, with the vital part number not included.

All this leads into another peeve--- Icom's habit of making complex single sided PCBs with (super peeve) SIL devices & (bonus peeve) "TMP" coax connectors!! ----AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

[SilverSolder]

Speaking of search links, I find it utterly annoying that, when looking for a component with its reference, in general the first good ten links (sometimes you even have to go to the next page) are nothing like the actual product web page, but either direct links to files, or links to distributors, or random blogs.

That "probably" reflects what most people are looking for though, so I may be the only one annoyed here.

It reflects paid-for search rankings, possibly?

Search engines have gotten worse and worse over the years...

[SilverSolder]

I have a minor pet peeve with some web sites:   Why can't some teams seem to figure out how to place the cursor in the first required input field (e.g. for entering your user name) without having to click your way to it, when you first open it?

Teeeeeedious!

[rdl]

Almost as bad is when Tab doesn't put the cursor in the next input field.

[Kim Christensen]

Cursing about cursors: There is this game where I have to enter a password to logon. Sometimes, randomly while I'm typing in the password, it'll switch input focus to the desktop behind the application. Since I'm a two finger typist, with my eyes mostly on the keyboard, I'll end up launching another application when I hit enter at the end.

[SiliconWizard]

Speaking of search links, I find it utterly annoying that, when looking for a component with its reference, in general the first good ten links (sometimes you even have to go to the next page) are nothing like the actual product web page, but either direct links to files, or links to distributors, or random blogs.

That "probably" reflects what most people are looking for though, so I may be the only one annoyed here.

It reflects paid-for search rankings, possibly?

That's possibly part of the reason for some cases, although I'd find it weird if say some blogs would pay more for SEO than semiconductor vendors themselves (and I'm not talking about large web sites like stackexchange).

But just the fact that direct links to datasheets often come well before the product pages annoys me tremendously.
If I'm looking for a datasheet, I prefer downloading it from the vendors website rather than directly from a search engine, thanks.

I guess probably most people prefer the opposite though, as it's a bit faster (but you never know if that's the latest version in this case, and often it is not). Even worse when the direct link to a datasheet is not even hosted on the vendor's website but on a random one that's ranked way higher in the results.

I think direct links from websites in search results should not even be allowed, but I'm sure many would disagree, so.

Search engines have gotten worse and worse over the years...

Well, it's pretty much down to entropy, something like that.
Search engines are gigantic pools of opportunity, it's natural that everyone will try to get their share. But over time, it tends to become a big mess.
I don't think there's any way around it, apart from creating more specialized search engines to avoid swimming all in the same polluted pool.

[SilverSolder]

Speaking of search links, I find it utterly annoying that, when looking for a component with its reference, in general the first good ten links (sometimes you even have to go to the next page) are nothing like the actual product web page, but either direct links to files, or links to distributors, or random blogs.

That "probably" reflects what most people are looking for though, so I may be the only one annoyed here.

It reflects paid-for search rankings, possibly?

That's possibly part of the reason for some cases, although I'd find it weird if say some blogs would pay more for SEO than semiconductor vendors themselves (and I'm not talking about large web sites like stackexchange).

But just the fact that direct links to datasheets often come well before the product pages annoys me tremendously.
If I'm looking for a datasheet, I prefer downloading it from the vendors website rather than directly from a search engine, thanks.

I guess probably most people prefer the opposite though, as it's a bit faster (but you never know if that's the latest version in this case, and often it is not). Even worse when the direct link to a datasheet is not even hosted on the vendor's website but on a random one that's ranked way higher in the results.

I think direct links from websites in search results should not even be allowed, but I'm sure many would disagree, so.

Search engines have gotten worse and worse over the years...

Well, it's pretty much down to entropy, something like that.
Search engines are gigantic pools of opportunity, it's natural that everyone will try to get their share. But over time, it tends to become a big mess.
I don't think there's any way around it, apart from creating more specialized search engines to avoid swimming all in the same polluted pool.

There are some newer search engines around, but they are all powered by Google or Bing behind the scenes.  I'm thinking of DuckDuckGo, mostly.   There are some good ideas in there, for example.  Maybe time to revisit!

[Nominal Animal]

There are some newer search engines around, but they are all powered by Google or Bing behind the scenes.  I'm thinking of DuckDuckGo, mostly.   There are some good ideas in there, for example.  Maybe time to revisit!

When DuckDuckGo switched from using Google to Bing, its search capabilities dropped so badly I've had to switch back to Google. 

Now, how do I switch the default search engine from https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-lm&q=%s to https://www.google.fi/search?tbs=li:1&q=%s ? That used to be settable in the preferences, but no longer.  The related profile config file is compressed using some mozlz4 compression scheme that is not supported by my default tools.  Sigh, time to build the necessary tools to get a darn 543-byte config file modified.  Anyone wanna guess why they chose to "compress" that tiny file, when the entire profile is about 600,000 times as large, and full of uncompressed plain text files?  I'm sure the search engine deals between Mozilla and others have nothing to do with it.

EDIT: It turned out adding "browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh" config parameter (as boolean, True) let me add the search string I want; no tools needed.

[AndyBeez]

The word “ideate”. It’s from create and idea. Hence a creative industry person who is an Ideation Engineer.

It’s just a fancy term for a freelance graphic designer who engineers advertorials on a BYOD MacBook.

I don’t think there are any Ideation Engineers in the EE world, yet?

CRAP! I just realised that the words ideate and advertorial are already burnt into my predictive text

[vk6zgo]

The word “ideate”. It’s from create and idea. Hence a creative industry person who is an Ideation Engineer.

It’s just a fancy term for a freelance graphic designer who engineers advertorials on a BYOD MacBook.

I don’t think there are any Ideation Engineers in the EE world, yet?

CRAP! I just realised that the words ideate and advertorial are already burnt into my predictive text

Back in the day when I worked at a TV studio, we had an "AVA-Graphics" suite, which was used to add graphics to program material.

It used two of the biggest hard disc drives I've ever seen---the discs themselves were as big as a 331/3 rpm vinyl disc.
Two people worked in the suite, & both were real artists in the use of the thing---they could just about "make it sit up & beg".

Time goes by, & the "powers that be" set up a new department called "Creative Imaging" run by a couple of "bright young things" (BYTs), which used PCs, the AVA Graphics folk were deemed "too set in their ways" to adapt to the "brave new world" & "offered redundancy".

The first real "outing" of "Creative Imaging" was a sort of novelty football game where retired footballers ("Legends") from several teams were brought back to play a game for charity.
At the beginning of the game, up came a graphic proclaiming "The Legands"!

It continued to appear in every break throughout the game, & was the cause of much hilarity amongst most of us greybeards!

These days, misspelling in graphics & captions is more the rule than the exception, although the "BYTs" would now be greybeards themselves, & the graphics department probably has some new buzzword based name.

Two more terms that have crept into the language are "ahead of" instead of "prior to", & "Vets" for ex-service men & women.
I can live with "War Veterans", but "Vets" are animal doctors!