Random Thoughts

[TheHighwayMan3561]

On a tavern/square cut pizza, the middle pieces taste way better than the edge pieces.

[ZLoth]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature. In many cases, the transaction is so small that a signature isn't required.

[LilianaUwU]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature. In many cases, the transaction is so small that a signature isn't required.

Y'all use signatures to confirm it's your card???

[Rothman]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature. In many cases, the transaction is so small that a signature isn't required.

Y'all use signatures to confirm it's your card???

It's been years since anyone checked my card for a sig and it's been a while since my cards have even had signature blocks on them.

[elsmere241]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature. In many cases, the transaction is so small that a signature isn't required.

Y'all use signatures to confirm it's your card???

Do your driver's licenses finally have pictures on them?

When I was a cashier at the Roy Rogers in what was then Delaware House in 1991, we only dealt in cash (I had to even count change), except for traveler's checks or the occasional highway voucher.  Traveler's checks were allowed only with a driver's license with  photo ID.  We'd then write the state and number on the back.

Generally this was not a problem, since every state (I think) put pictures on licenses by then.  On the other hand, Canadians didn't have pictures on their licenses.  To accept their traveler's checks, I needed a separate photo ID.  It was annoying for both of us.

[LilianaUwU]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature. In many cases, the transaction is so small that a signature isn't required.

Y'all use signatures to confirm it's your card???

Do your driver's licenses finally have pictures on them?

Yeah, been the case since before I was born I'm pretty sure.

It's been years since anyone checked my card for a sig and it's been a while since my cards have even had signature blocks on them.

Actually, mine does have a signature block, but it's left unsigned.

[Scott5114]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature.

Magstripes are great for when the chip reader is being cantankerous and tap to pay isn't an option.

[1995hoo]

I really wish that the magnetic stripes would go away on credit/cards, and that we go with the a confirming pin number rather than a signature.

Magstripes are great for when the chip reader is being cantankerous and tap to pay isn't an option.

Or when tap to pay doesn't work, which happens to me semi-regularly at Home Depot. These days I get somewhat irritated if I have to take out my card at all—I typically use Apple Pay via my watch (except I use my phone on the New York subway because of how the readers are configured).

[Max Rockatansky]

Putting financial anything on my phone is something I don't foresee myself ever being comfortable with.

[Rothman]

Putting financial anything on my phone is something I don't foresee myself ever being comfortable with.

Not anything financial?

Helps me greatly with my own personal financial management.

[Max Rockatansky]

Putting financial anything on my phone is something I don't foresee myself ever being comfortable with.

Not anything financial?

Helps me greatly with my own personal financial management.

I have a tendency to lose phones in wilderness areas.  That and I use my phone for road photos.  On occasion the best shot I can get through glare is to just stick the damn thing out of the window.  I haven't lost a phone that way yet but I've considered it to be a possibility. 

That and I once encountered an actual malicious WIFI at a hospital building.  I don't think they any of my passwords were stolen but none of them went to anything worthwhile.  I don't know what I thief would gain from hijacking my AAroads account.

[formulanone]

On occasion the best shot I can get through glare is to just stick the damn thing out of the window.  I haven't lost a phone that way yet but I've considered it to be a possibility.

You may want to consider a wrist strap for your phone just in case. A camera strap is a must unless you never take it off a tripod.

[Max Rockatansky]

On occasion the best shot I can get through glare is to just stick the damn thing out of the window.  I haven't lost a phone that way yet but I've considered it to be a possibility.

You may want to consider a wrist strap for your phone just in case. A camera strap is a must unless you never take it off a tripod.

I usually only do this on slow roll roads like one-lane mountain goat paths.  At speed the wind resistance makes the method a no-go.

[vdeane]

That and I once encountered an actual malicious WIFI at a hospital building.  I don't think they any of my passwords were stolen but none of them went to anything worthwhile.  I don't know what I thief would gain from hijacking my AAroads account.

Yep.  I never do anything sensitive like that over public wifi, ever, for exactly that reason.  And I'm not sure whether a cell network counts similar to public wifi or one's ISP in terms of cyber security.  Not to mention that, when I get rid of a phone, it only gets reset - I'm not sure how (or how feasible it would be) to securely erase the storage like I would a hard drive.

[Max Rockatansky]

That and I once encountered an actual malicious WIFI at a hospital building.  I don't think they any of my passwords were stolen but none of them went to anything worthwhile.  I don't know what I thief would gain from hijacking my AAroads account.

Yep.  I never do anything sensitive like that over public wifi, ever, for exactly that reason.  And I'm not sure whether a cell network counts similar to public wifi or one's ISP in terms of cyber security.  Not to mention that, when I get rid of a phone, it only gets reset - I'm not sure how (or how feasible it would be) to securely erase the storage like I would a hard drive.

The network was actually automatically logging phones onto it.  I had to turn my WIFI off completely.

Regarding photos I offload them completely and store them on remote drives.  It isn't a "security thing" but rather I use up so much storage space that neither my phone or computer can accommodate the amount of photos I take.

[vdeane]

The network was actually automatically logging phones onto it.  I had to turn my WIFI off completely.

Good thing I view the smart part of my smartphone as my "browse the internet when bored" device and not something for doing things that are actually important.  Though I've found that it's better than my camera for incidental photos even when my camera is around because using Warpinator to get stuff onto my laptop is easier than swapping the ports to plug in the camera's SD card.

[Max Rockatansky]

The network was actually automatically logging phones onto it.  I had to turn my WIFI off completely.

Good thing I view the smart part of my smartphone as my "browse the internet when bored" device and not something for doing things that are actually important.  Though I've found that it's better than my camera for incidental photos even when my camera is around because using Warpinator to get stuff onto my laptop is easier than swapping the ports to plug in the camera's SD card.

I haven't used a dedicated digital camera since around 2013.  The photo quality I was getting wasn't substantially better versus what phones could produce.  Cameras on phones have only gotten better since then. 

[Scott5114]

The network was actually automatically logging phones onto it.  I had to turn my WIFI off completely.

Good thing I view the smart part of my smartphone as my "browse the internet when bored" device and not something for doing things that are actually important.  Though I've found that it's better than my camera for incidental photos even when my camera is around because using Warpinator to get stuff onto my laptop is easier than swapping the ports to plug in the camera's SD card.

I haven't used a dedicated digital camera since around 2013.  The photo quality I was getting wasn't substantially better versus what phones could produce.  Cameras on phones have only gotten better since then. 

Two words: optical zoom.

[Max Rockatansky]

The network was actually automatically logging phones onto it.  I had to turn my WIFI off completely.

Good thing I view the smart part of my smartphone as my "browse the internet when bored" device and not something for doing things that are actually important.  Though I've found that it's better than my camera for incidental photos even when my camera is around because using Warpinator to get stuff onto my laptop is easier than swapping the ports to plug in the camera's SD card.

I haven't used a dedicated digital camera since around 2013.  The photo quality I was getting wasn't substantially better versus what phones could produce.  Cameras on phones have only gotten better since then. 

Two words: optical zoom.

Hasn't been much of an issue since iPhone 8.  I use 1.7x zoom with my current iPhone 12 and it has been working well.  Back with the 8 I was cropping about 50% of my photos in editing.  I'm down to maybe 5-10% depending how much I suck at photo taking on a particular day. 

[Scott5114]

If you are using 1.7 zoom what is usually happening on the backend is the phone is taking the picture at 1x zoom, scaling it by 1.7 (and often using AI-adjacent techniques to fill in lost detail) and then cropping the result. Some phones (and I imagine the iPhone is one of them) have multiple lenses tuned to different levels of zoom (often 2x, 4x, etc) and will use whichever one is closest to the zoom selected. That can improve image quality but it's not going to help if you need 1.42573x zoom (since I tend to take pictures while moving, I usually don't have time to ensure that my zoom level is a round number).

I don't have an iPhone but from time to time my wife will take a picture for me on hers. Her results tend to be better than what I can get on my budget Samsung, but not as good as I can get with true optical zoom on my Canon point-and-shoot from 2008.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have a Canon from the same era.  It has been sitting in my bedroom storage tote ever since I moved to California in 2016.  I think that I remembered to take the batteries out?

What really makes the iPhones useful IMO is that you can trigger the camera with a double thumb tap.  If you launch the camera and then lock the phone it will reopen in the mode you left off. 

But yes, I was aware that I'm basically pre-cropping the photos and the iPhone zoom is pretty much a simulation.  Previously I was using 1.3x with the iPhone 10 to get past my black cloth).  That phone didn't take anywhere as good of photos.  I would usually click the shoot button three times and save whichever came out best.  It was pretty horrible at focusing on text at speed unless a sign was super close and in proper lighting.

[Rothman]

I feel like the camera on my Samsung S22 Ultra has deteriorated in quality.  Getting to be time to get a new phone.

Anyway, the zoom does bother me with it as it switches through the lenses and you end up with photos that look like cartoons as resolution decreases and whatever algorithm the camera uses increases.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

How do we post images on here?

[Molandfreak]

How do we post images on here?

Upload to Imgur then put the image url into this:

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

How do we post images on here?

Upload to Imgur then put the image url into this:

I tried that, the image didn't go through.