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This thread is not about the problems we are facing in the 21st century in general, but about problems that have been created by 21st century inventions.

As a start:

Do you own a car with this nimble smart-lock / keyless-go feature? If yes, you may want to store your car key in the fridge, as otherwise it'll be pretty easy to steal your car.

All you need is a signal enhancer that picks the signal up from within your house and enhance-forwards it to your car. Which then thinks you're standing next to it and obediently unlocks its doors for the thief.

To prevent this, Dutch and Canadian police suggest to keep the car key stored in a Faraday cage. And the easiest option in your house (unless you're a Faraday cage collector) will be your fridge.

Source (in Dutch): http://webwereld.nl/beveiliging/85945-l ... e-koelkast

#21stcenturyproblems (no 21st century thread is complete without a hashtag )

Anyone who has ever driven a Ford Fusion (or probably other similar Fords for that matter) with Microsoft Sync. In order to bluetooth pair a device to the car's bluetooth, you have to find the menu by first cracking the Enigma, then reverse-engineering the Pythagorean Theorom, Sacrificing your first-born to the car's USB port, and finally getting an order correct on In-n-Out's secret menu. When you enter the bluetooth PIN, you then have the option of using SYNC-Line In (why there can't just be a line in button without a bluetooth pair first is beyond me), SYNC-USB, and SYNC Bluetooth. But if you turn off the car, when you go to restart, no matter what SYNC source you had selected previously, it will default to SYNC-Line In. Even. When. There. Isn't. Anything. Plugged. Into. The. Goddamn. Line. In. Jack. And then you have to go through a bunch more menus to find the correct SYNC source from which to play.

Also, for anyone who has ever had to use the Wells Fargo CEO Portal for commercial credit card expense reporting. Holy christ they could not have designed a more user-unfriendly means of sending receipts into your corporate accounts department.

You get a company ID (makes sense, WF has many clients), User ID (again, makes sense), and a Password, which also makes sense until it has to be 8 characters that include a lower and uppercase letter, symbol of some variety, and a number. Not so bad, except on top of that you have to change the password every six weeks. And the password you create cannot match any of the 6 previous passwords you have used. And btw, you only are required to log into this service twice per month.

If one wishes to actually send off a receipt, it cannot be nearly as simple as taking a phone picture and attaching it to the expense via a mobile app. Even though a mobile app exists, it can only take pictures, after which they disappear into the void.

In order to be sure that you are reporting correctly, you have to go online to the CEO portal, print a cover page for each month, then scan all your receipts, and create a PDF file from the cover page plus receipts that you then email back to a dedicated email address. If your cover page/receipt scans aren't acceptable, it gets bounced back and you have to repeat the process. Luckily, I've come up with a fairly simple go-around that ensures my emails don't bounce, and that is to print the cover page directly to PDF, scan the receipts using my phone camera-to-PDF app, and combine them using Notability on my iPad before sending them off. So far this has worked 100% of the time.

A few days after you send the email, you get an email back that tells you if the scan was accepted or rejected. When you get the email, you go back online to the CEO portal where you can then enter a description for the purchase, clicky the boxy that says "receipt attached" (sometimes it already is clicked), and then clicky the button that says "statement reviewed." And then you're done for the month. And also, if you're like me and don't have any receipts to scan for a few months at a time, you still have to log in and click "statement reviewed" even for blank statements or it voids your login credentials. Ask me how I found that out.

I have to log in or call in every morning to see if I have a drug test that day. Wake up and do my routine. Log in. Crap... internet's down. Call in. Crap...their random selection computer is down. Go to work. Log in at 2300 before going to bed. Shit... it was a test day.

Mark wrote:I have to log in or call in every morning to see if I have a drug test that day. Wake up and do my routine. Log in. Crap... internet's down. Call in. Crap...their random selection computer is down. Go to work. Log in at 2300 before going to bed. Shit... it was a test day.

Hope they have a procedure for something like that that isn't "you didn't drug test, therefore it's considered failed" regardless of any circumstances.

graphic wrote:

Mark wrote:I have to log in or call in every morning to see if I have a drug test that day. Wake up and do my routine. Log in. Crap... internet's down. Call in. Crap...their random selection computer is down. Go to work. Log in at 2300 before going to bed. Shit... it was a test day.

Hope they have a procedure for something like that that isn't "you didn't drug test, therefore it's considered failed" regardless of any circumstances.

Let's just say the nursing board is pretty unforgiving. I've been slammed from 0600 to 2030 on EMS calls (interfacility transfers) and never made it back home or to the station. Missed a couple of times... there was no time to call in. I got dinged on those days. My bosses are pretty understanding and go out of their way to make sure I get time to test, but sometimes...

WTH? I have to do random tests as part of my job too; but having to call in off my own back to check is unthinkable - I'd simply get told by a supervisor when signing on and it gets done there and then (usually alcohol and one random test); I would not be expected to turn up outside of my shift for it.

graphic wrote:...with Microsoft Sync

Sync is a beast. While I've never had the issues you describe, the system on the Escape that "Goldfinger" has for use out at the "Coruscant Acres" account gave me fits when I wanted to play audio from a USB flash drive. It would work without issue maybe 50% of the time. The other 50% I would get some sort of error, either after the audio started playing or upon inserting the drive it would tell me the device couldn't be read. Tried a few different flash drives, all the same result.

How about this one:

Bank of America's online banking app requires you to accept microphones and cameras. McAfee called Bank of America and asked why they require microphones and cameras. They replied that – if you emptied all of the money in your account and said "it wasn't me", they could check, and then say:

Well, it certainly looks like you. And it certainly sounds like you.

In order to do that, B of A's app keeps your microphone and camera on for a half hour after you've finished your banking

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/04/mcaffee.html

Careful, though - the "McAfee" mentioned in the quote isn't McAfee Inc., but the original whack job John McAfee, so digest with care. But I still thinks it fits in this thread.

Girlfriend: Did you respond to ______'s birthday invite?
Me: No...I didn't see anything.
Girlfriend: Oh, well the party was tonight.
Me: Oh. I didn't get an email.
Girlfriend: It was on Facebook.
Me: When?
Girlfriend: Maybe two weeks ago?
Me: Oh.

Yeah, that explains it. I go on Facebook maybe twice a month.

It's amusing and slightly ironic that I probably have no idea what else I've missed due to my infrequent Facebookage.

(we had plans, so wouldn't have been able to go anyway)

graphic wrote: with Microsoft Sync.

ShyFlyer wrote:Sync is a beast.

Sync is a pain in the a$$ I have a 2010 F-150 with it, and pairing a new phone after already having one paired was miserable.

Also, didn't I see were Microsoft sold Sync to Google some time ago?

vikkyvik wrote:It's amusing and slightly ironic that I probably have no idea what else I've missed due to my infrequent Facebookage.

A number of netAirspace members who stood right next to you at the fence?

Zak wrote:

vikkyvik wrote:It's amusing and slightly ironic that I probably have no idea what else I've missed due to my infrequent Facebookage.

A number of netAirspace members who stood right next to you at the fence?

It's possible. I'm sure they sent me Facebook message after Facebook message, telling me to turn around, they were right there.

I used to be on Facebook all the time.....in 2006.

My smartphone ran out of battery this afternoon. It will now have to spend a few minutes on the charger before it will turn on again.

Problem is, it's getting dark. And I can't switch on my Philips Hue Light system without my smartphone.

#21stcenturyproblems

Zak wrote:My smartphone ran out of battery this afternoon. It will now have to spend a few minutes on the charger before it will turn on again.

Problem is, it's getting dark. And I can't switch on my Philips Hue Light system without my smartphone.

#21stcenturyproblems

Spy v Spy. I keep a back up battery stick. 19th century problem: I got one for Georgette, she lost the cable.

miamiair wrote:Spy v Spy. I keep a back up battery stick. 19th century problem: I got one for Georgette, she lost the cable.

Hey look. Blackmail.

When I moved in to my current house, I discovered on the first day that the previous owner had installed a Nest wifi-enabled learning thermostat for the air conditioning.

That's pretty cool, except that I didn't have the App for it, I didn't know the device's password, I had no home network set up yet, and no Internet to download the application needed to factory reset.

This was at the end of an extremely hot August. It took me 4 days to get the damn thing working.

Hilarious and on-topic:

Bump.

A current bug stops you from signing in to Google Calendar from your Samsung refrigerator.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/ ... A4iQNen9IJ

#21stcenturyproblems

Problem 1: Despite having a USB port, apparently Mazdas are rather bad at reading iPods. Mine read my iPod the first few times I plugged it in, but since then has obstinately refused to read it. This means that I just plug it into the auxiliary port using an audio cable, and control the music using the iPod. Not that big a deal on its own.

Problem 2: For some reason, my iPod does not charge well when I plug it into the power outlet in the car. It will charge for a couple of seconds, then stop charging, then maybe charge for another couple of seconds here and there. This means that I have to charge it using the USB port - which, for whatever reason, works just fine, charging-wise. Not that big a deal on its own.

Problem 3: When the iPod is plugged into the car USB port, it doesn't allow you to control it via the iPod itself, because it is connected to an external interface, and it thinks you should be controlling it via said external interface. Not that big a deal on its own.

Resulting problem: When I'm driving, I can't charge the iPod and play music at the same time.

Is there some setting on the iPod that I can change that will solve this problem? I don't know, maybe there is. I'm currently slightly too lazy to check.

#SaveCadet

Whoops, wrong hashtag.

Sounds like something you should be complaining to the car dealer about.