Instruction Manuals

If you have ever bought anything and had to put it together yourself, but have never done so before, you can thank your lucky stars that almost anything you buy that you have to fabricate, will come with an instruction manual. 

Some of these manuals are easy to understand with pictures and explanations, but for the most part they are vague at best but will get the job finished with some frustration.  Thankfully for some people, if they have built something before, they don't need the manual unless its for a quick reference.

I have bought more than one barbecue over the years, and every single time you do buy one, you have to assemble them yourself, but because I have assembled one before I usually don't use the manual, I'm handy and I can see what needs to go where. (minus a few screws) I have also been thoroughly frustrated with the lack of, or unclear directions and have had to muddle through it myself figuring it out along the way.

The problem with most manuals is that you have no idea of what you are going to get until you open the box.  Everyone is so dazzled by the end product or the idea of what they're buying that they don't take a moment to wonder about the difficulty of putting it together in the first place. You never know when you are going to get good instructions or bad ones. 

Why is it, that as a consumer, there is a quality control and regulation in place for a product, but not for the way it's put together? There should be a standard of excellence when selling something that need an instruction manual, and it should one of the most important pieces in the box.

Having an in depth description and a 20 page booklet is not what I'm going for here. That is too much information and easy to be overwhelmed before you even open it, but a folded single piece of paper isn't going to cut it either, as it won't explain enough. I think there should be a 3 to five page minimum on all products, with some exceptions of course, but you should never get less than three pages.

Of course this is all just my opinion as usual, and you can decide if you even want to use the manual in the first place like I do. 

Scott Goerz

Expensive Furniture, Crappy Tools

My wife and I were looking at patio sets for our deck and after searching for one we liked we decided to purchase it. A four piece set came in one small box and I knew that I was going to have some work to do, putting it together. As you would expect with most four piece sets of anything furniture related you are looking at a price tag upwards of a thousand dollars for some nice pieces, and it's my opinion that the tools should match the product.

As with most things that you buy and have to put together yourself, the package of course came with an instruction manual and it's own tools, in this case, a bunch of hexagonal allen key nuts and one allen key. 

The instruction manual had terrible pictures, and was very brief, I actually couldn't tell what one picture was depicting as it was all in one color (if black and white is a color) and looked like an origami design. I muddled through and figured out what to do, as I am pretty handy and can figure out most things.

Now to the hardware and the tools, The allen key bolts are made from a terrible type of metal, one that deforms and stretches if too much force is applied. The key itself was stronger but small, and I have to wonder what the hell the manufacturer is thinking when they decide that this was a good design choice.

If you have ever tried to use an L shaped allen key that can't make a full rotation on fine threaded bolts in a small area, you will know true frustration, the key has to fit perfectly in the head, and be straight up and down for it to work properly, if it doesn't the cheap as f**k bolts will strip and you won't be able to tighten them or remove them from their tiny area.  If you do get a perfect fit, you might get a quarter turn before you have to remove the cheap ass tool and do it all over again, get a perfect fit one hundred times without fail on one bolt, and the good news is that you have thirty bolts to line up and tighten. A good thing to do before you start would be to have a few stiff drinks, to calm the nerves.

This system of crappy tools being shipped with expensive furniture or appliances needs to change, it happens if you buy a barbecue, desk, bed frame, patio furniture and whatever else that you have to put together. It is the exact reason I will not go to IKEA for anything, ever.

Scott Goerz

Slow Integration

Self driving cars are not right around the corner, the problem and lack of internet services in remote locations as well as unforeseen glitches plague the technology. One of the main hurdles for a self driving car is that not everyone can afford one. There is not an artificial intelligence algorithm out there that can compensate for human error, and the people who don't have a self driving car would be the main hazards of those that do. 

What I'm noticing now is that some of the features of self driving vehicles is starting to be integrated into newer vehicles, there is a lane crossing warning that beeps to warn you that you have gone over the line in an intersection if you haven't signaled, there is an automatic slow down when travelling in cruise control and you come up to another vehicle and your vehicle automatically slows you down and keeps pace with the traffic.

There is automatic parking assist, back up cameras, collision sensors, airbag sensors, GPS monitoring, and automatic in distress notifications. Some vehicles have one or all of these features integrated into their systems depending on the make or model of the car.

There are a few exceptions that I have seen where a fully autonomous self driving truck delivers beer but these are just tests along long stretches of non busy highways, they are not in full production yet, but they are slowly getting more and more integrated technologies installed into them along with constant upgrades.

What truly troubles me about an update to your vehicles system, is when someone screws up. How many times has your phone been updated with a new system that is supposed to improve upon an existing foundation, only to find that your phone has completely changed and you don't know how to find anything?  There is no manual and you have to fiddle with by trial and error.

Now imagine this happens to your car the night before you have to go to work the next day, you hop in your car and your settings are all different and there are new things that you have no idea how to use.  If it were a self driving car this would not be a problem and your vehicle would simply take you to work, drop you off at the front door and then go park itself.

We are getting closer to the self driving car, but it's going to be a Slow Integration.

Scott Goerz

Your Dream Job

All of us have to go to work, some of us love our jobs but most of us hate it.  Then there are some of us who don't mind the job and what they are really doing is the bare minimum to earn a paycheck.  What would you do if you had a choice? If there was nothing to hold you back or years of schooling to muddle through before you got to where you wanted, what would be your dream job.

In a fantasy world where I imagine I would be happiest, I always thought Hugh Hefner had a pretty awesome job. Being the owner and president of Playboy Magazine would be a cushy gig. Beautiful women running around in skimpy outfits or naked altogether, money rolling in by the truck load, a big mansion, and parties everyday seems like every guys dream.

But I truly think this would get old after awhile, the same thing happening every day, women would be mere objects to you, a way to make money and satisfy your primal urges, other than  that they would become useless and annoying. I imagine you probably wouldn't get to know anyone on a deeper level, the women themselves would be fake and suck up to you all the time, as well as the men in your employment. A true friend would be hard to find and a spouse even harder.

Rock star is another job I think would be the ultimate way to make money and love your life at the same time, It could get busy and hectic at times but it would be worth it. The reward for your hard work besides the money would be the fans who love what you have written from your heart and soul, that is more rewarding than any sort of monetary gain in my opinion. Once again though it would be hard to meet anybody that you could trust, gold diggers would be everywhere.

In a normal world where I might love my job, would be in video game design and ideas. I love a good story, art, music, gameplay, and new ideas. To be surrounded with other people who are like minded and creative as well would be a great experience. Feeding off each others ideas and expanding upon an already great concept is something I would truly enjoy.

What would you dream job be? Fantasy or otherwise.

Scott Goerz

Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality is a piece of hardware you put on your head which shows you a completely 3D rendered space in which you can move around in and interact with.  It feels like you are somewhere else and is quite impressive when you enter into a new fantasy world that doesn't exist in reality.  Sometimes, however, you can feel disconnected with that world because the hand controls are not responsive and you are blocked by an unseen force that will not allow you to go into certain areas.  As the technology grows the immersiveness  will only get better.

Augmented reality is another piece of hardware which you wear on your head but you can still see the world around you, like the inside of your house, office, backyard, or wherever, but in those spaces it can project images that appear like they are right in front of you and you can interact with. Let's say you wanted to see what different types of furniture would look like in your house without having to go out and buy them, or a different paint color on your walls without painting.

It has other interesting applications as well, such as simply having a conversation with your friends or loved ones, and they would appear as if they were standing there in front of you. If you needed ideas for your job or collaborate with colleagues from around the world you could easily do this as well. It also can be directly linked to your cell phone and the two pieces of technology can interact with each other seamlessly. 

I think this is going to be a huge success in the future with endless possibilities. I have provided a link with a short video that you can watch here:   Augmented Reality

Scott Goerz

Lego

When I was growing up, I had a huge box of Lego and it was all in different shapes and sizes with a multitude of different colors. I had no instruction manual or key for which piece belonged to what set. I had a bunch of Lego men that I could set up and arrange in an army fashion or have them stand off against each other.

The whole purpose of having Lego was to use your imagination, to build something from scratch from your mind's eye.  That creativity that comes from within is lost when we are told how to build it and which piece goes where.

You will be hard pressed to find a box of Lego that is just blocks and pieces anymore, and if you do it may be online and cost a fortune.  There are rip off blocks that try to emulate the Lego brick, but they are not as well made and some of the pieces don't fit together. 

Everything that is Lego these days has a theme that it follows, from Batman to Star wars to Pirates of the Caribbean, and these sets costs a lot of money for simple plastic bricks, but the designs and trade names cost money too and that is where the cost rises. 

The problem with Lego being themed is that it puts a date on them, when is a certain style of Batman no longer be interesting or the Indiana Jones Lego set become boring and nobody wants to play with it anymore.

We are getting lost with the purpose of Lego, it is a mainstream themed toy that quickly gets replaced by a newer model. 

The whole purpose of Lego, is that you had a box of never ending toys, if you got bored with a toy that you had constructed, you could simply break it down and make a new one.  The construction was fun and playing with the toy afterwards was as well.

Lego the company should bring back the cheaper huge box of multiple pieces for a decent price, and let kids start using their minds again, it probably was the smartest toy in the world but has now settled into a sideshow attraction.

Scott Goerz

My Anthem Review

As most of you know I am a gamer, and a new game called Anthem has been released.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this game when a video surfaced about 2 years ago, With the game finally being released there is a mixed bag of reviews out there ranging from terrible to fantastic.

The Bad:

As I play this game, I find myself wondering if the developer reviewed any of the problems associated with other online only role playing games and used those issues as an example of what not to do.  I wonder this because it seems to me that they did not.  The loading times are atrocious and you find yourself constantly waiting for the game to load all the time.

 Why did I have to pick a character at the beginning of the game when you never get to see them or personalize them in any way?  The city area is bland there is no commerce here, you can't buy, sell, or trade any equipment which can be a fun game in and of itself, but sadly is not present, and instead you are left with the only option of buying online cosmetics that change daily, you can use earned in game currency or gems that you use real money to purchase.

The world itself seems to hold wonders, but after flying from one location to the next it feels like you are in a museum walking through a statue display, while they are interesting to look at, that is all it is, there are no clues as to the what the ruins were used for or why they are even there. Bioware could have had etchings on the wall explaining different areas as well as clues of where to find hidden treasures, which would make you want to explore the areas. They do have a little bubbles in places with a pop up explaining what the area is, but you can see this bubble from far away and it's not all that interesting.

Playing with other people would be more enjoyable if the game didn't constantly tell me that I am out of the mission boundaries when another player races to the next area, there is a countdown timer that will automatically teleport you to the new mission area, so you are screwed if you wanted to collect that plant or search the area.  When you are teleported, you get to enjoy yet another loading screen. This can happen three or four times during the same mission, it's very annoying.

The Good:

Despite the issues that plague this game I find myself still drawn to it, the different powers that you can equip are interesting when used in the field and have some different combo applications, using these class specific powers is incredibly easy and they recharge by themselves. The shooting is fun, you aim then shoot with you hitting the target, your gun doesn't fly off all aver the place with extreme recoil, even at long distances, which makes for some very satisfying gun battles.

 You are in control of your character, there will be no excuses that you died because of lag infested controls and terrible reaction times. The control is tight and precise, fly, dodge shoot, or run at ant given time with no delay.  There are some very interesting guns and suit perks that you can enjoy, and you can see the difference when using them on the field.

Matchmaking is quick and painless, I have seen no time difference when loading into the game by yourself or with three random people. You can go off by yourself if you like, which I enjoy, but if the mission is too difficult you can always retry it with a group of other people.

The art, graphics, animation, and characters are excellent, they put a lot of time into these systems and it shows, everything is seamless with next to no clipping or characters passing through each other.

The world itself is beautiful, water effects, leaves on trees, and even underground caves are well thought out and always show something new when visiting them, there are animals that are not a threat roaming about which gives the world more life.

I do like this game and I will continue to play it, There is nothing that I would have to buy with real money, there is no need for micro transactions unless you haven't made enough in game currency for your cosmetic upgrade.

It's fun and I enjoy it, who knows, maybe you will too.

Scott Goerz