I understand security is paramount. But if my phone is unlocked next to me, its secure enough for me to do basic stuff.
Heck, if my phone is that close, can I at least accept that even viewing text messages is ok?
Oh, wait, you do allow that, but you threaten to delete my Samsung Pay cards from the watch. hmmm… Seems like you can lock the Samsung Pay app while leaving the rest unlocked. This lockdown, when and after charging, is BS.
Charging and battery life sucks. I could charge my FitBit Sense2 while showering. It really made showering a regular routine. IF, and I mean IF it were down to a 20% charge, I could get it to 90+ percent in less than half an hour. That’s a toothbrush, shower, coffee, laundry, and done.
Now, it essentially takes a full hour every single day, and often that’s 2x a day. I now regularly leave the watch at home because I can’t just pick it up and put it on after the shower. That 90% charge would last more than a day.
So, if I charged it daily, it could be done in less than 20 minutes. Instead, not only am I charging in the morning, but I am also frequently charging in the evening.
Thus, like leaving it at home in the morning, because its on the charger in the evening, I’m passing out before I get it off the charger.
I’m thinking you really need a charge alarm. If I’m charging 2x per day, hopefully then it can be done in 30 minutes if religiously done. That said, like the medicine reminder, you need a loud, hey, IT’S BEEN 30 MINUTES thing. PICK ME UP BEFORE YOU LEAVE (or pass out!!!). Sure, I have smart things turned on, but once out of the house, I can’t make it back.
Part of the issue is that the 9.9-watt charger rarely exceeds 2.5 watts, and when it does, it only goes slightly higher. Sure, sometimes up to 2.95 watts, but typically less.
Speaking of the frequent need to recharge. Yes, a
the other day, it said 11.5+ hours at 70% then 6 hours at 30%, then dead in 2 hours. it was 4 hours short of the 11 hours.
Yet the next day the phone died, and it dropped less than 10% charge in 3.5 hours. This is amazing since typically, it freaks out and loses 80% of its charge in just a couple of hours.
Below is just a stream-of-consciousness list of notes… only roughly worked in.
The Samsung watch kind of sucks on a few cases first this 9 + what charger cannot get above 2.9 watts and it’s frequently in the lower half of the twos to what range. I can literally plug it in and while it’s plugged in watch, the battery charge dropped 10% just because it can’t keep up to its own screen. And that brings me to the issue of trying to turn it off I understand that you have the watch set to automatically turn on when it gets plugged in I’m sorry I wanted to charge not discharge and I even did a hard reset on my watch thinking it was broken because you didn’t even tell me that this was grayed out I pushed it like 200 times trying to get it to power off just so it would charge. Maybe she pop pop up a info thing saying hey you can’t turn off right now because of the setting is set to always be on In which case maybe maybe just maybe you should say hey do you want to disable this or do you want to disable this right now or permanently. The other day just by going into work out mode I lost 25% of my charge It went dead yes didn’t shut into some battery saver mode or anything It was about 28% the locker room when I was on the floor is probably 25% when I hit start my yoga routine It stopped at the 40 minute mark. Maybe that was it trying to search for Bluetooth cuz I found out today that I went from 50% charge to 0% charge in 2 hours because I turned off my Bluetooth it’s easier to hit one button than disconnect headphones and reconnect headphones and do all those other stuff just turn off Bluetooth so rather than doing a deep battery surge searching for Bluetooth maybe she go into BLE mode Bluetooth flow energy Maybe that is happening because it’s desperate to find a phone which it shouldn’t be if I might be leaving it to go work out or something It gave me alert I swipe it away and acknowledgment that doesn’t mean I’m trying to find my phone. Maybe it’s that that’s pretty concern Wi-Fi and LTE on cuz I do have those set to airplane mode because I don’t need three radios I don’t need location services when I’m getting location services through my phone I have that turned off too maybe that’s being turned on because it’s disconnected from the phone I don’t know All I know is my battery goes from 50% to 0% in less than 2 hours from 25% to 0% in less than 40 minutes
it’s preface this by standing that whenever a ride or gets in my car I’m asking him where are they going give me the name of the place you’re going is there something identifiable is there a blue awning a green awning is there a big letters on the building that says 2121 maybe the entrance says lifestyle shaman maybe the interest of the parking lot says green life number one
correction: The user interface appears to be fixed as of late 2025 but the questioning is not. I have decided to add a second user interface suggestion that is seriously directly involved with this see the last half of this article
so I do like that Ube gives writers the opportunity to type in the destination as a name of where they’re going sure it sometimes that dated, but at least they can do it. Heck maybe Uber should prompt them sometimes I do they at least on the pickup they’re like is that near XY or z business I don’t know how that appears to us cuz it doesn’t say it doesn’t often say near ex maybe that’s because people don’t actually click on Yes this is what it’s by. but why not do that on the destination as well you know the address you know what businesses are at that address
Heck if it’s a place they go to a lot prompt them say hey is this somewhere you go a lot is there something identifiable about it is it red blue red door is it have a tree swing in front maybe it’s got a wooden fence if the others don’t have well it’s not very consistent you could ask hey is there often a red car is there a truck off and out in front
this displaying of the address seems to be fixed in the latter half of 2025. I don’t know when it was fixed I was off to platform for about 2 or 3 months when I switched to Lyft due to poor customer service experiences with Uber me being a customer drivers are customers too but then we’re also the product what users are the product I don’t know
but then comes the issue you end up displaying the name of the business they’re going to and it’s nearly impossible to find the address I can see on the map where we’re going but the address helps me know less side of the street right side of the street mentally I’m like hey this is three blocks south of main Street That’s a useful piece of information that the address gives me that isn’t always known on the map because I have to examine the map versus a quick two-word description of 201 South 1st Street
addition relative to what was stated above
I believe I stated this under the perfect app checklist
when I say Knowing Knowing where you’re going and knowing identifying markers is important. part of that plays into the request or suggestion to zoom in on the destination when you hit start right ride ride. One of the super nice things about Lyft is it highlights the building you’re picking up from and dropping off at it’s only accurate about 60 to 80% of the time depends on the day some days it’s right almost 100% other times it’s wrong almost 100%. that said if you zoom in on your destination when you accept the ride when you start the ride sorry you can know that you’re going to ride from this direction drop the passenger off on that side and it’s this shape of the building they placed a pan at this entrance that’s all great now I know where I’m going and what I’m doing pair that with knowing the name of the building or what color of awning it is or something like that You’ve got a perfect way to find the destination
but also part of that it’s also something left excels at once you’ve accepted the ride Lyft continues to show you the destination where you’re going so while you’re waiting for that person to come out you can see the destination and be like oh I’m going to 2121 main Street that’s on the east side of the road that is a third building down all that cool stuff Uber on the other hand gives you a vague destination maybe up to six blocks away while you’re accepting the trip and you don’t get to plan your destination till after you start the ride I suppose that’s a security feature but you’re going to know where they’re going anyway eventually
not aside I hadn’t really been thinking about it before but The only thing to make that even better is have the option to toggle in the street view and say this is a recent view of the building granite if it is changed since the street view a picture was taken it’s useless, and there should be a way to flag that street view date as inaccurate but hey put on the screen and you can show the writer is this where we’re going Yes okay let’s go. Heck drop the writer and say is this the your destination put an x on the door you’re trying to get to Grant you can do that from overhead when you say what’s the destination or pick up
this is a stream of conscious draft I’m posting this despite being a ruff ruff ruff draft because I probably won’t be editing to make it a clean post it’s just my diary of the day
I’ve never been at 100% of my charge yet
and kind of missing fist fitbit’s charging it had actual charging connectors versus the induction charging I hate induction charging on my phone cuz it’s so freaking slow and on this watch it took forever to charge I took a shower folded a bunch of sheets I was an hour in it said it was charging and it should have taken only an hour but no it was still stuck charging at only 50% wiggle it around nothing changed you know wiggled it more and it said charging pause and then it restarted charging and well I sat there it was in battery I turned on battery saving mode manually because it was so bad
then while I was sitting there I lost 8% of my battery charge Three of that percent was after I turned on battery saving. The induction charger cannot keep up to a screen being on. another thing that’s confusing with the watches it automatically turns on when you plug it in. thus I sat there for three of those percent trying to turn it off I ended up force restarting it it was on again turns out when you charge it it automatically turns on hello I need to charge this a lot faster than 2 hours for a 3 to 100% charge. I got it to 6% it dropped down to 53% once again trying to figure out how to turn it off finally figured out it out you can’t turn off the watch because it’s sent to automatically turn back on.
first of all that’s horrible because I’m trying to charge it faster second when I try to hit the power button it should say hey this is the setting you can’t turn it off or hey you want to turn off despite this feature what do you want to change this feature come on Samsung user interface poor poor poor user interface
stream of consciousness draft. I put the dress out there because I’m not going to refine them nine times out of 10
you know I’m not super picky about ratings when I accept a trip the rating can really prepare me for the trip it doesn’t tell me what the passengers done wrong in the past but they’ve done enough that people have chosen to rate them poorly
unfortunately an Uber they no longer show you The rating once you accept a trip by no longer I don’t mean they used to they showed it before you accepted the trip but now that I’m preparing to drive there to pick him up or waiting my 15 minutes to pick him up okay that’s an exaggeration but will you picking up a horrible writer that becomes an emotional 15 minutes if I had known they were a bad writer I could have prepared but instead I have to endure horability without warning on a trip kind of freaks me out
lift at least says hey this person has been a problem before be prepared.
being reminded of a riders rating doesn’t really affect my rating of them after the trip per se. it’s a five stars I might rate them for on their first thing if they’re not super bad but if they’re not super bad I’m not going to write them for again because I already know they’ve been rated down. if they already say more than minor I’m going to rate them poorly no matter what
I honestly think that we do IRV wrong. It’s frequently used as part of a first-past-the-post system (FPTP), and that in itself is known for causing pendulum swings with growing levels of extreme policies, which end up jerking the population between ever deeper extremes.
This is something I have been saying for years. I first thought of it when looking for solutions to the issues people had raised with the Bucklin voting system.
Now, forget that term/voting method. This issue applies to most, if not all, IRV uses today.
I think of this again today as I look at how divisive the United States is today. I come to you today asserting that if you want to “Make America Great Again,” We need a unified, not a divided, front.
In theory, the IRV systems allow the most wanted, and hopefully most qualified candidate to win.
Saying no, “people are dumb,” would also invalidate any vote you would have.
Ignoring people that are “dumb” is no different than ignoring people that are “not dumb.” Voting is the way people are heard. People not heard lead to revolutions.
Anyway, here’s the deal. With the use of IRV, we can feel more comfortable having 3rd candidates. This eliminates the pendulum swings of FPTP voting systems. (See FPTP issues)
Gaining a third candidate introduces new ideas and movements into the system, allowing us to have the option for a candidate who can fix things. Perhaps they’re more centrist, but that unifying factor is what can help provide a unified front versus a divided one.
Don’t worry, the views on either end of the spectrum still get heard. Remember, they still have to engage you and your opinions. Additionally, there are more players in the game, including people from other districts and levels of government.
After all, we have three branches of the federal government. All pick the POTUS; Congress members come from local districts, and Senators generally represent your state; and those groups pick the Judges for federal courts. NOTE: There may also be issues to address with the Senate & House (See: Congress: House & Senate Improvements).
Additionally, at the state level, we have the same branches locally: Legislative, Executive, Judicial branches.
Finally, locally, you have City/Town and County governments that can address needs. All three levels of government work together, often challenging each other, while working together to do the best they can for the people they govern.
Basically, when a third candidate enters the FPTP system, people are afraid to vote for them fearing they are throwing their vote away.
The concept is:
Part 1: Let’s assume each candidate will receive 33% of the vote. Now, if my candidate (Candidate C) were to potentially receive only 33% of the vote, because they are not part of one of the major parties, they wouldn’t have the support to overcome the other two, so that 33% ends up being 20%. Now, the other two candidates get 39/42% of the vote. (Candidates A/B)
Part 2: Now we have voters strategically voting. lets call it shooting the line or strait line voting. Of that 20%, ten percent opt to vote for the candidate they think “CAN” Win. Perhaps it’s splitting 4% & 6% making the other two candidates have 43% & 48% (Candidates A/B) while…
Part 3: The final 10% stick to the “BEST Candidate” even though they won’t win. Maybe it’s to make a statement, maybe to be loyal.
What statements are they making?
A: Is it that they like their views and want to make sure the winners consider them?
B: Is it that neither of the other candidates is decent enough to deserve a vote?
Finally, here’s the deal! Of that last 10%, nine percent would prefer Candidate A. Thus, in theory, that 43/47% is actually 52% vs 48%. Analyzing these results, Candidate A is the preferred winner, yet Candidate B is the chosen winner, winning with ONLY 47% of the vote.
With IRV, one would say the solution is to let people vote for a second choice, and allow their votes to roll over.
Looking at it, because they’re not throwing their vote away, the voters are not afraid of throwing away their vote, so the vote sticks to 39/41/20%. Then IRV kicks in, eliminating Candidate C and redistributing the second-choice votes from their voters to Candidate A or B, respectively. Thus, Candidate A wins with 52% of the vote.
YAY, The best candidate wins!!!
However, did they really? If you analyze the votes again, we see that 50% of those who voted for Candidates A & B also liked Candidate C; however, because Candidate C was not a part of a major party, they discounted their viability. Hence, the drop from 33% to 20%
Let’s further analyze this:
Method 1: Round 1>> Final Outcome >> AV totals
Candidate A: 33% >> 16% >> 52% (Loser in FPTP)
Candidate B: 34% >> 17% >> 48% (Eliminated via AV) (FPTP Winner)
Candidate C: 33% >> 65% >> 65% (Winner via AV-IRV) (Eliminated via IRV)
Method 2: Round 1>> Final Outcome >> AV totals
Candidate A: 39% >> 19% >> 52% (Loser in FPTP)
Candidate B: 41% >> 20% >> 47% (Eliminated via AV) (FPTP Winner)
Candidate C: 20% >> 59% >> 59% (Winner via AV-IRV) (Eliminated via IRV)
^^^ These are wrong…. See “Why AC” below, where I return Candidate A & C’s votes when B is eliminated
Either way, Candidate C was approved or even liked by at worst 59% of the voters and possibly even 65% of the voters. Yet, we eliminated that choice up front!!!
Candidate C was eliminated with both IRV & FPTP, despite being the most liked Candidate by a margin of 7-13% in this example.
NOTE: I’m not a fan of the strict AV voting method. Its too easy to result in a tie as eventually, everyone approves of several people.
Instead, use AV to eliminate the least approved candidate, and then redistribute the votes just as you would in a traditional IRV scenario.
Remember how I mentioned straight-line voting. The concept is that you vote only for the ONE candidate you like, so that you don’t dilute your vote, potentially allowing another person to win, while you really only want Candidate X to win.
Nice in concept, but that’s the same issue as throwing away your vote that happens when you vote for a third-party candidate in the original FPTP system.
People have attempted to solve the issue of throwing away your vote with IRV by “REQUIRING” People to make a second choice. This was ruled unconstitutional, hence the issue with Bucklin voting. People found it worked best if they always cast a second-choice vote, and rather than reworking it, they just tossed it away.
Yet, the issue still stands. IRV often eliminates the preferred candidate because people shoot the line to eliminate the possibility of their candidate being the 3rd candidate in the first round. i.e. to prevent throwing away their vote.
I came up with this because of the issues with forcing people to make a second choice. By using AV and changing the elimination methods, I believe this encourages people to make that second choice. After all, if their second choice means that Candidate B instead of C is eliminated, maybe their choice of A will still win.
Check this out. Let’s look at methods A & B again, but split the choices.
In these Examples, it doesn’t mean the 3rd party candidate wins. it just means the least popular is eliminated vs just the lowest vote getter in round 1
Playing with numbers to show that Candidate C might not win even if surviving round 1
Remember: 2nd votes from voters of candidates not eliminated don’t count for other candidates in the final count since their candidate isn’t eliminated.
| Example 1 Winner: Candidate | (Equal due to IRV, but also Dead heat all the way) — Rounding in favor of Candidate C — 51% of B’s voters like A (21/20) — C voters split on Candidate A & B | |||
| Example 1: | Round 1 | AV Totals | Final Outcome | |
| Candidate A: | 33% | 16c+17b+33a=66% 16c+16b+33a=65% | 0c+0b+ 0a=0% IRV: 16c+0b+33a=49% | (Loser in FPTP) (Eliminated via AV) (Loser in IRV) |
| Candidate B: | 35% | 16c+35b+16a=67% 16c+35b+15a=66% | 0c+35b+16a=51% 0c+35b+15a=50% | (FPTP Winner) (IRV Winner) |
| Candidate C: | 32% | 32c+18b+17a=67% 32c+19b+18a=69% | 32c+0b+17a=49% 32c+0b+18a=50% | (Eliminated via IRV) |
| In a close race, is this fair? Candidate B got 3% more in Round 1 Candidate C got 3% more approval | ||||
| Where’s the tie breaker? — Just as NOW, Tally their votes, then just as with IRV, tally the 2nd votes of the eliminated candidate. There’s bound to be a difference, just like today has close races. Just like now, a true tiebreaker is done via the sitting VP? Thus, a trend towards the incumbent/sitting party. | ||||
| Example 2 Winner: Candidate A | (Voting for preferred candidate up front) — All of A voters like C — 51% of B’s voters like A (21/20) — C voters split on Candidate A & B | |||
| Example 2: | Round 1 | AV Totals | Final Outcome | |
| Candidate A: | 39% | 10c+21b+39a=70% | 21b+ 39a=60% | (Loser in FPTP) (Winner in IRV) (Winner via AV-IRV) |
| Candidate B: | 41% | 10c+41b+0a=51% | 0+0+0=0% | (FPTP Winner) (Eliminated via AV) |
| Candidate C: | 20% | 20c+20b+39a= 79% | 20c+20b=40% | (Eliminated via IRV) |
| While Candidate C has the highest AV percentage, Candidate A is higher in round 1, and more of Candidate B voters prefer Candidate A. The Winner goes to Candidate A: 60/40 | ||||
| Candidate C still loses, but Candidate B only had 51% of the vote at any time. It’s much preferred to take their 21% vote to A and 20% to C, both of which are more popular in general | ||||
| Example 3 Winner: Candidate C | (Voting for preferred candidate up front) — All of A likes C — 75% of B’s voters like C — C voters split on A & B | |||
| Example 3: | Round 1 | AV Totals | Final Outcome | |
| Candidate A: | 39% | 10c+10b+39a = 59% | 10b+39a =49 | (Loser in FPTP) (Winner in IRV) |
| Candidate B: | 41% | 10c+41b+0a = 51% | 0+0+0=0% | (FPTP Winner) (Eliminated via AV) |
| Candidate C: | 20% | 20c+31b+39a = 90% | 31b+20c=51% | (Eliminated via IRV) (Winner via AV-IRV) |
| Candidate C is very popular with 90% approval, and would have been eliminated in both FPTP & IRV methods of voting. Granted, they still barely won, but Candidate 2 was still liked by many of Candidate B’s voters; thus, their votes were not wasted. If the vote counts had been slightly different, so that Candidate A had won, it would have been justified, even with Candidate C having a 90% approval rating. Especially given that Candidate C was at least given a fighting chance that would not have been available with FPTP & Traditional IRV. | ||||
| This was an exhilarating and competitive race. However, with the Lowest Approval rating, Candidate B’s winning in FPTP & IRV would have been an injustice to the majority of voters. | ||||
| Example 4 Winner: Candidate B | (Voting for preferred candidate up front) — A Voters split between B & C — 75% of B’s voters like C — C voters split on A & B | |||
| Example 4: | Round 1 | AV Totals | Final Outcome | |
| Candidate A: | 39% | 10c+10b+39a = 59% | 0+0+0=0% | (Eliminated via AV) |
| Candidate B: | 41% | 10c+41b+19a = 70% | 0c+41b+19a = 60% | (FPTP Winner) (Winner via AV-IRV) |
| Candidate C: | 20% | 20c+31b+19a = 70% | 20c+19a=39% | (Eliminated via IRV) |
| Candidates B & C are both very popular with 70% Approval. C would have been eliminated with 20% of the vote in either FPTP or IRV, but their votes counted instead, and Candidate A’s votes were not wasted as they still counted towards Candidate B & C | ||||
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Louis Rossmann does NOT authorize this page. It is my own page that I created to quickly link to him and the things he uses or suggests. It does not fully adhere to his suggestions or philosophy and incorporates some of my personal opinions and language, particularly in the sections below his links. This is not a recommendation from me, but rather a list allowing you to make your own decisions.
I am a fan of Louis Rossmann. He does well at staying apolitical, particularly when it comes to parties and traditional issues. He sticks to the right to repair, owning your own stuff, and right to privacy issues. These are issues that both sides hopefully can get behind.
He’s a self-hosting advocate of the anti-evil do the right thing policy scope of life. He’s pointed out that piracy is back because big corporations have not been doing the anti-evil do-the-right-thing thing.
i.e., you can do all these things with existing hardware and software; however, because these big brother companies want their hand permanently in your pocket and home, they have tried to limit both your rights and ability to use things you have purchased.
Things like 4k video. Serve me my media, don’t make me use a spyware-laden smart TV. I have to both pay more AND give up my rights?!
Part of what’s right is the right to cancel “Click-To-Cancel”, and the ability to opt out and have simple TOS agreements—especially regarding forced changes after you’ve made a purchase, whether it’s a service, software, or a physical/hardware product.
Basically, be clear and transparent; let us cancel; and let us own the things we’ve purchased. If we bought online, let us cancel online. If we signed up in your store, let us cancel in your store. None of this, mail a certified letter to X. A confirmation number/screen at the time of cancellation should be sufficient.
Significant issues include companies such as Adobe, Roku, Apple, Google, and John Deere, as well as products you own or use, including cameras, cars, home automation, memberships, media, etc. Additionally, there are traditional right-to-repair concerns, including gaming systems, printers, and your right to use any ink, among others.
Another significant issue is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act – Wikipedia, which essentially already covers most issues. However, as times have changed, it does not spell out some things clearly enough for today’s corporations and government officials. He has worked to propose this additional law for submission and inclusion in the state law books. 2025: 41 Bills in 20 states via PIRG (Not just 2025, recently, bills have been submitted to multiple states each year.)
A FOSS advocate (Free and Open Source Software) vs simply OSS, which is often better on its own vs strictly proprietary.
His sites:
WARNING: Google has been slow loading for people it detects are using a YouTube AdBlocker.
I have finally found the suggestion by Louis Rossmann and several other Privacy advocates.
They are suggesting uBlock Origin by Raymond Hill (oBO). As discussed, while Google has been pro-ad blocker, with it being both an ad company and a browser developer, it has recently been heavy-handed about how ad blockers are to behave. As such, to provide complete and essential benefits to users, uBlock Origin is no longer available in Chrome as of Chrome 139 (August 2025) and will most likely not work with other Chromium-based browsers at some point. As such, uBO is primarily available on the Firefox browser. {FYI: Browser Engines (Basic / Full List & Specifically Chromium Based Browsers}
That said, it does work with blocking lists compiled by the broader AdBlock community, i.e., those still on Chrome. It uses several of these lists by default, as well as its own lists.
Rossmann and other privacy professionals also recommend network & DNS-based services to better block ALL browsers, prevent data leaks, and run behind the scenes so the devices on the network need not be involved. This is especially important with IOT devices that like to “Call Home” and report data. Many of these devices are closed, and thus, you are unable to add blocking to the devices themselves.
IOT refers to Internet of Things Devices such as TVs, cameras, fridges, light switches & outlets, thermostats, etc.
My two main issues with DNS & Router-based solutions are:
A: That they are hard to override when you want/need to. i.e., when a site breaks due to blocking
B: They can slow rather than speed up browsing because when sites are requesting a connection, that gets blocked. This is because the connection needs to time out before the browser continues. Sure, some things happen simultaneously, but all too often, you sit there for over a minute while scripts wait before releasing the page, displaying content, or letting you click on things.
Below is from before I found Louis Rossman’s suggestions.
NOTE: I can’t find Louis’s recommendations. They are 2 years old by now anyway. Hence, I’m looking.
Facebook Container : Not Ads, but removes and warns of Facebook trackers/Pixels on sites. Generally, they are relatively common and broadly present on sites across the internet (A Firefox plug-in
I’m not vetting. Some of these may be liberal, and others conservative, vs non-biased
In theory, both sides should be seeking freedom of speech, else they get the same restrictions in return when the tables are turned.
NetNeutrality
technically a parallel post. for now this is stream of throat it was mostly written via voice to text so there’s lots of errors but it’s up here for comment I. and RFC. parallel because I will be pulling sections out I will create a post that is a bullet point checklist chart and then these long sections will be a post of their own linked to from that chart
Lyft is way too flatp maybe that’s cuz I have night mode turned on but that doesn’t mean much there’s plenty ways you could make night mode still high contrast enough
Lyft, I love that you integrate with Waze so well, but there are some random times you’re pulling it back to your app and erasing the ways directions and I start all over which is a pain because your navigation buttons freak out at least half the time and not because I’m driving you really need to improve that so it’s a one tap return after all I’m trying to drive not touch my f****** phone.
your navigation buttons don’t work half the time, and I sometimes think it might be because you don’t want us touching our device but the tablet still lets me touch it the thing still isn’t work if I’m stopped for 20 or 30 seconds playing around the phone trying to get it to work and then I’m like f*** it I’ll pick up my phone while I’m stopped and you’re not give me a warning not to touch my phone so I’m touching my phone and having to manually enter the address we’re trying to get to That’s not good customer service to me or the writer r i d e r
like I said I don’t know if it’s a Don’t touch your phone kind of thing because that’s what I’m not moving. and yet when I am moving and I touch the navigation button you automatically take me back to my navigation app versus the three different buttons I’m trying to push otherwise navigation talk open top take me there then bottom button which is low contrast and small so it takes me longer to find and click then I can navigate so yeah that’s a 50/50 when that happens it’s to whether you take me straight to navigation or whether I have to stop because you’re making me go through four clicks
it’s like come on you don’t want me to touch my phone
which brings me to touching my phone You’re like don’t touch your phone stop moving put down your phone yeah I’m not touching my phone it’s sitting in its holster not even touching it
lift something I totally totally totally hate is that your arrive button doesn’t automatically get clicked
Lyft needs a better dark mode/night theme
from bigger one-way arrows higher contrast which can be done in dark mode you don’t need 80% and 100% black you can do 60% and 80% and 100% black weight
One of my favorite things with Lyft is did it highlights the actual building the person’s coming from not just putting a pin somewhere, now that’s 100% accurate there’s a few times that it has lit the building next door and supposedly that was when the rider actually typed in the address for the building they were in which brings me to the map issue
Lyft allows me to Mark things on the map most of which are hazards one’s a closure, but none of them are to fix an error on the map and that’s a big issue supposedly Uber does too at least for the errors but a significant number of times that error is something you have to go into from their website and a severe pain and hard to link it to a ride which also makes ratings in that ride hard to justify because yeah
Lyft does a better job with displaying Ride info when you’re going to accept it the total for the ride is a lot clearer, but what I don’t like is I don’t know how much wait time they’re expecting and are they including that 19 to $30 per hour as wait time too, cuz that would be a very nice thing is to say typical weight for this writer is x minutes then I know they’re probably including wait time in that calculation because they’re displaying that time in the menu
one big thing that both Uber and Lyft need is A slow start option. you see if it’s slow out or if I need a break I don’t need to be offline I just need them to know hey it’s going to be an extra 2 minutes for me to get to this writer then if you just gave you a flat out ping. if I’m pissing or if I’m buying something I’m able to start taking calls but I might not be running out immediately I’m checking out I’m paying that doesn’t take 5 minutes that takes one maybe two minutes but if the next nearest rider is 4 minutes away I’m still the best driver to do the pickup not much different than if I’m meandering around to drop off the previous passenger you do the same thing you say hey this guy is going to be in your neighborhood we’ll send you to them but they’re going to be another 8 minutes cuz they’re dropping another person off no for that scenario you’re typically showing where that driver’s driving to and telling them they’re driving dropping off another passenger kind of interesting that you’re actually doing that versus just saying hey they’re dropping someone off because this is showing them exactly where this person is but hey
does Uber and Lyft are horrible about horizontal viewing they try and force you vertical but my maps are all horizontal and less than 20% of the time is it better to be vertical same thing in reverse if it’s vertical less than 20% of the time is it better to be horizontal so that means 60% time it doesn’t matter. so Uber and Lyft give me a horizontal option that works for you guys I can force it on my tablet by using a split screen so you can do it but your format tends to suck. Lyft it shows me the top menu it shows me the bottom menu but when you ping something I can’t see the new ride request I have to go look at my phone and even pick it up because it’s so tiny you can’t read it
let’s talk destination mode
list destination mode appears to work well Ubers does not let’s dissect that to see if it’s by design or what they say it’s they made improvements but they never fixed what was broken just added features which don’t matter since it’s still appears broken
okay let’s begin Uber continuously pings you with loud radar alerts saying here’s a ride here’s a ride here’s a ride none of those into my destination and you’re harassing me creating a hostile work environment with that harassment as you suggest I go on these rides I’m ready to just turn off due to the obnoxious noise that you’re creating
now once again Uber The never actually start to send you to your destination. it’s like okay that ride is taking me way out of the way is that with them knowing they’re going to send me that direction or not because that no point have they ever said okay we’ve done your thing you need to be headed that way because it’s silently switches hostile work environment silent switch to giving you random calls anywhere in town if I’m 15 minutes from my destination it’s not always obvious until I’m on a call and I’m like this drop off is after the time when I’m already supposed to be at my destination. it is obvious also when I’m going home and I’m four blocks from home and you start giving me six things lowering my acceptance rating hostile environment because you’re taking away perks because of a low acceptance rating and since you’re giving me so many pings I cannot turn off unless I accept one turn off and then cancel it once again hasta out work environment
now Lyft is nice they give me a an oval or a fan shape for getting towards my destination I guess that was one of the improvements of Uber made but doesn’t work. and lift will still give you the ” uber’s radar thing but they just list stuff on the map no annoying pings nothing just hey that side of your range are you sure you want to take it. now I don’t know how they do at the end because I manually turned off after a ride that took me close to my home
now Uber versus Lyft surges Uber at least gives me the same surge no matter what vehicle I’m driving cuz honestly it shouldn’t matter I’m a driver on the road whereas Lyft if I go to XL only they take away any option for surges if x irregular lift is surging. at that point I might as well turn off
which brings me to my next point of on a call lockdown Lyft takes away all options and I don’t think it’s because we’re trying to focus you on driving because I might as well cancel on a ride if me sitting at a dead stop trying to leave a parking lot to go to see your client I cannot change from regular lift to super large lift to destination mode I’m sorry you just took me an hour to the opposite side of town I want to turn on destination mode
Uber Uber still lets you have all those features because you’re only on a call on your phone. but a lot of those features are still available on the phone technically it’s just means you’d have to go behind the drive but it’s great cuz on your tablet these things take up two by two or three by three inch buttons so it’s like an automatic car mode
yeah Uber sucks at some of these car mode features pretty much everything on Uber is bigger and easier to read so if I’m stopped pulled over before I go anything I can quickly navigate bigger higher contrast all these things lift just like actually sit there and read through things you got to search for things maybe it’s cuz I’m not as familiar with it but size is definitely there anyway with Uber I can turn on and off ride types without even looking at the tablet they’re so big so list solution is let’s lock it down and either not show them or say hey you’re supposed to be driving I’m in a dead stop and I’m at a dead stop longer because I can manually type this into things like a bat. Yes set a clicking a map button You’ve locked it down well actually haven’t locked it down cuz the map button still works on the tablet and has something that works on the phone when I’m actually driving driving. but you’re forced me to stay stop longer as I manually type out an address because your navigate button is broken. Uber has similar issues but there I close the app reopen the app and now they navigation button works again
more or destination mode issues with Uber if you say you want to get closer to that destination they are hostile in their attempt to get you there closer means one block closer even if it takes you an hour to do that one block you might not make it to your destination within 12 hours. and that hostility carries over to their no long pickup fees on destinations. that makes sense if you’re actually getting someone there because hey we’re going to give you a 20 minute pick up but instead of giving you that 5 minute pick up you’re forcing us to give you something towards that destination so yes we could have offered you a 5-minute ride and pay you quicker. if they’re going to call it a legitimate destination service especially if they’re not going to pay you for long pickups your pickup time should be at least the distance closer you are so if it takes you 10 minutes to get somewhere to pick someone up you should be at least 10 minutes closer to your destination. not one block. you shouldn’t make it halfway to your destination then come back to where you were initially at and on that same token you shouldn’t be going 10 minutes away from your destination only to come 10 minutes 11 minutes back so you’re you’re one minute closer yeah no
now continuing on to the destination like feature, we have zone regions or whatever you want to call it on Uber they have like six zones in my city and that is over a 90 mi range I’m thinking. yep give or take from the southern edge to the far northern edge of our zones I measured about 85 mi That’s not exact it is probably about 90 but yeah anyway whereas on Lyft you can put a pinprick and say a mile radius which is better I don’t know. having a square blocks kind of makes sense when the city is made up on square counties and blocks and roads but a spherical circle that you can actually set your own center point of is also nice.
however, the issue with both is you have to be in the center not the center you have to be within that zone to limit calls within that zone. I understand maybe they don’t want it to be a pseudo destination mode but on lift I think it uses a destination on Uber it doesn’t but would you rather me turn off and/or cancel a ride just so I can enable my zone. Ubers is really really weird because half the time it seems to automatically turn on when you’re touching the zones to see think about which one you want and then you can’t turn it off unless you go offline and don’t get any calls once you’re out of all the calls then you can adjust it lift doesn’t let you adjust it as far as I know I’m guess you could totally cancel it if you go offline but I think lifts count against your two or three destinations they both have a time limit Uber lets you to use it for 2 hours a day and lift let’s use it for 3 hours a day
no I just used lifts arrived by destination feature and once you get close to your destination it says low match possibilities adjust your filters or room filter so it appears to be working My arrival time is an hour and 40 minutes from now and it is still giving me pings that are not towards my destination which is fine because I set a time. we’ll see how firm it works on that time and see if it cancels this destination or puts me offline or just stops giving me calls
another thing Uber is fairly horrible about is points towards your next tier of driving. Gold platinum silver all that stuff Uber bases it off of ride being a point they sometimes will do two points as a part of like a promotion hey between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. tonight earn double points, whereas Lyft bases it on I think the price not the distance but price and that’s a little bit better. The issue with Uber’s is what incentive do I have to go spend an hour on a ride if I’m only getting one point that means people that are out in the suburbs are not an incentive to pick up or drop off. Yes I know some people prefer long rides and some short rides but your harming people that do prefer the long rides and you discouraging people who already prefer short rides from doing long rides so a negative negative for riders looking to have happy drivers come get them
safety and security first and foremost lift at least suggest people add their photos to their account so drivers can see who they’re picking up. it’s not a requirement same thing with real names I get ZZ top I get God I get cool guy etc.
now it is nice that they’ve been a bit more prominent about how to select a guest and/or the writers are getting more used to looking for that feature versus just voiding ordering a ride for their friend Joe gassed of Mike of course if they could link Joe’s phone number from there contacts to Joe’s account that would also be nice if Joe even has an account or if he had one band v a n n e d.. not only does it mean you know who’s getting a ride you also know who’s account it is, but like I said I don’t think they’re double-checking to see if that person was banned from Uber. or Lyft and I’m less familiar with lifts guest things but I know that on Uber it’s also nice because they get a link so they can view the ride coming to get them and it links their phone number so that if I call someone I’m calling the actual rider and not relaying through some random third party okay not random but the guy that ordered it
but The verified feature is nice but if you just ask for their ID then you can still run a verified check to make sure it wasn’t a fake ID or something but safety is a low priority because not only are they not required to verify their identity there can use a fake name it just won’t show verified so yes require a picture and require an ID That’s the two big features that we’re requesting as drivers of passengers or at least the account holders and at least a picture of the rider even if they aren’t the account holder like I said you can link their phone number to something. and yes a photo should be of the person not a duck or a cartoon
DRAFT PUBLISHED FOR FEEDBACK
MORE TO ADD?
Either topics or info for a topic
I genuinely believe businesses are essentially abusive with their business practices.
I think this is currently a part of the late-stage capitalism quandary. Yes, we had issues in the past with large barons owning super large & powerful businesses.
Ok, maybe a magnate or dare I say tycoon vs baron
A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or services are widely consumed.
But then, barons were frequently the magnates of the old life until the people started standing up to “royalty”. They might not have been “Official Royalty,” But they were the noblemen of the era and essentially held ultimate power over “the people”… Their People.
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. Wikipedia
Like those Tycoon’s and Barons of the past, current “Big Businesses” Have become their own tycoon status.
Tycoon’s have frequently become so abusive that the impression one gets of them does not match the Official Definition:
tycoon noun
ty·coon tī-ˈkün
• 1 a : a businessperson of exceptional wealth, power, and influence : magnate
b : a top leader (as in politics)• a person who has achieved great success in business and is very wealthy and powerful
• a person who has succeeded in business or industry and has become very rich and powerful
— a business/media/property/oil/shipping tycoon
I believe that many businesses have essentially done a
I’m talking about basic business practices to squeeze the last dollar/the last bit of life out of their consumers/customers/clients at the peril of their well-being.
The first that comes to mind is potentially the least hostile till you look at the long-term effects or the “big business” specifics… i.e., hostility of power of a mega corporation.
Placing the most needed things in the back so you have to pass through the whole store to grab what you need. More time in the store = more potential for the store to make money.
This ends with impulse product placement at the register.
If this were a small business or done with goodness of heart in mind, rather than a nefarious “pay us more” mentality, it probably wouldn’t be so bad.
Let’s examine this. You need to quickly grab something, spend 5 minutes in the store, and be on your way. In a small store that’s 50 feet deep, going to the back might not be a big deal, but with a mega store, they’re now holding you in the store for 20-30 minutes. Sure, you can spend five extra minutes walking to the back, another five walking back up front with tunnel vision, but the store knows the psychological tricks to break you out of your direct mission.
The mega store is not doing this to remind you to grab a few things you might need, but to get you to make impulse purchases of things you don’t need. Sure, spending money helps the business, but spending money you don’t want to, were not planning to, and often money you might not be able to afford, is harmful to the business’s customers.
This harm is not just to the pocketbook, but also to the customer’s mental state, as they fight the urges imposed by the store’s use of psychological trickery. Financial stress is enough for a person living paycheck to paycheck, but someone already weakened from that stress is more likely to make these unnecessary purchases, and thus, this is predatory behavior, given that the primary customer shopping is frequently a lower-income, paycheck-to-paycheck individual.
I was told that it’s not the store’s fault. Um, they are taking advantage of a captive group that often doesn’t have the freedom to choose any old store.
Another Example
This is a whole topic of its own, and will eventually be moved to its own post…
Uber/Lyft. These powerful businesses have employed a ton of tricks… trickery to take advantage of their customers who are, in turn, the products. Yes, both the rider and the driver are customers and products, and they are both being taken advantage of.
Lets take a look at a quick bullet point list pending it being broken out into its own post:
Rideshare communism: Another hostile business practice
This is where the rideshare companies take from good rides to pay more for bad rides. It’s a part of their concept to pay you as little as their algorithm thinks they can. It’s another hostile business practice. Instead of following the agreed price, they undercut themselves by saying, ‘We’re going to pay you below-market rate because we can get away with it.’
In other words, rather than giving you a bonus to do the less desirable, they remove the bad pay to make the other seem like a good bonus. “We averaged paying you 80% of the customer’s fare”
Um, that means you paid me significantly less on many rides. That in itself wouldn’t be so bad. After all, in the end, we averaged the “agreed price/payout.” However, they aren’t paying the agreed price. Since they use a fluctuating booking fee, they artificially lower the fare while charging extra and pocketing the difference. This can be harmful since the rider thinks the driver is getting a reasonable portion of the “fare” they are paying. Unfortunately, that driver often gets $30 or less on that $80 fare. ANOTHER HOSTILE BUSINESS PRACTICE
NOTE:
This is just a note for me. In the old days. Super Powerful production houses. Sony, XXX, XXX, XXX used to run the music industry. They still do.
But someone once told me. You gotta tell the attendees what you’re giving to the bar/venue vs to the performers/acts. This has really bothered me. This is a negotiation between the two of them. X agreed to perform for a, and Y agreed to host the event for b. This is their own agreement —sometimes a complex one.
Splits & Percentages; Doors, Drinks, Food, Merch, etc. Then there are tips, booking fees, venue fees, and more; sometimes they’re included, and other times they’re broken out and paid in addition to the ticket price. Whether their’s a guarantee, split, or a flat fee to either the venue or performers, that’s all a part of this agreement.
Obviously, these agreements can be predatory. Hence, there is often a push for smaller artists and venues, but these smaller places can also be predatory, and the ticketing groups are often still mega corporations.
Title was: Inflation over the years: Pricing a business’s offerings
(But tipping suddenly became the topic. Inflation and prices are coming soon.)
I think it’s my Aspie/ASD side, but I’ve always liked to play with numbers. So, let’s have fun.
Before I start, I’ll note that, prior to the COVID-19 tipping fatigue, I’ve observed that typical cash tips for massage therapy have historically been 25-35% for the 90th percentile.
I’ve helped with some businesses, and I’ve noticed a few things over the years.
For this article, let’s come from the sector I’m most familiar with: The spa world, or massage specifically.
First, tipping, a spa service or medical service, and now tip fatigue.
I find the concept of not tipping a business owner interesting and invalid. Yes, they are earning the profits, but they are also incurring the expenses. If it’s a sole proprietor small business, they probably don’t have the employees to bring in the income while spreading out the costs.
Expenses incurred by me alone as well as if I have employees:
I’m looking at a situation where a room/space is only used about 1/3rd of a seven day week.
Yes, owners “could” charge whatever they want, but the prices are actually in line with the competitive market that is based on tipping.
Conclusion: Tip the person doing the work, not the owner. If the person doing the work is the owner, tip them like you would anyone else that’s doing “The work”
This was initially going to be about inflation, but to accurately describe the context of my price changes, one must first consider the tipping portion.
I will concede that there are those that either do not tip, or only tip $5 on price totals of $50-150. For this section, I’m focusing on those who do more than a token tip; those who are full-on tippers.
When I first started, a good rule of thumb was up to the nearest or second nearest $20.
i.e.
When our hourly price was $65, we were regularly getting $80 {$15/23%}, with our ninety-minute at $95, they typically gave $120 {$25/26%+}
The next raise, a $75 hour, we got $100/33%, and the ninety-minute, at $105, we were getting either $120 or $140. I can’t say $15 is a token tip, so the range was $15/14% to $35/34%. I’d say 75% of the tippers were doing the $140 over the $120.
When I added those to the Credit card machine, I used 3 bases for the suggested tip. 25, 30, 35% Once you count the 3% cc fees, that essentially equated the typical cash tips people paid.
$65/95 2005-2008; $75/105 2009-2019; $85/115 2019 (Generally 26-34%)
I take that back; I checked the Wayback Machine, and I was $85- $ 110 for an hour/ninety-minute session in 2013. I just dropped back down in 2015 when I moved to Kansas City.
Caviet, in 2015, I moved to a new market and tried out flat-rate prices of $85, but no one understood that, so within 90 days I switched back to $75/105. Everyone kept shopping around saying $85 for an hour is a lot, and that was only about a 13%
That caviet says a lot. I moved from New Orleans to Kansas City. New Orleans has a big tipping culture, and it seems to have higher base prices for massage therapy. That is probably why I ended up at $75 for a full 10 years. Noting, the 65 was also in KC in 2005/2006
I hate the idea of raising rates to minimize the reliance on tips, but as with 2015, how can it be done? I know many do it, and I know for medical massages, its pretty much all flat rate if they want insurance to cover it.
How high would one raise it to offset that fatigue? The typical 25-34%? halfway between the token $5 of 2005, 15% low end, 25% mid range, and 34% upper range? 22/31% to not automatically add a 3% cc assumption? — 8+15+22+31=76/4=19%. what about that 75% pay the upper half? 8+15+22+25+31+34=135/6 22.5%
Fall 2025, assuming a rate of 72/107/155 half hour, hour, ninety, so at 22.5%:
*Friends charging this, I don’t think as a flat rate service.
Caviet: as of January 2025, the price was $31 + $38 for each 25-minute segment up to 3; we just offered an $8 discount to keep the hour to $99
But again, that makes it pretty high when people are shopping around. My current flat rate medical massage is: $36.39 for each 15 minute segment.
That makes each service:
that’s wrong. My flat rate is 36.67 calculations need to be adjusted
These are quite a booger to address. These are premium services. They are long, with no breaks, and the people buying them either can either afford them, and the associated fees, or shouldn’t be buying them because they cant afford them.
For the 2-hour session, these are closely aligned with each other. 131*2=262 & 190 + 72 = 261. That’s an -ISH per se. The 2-hour session is full with no breaks. The abuse that was occurring was that the person kept asking for two one-hour sessions, which at the time was 75, and expecting it to be 150, then not tipping.
The initial 2-hour price came to be because an hour at 50 minutes of hands-on time is 110 vs 100 minutes of hands-on time you’d get with two single hours. Yet, they are asking for two full hours, or 120 minutes, of hands-on time. That’s a premium service. Yes, with an hour, I am typically closer to 55 minutes of hands-on time, but there’s no guarantee.
So, 50 minutes is $1.50/ minute. Convert that to 120 minutes, and it $180. Add the typical premium tip of 34%, and you get $241.20.
Correction, I was $85/hour in 2014 when the abusive client came in. Thus, 50 minutes is $1.70/minute, and scaled up, that’s $204 for 120 minutes.
A low-end 20% tip, as is typically added on restaurant bills with parties of 6 or more, is $244.80. NOTING: Most massage tippers with me tipped more than the typical restaurant tip. i.e., the 25-34% range
That $245 2 hour premium price has stayed steady since 2014. Granted, I did lower my prices by $10 & $5 $85 >> 75/hr & $110 >> 105 for the ninety.
Diverging into the inflation post a little, using today’s prices, the 2 hour session should be $308.00; the $107 fifty minute hour being $2.14/minute scaled up to 120 minutes, makes the 2 hour price be $256.80 and adding the 20% tip for being a flat rate premium service, we’re at $308.16.
Point to consider, using my flat rate service card, eight units at $36.39, we’re at 291.12 for 113+ minutes. Thus, scaling up, I guarantee 120 minutes, which scaled up is $309.15. That 309.15 is right in range with the $308.00 the 2-hour should be. Granted, that $291.12 is also valid up to 127 minutes. Unfortunately, most medical plans consider more than 4 units–one hour–to be a luxury, and thus, don’t cover it.
120 minutes is 4.8 25-minute segments. or $182.4 add $31, and we’re at $213.40.
Add:
All still short of the $308 potentially suggested price until you consider that it’s a premium service, and the $31 base is good for up to 3 segments. Thus, 213.40 is really $244.4.
Add:
Actual Inflation from its inception:
The $36.39 rate:
