What drives you crazy???

[c_hegge]

I don't mean to get into politics here, but the new planned Fibre to the Node NBN is a disaster IMO. It's such a marginal upgrade over what we already have that it's not worth spending a cent on. If you're gonna upgrade our internet, do it properly with fibre to the premises. Don't just pour $30-40bn down the drain on something that will never even get close to the target 25Mbps, and won't be much of an upgrade over what we already have.

[LongRunner]

Panasonic Inverter microwave oven

"Perfectly cooked food without over-done edges" - such nonsense. I don't know what the inverter has to do with the wave distribution, and whatever they were thinking, the one I have doesn't fix that problem.

Okay, I guess the high frequency inverter has the advantage of being quiet(er?), but it's not as though they use quiet cooling fans. Presumably they're just doing it to sell them to people who don't understand electronics.

[LongRunner]

Dang it to hell!!!!! A creepy-crawly got into my monitor screen. It's probably behind the LCD structure. Pressing on the panel where it was squished it. But now it's there forever.

[LongRunner]

Who in the world needs 70-year (or even longer) copyrights??? By the time it's legal to distribute copies of a video game, you'll be lucky if the system even works. Why the developers even care about games from five generations ago is a mystery. Copyright lasting way beyond discontinuation is bad. Enough said.

On that topic, check this out:
http://board.byuu.org/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1011

Gotta love those segmented LCDs with blue LED (or electroluminescent) illumination, too. (Especially considering that the human eye has significantly lower resolution to blue than to green or red. And would it really break the bank to use white LEDs instead? I think not - especially for white LEDs of a sane brightness level.) Mind you, I don't love segmented LCDs on home appliances anyway, given that the contrast is only good at a specific viewing angle (it's unlikely for them to be of any construction other than TN); reflective LCDs excel on wrist-watches and pocket calculators (talk about old-school ) for their minimal power drain, but on mains-operated devices I prefer real LED (or even retro vacuum fluorescent) displays. The Panasonic inverter microwave I mentioned before even has a sort of "inverted" version of a backlit LCD, with bright segments on a darkened background; when viewing it from above, the contrast goes to crap. On that note, there is definitely rusting on its interior; Panasonic makes some good stuff, but microwave ovens aren't among it. (Not that any consumer-grade microwave ovens are that good anymore.)

[LongRunner]

Every time the Liberal Party of Australia (who, ironically, also represents conservatives here) cuts the funding to the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, definitely not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company). (Do their members even watch it?) Most of the shows I actually like watching (to the extent that I watch TV) are on the ABC; the commercial stations have the occasional gem, but mainly make over-the-top fetishes of (un)reality shows, especially cooking and home renovation (along with having way too many ads for my taste).

I won't deny that there's some inefficiency in the system, but nonchalantly cutting the funding is not the solution.

[Behemot]

women

[LongRunner]

That Panasonic microwave oven (model NN-ST557W) doesn't even output anywhere near its rated power – allegedly 1.1kW, but the current draw is given as 4.5A (@ 240V = 1080W), implying an efficiency of 102% . And this is supposedly according to IEC 60705 .

It doesn't contain Panasonic (or any Japanese brand) electrolytic capacitors, either; those I saw, at least, are from Jamicon.

Last Friday I got an LG MS3042X1 (also rated for 1.1kW out to IEC 60705, but with a more reasonable 1.5kW input – giving a 73% efficiency, still on the high side but at least within the realm of possibility) to replace it with, which works way better (although I can't predict how long it will last, but the price at least seemed fair). This one uses a conventional heavyweight transformer for the HV supply (albeit with a small SMPS for the electronics), although it does have this "i-wave" thing which ought to do something for the microwave distribution. It also has a proper LED display.

[Behemot]

The question is if it is supposed to heat by full power the whole time (continuously). How does it work anyway if you decrease power output, I guess it shortens the pulses instead of decreasing the linear output? Anyway, it if only provides peak pulses of 1.1 kW than the continuous average input may be just 1080 W. So what does the IEC 60705 say about it?

BTW overall efficiency of microwave for providing energy to the meal is tragic. It OFC depends on what do you heat, but especially for heating liquids induction cooker is way more efficient. Even ordinary glass-ceramic cooker is better. Plus it has limited usability. So IMO it's better to have only microwave than nothing, but it's still better to have only cooker than only microwave

[LongRunner]

I'd like to check, but the IEC Webstore won't load at the moment and their standards cost money to access in full so unless I can get my hands on a pirated copy of the standard, I won't see it (that's probably a bigger tragedy, if you ask me). Nonetheless, I have come across this page which suggests that the IEC standard is itself a tad optimistic, but that still doesn't explain what's going on with the Panasonic unit; I don't yet have a suitable thermometer to get accurate output power measurements, but that was just downright unacceptable performance.

I mostly use them for small things (usually no more than 300g each) so overall efficiency for those could be considered "good enough". The (LPG) cooktop I have is in somewhat poor condition, so I only use it for a few select items. (Although I might consider switching to an induction or glass-ceramic type in the future…)

[LongRunner]

The remote controller for my Mum's Panasonic HDD recorder (model DMR-HW220) has developed the well-known problem where silicone oil is essentially "squeezed" out of the keypad with use, covering (and consequently insulating) the button contacts. And I've already cleaned it at least once before, so clearly this is a persistent problem (the same happened with a previous Panasonic unit, too).

The recorder itself has Japanese-brand electrolytic capacitors (though many Panasonic "consumer" products have given up even on those lately); but that's about the only positive thing I can say for it, to be honest. (It's also become a bit glitchy and annoying.)
I seriously doubt the market has any actually good choices remaining (not from the "mainstream" brands, anyway). Myself, I'll stick to using proper computers (and maybe consider an assemble-it-yourself recorder in the future, if I find something half-decent).

And I'm increasingly convinced that any technology beyond what I need is more trouble than it's worth.