The Emperor's New Clothes

With a couple of recent posts focusing on old tech that still has its uses, a couple of modern day pieces of tech were mentioned and this got me thinking about the usefulness of technology.
Hold on, I hear you say, aren't you a tekkie (techie)??? Well, yes, I am, but I must qualify that as well as assuring you that my sabots are heading nowhere near complex machinery!
Technology, for me, needs to be useful. Useful and what I consider a reasonable price. Whilst I understand that is a very subjective issue, hear me out. We all have our limits as to what we would spend on hobbies and interests, be it little metal figures (looking at you, Empress Miniatures!) videogames (GAME mostly) or food (sorry, M&S, you sell some good stuff but the prices are a tad excessive sometimes). With tech, the usefulness of any device is something I always measure against the cost and that forms part of the decision as to whether I buy said device.
Now, my recent purchases of the AlphaSmart and HP 360LX were not overly expensive, £40 at most each, and both devices have proved useful and, perhaps, surprisingly usable given their age. In the comments for those posts, two modern tech pieces of tech were mentioned which I think deserve further comment as to their usefulness and whether tech is being offered for the sake of tech...

The Astrohaus Freewrite is a modern day electronic typewriter. A solid metal casing, proper Cherry MX keyboard (clicky keys with spring based mechanisms which give superb feedback and make typing far more comfortable), a decent e-ink display, the Freewrite does exactly what it sets out to be: a modern day portable typewriter that is electronic. Initially, this was to be called the Hemmingwrite after Hemmingway as the device does not really do editing. You are meant to type first and edit later, just as Hemmingway was wont to do. Reviews of the Freewrite range from it being good to being pointless and I tend to feel the latter is more my line, even though I do, in general, like the idea. However, it fails in three areas which are as follows:

• Portability - the Freewrite is quite hefty, as befits a portable typewriter, but this means that it could be a pain to carry. It also needs a case to protect the keyboard and screen, one which Astrohaus will sell you for £23 or thereabouts. In addition, as the keyboard uses the excellent Cherry MX type keys, these are loud. Having seen a video of them being used, I can't help but think that if I was is a cafe or library next to a Freewrite user, I'd probably ask them to stop. They have thought of this, and a dampening kit can be had for another £12!
• File transfer - any portable device needs a way of transferring what you have typed into your main word processor/text editor and the easier, the better. AlphaSmart's method is pure simplicity. The 360LX requires a bit more effort but not much. The Freewrite uses two methods: wi-fi transfer via a secure third party solution, sending your files via Postbox to cloud services from Google Drive, Evernote or DropBox. You can, as the FAQ says, send your files clumsily directly via USB but cloud services are the way to go. In a word, NO! What happens if the cloud service you use ceases operation? What happens if Astrohaus cease trading? What security do you have via Postbox? Yes, I have used Google Drive and DropBox before but as a long term solution, I still prefer a direct cable connection as both device and PC will be in the same room when said transfer is to occur.
• Cost - the biggie and something that is a huge elephant in the room. The Freewrite, at present, costs £383 plus shipping. £383! You can buy a decent little Windows laptop, a Chromebook (which is tied to Google services anyway) or a refurbished AlphaSmart (or ten!) for that. Someone described the Freewrite as a hipster typewriter and it was quite derogatory. This is just too much for what it does, even if it does it very well, there are many alternatives to this one use device.

As you can probably tell, the Freewrite is not something I will be buying. Yeah, it's a cool piece of tech and I can see how, for some people, this will be an object of desire, but this fails for me in use and cost, and that makes this tech for the sake of tech, especially when a bit of searching can get you something equally as useful for a fraction of the price.

Next up, the ReMarkable tablet. This is advertised as the paper tablet and aims to give you the best of a tablet with the each of note taking and drawing that can be easily transferred to your PC. Where does this fall down?
Well, pretty much everywhere. It's used is limited, to either a sketchpad, notepad or e-reader. According to the reviews, it does the first two rather well, the last one, not so good as you have to load the e-books yourself and forget using Amazon bought titles. Depending on how you source your texts, this will either be no problem or a deal breaker. The pen used by the tablet uses replaceable nibs as part of the design to give you that drawing/writing on paper feel. What happens when you run out of nibs and can't buy any more? Incidentally, spare nibs are available at £12 for 8. Wow! Then there is the cost (as always!) At present, until Tuesday I believe, you get free shipping and a free folio case, so just have to pay £579. £579!!! That is a lot of money for the limited uses this device offers. If you are in a niche that this caters for, have at it, but otherwise, this is definitely a case of tech for the sake of tech! Pen and paper beat this one and a decent scanner will sort out your PC transfers.

Lastly, a category of products that I have seen friends use and, to me, are pretty useless. I am talking about voice activated home assistants. Be it Amazon's Dot, Echo, Echo Plus or Echo Snow (see here for the range), Google's Home device or any of the countless alternatives, there has been a push during the last year for voice activated internet connected home devices that allow you to sit back and tell them what you want, be it switching the lights on, playing music, changing the volume of said music or whatever else they say you can do. Do I like them? No.
These devices are meant as a gateway to the services offered by the company whose device you have bought. Never mind the privacy and security concerns that raises (and there are many), what you have is a microphone connected to the corporate servers of organisations whose sole purpose is to get you to consume their services. That is the be all and end all.
You could argue that they are just their to make life easier, but having seen a friend use an Amazon Echo, I don't see the home automation point of it. By the time you have said "Alexa, do this", you could have tapped a remote control button to accomplish the same task or (heaven forbid), got off your arse and turned a dial yourself.
And this is the thing with voice control. If any of you have ever watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, you'll know that the "Computer" is activated by voice control. Revisiting some episodes, it becomes rapidly clear that the voice control they have is limited (programmes are called Riker 1, Data 3 - there is no complexity. Could you, in all honestly, pick a text file or view a picture from a folder on your computer by voice and get the right one? Would you even know the file name?). For me, voice control is one of those solutions that never had a problem to solve and that puts me off any kind of voice activated system. Even Siri is borderline useless as if you ask a question, mostly it will say this was what it found on the web and you have to unlock your phone and view a web page as per normal. All you have saved is some typing, and that is the start of laziness.

I am not a luddite, by any means, and I follow technology with interest, but there are technologies, devices, whatever, that fall into the category of tech for the sake of tech (or capitalist consumerism) and when that happens, I decide quickly that they are of no interest to me. That is not to say they are not of use to some, but personally, I think there is definitely a whiff of the Emperor's New Clothes about them.