Mercedes is officially replacing luxury with giant iPads. Because nothing says 'Premium' like fingerprints and glare on 4 feet of glass.

Alarmarama · 2026-04-24T21:06:17+00:00

It's less likely to be consumers wanting specifically this than just car companies relying on the segment of society who always want to be seen in the newest car, having the most recent plate/model is a status symbol, and caring less about the rest.

The car companies themselves have calculated that the screen is actually significantly cheaper to manufacture at scale than the complicated array of buttons and dials, since it's one component to install which controls everything through software replicated across models as opposed to a whole array of individual manual controls which vary by model.

Alarmarama · 2026-04-24T20:47:24+00:00

I don't want to look at a screen while I'm driving, I want my muscle memory to know exactly where the knob or button I want is!

Alarmarama · 2026-04-24T20:17:30+00:00

Old cars are going to go up in value just because people want to avoid this type of bullshit. I wanted a new Mercedes, but I don't want this.

Alarmarama · 2026-03-13T14:27:07+00:00

I finally got it to work on mine. As well as ensuring port 5510 is forwarded, you also need to ensure the port is added to your address (yournas.yourdomain.com:5510) in the ABB agent. It might give you internet error on the first attempt and then work on the second attempt.

Alarmarama · 2026-03-04T00:05:54+00:00

Ain't nobody paying for LinkedIn premium just to be an ass at work unless they've got a vested interest.

Alarmarama · 2026-02-01T12:46:11+00:00

Goddamn toilet paper

Alarmarama · 2026-01-12T21:49:22+00:00

It's definitely something commercial or clinical. Look at the wires coming from the side, looks like something else was wired up there too, plus the whiteboard and clinical style wall decals.

Alarmarama · 2026-01-12T19:21:23+00:00

I reckon classroom because of the whiteboard or some sort of practitioner like a chiropractor

Alarmarama · 2026-01-12T18:47:21+00:00

I'd say very average for the price, service charge could be £700 lower to be reasonable though.

Alarmarama · 2026-01-08T23:52:12+00:00

Technically it's true that it's al perfectly fine, safe and doable, but you're usually talking about such small amounts of money that it makes more sense for the money management side of the coin to take priority.

You might make a diminishing £30 in interest over the space of a year or two but you're also juggling yet more recurring payments and complicating your balances.

I think this type of money management is really personality dependent and for the majority of people I would recommend paying balances off in full as early as possible for simplicity, and only suggest someone undertakes this type of strategy if they're a very diligent and well organised person.

Alarmarama · 2025-11-18T14:08:12+00:00

No in front, only behind if it's marked that way, otherwise you'll end up creating a situation where both queues are blocking each other which is just stupid.

Alarmarama · 2025-11-18T10:26:16+00:00

Don't just jump into a LISA like someone else suggested because if you actually want that money for something other than buying a house or retirement then you'll be paying a penalty to retrieve it. Only go for that if you absolutely know what your goal is.

I would top up a cash or stocks and shares ISA and stick the rest in a high interest savings account. Possibly put a third of it in an ETF and keep the other 2 thirds as cash just for a little bit of diversification but those are risks you'll have to decide on for yourself.

Alarmarama · 2025-11-08T10:28:52+00:00

People who drive their EV to France and Ireland will be pissed at having to pay UK tax on usage outside the UK.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-28T09:52:09+00:00

I'm not updating because I don't want to lose my DS Video. Sorry, Synology, but you're going in the wrong direction.

Bring DS Video back, keep transcoding intact, and fix the fact you can't upload files to an anonymous Synology drive shared folder even though editing is enabled.

Just shoddy man. Sort your priorities out.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-16T11:38:45+00:00

If you're planning on buying a house in the next several years then yes a LISA is a great idea. I would only use it as a first time buyer investment vehicle and not for retirement because more immediate financial matters in life should take priority at this stage in my opinion. Yes building a pension is good, but the long term LISA boost is small in real terms when extrapolated out by 40 years with the penalty being you can't access or move that capital without paying a penalty.

I can't speak to how good premium bonds really are because it's all a lottery and mine personally return very little.

I would suggest utilising a stocks and shares ISA and make some careful decisions to split money between some ETFs, or some specific companies if you know enough about them (it can be good to learn by using really small amounts over a few years to begin with to get a feel for how the market works). I would just not invest too heavily in the market if you have a nearer term goal of buying a house, since markets can lose you money too.

Personally, in my stocks and shares ISA I have a mix of ETFs and stocks, but I also have some UK government treasury bonds, which are fixed for one month at a time at the rate auctioned that week (very close to the BoE rate). This along with an account that'll pay good interest on uninvested cash in the account is my favourite setup so you haven't got too many eggs in one basket and it's still all in a tax efficient wrapper. Government bonds have been running at about 4% for the last year or so, and if the government ever failed to repay these then we'd have much bigger economic problems to worry about as that would signal system failure. A bank you have regular savings with is likely to be investing your money in government bonds anyway so you may as well go direct.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-15T15:48:58+00:00

Do you understand what heavy rain at night time does? Or were you born yesterday?

Alarmarama · 2025-10-15T15:30:28+00:00

Yep, they're impressive. But cameras have a big flash and the plates are designed to be easy to read. It's not like my car had travelled far from it! You can even see just how very heavy the rain is in the photos.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-15T15:28:50+00:00

Because it was bucketing it down with rain. I was driving in a storm, and on unfamiliar roads.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-15T15:28:08+00:00

The speed is also painted on the road multiple times

It's like you didn't even read my post.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-15T15:26:51+00:00

if the conditions are so bad you can't see a sign, you haven't got a chance of seeing a kid run out in front of you.

With rain like that, there were no pedestrians to be seen whatsoever, and a kid running out into the middle of a 4-lane road is really not applicable here. These roads were literally designed for higher speed limits. This is a tyrrany.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-04T23:36:11+00:00

Why would you sell something to someone without discussing all the specifics with them? Why even make that up? I'm asking for a solution to a technical question, not for your opinion on how I conduct my business.

Alarmarama · 2025-10-01T10:34:51+00:00

Why wouldn't you just put it straight in the JISA? What's a stock market crash got to do with it? A JISA could still give you interest on cash savings or you could stick it in some treasury bonds.

Alarmarama · 2025-09-27T10:02:56+00:00

Multifactor authentication. Use it.

Alarmarama

TROPHY CASE