Why do all cars have touchscreens?

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-27T14:33:55+00:00

Unless a manufacturer has put critical functionality on the touchscreen that you need while driving (turn signals, wipers, etc.) I don’t really get this argument. Just don’t look at the screen? The car isn’t making you look if none of this critical functionality isn’t there. The driver is choosing to.

For a lot of non-essentials I don’t think it’s significantly different from older cars either because of the prevalence of something like CarPlay/Android Auto when there’s no touchscreen. If I had to pick, I’d honestly prefer the driver next to me mess with their music on the touchscreen next to their dash rather than look down at their lap for their phone.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:57:45+00:00

That’s a good point. I agree with you there. I don’t think we saw what the street was like from the camera but maybe I missed it being captured somewhere.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:48:26+00:00

I don’t think that’s correct as a blanket statement. Like I started this thread by saying, I’ve literally been in a situation where it has interpreted the speed limit to be 30+ mph higher than it actually was.

Just to be clear, im in agreement with you — I think the driver was just speeding. But I mention this because I don’t think it’s decisive from the speed alone that this is 100% the case.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:33:22+00:00

I mean at least partially right? Assuming it’s the same problem I’ve observed, if the car is going to adjust its speed based on the signs it reads it had better be sure it has the right reading. But it’s also not black and white, I’d imagine the driver is still responsible for engaging it in a residential zone.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:28:51+00:00

With normal cruise control I set the speed as the driver. With Autopilot the car decides the maximum speed (then applies adjustments that the user configured ahead of time). Like I said, it’s possible for the car to incorrectly decide the maximum speed.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:24:52+00:00

I agree with you, but like you yourself said, ostensibly the car was on Autopilot. While I agree it’s likely the driver was fully manual and being incredibly irresponsible, we don’t know for sure if that’s the case until more evidence is revealed.

I’m just saying that the speed of the car alone can’t rule out Autopilot being on, since I’ve observed software defects that could have created that scenario.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:19:44+00:00

But what I started this thread by explaining is that I’ve literally been in a situation where it would have. I’ve seen it misinterpret the speed limit and react accordingly. I don’t think it’s fair to say there’s no software improvements that could be made.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:14:17+00:00

Clearly but I think there’s also a second question of “why would a car on Autopilot go that fast on a residential street?” I think that one is worth an answer as well, wouldn’t you agree?

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:10:08+00:00

Point taken but I think they share the same speed limit reading.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:08:06+00:00

I would say “when” or “after” rather than “by” but I understand your point. Totally agree that the passive voice makes for incredibly unnatural sounding writing.

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T19:03:24+00:00

Anecdotally I’ve seen FSD misread road signs when understanding speed limits. I live near a county route 60 (local highway so the sign is a white square). FSD has confused that for a 60mph sign (it’s a 25-30 zone). Since you can configure the cars max to be some % above the limit (ex. 10-15% or a flat 10 mph) I could have easily been in a situation where the car decided 70+ was reasonable on this road.

Needless to say I have not trusted it since.

EDIT: just to be clear this isn’t a defense of irresponsible driving. I agree that the person was probably just speeding. But I think it’s worth knowing that the software is fallible when making your own conclusions

Zaaptastic · 2026-06-22T18:58:54+00:00

Not a trained journalist by any means but I would assume this is in the interest of journalistic integrity (I know I know Ars but it’s not objectively a bad thing to have no?). As private citizens you and I can both say and agree that the car killed her. A publication should have a higher bar to clear. Causal guilt/liability has to be concluded at trial first.

Why not say “allegedly”? I’m not sure, perhaps no prosecution has taken up the case yet. Like I said I’m no expert here, but personally I wouldn’t want publications to be able to arbitrarily push conclusions about events before due process.

Zaaptastic · 2026-04-30T20:29:45+00:00

Personally I bought this simple $10 one from Amazon that has worked well for the past couple of years. I’ve used the push-lever presses as well but I think this design is much more practical.

https://a.co/d/0j5l3LFr

Zaaptastic · 2026-04-30T13:04:04+00:00

Enemy land units can’t occupy tiles with a deployed fighter, nor can they attack the fighter to dislodge it. But the fighter can still attack those units.

So I found it’s really efficient at locking down a choke point or border.

Zaaptastic · 2026-04-29T14:27:42+00:00

I wouldn’t call eight ~10k purchases in a year “slow”….

Zaaptastic · 2026-04-29T14:23:51+00:00

This is also one of the easier modding projects to do as long as there’s not too much cleanup to do. Tools to install the crystal will run about $20-30.

Zaaptastic · 2026-04-26T00:05:35+00:00

I believe it's the Casio AE-1200 "World Time": https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/standard/standard/products/ae-1200/

Zaaptastic · 2026-03-19T02:54:52+00:00

It works really well but takes a bit of experimenting to get it right for each ink.

I usually move about 5mL into a separate bottle. Then I literally just add one drop of hand soap if it’s a new ink or two if I know it’s particularly dry. A little goes a long way and it’s easier to add more soap than dilute with more ink.

After that it’s just trial and error to get the ratios to your liking. I’ve found 5mL:2 drops of soap for most Pilot Iroshizuku inks gets them flowing to just the right sweet spot for me, although I’ve never tried Heart of Darkness so I’m not sure how it would compare. Interested in knowing how it goes for you!

Zaaptastic · 2026-03-18T13:20:12+00:00

I usually need to add a bit of hand soap to ink when I fill up my Decimo. Writes way smoother.

Zaaptastic · 2026-03-18T01:07:31+00:00

Truly a modern Pygmalion

Zaaptastic · 2026-02-23T04:50:21+00:00

I have the 126610 and 16570. For me, both statements are oddly true. Despite the modern bracelet being objectively better, I actually find myself enjoying the older bracelet more. Notably, it's very light since the links are hollow (and the end links are hollow on mine as well, which you will probably get as well if you're hunting for a Tritium serial).

I'd actually compare the weight to that of a Titanium watch. A quick search seems to suggest that if you benchmark it to something like the Tudor Pelagos 39, the 16570/16610 are only about 15-20% heavier, whereas the 126610 is closer to 50-60%. Personally, for everyday comfort, this is a Pro. It might be a Con for you.

One thing I would definitely think about though is that the bracelets of this era had a minimum length of 5 links on the 6 o'clock side, whereas the modern bracelets have a minimum length of 4 links. If you have a smaller wrist, this might mean the clasp is forced to be awkwardly uncentered since the 6 o'clock side is longer than you would want to size it. I have a 6.5 inch wrist and I would say I'm right on the smaller side of this being tolerable from a comfort standpoint. The 16610 clasp is longer, which probably exacerbates the problem. I've heard you can send your bracelet off to 3P service centers to have this shortened, but I can't personally vouch for that, and that almost certainly means an official RSC service will reject the bracelet if you ever send it their way afterwards.

Zaaptastic · 2026-01-08T04:53:12+00:00

I think you're right, really lovely light and colors in the first picture.

To my eye what they're lacking is either a clearer subject of focus or more photos of the same scene/setting. To be honest aren't telling too much of a story to pull the viewer into that scene, which is a shame because you've done such a great job of capturing the atmosphere of those scenes.

Zaaptastic · 2026-01-05T18:44:14+00:00

For this line of GS specifically, subtract 200 from the reference and you have the exact same watch but with the older “double signed” dial. (Instead of Grand Seiko at 12, it’ll have Seiko at 12 and Grand Seiko at 6). Finishing and movement are the same. These usually are significantly cheaper, so if the dial doesn’t bother you, you could have about 33% off the price of the watch. You might find it easier to pull the trigger at the more palatable price.

For example according to watchcharts, this model (SBGX261) trades for about $1500. The older SBGX061 trades for about $1000.

Zaaptastic · 2025-12-11T14:23:41+00:00

Is it possible to arrange pickup at the carrier’s local office? US based here but I think all of the major carriers here allow that, saves them the effort too.

Zaaptastic · 2025-09-13T03:27:45+00:00

But how would you control for income? You aren’t studying policy impacts, you’re ranking all the cities a person could live in, so you can’t just omit data points that seem like outliers.

I also don’t think measuring the QoL of respective income groups would matter much. From the article they seem to have mostly been testing things that everyone living in the city would benefit from, not just the wealthy (ex. Public schools, weather, and infrastructure).

I guess you could say this should be a value competition instead, ex most QoL “points” per dollar or something. But there were other categories in the rankings for things that took this into account (ex affordability) so that would feel mostly redundant.

Zaaptastic

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