Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

21 comments

  1. davefish

    We just got a new microwave and ended up getting pretty much the cheapest one on sale, snice I wanted an interface that had one dial for power and one for time. Most had loads of rubbish on there.

    Reply
    • neilh

      I took the same approach to buying my washing machine – I’m happy to pay more for better quality, but I can’t work out good quality from bad when it comes to washing machines (or microwaves) and the ‘sales’people really weren’t helping, turning to the feature talk rather than listening to what I was asking for.

      Reply
      • godgirl

        ah, always check which? magazine!

        :-)

        that’s why *I* didnt buy a dyson.

        (pete did, however, because he thought it was cool and he doesnt know how to change a bag….. or vacuum, for that matter..)

        hmmm.. i’m detecting a pattern.

        i’ll call it the domestic appliance vs bloke phemonemon.

        Reply
        • neilh

          There are two practical choices, you buy the cheapest thing that does the job, or you buy the most expensive thing that does the job. Anything in between is more expensive and less good than you want, so you lose.

          Of course Dyson have spotted this and make things that look great in the shop when you’re deciding what to buy – its worth the extra its green and purple.

          Reply
  2. dmh

    That’s clearly an optical receptor in the top right. Simply hold up a small note on which it’s written, “Please dry my clothes. Thank you, Neil.”

    Reply
    • neilh

      I didn’t think of that….my experiments made a pair of jeans slightly damp (not mine, I hasten to add) and rewarded me with flashing lights, apparently its not actually a game to make all the lights flash at the same time.

      Reply
  3. hirez

    As far as I can tell, the buttons across the top mean:

    “If you detect an ugly polo shirt, try to dye it black.”
    “A salamander will eat half your socks.”
    “Olympic village.”
    “I’d like a cumberland ring for tea.”
    “Would you like a travel sweet?”
    “Handbags at twenty paces.”

    Reply
  4. neilh

    Indeed…. was so proud of the paucity of interface he challenged me to turn the dryer on without recourse the manual. He won.

    Reply
  5. godgirl

    select button fourth from left on top panel, turn left and middle dials to 60 and select 15th clockwise on right dial, ie 2 after the 13, as spin is the spiral.

    Reply
    • neilh

      I don’t know what the right answer is, indeed, I’m not sure there is one – I got as much information from the Arabic section of the manual as I did from the English half.

      Reply
      • godgirl

        oh that wasnt a guess, that was a suggestion.

        i mean, if its only a washer that will spin it at 60C

        if its a dryer, you want the dry function, not the spin function.

        Reply
        • neilh

          …what I thought would be the drier function turned on the water and made everything inside a little more damp. So I resorted to trying to confuse the interface by pushing all the buttons at once.

          Reply
          • godgirl

            ah. well i now know the left dial is time, the middle is temp and the right is setting.

            is there not a “dry” only function amongst 1-13?

            you wanna set temp to about 60C time to about an hour and select dry only from programmes 1-13.

            i reckon…

            we used to have an indesit and i know you can select dry only.

            deselct anything else like superrinse or whatever.

            it might put water in if you selected soft pressed or something to steam dry the stuff to reduce wrinkling?

            *never* dry on very hot or wash anything coloured over 40C or it will fade/shrink/warp.

            my mum used to have a cold water only washing machine. then agian the weather in singapore meant hanging clothes to dry on the balcony was usually ok – except it caused fading….

            anyway, they have a helpline number dont they? ;o)

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