Scary Phone Dictation

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

This evening, I was working on a response in a thread about the Henry revolver. My wife & I got involved in a conversation before I was finished so I set the phone down. When I picked it up again to finish my post, I saw that it had recorded chunks of our conversation that meandered over multiple topics. If I had inadvertently hit “submit” which is easy to do, y’all would have seen a very odd post. 
 

What I can’t figure out with this damn device is how it went to voice dictation without my realizing it as I NEVER use that feature. It’s one of the reasons I threw away an Amazon Echo that had bee given as a gift. 

 

Beware pards. Big brother is lurking where you least expect it. 
 

[Pat Riot]

Is it an iPhone?

I have nearly done the same thing numerous times. The damned microphone icon, key, switch, whatever is too damned sensitive and easy to activate. I never had this problem until the last couple of software updates. 
I believe that someone(s) felt it was too hard to get the microphone to turn on so Apple changed a setting. Regardless, it’s really flippin’ annoying. Mostly because I speak Sailor fluently and speak it often. One day I accidentally sent my religious sister a text chock full of colorful expletives. This occurred because I was getting ready to respond to a text when I knocked a little container of screws off the table in my garage. Apparently I turned the mic on when I sat the phone down and apparently bumped the send button when I picked it up. 
Sis works from home and her phone sits right next to her while she is at her computer. 
Luckily she understood and admitted to colorful language at times as well…just not that colorful. She said she would die if she sent a text out like that. 
 

My old boss in LA wasn’t as understanding. Actually he was my boss’s boss. Ending a text with “what an idiot” tends to get the hackles up of said idiot. 

[Warden Callaway]

Picked up a gun at my favorite FFl service that works out of his home (when he's not driving a train). Visiting, he mentioned his smart kitchen range started up without them knowing it. A cooking show was on TV and it was picking up voice commands. 

 

 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

These things sound downright dangerous.

Too bad the manufacturers send things out so paying customers do the Beta Testing and take unnecessary risks!  

[Cypress Sun]

 

This reminds me of the days when work trucks had radios in them as cell phones, pagers and the like weren't around yet. It only takes one time to learn that you should always, ALWAYS, put the mic back on the holder clip when done talking. Never put it anywhere else as the mic button may be pushed in for extended periods of time allowing all of your coworkers in other trucks, and the office/boss, to hear unrestrained comments that they probably shouldn't hear. Don't ask me how I know this...but I do.

[Pat Riot]

46 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

This reminds me of the days when work trucks had radios in them as cell phones, pagers and the like weren't around yet. It only takes one time to learn that you should always, ALWAYS, put the mic back on the holder clip when done talking. Never put it anywhere else as the mic button may be pushed in for extended periods of time allowing all of your coworkers in other trucks, and the office/boss, to hear unrestrained comments that they probably shouldn't hear. Don't ask me how I know this...but I do.

Years ago a buddy of mine somehow had his mic keyed while sitting and badmouthing his coworkers and boss. His rant went on for about 15 minutes until we found him on a train in the yard talking with a train operator. I am pretty sure he covered everyone on our night crews, all 24 of us plus the supervisor. He didn’t really say anything bad about me except I “was a prick for not loaning him my tools”. 
He ended up transferring to another rail line after that. Probably a good thing. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

The damned microphone icon, key, switch, whatever is too damned sensitive and easy to activate.

 

Except when you WANT to activate it.   Mash a key you want to activate 5 or 6 times before you get your finger tip, key, angle of incidence, pressure, exit velocity, and Dow Jones all correctly aligned to activate it, but when you don't want it all it takes is the slightest, lightest brush and it's activated.

 

Other issue: the "Hey, Google" for the Google Assistant on our Android phones.   We will sometimes activate the other person's phone trying to get ours to activate.  Our phone won't, but the other phone 10 feet away will.

[Rip Snorter]

Then there were the mikes in the Squads and the hurricane of mike key clicks if you reported something funny or said something dumb.

[J-BAR #18287]

If you bump the third from the left icon, you'll start recording a voice message.  There is probably some button in "General Settings" that will turn it off,  but going there gets me confused.

 

 

 

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

Just one of the MANY reasons I have a flip phone.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Big Brother is watching you.  With your help.

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Big Brother is watching you.  With your help.

They can watch. Hopefully they like the show.