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Hey guys. I have been away from here for a while. The poll on the main page looks familiar, but some things must have changed around here.
I just had a Skype call with my mom and sister. We are 9 time zones apart, so it does not happen every day. Still, with so many things to talk about, we sure spent a lot of time having my sister's dog and my dogs try to discuss their issues.
Actually, it was mostly my sister's dog interacting and my dogs staring blankly at...who knows. My sister's dog is obsessed with watching TV and videos on tablets. I never knew dogs could be so observant about the content they watch, but whenever you turn on the TV in my sister's living room, her dog comes running (she loves that TV show with the German Shephard police dog). When watching an animal video on a tablet, she will push the screen with her nose and on today's Skype call, she could clearly tell the difference between me holding one of my dogs up to the camera and holding up one of their stuffed animals.
Oh, and a Happy Birthday to me 
I am SoMad
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Wow, your sister's dog may look like a dog but may not be a dog.
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Welcome back, Soren! (to a Soapbox-free CP)
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Thank you, Peter.
I think I can live without the Soapbox. It looks like there is a section for pictures now - I think that is new.
I am SoMad
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SoMad wrote: I think that is new.
It is... but it shows that you have been long "afk"
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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so your dog is becoming like a modern human:
always looking at a screen (phone, ipad..) otherwise oblivious as REAL life carries on around them.
seen large tour groups as in busses loaded with people travelling to 'exotic' and 'interesting' destinations - ignoring the sights / tour commentary because too busy doing assbook and twatter etc.
(... mona lisa's never been so lonely.)
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There's a YouTube video of a Westie that watches TV!
Wonder if it is your sister's dog.
My Westie, 13 years old, is to lazy to do anything but sleep.
Also, Technology is WONDERFUL, when it works.
gotta love those dogs
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A couple of comments on this.
My sister's dog is a Westie, but since I didn't mention that, I am a bit disturbed by your apparent remote viewing powers 
I checked out a couple of YouTube videos of Westies watching TV and although they are doing some of the same things my sister's dog does when watching TV, there are no videos of my sister's dog out there.
I am SoMad
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For his cat: clearly the frequent psychotic episodes Griff reports his feline companion experiences/exhibits is having a profound effect on his nuclear family, exacerbated by a broken sous-vide, and spousal alienation over who wraps Xmas gifts more stylishly.
Looking beyond said kitty's behavior, we can see that that cat is suffering from bling deficiency.
This gift from the famed jeweller, Boucheron, could remedy this feline dyspepsia: [^].
Price ? Well, Boucheron (France) is the kind of place that would not unlock the door if you arrived in anything less than a Rolls or Lamborghini.
I estimate we'll need to raise at least 30k £.
I can't think of a better Xmas gift for one of CodeProject's upstanding members !
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Thank you, Bill! I can't think of a better Xmas gift than having £30k spent on me either ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I happen to know a Nigerian prince who will instantly convert your 30K into 30 million. He will just need the 30K to pay taxes and bribes. Let me know if you're interested.
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"Upstanding member" has been used, on various occasions, as a double entendre in the Canadian parliament. Probably in the UK as well.
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Gosh, Greg, do you think I'd let any unambiguity go unpunished ?
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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My dad bought a 2020 Hyundai Palisade back in the fall, and the salesweasel convinced him he needed to get rid of his old flip-phone and get a smartphone to use "Blue Link", Hyundai's proprietary software for...Lord only knows what. Checking the status of the door locks and such, it seems.
I don't know how many times I've told him since it doesn't sound terribly useful, and that it's not going to provide him with anything he needs. About 2 weeks ago he got himself some Android phone anyway, and now wants me to install the Blue Link app on it.
It's rated rather poorly (2.5 stars out of 5), and the only positive reviews are all from people, it seems, who only want a single function, the remote starter (which you can use with the keyfob anyway, no app required). The app reviews are all otherwise trashing it. Despite my warnings, he got me to install it...and it's absolutely useless. You can't even launch the app - it crashes back to the main screen after some splash screen. Try to restart it enough times, and eventually it'll try to relaunch itself in a loop, actually rendering the phone unusable unless you're quick enough to switch back to Google Play and hit Uninstall.
I'm trying to make my dad understand that no, the fact that his car isn't yet registered in the app probably has nothing to do with the constant crashing, since you can't even get far enough to even try to register it.
Maybe they haven't tried the app on this particular phone or OS version (it's running Android 9, and the phone's still new, so it hasn't even yet had a chance to get any crapware installed on it yet), and while it's certainly possible they'll manage to get it launching eventually, the fact that the app has existed since 2017 (I believe) and still rated so poorly doesn't give me much hope.
I've always believed that car guys shouldn't be writing software, any more than software guys should be making cars. What I'm seeing does nothing to change my perception.
Anyone here working in the automotive software industry?
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Quote: any more than software guys should be making cars
Some car makers in Detroit shouldn't be making cars. (I am speaking from bitter experience.)
modified 23-Dec-19 16:20pm.
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Well, there's that too. 
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Could it be that your dad isn't so much interested in the app, but uses it as an excuse to buy a smartphone, be hip and maybe spend some time with his son? 
I'm guessing your dad isn't stupid and understands that the app is useless and doesn't work well, so the app is likely to be a cover up for another motive 
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My dad's avoided a smartphone until now, and had been taking pride in showing off his "dinosaur".
He's a retired mechanic (after working for 40+ years for the same car dealer), and while he's got no interest in working on his own vehicle (this not being "his brand"), he does get impressed by little software things. I put together his (first ever) contact list on his phone, and he found it so impressive that the entries showed up in alphabetical order...his mind was blown when I entered the phone numbers for a few businesses, and Google pulled down/filled in the rest of the details for those that had a match.
He'd been thinking about changing phones for years, but I'm pretty sure it's the fact that he was promised he could interact with his car through a smartphone that's finally sealed the deal for him. He's still convinced he can just call the manufacturer to get his vehicle registered against the app to get it working.
But to your point, yeah, he's no dummy. To keep busy, he's installing remote car starters, and he manages to follow cryptic wiring diagrams, solder everything, and program the modules and still make it worth his time.
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dandy72 wrote: Anyone here working in the automotive software industry?
Here I am.
dandy72 wrote: I've always believed that car guys shouldn't be writing software, any more than software guys should be making cars. What I'm seeing does nothing to change my perception.
So much this. You can't and don't want to know the s*** I am shoveling each day away from ECU firmware - a connectivity ECU which interfaces the CAN network to the world (including Internet access) through LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth and a couple of GPS.
I worked in HMI too and the situation is the same: they don't know how to manage a software project, how to design software, how to write software and hardware requirements... and I worked for most of the major EMEA/NAFTA manifacturers.
GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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You're pretty much confirming most horror stories being written about the field. It's no wonder vehicles are getting hacked, and hacked remotely. I'm just waiting for it to happen for seriously nefarious purposes.
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I work on products in the Medical Imaging field, regulated by the FDA. The processes set up to ensure correct development procedures, product quality, responsibility for failures and so on is often painful to software developers, but it comforts me to know, that these processes are in place.
It would sure make me feel better if Automotive Software was under the same level of scrutiny as Medical Devices.
I am SoMad
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Yet there's no shortage of stories about how insecure medical devices are.
I'm not making the claim that stories about hacking medical devices are constantly hitting the mainstream. Just sayin' that the few who bother are saying they're ridiculously easy to hack.
Some use the ban of wireless devices in hospitals as proof - if devices were secure, there wouldn't be a need to impose any outright ban of otherwise innocuous devices.
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I am not here to defend the industry and I don't want to get drawn into a debate, but I was not talking about hacking devices specifically. Sure, securing devices against intrusion is part of it and there is more and more focus on that, but it takes time before that really takes effect across the board.
I am SoMad
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upvote for "salesweasel" 
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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My dad spent his entire adult life working at the same dealer as a mechanic. The sales people are the ones making dealers look bad.
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