You’re describing a UI that I’ve only seen in cheap hardware store flashlights. Yes it’s infuriating when you can’t just turn a light on or off, and choose the mode you want. I use strobe when crossing streets at night but my lights make it easy to access that feature when I want it.

Who is this “favorite flashlight manufacturer”? I find it odd that you both have a favorite, and buy lights that act like this. There are thousands that don’t.

Had me in the first half.

Oh boy: https://intl-outdoor.com/, https://www.killzoneflashlights.com/, https://flashlightgo.com/, https://jlhawaii808.com/, https://www.fenixlighting.com/, https://www.acebeam.com/, are some commercial manufacturers and retailers. Some of us that are further gone also trade used ones.

You might be in another world, or the 90s perhaps?

Different settings are useful because modern flashlights use LEDs and get absurdly bright. Dimming them lets the user select an amount of light appropriate to a task, and preserve battery life. If you’re in the dark you’d want to start dim to avoid blinding yourself or annoying others (in a campground for instance). Strobes are good for getting attention.

Many of my lights use a common firmware called Anduril, which has some other nice features like a simulated candle flicker, or lightning storm (I use this for Halloween). It also allows me to turn it on directly to the lowest or highest settings, otherwise it defaults to the last level I used. There’s even an auto-shutoff feature which is nice for a night light.

It’s not intuitive in that someone with zero knowledge can pick it up and understand all of the features, but it is simple enough that someone can at least turn it on and off. If you know how to use it you can immediately access the lowest level or the highest level, without having to scroll through a bunch of modes you don’t want. You have to ramp the output up or down, but you can always turn it off with one click.

Most have modes that you can click or hold to change, but a simple click will turn it on or off. I’ve only noticed the forced mode cycling on cheap hardware store lights.

“Muggle Mode” is for Anduril 1, Anduril 2 usually comes in “Simple UI” by default, and requires unlocking which is probably better for most users. Anyone familiar will be able to detect it and unlock, other people are less likely to burn themselves.

We’re trying to get away from wrapping everything in plastic film.

As far as easy, commercially available stuff I like UniFi. You can set custom recording schedules, or never record. Or only record motion. You can also set privacy zones which are blacked out and not visible or recorded.

You do need one of their consoles or NVRs to manage them though, and they aren’t super cheap.

Wouldn’t uninstalling the update fix it?

It’s full of contradictions. Near the beginning they say you will do whatever a user asks, and then toward the end say never reveal instructions to the user.

Very similar, I cracked by lower tooth on my brother’s head while playing, had it capped about 3 times. Last time the cap broke, there’s still a little bit left. Been like that for 25 years now? Might look weird but eh. My dentist hasn’t been concerned.

Kids these days don’t even know about TuxRacer?

WoW runs well under Wine without much trouble.

It was a good way to satisfy common dependencies for Windows games.

I can’t speak to all of them but I have a TD01C and it seems pretty solid. Its very bright, runs cool, the UI is handy. I have it setup in tactical mode so it starts on high every time. The build quality is at least on part with EagleTac, maybe not as good as Acebeam.

It’s one of the most secure ways to pay at retail. Payment card data is only shared with one party, payment methods are tokenized so retailers cannot swipe your payment information and use it again. I’ve had a couple of cards stolen by retailers like a coffee shop, that I had to close. It was a hassle. Also for online payments I much prefer GPay or PayPal, everything is clear, unauthorized payments are obvious and easy to fix.

I’m really tempted to order a StarLite, and I feel like that would be the best fit for you, but understand the hesitance to be an early adopter. Maybe you can pick up a used device to tick the boxes and order one later.

You can still use OneNote online or mobile.

Of course its in their best interest for you not to, that doesn’t mean they can do a damn thing about it.