So when it was first unveiled at last year's I/O, one of the things they underscored was that Android Auto was deeply integrated with the hardware of the car itself - you're used to using your phone in the car for Google Maps, but why not be able to harness that nice big navigation LCD and the powerful external GPS antenna on your roof?
How much of that is actually a reality here? I understand that it's primarily a video feed / screen cast coming from the phone, but there's clearly some two-way communication happening as well to enable things like touch screen input, the voice button on the steering wheel, etc. Is it taking advantage of the car's GPS antenna? Is it possible to get OBD2-type data via Android Auto, enabling something like Dash or Automatic without the need for a bluetooth OBD dongle? Seems like that'd be a pretty big win for such apps if so.
I frequently baffle customers with PC-problems by the turning it off-and-on again trick level 2: instead of just shutting down their PC and powering it on again, I'll recommend to disconnect the power cord, push the power button, reconnect and then power it on again. This seems illogical to most people, but it makes all capacitors in the machine to drain any residual charge, which puts it in a (more) defined state.
The "have you turned it off and back on?" works for sewing machines, too…much to their users frustration. I’ve had this conversation twice in the last week-two different users, two completely different sewing machines.
Person A brings her machine in, saying that her embroidery function is out of step between its halves; that is, the right half of the ducky/flower/whatever is correct, but the left half is mangled, significantly offset from the right half, or nonexistent. Her machine has an LCD screen, meaning it’s computerized, and she tells me she’s shut it off and turned it on-even unplugged it-several times now, with no luck.
Garmin Nuvi 3790 T 3760T 3750 3790LTM 4.3" Full LCD Screen
I test-sewed it and got the same offset, mangled daisy. I unthreaded it, turned it off, unplugged it, turned it back to on and let it sit a minute. Then I did everything in reverse-turned it to off, plugged it in, turned it on, rethreaded it. Ta da! A nice, non-mutant daisy. I ran through each of the stitch charts, checking to see that I wasn’t missing a step motor gone wonky, and everything was fine. Total time: less than 10 minutes. I explained, and Person A sighed, laughed, and left, shaking her head.
Person B brought her machine in, complaining of major thread barf. (Where the thread turns into a giant wad of loops and tangles on the back of the fabric. There are several causes, but the most common one is 'because'.) Her machine is a cool old Morse 4400, looks like the dashboard of your granddad’s Buick, and is about as far from computerized as you get. I test-sewed it, and got the same wad of tangle. I unthreaded it, took the bobbin case out, put the bobbin case back in, then rethreaded the upper thread path. Test-sewed it again, and it was fine. Ran it through its various stitches, just in case, still fine. Total time: less than 10 minutes. I explained, and Person B sighed, laughed, and left, shaking her head.
Why did either work? In person A’s case, what made the difference was that I shut it off before I rethreaded it. There are sensors in the thread path that detect the presence of thread (for things like setting thread tension), and don’t lose their setting when you shut the machine off. By unthreading it while it was off, and then turning it on, it registered that I was rethreading it and reset all of its internal settings, which solved the issue.
In Person B’s case, who knows? Maybe she didn’t hold her tongue right. Maybe it was my mighty tech aura-that happens too. There are no sensors, and you can see the entire thread path. I’ve seen sewing machine manuals from the 1880’s that tell you your first troubleshooting step should always be to rethread the machine. Person B is certainly experienced enough to have tried it herself before she came to me. But sewing machines are still just machines, and sometimes, for no apparent reason, they just go kablooey. And sometimes, also for no apparent reason, rethreading makes them behave.
