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from the internet-of-things-that-shouldn't-need-internet dept.
Peloton Outage Prevents Customers From Using $2,500 Exercise Bikes:
Peloton hasn't been having a great run lately. While business boomed during the pandemic, things have taken a sour turn of late on a bizarre host of fronts.
[...] adding insult to injury, connectivity issues this week prevented Peloton bike and treadmill owners from being able to use their $2000-$5000 luxury exercise equipment for several hours Tuesday morning. The official Peloton Twitter account tried to downplay the scope of the issues:
We are currently investigating an issue with Peloton services. This may impact your ability to take classes or access pages on the web.
We apologize for any impact this may have on your workout and appreciate your patience. Please check https://t.co/Dxcht2tQB0 for updates.
— Peloton (@onepeloton) February 22, 2022
[...] For much of Tuesday morning the pricey equipment simply wouldn't work. While the company's app still worked (For some people), Bike, Bike+, and Peloton Tread owners not only couldn't ride in live classes, they couldn't participate in recorded classes because there's no way to download a class to local storage (despite the devices being glorified Android tablets). The outage (which occurred at the same time as a major Slack outage) was ultimately resolved after several hours, but not before owners got another notable reminder that dumb tech can often be the smarter option.
Perhaps one day in the future, scientists will invent a way to make exercise machines that do not require internet access. Such a fantastic invention would be locked up behind patents.
See also:
Peloton Admits It's in Hot Water With DOJ, DHS, and SEC Over Its Treadmill Mess
Peloton treadmill owners will be able to run again without a subscription
Peloton disabled a free running feature on its treadmills, forcing owners to pay up
Peloton disabled a free feature on its $4,000 Tread+, forcing owners to pay a $39 monthly fee to use the machine
Peloton faces backlash after disabling free running feature on its $4,000 treadmills
Music Publishers Say Peloton Stole Even More Music, Ask for $300 Million
Peloton's Countersuit Against Music Publishers Over Song Copyrights Just Got Thrown Out
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 25 2022, @11:26AM (7 children)
Ah... but you did not get to partake in the "experience" of being yelled at about how good you are doing by your personal trainer that doesn't know who you are and is just yelling platitudes into a screen in front of them to keep you entertained and 'motivated' to stay on your bike that goes no-where.
I mean, did you even contemplate missing out on this unique experience? I bet you didn't and you should feel worse for that...
</sarcasm>
(Score: 5, Touché) by Ingar on Friday February 25 2022, @11:37AM (5 children)
No need for a personal trainer, traffic keeps you on your toes.
One mistake and you're dead. Keeps the adrenaline going.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Friday February 25 2022, @02:20PM (4 children)
The big danger for people on bicycles isn't making a mistake on the bike, it's somebody surrounded by a couple of tons of metal making a mistake, or being intentionally dangerous.
For example, one of the most common sources of bicycle injuries is somebody who is parked opening the door without looking and hitting the bike or the biker. Now, I've made that kind of mistake and hit a car, and that cost me some dents or a mirror, but if you do that to a bike you've probably just sent your victim into traffic or onto the ground, and quite possibly to the hospital.
In another incident, one of my sisters got rammed by a driver while riding to work, very intentionally. She managed to note the license plate number, the cops arrived and immediately concluded that no crime had taken place.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 25 2022, @08:40PM (1 child)
Another big danger is hitting pedestrians on sidewalks and especially hiking trails. Apparently yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" three seconds before impact is sufficient to indemnify them from blame. Bonus points if they curse at you as they ride away for making them break their momentum.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 26 2022, @12:46AM
After ~40 years as an adult cyclist, I've concluded that "On your left" is confusing to pedestrians and other cyclists being passed. First you have to remember which side is *left*, then move to the *right*. Many times the walkers in front of me have moved left after hearing my request. Or, they turn around to see which side I'm on, while still blocking the bike path.
Instead, I just say "Passing" in a raised, singsong and (hopefully) friendly, voice. Everyone here seems to recognize that you pass on the left, so they move right instinctively.
Bonus, "Passing" should work in any country...in the countries where they drive on the other side, it's also common to pass on the other side (for both cars and bicycles).
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 26 2022, @01:06PM (1 child)
Actually, it is very easy to prevent that kind of an accident if you are riding a bicycle. Just don't ride in the door zone. It is actually quite easy to learn the typical mistakes car drivers make and ride a bicycle safely, I've been doing it for 15 years. Going to work back and forth daily. The real danger is now all the new bicycle segregation, where they make special bike lanes which of course contradict all the simple road rules. Now we need to also learn about the design mistakes to avoid them.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday February 26 2022, @07:56PM
Yeah, that sounds great in theory, except for one major problem: The "door zone" you describe is precisely where both traffic laws and many specialized bike lanes require that bikes spend their time (all too often, between traffic and parked cars).
The way to make biking a lot safer would involve not only dedicated lanes, but dedicated lanes well-separated from cars, with their own traffic signals so they don't get taken out by somebody turning right on a green light. And it's not like we'd have to invent all the techniques from scratch, since the Netherlands has been doing this for decades. But it's a lot easier to just paint down "bike lane" on the street than it is to either enforce that lane actually be dedicated to bikes instead of parked delivery trucks, or build something that would be actually safe.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 25 2022, @03:30PM
Have you tried Rent-A-DI (tm) maggot?