I gotta say, it's pretty weird...

[Jay Honeck]

...updating firmware on stuff that didn't used to have firmware.

Today, I pulled the RV up to the FBO, close enough to capture their Wifi signal, and updated the firmware in my Garmin GDL-39 to the latest-greatest edition. You do it through your tablet, via Bluetooth, through the Garmin Pilot app.

(The GDL-39 is a remote GPS and ADS-B receiver that we use in conjunction with our Android tablet/Garmin Pilot set up. It works great.)

Now, tonight, I just finished updating the firmware in my Lightspeed PFX headsets. Supposedly the new version is going to extend battery life by 10%, and make some other minor changes.

I just hope it makes the PFX go into SuperQuiet mode quicker. Today it was 15 full minutes after engine start before they kicked in. (Until then you have normal Zulu ANR, so it's not a terrible hardship, but still...)

Imagine...firmware. On a headset? What's the world coming to?

 

[NoHeat]

Imagine...firmware. On a headset? What's the world coming to?

Just wait till they figure out that they can just license the software to you, and charge you an annual fee to continue using your headset.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Just wait till they figure out that they can just license the software to you, and charge you an annual fee to continue using your headset.

Gah, don't give them that idea!

For what the PFX costs, you should get free neck rubs from the Swedish Bikini Team...for life.

 

[MAKG1]

Jay, that stuff always had firmware. It just wasn't user upgradeable. Anything with a microprocessor has firmware. And while ANR can be done in analog, it's much more expensive. In the 80s, it would have been upgraded by changing a ROM chip.

 

[BigBadLou]

Imagine...firmware. On a headset? What's the world coming to?

Wait a few years till your tire, stick and seat cushion will show a pop-up asking to install the newest downloaded FW. And when you do, they will run twice as slow and have twice as many bugs. Oh wait, we're not talking Windows Updates?

 

[denverpilot]

Wait a few years till your tire, stick and seat cushion will show a pop-up asking to install the newest downloaded FW. And when you do, they will run twice as slow and have twice as many bugs. Oh wait, we're not talking Windows Updates?

Most cars have firmware driving the seats these days. Location, vents, butt warmers...

 

[Florida Cracker]

Gah, don't give them that idea!

For what the PFX costs, you should get free neck rubs from the Swedish Bikini Team...for life.

You mean yours didn't come with free "massages" from trashy broads?

Hmmm..... Maybe you bought from one of those close out, get-it-cheap companies that sell the headset and keep the trashy girls.

 

[flhrci]

Wait a few years till your tire, stick and seat cushion will show a pop-up asking to install the newest downloaded FW. And when you do, they will run twice as slow and have twice as many bugs. Oh wait, we're not talking Windows Updates?

Windows and now Apple to! iOS 8 is still buggy.