My coffee maker, stove, and microwave all have timers which are effectively useless. I’ve gotten some use out of the coffee timer, but something just feels wrong about letting ground beans sit out overnight; I end up just making it it in the morning and don’t see any tangible benefit in having it start in the morning. (This may have been more useful in my twenties, when I took it for granted that the morning was going to be a struggle to achieve consciousness. Now, it just lets the coffee oxidize overnight and lets the pot get a jump on that been-on-the-warmer-too-long taste.)
My DVD player has a clock on the front for no earthly reason. The VCR needed to know what time it was, but the DVD player doesn’t, it’s just “Hey, let’s display the time with this LED panel when it’s not doing anything else!” Hey, let’s not!
About that dashboard dimmer, I’ve used it. About three summers ago… during an intimate moment. The g/f got frisky and… y’know… the lights just had to go down.
Yesterday I went through everything on my 2 year old car. I found a computer system giving me a lot of data about fuel consumption and average speed I have never used. Prior to today.
My car (a 96 Ford) has a three-position rotary knob on the dashboard for the headlights. Position #1 for off, #2 for parking lights, and #3 for headlights. Like this, actually. The dimmer is a small thumbwheel that is next to it. It sets inside the dash with the edge with the wheel sitting flush.
We got a flat-screen tv for Christmas. The remote control has a row of four colored buttons that do nothing. Seriously. The instruction booklet even admits, “These buttons have no function at this time.”
In my car, up near the map lights where the rearview mirror is mounted, I have a date display that is completely separate from the time display that is part of the radio display. I’ve never understood why I would need a date display in the car.
I have a Jetta that has all sorts of ways to use the key in the lock. Turn it this way twice to unlock just the driver’s door; this way three times to unlock all doors; hold it here to roll all the windows down; turn the key a quarter-twist then pirouette on your right foot to pop the trunk; twist key back and forth to the 14th digit of pi to arm the alarm; etc.
Fancy, but I’ll never remember any car-key choreography unless I find it more useful than just hitting the lock/unlock button on my keyfob.
Mac Users: Dashboard. After the novelty wore off (read: first couple days), never used those things.
iTunes: Coverflow. I can see the appeal for some, I guess, but why would I want to go back to finding the album I want to listen to as if it were a stack of CDs? That’s not why I digitized all my music. (However, I find “Coverflow” as implemented in the finder to be invaluable for finding certain graphics and movies)
Of course, as someone noted upthread, the item that is useless to you will be useful to someone else.
For example, I have a dual oven with only one timer. When I am using both, I have to mentally time one, and the clock right there is helpful. Plus, I have used the delayed start. Not often, but I was happy when I had the option.
I use the various power settings on my microwave. When I have to be somewhere extra early, I save time by having setting my coffee maker to automatically brew.
I use almost all of the settings on my clothes washer, depending on what I am washing.
The remote for my DVR cable box, and the remote for my regular cable box are exactly the same. Obviously, all the DVR specific buttons are superfluous for standard cable boxes.
