When S%^t Don’t Work (Premium)

I've always been frustrated by technology that doesn't work as advertised. And maybe it's just me. But it seems like this happens more now.

There are all kinds of examples of this. Windows 10 and its terrible updates. Universal Windows Apps and their unsophisticated capabilities. Miracast, which disconnects randomly like a parody of Chromecast. Skype, oh glorious Skype, with its many ills. And the Philips Hue updating process I ranted about on yesterday's First Ring Daily.

Oh, and then there's Fitbit. Which I'd like to rant about today. Or, would like not to have to rant about today.

Fitbit does not f@#$ing work.

More specifically, the Fitbit Charge 3 I purchased a few months back, which I now want to sync and monitor a few times each day, does not work. It just won't sync. Every day I have this issue. And after testing it against multiple phones and my PC, the answer is clear. It's the Fitbit.

And I am f@#$ing tired of it.

I don't want your help or advice. This is something I can troubleshoot myself. I know how Google works. I can see the many, many similar complaints from other Charge 3 users in Fitbit's useless forums. And I know that this device, despite its wonderful days-long battery life and nearly-ideal (for me) tracking functionality is, to put it simply, f@#$ing broken.

And seriously, f@#k me. Like I need another thing in my life that doesn't work when I need it to.

Previous to this Charge 3, I used a simpler Fitbit Alta for about two years, mostly to track steps. I had no issues with that device.

But the Charge 3 was problematic out of the box. I had a hell of a time getting it to sync with my phone, a Google Pixel 2 XL. And on-going sync, despite enabling the "all day sync" options, was likewise problematic.

This didn't bother me at first because I was originally just using the device like my Alta, to track steps. But I had purchased the Charge 3 for two reasons: It includes both heart rate monitoring and advanced sleep monitoring, and those were two areas of concern. I intended to start exercising again. And I wanted to make sure I could track both of these things each day.

This means I want to check on my sleep when I wake up, by triggering a sync. And that I want to see how a workout went, again by triggering a sync, after performing that workout.

In each case, the Fitbit Charge 3 has failed me repeatedly. It's actually gotten worse over time, too. I started syncing to multiple devices---the Pixel 2 XL, OnePlus 6T, iPhone 7, and even my PC---because it would sometimes sync to one but not the others.

But for the past two days, it's just stopped. I've rebooted it multiple times. Tried charging with the Fitbit connected to power. Tried on multiple devices. Turned Bluetooth on and off on all of those devices. Yesterday, it wouldn't sync until mid-day.

This morning, I went nuclear. After actually getting it to sync my sleep data to the PC somehow, I removed the Charge 3 from all of my dev...