I need to give Matrix another try

In recent months YouTube has been suggesting content that screams “meninist/right wing onboarding” so if I just watched whatever it recommended I might be in a very different place right now…

For the not all media played successfully, I found it was primarily down to transcode settings trying to hardware transcode file types my server can’t hardware transcode. It’s something worth playing with

My biggest problem with short form content is I want to pick what I’ll watch based on the uploader, title and thumbnail, not be algorithmically fed videos I may or may not be interested in. All of the video providers are going straight for the algorithm so I have zero interest.

The algorithm won’t know what kind of content I’m in the mood for so I want to be in control to choose. The algorithm also likes to try to feed me content by some creators who aren’t worth my time and I don’t want to watch one second of their videos

Now yes, but it was briefly the basis for Firefox OS, which was almost early enough to the market to become a major player, but unfortunately too late and people were already attached to some apps they used regularly

Completely flabbergasted that we run internal services not indexable by google.

This is why it’s becoming the norm to have an Intranet with a links page to all of the internal and external webpages employees rely upon. Just make that the browser homepage with Kerberos authentication and the employees never need to know URLs or Google the internal/external service they’re trying to access

Fortunately Google messages filters all of it to spam and makes it very easy to toss whatever doesn’t get filtered into spam. Here’s mine from Wisconsin!

Personally I keep my installed apps to a minimum, heavily use Firefox on mobile with uBlock Origin, and heavily curate what’s allowed to send notifications and when, so my phone is quiet and not distracting but there when I want it/need it

If my grandmother makes it to the next election I might move her to an android phone for this reason alone. Her iPhone doesn’t block the spam at all, and even appears to not have a way to delete the messages

“ow”

I respect your stubbornness in that regard, but understand that in such a situation you’re putting yourself in a position of significant friction, possibly costing yourself income, promotions etc.

I learned very quickly by playing the game by the unofficial rules and expectations things are way easier and my quality of life is much improved. Stubbornness won’t change the system, but it will certainly annoy people and slow down your access to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness. If that’s a trade off you’re willing to make so be it, but personally I’d rather enjoy my life than die on hills that very few people so much as glance at.

Depends on where you are really. Small towns everything is cash or a phonecall to a person from any phone (it’s really like stepping back in time about 15 years) but in larger cities you might find yourself required to use an app to unlock your apartment or office door or buy a train ticket or pay for a parking space, or buy a bus ticket or hail a taxi. In work I’ve needed a phone for 2FA in my last 3 jobs (granted in IT that’s probably for the best) and in college they distribute resources on the school website via big in-person QR codes.

While every single one of those things almost always has a non-smartphone option, it increases friction significantly, and then you’re the annoying person who is slowing everything down by not doing something the way everyone else does, however in a workplace they’ll often simply provide you with a phone because that’s easier than going to the trouble of ensuring every edgecase is covered and ensuring fair compensation for requiring you to have a phone.

Ehhhh I’m not convinced that the method of dumping everything in a pile and using search is such a bad thing for average users. For admins on servers it’s absolutely critical to know what is in what directory, but for average users does it actually matter at all?

Honestly I’m bad enough about being consistent with my data organization I genuinely wonder if I should join them in just searching through the pile of documents rather than organizing in neat folders…

If you don’t want any to be tracked legally, write/call/tweet/visit your representatives.

And donate to the EFF if you have the means because they can and have and will likely continue to lobby on average internet users behalf!

The IMEI can’t be changed. That’s the serial number of the cellular modem

Edit: reviewing the link you shared in another comment that looks plausible. Just be warned good luck on any kind of warranty or insurance claims if you change IMEIs. I used to work for a cell phone manufacturer and we used the IMEI to both identify roughly when the device was purchased to make determining warranty status dead simple, and to identify devices as they went through the repair process.

Additionally carriers will often blacklist IMEIs for activation (usually on devices which were financed but never paid off) so that’s another potential opportunity for trouble

Sounds like that case of the sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-contracted killing in China that one time

But on the other other hand there was the CHIPS act which is massively expanding chip foundries within the country, the IRA which has crap loads of federal money for energy efficient upgrades to homes and businesses, or the Build Back Better act which provided a crap load of federal money for infrastructure improvements. Most of these will be extremely slow burn bills that will be incredibly instrumental in the long term improvement of the country but won’t be immediately obvious to voters

So if white hat is ethical hackers, black hat is unethical, and red hat is Linux, then obviously brown hat is shitty!

Industrial facilities, particularly in the food processing industry generally have decent wages and worker protections (safety does however vary wildly from plant to plant) but still rely on immigrant labor because those are often the only people willing to work these jobs, so they end up being the only workplaces that cater to hiring immigrants by having the knowledge of how to legally hire a non-citizen or just having Spanish language documentation and translators on hand.

I know this because I currently manage some databases for a contract industrial cleaning company, so I’ve seen the hard data. It’s not a challenge of pay and benefits, but a challenge of “who’s willing to work third shift cleaning cow guts off of a factory floor for $20-25/hr in bumblefuck Kansas?” And the answer is simply people who don’t have better options, and they’re usually either immigrants or felons. The work itself sucks donkeyballs (and would literally if it’s a plant processing donkey meat) so nobody wants to do it

The nice thing about these thrift stores is they’re actual charities and if you are in a hard place they’ll often help you get the stuff you need for free rather than charging the $0.25 an item they might otherwise