Counterpoint: before Gmail, I ran my own mail server and futzed with Mutt for a perfect email experience. It was a frustrating time sink.

Gmail came out and I now get a better end-user experience with virtually no cost of ownership. I’m comfortable with the ad-supported model. I’d prefer a low monthly fee, but not so much that it’s worth moving to Proton. Eventually, maybe I will.

I get this take, but it isn’t for me.

Now you would likely be fired if you refused to use Teams or Slack or whatever your company uses.

Why would I refuse? It’s company software running on company hardware. It isn’t my problem what the ToS is.

I’m not sure it’s devil’s advocate: I work with computers for 40 hours a week. There’s no way that I want to put any effort into a computer in my personal time

If it’s enforced, it’s more of a tax, isn’t it? I thought the whole premise was that people are doing it out of altruism.

I tried Gemini and it periodically failed to set timers and reminders. When I asked it the date next Tuesday, it got the answer wrong. 🤷‍♂️

It looks like a pretty minor change, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I’d kick a couple of bucks towards a membership. I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped cash on my favourite instances at some point.

I’d be surprised if that kind of model could pay competitive developer salaries. Existing media platforms got started with mad VC money until they had a user base large enough to justify huge ad spends.

yes yes, but the robot cannot strike, you see, because one robot must make the strike motion, another robot must second the strike motion, and then all the robots must vote. if there is no robot to second the strike motion, then no robots may vote, meaning the strike cannot pass.

you only get one body so may as well look after it

That’s a really good way of putting it.

this is the only thing I’ve found that allows me to escape my mind and be in the moment

That’s what I really like about snowboarding and inline skating - if I’m not focusing on the activity, I take a tumble, so I have to pay attention. I don’t know if either of those are something you’d enjoy, but maybe give them a shot?

I’m really sorry that’s how things ended up for you. Best of luck.

I have a sedentary job as a software developer so it’s good to be more active.

…

would you continue this hobby even though it’s wrecking my hands

As a software developer who also has fucked up hands, no. This is your meal ticket. Don’t mess with it. Being depressed with a job is way better than being depressed without a job and a disability.

I’ve actively avoided activities that use my hands because I don’t want to mess them up more. It sucks, but that’s where we’re at.

I don’t know what activity to recommend. I do leg-centric stuff: swimming, inline skating, snowboarding, and soccer. I don’t know if those would be good for you.

Edit: sorry. That came across as hostile. My hand situation is managed, but it still gets to me. I’m trying to say that you should take care of yourself and your hands. The short-term gain of an activity that messes you up isn’t worth it.

Exercise feels great, and I hope you find something that works for your mind and your body.

Yeah, I’d like to use the network, but the reviews are pretty bad. That and the lack of UWB makes it seem pretty weak.

Environmental/political activism. I used to be pretty active in local groups. When I had kids, I bowed out to help my spouse. Now that I have time again, I feel unmotivated - news is just so damn depressing.

How do you market an encryption platform exclusively to criminals?

Apparently through word of mouth and suggestions by undercover agents.

innocents that downloaded this as a secure messaging system

The app wasn’t made available for download. The FBI bought a few thousand Pixels, flashed a custom ROM onto them, and then installed the messaging apps. In theory they cost thousands of dollars to buy.

It’s entirely possible some innocents used the system, but it’s unclear how selling rooted hardware to alleged criminals would induce them to commit crime.

See https://www.npr.org/2024/05/31/1197959218/fbi-phone-company-anom

Entrapment techniques like that make me sick.

What was the entrapment? The FBI sold phones to suspected criminals and monitored the conversations, didn’t they?

I’m guessing you’re talking about debit cards. From the Canadian Government: yes.

In detail:

Payment terminals can also be built to feed into a retailer’s “customer relationship management” database so that a retailer can track your purchases and tie those to other information about you, such as your email address, if you have given it to them. Financial institutions and payment card network operators could also profile you based on your purchase information.

This purchase information could potentially be shared and linked with information held by loyalty card companies, data brokers, or marketers.

If it’s possible, then it’s a revenue stream, so I assume it’d be done.

Your mouse movement and keyboard events are available to webpages that you’ve loaded, when the browser window is focused.

This isn’t nefarious - it allows websites to build nice UIs that most people enjoy using, most of the time.

There’s lots of shady stuff going on in browsers, this isn’t really one of them.

I have vivid memories of sitting through the copyright banner/FBI warning, waiting for the janky menu to load, trying to figure out which button had focus, starting the movie, sitting through ads for movies that came out years ago, and then the movie would play.

Maybe my memory isn’t accurate, but I don’t miss DVD menus.

Reddit’s /all is about 70% US politics right now. Much of it feels like astroturfing. I’ve been able to read around it until now, but the saturation is too much and it feels too fake.

I feel the same way. I like the streaming/VCR experience of hitting play and seeing the media. Those old DVD menus that wanted me to mess with extras sucked.

I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. When I was growing up, incandescent bulbs and massive short-lived batteries made flashlights suck. Now flashlights are tiny, throw a tonne of light, and last a really long time.