Viewing profile — increscent

A notable exception to the trend of poor/unknown quality in consumer products is the outdoor product market. I buy a lot of gear for skiing, canyoneering, climbing, cycling, backpa…

Perhaps the first people to be laid off are recruiters?

> Signaling, however, grows stronger the larger the out-group is – as long as the out-group knows about the in-group. This is why luxury car manufacturers deliberately extend their…

I recently switched from Android to iOS just for iMessage. SMS is quite unreliable even in 2023. SMS messages don't have the same delivery guarantees as IP-based messaging services…

I was just thinking of doing this myself. I'm hoping Apple doesn't shut it down. I recently switched to an iPhone because all of my friends use iMessage (I'm in the US). I'm not ha…

Reminds me of this: https://xkcd.com/1425/

I use Arch on my Pinephone ( https://github.com/dreemurrs-embedded/Pine64-Arch ) and I have used it for the last year. Call audio quality (outgoing) is very poor for me (I think I …

I use US Mobile ( https://www.usmobile.com ). They're an MVNO on the T-Mobile and Verizon networks. I use their T-Mobile offering because I couldn't get MMS to work on Verizon. To …

Check out this project! https://trmm.net/Ikea/ Apparently, the firmware on some IKEA smart home devices can be easily flashed.

Would it be possible to create a business where you: * Buy the cheap hardware at wholesale prices * Strip the surveillance tech and/or re-flash the firmware * Sell the "dumb" produ…

I use amazon to buy DRM-free music, and I also buy used CDs on ebay.

For me the theme of this narrative is that PG always relentlessly pursued what he wanted: AI, art school, Florence, Lisp, etc. He would often find out after pursuing those things t…

It seems reasonable to me for colleges to refund their students right now because they must be saving plenty of money on facilities management. But they still have to keep all of t…

Yes, The Soul of a New Machine is well worth the read!

Thanks for posting this. I experience the same problem as the author. Heck, I didn’t even finish the article! :)