Just because you won't outrun your chain, doesn't mean you're not a slave. Maybe a happy one, but still a slave nonetheless.
Why I don't like smartphones
71–80 of 294 posts
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#72The author has a couple of valid points, the one I definitely agree with the most is the one about centralization. I'm tired of hearing about some cool new app/program that sounds really great, but when I go check it out, it almost always turns out to be tied to the cloud in some way. It makes me want to say "Guys, great software, but can't I just buy it and run it on my own hardware without having to trust you with…
> "Guys, great software, but can't I just buy it and run it on my own hardware without having to trust you with all my data?"
More importantly: "Guys, great software, but how am I supposed to use this after you go out of business?"
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it isn't. Just like random scammers leading people to give them money doesn't mean everyone should be banned from having a bank account or a credit card. Some minimal level of responsibility of action from a users side isn't unreasonable. Being locked out from your own hardware because there are a few uneducated users out there is absurd. Not to mention that now there are actually viruses and exploits out there th…
Care to provide some examples of iOS Viruses and exploits that install themselves and are un-removable due to restricted user experience? I have never seen any of those before.
No problem: http://blog.binamuse.com/2014/09/coregraphics-memory-corrupt...
If you got an older iPhone, it's best not to open random PDFs anymore.
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#74Is it 2008 again? Small, efficient cars work just fine for a lot of people for most day-to-day tasks, not everybody wants to drive a truck all of the time.
If we talk education OK, but things have gotten much better since the iPhone/iPad first came out: you can buy your kids a Raspberry Pi Zero for $5 (a $5 truck!) and plug it into an old TV so they can start exploring the endless possibilities of a mostly open general purpose computing device - seriously, how cool is that?!
That said, programming isn't the only creative thing you can do with a computer - e.g. iMovie on iOS was great the last time I used it, I also learned to play my first piano songs on the keyboard with Garageband (on my phone)!
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#75The author has a couple of valid points, the one I definitely agree with the most is the one about centralization. I'm tired of hearing about some cool new app/program that sounds really great, but when I go check it out, it almost always turns out to be tied to the cloud in some way. It makes me want to say "Guys, great software, but can't I just buy it and run it on my own hardware without having to trust you with…
> "Guys, great software, but can't I just buy it and run it on my own hardware without having to trust you with all my data?" More importantly: "Guys, great software, but how am I supposed to use this after you go out of business?"
Or get bought out by one of the corporate behemoths and killed off in 18 months.
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#76Most people don't want or need root access to their smartphone but will complain (no matter how much you tell them security is their responsibility when acting as root) when installing random software they found on the internet results in their banking details being stolen followed swiftly by all their money. There are products you can buy in pretty much every category if you need a general purpose computing device,…
I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…
Vote Trump, get a despot - have Americans live with the consequencies of locked down technology, surveillance.
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#77Most people don't want or need root access to their smartphone but will complain (no matter how much you tell them security is their responsibility when acting as root) when installing random software they found on the internet results in their banking details being stolen followed swiftly by all their money. There are products you can buy in pretty much every category if you need a general purpose computing device,…
I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…
The difference is that you purposefully opt-in to a smartphone, but can't opt-in (at least, not on an individual basis) to a regime. Would a totalitarian state be as objectionable if people had to chose to move there, and could leave as easily as one can change phones?
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#78Most people don't want or need root access to their smartphone but will complain (no matter how much you tell them security is their responsibility when acting as root) when installing random software they found on the internet results in their banking details being stolen followed swiftly by all their money. There are products you can buy in pretty much every category if you need a general purpose computing device,…
Most people probably don't need free speech either, but we don't remove the possibility anyway. There are also plenty of examples of mobile devices being infected even though the user didn't have root access.
We don't remove the possibility of open hardware either, there are options for partially or completely open smartphones (as a quick web search will attest) but the most popular products sold by Samsung, Apple, et al. are not.
Equally, as for free speech, there are options for completely uncensored speech (although fewer than you think, and even then if you say certain things you'd better hope they can't be traced back to you or have an escape plan) but the most popular ways of communicating (whether online or off) are also locked down to a significant extent.
So it's not actually much different for speech vs. access to devices. Feel free to argue for anarchy if that's what you want, but let's not pretend that smartphones represent a special and particularly nefarious restriction of important freedoms.
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#79In some ways I agree but it's mostly a pervasive error in perception. Often smartphones are over-marketed as productivity enhancing devices, and that somehow smartphones and tablets are making PCs obsolete.
I see them as overpriced for what they provide and I agree with him that a lot of the power available in a smartphone's hardware goes under-used.
Re: Why I don't like smartphones
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
But I am neither getting freedom nor security with smart phones. My 2 year old smart phone have never received a security update. It has become a piece of crap just within 2 years.
The iPhone receives plenty of security updates, and does so relatively quickly after the fix has been implemented.
Not only isn't this relivant it isn't even true or at least very misleading.
Apple patches the newests version of iOS. Sometimes older versions get a security update here or there, maybe. So you'd have to be running the latest version of you want security fixes. Which isn't always possible due to compatibility or performance/stability.
If your iPhone is 3 or more years old you can forget any support from Apple whatsoever.