281–290 of 320 posts
Very simple way I know that not many people know: Download a cert from offending Google servers, and blacklist it in Android. The TLS library on the Android will then block it
Just keep in mind that Google may have a sizable pool of certificates in use across their various servers, and they may rotate them on whatever schedule they like. Keeping up could become a chore.
Per the link [1] the article refers to, if I understand correctly, Google isn't preloading ads. Google is making it possible for applications that show ads to choose to preload them. And they're not preloaded hours/days in advance -- it's a UX pattern to load them a tap before. So that part of the suit looks like it will fall apart. As for sending telemetry, it's $1/month in data assuming you never use Wi-Fi. Doesn't…
If you were traveling abroad, there’s a good chance you’d get screwed with International Data fees.
This is as bad as when Apple tried to keep Bluetooth on when you turned it “off.”
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What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?
I've been trying this, and let me tell you, the user experience is absolutely terrible. The Play store and what it gives you is incredibly hard to live without, unless you really just want to use your phone for texting, browsing, and calling. If you're a minimalist, then great. If you're accustomed to what a smartphone can do, not so great. The alternative app stores are full of unimpressive, small scale apps. Dozens…
OSMAnd
>no yelps, no IMDb
What do these apps provide that the mobile sites don't?
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Maps with live traffic is going to be the tough one; at least it is for me.
This would have been a dealbreaker for me, but now that my company has permanent WFH, live traffic is much more of a would-be-nice.
There are many other uses for a car than commuting to work ;)
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Wireguard. All traffic from my phone is routed thru a VPS hosted in Germany, where all traffic to 8.8.[84].[84] is blocked.
+1 for wireguard. I leave it on always. Only thing I have trouble with is Sonos, which does not even connect to the system even in my own network.
I recently got a new phone and the battery life doubled once I disabled all the default permissions on google apps. I knew they were consuming battery but that's a lot.
The pixel devices last at least 28 days on battery when all default services are enabled, the phone is connected to 4g and WiFi, and is otherwise idle (including no emails received). To achieve this, you need a mobile network supporting the standards allowing it to sleep for X number of beacon frames. There are also some things the mobile network needs to support. The minute you install any apps, or start syncing any…
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I ordered my Pinephone this month and patiently awaiting it. Despite what may currently be lacking, it's in a good enough place to be a daily driver for myself. My Blackberry Q10 served me well for years but the battery is starting to go and the OS + apps are no longer supported. I can actually say I've skipped Android/iOS entirely.
Fellow Q10 fan here. Only switched to Android for my usual apps because the BB app store is crappy. Else it could run most Android apps, simply by installing the apks.
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What? It's the opposite of this, in Windows 10 telemetry can not be disabled at all. All you get is a choice between "Basic" / "Enhanced" / "Full (recommended)" modes.
Those are the dumbed down options for plain users. Power users just disable the Telemetry service. Start > Run > services.msc. Right-click on "Collected User Experiences and Telemetry". Stop the service and change startup-type to Disabled. Or you can use windows group policy editor. (which every IT department uses) Start > Run > gpedit.msc Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Data col…
Overall I agree it's silly we even need to do this.
I wish Microsoft didn't kill windows mobile. The Android monopoly is terrible
I'm usually on the "anti" microsoft side, but owned a Lumia and it was the best smartphone to date! That thing was so fluid and intuitive, simple and well designed. I miss it!
These bits of litigation are interesting, but my usual takeaway is a mild contempt for the whole thing. Whether it's something minor like this or a major antitrust cases (eg, the recent adwords EU case), what is and isn't legally actionable seems arbitrary from a non-legal perspective. Even legislation efforts like european "cookie laws" and such seem bumbling and naive. What's the legal fix to this, assuming google…
The answer here has been obvious for many years. Clearly, there is a conflict of interest in having an organization interested in selling ads to also make one of the worlds most widely used operating systems. So we break them up. We regulate their conduct, we interrogate their business and ensure there is no apparent conflicts of interest going on. Mobile OS solutions LTD would develop Android OS, wouldn't unduly fav…
Notice that Apple is also sending data? Is that also for ads? Should we be breaking up Apple, too?
This is almost certainly related to boring things like checking for app updates, and less boring but still controllable usage & diagnostic data (Settings > Privacy > Advanced > Usage & Diagnostic).
It's mostly just that Google, and realistically all apps, need to be far more conservative with cell data use than they are. Many developers forget it costs money and isn't infinite in amount.