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Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

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Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#301

Post by Dwolb »

ryandrake wrote: post #250
grishka wrote: post #43

I really wish mobile OSes would allow you to grant apps permissions but serve fake data, (that's important!) without giving the app the ability to tell the difference. Just so it appears to the app that you've given the permission, when you in fact have not. This would solve this entire class of problems and then some. So, for example: - App "has" access to contacts, but the system returns that you have none. - App "…

Apple solved this pretty well I thought. The developer guidelines say that you cannot require a permission as a condition of using an app. If the user says no, you must gracefully degrade. You can’t exit(0) or put up an undismissable screen until you get the permission. Apps that violate this are supposed to get kicked out of the store.

YouTube TV still gets me though. Requires GPS access and won't let me access my hometown sports without it.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#302

Post by Wowfunhappy »

sigil wrote: post #295
js2 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single video app I have on my AppleTV: Netflix, Amazon, Criterion, even Apple’s own TV app, shrinks whatever you are watching down to a thumbnail just before the movie or show ends. I fucking hate it. Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who sits through to the end when the copyright rolls past and gets pissed off when the lights come on at a theater during the credits. It is incredibly disrespectful to the film. This…

Thanks for staying for the credits! I make credits for a living, so I’m biased, but you’re right that they serve a real artistic purpose, as a gentle transition from the dream world back to the real one. No one likes to be shaken awake and bombarded with a new dream — especially when they haven’t yet made sense of the last one.

> They serve a real artistic purpose, as a gentle transition from the dream world back to the real one. No one likes to be shaken awake and bombarded with a new dream — especially when they haven’t yet made sense of the last one.

This really hits it for me. It's not even the credits that I need, per se, as long as the movie stop playing when it's done, whether with a credits sequence or a simple fade to black.

I waited for Stranger Things to come out on BluRay (currently waiting for the third season), and I'm 100% convinced I had a better experience than someone watching on Netflix, because the episodes actually ended after the credits. For a show few people will get to see this way, the writers really knew how to conclude each episode in just the right spot, so you had a nice place to take a breather and contemplate.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#303

Post by stonesweep »

jasonv wrote: post #277
stonesweep wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add a +1 to pCloud (pcloud.com) - SyncThing doesn't fit my use case (I have no "one device to hold everything", it's all disparate laptops/phones) and I wanted a centralized location to store my encrypted backups and files and stuff. My requirements were integration with rclone and FolderSync (android app) to work natively with their APIs and it works like written on the tin. I was able to use rclone on a cloud…

The pcloud pricing model is interesting/concerning. A one-time, life-time payment?

As I tend to go for the long game and expect to use it for years, I went for the lifetime (in my case it'll pay off itself within about 3 years), I was using Google Cloud storage buckets for longer than that so you know - financially for me, it works to replace the monthly fees for Google Cloud which was already a concrete cost. These types of pricing agreements are usually not sustainable for a company long-term, I go into the agreement with eyes open and I've got rclone ready to move the data again if I have to migrate.

My actual expectation is that at some point, 500G will be "small" in provider terms and they'll offer upsells to 1TB, 2TB etc. over the life of my account trying to get me to the next level or some other features (which they already have - you can buy add-ons). Nothing wrong with that, I still get my portable 500G "for life" (of the Product) which suits my current space needs. I have enough portable space now that I can upload a hundred gigs of Music, something I wasn't able to do before (increased cost) and use that 500G space. (I had uploaded everything to Google Music over a decade...so... yeah)

(edit: typos, wrong word/replaced)

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#304

Post by js2 »

tyrust wrote: post #297
js2 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That setting doesn't disable the shrinking of a movie down to a thumbnail at the end. It only disables the auto-starting of the next episode of a TV show.

Huh, fixed it for me on my Chromecast. IIRC it would shrink down to show what was autoplaying next, so when I disabled that it stopped shrinking.

Thanks for the info. It's possible I'm mistaken or that it behaves differently for movies vs TV shows. I'll pay attention tonight and update back here. If it is behaving differently between platforms, that seems like a bug I should report to Netflix.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#305

Post by wolco5 »

hellojason wrote: post #162
jjbinx007 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. As a single consumer in a vast ocean I don't think my opinions will ever be listened to. Right now it's worth putting up with this crap as the benefits outweigh the cost but if it gets any worse…

> auto playing videos on Netflix You can now disable this at the account level. They added the option a few months back.

They removed this feature and I like the rollover previews. Where can you change this?

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#306

Post by rurp »

grishka wrote: post #43

I really wish mobile OSes would allow you to grant apps permissions but serve fake data, (that's important!) without giving the app the ability to tell the difference. Just so it appears to the app that you've given the permission, when you in fact have not. This would solve this entire class of problems and then some. So, for example: - App "has" access to contacts, but the system returns that you have none. - App "…

I love this idea! Unfortunately the creator of the most popular mobile OS is also one of the worst offenders in this regard.

Given how things are going with big tech lately I wouldn't be shocked to see Google implement this feature, but with exception criteria that just so happens to apply to all Google apps.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#307

Post by manigandham »

baggachipz wrote: post #248

Remember when this(1) was Dropbox? Remember how beloved it was because it did a thing and did it well, without complicating things or being actively user-hostile? Well, of course it's been fully MBA'd at this point, a true shame. (1) https://i.ibb.co/w6zcwYW/Screen-Shot-2021-01-15-at-10-49-22-...

Link to answer: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other...

I remember reading this when it was first written. Ironically, Quora was also much simpler and better back then before turning into a spammy bloated mess.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#308

Post by Ensorceled »

cool-RR wrote: post #232
Ensorceled wrote: post #18

I left dropbox when they changed the full page upsell to "dropbox business" so that I couldn't easily figure out how to skip it and get on with my work. I had a paid pro account at the time. I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, p…

I use Dropbox the same way you did: As a screwdriver. This means, it does its job, it does it well, I'm not looking to make it a part of my life beyond that. I don't want new features or collaboration, and I definitely don't want to pay more than I do or see ads. The screwdriver-manufacturing business is not very profitable, so nobody wants to be in it.

Good analogy; my hammer manufacturer, Evernote, also has this disease. No, I don't want chat or Evernote for Business ...

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#309

Post by novok »

jonpurdy wrote: post #200
jjbinx007 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. As a single consumer in a vast ocean I don't think my opinions will ever be listened to. Right now it's worth putting up with this crap as the benefits outweigh the cost but if it gets any worse…

This is a great example of why I still prefer torrenting films and TV shows as opposed to using my wife’s Netflix sub: the pirated media is better! Netflix and Hulu and competing with easier to use and more flexible pirated media, whether they like it or not. The consistency and flexibility of the VLC interface (or whatever media player you choose) is vastly better than whatever features a Netflix PM is trying to pus…

Really? Nowadays ive found it hard to get good 4k hdr downloads of things with seeders. Piracy seems to top out at 1080p at least it bittorrent land
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