521–530 of 575 posts
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Android comes with something called Google Play Services, and iOS has a thing called iCloud. You may have heard of them.
I have, I still have not heard how the US government uses these as malware, but I would love to learn something new
That reminds me, I need to configure VLANs in my router so that all my trusted computers are isolated from all the other garbage that makes it into the network.
Doesn’t help when the garbage starts proxying illegal traffic through your home ISP.
If you have a Raspberry Pi 5 gathering dust somewhere and need a new streaming box then try LibreELEC. It decodes 4k content just fine. It has HDMI CEC. It can stream from local server or play directly from attached storage. There are no ads or tracking/profiling. It can play YouTube without ads but there is no support for Netflix, Apple TV or similar streaming services.
A Pi3 may suffice even, that is what I ran Kodi on before upgrading it to the Pi4, though the lack of hardware x265 decoding support is a limiting factor there (IIRC it'll manage 1080p in software, but only if you have some good cooling installed otherwise things get very skippy after a short while as thermal throttles kick in).
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We bought a Bosch dishwasher from Costco in January. It was defective and wouldn’t start after 10 days. Costco replaced it. The replacement came with a big gash on the front off the truck so we refused it and Costco sent a third replacement. Again, it was the same model and again it wouldn’t start after another 30 days. Costco took it back. No cost to us for any of these delivery or install attempts. We bought a diff…
> I will never buy a major appliance from any other retailer Weird. You experienced failures of the manufacturer (failure to start) and the warehouse (huge scratch), and are still singing someone’s praises. It sounds to me like the brand’s quality assurance is low and the retailer also isn’t taking care of their stock. If I had to take three days off work to accept these deliveries, doubtless I would have a very diff…
Any dishwasher could have these problems; any warehouse could. How the seller handles the situation is key to whether you use them again.
CostCo has built a huge reputation for being trustworthy as a retailer. If they get purchased by private equity, I will stop renewing my membership, and think about how close the country is to decorating lampposts.
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We bought a Bosch dishwasher from Costco in January. It was defective and wouldn’t start after 10 days. Costco replaced it. The replacement came with a big gash on the front off the truck so we refused it and Costco sent a third replacement. Again, it was the same model and again it wouldn’t start after another 30 days. Costco took it back. No cost to us for any of these delivery or install attempts. We bought a diff…
> I will never buy a major appliance from any other retailer That's called stinking thinking.
"The next purchase I make will be through X to avoid having to search for a new retailer"
Got myself a mi box with a custom launcher. Way better than any other Smart TV out there. Unless there's a smart tv that does not show ads right on the fing front page. Anyway, the box is powerful enough to do several things. You can install a IP tv if you want. If you don't, you still have a pretty good media center (you can hook up an external hd on it)
The Xiaomi box also send lots of data to Xiaomi server but also ads/tracking network. I switched to a Google box, this has no bloatware and this way I get tracked only by one company.
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We bought a Bosch dishwasher from Costco in January. It was defective and wouldn’t start after 10 days. Costco replaced it. The replacement came with a big gash on the front off the truck so we refused it and Costco sent a third replacement. Again, it was the same model and again it wouldn’t start after another 30 days. Costco took it back. No cost to us for any of these delivery or install attempts. We bought a diff…
> I will never buy a major appliance from any other retailer Weird. You experienced failures of the manufacturer (failure to start) and the warehouse (huge scratch), and are still singing someone’s praises. It sounds to me like the brand’s quality assurance is low and the retailer also isn’t taking care of their stock. If I had to take three days off work to accept these deliveries, doubtless I would have a very diff…
But most people have had a problem with some product they purchased and a company that stands by things and gives no questions asked support is very valuable.
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I have, I still have not heard how the US government uses these as malware, but I would love to learn something new
For instance, if you use an Apple phone and the government wants to see the pictures you took, they can just get a copy of them from Apple using iCloud.
Also to be more specific, In apple ecosystem I can opt for encryption where they can't
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I don’t disagree, Costco has a reputation for selling well vetted products, but that’s not a good comparison. I trust Costco (even their online only sales), but in no way do I trust the other merchants listed. We’re specifically taking about merchants that have a super shady online presence. They will basically sell you anything and everything and don’t care if it harms you. The ones mentioned (Amazon, Best Buy, New…
Target as well. It was one thing when it was just Amazon acting as a sketchy third party storefront, but now everybody’s doing it.
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Makita, amirite?
Ryobi, but I have plenty of Makita gear too. :)
Serious question, as I understand the ex-Japanese market rights were sold to a Chinese corp over two decades ago, and the in-Japanese consumer device market rights went to a different Japanse company several years ago too.
Apparently they've gone back to focusing on their roots?