251–260 of 267 posts
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> I’m protecting by myself From… what?
In the case of this thread, the OP is protecting themselves from Google tracking by using a de-Googled phone. But they do not seem to care that Google is tracking their spouse.
That's not how marriage works.
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Right, but “two or three out of potentially hundreds” doesn’t mean the same as “hundreds”. That’s the hyperbole the parent was pointing out.
I don't think it's hyperbole as much as it is just regular ordinary everyday slang. "I have a hundred things to do today" doesn't mean that a person has 100 things on their list for that day. Outside of tech bubbles, people talk like that. It's like how the Bible uses the number 40 as a shortcut for any very large number. 40 years in the desert, 40 days of rain, etc… It's not a calendar, it's an illustrative euphemis…
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You can't see a difference between will and constrain? Force-feeding for example is torture, despite how much one may like eating.
Are you saying that you’re forced to use a smartphone? Because I don’t use one. It does make some things harder, but I don’t know what people are expecting. A law to ban smartphones? There’s not enough people who want that. I do think we need rules that require businesses to accept cash, and to have alternative flows that don’t require smartphones for ordinary transactions (like buying food) or financial management.…
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a bit off topic but the construction of the phrase: some word + "doing a lot of work" sounds so much like a claudism
Well, yeah, people have been using that phrase for years, if not decades. I'm not sure if you were aware, but they actually trained Claude on human text, so it naturally sounds like the human text it trained off of.
Jokes aside, of course it’s trained on human text. The issue is that it has a specific tone which leads to formulaic sentence construction that is tiring. But the plus is that it’s easy to spot if you want to avoid AI generated text.
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I don't think he's complaining about having a lot of apps, or the ability to have a lot of apps. He's complaining about being required to use apps for hundreds of small interactions every day that don't, or shouldn't, require an app. And he's correct. Companies are doing this not because they think it's better, but because they believe that if they can worm their way onto your device, and insert their cloud service (…
Maybe I'm in a tech desert, but I can't remember the last time I was required to use an app for anything. It's a convenient option for my grocery store loyalty card, certain restaurant menus, my HVAC system, etc., but not mandatory. I've heard of restaurants that have no physical menus but I haven't come across one myself.
When I explain all of this, some people say the first thing I said (that I don't have a smartphone) is a lie, but I see it more as a simplification because whatever someone asked me to do that led to my statement obviously can't be done with the phones that I have but not on my person. On the other hand, I do have a phone number that I use through JMP [1], so if someone asks me to text or call them, then I actually can do that from a laptop. So, practically, for many purposes I do have a smartphone. I can make and receive calls and text messages, and I can install apps (just not iOS or Android apps).
It's an interesting (to me) question of whether I am lying by saying I don't have a cell phone. In other contexts, I might say that my phone is in my backpack (referring to my laptop), or I might give someone my phone number and then when they ask if I got their message I might say that I can't access my phone right now but I'll reply later. It kind of seems like one of those things has to be a lie, but all seem kind of true.
(I considered making this a reply to simu1acrum's comment, and it is inspired by it (specifically by "I don't pretend to have things I don't have, and I don't pretend that I don't have things I do have."), but it's not really a reply so I made it a top-level comment instead.)
I tell people I don't have a cell phone, but when pressed I say I technically do have many smartphones, because I keep buying them at garage sales for super cheap and not actually using them. And technically, I also have the iPhone 6s in my car in case of emergency, but its been powered off for multiple years. Other than that phone, I think it's been over a year since I took one out of my house. Oh wait, I forgot, I…
I can't speak for Apple iPhone in particular, but I would never expect any computing device to immediately come to life and be functional if I've left it shut off and disconnected for more than two months in any case.
Most of us may be familiar with powering-up a Windows or Linux machine, and then waiting through 4 hours of updates before the system becomes available again. You would do well to power up your old hardware and let it update and connect. If only to test it for fitness of purpose. Otherwise, you shouldn't pretend that it'll be available to you in emergencies.
I want to use GrapheneOS without the ability to access the browser and without the ability to install new apps. At least without a password. A long one written down on paper would be enough friction for me. You could also give it to a trusted person. You can also write/give only a portion of a password and then memorize the other part. Afaict there's not an effective way to do this like you can on iPhones with Apple…
This way it does not really matter that you can install apps because to be interesting they need internet access.
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The example could be hyperbole, but Home Depot and Lowes both offer a wide selection of "smart toilets" and if we think "oh this is just a weird niche thing that will never catch on" let's remember how difficult it is to not purchase a Smart TV when television shopping these days.
I cannot envision what a traditional, but smart toilet may do. By traditional, not Japanese or anything of the sort. I'm sure it's also not taking medical samples. So what on earth could it do?! Report the flushes!?! Why? Are you going to magically decide not to crap as much? Just baffling.
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't flush that".
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I cannot envision what a traditional, but smart toilet may do. By traditional, not Japanese or anything of the sort. I'm sure it's also not taking medical samples. So what on earth could it do?! Report the flushes!?! Why? Are you going to magically decide not to crap as much? Just baffling.
Gastroenterologists generally categorize feces into ~7 categories. They can be indicators of a variety of dietary deficencies, including dehydration or insufficient fiber intake. Others can be indicators of a variety of medical issues, up to an including colon cancer. Ubiquitous smart toilets scanning and categorizing our feces would move the needle of overall public health and well-being.