Earlier quoted context omitted.
General purpose desktop computing isn't dead yet. It's still available - but barely. Now is the time to save it, or it will be gone soon. The same thing happened to TVs. There are nearly no 'dumb' TVs that doesn't do anything more than just display the video signal. All the 'smart' ('over-smart' is more appropriate) TVs out there take too long to start and they almost always phone home to their overlords. The really…
You misunderstood the intent. That’s exactly how to get a small dumb TV. A large dumb TV is called a digital signage display. Those even come with remotes!
The boiling frog of digital freedom
241–250 of 467 posts
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I never understood why anyone would even want a banking app though; there is nothing int can do that a website can't. A mobile phone app can let users "deposit paper checks from home" without ever driving to the bank branch by taking a photo of the check with the smartphone camera. Last time I looked into it, a desktop website couldn't enable check deposits with a webcam. (EDIT: I don't mean technically not possible…
> Last time I looked into it, a desktop website couldn't enable check deposits with a webcam. Why not?
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
General purpose desktop computing isn't dead yet. It's still available - but barely. Now is the time to save it, or it will be gone soon. The same thing happened to TVs. There are nearly no 'dumb' TVs that doesn't do anything more than just display the video signal. All the 'smart' ('over-smart' is more appropriate) TVs out there take too long to start and they almost always phone home to their overlords. The really…
I mean, any smart TV is a dumb tv once you don’t connect it to the internet?
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#244It's an urban myth that the frog will stay in the water to be boiled, it actually jumps out. Unless of course there's a lid on the pot. Humans have a lot to learn from the frog. And it's not about putting lids on pots.
Even though it is a myth, the message of it is still good!
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
General purpose desktop computing isn't dead yet. It's still available - but barely. Now is the time to save it, or it will be gone soon. The same thing happened to TVs. There are nearly no 'dumb' TVs that doesn't do anything more than just display the video signal. All the 'smart' ('over-smart' is more appropriate) TVs out there take too long to start and they almost always phone home to their overlords. The really…
You misunderstood the intent. That’s exactly how to get a small dumb TV. A large dumb TV is called a digital signage display. Those even come with remotes!
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#246We need a new philosophical movement for computer technology. The Stallman movement failed because it was not practical for business applications. At the end of the day, coders & hardware manufacturers need to eat just like accountants, plumbers and doctors. Technology can't rely 100% on altruism. What we need is something close to the Ethical standards of the Stallman movement, but also compatable with business owne…
I'm hoping for Cory Doctorow's new book[0] to ignite this discussion.
This is the first thing I've preordered in my life. And despite his marketing being a bit cheesy, I think he might be the right guy at the right time to plant the seeds for this movement.
[0]: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-internet-c...
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#247The other day I read an HN comment that thought that when you buy consumer PC hardware, it comes with a ToS that limits your property rights as the owner. It's the kind of uncanny experience I run into more and more often lately: talking with people so immersed in our new normal of cyberpunk dystopia, they seem not to remember how things were in the before-times. So accustomed to exploitative corporate gaslighting, w…
Looking at this list, open source software is the only thing that can help save us from this future. Whenever a corporation takes control of a widespread open source software (eg Oracle buying MySQL) it is forked by the community (MariaDB). If you don’t have access to the source code, you can’t fork it. And ALL the Web 2.0 platforms of today (on which we have our public forums) won’t give you their back-end software.…
That's why Twitter software engineers were making fun of people wanting to release the Twitter algorithm... They were well aware of what a complex mess it was and how unrealistic that was. People have the right intuition though; it doesn't need to be so complex. It is complex by design.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, chrome and google in general are the first in line to cause problems. There are many browsers, many apps, many everything... you can switch whenever... but the DRM and attestation pushes with browsers (and mobile devices) means, that sure, you can use a different browser, but your bank, your streaming service, your newssite might not work unless you're using chrome with drm and hardware attestation. This is alr…
If the ecosystem is based on open source software, the community will fork it like it always does when someone tries to control it. You’ll end up with a fork of Chromium/Blink that doesn’t have WEI. And it will be used to surf web sites. While the official browser from Google would be used to access sites that require WEI attestations. Just like the Bank of America app would. Corporate power in pushing Chrome for eve…
I mean sure, you can just not-use those services and not chat with everyone else, but that's a bad solution.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
This blew my mind as a younger person who took an interest in repairing tube radios from the 30's & 40's. One of the first things I realized was how generally easy it was to find schematics of popular brands and models. Some were even pasted right inside the radio shell! I also hack and repair modern stuff, and it is so common to open up a product just to end up staring at an epoxy blob. User manuals hold no mention…
It's all about milking and rent-seeking: greed. Every device/vehicle/system now needs to be connected to the internet and needs you to download an app. Is that for the consumer? No. That's for the manufacturer. For milking be reselling your data and/or spying on you and/or charging extra because they can and/or the capability to turn any device into literal trash by not providing updates or bug fixes to a half-baked…
In a democracy the government is a proxy for the people. I blame the people. If the majority was conscious of their rights (or at least what these rights should be) the governments would have no choice and they'd bring laws that protect these rights. Yes, no democracy is perfect, there are lobbyists, corruption etc, but if the large majority of the population wants something all these lobbying and corruption can only delay it.
The issue with the government(s) is a symptom, not a cause. The cause is that the majority of people have no spine. They'll sell their privacy and rights gladly for a tiny bit of perceived convenience, entertainment or status. It's like this famous saying "people that are willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither". Substitute privacy/ownership for freedom and convenience/entertainment for safety and it will still be true.
Neither me nor my partner own a smartwatch/health band. Why? Because we literally found no brand that could be used without setting up silly "online accounts" and having our personal details (including health) harvested. The pine watch is an exception, but last time I checked the software was not ready for daily use.
Personally, despite the above, I'm a "long term optimist". I think people eventually will learn to value their privacy, their right to ownership/repair and they will stop buying and using devices and software that infringe on these rights. But not before a generation or two come and go.
Consider other revolutions in human condition. For example the industrial revolution. It brought magnificent benefits, but also (especially initially) it was horrible for many people including children. Eventually the masses started paying attention and worker rights were established, but not a second before the majority was ready to sacrifice a lot to fight for it. It will. Be like this with our "digital revolution".
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't say they are intentionally spiteful, just that modern electronics are complex enough, especially highly integrated stuff like smartphones, that the OEM's suppliers would be unhappy if detailed schematics were released. Since they would not be willing to guarantee on the record that they are correct, nor would they want stuff impinging on actual trade secrets to be revealed.
That wasn't less true for any other appliance that's ever existed, largely because of the availability of the schematics. People have a right to know what they're buying. Companies are testing legal and cultural boundaries, silently changing functionality and usability by altering software or access to required services after sale. It's not "too complex", it'd just be a hassle if people knew.
If you don't Microsoft, one of the wealthiest corporations in existence, will steal your copy of minecraft that you purchased elsewhere.
Sorry if this isn't on topic, I'm very salty over the migration.