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I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

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Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#571
post #68

We should assume that all ads in general are scams. The noise to signal ratio is too large to care. Word of mouth and maybe trusted communities like HN is the only way to reliably discover new things.

Generally if all the ads you see are scammy, it means you probably are using some form of tracking/privacy protection. When an ad network has a strong profile on you, legitimate companies pay good money for those ad slots. When they don't really know who you are, only bottom feeders bid on the ad slots you see. In a way, it almost acts as retribution for not submitting to the anti-privacy machine.

I see a lot of people saying things like this. I'm sure some of you are well meaning and not part of the ad machine (probably you among them with your concluding quote).

But no. I could argue that hypothetically scammers would know exactly what I would fall for, but I have real evidence: Facebook knows everything about me and serves me mostly scams, since ever. My Google ads (mostly in Youtube) actually became less scammy when I opted out of all targeting that I could find (went from crypto scams and 5G protection to car commercials and big brands reminding me they exist).

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every mobile device sold in North America is unlocked for carriers. That wasn’t the case back in the day. Also locking down macOS has been for security. It’s way ahead of other operating systems for sound and app security.

Carrier locks have nothing to do with security or walled gardens. Two things using the word 'lock' is mostly coincidence. And getting rid of carrier apps was a positive but it was moving from one walled garden to another. And that happened a very long time ago. It provides zero defense against accusations of apple changing for the worse.

Yeah I think I was high and totally thinking backwards about this.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#574
post #3

Mark my words, Apple is going to go full enshittification in the next 5 years because they've squeezed every last drop out of hardware pricing. Especially with the failed Apple Intelligence that they will now have to pay their way out of.

Then what do i move to? No linux laptop feels as good to touch as the aluminum macbooks, and in terms of phones it can't get any worse than the ads-and-trackers shitshow that is android...

Embrace cheap hardware.

CachyOS on a 200-300 USD Intel n100 tablet with a wired or wireless keyboard of your choice is my go-to recommendation these days. I have one connected to a 4k display and it handles 4k YouTube just fine. It handles Windsurf as well. By comparison, Debian 13 could not handle 4k video and Windsurf overtaxed the system, causing write access errors.

https://www.chuwi.com/product/items/Chuwi-hi10-x2.html

Or spend a little more to get a 12 inch higher resolution display: https://www.chuwi.com/product/items/chuwi-hi10-max-n150.html

If you need more video outputs, higher speed I/O, or a faster CPU for video editing, I cannot help you.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just forget that mobile gaming exists? I think one of the cheapo Linux retro handhelds offer a better portable gaming experience than 99% of mobile games, ads or no.

Any specific models you’ve used and can recommend?

I rather like the Anbernic RG35XXSP for the form factor. It is missing analog sticks, which does cut down on playable games a little but it's cute and tiny and is decently powerful for the price and has good community support. The rest of the RGYYXX line(where YY is the screen size) uses the same hardware but have different form factors so you can pick what you like best.
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