OpenStars

OpenStars , 17 hours ago

B-b-but climate change isn't happening? - Republicans then

B-b-but think of the eCoNoMy!? - Republicans now

Climate change is happening and we should do something about it! - Bernie Sanders, always

img

Where did all these weird weather events come from? - centrists

OpenStars , 16 hours ago (edited 15 hours ago)

Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, citing how Obama was being too radical about it all, so what you said literally has already happened!

Edit: but since you asked, they indeed do keep giving! https://programming.dev/post/14301895

OpenStars , 1 day ago

No he won't - there's no water on that island, for one thing... The new guy is dead meat, he just doesn't realize that yet.

OpenStars , 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

"While downloads will no longer be supported, you can continue to watch TV shows and movies offline on a supported mobile device," the Netflix document says

So essentially Windows devices are no longer "supported" wrt this particular feature.

It essentially means the Windows app will be little more than a wrapper for the Netflix website.

It's possible that the move means Netflix can save some money on licensing, which may cost extra if downloads are included – enabling users to take shows and movies around with them and watch them without an internet connection.

So once again everything devolves down to licensing - i.e. it sounds like they were pressured into this hard choice to leave those users in the cold, which they did. Probably bc the user base of Windows phones is so tiny? (Edit: bc they are discontinued, though more likely they meant the desktop - i.e. laptops - sorry if I caused any confusion).

Though that is one of the main advantages of Netflix these days, as opposed to e.g. piracy.

TLDR: Ultimately it is yet more enshittification, and while due to licensing rather than Netflix, still it is Netflix users (on Windows devices) who will bear the burden.

My advice would be to disable automatic updates and coast for a long while on the current app version, though that can be easier said than done due to multiple locations of automatic update settings. I have zero experience with Windows lately, but good luck if you want to try it!:-|

OpenStars , 1 day ago

Let's not pretend that an "average" mobile user is capable of doing that?

Which is why we need to help one another to get there:-).

OpenStars , 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

Android in the last couple versions has locked its file system down too

Really!? I'm a bit behind, but somehow this surprises me. I mean, not the intention, bc Google's motto these days is "definitely be evil", but that it had gotten this far this fast.

Anyway at a guess all you'd have to do is download whatever you want, then root, profit, then turn off root and it wouldn't even know? Plus the tons of ways that you can do things without even needing root access these days, and I haven't even mentioned yet a custom ROM. And ofc piracy, where someone else obtains the video files, e.g. ripping from a physical medium. So they will most definitely lose that flight. And in the meantime, the most honest customers are the ones who suffer.

Overall I just chalked this up to: anyone who uses Windows (or iOS) basically is at the mercy of profit-seeking behaviors. You will own nothing, and like it - or else!:-(

OpenStars , 1 day ago

It probably depends on what "working" means - it won't ever stop piracy but if they can make things more difficult, then that fact alone gives them a woody.

Also people trying to manipulate the corporate ladder - "hey let's maximize our revenue stream by synergizing the... yeah just gimme a raise won't'cha?" (and since they pay themselves, they won't mind if they do... then use all their "initiatives" like this as justification for that fact). End-users aren't the "customers" anymore these days, in giant megalithic corpos - we are the product that is sold, to whoever is willing to pay.:-(

OpenStars , 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

I am not certain I know what you mean.

Netflix hasn't given any reason for ditching downloads on Windows: when Windows Latest asked about it they were simply directed to the relevant support document, which confirms that a new app is "coming soon", without the download option.

The fact that downloading is still available on Windows is purely bc the update hasn't rolled out yet.

They think (unproven) that this radical change might be due to the cheaper licensing options if they remove the ability to download. A cost-benefit analysis where Windows users will either take it and like it or else who cares about Windows mobile users anyway if they leave. Either way, a victory for licensing companies, or they'll spin it that way regardless.

My worry is that it will embolden them to go still yet further, making it harder on both pirates and paying customers just bc they can get away with doing so.:-(

OpenStars , 1 day ago

I don't see that feature listed at https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.jellyfin.mobile/? I have never used Jellyfin though - it looks quite awesome! - and so know nothing about it, I mention here to say that it might either depend on how you install it or perhaps it's a plugin.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

I presumed it meant existing ones, even if they are no longer making new ones. But yeah, I see you are right, it does seem about the desktop, or presumably meaning laptops that could go offline.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

I'm sorry to hear of your loss:-(. Ironically, mobile devices using iOS and Android look to still allow downloading.

Is it possible to simply not update the Netflix app on your laptop?

It really is sad when they push people to use piracy methods, even for things that we would have had access to using totally legal means, but which they choose to no longer support:-(. e.g. in the olden days, it was legal to rip a copy of a CD or DVD for your own purposes, so long as you did not distribute it and thereby prevent a sale to keep the industry running. Whereas by no longer allowing even temporary downloads, Netflix is keeping their same price but now delivering less features in return, which may lose them several customers.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

Looks like the last release was 2020, so yeah they almost certainly meant laptops.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

I edited my original comment with an apology. It looks like the last release was January 2020.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

That refers to 8.1 Update 2 (8.10.15148.160), but down under Versions, it mentions an NT 10.0 with an EoL date of January 14, 2020 and the footnote says:

Originally scheduled on December 10, 2019, but delayed following one more security update due to the release of iOS 13.3. Supported until January 10, 2023 via the paid Extended Security Updates service.

And even then people could still hold onto their old phones (though I'm not sure if Windows allows bootloader unlocking and custom ROMs as readily as Android). I keep mine until the battery gives out, many years after purchase - even if only as a media device after removing the SIM, like to control casting to my TV. 8 years is actually normal for me.

Anyway, you are right I bet they were referring more to laptops with a desktop Windows OS.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

That's why they will lose... but the authoritarians still keep trying, it's just how they are built. They really aren't intelligent enough to understand any other way, and those few who might seem not to care, being greedy enough to get what they can while they can, letting others deal with the fallout.

OpenStars , 16 hours ago

Thanks for sharing!

Oh wow, so much going on there.

What if a malicious app decides to place child pornography or a crypto mining whatever onto your device - but since its space is "private", can unethical people now legally do that, and simply blame that Google wouldn't let them see into the space, hence they "did not know that it was there"? This would seem to open the door to so very many problematic issues...

On the other hand this seems related solely to "external" storage - I haven't used external storage on an Android for... actually I've never used it iirc. For this Netflix case, would they disallow downloading onto your device unless you have an external SIM? Also, if you used external storage, then how da fuq could they control you popping that external storage into some other device entirely, like a rooted device with a custom ROM!? It would have made so much more sense for internal storage... or possibly I am missing something there.

In any case, that sucks that Google seems more and more to be buying into the "walled garden" philosophy - you know, "for your convenience", aka selling YOU as the product to the investor class.:-(

A quick search seems to suggest there is no known way around this, except to use an older Android OS:-(. I would hope that this would absolutely wake people up to realize why Google cannot be trusted - as if what happened to searching wasn't enough on its own.

OpenStars , 12 hours ago

But these rules only seem to apply to apps that follow the rules. Or perhaps on an OS that does so. Hence a custom ROM would be able to bypass it, or connecting the external storage to a computer via USB or some such? At which point it seems needlessly restrictive. But, I am no expert, and it would indeed increase security for a naive user, so likely that's what they are aiming at.

OpenStars , 9 hours ago

A super-long time ago I got a Nexus, b/c they were awesome, and Google was still thought of as being somewhat awesome for offering those.

Nowadays I have been dreading the thought of a Pixel - I'd more likely get a Fairphone I think - but whatever I get, it's sad to think that a custom ROM is probably going to have to be the default for so many people:-(.

OpenStars , 1 day ago

Well, websites can still be made, so not quite the same, but I get what you mean:-).

And similarly, a ton of written material was lost e.g. when a library was burned - often unique or rare material subsequently lost in other ways, so very much the same process.

OpenStars , 2 days ago

Asking the important questions!

OpenStars , 2 days ago

But... he took the insecurity away from you, and he'll hold onto it until you are ready to leave the club, at which point a different comment will give it right back, to you and only you, and even with interest.

Omg I can't believe you actually bought that line I said when you went in - you are such a dweeb, next time just stay home dumbass!

So does he suck, or is he a master at the game? :-P

OpenStars , 2 days ago

Maybe uh... that would help!?

OpenStars , 2 days ago

Perhaps that's why they are eager to do this - think of all the money they could make from lawsuits...;-)

OpenStars , 3 days ago

Now watch as Musk faces "consequences(TM)".

Why, he might have to pay a fine of a full hour's worth of profits that resulted from his actions!?

OpenStars , 5 days ago

This title is ambiguous: reduces belief in the fake news topics themselves, vs. that fake news exists.

Anyway, yes, it does wonders for mental health and sanity to unplug from that cesspit of human "alternative knowledge"!:-P

OpenStars , 6 days ago

img

OpenStars , 7 days ago

img

OpenStars , 7 days ago

Caveat: unless it is Mac OSX. There are... issues there, but it is still a fairly great experience, objectively speaking.

OpenStars , 9 days ago

img

OpenStars , 12 days ago

Happy go lucky guy is fine - they expected it and are just rolling with the punches.:-)

In the USA, the leopard about to get his face eaten off would normally be colored red I believe... :-P

image saying Karma is not a bitch it's a mirror

OpenStars , 12 days ago

They have done this for years now - this is not new.

OpenStars , 12 days ago

What if he's using his brain implant though? :-P

OpenStars , 13 days ago

It's how you use the tools that count, and I think both types need (self-)restrictions placed upon them to be maximally effective and fun. Even a gun has a use, within certain bounds e.g. Ukraine can put them to great use.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Mine works just fine... on my Mac OSX:-).

If anyone is worrying about security, don't use it for that, or at all if you don't want, but it sure is nice to have that option if/when I want.

Seriously, I have multiple layers of security - extremely long & complex & unique passwords plus 2FA for banking, another (different) password and a PIV for work, etc. - and I really enjoy being able to get back into my desktop at a moment's notice after grabbing a coffee. It even enhances security in several ways: e.g. by facilitating using a shorter time-out until the system asks for authentication, plus allows you to use a more complex password for your account, knowing that you won't have to type the whole damn thing in 50 times a day. Also, even if someone had a literal camera over your shoulder watching you type your password (work? public space like library?), they would not get your fingerprint that particular way. Or if you really want to get paranoid (I don't think Mac will let you do this by default without additional software though), you could require both password + fingerprint?

It is also worth noting that the issues for desktops are not identical to those of mobile devices: someone would have to gain physical access to my machine in the first place (afaik? now I wonder about that though... are the security credentials stored in a less secure manner that a remote intrusion could spoof more readily?), which is far less common than a mobile device that you take with you and is also smaller so more easily stolen.

Protect the stuff you value the most, but for the common stuff it is nice to have a quicker method of access. Like everything else, this is merely one tool in your toolbox that you can decide how & when to use appropriately.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Tbf the evidence for the second person is not strong - that stuff does legit happen.

But the first guy? Damn! That's enough right there.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Well isn’t there a ruling in aircraft design and safety, that you calculate the probability of a certain failure and judge by its reoccurence if it was just random, or more than likely systematic?

It sounds like neither of us know the answer to that, so I choose not to comment on that matter.

I think i read this in context to the two MAX planes crashing in the exact same way.

But how does that apply? One guy was a "suicide", the other was bacteria - you just said it yourself, the metric only works if they crash "in the exact same way", therefore by your own words, this seems to not apply?

There is a natural human bias to want to "know" things. Sometimes we even make shit up out of desperation to fill that void, but the more honest way (but HARD to do, emotionally, as in it seriously goes against the grain of our pattern-finding brain's natural instinctual algorithms) is to simply say "I do not know the answer here". Please don't misunderstand me as saying that it is likely that the second guy was not killed - that would be 100% tangential to what I am trying to convey!

Rather, I am saying that the first guy looks to have been Epstein-ed, but we don't know enough yet about the second guy. Could you imagine someone sent to kill him, and having a whole plan in place so that he wouldn't even make it home but rather be taken care of in the car on the way there, but then he dies in his hospital bed first -> do you still get paid!?:-P Asking the important questions here!!:-D

But again, what happened to the first guy is already enough to know that some shady shit is going on. And yeah, that should make us think twice about the second guy... but having done so, I think that we just don't know enough there to make a firm determination like we could for the first guy, without additional evidence. Which does not absolve Boeing one iota for being so shitty for the last few years.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

I don't know the relevant laws there - but I am certain that an autopsy would have been done? Beyond that, what more could be done? If that means a more expensive autopsy, then yeah they should do that - even Boeing might agree on that point, to help absolve them, even if they did somehow give the bacteria to the guy, but like if they were confident that it could not be traced to them in that manner.

Speaking of, even if they were guilty in this second case, that's a very different thing than someone being able to prove it. "Innocent until proven guilty" is a foundational bedrock principle in the USA, and we cannot simply throw that away without losing something precious.

And with them being military contractors, they probably have classified status to where local police can't just go subpoenaing their records willy nilly. I could be wrong though. Then again, if they are used to dealing with the likes of e.g. literal Russian spies, then surely they would be smart enough to not leave a paper trail on something like this to begin with?

But the first guy should already be enough to start an investigation. The second guy... I dunno what that one means, maybe yes but also might not be.

OpenStars , 14 days ago (edited 14 days ago)

We do ourselves no favors by sounding like conspiracy nutjobs who are uninterested in facts. When they go low, we should retain the high road, imho.

Edit: this... basically means tangentially what I had intended to say, so it is better off to be deleted, though I will leave it as strikethrough for the historical record (I really hate all those "deleted" messages, and don't want to contribute one of my own too!).

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Yeah Kbin really jumped the shark. I gave up on it as well. Maybe one day Ernst will do literally everything that he said he would but... today is not that day, nor was yesterday, and I'm done waiting. In the meantime I'm wondering if I should block the entire instance due to all the spam that the complete lack of moderation (in some communities) is sending out to the entire Fediverse. Seriously, I am surprised it hasn't been hit by waves of CP as many other instances have, in an attempt to swat it by getting the FBI involved. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new instance better!:-) Weird conversations such as is happening on this post aside, the Fediverse is kind of a neat place!

Also, you might check the list of which instances Kbin blocks by default, and choose to block them here (Settings -> Blocks, scroll way down to instances). e.g. lemmygrad.ml and hexbear.net are some really common ones that people often block. Ofc you feel free to do you, and decide first what you want to see in your feed!:-) I just mention that bc after leaving the safe and protected Kbin.social I game close to leaving Lemmy too, until I blocked those two instances and it improved my experience on the Fediverse 95%.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Yeah... linking was hard for me to figure out.

For a user, you hit the @ sign then start typing, then you may have to wait a bit and it will make a list of every user that matches that partial string that you typed, and you have to select it from the list for it to convert into the actual link - e.g. @bolexforsoup.

For communities, I'm only recently learning this myself, it's the ! sign and then the same process - e.g. !technology.

You can hit the view source - icon to the right of up & down votes, left of reply - to see how it translates into, but that's a LOT to try to remember, while the above is a lot easier process. The web browser UI isn't really intuitive though - e.g. there are no buttons for either of those, and a bunch of other stuff doesn't work all that well either when you click it, plus beware of clicking the formatting help button b/c it won't open a new tab or anything - even though you can ONLY access it from within an EXISTING reply, nonetheless by default it will obliterate all of the text that you have typed so far and navigate to another page. None of the other options do that... but despite how there is basically zero distinction wrt its icon color or placement that might hint at that fact, that one behaves fundamentally differently from all the rest of them. So, if you are struggling, note that it may not be your fault: Lemmy is still in its infancy, and a lot of this isn't as "polished" as it may one day become.

I still love it 100-fold better than Kbin's interface. I did not think that I would, but I do.

Tbh, I feel less bad for Ernst the more time that goes by. At first I thought he was a GREAT dude, to take upon himself that whole concept of entirely re-envisioning the whole Lemmy code, and I definitely get that he was handed a bunch of lemons by life, but he also was the only one who decided what to do with them. e.g. he could have allowed a couple of other admins onto the kbin.social instance, even if he retained full & total control of the code side of things. I would not dream of trying to tell him what to do but... I also have the same rights, and since I no longer trust his word, him having broken it far too many times, I don't think I will ever go back, even if everything that he hoped to do with Kbin ends up being done. He's made his choices, and I do not respect them, though meanwhile everyone will move on regardless - which I do agree is really sad, especially after such an auspicious beginning, and along with everything I am saying I really truly do wish him the best, but... I am no longer willing to hold my breath anxiously awaiting that to happen anytime soon.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

Tbf, you did come out fairly condescending and combative, telling people what to do and how wrong they are, and even essentially calling them names. Putting aside being correct or not, people don't take kindly to being told in that manner!:-P

But it's not all bad, and that separates this place from Reddit. The latter I just never visit anymore, b/c there is simply no longer any point to do so. In contrast, this place is full of crap... but it's not all crap, and that's... well that's... something, I guess:-).

Also, I kid - it's generally significantly better than crap - it definitely contains crap, but it's also got a lot of good stuff too.:-)

This post though is probably a lost cause indeed:-P.

OpenStars , 14 days ago (edited 14 days ago)

I apologize for my wording - I agree with you that I was out of line. There was some point I was trying to make, about the need to be cautious with our wording, but somehow I ended up doing the exact thing I was trying to warn about, didn't I? Fwiw I don't actually think that you suck at all - I was just really, Really, REALLY bad at expressing myself there.:-) Thank you for not returning the favor in like manner.

OpenStars , 14 days ago

You too!:-)

OpenStars , 13 days ago

Excellent!:-)

OpenStars , 13 days ago

I presumed all of that would already be done. Then again, perhaps not. Then again, a giant military industrial contractor may have ways around such anyway, which doesn't mean that we shouldn't look, though either way I would expect the situation to at least superficially look innocent.

You could write a letter, maybe get a petition signed to back it up, to the hospital and ask that their internal security do such? Or the police in that local area.

OpenStars , 13 days ago

As Lemmy grows, it will attract all kinds of people. And many - e.g. lemmygrad.ml and the person who wrote the Lemmy code to begin with - are outright tankies (as far as I understand that word, it seems to mean: die-hard communists, aka such extreme leftists that they have wrapped around to becoming authoritarian rightists except with left-wing talking points, which ofc they do not see the irony in that, thinking that the correctness of their cause entitles them to act in an identical manner as the "other side" that they purportedly despise).

And like Reddit, some are literal and actual children, or at least younger people, so there's that to consider.

But aside from all of that, people are people, and that's just the way it is, I suppose. And even on top of that, sometimes as we dig we find that we have more in common than first appeared, so some of it is pure communication style. e.g. someone saying "let's not hastily jump to conclusions" and someone saying "hey, we should investigate this!" might be saying the same thing, in a roundabout way. Plus too many react to the "tone" of a message more than its content, and on and on it goes...

All we can do is focus on our own parts that we ourselves have control over:-).

OpenStars , 13 days ago

Exactly! It's literally a service done to the Truth, which is the main goal for many of us, not to have a feeling of being "correct" or lording that over others or vengeance against someone we do not particularly like as in out- vs. in-group dynamics, but rather to rise above all of that shit and find stuff that really matters.

Put another way: if I make a correct statement, and then follow it up with two incorrect statements, then people should not trust me, hrm? Or Lemmy. Or perhaps this community. "They" get to then state how "wrong" we are - correctly! And making the other side be correct... is something that we should revile and fill us with disgust:-D.

Which is why perhaps how we say something is almost as important as what we say, I am learning, and thought I would share that also with you. Full disclosure: I am usually very bad at it, which is why I want to learn to get better.

OpenStars , 15 days ago

Actually... yes. I started reading and somehow ended up knowing things that now matter to me.