TheFeatureCreature

TheFeatureCreature , 1 day ago

Welp, there goes my morning. Now I have to spend a few hours unfucking everything.

Never trusting this app ever again.

TheFeatureCreature , 4 days ago

It's amazing that these companies spend ultraquadrillions on advertisement platforms and algorithms and all they ever seem to do is just spam products at you that you have already purchased. Where is all this money going?

TheFeatureCreature , 6 days ago

Not surprising. They archive information that powerful people would rather we forget.

TheFeatureCreature , 6 days ago

They have to. They, along with every other tech megacorp right now, have invested unfathomable amounts of money into AI and have their investors and shareholders creaming their pants as they ride high on the fumes of their own farts. They'd be drawn and quartered if they suddenly did a 180 or in any way admitted their product is massively overvalued and nearly useless.

TheFeatureCreature , 11 days ago

Just what the cash-strapped people of the world want - more monthly fees.

TheFeatureCreature , 11 days ago

Link?

TheFeatureCreature , 12 days ago

Those happen in the volcano lair

TheFeatureCreature , 12 days ago

Not everyone that uses Windows is a gamer. Productivity and creative software (and drivers for their respective devices) remains a sore point for Linux compatibility

Don't get me wrong - I think Microsoft and Windows are absolute trash and I hope to one day see them fall, but people really need to remember that folks do more than just play videogames. Computers are work tools for a lot of people.

TheFeatureCreature , 12 days ago

Sure, if people willing to change and relearn their entire workflows to switch to alternative software. Something that, in the real world, doesn't happen. When you have a stable, functional tool that is making the income you rely on - the last thing you do is throw it in the trash to replace it with one you don't know how to us or requires extensive (and costly) downtime. Moving system(s) over to Linux can be a business-altering decision depending on what the use is, and they're not going to do it unless they absolutely have to.

This is going to sound harsh, but Linux fans really do need to touch a bit of grass sometimes. As I said in my previous message: computers are work tools for a lot of people. Your computer might be a hobby device that you play games on and tinker with which is great! Good for you! But a lot of people and businesses don't do that.

TheFeatureCreature , 15 days ago

True, but to a point. Being external, it'd be something I plug in occasionally to back up large project files. I don't technically need blazing speeds but I'd still be displeased if my transfers took 10 minutes or more.

TheFeatureCreature , 17 days ago

New AI technology promises to-

Hmm, where have I heard this before...

TheFeatureCreature , 17 days ago

It's almost like it's a requirement for every landscaping company to use the most noisy, ear destroying, gas-powered leaf blower that they can buy that can be heard from 2 city blocks over.

TheFeatureCreature , 22 days ago

The perfect powerhouse chip to handle the iPad's cut-down OS and half-baked apps because Apple refuses to take the iPad's software seriously.

TheFeatureCreature , 22 days ago

What a clown.

TheFeatureCreature , 23 days ago

Petition to rename this man to "Ted Faro"

TheFeatureCreature , 23 days ago

I was just talking to my dad about this the other day and I told him that it was only a matter of time before the US government goes after Chinese EV's at the request of the US auto lobby.

I didn't think it would be this soon, though. Hurray for more garbage EV's for $50,000+

TheFeatureCreature , 23 days ago

They will if there is enough demand for 'em.

TheFeatureCreature , 24 days ago

Please, people, for the love of the gods, stop using Spotify. There are numerous other services that are so much better value for your money and don't treat artists (as much) like trash.

And that being said, try to support your beloved artists directly as much as you can. Buying digital downloads or physical media will give them more money than a lifetime of streaming ever would. Plus you get to keep the higher-quality music even if the platform or artist goes tits-up.

TheFeatureCreature , 24 days ago

You are not wrong, but there are other services that are just as convenient and for less money. Spotify knows they are the "default" music streaming platform and they are exploiting that.

TheFeatureCreature , 24 days ago

Sure, although keep in mind this will vary by region due to licensing issues.

Deezer is probably Spotify's best direct competitor. They are priced equally (depending on region) and now offer high-res streaming as default instead of a paid extra. They've been expanding with new features such as lyrics, collab playlists, song identification, and they recently improved their recommendation system. They also offer a discount if you buy subs yearly instead of monthly so you can save if you like the platform.

Apple Music is also an option now that Apple has put in some work to make the platform easier to use on non-Apple devices such as the recently added Windows app. It's not as feature-rich as Deezer but if you don't use those added features anyway then it is an option. I personally would phrase it as "has less bloat". If you own any Apple devices already then it will have tighter integration with them.

Tidal is the old favourite of audiophiles and music appreciators. They have been expanding their platform with new features and music and, somewhat recently, have also lowered their prices. High-res streaming is now included in the base sub tier. All of these alternatives pay artists more than Spotify but Tidal has one of the best artist payouts.

Qobuz is similar to Tidal and is a premium platform with a focus on quality. They are a newer service and are still expanding their regions, so I don't have personal experience with them as they only recently opened up to my country. Their price and feature set looks competitive, though, and their UI does look slick. They also have better artist payouts.

Amazon Music apparently has better payouts for artists but Amazon is a shit company so I've never looked into them further. I'll include YouTube Music here as well which has shitty payouts and is a shitty company.

TheFeatureCreature , 26 days ago

I've considered the Light Phone before but there are just some things I think it goes too far with such as lack of email and texted images. I consider these to be basic communication fundamentals and should be standard on dumbphones. It's not like they're closed-source software tied to specific companies.

TheFeatureCreature , 27 days ago

A lot of lists for private alternative email services start and and with Proton, seemingly. Services like Posteo, Mailbox, Hushmail, Fastmail, etc are frequently overlooked. It's a shame because many of these other services are great and Proton is one of the most expensive and not suitable for everyone. I've been with Posteo for years and I have nothing but praise for it.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

Late-stage capitalism going full steam ahead.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

I run Windows 11 on my workstation rig out of necessity and it's serviceable as an OS... as long as Microsoft keeps their greedy fingers out of it - which they do not. W11's lack of uptake is entirely their fault and they have done nothing to grow any good will amongst their customers and, in fact, constantly treat them like money pinatas to beat repeatedly.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

This. I have dabbled with various Linux distros over the past 15+ years out of curiosity. I have, without fail, had to spend days troubleshooting and fixing various problems of all kinds. Sometimes it was WiFi drivers, sometimes it was GPU drivers, sometimes it was power management issues, and most recently it's soundcard drivers and poor audio control/quality issues. I always installed Linux as dual-boot so I had my normal Windows install to fall back on but I just couldn't see myself able to fully switch primary OS over.

Nowadays I couldn't switch over even if I wanted to because numerous programs I use for my work are not supported properly or at all. Linux has indeed come a long way over the years in terms of UX and software compatibility, but not everyone uses their computer just for games. There is a lot of creative and productivity software (and devices!) that have limited or zero Linux support and many FOSS alternatives are not sufficient. I hate Adobe as much as the next person and Photoshop is a bloated pile of trash, but part of my soul dies whenever a Linux fan tells me I can just replace Photoshop with GIMP. GIMP is clownware.

Another major issue I had was the community itself. When troubleshooting the issues I've had over the years, one big problem that kept popping back up was how toxic and condescending the Linux community can be. On more than a few occasions my requests for help on forums were met with passive aggressiveness and hostility because I "should have known better" or something along those lines. The most recent example I can think of was someone asking me to post a debug log to troubleshoot an issue I had and I had to ask him where to find the log. He told me the folder it would be in but not the folder path to get there. When I asked again where to find the log, he just told me that "maybe Linux isn't for you".

You know what? Maybe it isn't. It sure isn't for most people and I can't see that changing soon.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

Two words: Elon Musk.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

His commitment to pissing away his wealth is pretty hard core.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

My phone knows my age, my account(s) know my age, the phone maker knows my age, so please for the love of the gods stop removing my cusses. It should damn well know that I have almost never intentionally typed "ducking" and yet I often correct words to "fucking"enough to be able to learn some basic usage patterns. I'm 30 years old, stop "correcting" my text like I'm 5.

Also some really obvious words are constantly "corrected". My phone will not let me start a sentence with "We'll". It will, without fail, change it to "Well" and I have to fix it.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

I've been largely unaware of a lot of these things going on with Asus but the other day I was reading up on Armoury Crate, which Asus integrates as a hardware-level rootkit on many of their motherboards. That is absolutely goddamn absurd. Bloatware baked right into the hardware itself? I cannot express how scummy and disrespectful to your customers that is.

I'm very glad I picked no Asus parts for my latest build.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

Like when tech companies forced "Cloud" everything upon us in the early 2010's, and then the digital home assistant craze that followed after.

These things are not meant for us. Sure some people will enjoy or benefit from them in some way, but their primary function is to appease shareholders and investors and drum up cash. It's why seemingly every company is desperately looking for ways to shoehorn "AI" into their products even if it's completely nonsensical.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

and then abruptly cut its price so it could quickly get rid of existing inventory.

Why would anybody buy a new car that has no future of warranty or parts availability?

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

I stopped watching his content after his ableist campaign with NEXT For Autism (another shitty autism "charity" like Autism Speaks) and his subsequent removal of comments and banning of users who criticised his campaign or attempted to inform him of the dangers of the organisation.

It's good to see that his morals and ethics are still, to this day, not exactly heartwarming. /s

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

DDG's classic "Trust me bro" privacy policy.

I don't dislike DDG and I do use it, but goddamn I'd love to see a public audit of their privacy claims. DDG is closed source and they've only ever given Their Word ^TM^ about their claims. The privacy community puts a lot of faith in DDG despite not being able to test anything it says.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

Considering DDG's privacy claims cannot be independently verified (and their MS tracking fiasco 2 years ago) they should be treated with the same level of caution that Startpage gets.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

They probably will eventually, but it's just not priority. Most people interact with YouTube via Chrome (or one of the 400,000 rebranded Chromimum browsers) or the YouTube app, both of which Google can more tightly control. Firefox, with it's smaller market share, just isn't worth chasing... yet.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

As if the NSA ever needed legal permission to do whatever the hell they wanted anyway.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

I looked up what it would cost for me to buy one of these and run it daily.

After conversions and shipping, it would be $1100 to get one in my hands. It would be $50-60/month (Pin sub + data phone plan) to make it functional. And when the company inevitably folds in 1 to 2 years (or any of the companies they use for processing), the entire thing will turn into e-waste. It has literally zero on-device processing or functionality nor can it piggyback off your phone. It will turn into a paperweight.

This thing is a scam.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

Excited to see Discord do absolutely nothing about this despite it being an egregious breach of their TOS.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

You know, they'd probably get a tenfold increase of Premium subscribers if they just, I don't know, dropped the prices a smidge and had better regional pricing. Not everyone can or will subscribe, but Google is only making this more difficult for themselves by making it such an expensive service.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

It's already been added to the Google Graveyard.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

I have. I pay for a non-Google alternative email service.

TheFeatureCreature , 1 month ago

That sounds like some other sort of issue going on, not Win11.

TheFeatureCreature , 2 months ago

Guess they didn't learn their lesson after Tumblr.

TheFeatureCreature , 2 months ago

Yeah, but when they get fined 0.004% of their revenue with each violation then it's hardly even worth worrying about. Legal penalties are basically minor business expenses to these companies - like buying toilet paper for the office bathrooms.

TheFeatureCreature , 2 months ago

So this isn’t going to be an open and free way for developers to distribute apps over the web to iOS devices in EU markets. “Apple will authorize developers after meeting specific criteria and committing to ongoing requirements that help protect users,” says Apple. Developers will need to be part of Apple’s Developer Program and be registered in the EU. They’ll also need to agree to a number of key undertakings, as outlined by Apple:

The EU needs to drag Apple back into court and keep hitting them over the head until they actually comply.

TheFeatureCreature , 3 months ago

It also dismisses DuckDuckGo’s approach to privacy as one of its failures, claiming that the approach leads to “significant trade-offs to search quality,

This is a bold claim to make considering Google's search is almost entirely useless now. They've let AI-generated SEO trash completely destroy their search results and have turned a blind eye to it.

TheFeatureCreature , 3 months ago

Get the fuck out.

TheFeatureCreature , 4 months ago

It's a long shot, but you could have a chat with the building manager and/or landlord and voice these concerns. I don't know if they'll do anything, but you never know.