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jg1i

@jg1i@lemmy.world

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jg1i ,

What are your thoughts on the Unihertz Jelly Star?

jg1i ,

The problem with dumb phones is that the entire world pushes people towards smartphones. For a lot of adults, it's really hard to move to a dumb phone.

Have a security system for your house? Need an app.
Router? App.
Bank? App.
Payments? App.
Doctor appointment check in? App.
Texting? WhatsApp.
Fucking menus? App.
Refrigerator? Believe it or not, also App.

My bank is so shitty that sometimes the website doesn't work, but their mobile app does.

You can't always opt out of using an app. I tried setting up my new ISP's router last week and it required an app. No other way to do it.

Currently, I'm thinking something like the Jelly Star might be the best compromise. Has maps and other tools, but the tiny screen prevents them from trapping you.

Rabbit R1 is Just an Android App (lemmy.world)

See, it turns out that the Rabbit R1 seems to run Android under the hood and the entire interface users interact with is powered by a single Android app. A tipster shared the Rabbit R1’s launcher APK with us, and with a bit of tinkering, we managed to install it on an Android phone, specifically a Pixel 6a....

jg1i ,

We know it's just ChatGPT (and Perplexity). That's why we bought it. It's just a fun frontend for a chat bot. That's like the main point.

jg1i ,

It needs to be separate hardware because Google and Apple have a strangle hold on their respective OSes. No way in hell Apple/Google would give a random app deep integration with AI. Although not currently present, it seems like Rabbit (and Humane) want to give a ton of control over the system, data, and apps to the AI.

jg1i ,

Lol. "Why are you all happy?! Stop having fun!"
I bought it and I'm satisfied with it.
If you don't see the appeal, that's ok. Just don't buy it.

jg1i ,

there's nothing the rabbit device does that couldn't be done via an app

Currently, the Rabbit does 2 things for me that can't be an app on my phone.

  1. It's not my phone. I value this enough to pay for it. I spend more time than I would like on my phone. I'm happy when I can use another single purpose device to help me stay focused.

  2. The push to talk hardware button has been more pleasant for me to use than the ChatGPT shortcut on my Pixel phone.

In the end, the ChatGPT + Perplexity in a box fills a space in my life that I can't find anywhere else—given my criteria.

I understand your criteria is different and you value different things. That's ok. It just means this device isn't for you.

jg1i ,

Even now they're already leveraging their OS-level control. The Android Authority guys said in their report, "the Rabbit R1’s launcher app is intended to be preinstalled in the firmware and be granted several privileged, system-level permissions — only some of which we were able to grant". I don't work at Rabbit, so I don't know exactly what modifications they've done to their AOSP fork, but they're doing something.

If I had to guess, I'd say they've messed with the power management of AOSP and probably the process scheduling somehow? I say this because the Rabbit R1 is hands down the fastest way to access an assistant that I've used. I have a ChatGPT shortcut on my homescreen of my Pixel 8 phone and the ChatGPT app is constantly killed in the background, so often times I go to access the assistant but I have to wait for an app to load. The R1 is instant.

And that's without counting the time it takes to face or fingerprint unlock the phone, then tap an icon.

No, I would have not paid $200 if Rabbit was an app. I have ChatGPT and Perplexity on my phone, I don't like the experience compared to the R1. I paid $200 for the end to end Rabbit experience.

Btw, I get that some people don't mind unlocking their phone, tapping an icon, waiting for it to load, asking a question, then getting an answer. That's fine. If you're happy with that experience, then the Rabbit R1 is not for you.

jg1i ,

If you don't do anything except use it like Google, then you only get improved search results. But the other features like lenses, site ranking, URL rewriting, question mark instant answers, and document Q/A make it way more worth it to me.

Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads (www.lowpass.cc)

Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.  ...

jg1i ,

Unfortunately, I bet these guys don't care. I used to work at a company you might have products from and I would constantly hear "Hey, we're a business" as an excuse to degrade the user experience. :(

jg1i ,

Waymo and Cruise definitely have humans waiting to take over if the autonomous mode gets stuck... so that's already true!

jg1i ,

Ok, I need to tell someone else. The other day I ran into an acquaintance, John. He was telling me about his new manager job. Currently, everyone is working remote. An email was sent out to John's team inviting them to lunch so that the team could meet John in person.

Apparently, only 1 person showed up. John got butthurt. John told his boss that he thinks his team doesn't "engage enough" at work and that he thinks remote work is to blame. John told me he likes to test people randomly by sending them a Slack message and seeing how long it takes to respond. Apparently, he thinks 5 minutes for a response means people aren't at the computer working. John has convinced his boss to force people back in the office...

jg1i ,

My job forced us back to the office. The eating area has a big dumb sign that says the company is helping solve climate change... because they use paper cups...

jg1i ,

Maybe? It was an "optional" lunch meeting. I tend to skip meetings that aren't required because I want to keep working.

But, sure. I understand managers/leaders want to feel important, so fine, I show up to the meetings. I sit at the desk, open the laptop, and tune them out while I actually get work done. Like, the thing we're supposed to be doing. I have the 15 pieces of flair, ok.

jg1i ,

LOL! I ran into him yesterday and he was telling me he had to work over the weekend because people have left and they are now understaffed! 😂 git rektt!

jg1i ,

I have a WebOS TV and I absolutely hate how slow it is. Turning on takes a long time. Selecting apps takes a long time. Flipping channels takes a long time. Did we forget how fast TVs from the 90s were??

jg1i ,

https://matrix.org/try-matrix/
With the Element client, it's a pretty close experience to Slack/Discord.

jg1i ,

Curious, what didn't you like about Matrix specifically? I'm in the process of evaluating it for my friends. With the Element client, so far it seems pretty dang similar? Space = server, room = channel, there are also access controls. Seems like there's voice and video chats too.

jg1i ,

I mean, I'm pretty happy with mine! 10/10 would recommend!

jg1i ,

I second the Supernote!

I also own a Remarkable, but after they removed features and began charging a subscription to re-enable the existing features, I looked elsewhere.

The Supernote has been great! Way more features than Remarkable. You can sync locally or in the cloud. The pen never needs replacing. I got used to the feel and prefer it over Remarkable's screen now. Plus the devs are open about their roadmap and regularly listen to feedback. And they have NO subscription!

jg1i OP ,

Let me guess... You're running an X.Org based WM/DE?

Na, using Wayland with Gnome 45. 1.25x scale actually looks less blurry than 2x. (Putting aside that 2x is ridiculously large.)

The best way to combat this?

Is to buy a laptop with a regular DPI display and avoid this class of bugs altogether. This way I can keep using Discord and 1Password.

jg1i OP ,

It has everything to do with the hardware. This specific piece of hardware is not as compatible as a regular DPI display.

These problems only exist because of this poor hardware choice on Framework's part.

jg1i OP ,

The irony is that my old "low res" laptop looks sharp and crisp while "high res" looks blurry. My old laptop doesn't require me to give up my distro of choice (Arch btw), doesn't require me to give up apps I like, and doesn't require me to spend days applying workarounds that ultimately don't even completely solve the problem.

jg1i OP ,

Framework's fault for poorly choosing a display with known issues.

jg1i OP ,

Exactly! All I want is a nice display in 2024—and Framework chooses a garbage display with known issues.

jg1i OP ,

The known issue with HiDPI displays, like the one Framework chose, is that apps are blurry. Other laptops, like Thinkpad or XPS, offer low DPI displays which avoid this issue altogether. The irony is that a HiDPI display is supposed to look better than a low DPI display, but the scaling issues actually make it look worse.

In addition, the experimental flags required to "fix" the scaling issues with apps can also break these apps.

Discord window decorations missing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/o24560/spotify_and_discord_missing_window/

1Password not launching:
https://1password.community/discussion/141663/i-cant-start-wayland-native-version-of-1password

Spotify window decorations wrong:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/16xhm21/spotify_window_decorations_on_wayland/

In summary, HiDPI displays have a long history of making your display look worse and limiting the apps you can use. Thinkpad or XPS with low DPI don't require you to only use Ubuntu or Fedora or only KDE. Linux support on the Framework is held back by the poor choice of display.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk. 🙏

jg1i ,

I was born in the US and have switched by myself. My brother thought I was weird until one day we went to the hardware store.

I needed to buy a 15/64 in drill bit, but they didn't have it. So then we thought, fine, maybe we can use the next closest size...

...

Except WTF is the next size up or down from 15/64??!!! Neither of us could figure it out. Internet wasn't great. Sales people didn't know. We left because we weren't sure what to buy.

In metric, it's trivial. 5mm drill bit, 4mm is smaller, 6mm is bigger.

After this, he stopped thinking I was a weirdo for using metric measurements. But he still uses imperial because murica.

Also, interesting, I learned that he thinks imperial units were invented by the US. I told him they were British units and I stopped caring about British units in 1776, but he didn't seem to believe me.

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