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skarn

@ skarn @discuss.tchncs.de

Posts
0
Comments
370
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

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  • /e/OS on Fairphone allows locking the bootloader.

    I even installed it two years after purchase on my own phone, and relocked the bootloader, of course with the same caveat.

  • Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

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  • NFC payments are possible with Curve.

  • Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

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  • I use Arch, BTW.

  • Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

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  • So, I use a FP4 with /e/OS and I like it.

    First things first: some things will break. Not many, and not often, but it happens. Mostly Google stuff, but on Android a lot of stuff is Google stuff.

    Recently GMaps wasn't working for a little longer than a week. I was still able to use HERE WeGo (my current favorite) and others even with Android Auto, so it was no problem for me, but still.

    Banking apps and such almost always work, but there is a non-zero chance that one of those will break, even for a short while. I have three banking apps and they work flawlessly, plus itsme (Belgian gov app) and a German health insurance (this one refuses to login with fingerprint, but pass works).

    Android Auto works, but I don't think I ever managed to get Chromecast to do anything.

    You do get something in exchange. The privacy improvements are there, and the OS-level adblocking as well.

    But you have to accept that occasionally there will be a nonzero level of discomfort.

    You could keep the old phone around for the apps that don't behave, or you could use the old phone to test /e/OS before ordering.

  • Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

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  • The Google Maps issue is fixed. I always kept a judicious distance from Google Home and Pixel Watch, so I can't comment on that.

  • EU ID App for Minors: EU Commission Gets Serious About Youth Protection

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  • Assuming the technical implementation is sound (I'm techy but that's still way over my head), there is something missing from the explanations I've been seeing so far.

    The state is of course the one who should be proving my identity, and the website has (usually) no business knowing who I am or holding a copy of my documents. The state however has no business knowing what I'm browsing, and a pinky promise is not enough.

    I can't understand whether this is something that the proposed system offers, or whether it's a property of zero-proof systems in general.

    Obviously something like this must necessarily be Free and Open Source if any trust at all must be put into it.

  • EU ID App for Minors: EU Commission Gets Serious About Youth Protection

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  • Well, kinda. You can have access tiers. For instance no access for age<13, limited access for 13<age<18, full access for age>18.

    Needless to say, I think this is (in most circumstances) the wrong approach.

    We are talking about products that are often deliberately harmful and hostile to all users, and then we expect to have a child-safe version of these. Shouldn't we try to get an adult safe version too? It would be way easier to protect children then.

  • Two-year-old Surface PCs get $300 price hikes as sub-$1,000 models go away

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  • Indeed I was not suggesting switching the OS on that device.

    But if it quits on you, old thinkpad + Linux will keep you going.

  • Two-year-old Surface PCs get $300 price hikes as sub-$1,000 models go away

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  • I'm rather concerned about what I do when my Surface Pro 7 dies. I inherited a Chromebook from my dad, but that's a poor substitute.

    Do you need to use Windows? Because any old Thinkpad with Linux Mint will get you through a few years, and performance-wise should be able to handle anything you're currently doing with your surface. Or hell, I can't believe I'm saying this, a Macbook Neo.

  • Google will begin punishing sites for back button hijacking in June

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  • 83% of the searches that happen on PC are done with google and 95% of the searches done on mobile are done with google.

    So 12% of users didn't change the default from Edge with Bing?

  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

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  • As a physicist, my favorite referee comment ever was [That my claim was wrong] "should be obvious to anyone who has ever sat through an elementary electromagnetism course." He was wrong BTW, and the paper was finally published in a different journal.

    I am from a decidedly different field, so I don't know if I can vouch for you in any meaningful way.

  • Privacy-conscious cycling computer / activity trackers?

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  • This! If you have good hardware that works, it's good to keep it if possible.

    My smartwatch/activity tracker is indeed a Garmin Instinct 2s with Gadgetbridge. It really does most of what the proprietary app does, and gives you near absolute control over your data.

  • After 90 days we may not see Session on our app stores again

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  • Can't really anyone read? Poster above said Portugal or Poland cost 1/10th of the budget above.

    And plainly no. In Poland you might get away with spending half.

  • Elon points the way

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  • Has anyone here considered that he simply may be funding subversive groups in a few countries?

  • If you could have your email provider based in any country, which one would you choose? Which one do you think has the best privacy protections?

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  • Yes, that's reasonable. That's what e.g. mailbox.org does. And they publish periodic reports on how many requests they receive, how many they successfully reject, and how many they have to follow.

  • After 90 days we may not see Session on our app stores again

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  • 15000€/year gross? In Portugal that's slightly above minimum wage. Might be okay in the middle of the countryside. There should be plenty of skilled programmers racing to live there, right?

    The cost of living in cities is quite inflated by digital nomads and wealthy retirees and is starting to be unaffordable for Portuguese.

    Edit: 15000 USD is 12800 EUR, that's a few cents an hour above minimum wage. And Poland costs already more than that BTW.

  • In your opinion, is space exploration necessary?

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  • Having read my share of early Soviet era sci-fi, I think you're wrong.

  • France Launches Government Linux Desktop Plan as Windows Exit Begins

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  • I do not see what the two things have to do with one another.

    Yes, France and the French are historically not as conscious of privacy as, say, Germany and the Germans.

    Of course having some standardized and (lightly) customized solutions across the government will make it easy to support and interoperate. This will get Microsoft out of the government and make it easier for everyone else to use Linux at home just by removing barriers.

    I don't see why anyone would ever use the government distro at home.

  • One new message!

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  • Hell no. It's nowhere near 50/50. In my experience the great moments are far more frequent than the one where you want to defenestrate them.

    The relationship with them is however massively unequal, in that you basically owe all the support and they owe you next to nothing (at least at the start).

    And unlike with partners and friends, you are supposed to have and maintain authority over them, and foster their growth, often against their whishes.

    So it's a lot of work. But I for instance don't understand why people get dogs.