At a repair cafe, just saw someone with a chunky Dell Inspiron laptop that had a built-in modem and phone jack (!), which dates it to late 2000s (I believe), and I was impressed how fast Windows 10 was on it compared to newer cheap laptops.

When Steam first appeared (and was required to play Half-Life 2 IIRC), I thought that was a ridiculous idea to have a middle man to play a game. Well, what do I know, everyone loves Steam now (yet hates on other launchers).

IIRC that entire plane was a DIY plane from a popular kit, not a commercial vehicle.

(not clicking on a Google shortlink)

TBF, specifically for games, enemy behavior has been called “AI” for decades.

Absolutely. Somehow, Apple and Google convinced people (even more tech savvy ones) to want constant app and security updates as if the world would end otherwise. I’ve seen complaints about gemini (the protocol not Google’s AI) browser not being updated (protocol has not been updated since 2022), and someone asking if it’s safe to boot up an old Android 7 phone.

And Apple dev license consting money does not help the situation.

Now up the challenge: In App Store, find a simple app that is not a “solution”, “ecosystem” nor a “lifestyle”, does not have ads, and does not require a subscription for basic functionality.

(Years ago, I tried about 10 RSS readers, News Reader was what I finally found, way down the list)

This was posted by Proton on Proton subreddit, so yeah, it’s an ad.

Snikket is an all-in-one XMPP server-client that supports calls.

But yes, in its current state, Matrix calls are pretty broken as there is no feature parity between Element Classic and Element X apps.

Hey, just stumbled upon this too, Android4Lumia, and 520 is one of the supported devices: https://android4lumia.github.io/downloads.html

Some years ago, mentioning Linux for daily non-gaming use:

Guy: “Installing Linux is complicated though”

Me: “It wasn’t bad 10 years ago, and now it’s as hard as clicking Next a few times, even faster than Windows”

Guy: “Well duh, you have ten years of experience installing it!”

Difficult to argue with this non-logic.

Looks like it is partially supported: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_Lumia_520_(nokia-fame)

I have a Lumia 635 and got tmpfs to start, but then I am lost at “locate your ramdisk” https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_Lumia_630_(nokia-moneypenny)

IMO you would need a large capacitor between power (after diode) and ground, to provide enough current when device’s power consumption spikes (otherwise, it will shut down)

Here is my version without touching BMS or original battery: https://yaky.dev/2022-09-06-smartphone-without-battery/

Some projects that kind of do that come to mind:

Beeper, which is a hosted Matrix server (probably Synapse) with bridges to other messengers, and a client (probably derived from Element?). But it’s all called Beeper to be more “normal”.

Snikket is a “rebranded” prosody XMPP server, Conversations client for Android and Siskin IM client for iOS. Also, all are Snikket, no scary abbreviations and different app names.

So did “Amazon”… :/

The most obnoxious case of needy apps I witnessed was when I disabled Google Play Services on a OnePlus phone. Every default app (including Phone and SMS!) would spam notifications saying something like “Google Play not found, functionality is limited” every minute or two, while the real impact was minimal.

IMO not as good as The Circle. Although it follows one character, they move between so many departments, it reads more like a collection of short stories.

Did you read The Every yet? It’s a sequel, but instead of anti-privacy, it leans more into greenwashing, and how only the powerful corporations can save us from a climate disaster.

Welcome to Gemini!

There’s a widespread movement in design circles to reduce the contrast between text and background

This was the trend circa 2012 too, at least I recall Microsoft’s pages and software becoming less legible. Not sure if I got used to it, screens got better, or it went back to higher contrast.

.kkrieger for those who want to look it up