I’ve been going back and forth between actively looking to buy one and saying I’ll wait til they get better hardware. Was expecting to have to wait for a while for that so this was definitely surprising.

However while my interest in the new one is incredibly high, I still can’t shake the feeling that it’s still a bit underpowered. Not being able to get above 30/40 FPS in games like Cyberpunk make me feel like I’d be at least a little disappointed. Granted being able to even play AAA games at all on a handheld is awesome, so I may be being unrealistic here in my expectations (I’ve never owned a handheld so my comparisons are just with PCs and consoles).

Nevertheless I think I might finally take the plunge on the 16th.

Thanks for the explanation. Do you know how they’re planning to implement this client side scanning? Take an iPhone for example— where Apple has already ditched their plans to do the same device-wide. Is it planned for WhatsApp, Signal etc. to be updated to force perpetual scanning of the iPhone’s photo album? Because that can be turned off quite easily at the OS level.

The only way I could see them doing it is by scanning any image that is selectively chosen to be sent before the actual message itself is sent—i.e. after it’s selected but before the send button is pressed. Otherwise it’s breaking the E2E encryption.

Is that the plan?

Incognito mode simply deletes any history and cookies stored in a given session. Your browser and device information can still be queried.

Check here: https://www.deviceinfo.me/

You’re right- theory probably wasn’t the best word. It is known that companies do this but it’s impossible to concretely say how and in what circumstances prices change.

There is a theory that travel websites use trackers and other information readily available about your device and browser to advertise different prices to different people. A lot of VPN companies use this in their marketing actually— showing different prices for the same airline tickets depending on which VPN server you’re connected to in the world.

I haven’t done much research on this personally, but you may be able to see it in action by opening the same site in a normal and an incognito window and searching for a flight/hotel. Or trying the aforementioned VPN trick. There however doesn’t seem to be any specific rhyme or reason for it, and no one can say that XYZ browser connected to ABC server will get you the cheapest prices. There are just way too many variables in play and these kinds of algorithms the websites use are all well-guarded secrets.

Pretty sure there are at least some limitations to that. In a public toilet for instance…

I’m really glad I’ve stopped actively using Reddit. The day Apollo shut down was my last day on the platform. Sure if a search result leads to a Reddit post I’ll still go, but long gone are the days of mindless scrolling through r/all. Probably has significantly improved my mental health too.

Or doesn’t care. Anything to own the libs.

I live in that gigantic red and purple blob in Northern Europe and I’m lucky if I can see 3 stars in the sky at night.

I’ve never ever seen a totally star-filled sky and it’s something I’m very sad about. One day I’ll head out to somewhere like the Australian Outback and just gaze up in awe.

The benefit at least in Germany is for commuters. My monthly pass went from costing over 150€ to 49€ as I had to pass through two transit agencies to get from my home to work. The fact that every transit company sets their own fares and doesn’t cooperate with neighbouring companies is fully irrelevant now to the joys of many.

I don’t know if France is structured the same way, or if the plan of this is also to include local transport, but the Deutschlandticket is saving me a lot of money and headache.

I think the point is that even if an extension comes from a trusted source, the developer could fairly easily push out an update that turns the extension into malware. Check the GitHub link in another comment below where the developer posts the solicitation emails he gets on a regular basis offering to monetize his extension. He isn’t selling out, but maybe not every dev is as willing as he is to forgo a potentially lucrative offer.

My company will give you a blank laptop if you have confidential information on it when traveling to the US. The policy is always to comply and hand over everything if asked so they want to minimize any risks of information falling into the wrong hands.

That policy also applies for traveling to China. So it’s pretty telling that my company thinks the US and Chinese governments are both risks to its intellectual property.

Because the alternative is a 3 hour climb down into the valley and up another mountain to get to school.

But yes, this was a death trap from the beginning. Hopefully they learned some lessons from this and get actually qualified people to build a new one.

Was only a matter of time…

This is unfortunately a fallacy. Those paying rent don’t have nothing to show for it — they pay for a roof over their head. So do you with your mortgage. At the end of your mortgage term, yes, you have an asset that those paying rent don’t, but you also had to drop a large sum of money upfront that they didn’t. Theoretically they were able to invest that money you paid into other assets that may or may not have appreciated more over that same period of time. Additionally, renters are often much more able to move should their living circumstances change.

At the end, you both pay for shelter for a period of time. And yes the argument is largely theoretical and vastly dependent on external factors, but it’s not true that owning is always better than renting.

(I say this all as a homeowner as well, FWIW).

I buckled and bought a stand-AC a few years ago when I literally couldn’t sleep for days during an insanely hot summer here in Germany. I really try not to use it much but on those days when it’s unbearable it’s literally a lifesaver.

AC never was popular because it used to be that you never needed it here. You’d have maybe one or two days above 30 a year where I live and that wouldn’t be enough to heat up the concrete walls, so your living space still stayed cool. And at night the temperature would drop and you could simply air out your flat. Now it’s different though and it’s seriously a shame that people still doubt climate change is happening.

Something about needing to blackmail your allies in order to agree on something that benefits the whole alliance just doesn‘t sit right. Turkey has shown that it really isn’t to be trusted.

Per the NYT, here’s what Sweden and NATO would do in return:

In return, Sweden and Turkey would continue to work bilaterally against terrorism, Sweden would help reinvigorate Turkey’s application to enter the European Union, and NATO would establish a new “special coordinator for counterterrorism,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/world/europe/erdogan-turkey-sweden-nato.html

I really want to see the price NATO ended up paying …

Guess Erdogan got enough of what he wanted… wonder what it costed…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66160319