spaghettiwestern
@spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
- Comment on Windows 10 support has ended, but here's how to get an extra year for free 2 days ago:
The vast majority of people have already activated Windows with an email address. I have several friends who have done so and for them this cost nothing.
- Comment on Windows 10 support has ended, but here's how to get an extra year for free 2 days ago:
Not something I’m willing to do, but it’s not a problem for most users who entered their email address long ago.
- Comment on Windows 10 support has ended, but here's how to get an extra year for free 2 days ago:
How do you figure?
- Submitted 2 days ago to technology@lemmy.world | 53 comments
- Comment on People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads 6 days ago:
It’s not just companies. Amazon started pushing ads to subscribers who pay for ad-free Prime video content. Some idiot on here on Lemmy steadfastly insisted it wasn’t an ad at all, but a “promotion.”
Companies are actually getting their customers to make infuriating, ridiculous corporate statements for them.
- Comment on People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads 6 days ago:
I think you severely underestimate how computer illiterate most people are. Many people I know struggle to use their Iphones.
- Comment on Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica 1 week ago:
Yes. I had them blocked via my firewall because of the constant traffic they generated and blocking Internet access causes constant bulb resets. The resets are known to TP-Link and according to a couple of sources they created a private firmware release that fixed it. TP-Link failed to publically release that firmware, and last time I checked deny it ever existed. I replaced the bulbs with 3rd Reality Zigbee bulbs that work perfectly.
- Comment on Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica 1 week ago:
I didn’t get that far. When they demanded I log in I just removed it. Jellyfin is working OK without having to figure out how to bypass defaults.
- Comment on Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 - Ars Technica 1 week ago:
When I was in the market for bulbs Hue was just starting that BS. They lost that sale and I’ve been in the process of removing network access for everything possible and severely restricting it when not. My old Honeywell wifi thermostat is gone, smart appliances are disconnected from wifi, and TVs are blocked by my firewall when they aren’t actually being used. Next up, Graphene OS.
Sometimes I’d like to move to a tropical island with no news or Internet at all.
- Comment on I am attempting to get into self hosting after a shockingly frightening experience. I am very lost though. 1 week ago:
I had something similar happen with Google a few years ago. Even though I had my password and access to my email they decided I was trying to hack my own account and locked me out. Like you I immediately started to look for other solutions.
Syncthing file sharing is really easy to install and use. There are no ports to configure on your router and everything is encrypted in transit. I have my phone’s DCIM directory set up to sync to my home server and PC so new photos are backed up and available everywhere in a few seconds. I installed Syncthing intending to move to another solution eventually, but it works so well (aside from one or two files that occasionally don’t sync) that I’ve just stuck with it.
For passwords Keepass & KeepassXC work really well on just about every platform. I share the password file to every platform using Syncthing and in years of doing this I’ve never had a problem that I didn’t cause myself and those were minor.
You can get both of these up and running with very little effort and quickly limit your reliance on Google, then move to other solutions if you find they’d work better for you.
- Comment on Anyone had any luck running Fusion 360 on Linux? 1 week ago:
You can install a W11 VirtualBox VM on an old, unsupported processor without any special configuration. I have it running under Linux on a 10 year old AMD processor and it works fine.
- Comment on U.S. solar will pass wind in 2025 and leave coal in the dust soon after 2 weeks ago:
The ones they’ve installed near us are Siemens and the only reason we even know they exist is we went by often during installation. The cabinets are now hidden behind a high wall. I’m guessing they’re going in all over the place. Strange that I’ve never seen them mentioned in the news anywhere.
- Comment on U.S. solar will pass wind in 2025 and leave coal in the dust soon after 2 weeks ago:
SoCal has a huge amount of wind and solar right now. Utility sized battery installations are going in to deal with the electricity production gaps.
- Comment on U.S. solar will pass wind in 2025 and leave coal in the dust soon after 2 weeks ago:
Gotta love that headline.
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to technology@lemmy.world | 115 comments
- Comment on Google's shocking developer decree struggles to justify the urgent threat to F-Droid 2 weeks ago:
It is, but why does that matter?
- Comment on Google's shocking developer decree struggles to justify the urgent threat to F-Droid 2 weeks ago:
Damn, I was hoping my Oneplus 6T was worth a couple grand. Nope. Someone has one on Swappa unlocked and in mint condition for $180. A Oneplus 6 is listed on Ebay for $130.
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to technology@lemmy.world | 7 comments
- Comment on Trump ties autism risk to Tylenol as scientists urge caution 3 weeks ago:
Another distraction, release the Epstein files.
- Comment on Samsung Embeds Israeli Surveillance App on Phones Across MENA 3 weeks ago:
They thought you meant carrier-unlocked.
Nope. I clearly told them I was going to install Graphene OS and I would not be changing carriers.
They didn’t know the real answer so they just made something up.
- Comment on Samsung Embeds Israeli Surveillance App on Phones Across MENA 3 weeks ago:
It is not yet available for the Pixel 10 and I believe it will be delayed because Google has made Android development private.
- Comment on Samsung Embeds Israeli Surveillance App on Phones Across MENA 3 weeks ago:
I just bought a Pixel 10 from Spectrum with the repeated assurance that the phone would be fully unlocked after it was paid off and had several months of service. I intended to load Graphene OS, but apparently I was fucking lied to yet again by another business that say anything to make a sale.
I can’t do anything about that now, but I can move to another carrier and make damn sure they don’t ever make another dime off my mobile account.
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to technology@lemmy.world | 35 comments
- Comment on 4 weeks ago:
There can be a period after graceful shutdown where the UPS is still running and the server will not restart if mains power comes back on. Not a likely scenario, but for apps you can’t afford to have down it’s something to consider.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 5 weeks ago:
Google is now expecting users to watch ads that are sometimes a full 25% of the viewing time, or slowing access and requiring logins when adblock is being used.
And even if you wade through all that, watching Youtube tech and info videos has become a lot like looking at online recipes. The majority of what you find is fluff and filler for only small amounts of useful content.
I used to go to Youtube daily for research and entertainment. Now I avoid the site completely whenever possible.
It seems we’ve finally reached an enshittification tipping point. It’s about time.
- Comment on Does anyone use a VPN to subvert the Netflix household device fencing? 1 month ago:
If you have an Android phone you’ve probably noticed a prompt at some point asking for your permission to transmit precise location information and enable wifi scanning. Every Android phone sends wifi SSIDs and MAC addresses along with its GPS location back to Google. The combination of all that information is IMO as unique as a fingerprint. They can use that along with signal strength of each AP in the area to determine your TV’s location with precision. (Google used to allow apps like Maps to be used with wifi scanning turned off, but no more.)
Although your Google TV can’t tell it’s on a VPN directly, Google can still pinpoint your TV’s physical location using their database of SSIDs and MAC addresses, and if they want to they can determine you’re using a VPN by comparing that to the expected location of your IP address. There probably aren’t enough people doing this right now to make it worth the trouble to detect your VPN, but IMO it’s just a matter of time before they decide it is.
I also expect that Google sells that information to every company willing to pay for it, so almost every single wifi enabled device can be precisely located if it can transmit data to the Internet.
We live in a scary time.
- Comment on Linux Mint 22.2 “Zara” Is Now Available for Download 1 month ago:
I’ve been running Mint since 17.x and have only had one upgrade fail in all that time. You’re very unlikely to have a problem, but backup your system just in case!
- Comment on 1 month ago:
Thanks for that list. No need here for more advanced hardware so I’ll have to put off networking upgrades until I can come up with a reason to justify it.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
As a home user, what additional feature have you found useful on enterprise networking equipment?
- Comment on 1 month ago:
OpenWRT is amazingly flexible and would be a great place to start.
I switched from DD-WRT last year and have been amazed how good OpenWRT is. There are thousands of software packages that allow you to do pretty much anything you can think of on inexpensive hardware. Used Netgear R7800s are available for less than $50 on ebay or there are plenty newer hardware options if you want to spend more. Thousands of downloadable software packages can be added to the base, including Wireguard and Adguard Home, plus there are OpenWRT integrations for Home Assistant. The forum is full of people who are happy to help newcomers.
I started by running OpenWRT in a virtual machine to get familiar with the UI and moved on to a live installation. Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy learning.
