chillpanzee
@chillpanzee@lemmy.ml
- Comment on How Google Tracks and Scans Everything on Your Android Device 4 days ago:
Looking just at location… Apple is actually better at location tracking precision than Google, and you can’t turn it off (even powering off your phone doesn’t shut it off). Disabling location services doesn’t prevent the data collection by Apple, it only blocks apps from using it.
Apple is probably better at not sharing your data with others than Goolge, but that’s a position of faith, not fact. If you trust Apple and are diligent about blocking location access to 3rd party apps, it’s better. But you should expect that if you’re giving location access to a free app (like Google maps, a weather app, a ride share app, a streaming app, etc.), you can bet they are selling your location data.
- Comment on How Google Tracks and Scans Everything on Your Android Device 4 days ago:
Is Google Play Services sampling your location so that it can send it in to Google HQ as part of a secret location tracking operation that runs without user consent or knowledge
Yes they track your phone’s location and movement constantly, but it’s not a secret.
For an example of the evidence you seek… Google SensorVault location data was how they identified and convicted the January 6 terrorists. You might argue that complying with warrants isn’t misuse of the data, but I’d argue that both the data itself, and the level of precision and detail, shouldn’t be captured and logged in the first place. And I’m fairly sure that most google customers have no idea how pervasive and extensive the tracking is.
- Comment on Question on TV's 5 days ago:
You can’t get a decent non-smart TV, but you can just not connect a Smart TV to the internet.
Any TV you buy will have a range of “picture quality enhancement” settings. These all introduce some rendering latency. Game modes on TVs (for the most part) bypass the PQE functions. Rtings.com is a quality source for this kind of info. They do good work and publish their testing methodologies.
Source… worked a shitload of years in TV electronics, and was part of the industry from Smart TVs being godawful to just a few years ago.
- Comment on Why are Michelin Stars so highly revered when they originated from a tyre company? 5 days ago:
Because they have held a very high standard for a very long time. It is one of the few “brands” of reviews that has remained trustworthy over the years. They only award a star to excellence; nothing in the guide is bad. Indeed there is lots of good food that’s never mentioned in the guide.
- Comment on Google pulls the plug on first and second gen Nest Thermostats 1 week ago:
Yeah. And even “loss of functionality” makes it sound passive; as if it just happened by accident. They Intentionally broke a working product.
- Comment on Google pulls the plug on first and second gen Nest Thermostats 1 week ago:
I bought one a bunch of years ago. Maybe 10 years. It worked fine. Did it’s thing. Then for no reason google chooses to kill it. Fool me once.
- Comment on What's the best way to ease getting back in shape after years of little to no exercise? 1 week ago:
I know you said no gyms, but a few sessions with a personal trainer at a gym isn’t a terrible idea. The PT will give you a realistic plan to get started. Some goals to keep you on track, and they’ll be that important role of the person checking in on your progress, and appointments you need to keep. Yeah, it’s all a bit of self-delusion… you can get most of this from the web for free, but sometimes having another person to push you is hugely helpful.
Also, pick up basketball, hockey, soccer/football, and rugby are fantastic exercise that feel like the chore of exercising because they’re a game. If you like cycling, there’s likely a local group or two you can join for long weekend rides.
I can’t speak to the anxiety and depression, so my advice might not be good advice for you.
- Comment on After police used Flock cameras to accuse a Denver woman of theft, she had to prove her own innocence 1 week ago:
Also there’s no legal obligation to answer your door.
- Comment on YSK tricks for one of the cheapest meals: beans and rice 1 week ago:
Skip the olive oil. If you’re buying it on a beans and rice budget, its gonna be fake olive oil anyway. Just use corn/canola/veg oil.
- Comment on Mini pc for home server? 2 weeks ago:
I bought a generic N150 based minipc for a firewall & router (running OPNsense), and repurposed an old desktop PC as a server to host immich, paperless, nextcloud, etc… I considered both RPi and mini pc for the server, but I needed a few TB of storage and wanted redundancy. Spinny disks were a much more affordable option than SSDs, and minipcs and Rpis tend to not have much space for those drives. You can add on storage to them, but then they just become clunkier and more expensive than the old PC I already had laying around. Power consumption is probably a few watts higher on the PC than a Pi would be, but it’s not terrible.
That’s why I went the direction I did. I’m 3 about or 4 months in, and it’s been solid so far.
- Comment on Replacement.AI: Humans no longer necessary 2 weeks ago:
The website is great:
“97% of people hate their job. But we’re putting an end to all this misery.”
- Comment on DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026 3 weeks ago:
I don’t know. Maybe not. Last I worked with them they were still Hughes, but the ATT acquisition had been announced.
Fun story… it once took a bit over an hour to get from their building on Imperial Hwy to the passenger terminal at LAX, and you can see LAX out the uber window on the other side of the street the entire ride. Lol.
- Comment on DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026 3 weeks ago:
These remaining DirecTV subscribers are gonna be pissed when AT&T swaps out the dial-tone on their landline for an ad stream.
- Comment on ICE just bought new tool to monitor hundreds of millions of smartphones. Experts say it’s dangerous 4 weeks ago:
They were already dangerous when Trump told them to stand back and standby. They became significantly more dangerous when he deputized them and instructed them to wear masks and avoid being identified while they rounded up opposition. They became even more dangerous when Doge gave them access to everything the government knows about citizens to improve the effectiveness of their harassment and intimidation. They need became more dangerous when they arrested blue-state politicians for asking questions and nothing came of it. And yeah… the better their tools get, the more dangerous they become.
But simplifying this to “experts say it’s dangerous” under sells reality so badly.
- Comment on AOMedia Will Be Talking More About The AV2 Video Codec Later This Month 4 weeks ago:
that’s how the codec game works.
That, and add some patent pools filled with dubious claims of essentiality, sales deals made under the threat of litigation, and ever-present claims of “twice as efficient it’s predecessor” with a big asterisk. Fun times.
- Comment on v2.0.0: Stable Release of Immich (complete with Merch and DVD) 5 weeks ago:
And before GTA VI.
Love it. Lol.
- Comment on That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus 1 month ago:
lol @ the thunbnail… GMO corn is getting crazy.
- Comment on TikTok’s Algorithm to Be Secured by Oracle in Trump-Backed Deal 1 month ago:
It’s just Dodger’s fans [pissed|happy] about the big [win|loss].
- Comment on TikTok’s Algorithm to Be Secured by Oracle in Trump-Backed Deal 1 month ago:
And Microsoft. Ain’t nobody buying SharePoint because it’s good.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
Probably not. Disney has previously announced that they’re gonna stop reporting subscriber numbers in 10Ks and annual reports.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
It’s because nobody but Disney has that data, and they stopped sharing sub numbers because it fucks with stock price too much.
Talkin out their ass seems to be Newsweek’s brand identity these days.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
If they follow the script, they’ll blame Antifa, Obama, and trans people.
- Comment on What would stop you from switching to a flip phone (or dumbphone) in 2025? 1 month ago:
I don’t use the phone part of my smartphone much, so thie idea of a dumbphone has no real appeal for me.
- Comment on YSK that in several US States, it's illegal to boycott Israel 2 months ago:
And yet… I would’t bat an eye if I saw a new executive order tomorrow requiring that.