n2burns
@n2burns@lemmy.ca
- Comment on T-Mobile, AT&T oppose unlocking rule, claim locked phones are good for users 4 weeks ago:
Carrier lock is on the phone, not the network. You need to enter a code to disable it. There are 3rd party services that you give your IMEI and pay, and they have a way of finding the code. I’m not certain on the details.
- Comment on Microsoft has a big Windows 10 problem, and only one year to solve it 4 weeks ago:
It’s not a hardware compatibility problem for you or people who have reasonably new computers. However, for the last decade or so, computers have kind of stagnated and old computers are still very functional, something I couldn’t have said a decade or two ago.
I’m typing this on a ThinkPad x201 which was released in 2010. TBF, I’ve updated it as much as I can (8GB of RAM and an SSD), it’s running Linux Mint because Windows drags, and even then it’s getting tired.
My Spouse’s laptop is an Acer with a 5th gen i3. A couple years ago, she was complaining it was getting a bit slow, so I threw an SSD in it and now she’s happy with how it runs Windows 10, and I’m sure it would run Windows 11 fine if a TPM2.0 chip wasn’t required.
It’s forced obsolesces for a hardware requirement most home users are never going to use.
- Comment on T-Mobile, AT&T oppose unlocking rule, claim locked phones are good for users 4 weeks ago:
This is talking about carrier locked phones, not locked bootloaders.
- Comment on A tiny town (Spruce Pine North Carolina) just got slammed by Helene. It could massively disrupt the tech industry 1 month ago:
I mean, if that gets people in places if power to think about climate change, I’ll take it!
- Comment on Mozilla launches privacy friendly AI addon called "Orbit" 1 month ago:
That’s a pretty good answer. I knew Mozilla had bought it, and were operating it as an independent subsidiary. I didn’t know they promised to open-source it over 7 years ago.
- Comment on Mozilla launches privacy friendly AI addon called "Orbit" 1 month ago:
Has Mozilla done sometime to deserve this skepticism? They were founded on open-source and AFAIK have continued to support open-source. Mozilla is far from a perfect organization, but if this project was a success I think it would be out of character for them to keep it closed-source.
- Comment on Apple Shares Full iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Repair Manuals 1 month ago:
In case anyone else wants to see it, I’ve even queued up the link youtu.be/8CTX8W4UZUA?si=uv_bvwoHD40B0YDJ&t=846
- Comment on Microsoft releases a new Windows app called Windows App for running Windows apps 1 month ago:
I’d say at least half if those would get them sued for Trademark infringement. Once again, this AI plagairising, but this time it’s with obviously trademarked names.
- Comment on Why I’m So Desperate for the Return of Microsoft Word to Our Prison Library 2 months ago:
You’re not completely wrong, as they also have thin clients which should be technically capable of running a word processor. It’s just a question of whether the prison is going to implement that no/low-cost solution.
- Comment on Why I’m So Desperate for the Return of Microsoft Word to Our Prison Library 2 months ago:
Yes, I literally am a government employee, and formerly worked in the military in Radio Comms and IT, often with Top Secret communications and infrastructure . I am intimately familiar with government procedures.
I never said that end-users would be setting up LibreOffice. I’m just pointing out there’s a low/no-cost solution, and it isn’t a hardware limitation.
- Comment on Why I’m So Desperate for the Return of Microsoft Word to Our Prison Library 2 months ago:
The think clients should be capable of running Libre Office, or at least running it remotely.
- Comment on Lemmy.World's !News sides with Mark Zuckerberg in Censoring Palestinians 2 months ago:
And to be honest, I’m not a fan of sources reporting on themselves. Even if I considered this a reputable source (I have no opinion on it either way), I would want a third-party article.
- Comment on Google denies reports that it’s discontinuing Fitbit products 2 months ago:
I don’t think I’ve ever had to log into the Google Home app, it just uses the accounts on my phone. Or is this some sort of situation where, “I’m too Android to understand this problem?”
- Comment on Google denies reports that it’s discontinuing Fitbit products 2 months ago:
I’m still wearing an OG Pebble (I’ve had about a dozen Pebbles total) . However, they’re starting to get more rare and expensive. Also, while I’m still on Android 12, I understand Android 14 can break the app.
- Comment on Linux Mint 22 released: An attractive option for migrating away from Windows | Windows 11 system requirements block millions of PCs from upgrading, while Linux Mint continues to work on older hardware 3 months ago:
100%. I know this computer is getting to the end of it’s life. I’ve upgraded it as much as possible (SSD, 8GB of RAM, new battery) and it still lives almost completely on it’s dock.
I’ve previously looked into converting it to a USB or bluetooth keyboard, and now I’m curious if I could convert it to a KVM console for a SteamDeck. I’m not quite sure yet if this idea is brilliant or brain-dead (probably both).
- Comment on Linux Mint 22 released: An attractive option for migrating away from Windows | Windows 11 system requirements block millions of PCs from upgrading, while Linux Mint continues to work on older hardware 3 months ago:
Eh, depends how much older. My daily is a Thinkpad x201, and while I love Linux Mint, every once in a while I get curious about other distros. However, as many times as I’ve tried, there’s a bunch of distros whose LiveUSBs just won’t boot (for example Pop! OS).
- Comment on Netflix Starts Booting Subscribers Off Cheapest Basic Ads-Free Plan 4 months ago:
I don’t have a source, but it wasn’t that Netflix didn’t lose subscribers, it was that their revenues grew. Part of that was charging subscribers more, but a lot of that was the new ad-supported plans netted them more money than basic ad-free plans. Which is probably why they’re now sunsetting the basic ad-free plans.
- Comment on EVs still have major quality problems, and it’s mostly about the software 4 months ago:
They’re discontinuing it in 2026.
- Comment on EVs still have major quality problems, and it’s mostly about the software 4 months ago:
Which has been discontinued. They have said they’ll bring back a EUV for the 2026 model year, but we’ll see if that comes to fruition.
- Comment on FCC proposes ending cellphone carrier locks after 60 days 4 months ago:
I think it’s more of a corollary that phone companies can incentivize people to buy more than they need. I live in Canada, where carrier locks have been outlawed for a decade, so we don’t typically get $100s off the phone, but they do often give interest free financing. This pushes people to get a brand new, top-of-the-line Galaxy or iPhone, when all they do is simple stuff that any basic smartphone could do. They just get used to paying “only an extra $50/mo” so once that phone is paid off, they finance a brand new, top-of-the-line smartphone.
- Comment on Uncovering Every Lie in MKBHD's Softball Interview; a scathing critique of 'brand safe' influencers 4 months ago:
Probably has to suck-up inorder to get products early so his reviews can be viewed first.
No. Apple and most major tech companies are pretty good about giving reviewer samples to anyone with a large enough audience. The only thing that gets you disqualified is breaking the moratorium and releasing your review early.
What conducting softball interviews gets you is more interviews.
- Comment on How to make an EV tire that won’t pollute the environment 4 months ago:
I think it’s just reminding people that EVs aren’t a panacea to all our issues with transportation, and they actually exacerbates at least one of those issues. This is while we know there are better solutions for >90% of our personal transportation with public transportation, bicycling, walking, micro-mobility, etc. Moving one or two people around with a multi-tonne machine is insanely inefficient!
- Comment on Microsoft says “Prism” translation layer does for Arm PCs what Rosetta did for Macs 5 months ago:
WINE doesn’t “translate” one CPU architecture to another CPU architecture
- Comment on Microsoft says “Prism” translation layer does for Arm PCs what Rosetta did for Macs 5 months ago:
This article seems to conflate “emulation” and “translation layer”. I don’t think there is anything that confirms “Prism emulates an x86 CPU”, only that it allows for running x86 code on ARM. This does not inherently require emulation as demonstrated by Rosetta 2, which is a translation layer.
- Comment on Microsoft says “Prism” translation layer does for Arm PCs what Rosetta did for Macs 5 months ago:
Emulation is almost always slower and eats more battery.
FTFY. There have been some cases where emulation actually outperforms native execution, though these might be, “the exceptions that prove the rule.” For example, in the early days of World of Warcraft, it actually ran better on WINE on Linux than natively on Windows.
- Comment on Tesla accused of union buster bluster at Buffalo factory 6 months ago:
Mmm yes, business news
about unionsat acartech company. Definitely why I subscribed to a tech community.FTFY. Tesla is a tech company that makes cars. Their union busting practices are business decisions, which in turn affect the industry, which again, is technology.
- Comment on Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon 6 months ago:
I’m a pretty junior contributor (I spent a couple years completing quests on StreetComplete and only have been adding new buildings, etc for a few weeks). I don’t know a ton about how the organization is run, so I can only talk from my experiences. I’ve been able to upload changes which will be live before they will be reviewed. I know there are reviewers who go through areas regularly, but they definitely don’t cover everywhere. I’m not sure if OSM has the ability to lockdown areas with frequent vandalism.
- Comment on Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon 6 months ago:
I know this seems like Niantic is free-loading, but this is intentionally-allowed by the ODbL license and honestly, might be a good business decision even without considering the licensing fees. OSM is almost 20 years old and as a community led project, is probably more predictable and stable than a Google license which could change drastically from one contract to the next.
As a OSM contributor, I’m more than happy to see my work used this way, and as @QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world pointed out, OSM has seen a lot of benefit too.
- Comment on Lemmy instances die twice 6 months ago:
No sure if this is a serious question, but .btw is not a TLD while .fyi is.
- Comment on Tesla’s in its flop era 6 months ago:
So far, SpaceX has been run with much less Musk involvement. That could change on a whim, but so far it seems to be a pretty well run government-supplier under Gwynne Shotwell.