redshift's recent activity

  1. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

  2. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    Wouldn't that imply that Roku is proxying all cast requests? That'd be even worse!

    Wouldn't that imply that Roku is proxying all cast requests? That'd be even worse!

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    The TV can still connect to any unsecured (or trivially secured) Wi-Fi networks it finds near you, or it can include a cellular modem to send data without ever needing to ask you for a connection....

    The TV can still connect to any unsecured (or trivially secured) Wi-Fi networks it finds near you, or it can include a cellular modem to send data without ever needing to ask you for a connection. The manufacturers make enough from ads (i.e. selling your data) that they could be investing some of that in fail-safe connection technology to keep their data stream viable, if they want to. You may consider that a remote risk, but it's not one I'm willing to take, when there are still other options available.

    19 votes

  4. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    They're often called digital signage displays, and they're not that hard to get - there are several models on Amazon for around the same price as a regular TV of the same size. The trouble is that...

    They're often called digital signage displays, and they're not that hard to get - there are several models on Amazon for around the same price as a regular TV of the same size.

    The trouble is that the manufacturers are getting wise to the reason they're selling these to new markets, and the signage displays now often include some of the same nonsense you find in smart TVs.

    12 votes

  5. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    Unless you live in a rural location with some distance between homes, a smart TV could connect to any unsecured (or trivially secured) Wi-Fi networks around you. They don't need to be on your...

    Unless you live in a rural location with some distance between homes, a smart TV could connect to any unsecured (or trivially secured) Wi-Fi networks around you. They don't need to be on your network, just a network, to do what they want. Of course, they could do even more evil on your network, associating your TV habits with all the other local network traffic they can sniff, making the data even more valuable for buyers.

    It also isn't very expensive for them to include a cellular modem, in which case they can send whatever data they want from the TV regardless of whether they can connect to any Wi-Fi network.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech

    redshift
    Link
    I went through this last year when my Roku box started showing full-screen video ads when going to the home screen. They completely lost my trust. I got an Apple TV box and a Sceptre dumb TV. The...

    I went through this last year when my Roku box started showing full-screen video ads when going to the home screen. They completely lost my trust.

    I got an Apple TV box and a Sceptre dumb TV. The Apple TV is really good - the liquid glass interface they've updated it to is as bad as on any Apple device, but you don't use the home screen much, so it's minor compared to the benefits in privacy and performance. Privacy is a bigger benefit than you might expect, too. With the Roku box, apps are allowed to use the internet at any time. You can tell because you can tell the YouTube mobile app to cast to it without starting YouTube first. On the Apple TV, you have to start YouTube before the app can see it. Who knows what else they're doing that I didn't request, then?

    I'm happy with the Sceptre TV, even though it doesn't have the best backlighting, and the sound quality is so bad as to require external speakers (sound bar). I like it because it does what it said it was going to. It doesn't have the chips to spy on me, to insert ads, to update itself with whatever evil the manufacturer can profit from next. And it was cheap! I think it proves that other manufacturers don't have to include predatory features that make them money; they could charge $300 more than the Sceptre's $250, improve the backlighting and speakers, and still make $100 more than Sceptre per TV.

    11 votes

  7. Comment on Some protein powders and shakes may contain high levels of lead in ~health

    redshift
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I don't think this is true. They say "All the plant-based powders CR tested relied on pea protein as a main ingredient." But they also tested many non-plant-based powders.

    They've sampled pea protein powders exclusively

    I don't think this is true. They say "All the plant-based powders CR tested relied on pea protein as a main ingredient." But they also tested many non-plant-based powders.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Nova Launcher discontinued in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    Another good option is Lawnchair, which is closer to Nova than most others. It's open-source and under active development.

    Another good option is Lawnchair, which is closer to Nova than most others. It's open-source and under active development.

    19 votes

  9. Comment on What is the best way to generate an ebook? Is EPUB the best ebook format? in ~books

    redshift
    Link
    I'm not sure about the tools that big publishers use, but for semi-pro use (e.g. indie authors), I know of a couple. My favorite right now is Vellum, because it's hard to make something bad with...

    I'm not sure about the tools that big publishers use, but for semi-pro use (e.g. indie authors), I know of a couple. My favorite right now is Vellum, because it's hard to make something bad with it. It's configurable to a good degree, but not overwhelmingly. I've helped publish a handful of books with it, both ePub (e.g. for Kindle) and for paperbacks. Sadly, it's only for Mac.

    Before Vellum, I used Scrivener, which is available on Mac and Windows, but it's far more fiddly. It's much too easy to, for example (purely hypothetically and I definitely haven't suffered from this), uncheck a box that silently removes a chapter from your book and makes you search for hours through settings to figure out why.

    8 votes

  10. Comment on Mozilla will shut down Pocket and Fakespot in ~tech

    redshift
    Link
    I use Pocket extensively, along with the service https://p2k.co , to send articles to my Kindle for reading later. I've used it for years now, ever since Instapaper jacked up their prices while...

    I use Pocket extensively, along with the service https://p2k.co , to send articles to my Kindle for reading later. I've used it for years now, ever since Instapaper jacked up their prices while declining their service quality. I'm disappointed to have to look into options here again...

    9 votes

  11. Comment on Marked decline in semicolons in English books, study suggests in ~humanities.languages

    redshift
    Link
    With modern typography, I find that the semicolon is often kerned too close to the word before it, making it harder to distinguish from a comma. I like using semicolons, but I sometimes have a...

    With modern typography, I find that the semicolon is often kerned too close to the word before it, making it harder to distinguish from a comma. I like using semicolons, but I sometimes have a hard time reading them, just because of the lack of visual distinction. I wonder if I'm alone in that.

    9 votes

  12. Comment on Where are the small phones? in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    You should probably be aware that they don't have a good reputation for security updates.

    You should probably be aware that they don't have a good reputation for security updates.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on Roku says its ads aren’t meant to be ‘interruptive’ after controversial test in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    I second this. I switched from Roku to Apple TV (despite not having an iPhone or anything) and it's been a great experience. Much faster, no ads.

    I second this. I switched from Roku to Apple TV (despite not having an iPhone or anything) and it's been a great experience. Much faster, no ads.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Android phones will soon reboot themselves after sitting unused for three days in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    Some phones have had that ability for years, for different reasons, often saying it improves performance. It can help with security too, though, which is the more common reason now.

    Some phones have had that ability for years, for different reasons, often saying it improves performance. It can help with security too, though, which is the more common reason now.

    11 votes

  15. Comment on Light Phone III begins shipping on March 27th in ~tech

    redshift
    Link
    Here's a text link describing the product for those that can't (or don't care to) watch a video: https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii

    Here's a text link describing the product for those that can't (or don't care to) watch a video:

    https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii

    11 votes

  16. Comment on FOSS infrastructure is under attack by AI companies in ~tech

    redshift
    Link
    It's a great post. The only part I disagree with is saying this: ...while also saying: I can easily imagine the majority of humans not waiting 1-2 minutes for a website to load. I doubt it's 97%...

    It's a great post. The only part I disagree with is saying this:

    Over Mastodon, one GNOME sysadmin, Bart Piotrowski, kindly shared some numbers to let people fully understand the scope of the problem. According to him, in around two hours and a half they received 81k total requests, and out of those only 3% passed Anubi's proof of work, hinting at 97% of the traffic being bots – an insane number!

    ...while also saying:

    there's one user reporting one minute delay, and another - from his phone - having to wait around two minutes.

    I can easily imagine the majority of humans not waiting 1-2 minutes for a website to load. I doubt it's 97% bots.

    That said, I would do the same thing, regardless of the real percentage - it's ludicrous the hosting costs they racked up because of irresponsible bots crawling their pages with no respect for robots.txt.

    16 votes

  17. Comment on World Bicycle Relief introduces The Buffalo Bicycle S2 featuring a 'low-tech' dual chain with a dual freewheel system for casual and mountainous conditions in ~transport

    redshift
    Link Parent
    I don't think there's one anywhere near me. They could charge twice the price and it would still be way cheaper than anything else I've seen, and then they could use the extra profit for their...

    I don't think there's one anywhere near me. They could charge twice the price and it would still be way cheaper than anything else I've seen, and then they could use the extra profit for their real mission.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on World Bicycle Relief introduces The Buffalo Bicycle S2 featuring a 'low-tech' dual chain with a dual freewheel system for casual and mountainous conditions in ~transport

    redshift
    Link Parent
    It's obvious how to donate one, but is it possible to buy one of these bikes for yourself?

    It's obvious how to donate one, but is it possible to buy one of these bikes for yourself?

    5 votes

  19. Comment on Framework (2nd gen) event: 25th February in ~tech

    redshift
    Link Parent
    Could be. I really hope they update the standard 13" AMD at the same time, though.

    Could be. I really hope they update the standard 13" AMD at the same time, though.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech