Mozilla doesn’t operate a VPN, they are just a reseller for a branded Mullvad version. For them it’s merely an extra income stream with next to no maintenance, so that is something I can approve of. Mullvad is pretty amazing (though cheaper than through Mozilla).

I have two expensive suitcases now for that reason. I kept both.

Yeah Douyin is pushing educational content and is very fast to censor harmful stuff. Still full of garbage and racism though, just the sanctioned kind against people the government doesn’t like.

I haven’t noticed that behavior in years. Usually I wake up in the morning, see the “new update” notification, check if there’s anything I don’t want updated, or else click “update all” and then go to the bathroom. By the time I’m back, everything is done and delivered.

One pin too many, the slot is not wide enough.

Hard pass for me. I get where they are coming from - no buttons, next stage will be wireless charging only, means it’s a fully enclosed system with zero ingress for water or dirt, so that’s kind of neat.

But personally I need at least a power button and volume up/down. And I love the slider for different sound profiles on OnePlus phones.

Here’s my takeaway on the article:

Blablablablablablabla (…) bla.

-> Deactivate it.

Nobody in my wife’s family has a laptop. Not a single person. They are tech illiterate to the point where I’m not sure they know how to use a keyboard.

That’s probably not the average user either, but they certainly help to set the average as low as it truly is…

That could simply be the cookies.txt file with no content whatsoever.

If I were an exec at Google, I’d have already made a move to buy out a small country. Tuvalu, Nauru or something with a minuscule GDP. Then proclaim the Google Republic, move HQ functions over, and be free of taxes and outside influences forever.

And being their own country, they could even have a full fledged military…

I think the lite versions don’t allow scripted blocking, only static or something. So a whole lot of the adaptive blocks for persistent ads you encounter on facebook, instagram and other shitty socials that behave like viruses will be hard to impossible to kill.

I’m glad I never had to deal with that as I have never used Chrome on desktop, but I’m pretty sure there will be many folks out there who don’t know how to switch.

GDPR protects user data, not virtual data associated with an avatar you control. We might get there someday, but as of now, you’d only be able to request copies of stuff directly associated with yourself.

I hope you’re aware of xiaomi.eu, where they host debloated, community-developed ROMs.

Oh nice, I’ll look into that launcher. Been using Wolf for a bit, but it’s too barebones for my liking.

Oh right, I heard that especially in the US, iPhone users refuse to do anything but. I’m stuck with whatsapp since that’s what almost everybody in Europe is using. Not much better considering it’s a Meta company, but at least they have to adhere to our data privacy laws.

I use Mezo SMS, comes with a wildcard blocklist for both numbers and content.

And to be honest, I use it exclusively to block shit. Haven’t actually sent a text message in way over a decade. If it wasn’t for two websites I have to use sending me one time passwords, I’d have uninstalled the SMS app altogether.

Indonesia?

You could block the Unicode text string before as well.

Geoguessr

I think it’s a fundamental design question. Apple wants users to do everything within their ecosystem, so they internalize as many functions as possible, whereas Android was designed to be lightweight and modular. Everything you don’t absolutely need in a browser just clutters it up.

Personally I like the flexibility of using exactly the app I want for functions rather than having my OS enforce a default.