It sounds like you believe that the Russian practice of setting up buffer states was a US lie.

Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and errrrm East Germany. They might have a different opinion on Russian peacefulness, and for at least some of us, there was a reason that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was set up.

Europe is pretty clear - they don't like us. Maybe Europe should consider rejuvenating the Warsaw pact, or more accurately the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Sounds like a much nicer deal.

Awesome. I'm with you - the US should;d get out of Europe today, and if you become buffer states for Russia, I believe that is exactly what EU citizens want. You deserve it, and get your Cyrillic dictionary out.

I mean - what should the USA protect countries that hate us? In fact, rathe than fight a war with Russia, why don't you just surrender peacefully and then you will be happy. I'm with you - US pull out of all Europe, and let what happens happen.

Well, as the EU becomes buffer states of Russia, will the US need to help? It is apparent that the EU and its citizens believe that the US is a backwater country, full of fat stupid people who are the most evil humans on th planet. We are treated every day to EU supremacy, where any topic about Rooshia or China gets turned into our fault or a whataboutism within a few posts.

You will come a buffer state, and you will be happier, because the US will leave you alone. You won!, You are no longer under the heels of the worst country on earth. I suggest learning Cyrillic, you'll need it.

Running underground cables isn't the panacea many think it is, however. On my shelf in the office, I have a fulgurite, which in this case is a lump of melted metal from a power line that was underground and struck by lightning. It's cool looking, kinda like an eagle's claw.

Meanwhile, in the newer section of my neighborhood, they got rid of the unsightly power lines in our back yards and replaced them with breakout boxes and transformers in the front yards. The phone ones are especially beautiful, tilting over, rusting away, and who wouldn't want a nice concrete transformer pad right there in the front yard? The aesthetics aspect was oversold, and when there is a lightning strike, the whole front of the yard is often dug up to find the damaged spot - it isn't always obvious.

After listening to some 911 calls, I wonder how the AI system handles panicked calls. Sometimes the human operator has to do some serious calming of the caller to get anything intelligible out of the person making the call.

Not to stand up for the UK - which seems to be attempting to emulate 1984, just 40 years too late - but trying to show Russia and China as shining beacons of free speech isn't a very good comparison. Vladimir doesn't always arrest people who dare to speak, sometimes they just fall out of windows onto the street. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/....

I take it that death for saying the wrong thing isn't what you advocate for?

But to the topic at hand, a 911 system based on AI instead of actual intelligence AKA a human deciding what the problem is and responding correctly - well that AI system is a bucket of suck. It is the opposite of what those systems are supposed to do. People will die.

Apple forces nothing on me, and file conversion is a fact of life for professionals. If it is some sort of terrible imposition to you, copying the files in the first place is too much trouble, no matter the platform. It is as "difficult" as opening the program, control-A, then click okay.

You have a terminal case of being argumentative and the need to somehow be right. This weird discussion has lost any point other than to watch you squirm trying to be right, and entertain us. And your anal sex inclusion in the discussion is level 1000 creepy.

There are many ways. I can transfer via bluetooth to a windows computer. I just copied a video I took from my iPhone to my Windows laptop. It was in .mov format, and media player plays it fine.

iPhones do use .heic format as opposed to .jpg or .png . You can get a converter at the Microsoft store. Not really an issue for people hanging out in your "walled garden. When I connect the iPhone to my Mac, it imports the images and movies into photos, then anything I do results in a jpg. Pretty much a non-issue.

Exactly, I do that with my iPhone as well. When I go on vacation, I usually take my Windows laptop along and load my iPhone pix on it. along with my DSLR pix. Then run the heir to jpg converter in the background while I read email or annoy people on slashdot while enjoying a cold brew.

As a user of Apple, Windows, Linux, and Androids, it seems at least to me that you are making what I consider minor differences, that can be overcome easily into something you consider major. And that's okay - we're all entitled to our own opinions and workflows.

The walled garden meme is a bit specious. This is a phone. When I pick it up, I just want it to work. May smartphone is in the same category as my refrigerator or automobile, only a bit more sophisticated. I like that I bring my phone near my Mac, I can operate the phone the same way as I do my Mac. Depends on what people want to do with their phones. Some want to surf porn on a toy screen, some are addicted to social media. I fear even my wife is a little bit addicted, though to a much lesser extent - she doesn't need the validation rush so many get. Me? I just use it to get texts and phone calls.

I'm not certain what you mean by marketing pressure. Did you somehow feel the need to "keep up" with the latest gizmos?

It's all a matter of opinion and temperament. I can do many things at a high level. But messing with my smartphone to do what I consider basic things - no thanks.

And my burn rate is such that these tiny benefits you speak of are rounding errors. A 99 dollar el cheapo Android versus a iPhone 17 Pro Max at ~$1200, or the Galaxy S25 Ultra at ~ $1260 doesn't mean that much.

But 99 dollars? Dood!, you need to get this one: https://www.amazon.com/BLU-Unl.... Stop wasting your money on those overpriced 99 dollar phones, You made of money or something. 59 dollars for the win. Buy smart! The best phone is the cheapest one, You can use the money you save to buy gold or coin. And you are free. 8^)

That's why I would never lock myself into a limited smart tv. Id rather grab an old laptop and use that.

Or just get a streaming "box" like FireTV or AppleTV....those generally seem work fine, have a remote and an easy to use interface.

Maybe that is why they made that Borat Manikini iSock - to hide the phone. I suppose I could go for the deep blue. But why not the black color like on the base iPhone 17?

I mean, it's a matter of personal taste, but it reminds me of attention seeking behavior. And it looks like recycled plastic from those orange traffic cones. It looks cheap.

I'll stick with them, as long as they aren't that iPhone17 orange abomination.

I'm with you on this one....WTF was up with that orange color???

That AND...no Space Grey or Black?!?!

That's pretty much one of the only things keeping me from upgrading my 12 pro max to the 17 pro max.

I'm hoping in a few months maybe they'll offer better colors....?

I tend to buy top of the line loaded ones....I'm currently on the iPHone 12 Max Pro...loaded storage available at the time...I think 1 TB?

Before that I had the iPhone 6 Plus (did they have a pro?)....and IPhone 3GS before that....

Right now, not seriously in the market....my phone still had plenty of space on it, runs as fast as I need, I don't see any speed or battery degradation on it yet.

I will admit I'm looking at the 17's camera and ability to shoot RAW video...that is starting to tempt me.

I guess my phones are not well over $1K, I generally just put it on Apple Pay, get my 3% cash back and pay it off interest free over 12 months.

I have the cash, but figure why not use "free money" if given the opportunity, eh? I keep may cash for it in an interest bearing account or invested, etc...

I frankly don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of my phone, if they think anything at all.

As I'd written earlier, I think in the US, phones are such a commodity, no one looks at them as any sort of status symbol and hasn't for a long time now...

In fact you HAVE to use external storage if you want to shoot video in RAW format.....

HTH.

Really? I would expect the opposite.

- Owners of flagship devices concerned with their image and having the latest tech would be more likely to replace devices more often to get access to the latest gear, perhaps handing the old device down to a spouse or child if they aren't getting a trade-in credi

I can't speak for places outside the US, but here....the cell phone has become some a commodity that no one here really uses or sees any of the phones as a "status symbol"....

No one pays attention to what phone you have....at least not in most of the US.