The only way to assure that you're not tracked is to make it so no one will want to track you

Cool Story, Bro time:

My domestic partner is very pretty and the dbag who runs the nearest Tesla dealership was trying really, really hard to get with her. He let her borrow his dealership's loaner Model S Plaid for a week as part of his "That Guy" package.

We thought we'd have some fun since it's supposed to be this super cool sports car. It turned out to have a governor on it that limited acceleration and top speed to something any Honda Odyssey owner would find comfortable.

I'm not sure whether it was that guy's doing or is that's something directly from Tesla itself but we both thought it was hilarious.

Samsung makes three tablet lines: the A, which is a value product that isn't bad for around $200; The S6 Lite, which is a specific mid-tier offering that is updated less than annually and has its own model specs per release. There's also the full-fat Tab S line, which are premium tablets.

I have an S6 Lite from 2020, a Tab S8 and an S9+. The S8 has a fairly normal 10" screen and is actually my favorite of the bunch; I find the 12" screen on the S9+ too big since I mostly want a reading device rather than a watching or playing device. I use the S9+ as a portable monitor and video capture device for my camera when I'm shooting photos with models. It's big and bright enough to see even in outdoors in broad daylight. All three of them have reasonable Qualcomm SoCs and big-boy amounts of RAM. All three of them have an SD card slot for big-boy storage. Newer Tab S series tablets are also water resistant, if you're someone who might use such a device in the bath or near a pool.

Not everybody wants to buy a premium Android tablet and I'll admit I don't pay full price for them either, but they're superb hardware, and I have no problem recommending the S6 Lite or the comparable Lenovo M11 for general use. Those aren't waterproof and they don't have high end SoCs, but they have nice screens, work well in their intended ecosystem and they aren't saddled with a sub-par mobile OS like Apple or Amazon hardware.

Yes, I know it's possible to add the Play Framework to a FireOS device. The problem is that you have to fight to keep it that way since Amazon updates will eventually reset your settings. As far as I know, there's no cure for the limitations of iOS, which is why I'd never bother with an iPad.

I found Sonder because I was desperate to book a weeklong stay in Manhattan that didn't cost $2k and wasn't in some bedbug infested nightmare in Times Square. I was essentially checking every short term rental on Google Maps when I ran across it.

Once I got in their system, I found rentals everyplace I wanted to go. Getting a very cheap flight and a Sonder apartment has been my recipe for an interesting long weekend every few months ever since.

Sonder doesn't really have staff as such. The locations have maybe one cleaner, who doesn't enter your rental during your stay, and MAYBE one person in the lobby, if your location even has a lobby.

Your rental is an apartment, and like any apartment, you're responsible for cleaning your room and doing your own dishes while you're there. That's not to say that the lobby person couldn't stick a note under a door, but I understand that minimal staffing is one of the reasons Sonder rentals are so affordable.

The busiest Sonder I've ever visited had at most two employees in the building. Most of them, you'll never see an employee at all. I've only seen staff in downtown Chicago and in Manhattan and I've stayed at 14 different locations.

If you were looking for a live person to ask, you probably wouldn't find one.
On the other hand, they do get back to you instantly if you message them about something.

Or the people who made the web site were contractors and there's no one doing maintenance.
I have active (future) reservations and I still haven't gotten any direct notification that there's any operational status from the company yet, even though I've been seeing news about this for the last three days.

I've had a bunch of great stays in Sonder apartments. They're beautifully decorated and extremely affordable. I use them as locations for photo shoots as much as anything else, but getting a 3 bedroom apartment that's a block off Canal Street in New Orleans for $120/night, or a $900/week 2 bedroom apartment rental that's literally next door to the Brooklyn Bridge/City hall subway hub is about as nice as I could ever hope to find.

I've been at the point where Sonder has been my first choice for accommodations about the last three years. I'm actually impacted by this news since I had reservations to stay at Sonder locations in December and again in February.

Their prices started out decent enough but now are on par with what I was paying for cable. Dumped them and I live close enough to Baltimore and DC that I can get all the football games over broadcast with a $20 window antenna. I'd do even better with an attic mount antenna, but don't want to go through the hassle. The only thing I'm missing is MSNBC and I'm sure they're going to have a streaming service soon enough.

It's been fine. Maybe wish it had the ultra wide lens for the macro pics. The only regret is the crap trade-in that I'm going to get. Early adopter tax, I guess.

I had a ProMax and wanted something smaller / more convenient to carry. I've had no issues with battery life and I looked at the vast majority of the pics I've taken over the past year and they are mostly "visual notes". Pick up this can of beans at the store. This is the furnace filter size to get. That type of stuff. I'm not taking pictures of super models in the desert. I take almost no video. If I did, the Pro would be the obvious choice. But for me, the Air works well.

When I was deciding which one to get I told my wife that my head says to get the Pro, my heart wants the Air. I got the Air. I also liked when they had the mini. That was my favorite iPhone.

I guess my Air's trade in will be about $5.00

...if my card is accepted until I get up the cashier and then find out that I can't pay for my items. This is a terrible idea.

It looks like I'm watching someone play a video game instead of watching a movie. I also grew up with 24 fps movies shot on film, so that may have shaped my preferences.

If only he could have removed 2 more MB, all the middle schoolers would be happy