Ah brings me back.. must have been somewhere between 1995 and 1998 - yes, back in the Netscape/mosaic days - a fellow student at the university tried to get us to invest in a firm making some kind of transaction token system for micropayments. It was before ads like we know them today. There were ads, and "spyware" (which now seems almost benign in how little they tracked, compared to what is default now), In the end, the solution to the "who should pay" problem that was later "solved" by getting everything for "free*" (* heavy tracking included).

Anyhow, regarding the new proposal. I don't really think it will be hacked. In the smalls, of course, but they are getting pretty good at security with "trusted platforms" embedded, so the user can no longer "trust" its own hardware.

No, my main issue is: It will be "sold" as a system to remove ads and tracking. But give it 2-4 years, and the ads and tracking will slowly start to creep back in. Maybe as "Lowest tier: Pay, but with ads". Or will just be "too difficult to stop tracking".

In my 2004 (so nearly 19 years old!) Canon 20D (which I still uses occasionally (having fun with macro, but not enough to get an expensive new camera)) the function is (from the manual)

"C.Fn-18 Add original decision data - To verify whether the image is original, the Data Verification Kit DVK-E2 (optional) is required."

  It only works using the raw format... But it has been reverse engineered and can be forged http://lclevy.free.fr/cr2/odd/

There are no such thing as "0%" or "100%", only charge and voltages. You could charge the battery to "200%", but probably only a few times before the battery died. Just as you would damage the battery if you discharged it to "-20%" (if the phone could use the too-low voltage).

What the companies do, is defining e.g. "this battery should be at 80% after 500 full charge cycles" and then they set the "0 to 100%" charge respectively. They could also have requested "this battery should be at 80% after 2000 full charge cycles". Which in essence is what you are suggesting. But then your effective battery capacity would be half or so (for the same battery volume/weight). The phone would last longer. But who cares, no one purchases the phone for the battery capacity it will have 3 years from now..

So by setting the battery to last for 500 charge cycles, YOU get to have a longer lasting phone.. For a while. THEY know you will get a new one after 2-3 years.. .. I think that is called a "win-win" :)
 

Netflix follows the modern UI paradigm where they try to "engage" the user, and measures "engagement" in how long time the user spends using their interface. The button was a stupid attempt to fix the problems the UI give.

Personally I hate the "infinite" left-right scrolling categories. I want to select a category, and then EVERYTHING should be that category with scroll down until I can clearly see that that category is now fully exhausted. It should be possible to SEARCH within the selected category.

When I (not often) tries to find something new to watch, I spend the meager half hour I have to choose (before it gets to late when adding the time to watch and episode) just trying to find whatever, before giving up.. The button did just waste that evening, whenever I tried using it.. :(

I guess it is the "you might be interested in" algorithm that I've messed up. Because the algorithm misses 90% of the time. I suspect that just *starting* a suggestion (and watching for 10 minutes or so) counts as a "hit" for the algorithm?? But it is NOT. Watching for 10 minutes should be a "miss" for the algorithm...

Netflix is the MAIN reason I still pirate. And often I pirate shows I have found and have access to at Netflix. First to prevent the "show no longer available" issue, secondly because I often want to watch more than the 2 or 3 first episodes that I have access to through Netflix, and thirdly because I didn't realize I had access to it at Netflix, and finally to avoid that stupid interface.

What I really want is a UI that doesn't try to engage or show me stuff that IT thinks I might be interested in, but gives me the option to search and slice and dice in the categories.

Phew I felt like ranting :-) I could go on! But I better stop now, I have *slightly* less important subjects to waste my time on...

I am trying "Zim a desktop wiki" https://zim-wiki.org/ it is essentially notepad++ with layers of tabs (and linking). I am storing the files on OneDrive so I can access them from multiple computers.

It is not perfect - text files are flat! But Zim makes them "less flat" when I make sub-sub pages. For the time being it works better for me than onenote or notepad++, but I may change my mind depending on this thread :-)

Yes, they very explicitly states it is "ONE-TIME PURCHASE FOR 1 PC". I was borderline considering it, but my current PC is from 2009 and due for a replacement, probably next year (I have replaced 'wear parts' i.e. ssd/hdd and gpu). But the point is that the 'lifetime' in this case is ~ 1 yr, so... no.

I have a vision, say 20-30 years from now.

Automated megafarms with few human hands. Owned by corporations that are owned by corporations such that they longer pay taxes. Because the robots are really expensive (they are leased from one of the owning corporation, residing in a tax haven). Turns out that farming is just a loss, and hence exempted from tax. ... One have to wonder why they do it... They would really like to pay tax, but as you can be see, that is just not possible. Instead they have to be subsided. Unless you want the stores to be empty?...

Am I totally off?

The problem we have in this modern society is that people does not get enough sleep. And I mean people as in the POPULATION, as a whole. Free your mind of your own petty problems.

The easy way to reach a deep sleep is to go to bed while it is dark. BUT, darkness is surprisingly difficult to create in our modern large-windowed buildings!

Yes you may have curtains capable of blocking out the sun in the WHOLE HOUSE for an hour before going to sleep. AND the willpower to USE them during spring and fall (summer is a lost cause). Good for you. Really! But remember that the POPULATION as a whole cannot block out the sun: The majority of curtains in the majority of houses let in most of the light. If they are used at all.

This mean that the POPULATION does not get enough deep sleep. That effect can actually be measured total cross country income.

Personally I really fail to understand the "I need light in the evening" argument. I have plenty of light. I can make it look like day in the middle of the night! But I cannot easily darken the whole house ½-1 hour before going to sleep...

Briefly put: Keeping normal time gives a larger part of the population a better sleep for a longer part of the year. This has positive effects for health, concentration, income, child happiness, student grades etc. Seriously, what is not to like?

While the INDIVIDUAL may complain, and not see the point, politicians should do what is best for the POPULATION.

Keeping daylight savings really only helps "party hard" frat boys...And golfers... Which includes politicians... Why am I even trying?...

I know I sound like an old moron and maybe I am. Once I replaced my phone every year, but then I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. And I'm still using it. My phone is 7½ year old!

How?: It have an user-replaceable battery. I have an almost new battery, and hence as-new battery lifetime. But it still runs everything I use; maps, mail, calendar, chrome, firefox etc. I never really played games on my phone.

Yes, it is feeling slightly more sluggish, maps have grown and can do a lot more nowadays. But my 7½ year phone is still perfectly usable, and now the CHEAPEST - and still most capable - phone I've ever owned.

Because it have an easily replaceable battery!

Of course I've never had a problem with the phone getting wet, nor have I EVER needed to phone while taking a bath.

My point is, if it have had an IP67 or whatever rating (that phone companies apparently claim that "users desire") I would never have been able to use this phone for that long.

I don't give a sh*t that Samsung claims to be "environmentally friendly" by reducing the amount of packaging. For f***s sake. FORCE the companies so they HAVE to provide replaceable batteries, or at least REQUIRE them to replace it for MAX 10% of the phones price or say 30 USD, whatever is lowest. For as long as the phone still boots (15+ years! yes I believe a modern high-end 2021 phone will ancient-but-still-usable after that time)

Exactly, also evolution is a tinkerer not an engineer. So if the steps to get from state A to state C is A->B->C, then evolution have a hard time to select for A->C, with step B removed, since the result is C in both cases...

So unless there is a clear survival bias for A->C over A->B->C, the B step will never be "erased".

I am writing this on my aging - but still fully functional - Samsung Galaxy Note 3. How can I use a nearly 6 year old phone you ask?

Why I can replace the battery! I'm on my third... (Well it was also a high end phone of the time, one of the first with 3 GB ram...)

But my point is; the reason it survive is I can change battery. And it is one of the last of its kind. Check gsmarena.com and you'll find almost no high end phones with replaceable batt from 2018 and forward.

But the are all ip 68 or whatever waterproof. Well I have yet to have a phone die of water. Most was replaced because of the battery (or because the keyboard broke). When I hear my colleagues getting new iphones, it is always the battery. My parents just bought a new one because of...

Am I the only one that believes, that the *true* reason all new devices are waterproof, is planned obsolescence?? ... Could be I'm just an old geek that doesn't care to buy a new phone that can the same (but slightly faster, of course) as the one I have. ... Or maybe you all drop phones in the toilet regularly? (really??)

If not, then spread the idea, and help save both money and the environment! Let's rebel! ... Regard my heading "by law" I mean, it doesn't have to be user replaceable, but eg that right-to-repair have an upper limit of what a new battery must cost, sufficiently low - like maybe 5% of the original price - to ensure that the can be replaced, and is not epoxy'ed inside.

I loved BF2. Played it until they closed the servers.

BF2 was primitive with today's standards (and the plane/choppers was difficult to use and FAR too powerful in the hands of those who mastered them!).

Its strength - in my opinion - was a nice balance between being sufficiently slow paced that you could act strategically, while still have enough close quarters action that it wasn't boring. The snipers worked well. They were annoying but not that dangerous if you were aware. Could hide fairly well (not like in BF3 where the choppers had infrared vision). Generally if a team started winning too much, people would start sniping, which automatically would leveling the game back, until the winners started loosing again. It balanced itself out. I loved playing as a counter-sniper sniper :)

But the best part that it actually tried to make the squads cooperate. 90% of all squads were bad, but with some luck (and I soon started to recognize the good leaders) I could get on a squad which really worked together. When that happened we could CRUSH the other team. Of course there were a good change that the other team had the good squads. In that case it was just a matter of playing cannon food for the round, so at least the other team could have a great time - and hope for a better next round...

With the servers offline I bought BF3. What a waste. Felt far to arcade-like. The squads did not work. If you were on one, you were randomly assigned as "leader" - so with a squad of 5(?) there was a >80% change that the squad leader DID NOT want to lead... :-(

Then the BF2 servers were resurrected, and I played until EA forced them closed.
After which I swore never to buy from EA again! Good thing they are making it SOO easy! :-)

For me it is more like 95% that is spam. In the rare event I take the call, the caller either just close the connection (probably expecting me to call again at to number that costs money?) or is the Indian "Microsoft Technical Support" (I must have a lot of virus). It can also be a legitimate insurance companies, or callers from red cross etc.

If I take my phone, I generally just answer with the following line. "No! I am not interested. You may not call this number. Take me off you list". And then I close the line. I do feel it actually started to lower the amount of spam calls after I started saying that.

But mostly I do NOT answer my phone if I don't know the number, or expects a call. I check my email once a day. At most. Same with SMS. I generally leave my phone at my desk when walking around the office. Same at home.

It is fascinating to realize that I am more difficult than ever to get a hold on.

I don't get the specific fear of the "note" line. It is a different phone! It is not like it has 'evolved' from the Note 7, and has to have the same flaws.

Also I don't understand why anyone but a few power users would upgrade? My galaxy note 3 is now 4 years, in perfect shape. Can run anything I throw at it. Still a huge screen with more pixels than I can see. And has a new battery!

Which is another point; new phones are IP67 or whatever compliant. Waterproof down to several meters. Oh, and btw, that feature ensures that you can no longer replace the battery. Which dies after 2+ years!

I have NEVER needed a waterproof phone. It is a very nice feature. But NOT at the cost of avoiding planned obsolescence. I want to be able to replace my battery.

It should be a legal requirement that the user can replace the battery. And if the can't, the company should be legally required to replace the battery for no more than 5% of price of the original device, for at least 10 years.