... if you're just trying to reduce or eliminate the Mountain View Monster from your life then Samsung Pay is the non Apple/Google solution I'm aware of in the USA. But I've yet to see a Samsung phone stripped of all Google tech. Certainly not FOSS. I don't think there's a FOSS "NFC Wallet" app there yet.

Makes sense. And easily seen. Ask DeepSeek about the BBC journalist Kate Adie and what she reported on in China. DeepSeek will start out saying something and then ... It'll retract it and then says it knows nothing. Ask ChatGPT the same question.... It'll tell you about Kate Adie's reporting in what we then called Peking. Around June 1989. Those reports are literally banned in China.

There of course is a simple workaround. If Volvo Cars, a Geely subsidiary, is allowed to sell cars in the USA but Polestar is not.... Then redesign a Polestar a little bit, slap a Volvo badge on it and presto!

Badge reengineering is common in the automotive industry. All Vauxhalls are basically rebadged right hand drive Opels. All Lincolns are basically Ford underneath. And all Tesla Cybertrucks are basically Waste Management dumpsters (joke).

Simply put, Bari Weiss is no Lord Reith. Reith wanted all sides heard.

Though one has to bear in mind these "media bias ratings" are in themselves subjective. I know my political views and opinions have changed over time.

You're right. "your mileage may vary" comes to mind. Switching plans wouldn't achieve what I wanted. AT&T offers discounts that T-Mobile doesn't offer for existing fiber customers and for teachers so that was a huge factor.... Got a plan with AT&T that's equivalent to the T-Mo plan for a lot less and able to take advantage of their phone deals to get new devices all around and still end up paying less per month than what T-Mo is charging.

Basically put it pays to shop around.

Count me as a whiner then.

I want to get value for my money. T-Mobile made a business decision to increase their price. That's their choice. I can choose to continue with this arrangement, choose to negotiate a new arrangement with T-Mobile or opt out of the new arrangement by arranging alternative services with a competitor, if possible.

Also one might note that mobile phone service in the US is kinda expensive when compared to the rest of the world. I have six lines with T-Mo right now. Will be paying over $230 a month. If I were in the UK those same six lines would cost me $92 a month on Three. And I could cut those costs down even more if I accepted 100GB/mo limits on data.

So given that my wife is an educator, and we have AT&T Fiber, we're going to check out their offerings.

Absolutely! Similar story here a year or so ago.... Same players.... AT&T laid fiber. Asked Spectrum what they could do to keep me as a customer. Spectrum said "go pound sand" (or at least that's what I interpreted them saying). I switched. Been happy with AT&T fiber. One outage in 18 months. I was having outages regularly on Spectrum. Even saved money by switching to AT&T and Sling together Vs Spectrum for both Internet and TV.

So when T-Mo sent the "rate hike" text, I reached out to their customer non-service departments ... One lady in personal tried her best. The so-called business reps basically gave me the impression there was nothing I can do, I was already saving XXX with them... I have (probably will be had) a Sprint Business account but that was purely by accident of me being self employed at the time and needing six lines.

Today, I'm going to the AT&T store. Apparently they have deals for educators, and also for people who have fiber...

AM in the long and medium wavelengths is practically dead in western Europe.

Longwave is particularly dead. Only 6 broadcasters left worldwide. BBC Radio 4 Longwave is only on the air because the electric companies still use the radio teleswitch system to tell semi smart meters what electric tariff to use. When the electric companies can turn off this service, then Radio 4 LW will go silent. There used to be separate programming on R4 LW vs FM but not anymore, the separate programs have gone to other stations on DAB.

Medium wave - Absolute Radio shut down. Talk Sport wants to turn off some of its AM transmitters. BBC has a plan to shutter Radio 5 Live on AM, and also what it has left of local radio on AM as well. The major commercial radio companies (Global, Bauer, Wireless Group) all have quit MW.

Might also affect the local AM if there is a local disaster.

What could be good is a nationwide free-to-air satellite radio network. Might have to piggy back off the Sirius XM network, since there's a Sirius system and an XM system... SXM can get those using Sirius radios to move to a newer radio... And then run a free to air service on the Sirius part of the system. SXM gets recompensed by carrying the stations for a cost.

Though with the US not having adopted DAB and HD Radio being a bit of a flop in my opinion.... Need to look at converging broadcast radio and TV into the 6G mobile phone spec and move everything to mobile.

Setting aside the politics of it, my understanding is that they have a product ready to go, just awaiting FCC approval.

Vodafone have already completed test video calls using a regular smartphone in a remote part of Wakes. Verizon and AT&T are on board and will use their services once the FCC gives the green light.

And unlike Starlink, it would appear that AST Spacemobile was set up with the idea of being the cell tower in space, rather than a general purpose Internet broadband solution with a cell tower in space solution bolted on.

So where's the hold up on their end, and when we get the choice?

The funding makes sense for the times for when the BBC started, and started making a lot less sense at the turn of the millennium. The licence fee is an outdated way of funding public service media.

I'd advocate for a public service media fee, levied on Internet service bills, streaming media subscription bills, and Internet device purchases. Maybe even impose a fee on Internet companies who make it possible for people to livestream.... after all a livestream fits the definition of a live TV programme, something which you presently need a TV licence in the UK to watch.

I'd give the BBC a lot more commercial independence, maybe even splitting it up more, and funding present day commercial broadcasters like ITV and Sky to produce public service programming.

Ummm.... Have you heard of a company called UK TV? They started out years ago offering a paid TV channel called UK Gold. Most of their channels are branded U& ... these days, eg U&Dave, U&Yesterday, U&Gold, and U ..

Who owns UKTV? After a few years of "musical chairs".... UKTV is now owned by.... The BBC.

So yes, the BBC does do commerical TV. It's just not BBC branded.

What? Like On digital and later ITV Digital? That was a massive success now, wasn't it? (Sarcasm tag)

A lot of people in the USA rely on Auntie to give them the news of what's going on in their own country, given how biased a number of main news sources are in America.