…one of my worries has always been … Many years ago, I wrote a story about Google trying to take over Yahoo search. I think I’ve talked about this before. It was going to get them 90 percent of the market at this point. Yahoo was still a substantively large search, did substantively large search business, and Microsoft was the third one. I was struck by, they can’t have 90 percent. Why isn’t our government stepping in to do something about that? That’s a ridiculous amount of market share.
So a line I wrote was, “At least Microsoft knew they were thugs.” Google pretends they’re all happy with their funny balls and their crazy eating habits and their weird clothes and stuff like that, but they’re still, as adorable as they are, they’re still just as evil as Microsoft was.
So I was making that point and I think it was Eric Schmidt who called me up and said, “That’s really mean, that you say we’re thugs.” And I said, “Well, I think you’re worse than thugs because you don’t know you’re thugs. And you are thugs, and therefore you’re worse than thugs.” And he was like, “We’re not thugs, we’re really good people. We’re really good people.” And I said, “I get that, but I can’t imagine a world where you have a company of this much power over information. What if someone … “
Of course it’s like three clicks to Hitler, but that’s what I said. It was like, “But what if Hitler ran Google? What if someone who wasn’t so nice ran Google?” And it was like, “Well, they don’t!” And I was like, “Yes, but what if they do?” And he said, “But they don’t!” So are you worried about the concentration of power in the hands of, again, a very small amount of people?
I feel like a more productive conversation to have in the midst of “tiktok is spying on you -> every app is spying on you” is to remind people that you still do have power to limit how much data is collected on you. Switch to firefox, transfer your saved passwords to 1password or lastpass, set your default search engine to duckduckgo (I only need to switch back to google for maybe 2% of my searches), install an adblocker, go through your device settings and turn off any permissions that you’re not sure if they’re absolutely necessary. If you want to go the extra mile, only access social media through browsers instead of using the native apps. Spend an hour on your digital hygiene and you’re making your life that much harder to monetize and surveil.
I think something that’s a bit weird about personalized search results or personalized news or whatever is that it seems like a good idea on the surface, but it ends up causing issues with what information you see
That’s Louis Rossman, a repair technician and YouTuber, who went viral recently for railing against Apple. Apple purposely charges a lot for repairs and you either have to pay up or buy a new device. That’s because Apple withholds necessary tools and information from outside repair shops. And to think, we were just so close to change.
Hate Apple and are more than happy to spite them in some way
No one will know which is it
This guy inspired me to repair my own macbook. First of all, you should know that I am not… like, I have to look up HOW to look up what my computer specifications are. Tech, that ware either soft or hard, is not a subject in which I experience comfort or competence.
But my puppy peed on my keyboard, and I asked the apple store, or the fucking mac cafe, or the godsdamn Computer House Chill Zone or whatever cute ass name they have for their bullshit store, and they said it would be TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO REPLACE MY KEYBOARD. I’m not even exaggerating.
So I asked the internet, well how hard IS it to repair? And I saw this guy’s video, and while I am no techie, I AM fueled by spite, so I was all “oh, they do that shit on purpose specifically so they can charge me $1200 bucks or make me buy a new computer hunh? FUCK THEM” and I bought all the tools I needed for about $25 and I bought all the parts I needed for about another $25 and I watched a few tutorial videos, and I replaced my own keyboard.
So, once you are doing the actual deed, it becomes pretty obvious that they are finding creative ways to make this much harder than it has to be on purpose. On thing that stood out to me is, instead of all the tiny screws being the same size, there are about two dozen very slightly different sizes. They could easily be all the same size, or like, two sizes at most, but no.
These mother fuckers will take a panel that screws into place and they’ll use a different size screw for each corner. They are so close that you almost cannot tell them apart visually, but they each will only screw into the matching corner. Like, it’s a pretty clear “fuck you” to anyone trying to do repairs.
anyway, this guy is also fueled by spite, and doing holy work, and I have mad respect
This is awesome. Man is doing good ass deeds 24/7 because he’s giving people control.
Hey I have a question, why does every fucking article have to call any truly wireless earbud an “airpods alternative”. They’re not made exclusively to compete with airpods. Just because they’re the best known doesn’t mean everything else is just trying its best.
it was a fucking house phone that i was so stoked to have because it was mine that i kept in my own room and i cannot believe technology has progressed at the speed of FUCKING light to the point where this is a hilarious artifact to have had in like 6th grade and now theres kindergarteners with iphones
How did you know if you dialed the right number
each button made a different tone so the numbers you dialed a lot became a subconscious melody in your head and if you hit the wrong button by accident it would sound like a wrong note in a song you know by heart
i can’t beleive that is a legitimate question in my lifetime
Other acceptable answer: the wrong person answers on the other end.
ifesbob 