• 0 Posts
  • 36 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

help-circle




  • I don’t even have vibration on. The display will turn on to show notifications but the vast majority of the time my phone is in another room on the charger. I even leave it at home some times.

    I’ve had trouble listening to podcasts while I’m home doing other things. Perhaps I should try audio books and sitting down to do nothing but that. Generally, I don’t like audio books for a bunch of reasons but they could be applicable for this issue. Thanks for the suggestion.



  • You may consider getting some labs done. I was deficient in B12 and found taking vitamins did help a bit. Cutting out / back on carbs and beer helps even more.

    Not to entirely discount depression, but I have the opinion that we’ve become so addicted to a life of instantaneous everything that even brief moments of nothing happening can feel like withdrawal.

    One suggestion: instead of regularly turning off your phone, just permanently put it in silent mode. Really consider what you must know immediately (for me it’s family phone calls) and allow only those notifications to come through. Everything else can wait for you to find the time to get to them.

    I also struggle with this so I’m interested in the conversation. I love to read but have a really hard time choosing a book over television. I’m mindful of “blue light” and try to stop using any screen at all after 8pm but that can be difficult if I just want to unwind after a long day. People did it before tv though. I think maybe a less fulfilling life, or life fulfilled less, may actually be more healthy.




  • Other than general assumptions and track-record and being a business that sells user data, is there any actual evidence or clear and present ways that Meta could do harm to the Fediverse / its users?

    All I’ve read is that it seems suspicious and we shouldn’t trust them. I totally agree with that but I’d like someone to give some examples of what they could do as a member of the network. I’ve read how they could post advertising – how would that work?

    I ask because, like the previous comment, the idea of following people from other, more popular, federated platforms from the comfort and security of “open source” (?) platforms is appealing. At the same time, if this is leaving me and my platform vulnerable to something specific, I’d like to either proceed with caution or not proceed at all.

    The biggest loss for me when leaving Twitter was losing access to so much happening in my community and local news and government organizations. They’re all still posting on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and not moving to the open social web. More and more are moving to Threads though so it would be nice to maintain / regain exposure.



  • The original Volkswagen Beetle was specifically designed for literally anyone to work on it.

    While cars have had computers in them since the 1970s, they were still easily diagnosed by almost anyone with a basic education (most people took a basic automotive class in high school). If you could fix a lawnmower, you could fix a car.

    Now cars are just rolling computers. Mr. Nerd, how often do you upgrade your computer? And how long do you anticipate Teslas remaining on the road? Aren’t they all doomed to the scrap yard in 10-15 years?

    You can still work on older cars. They may be less safe, they may cause more pollution. But in the context you’re arguing, I can’t say you’ve presented a compelling case.

    Moreover, consumer demand for distraction has driven (so to speak) the popularity of cars and other gadgets to do the thinking for us. A brief example is how often my Uber driver takes a wrong turn into another state because he’s unfamiliar with the city and relying on his phone. A taxi driver would never make that mistake because they’re knowledgeable and able to think for themselves.

    I’ll pick a dumb device 9 times out of 10.




  • The DVR is the server. DVRs aren’t really designed to off-load camera feeds and recordings for the sake of security. If you want to build your own server, you’ll need to incorporate analog inputs.

    If the issue is viewing the cameras from a mobile device, you can try to get this to work with third party apps. I’ve used an (iOS) app called DMSS to access a DVR similar to what you have.

    Also, the benefit of a self contained analog device is, among other things, it doesn’t interfere with your network traffic or rely on your router. Get it a decent battery backup and it can still run when the power’s out. Analog cameras generally look better than IP cameras too.




  • I use Bing and Edge daily for work because they integrate nicely with M365 and SharePoint. This Copilot crap does nothing but get in my way.

    In fact, Microsoft pushing Copilot in our faces only results in a disruption of productivity. It took months (which is break-neck speed for MSFT) for them to add the option to disable Copilot in PowerPlatform. Why it was forced upon users in the first place is beyond comprehension.

    Improvements in technology are great. Options are great. Getting out of my way and getting shit done is even greater.

    I don’t know about everyone else but, whether it’s a major corporation or an indie app developer or an automotive manufacturer, the way they all keep changing things so quickly (mostly for the worse) is pushing me away from using tech on a whole.

    Without getting too off topic (too late?), there’s just so much consumer frustration from streaming services, cars, phones, wearables, vr, delivery services, etc., that I have to imagine / hope that in the next few years we’re going to start seeing an anti-tech movement pick up more traction. I mean, how many people really want a voice driven AI assistant?

    Do I want AI to give me better search results? Sure - if it can do so intelligently. It still gets things wrong sending me down a rabbit hole losing hours of productivity. I don’t have time to train your AI for you so just get out of my way and let me know once you’re smarter than me.