Thomas Beagle

I reckon a good third of complaints about invasive modern tech are really just "Old man shakes fist at cloud." Not you of course. Yours are all totally reasonable and based on an insightful analysis of the power relationships between people, governments, and big tech. Nothing to do with the fact that it was released after you turned 35.

Apparently Kim's old phone (Moto Edge 30 Neo) supports Sailfish OS and I absolutely need a way to waste more time on pointless tinkering.

Trying to work out how to type the ™ character and it turned out to be easier to copy/paste it out of one of the webpages that tells you how to enter the ™ character.

It's nice to be back in the land of working internet, where you don't have to choose between how you're connected and what services you want to access. The blocks on Google and Facebook services were particularly annoying. If you're going to China I suggest not bothering with wifi and VPNs. The wifi was typically very blocked and the VPN never worked for long. Assuming your phone supports a second SIM (either eSIM or card), get one that supports roaming in China with a few GB per day. I got mine from trip.com but there are others. Set that up as your primary data connection - that way you get to keep your normal number and get the best roaming internet access. I note that the vital Chinese services like Alipay and WeChat work fine with an NZ phone number.

Trademe won't tell me how much it is to sell a car before I enter the details. They also say "We sometimes A/B test our pricing, so some members will be offered a different price than others. If you have any questions about this, please contact us." I think it's so nice of them to put so much effort into giving me the cheapest possible price! #ScumSuckingTechBroBullshit

Many people in Aotearoa will be glad on Friday morning that they turned off their regular alarm tonight. #Matariki

It might be time to write to your Labour MP and tell them not to do anything as stupid as supporting National's proposed ban on social media for the under 16s: https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361003311/national-labour-and-subscribe-our-new-bill

@Antigrav@mastodon.nz I used to use one of the alternative Android OSes (CyanogenMod) but trying a non Android OS is tempting. (Yes I miss Windows Phone and I'm sad I never got to use WebOS.)

When I read the InternetNZ strategy I can't help feeling that they need a bit more commitment to the ability of people to use the internet to communicate, protecting it from both big businesses and the government. "Open and uncapturable" as they used to say in the old days. https://internetnz.nz/about-internetnz/our-strategy-20262031/

I borrowed an Oculus Quest 2 and I have had to download an app and login with a Facebook ID. It then tried to fool me into spending money on a custom avatar, requested my credit card number, tempted me with "one month free trial" on the $15 subscription, and then spent a bunch of time updating. It's the quintessential predatory modern gadget experience. #Enshittification

The more I think about Winston Peters and his recent behaviour, the more I think that he's no longer mentally fit to be a cabinet minister. He loves playing Minister of Foreign Affairs but then he refers to one of our largest trading partners with "Go back to your own country, that's where they lie like a flat fish"? That's not only racist but also stupid. His outburts are increasingly aggressive and often just weird. It's time for Winston Peters to retire.

Wondering how many people I still call by their nick/handle from forums and chat systems that not only have we stopped using, but that they no longer exist. It's the social equivalent of historical urban geography, where you describe how to get somewhere by reference to places that aren't there anymore.

@HeatherInNZ@mastodon.nz It would be better for me if Facebook died rather than if I left it. Facebook dying would mean that my family would also have to find somewhere new, whereas me leaving would just mean I vanished. (My Facebook is down too.)

Got dumped with some family 'heirlooms' yesterday. I've put the painting by my mother up (we have a few already) and will store some of the others, but do I really need to keep her university degree or piano ATCL certificates? Or the books that mention some relative in passing? (Yes, I am related to the Jack Humm famed for his eponymous crab apple.)

@ygathgoch@cloudisland.nz You can tell when someone lived there by the age of their references, like an archeological strata.

So you can train a beagle! I saw someone say they had started calling "Housekeeping!" whenever there was spilled food to clean up, and it amused me enough that I followed suit. A year later and if I call "Calcifer" I might have to repeat it multiple times before he drags himself over, but one cry of "Housekeeping" and he's over in a shot. 😋

I haven't been sold on foldable phones - they're kind of neat but I can't really see myself using one. But yesterday I had a play with the new Samsung Galaxy 8 foldable. It's shorter and wider, and folds out into a lovely wide screen. I'm not sure the design is practical in a world where phone apps are designed for tall and skinny, but somehow it was very appealing purely on the 'cool gadget' level. But not for $3100!

@nycki@critters.gay Zuckerberg, Gates, Musk, the Googles, Ellison... they're all nerds. Bezos and Cook may not be native nerds but they're uncool enough to qualify. 😀

@NewtonMark@eigenmagic.net I bet you could hook up a number of these for even more effective transport. (It's the weekend so this is a reinvent the train day, weekdays are for reinventing the bus.)

@evolutionise@cloudisland.nz I have just found out that when I said "we" were saving the new Murderbot book for our road trip next week that this wasn't entirely truthful. I may be saving it, but my perfidious partner is already well into it. 😀

@Niall@mastodon.nz Musk for sure is a nerd. Trump might be one of the symptoms/outcomes of the nerd takeover (i.e. the Facebook problem).

@RupertBBare@mastodon.nz Their centralisation: overbearing, anti-democratic, corrupt. Our centralisation: rational, efficient, sensible.

@jeremy_pm@mastodon.nz @paulh@cloudisland.nz @artnacrea@mastodon.ie @RobynNuthall@mastodon.nz @ClareBear@mastodon.nz We could do 4 terms for the same 12 years. I'd probably even accept 5 terms for 15 years. I reckon it's a good idea.

@Antigrav@mastodon.nz I imagine it would only be relevant to the HRC if the pricing was determined by one of the protected classes in the Human Rights Act. E.g. it offered lower prices to certain races or genders.

@mms@mastodon.bsd.cafe @kennergf@mas.to @Niall@mastodon.nz Uncool, wants to colonize Mars, and is a fan of the Culture enough to steal the spaceship naming style? Sounds pretty nerdy to me.

@Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems I know, we were wrong! So very wrong. Hell, I was once a libertarian myself until I grew up.

Google has enabled Gemini in Android Auto and it's impressively useless. When told to "play Moderat" it responds with: "I'm sorry, I can't play music from your apps but I can tell you more about Moderat and where they might be playing next." Then it gave some pissy reply when told to "fuck off" rather than just shutting up.

@airadam@mastodon.me.uk "The rainbow that I have put on the bench will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep you caffeinated forever."

@skjeggtroll@mastodon.online @Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems I read that as "Heinlein" and his ilk. 😀

@jalefkowit Update the old saying to "You have a face and voice for micro-blogging."

@isaacfreeman@cloudisland.nz @lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz I hope it goes well, I'm looking forward to seeing the pricing.

@ErrolNZ@mastodon.nz Damn, that sounds unfortunate. I hope it heals well and quickly.

@richlv@mastodon.social @mms@mastodon.bsd.cafe @kennergf@mas.to @Niall@mastodon.nz I would have voted for all three. 😀

@sinituulia He looks very like my cat who likes visiting neighbours - I know this because I've had two people complain about him. One got frustrated when they found him sleeping on the top level of their cat tree/platform thing.

@runoutgroover@cloudisland.nz I don't think you get points for noting it's bait when my response to my own post includes "Ok, I admit that list was maybe a wee bit troll-y." 😀

@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange How would I be able to manipulate the content and outcomes of meetings without being able to write the agenda and the minutes?

@potatoes_fall @knoppix95 @signalapp Ah, just the question I was going to ask too. So annoying!

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange New Zealand is a different market, etc, etc, but whenever I've appeared on TV or radio, I've been surprised by how many people have seen it and then mention it to me. They're out there!

@dubh@cloudisland.nz I'm anti mesh if at all possible, and pro Unifi. I really like the ease of management and configuration.

@evolutionise@cloudisland.nz We're saving it for our roadtrip next week. I can't wait...

@mjd@mathstodon.xyz I sent my server to live on a farm. it's very happy there playing together with all the other servers.

@mjd Hardware - the part of the computer system that you can kick.

@stephen@ephemera.vital.org.nz I like my touchscreen-based smartphone! 😄 Turns out I don't mind the car prioritising touchscreen and voice over physical controls too. I find myself saying "open sunshade" rather than reaching for the button on the roof of the car.

I'll be one of the speakers at the Keith Locke Memorial Debate tonight at 7pm, affirming the view that hate speech laws are a threat to freedom of speech. You can get the link to the live stream here: https://keithlocke.org.nz/

@irix@cloudisland.nz You still haven't told me where you got it! Is this like fishermen refusing to share their favourite possies?

@irix@cloudisland.nz But was it a good strong caramel flavour? That's where I find too many fail. (And where is it?)