This is the correct answer; after the whole USB 3.2 Gen 2 2x2 (hands of blue) bullshit, I wouldn’t trust that team to name a park bench in the middle of the desert. Let alone something important and universally used.

While this is definitely an interesting proposition, for most people in the US wouldn’t something like Mark Cuban’s CostPlus drugs website be a more reasonable solution?

That sounds awful; hopefully you were at least able to poison their DB with a fake name and a 10minutemail (or similar) account?

Custom OS isn’t going to address the anaemic hardware, nor do I think relying on open-source custom ROMs for a niche item is the best way to ensure any hardware-level vulnerabilities are covered.

If you already have an Internet-connected device hooked up to your TV (eg. PlayStation); there is no need to connect another, especially when it provides an overall worse experience.

Shit, a basic HTPC is infinitely better - using a Linux-based distribution (which will have a lot more support vs. a niche TV ROM), and it’ll be supported well beyond what the hardware could handle.

I also agree, but I view it more as ‘I bought a TV, and that’s all I want it to be’.

I don’t care about the built in software features foisted on me because I wanted an OLED panel; simply because they are going to be abandoned within 1-2 years, are powered by some anaemic chipset that is already multiple generations behind what is already available in my TV stand; and will likely end up as an attack vector to my network some period down the road.

The article mentions that TV manufacturers make ~$5 a quarter from selling your data. So those ‘features’ aren’t even free, they come at the expense of your personal information, privacy and likely security as a result.

So to quote a famous Dave Chapelle skit: “fuck ‘em, that’s why!”

Because it’s not actually necessary; leave the TV isolated from the internet and use a set-top box (Apple TV, Shield, game console) as the media player.

I downloaded the entire SNES catalogue when I was overseas; so glad I did that then as it’s become much more difficult over the past few years.

II recently tried to download ISOs of my PS1 & 2 collections so that I could play them on my Steam Deck, and found out that at it’s actually a lot faster and easier just to to them myself - as whatever sources I can find are either dead links, or download so slowly that the connection is likely to time out before the download completes.

Did my best, but my European geography identity the best and may have missed a couple:

Germany & Poland oppose. Netherlands, Austria, Estonia, Slovenia and Czechia neutral. Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece support.

Not a fan of the Ioniq6 design personally, but I know where you’re coming from; I’m obsessed with the Abarth 500e Scorpionissima in acid green! 🤤

Fair enough; it’s a bit vaguely worded and could be interpreted multiple ways.

From my experience, big corporations have always either provided me with company-issued phones for official use, or offered an additional allowance if I’ve opted to use my own personal device.

Then again, given how absolutely absurd some of Microsoft’s recent decisions have been (eg. Recall) - you can’t really be certain.

That’s my read of it, or am I misunderstanding something?

Microsoft will purchase for their Android using employees an iPhone 15. The reference to one-time being that employees are only entitled to one, in the event they were to lose or damage it?

Huh, TIL - thanks!

I’ve updated my original comment to reflect this.

The only thing Apple Maps lacks now is a Waze-like ability to report hazards, speed-traps, road closures etc. apparently that’s been a thing for a few years now, thanks!

I’ll have to check it out where I am, but I have a feeling that there might not be a big enough active user base to sufficiently crowd source the datapoints… I guess, be the change you want to see in the world!

Wait, isn’t this just the plot of that Sam* Rockwell movie - Moon?

In general, I would love for any OEM to step in and provide similar build quality to a Mac… doesn’t even have to be Lenovo (who IMO are a pale imitation of IBM’s line of laptops).

You likely just need to enable TPM through the BIOS (each manufacturer calls it something different).

I’m in a similar boat, but am going to use W10 EOL to probably jump ship to Linux - if not at the very least switch to Windows 10 LTSC.

Granted there was no standardisation in the industry, but I’m pretty sure they used the same remote across most of my portable MiniDisc players growing up (ie. from MZ-R55 to MZ-R900… the MZ-NH1 had a different remote altogether)… I didn’t even realise there were restrictions?

The issue with the inline controls that evolved since (and morphed into Bluetooth controls) is that they’re too basic, compared to what I’d like.

On the go, I long since ago switched to wireless audio - using AirPods Pro and a ‘vintage’ Apple Watch 3, but I would gladly opt for a wireless/bluetooth lapel clip style object with the same controls those old Sony had.

I’ve had a quick look around - but haven’t managedd to find anything that would fit the bill. Honestly, not even sure if smartphones offer sufficient functionality over Bluetooth to make something like that work out of the box?

If you’ve never used an inline remote, it’s really hard to explain why they were so much better from a UX perspective than what’s available now.

If I want to control media on my smartwatch, I need to flick focus on my wrist - usually stopping me from being able to fully use that hand, identify the right controls on the touch screen (and that it’s even on the right screen, and not obstructed by notifications) and hope that they register correctly.

Those old inline remotes were basically a useful ‘Bop It!’; control inputs varied: twist a dial, tilt the end, button press, slide, scroll dial and provided full tactile control which could be truly used one-handed (when clipped to my shirt).

It is a true shame that they were left by the wayside, when multiple devices ended up amalgamating into the modern smartphone.

I have one - but its touch screen is no replacement for bespoke, tactile controls.

This is all well and good, especially from a nostalgia perspective (in addition to the general pushback against cloud everything); but what I miss most about portable music nowadays is the lack of decent inline remotes (think early 2000s Sony MiniDisc players).

The player stated in your pocket, and the remote handled everything, volume, playback, and even had a dot-matrix screen to identify and navigate playlists!