Miscellaneous Tech News
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@bnrstnr - do you know why the public moved to WhatsApp so heavily? Was SMS so expensive and mobile data by comparison so cheap that the financial costs pushed people to another platform?
Or did all mobile operators install Whatsapp by default, and make it the default texting app?
I don't foresee the US moving away from SMS because of "tyranny of the default"
Most people won't move away from the default until they run into an issue that really drives them to something else, and then they will only move to what appears to be the simplest thing.
Just look at IE, it reigned supreme for ages, even though it was crap! Only real reason it was replaced was that people couldn't do work in IE any more because it was lagging so far behind.
I think Scott has talked about how expensive SMS is and how it's not an option in the 3rd world. I really don't know. I've never even really thought about it. If you can afford internet to use WhatsApp, surely you can afford SMS? SMS is god awful though, unusable in my opinion, so maybe that contributes?
I'm an iPhoner and I really don't have any experience with Android based phones, but I'm not aware of any manufacturers that push WhatsApp or use it as the default. Most of the people I talk to on a daily basis use iPhones, so iMessage is the default and it works awesome for us. The few people that I talk to that use Android phones we struggle to communicate efficiently. I've convinced a few to switch to WhatsApp, some try to use Messenger.
Signal was better for one of my Android friends because he was able to use it as his default messaging app. That was the sole reason we preferred it over Telegram.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Did you read the article?
No, I skimmed it and thought I saw an answer
Sucks that you need a phone number to register it.I did read another article that says it's possible to use a home phone to register it... so maybe that's still a viable solution?
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@bnrstnr said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I did read another article that says it's possible to use a home phone to register it... so maybe that's still a viable solution?
It's not when the whole goal is privacy! The fact that they ever used phone numbers just makes you wonder what the makers were thinking when they claimed privacy first - yet you have to have this absolutely tied to you thing (Well, perhaps they were Americans and we can still get burners without showing ID, etc - but much of the rest of the world can not), but really, what good is a burner in this case - it's still going to be attached to YOU. You can't give up the number tomorrow to someone else and still have access to your Signal account.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@bnrstnr said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I did read another article that says it's possible to use a home phone to register it... so maybe that's still a viable solution?
It's not when the whole goal is privacy! The fact that they ever used phone numbers just makes you wonder what the makers were thinking when they claimed privacy first - yet you have to have this absolutely tied to you thing (Well, perhaps they were Americans and we can still get burners without showing ID, etc - but much of the rest of the world can not), but really, what good is a burner in this case - it's still going to be attached to YOU. You can't give up the number tomorrow to someone else and still have access to your Signal account.
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@bnrstnr said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@bnrstnr said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I did read another article that says it's possible to use a home phone to register it... so maybe that's still a viable solution?
It's not when the whole goal is privacy! The fact that they ever used phone numbers just makes you wonder what the makers were thinking when they claimed privacy first - yet you have to have this absolutely tied to you thing (Well, perhaps they were Americans and we can still get burners without showing ID, etc - but much of the rest of the world can not), but really, what good is a burner in this case - it's still going to be attached to YOU. You can't give up the number tomorrow to someone else and still have access to your Signal account.
Nice, I guess, but still not the point at all.
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Github apologises for firing Jewish employee who warned about 'Nazis'
Software giant Github has apologised for firing a Jewish employee who warned co-workers to be careful about Nazis.
The employee was fired two days after using the word to describe participants in the US Capitol riots. But Github now says that decision was a mistake, and its head of HR has resigned over the scandal. The company says it has offered the fired employee his job back, and clarified that "employees are free to express concerns about Nazis". Microsoft-owned Github is one of the most popular software development tools in the world, with more than 50 million users. News of the internal row was first reported by Business Insider. People associated with a range of extreme and far-right groups and supporters of fringe online conspiracy theories stormed Congress. As it happened, the Jewish employee posted to an internal Github Slack channel: "Stay safe homies, Nazis are about." -
E-scooters must follow rules of road 'same as bus'
An Isle of Wight woman is thought to be the first person to be banned from UK roads for drink-driving an e-scooter.
The magistrate told Kyah Jordan the vehicle was "the same as a moped, the same as a bus" in terms of rules the road and penalties for breaking them. The 20-year-old had hired the e-scooter after drinking with friends. The Met Police says fines and penalty points will be handed to e-scooter riders jumping a red light, using a mobile phone or riding on the pavement. It remains illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public roads, cycle lanes or pavements. And owners risk a £300 fine, six penalty points on their driving licence and an additional fine for not having insurance. But rentals, for which, government guidance says, the operating company will provide insurance, can be ridden - with a full or provisional driving licence - at up to 15.5mph on roads in regions where they are being trialled. -
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
E-scooters must follow rules of road 'same as bus'
An Isle of Wight woman is thought to be the first person to be banned from UK roads for drink-driving an e-scooter.
The magistrate told Kyah Jordan the vehicle was "the same as a moped, the same as a bus" in terms of rules the road and penalties for breaking them. The 20-year-old had hired the e-scooter after drinking with friends. The Met Police says fines and penalty points will be handed to e-scooter riders jumping a red light, using a mobile phone or riding on the pavement. It remains illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public roads, cycle lanes or pavements. And owners risk a £300 fine, six penalty points on their driving licence and an additional fine for not having insurance. But rentals, for which, government guidance says, the operating company will provide insurance, can be ridden - with a full or provisional driving licence - at up to 15.5mph on roads in regions where they are being trialled.Standard laws in the US, too. Scooters, bicycles, it's always been that way.
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@scottalanmiller Horse too (just an FYI why would I know that. . . )
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller Horse too (just an FYI why would I know that. . . )
I did know that (grew up on a horse farm.)
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Anyone else seeing like everything online super slow today?
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Anyone else seeing like everything online super slow today?
Yes.
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@scottalanmiller I haven't noticed a huge difference
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller Horse too (just an FYI why would I know that. . . )
I did know that (grew up on a horse farm.)
Living in one of, if not the, largest Amish population in the US, I can tell you that we see buggies pulled over for drunk driving a lot.
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@travisdh1 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller Horse too (just an FYI why would I know that. . . )
I did know that (grew up on a horse farm.)
Living in one of, if not the, largest Amish population in the US, I can tell you that we see buggies pulled over for drunk driving a lot.
That's because the Amish tend towards reckless rule breakers.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@travisdh1 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller Horse too (just an FYI why would I know that. . . )
I did know that (grew up on a horse farm.)
Living in one of, if not the, largest Amish population in the US, I can tell you that we see buggies pulled over for drunk driving a lot.
That's because the Amish tend towards reckless rule breakers.
And tend to one-up each other. The last local Rumspringa saw around 53 arrests for underage drinking.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I'm still dumbfounded how ingrained solarwinds was to so many different businesses.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I'm still dumbfounded how ingrained solarwinds was to so many different businesses.
Other than they shit sales tactics... why do you say that? Their products seemed to be pretty good.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I'm still dumbfounded how ingrained solarwinds was to so many different businesses.
Other than they shit sales tactics... why do you say that? Their products seemed to be pretty good.
Because this is starting to look like one absolutely massive IPOD from an outside perspective.
