I’m going to keep an open mind, but I haven’t seen much positive about Sony & Motorola smartphones. Haven’t even looked at them for probably 10 years.

A big thing that kept me away from them, aside from their reputation for lackluster/poor performance, was the lack of root/ROMs.

But I’ve gotten older. Specific root benefits have become much fewer, punishments for rooting are more common, well maintained custom ROMs just aren’t a thing (and for what phone?). So all of the rules have changed on me…and maybe it’s time to take another look at Sony, Motorola. 🙂 Do you have any specific recommendations?

I want USB-C, I mean they all should be. I want microSD expandable storage. I’d sure like an aux port but I can go without.

I mean technically smartphones. I have watched the smartphone world start, and BLOSSOM, and now we’re certainly seeing some enshittification here & there but I have started to fully embrace the budget Samsung phones. Knowing that except for the insulting, glaringly bad exception that is battery life, it is better than the SGS3 of old I had in almost every other way.

I really appreciate LED lights. They used to be so expensive, and yet so basic!! $10/bulb, back when the USD was worth even half a damn, and quality? Ehhh you buy what we have, go fuck yourself. Now… I can buy a pack of quality LED bulbs where I can shift the tone/shade on each one via toggle switch, an 18-pk is $37? A little over $2/bulb?? 😌 Very, very cool

I just picked up TWO solar panel, rechargeable, D-Cell battery Duracell LED lanterns for $16 each (Costco). USB-C cable included. They can also be use to charge small electronics. Pretty nifty, and for not much money at all! You couldn’t get that 10 years ago.

Security cams & recordings, obviously there’s also a massive uptick in abuse/deception/people being shitheads. Comes with the territory. But take the shitty people out of the equation & objectively speaking, picture/video/audio quality is soooooooo much better. And digital storage has never been cheaper! So many good options! I saw a $30 security camera you can stick on your WiFi smart garage door opener. Again, looks pretty slick & it costs just a little more than eating out at a nice restaurant. Crazy.

CNC milling & creating art, structures, whatever with lasers & machines is fucking amazing & getting better, more advanced with each passing day. We can mill pieces to screw or friction fit…precisely…together. It’s so simple but I’m telling you guys, this is going to lead to a lot of really cool stuff! And some scary stuff. But again, comes with the territory.

Who knows how many are active, but yeah it’s really bad. I’ll be power scrolling All for random porn (I see something blurred out), I click on it, oh fuck, my eyes. Lol

Some of these names, too. It makes me laugh. “Welcome to… Gay Fisting”. 😆

Holy shit, do I have a fucking list. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

I see it, I block it, boy oh boy do I have a list

!

Part of the problem is the Pixel phone, I mean that’s been a problem ever since it came out. Sometimes it’s alright but there’s a lot of people that have bought a Pixel & regretted it. My brother in law being one of many. I can say with relative confidence, Google Pixel phones have had so many problems & lack of support, I’m sure everybody reading this knows somebody with Google Pixel buyer’s remorse. Or maybe they are that person.

This is a well-earned reputation. So yeah I can believe people aren’t jumping at the P9.

The AI part is just another reason to not buy a Google Pixel phone.

I don’t see one overarching, important point, but rather a bunch of little points that center around a desire for money, power, and control. It all boils down to money, power, and control.

To echo, it’s not really better, just different & smaller. Just slightly less toxic. It’s not owned by Spez, the greedy little pigboy. 3rd party apps aren’t killed for no good reason over here.

Moving to a substantially smaller community of people does have its drawbacks; there is brain drain & stagnation in small hobby communities. Be it roasting coffee, brewing beer, or weed…not nearly as many brains, let alone good brains, and less content generation. There’s less knowledge, making it objectively less useful.

I use Sync for Lemmy & idk I find it hard to navigate to, find new communities. Half of the time I stumble upon one by sheer accident.

But the memes can be really good, it’s still a news/info source, and for me being a conservative it gives me some insight into how “the other side” thinks, possibly even why.

It was kind of his whole schtick, so at the time I think people appreciated his brutal honesty & rawness of character. Say what you want about Eminem, but he wasn’t fake.

It had taken root long before cancel culture, so it was just part of the landscape. Despite his anger & violence in lyrics, AFAIK he didn’t actually do anything. Unlike some people that rap like that…

There was also the sheer novelty of a white rapper, a come up from nothing trailer park kid. A real underdog.

To end on a refreshing/wholesome note, you should watch this. I disagree with him on a lot of stuff…but I can be happy that he did right by his daughter.

Ouchie! You both make good points. I’m going to hit you guys with a new spin on an old meme (Joseph Ducreux)

“I’m sorry, little one…best I can do is $40.”

Idk, it is what it is, I’ve used it ever since Nova got kinda dumb like 5-6 years ago. Put it on every phone. It hides apps, keeps my phone looking clean. It’s excellent.

Thanks!!

Ooo, I wonder if Grayjay could steal this? 🤔

Lawnchair

Deflecting. That’s kind of weird, but not surprising.

See halfsack’s comment. To elaborate on that point, actually good & competent drivers have many responsibilities. Among them is to see…and be seen.

As others have said, a lot of these buggies are all black. And they’re puttering around the road, on a dark nights, well under established speed limits. 2 vehicles traveling at very different speeds, the slow one is hard to see. That’s just begging for an accident.

At least where I live, it is technically illegal to drive without headlights on when it’s raining. If windshield wipers are required, so are headlights. This is to bolster visibility in poor weather conditions. Also just headlights in general, you can get pulled over & ticketed for driving at night without headlights. Why should the Amish be a dangerous exception to the rules of the road??

This alone: Roads funded by taxpayers, which IIRC the Amish are largely tax-exempt. Thus: if they wish to travel on our roads, they need to abide by our rules & not make the roads more dangerous.

To be slightly more accommodating to Luddites, we could put hi-vis reflective tape on the buggies. But again as others have said, the Amish have all kinds of workarounds/exceptions/justifications to get what they want. They have mobile phones. Some have snowmobiles. They have generators, so they’re not “tied into the worldly grid” but they generate & use electricity. So maybe they can get used to the idea of battery-powered lights on their buggies, for visibility.

I am looking at it almost every day. Ngl you’ve picked a terrible time to have this conversation as everyone is going wild over Ava Kris Tyson and all the alleged inappropriate messages he sent to minors, etc. Lot of weird stuff there. 😅

There’s sexual abuse of children everywhere. Epstein Island, right? And idc if you’re gay, straight, trans, white, black, brown, etc. All abusers should be accountable.

I would argue there’s no need to create a culture war; we are in one. Right now & probably since 2012-ish. It’s wishful thinking on my part, but we really need to come together as a nation. Restore law, order, and decency. Find things we can agree on instead of tearing everybody down. If we can’t do that, I don’t think we’re going to make it.

You still don’t have an answer, just the smallest smartass responses. Looks like you’re known for them. Your life appears to be…very small. Maybe you should try working harder. 🙃

That is an InstaCrate. Those things are fucking amazing.

Again, not mad. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

Die sad about it. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃