Notices by sarcastictoast (sarcastictoast@mastodon.social)

@arstechnica With the right prompt, AI chatbots can further support belief in conspiracy theories, and you may not even be aware such a prompt was given. Especially if it draws on data supporting conspiratorial thinking. Just a quick and lazy prompt, followed by my question. Without the prompt, it would not give this answer.

@itsfoss It feels like every new Ubuntu release is hailed as a game changer - the best version ever, the fastest, smoothest, and most polished release to date. But when Fedora, Mint, Arch, Debian, or MX, etc. release a new version, you don't hear the same level of fanfare..

@itsfoss FairEmail is indeed an excellent choice! Marcel, the developer, has crafted what I consider the finest open-source email client of the past decade. It's highly customisable, yet works brilliantly out of the box. The developer's support is exemplary, and the focus on privacy and security is commendable. Whilst K-9 Mail exists as an alternative, it hasn't quite won me over in the same way. If you're after a robust, no-nonsense Android email client, FairEmail is certainly worth a look.

@itsfoss sudo rm -rf / --no-preserve-root
Why? Because you want to remove the bad rootkits.

@itsfoss BTW!

@nixCraft So, by advising me/us not to take life advice from you, you're actually giving me life advice… which you just told me not to do. It's like a recursive function that never ends! Should I just throw a return false; into this loop and hope for the best? 🤔 Circular dependency?

@arstechnica Well, well, well. Apple's graciously "allowing" other wallets into their walled garden. How terribly generous. Oh, but there's a catch, you say? Colour me shocked! It's almost as if there's always a ruddy great "BUT" with this lot. Who'd have thought?

@itsfoss I definitely taught them a lesson. They're gonna have a hard time sleeping. Stocks dropping...

@itsfoss I like to do stuff. Various kinds of stuff. But you know what the best part is? Even when an update comes, my machine doesn't reboot itself, the app doesn't crash. It just works. Just restart when I want to.
I don't have to deal with bollocks, I don't have to search for obscure trouble codes on microsoft forums where they only have manual for two things anyway.

@itsfoss As long as people don't mind and don't care about their privacy and don't have a need to change that, then I don't see a problem. Wanna use Windows 11 and give away own data or participate in some sort of experiment? Your own poison.

@nixCraft I believe someone may agree with her. And also agree with the subscription. OK, under certain conditions, I'll accept that argument.
But, conditional on it being a software update? Plural, as in updateS? The mouse needs no software and no update. And if there is a marginal situation where it does, then that still doesn't explain the plural used. This is just another HP ink cartridge bullshitery

@arstechnica "Exec says mouse that requires a regular fee for software updates is possible.".
Software updateS. Plural. For a mouse.
E-waste and overengineering

@itsfoss Maybe my memory is deceiving me, but wasn't there the same attempt back in 2006 with a fork sometime around 2008? I don't remember the name, but it was supposed to do the same thing. And it ended, if memory serves, on something like dependency hell.....
In any case, I agree with Keep It Simple Stupid.

@itsfoss instead of VS Code, I'd recommend VSCodium. Vs code without the telemetry

@arstechnica Secure Boot is more like a glorified speed bump for the determined. A digital 'Do Not Enter' sign that's about as effective as a cardboard cutout of a guard dog. To be honest, it's almost impressive how many ways Secure Boot can fail to be secure. Almost.

@itsfoss Even though not everyone reads the code for every update, the beauty of FOSS is that if a company or individual decides to shut down the software, the community can pick it up and keep it going. It’s much easier to continue development or create a fork with open-source than it is with closed-source software. And in any case, if things go in unwanted directions, forks can continue with the original idea.

@itsfoss The bold move to make PPA opt-out, even on existing installations, risks uniquely fingerprinting users who opt out. An opt-in approach would limit this risk. Moreover, PPA doesn't change existing tracking, also based on my understanding of DAP. And the comment by Bas Schouten is absolutely informal fallacy - claiming "Privacy features, in Firefox, are not meant to be opt-in." is just presenting it as true privacy feature and those for opt-in are essentially wrong.

@itsfoss I double booted for years. Then I got tired of playing detective after every Windows Update and ditched dual booting. Not once did I look back. Windows was the OS until Windows 7. Since Windows 10, it's been a stellar ad platform with app running as a bonus. Windows 11? Pure adware, but now it graces even fewer PCs, and running apps is practically an afterthought. Either you spend your time turning off telemetry or just don't care about privacy at all.

@itsfoss Nothing new is going on here. Remember the days of the xp-AntiSpy tool? Although XP had no AI, it still collected a significant amount of data that was not relevant to the OS functionality. If Windows comes bundled with almost every machine available in major brick-and-mortar or online stores, and if Microsoft integrates AI into it, people will just keep using it.
Needs 16 gigs of RAM just for the OS? That's fine, RAM is cheap and you can download RAM boosters or cleaners...

@itsfoss don't do it if you're happy with your current OS (non Linux). Do it if you're unhappy with it, or do it while thinking of the issues you've had with it. Maybe start slow, dual boot at first. But it's 2024 now, not 2004, so you'll be fine even with Wine