@Melpomene@kbin.social cover
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Melpomene

@Melpomene@kbin.social

I'm probably just an AI pretending to be human.

Into wandering abandoned places, tinkering with technology, and authoring things for fun and profit.

https://erisly.social/@Melpomene (https://kbin.social/search?q=Melpomene@erisy.social)

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I find it interesting that these companies are taking something that was once normal... loading your choice of software onto your thousand plus dollar computer... and pretending that its something new and evil.

I'd prefer honesty. They want cash and this undermines thier platform near-monopolies.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

As much as I hate them for it, they've done an excellent job vilifying ownership of one's own devices.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Which they can apparently do from the Play Store, too. Thing is, the sort of person who goes seeking out alternatives is generally (though not always) more familiar with tech.

Regardless, lockdown by design isn't about safety so much as it is about control.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Almost all of the malware ridden apps people encounter are FROM the app store.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I was curious so I looked up reviews of One Medical. Almost universally, people note that they charge well more than average for services, fail to meet thier appointment wait time promises, limit access to doctors, and have terrible customer service that fails to respond timely and often fails to respond at all.

$99 seems to be a lot of money to pay to be ignored.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

The service doesn't cover most healthcare so you're still stuck with One Medical's bills, which (if reviews on Trustpilot are correct) tend to be higher than traditional medical. They still bill to your insurance if you have it.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I'm glad your experience has been good, but buyers really ought to be wary. There are themes in the bad reviews that should give them pause.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.onemedical.com

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

We already have a strong lease market in many places and that works great for many people. The issue for me is not the availability of leasing, but the asssumption that my purchase of a vehicle nonetheless entitles the manufacturer to collect massive amounts of data on my in-car habits without my knowledge, which they can then provide to anyone they damn well please.

Even leasing, I doubt anyone expects to have thier call logs and texts stored for law enforcement's later use, bug there was a story recently suggesting that some of them are actually doing that.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

If someone opts into the research, I have no problem with thier DNA being used for that purpose. What I do have a problem with is the medical community's belief that providing a biological sample for one purpose (for example, a biopsy) entitles them to use that sample in any way they see fit.

Henrietta Lacks comes to mind, here.

If I pay someone to I dunno, clean my house and I give them a key to enter, that doesn't give them permission to rent out my kitchen or borrow my clothes. Similarly, if I pay a company to sequence my DNA because its the only way I'll ever know where I come from (team adopted,) that should not give them permission to profit off my limited use sample unless they explicitly ask.

If they want to use the collected DNA for additional research, it isn't unreasonable to expect them to ask first.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Arguably, the only reason they bother to ask is the negative attention the medical field got from Henrietta Lacks. And they're still not great at it.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

And this is one of many reasons I'm glad I dumped Microsoft (and Apple, actually) when I did my last tech refresh.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I do wish Linux was friendlier for the average person. I use it and I recommend it (via PopOS) to some people but other folk would have a heck of a time with maintaining it.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I still use Microsoft at my day job, but MY tech refresh was Linux-based because privacy is important to my clients. Both Microsoft and Apple are bad at consumer / small business privacy so I moved to a platform that is not in the business of turning my data into marketing profiles.

Always one that comes in hot, I swear.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Installing apps outside of the Pop Shop for instance. Getting something installed via terminal is a lot of ask of the average user; they just want things to work (and I am not inclined to be their forever support.)

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Or the inevitable "PopOS muted my audio and I had to dive into terminal to unmute myself" issue I run into every month or three. I am fine rolling my eyes and fixing it... most people are not.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Difference for the average user is that there are 10^4 shops per square mile of Windows capable support shops in most places. Meanwhile, my local area has "that weird AI called Melpomene" for Linux support.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Age is no barrier for Linux adoption, but some people just... don't have the bandwidth to dive into something new. If you use Windows at work, all of the programs you own (or really, license) are Windows, your files are tragically stored in OneDrive... you really have to WANT to branch out to move to something that for your use case is comparable.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I don't believe my car is connected to the internet, thankfully, but I dislike the idea that the data may be stored somewhere in the system. Any idea whether there's a hack to access and remove the data yet?

Currently, nothing is shared through the car (audio only, enjoy my boring music habits) but that was not always the case.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I can't, but worrying about hidden LTE chips is s path that leads to madness. Unless I ditch all tech, there's no way to be sure.

For the data pull, yeah. I tend to avoid dealers though so I'm not sure that there is much incentive for my mom & pop service station to monetize my data.

lunarequest , to random

so I'm going to throw my hat in as a trans PoC. I'm going to be clear. A Lot of the hate Ro has gotten does in some manner feel racist. the good space, has many instances that are very poast leaning. I feel that Ro has (giving the benefit of the doubt to ro) accidentally dismissed legitimate criticism.

it doesn't help Ro, wrote this post which very much feels like something a supervillain tech bro would say. I do believe Ro is trying to do something that could benefit the entire community. but given the current state of software many changes need to happen.

has done their part but other software needs to be fixed as well. Mastodon for example has broken unblocks and un-suspensions, while the domain is un-suspended or unblocked users are not. The unintentional damage of has probably already occured with currently no way of undoing it without a lot of manual intervention.

Let's all take a step back and realise dogpiling Ro isn't going to fix things. Ro has shown he is willing to fix things even under immense stress. The fact TBS was DDoSed is a clear sign that in some manner it did its job. The crowd of people we don't want decided to attack it.

I'm going to take a step back and watch what happens. I encourage others to do the same. Give a chance to redeem itself.

RE: https://ubiqueros.com/notes/9jlse6pf8u

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Is this all you do all day? Troll people trying to have an honest discussion and throw out wild accusations with no proof provided?

Signal is Flawed, Why XMPP is Amazing! (new animated video) (monero.town)

Some will curse me out for discussing decentralization and freedom. I am NOT saying the average person should be concerned with CIA spying. What I’m saying is that one should promote decentralized internet infrastructures that empower the individual over corrupt institutions, even though this threat model likely does not apply...

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Could we stop with this nonsense? Signal is neither run by nor funded by the CIA, nor have any of its many haters shown that it is vulnerable to exploitation. Signal's obfuscation of metadata is absolutely capable of being bypassed, but the core function of Signal... E2EE encrypted messaging... remains secure. Signal's core purpose was -never- anonymous communication, but secure communication.

If you need anonymity, Signal is not the way. But attempting to malign it with conspiracy porn and misleading data points does nothing but undermine support for E2EE generally.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

By choosing Signal people have chosen a provider, no? There's zero wrong with using another provider; I love options! But we don't need to bash Signal or tell stories to malign them.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Should we tell them about DARPA?

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Why not all?

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Signal is a pretty easy sell to the average user. Of the people I talk to regularly, around half of them are using Signal because it was so easy for them to install and use and they grasp the model. Download app, talk to Mel. If Signal died tomorrow, they would be lost. There's no easy answer to "what should I use" because there are so many implementations of XMPP. That's awesome for techies, but less awesome for the average user who just wants things to work.

Edit: Even with a list of clients, the average person isn't going to know what to choose. Hell, I've USED a lot of the clients and it takes me time to decide which one I trust / which one is best for my use case.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

My partner is up for a challenge and we try different things, but Signal remains our go-to because it's easy and the fact that we use it to talk isn't exactly secret. XMPP feels like a lot of work for something that isn't offering us much more in the way of features we'd use.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

They all run on the Internet which was sponsored by DARPA, a known US government organization that has had its tentacles in the works from the very start. Conspiracies! UFOs!! JFK!!!

/sarcastic Mel

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

That's because it is. The Lemmy founder in question has a hate on for anything west and United States especially.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

See, I send the CIA all of my passwords so they know I have nothing to hide.

I'm just being silly. I prefer no spies but given the choice, I'd trust Signal over a random XMPP app made by Steve.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I don't think people are stupid at all. But asking them to replace a trustworthy app isn't a great sell.

Quicksy offers E2EE as optional v. automatic, seems to lack a number of features like video calling.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Because I disagree with Reddit's policies on moderation and account management. If Signal removes E2EE, then I'll leave. If they close, there are other options out there and I can switch. There is literally no advantage to switching to a less useful (to me) tool because of conspiracy theories and something something federation.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

A matter of opinion, and you're welcome to yours. But I'd recommend thinking about why Signal is so popular and why XMPP is generally not, outside of the tech circle.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Can only answer for myself but F-Droid is limited, Aurora is still the Play Store, and Amazon is... depending on your view.. worse than the Play Store itself. A shame the Play Store is the default.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Limited as in, lacks a fair number of apps that many people (myself included) need to be able to function as professionals. I'm not sure how much safer F-Droid is in theory, as the vetting process for apps seems to be pretty nonexistent. For each app, I have to either research or trust. That's fine for me, but trying to explain how to handle that to tech-unsavvy people is a bridge too far.

"Just research the publisher or programmer and review the code, mom!" Yeah, not going to work.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

It still works for me intermittently, but yes. Google is going to Google.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I have Lineage installed on an older phone. I think it gets less attention than it might otherwise because for the average user, the install process is a pain in the memory space.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

That fine; now tell the companies you work with that to work with you that they have to retrain their tens of thousands of employees to use those other applications, apps that lack critical functionality they rely on. Whether you like it or not, there are business critical applications that the apps on F-Droid cannot currently replace. Pretending that F-Droid offers everything everyone needs is not helpful to moving toward a better way; it's akin to those guys who scream "USE LINUX" every time someone has an issue with a Windows application. Me, I love Linux... but I also realize that for the businesses I work with, Linux as a desktop solution isn't going to sell.

My apps are around 5% Google Play (paid apps from indie developers unavailable on other platforms, using a throwaway account) 25% F-Droid, 25% direct APK, and 45% Aurora. As apps I need join F-Droid, I switch... but many just don't see the value.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

There are. But are the banking apps people use to manage their money on F-Droid? Can I download PayPal on F-Droid? Are there any cash transfer apps that have enough users and enough support to be useful?

I have keys on my keyring, but if those keys don't open the doors you need to open... how useful are they to you?

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Sort of. On GrapheneOS a fair number of banking apps fail because GrapheneOS sandboxes Aurora, but on a regular Android install I think they work? That is, assuming that you can get Aurora to load in the first place.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Yeah, I was messing with it the other day, trying to get it running on a Galaxy Tab. Process was... not really working well. Contrast with GrapheneOS, which is surprisingly easy to install, even on Linux.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Maybe a minority opinion here, but... I was (and am) a No Man's Sky fan. One of my biggest issues with the game, though, was that the universe had so much LIFE everywhere. I know that it makes sense in relation to the overall plot (no spoilers) but having life so common made finding life pretty meh. I'd much rather play a game with a huge variety of lifeless planets so finding life, finally, would be massively exciting. Give me sparse life! And a way to escape the confines of settled space while we're at it.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

I know, and I still love the game. I would have preferred less populated areas but I still love to play and consider it one of my favorite all times games.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

It's been a few months but yeah, I found those! They're still full of life though; I wanted to find sincerely dead planets. I did, but they were harder to find. Did manage to find a low gravity planet and jetpack myself into space though, that was fun.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

The video speculates without proof and the person behind it clearly has a chip on their shoulder re Oprah. If there are violations of the 501(c) laws, I recommend reporting the charity to the regulators versus making videos on YouTube that provide as much proof as an antivaxxer pamphlet.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar
  1. Who got fucked to get you where you are? How much slave labor contributes to your lifestyle? Should we hold you responsible because you put your own comfort before that of those toiling in sweatshops?
  2. Did you need that smartphone more than they needed a living wage? Why don't you feel the need to give it all back to help people out who will never be as rich as you are right now?
Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Let's see. The bottom 50% of wage earners pay about 3% of the total US income taxes. The top 1% pay close to 40% of that burden. As a percentage of income, the top earners pay 25% while the bottom 50% pay around 3.5%. If the bottom 50% didn't pay in at all, the budget could likely absorb the hit.

What would be fair? 50%? 80%? 90%? 110%? Summary execution and confiscation of assets as seems to be popular in some circles here?

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

Do the bottom 50% get no benefit from those taxes?

Interesting how the "tax those with more" crowd always seems to exempt their own income from these rules.

Melpomene ,
@Melpomene@kbin.social avatar

PR is correct. People like companies who work to better society so companies make efforts. Its weirdwhen people then vilify those companies for doing what they've been asked to do.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • tech
  • drbboard
  • updates
  • til
  • testing
  • bitcoincash
  • programming
  • Sacramento
  • All magazines
    •