RAM speed is going to be negligibly different in daily use, and on-die RAM will compensate for that slightly slower clock on the ARM computer. Intel’s hyperthreading is much less a performance advantage than it used to be. Intel chips suck anymore though, full stop, and generate heat like mofos. I wouldn’t be surprised if this computer uses that generation of Intel chips that randomly dies, gen13 I think?

Worse, that Beelink will be using Intel embedded graphics which is basically the worst on the planet - I’d take Qualcomm Adreno before Intel embedded.

It’s also listed on Amazon as frequently returned. Not worth $869. Could get an Asus (née Intel) NUC that would serve much better, I think there are at least some AMD variants now.

The Beelink might make a dandy headless server if one got lucky though, if GPU isn’t needed for AI/ML or other GPU-based acceleration/calculations.

Beelink also wins points for having actual hard drive and RAM slots as well. Still probably not worth the money versus anything else.

Really can’t wait for some computer companies that aren’t Apple to start pumping out ARM mini PCs and laptops with decent chips.

FWIW, and not trying to be an apologist as I find their pricing insane, they at least seem to be using good SSDs. I’ve found over the last 10 years that SSD life can vary wildly. Just some light-access databases destroyed some consumer-grade SSDs and hybrid drives’ SSD portions. A couple in less than a year.

Have a dev mac that I absolutely constantly murder the SSD on daily over the last 3 or so years. I’m talking gigabytes of data written daily 5 days a week. Available spare sectors is still 100%, and percentage “used” (which granted, is a vendor-specific life metric) is 5%.

That being said, I’ll still be hating on them for soldering the SSD to the motherboard. That is the real crime.

Intel was technologically cooked when the first AMD Athlon came out, architecturally, and business-wise. They should have kicked true r&d into high-gear and didn’t, really. The Core processors were something, but more of a nudge than something to stay relevant in the 21st century. If Apple can finally crack modems, Qualcomm will be next, although their mil/gov stuff may keep them in business as purely a contractor. Cisco is pretty close too, but they’re too skilled at acquisitions as a method to keep staying relevant.

Have you ever watched all the stupid crapware Google pushes on setup? They force-install 12-20 garbage apps that you then have to go delete. Even then, a user can’t delete Chrome, they can only “disable” it - which Google can reactivate whenever they choose. (Although, one could also argue since they can arbitrarily push apps onto phones, does it matter? Like when they pushed “Android System SafetyCore” without consent.)

Google is malware at this point. Not that Apple is any better. Smartphones have all just become this terrible thing at this point, where you’re just renting a pile of software that you get to use in exchange for the company harvesting everything you do, and they change the terms whenever they want, without your consent.

Don’t feel like you have to race. It took about a year to shift e-mail addresses last time I did it. Keep the old one as a harvesting point until you move over what you want. Then just leave the old one around to use up space on Google’s servers if you really want to softly be a dick. (They eventually close them after some period of inactivity.)

Basic steps for a slightly more thorough method that also preserves old e-mail:

• Do a GDPR/Google data dump of your gmail to mbox file(s).
• Install Mozilla Thunderbird on a computer and use ImportExportTools NG to import the mbox file(s) into Thunderbird so you can access all your old e-mail.
• Delete all e-mail from Gmail.
• Turn off all mail rules on Gmail so everything just comes to the inbox.
• You can forward to your new address if you want to, or, just let email collect in the old account and switch addresses from time to time as you use various services.
• After a time, delete the account if you so choose, or leave it dormant until Google deletes it.

Never seen any of those Firefox problems in 5 or so years on multiple Android phones including Samsung, and using the native back button/3-icon setup instead of gesture nav. Also using a light combination of privacy plugins. May want to check your phone OS settings and make sure there isn’t a third-party app running an unknown display overlay that is screwing with things.

May I introduce you to what already existed at one time? (Motorola Atrix 4G from 2011 with Ubuntu desktop when docked.)

Only if they have the Exynos variant. Won’t work on the Qualcomm variant, annoyingly.

Just think of it this way. Less digital neurons in smaller models means a smaller “brain”. It will be less accurate, more vague, and make more mistakes.

Almost like yet again the tech industry is run by lemming CEOs chasing the latest moss to eat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_Games_lawsuit

One of many terrible things you can read on that terrible sub-human.

Ironically, Google’s new creepy Circle to Search feature gets to override the screenshot denial lockout that Google themselves created.

i think they do it for security reasons.

Yet, on iOS, the same app can’t. So it is more like, “ooh a button to twiddle, I’ll twiddle it!”

The Dollop is an American history podcast. Each week…

Both that and Behind the Bastards are podcasts on history stuff. Dollop trends more towards comedy while reading about terrible things to lighten the mood. Dave reads to Gareth (most of the time) who hasn’t heard the thing before, and plays off his reactions.

Basically, because we don’t own our devices. We are allowed to use our devices by the good graces of the manufacturers that charge a premium for them.

This really needs to change. I remember the preinstalled app antitrust suit(s) in the early 00s. Those need to happen again, but likely the EU will have to as the US is entering a dark age, and the US will continue to have inferior everything to the rest of the world for the foreseeable future.

On Macs in the 90s, it was the easy and fun thing to do, especially after the Fonts folder was created.

Nothing but Google‘s is allowed to.

Have they…have they ever used a Google product? I dunno, like google’s old SMS app, or Allo, or Hangouts, or Talk… There will be a new Google messaging app to conflict with Google Messages in no time. Probably also called Messages, or farquad fandango turtle trumpet, or whatever other goofy name they come up with.

I remember when Google introduced this amazing feature to delete apps that came with phones, so users had a choice. Unfortunately, it quickly morphed into “disable”, and then they let vendors dim it completely.

I want a third mobile OS in the mainstream. This duopoly is junk.

They do, just for some reason not effectively. Like, blocking the VoIP providers that allow scammers would dry all that up.

Weird thing is, this just drives more people to not use voice calls. They’re killing their own racket. (Although long-term, likely phones will be all IP with no carrier-managed services.)

Hey, it has a barometric pressure sensor, that’s cool. OG Galaxy Watch had one, then the WearOS replacements got rid of it.

Galaxy isn’t very good on updates either. Haven’t seen one on the Watch 5 Pro in a year.

Over the years I’ve found, in the grand scheme, unless the CEO murdered your family, who cares? I didn’t buy Sony products for a couple of decades, right now I don’t even remember why I stopped. I think it was around shit warranty handling. Meanwhile, I was removing viable options from my purchase pool.

More recently, I’m just trying to make my purchase decisions like I’m a business. Does the item at a given price fill the needs of the role? Does buying the year-old model at heavy discount fit the need? Avoid the top-tier release-day buzz, buy at a discount, use the tool as long as possible. These techniques collectively will stifle all the “economy” they’re trying to make a profit from.

Vendors that are truly terrible will lose customers. One person’s soapbox won’t affect them, however, despite best efforts.

Also Ford’s CEO: kills sedans in the US several years ago.

https://fordauthority.com/2024/06/ford-ceo-jim-farley-says-company-lost-billions-on-sedans/

Everything mobile manufacturers have done since smartphones finally became popular in 2007 seemed like temporary solutions due to moving so fast. It’s clear now that it was all an attempt to paradigm-shift compute into leased property.

It really needs to end, along with the terrible disposable hardware designs. Even if we were not in a climate crisis, it is about as bad as the US was in the 1950s throwing trash everywhere.

On some level, especially now, want to find an alarm clock or an mp3 player or even a camera? It’s getting harder and harder. Old phones with their battery removed or replaced are perfect for those roles.

Qualcomm product toolchains have been a right mess. Oddly less malicious and more, “we move too fast and branch too many platforms,” historically making long-term maintenance a nightmare.

Good to see them improving that, finally.

No, and Google closed the SMS API from future growth so RCS can’t be added to third-party SMS apps.

Narrator: it is not.

That worked out great for Apple, Microsoft, and others. Good luck, Amazon.

I don’t get it. They’re not already?

Wow. Hadn’t thought about it that way.

That’s great until you get hit by a car and can’t remember shit, or your family has to deal with handling your end of life and the only password record was in a blob of tissue in your skull.

Passwords in general are dumb and should cease to exist, though.

Similar history including gentoo and distcc to speed up openoffice and x11 compiles with a pile of old computers.

Put linux on a PC laptop and it just so happens the NVMe controller in conjunction with the kernel driver has some glitch that causes the hard drive to fall off the bus forever. No big deal…

It’s great seeing a bunch of nvme nvme0: I/O (number) (I/O Cmd) QID 10 timeout, aborting then reset controller then removing after probe annnd data loss. Didn’t have the patience to figure out the bug in the driver right now. Maybe someday.

Most of the software updates you see are a result of CI/CD processes. The industry claims it makes good design patterns to get features our faster and more reliably. In reality it is just a rushed shitstorm that results in half-assed Friday releases that aren’t fixed until the following week.

I’ve long turned off auto update of my apps. Too many times I’m on a trip or other scenario where my tool is meant to be a tool and not some tech bro’s rented wet dream, and the tool is broken.

But here’s the kicker. CI/CD exists for another reasons or so:

• Frequent updates tend to reset review rankings in app stores. Not only does it offer plausible deniability to the app company, but it also screws with the review scores in their favor, as well as other rankings.
• Great way to help nudge along planned obsolescence. All that pointless rewriting of flash storage on a daily basis.
• Psychological manipulation, it gets notifications in your face to try and increase app engagement, which ensures it is fresh and running gathering user telemetry to sell as a side-hustle, as well as direct-interaction telemetry and getting more ads in your face.

It’d be better if we all just went back to landline phones some days. Modern tech is too noisy, abusive, and intrusive.

Win10 gets Copilot as well. Pushed without consent. Likewise if you use a program like InControl to lock W11 to 22H2, you can keep copilot at bay. For a time.

Switching to any other platform is better though. Screw them.

They are blind and lost. Nest hasn’t had a feature update since they acquired them 10 years ago. Their thermostats don’t even have a “its freezing outside and the air conditioner shouldn’t run” feature. Fi rots on the vine. Their camera service is terrible and they just raised the rates. Garbage company anymore.

Apple also has partnerships with Google, Meta, and others. Your data is being sold on that platform. It is just more formal and profitable for Apple.

Yeah, pocket answers and declines would become very frequent. I already pause music and skip tracks while walking, mowing, etc.

Sadly, it is not standard. Even now. If only fruit company wasn’t the way they are and could be trusted. (Not a zinger at you for using their products, just personal decision.)

Hah, my curse is calls always finding weird ways to drop. Then I moved to a place with no cell service, because I’m apparently a wireless masochist?