Posts by The Sprocket

Erase social media tomorrow? Brits say yes

Re: Enshittification

Social media is a rot upon society. I'd say 86 it completely. RIGHT NOW!

Wait—what about Auntie Flo? Mac has FaceTime video conferencing which is easy. I'm sure Windows has their own. A lot of those services exist for free or a little bit and aren't OS specific. Who needs the cesspool of social media if a half dozen or so in your family can get together and gas?

Interest-specific forums also still exist. Dig around and find your new home. Nobody is bitching about Trump in a forum dedicated to Baroque Woodwinds. Guaranteed.

Apple buried Copland 30 years ago. Now the failed OS boots in a browser

And then there was 8.

I remember installing System 8 from a CD onto my PowerBook 520c. I had previously been using System 7 and the 'theme' extension Aaron. OS8 was the real deal, and it worked quite well. The System 8.1 smoothed off the rough edges. So many nice touches that are long gone in the MacOSs of today. Transfer processes had those long 'barber pole' progress bars that indicated something was happening. I remember those most when transferring HUGE 50mb+ Photoshop images to a Syquest disc. LOL! And what happened to the genie affect when you closed programs (apps) or chucked stuff to the Trash? Today there are no dodgy extensions to add. How boring.

Good times. Shortly after, at my instigation, our entire Marketing Department was running 8.1. Pretty smooth for the most part. The System 8 book I bought is still in my bookshelf.

Firefox 157: Could bold new look be just what Mozilla needs?*

* yawn *

*yawn* Nothing much to see here. Funky purple hues in the upper region of the browser. gradually pulsating back and forth. The rest seems to look and work as before. (FYI: I've been using FF since around 2005-6) For those who abhor funky colours, you can install the Theme 'Proton' which is just pure GREY.

This will never suck users from Chrome. Sorry Firefox. I still think your browser is solid though, and is still my default.

Be a hater all you want, AI's here to stay

Re: I just don't want AI shoved down our throats

Same here. It can stay, but I just want to be able to opt out. Apple released OS27 on Sep.15, and now there is no opt-out for anyone who upgrades. Why? I simply don't trust any of the brainiacs behind this AI shit given how fast they're looking to get an installed base for Phase II. Subscription services. The other part is I'm not fond of the idea that AI can let in any nasties it wants without my knowledge. Certain portions of my work does required being connected to the internet.

No. I just want to be able to shut it off, and Apple has just opened the door wide open. What a bunch of hopeless prats.

Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

Re: Make it simple

'To save on the battery, you know."

On the horizon . . .

Two European phone manufacturers seem to be taking this seriously. Fairphone in the Netherlands has a very repairable model at a reasonable price. Somewhat basic with an Android OS. Look it up—looks pretty good for most people. https://www.fairphone.com/

Then there is Punkt MC-03. They only have a replaceable battery but their OS is security hardened. Mid-range price. Looks solid. Designed in Switzerland, made in Germany. Looks to be my choice as I have the MP-02 'bar phone' that has been sound as a pound for the last 7 years.

Anyhow, thought I'd mention those two as the rest that are out there seem like they may be cheap Chinese no-name crap. I have heard of no other familiar name phone maker announce their 'repairable' to date.

Apple passes RAMpocalypse costs on to consumers

Hold on . . . not so fast . . .

Consider an Apple refurbed model first before second hand. They're like brand-new.

Beat the apocalyse . . .

I suspected an increase in September 2026, but when I realized my old MacBook Air was really struggling to keep up in the online space, and looked at the refurbished M4 MacBook Airs on Apple's site, and saw how affordable they were, I just had to pull the trigger. That was two weeks ago. I did NOT see this increase happening so quickly (although it was mentioned). I feel sorry for those who got bit by this, but it's happened to me a few times before too.

Everyone wants a fancy phone – even the folk buying them second-hand

Re: Better than a new phone

Just for the record:

And on the Apple side, iPhone 14 was the last still to have no AI at all in it. The iPhone 15 has it, but it ALL can be turned right off. I know because I have an iPhone 15 Pro. The iPhone 16 has AI and apparently it is 'baked in' with no option to turn off.

3 more infamous cybercrime crews team up to 'maximize income' in 'challenging' ransomware biz

We have a software industry working like hell to put millions of people out of work through their efforts in refining A.I. On the other hand, we have dark-actors merging forces to screw over businesses with the use of ransomeware and extortion.

Novel thought.

Why aren't the A.I. 'gurus' focusing on exterminating the ransomeware dudes? The money can be raised, and it would be one hell of a great challenge. Are the 'good guys' smarter than the 'bad guys'. I challenge the A.I. industry—are you as good as you want us to think you are? The gauntlet has been thrown down.

SpaceX Dragon huffs, puffs... and fizzles out as NASA aborts ISS boost

Making of Trash City

This doesn't have to happen. The 'futuristic village' will end up growing and become an industrial junk yard. Even with no semi-permanent inhabitation, the Moon is slowing becoming a trash zone of failed landers, left behind landers, dead probes, etc. The Moon could be cleaned up at this stage, but nobody wants to invest the money (where have I heard that before). But we have Russia, China, and a variety of others sending their exploratory trash to the Moon. How much of that comes back? Now NASA wants to build a trash enabling village there? And maybe the village needs/wants to grow. More infrastructure needed, old infrastructure needs to be updated—and like Earth—the place starts to look like a shithole because—wait for it—nobody wants to invest the money to clean up the trash. Nobody will/can enforce clean ups, and everyone will pass the buck and argue "It wasn't us!" And the Moon that Mankind has marvelled at for CENTURIES ends up with a shit stain seen from Earth. Brilliant job from the epsilons on Earth. What a legacy. F*kc.

I say JUST LEAVE the Moon alone.

Bring back your old Mac: 5 ways to refresh the OS on elderly Apples

"I have a new-to-me Apple MacBook Air 13.3" 2017 (Intel, 8GB RAM), which is still a fine machine."

I have the exact same 2017 MBA and it runs like it is brand-new. Used daily for design mock-ups. Still on High Sierra. Don't ever want to have to give it up.

iFixit gives new Fairphone 6 top marks for repairability: 10/10

The big telcos in Canada seem to be NOT honoring the 'bring your own phone' concept. While my Punkt MP-02 worked super on the Fido network for about 5 years, when they ended 3G just a few months back, Fido told me I was on a 3G phone. In fact, my phone was running on their 4G network according to all the indicators in my 'settings'. The catch was, my IMEI number wasn't on their 'white list', yet my phone operated on their 4G before the notices, and all the bands were correct. So my Punkt phone became 'bricked'.

The moral of the story is—don't bother with an 'interesting / unique' mobile phone in Canada. If it didn't come from one of the major telcos, you'll be screwed because of the IMEI whitelist. Now I had to succumb to a iPhone 15 Pro. I feel dirty. At least I bought it from the Apple Store direct, and Fido / Rogers didn't get that sale.

AI can now design functional viruses – not the computer kind, either

REally????!!

First the clever-by half element of Humanity create AI to eliminate the need of humans, then said element of Humanity, using AI, creates the nastiest form of a virus known to mankind, and decides to closet it. Are you serious?? We're pooched by these clowns.

Meta training AI on social media posts? Only 7% in Europe think it's OK

Meta is the LAST place any AI software should be 'learning' from. SM is riddled with sh*t from all quadrants of society. No wonder I will avoid AI as much as I can. This is a stupid as when I heard sometime back that Reddit was going to be used as a scraping ground as well. *Jeez!*

Want to make an AI believer out of me? Tell me all the University Libraries have opened up their digital resources to let AI slurp from those. But learning from Meta and/or Reddit? That's like licking from a public toilet bowl. Ewwwww . . .

Trump administration announces tariffs that may make plenty of tech more expensive from August 1

Re: the debt is growing ever faster

Yeah, we're listening, and I trust Mr. Carney is devising a plan. BTW—add Japan to that list too.

M4 MacBook Air keeps ports modular, locks tight – still a headache to repair

Going backwards & Disappointed

It IS disappointing that Apple is taking this self-repair thing in a backwards direction. I'm typing here on what looks like a brand-new 13" MacBook Air (the last version of the cool-looking version), that was nixed in 2019 (MacBookAir7,2 A1466). The battery was getting 'soft', so after looking at iFixit I found I could replace it for a new one myself by popping over to the Canadian version of Macsales. Only 10 screws to take the bottom off, 2 screws to release the old battery, and one pull-tab to disconnect the power. Job done in 10 minutes. 100% new battery. As far as anything else outside of the battery replacement is concerned, this MBA still operates like a brand-new laptop. Just keep it away for kids and dogs.

Yet, realizing this MBA will be made redundant due to eventual software updates, I did look at the M4 13" MacBook Airs on iFixit. Compared to mine, repairing the new ones are hopeless. So Apple HAS gone backwards, and are more interested in us just binning these things, even though they publicly declared they were going to make their laptops user serviceable. The Future looks bleak when it comes to Apple's commitment (or lack of) to deal with simple replacements.

Colour me 'not impressed'.

European consumers are mostly saying 'non' to trading in their old phones

Re: replacement cycles for phones extending past 40 months

For those looking—seriously consider refurbished Apple iPhones from your local Apple Store Online. Most are in mint-new condition. Plus the refurbishment is seriously in-depth. I saved a lot on a really nice, perfect looking, iPhone 15 Pro Titanium.

Use refurbed dollar-store Androids for test devices or burner phones.

Re: replacement cycles for phones extending past 40 months

"My wife has an iPhone without the home button and I find it much more annoying to navigate than mine!"

Because they are. Regrettably, since my iFondlefone 15 Pro will be with me for an eon, I'll eventually get very proficient in being able to make/take a call or txt message my brother. The rest is useless to me.

Really?

I'm not sure what bank you are involved with, but the major one I use over here in Canada have no such requirement regarding phones. None here do. Our major banks here (Canada) simply provide very well designed and secured websites that recommend strongly 2FA. In my years of online banking with one of the biggest here, I've had absolutely ZERO issue.

And given how easy it is to lose a phone, or have one nicked from you—I would never use a 'smartphone' for anything financial (Visa payment, Bank Transfers, Debit Card payments, etc.). The security with those apps can be dodgy.

The AIpocalypse is here for websites as search referrals plunge

Re: Skip "AI" results in firefox

Correct—AI hasn't—still early days, but the web certainly has reached the "enshittification" phase.

Re: Skip "AI" results in firefox

That is so true. My experience as well.

"The obvious solution is for everyone to immediately add NOINDEX to every page of their site; Google will have to remove every page on the web from their index, and become irrelevant over night. But nobody is going to do that, because they still need traffic from Google."

I like that very much, but as you aptly pointed out, a majority of businesses still rely on Google traffic. But then there are those that don't. Those would be consultants or professional businesses who have detailed websites for potentially new clients who have been referred, often by colleagues, and use the website to confirmation. They did NOT arrive at said site via a Google search, but believe it or not, an url on a business card. Out of my last 50 clients I've created and designed sites for, around 30 or so were like that. They just didn't give a shit about 'Google search placement' or Google itself. Most of their business connections and activities run behind the curtain, out of sight of the internet. I suppose if these people were THAT pissed about the scraping of AI, they could easily opt for NOINDEX.

Economists blame Trump tariffs, AI explosion for threatening global economy

Re: AI is the scam du jour. Worry less about it. Spend your tech budget on infosec instead.

". . . before they woke up and smelled the covfefe."

Bang on!

Re: Still haven't figured it out

We need to remember the early age of the internet. Wondrous things were happening and optimism was running high. I know—I was working in it—elbow high in HTML and Photoshop 3.0. But then dark actors started messing around, corporate slimes were finding ways to scrape info, infiltrate user accounts, etc. Those optimistic days were dying. Today we need ad blockers, firewalls, site security out the wazoo as these dark actors are turning it into a shit-show. Same will happen to AI. Yes, I too can see a small proportion will use it for decent purposes, but quickly it will be used to nix jobs by the corporate greedy. Then the nefarious stuff will start to happen. I say without some serious controls, this thing could be our undoing. My problem is who are going to apply the controls and do they know how to craft those controls. Somebody opened that AI 'Pandora's Box' and we're going to be stuck with it. I wish I could be optimistic, but I've been alive and working tooo long and know how Humanity works. We'll be living in a world of 6 fingers. Just my 2¢ worth.

Trump thinks we can make iPhones in the US just like China. Yeah, right

Yeah (LOL!) Foxconn. What a major fizzzzzzle THAT was. Foxconn built a building, 13,000 employees were to be hired, but that ended up being 1,000—and then maybe EV batteries will be made? Nobody is really sure. Yeah the iDigital manufacturing landscape really changed with that one. So I'm not expecting to see an American-made $3,000-$5,000 iPhone coming out of Trump's USA anytime soon.

Re: the army of millions of human beings screwing in little screws is going to come to America

"Android phones are also going to be much cheaper than iPhones now"

How do you figure? The tariff that's good for the Apple, is good for the Android. Both are imported. Both get hit. Build them in the USA? Same thing for Apple as for Android. Only Android would be a bit typically cheaper, as it is now.

Re: Trump doesn't think

Trump is a checkers guy operating in a chess world. No wonder he is confused.

Why is Big Tech hellbent on making AI opt-out?

You are right, but I still hate AI. "Fuck it" I say. And I say that about 10-20 times a day with my colleagues. And they say it back to me. Avicious circle of AL hate.

Sorry.

Apple quietly admits 8GB isn't enough in 2024, M4 iMac to ship with 16GB as standard

I'm running Affinity Suite 1x (whatever) on my 2017 Macbook Air with only 8gb. It runs fine. But to be fair, I don't use it like a production machine—the work is a far bit more casual. Yes—everything is continuously backed up to the nines.

Voice-enabled AI agents can automate everything, even your phone scams

We don't buy anything from unsolicited phone calls, emails, SMS, or the like either. I save the 'fuck offs' for wankers who truly deserve them. So when a call comes in with "Can I speak with the homeowner?" I say nothing and just hang up. To get to THAT point first though, they will have had to go through my phone's gate-guardian: "To continue with this call or leave voice mail, please press the pound key"

Re: YMMV with this....

A lot of landline phones have a feature that as soon as a call comes in, the caller is greeted immediately with "Please enter the pound sign to continue your call or leave a message"

Of course, easy enough for a human, but a robocall will be pooched. What about a Human scammer? Let the call go to voice mail.

Job done.

*click* . . .

Automated Phone Scammer calls in and . . .

My Phone: "Please press the pound key to complete your call or leave a message"

Automated Phone Scammer: *click* [ disconnect ]

So much for f*ckn automated scammers.

Smart TVs are spying on everyone

Re: Content surfing

I recommend taking up the 'cello.

Re: Buy a non smart TV - if you can find one

I like your plan. I will investigate if that is a do-able thing here. It should be. Thanks.

Microsoft admits Outlook crashes, says impact 'mitigated'

Ditto.

Re: Limited Option

Yes—I have to agree with the 3 comments here as much of that has been my experience, except during my career with digital exposure (1995 & on) I was expected to be fluent on both Mac and Windows. Regardless, I still run into people who use Windows by choice, who continually run into needless pain. A colleague of mine was having Outlook issues with a project he and I were working on, so I looked up the symptoms, and sure enough—well documented glitch that MS 'gave up' on fixing. Well, we fixed the MS glitch of his for sure. We swapped out his Outlook mail client for Thunderbird. No further glitches.

If every PC is going to be an AI PC, they better be as good at all the things trad PCs can do

Re: Hamster wheels?

"I cannot think of anything I do on a computer that I would prefer to be done by an AI, that I would have to review and check. I even dislike auto-correct, heck, if I'm gong to publish typos I would like them to be my types*, not some AI generated guess typo."

Bingo. Nailed it. Me too.

AI-pushing Adobe says AI-shy office workers will love AI if it saves them time

Re: Adobe can piss right off

No kidding. But that subscription extortion was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Despised like Microsoft.

Zuck dreams of personalized AI assistants for all – just like email

No. I'll have no participation in A.I. I can foresee the day when those 'brainiacs' at Apple 2.0 decide we need a healthy dose of A.I. in our operating system. FFS.

Uber and China's BYD agree deal to roll out 100,000 EV fleet

What could possibly go wrong???

Firefox 128 bumps system requirements for old boxes

Not impressed, Mozilla, with the thought of a free browser sidelining still very usable hardware. Both me, and my MacBook Air agree—you suck. Now change our minds.

Google to kill off URL shortener once and for all

When does G**gle stop trying to 'rule' the internet? Who died and made them God? I loathe them so much I won't even type their full name, let alone use their crappy products.

Apple antique aficionados can boot to the future with OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Intrigued

My buddy and I were just grousing on about this Apple issue, both of us being Art Directors and retired, but still keen to keep our hand in periodically and still have very well-running hardware.

I am a MacBook Air fan and currently use a 7,2 (SSD) from 2017-2019. The hardware is in minty-mint shape and it runs smooth as silk. No, I don't use Adobe stuff but Affinity Designer/Photo 1.x which I find easy on the resources. Today I'm on 10.13.6 (High Sierra) and can only move up to OS12 (Monterey) according to Apple. I wouldn't mind getting closer up yet—so I will be spending some time investigating how far up I can go, and how best to deal with it.

Let's face it—I just need the later OS ONLY to keep a reasonably current version of Firefox going. *rolls eyes* I hate that free stuff can sideline a perfectly good machine. (Sorry—I know I'm preaching to the converted)

I also thank those who posted some 'advisories' in this thread. Well noted.

Samsung takes bite out of Apple over its mega marketing misstep

Regardless of that ad, I still see Apple as a premier component WITHIN the creative community, while Samsung doesn't even seem to exist. And while I personally don't know any creative artists actually creating much on an iPad, they ARE used in subservient roles. I use mine for chasing down typefaces, colour swatches, and sheet music from IMSLP. Could I do that on a Samsung tablet? Sure, but from what I've heard in my social circle, Samsung isn't quite that reliable and they're hooked up to data-slurping Google. Pass.

Reddit goes AI agnostic, signs data training deal with OpenAI

Failing

I find it amazing that the AI training models being chosen have the intellectual firepower of a child failing grade 5. No confidence in AI whatsoever.

So you've built the best tablet, Apple. Show us why it matters

Best tablet? Already got it.

Apple really needs to wake up. The 'best tablet' is the one I'm using and have no need or desire to 'upgrade'. My 2017-19 10.5" iPad Pro runs very nicely still and is light/thin enough. But for the most part, I just use it as a digital tool to browse the web, as one might thumb through a magazine of yore.

Nice to know Apple is still making tablets. SOMEDAY I will have to upgrade, but not now. But I can do well without the sanctimonious negative ads. Wake up Apple—you risk pissing off potential customers.

Regrettably.

Oklahoma saddles up bill of rights for crypto wranglers and miners

No funding for chumps who get scammed. The whole scamcoin thing should be busted and shutdown.