The world is better without tiktok
Tiktok like Twitter, is responsible for dumbing-down the world.
Not having it would actually be good for society and we would have fewer brains being turned to mush.
24 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Sep 2013
"You know, one of those people who loves free speech, as long as people are saying the things that you agree with, but are happy to have things censored if they don't agree with it."
That more accurately describes modern-day Republicans and the far right more than any other group.
"the sudden reappearance of REvil raises questions about the gang's ties to the Russian government."
Yeah I wouldn't put it past Putin/the Russian government if they basically made a "work for us and you'll get released" deal with them. If they weren't already working for the Russian government before, it's likely they are now.
If you have a good backup strategy that includs online and offline backups, there is always a recovery method.
Also I suspect much of the problems can be avoided if proper security measures are taken... such as not allowing users to log in with accounts that have admin rights.
In the past, you could set your web browser to prompt whether to accept a given cookie. It was a bit of a hassle when you went on a site for the first time. But was interesting as it showed how much tracking crap some sites wanted to put on your computer.
They have since gotten rid of that functionality and I have to wonder how much marketing and analytics companies paid them to remove that feature.
I never saw a good reason (at least not good to me or general consumers) for that feature removal.
What the hell is Better? What do they do? Online mortgage broker? Pffft. They're apparently useless for that:
https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/mortgage-broker/bettercom-0121-165686/complaints
Though it's ironic that people are complaining to them to the BBB... another useless organization.
They should change their name to Worse... to match reality.
Nah... The Sun Sparc20 got left in the dust by another chip also came out in 1992... The DEC Alpha.
The DEC Alpha was 64 bit and came out initially at 150mhz... while the Sparc was still 32bit and I think started at 40mhz at the time.
It was widely regarded as the fastest chip in the industry from that year until around 1996.
"when the 486DX2 was the pinnacle of technology. "
The DX2 came out in 1992. Another chip also came out in 1992... The DEC Alpha.
And I recall that when it came out, it was the fastest chip in the industry. Where the 486 was 32 bit and topped out at 66mhz, the DEC Alpha was 64 bit and came out initially at 150mhz.
Regarding this statement:
"But surfing this way is not cheap. Punters are asked to fork out $499 for the dish and modem, with a further recurring $99 monthly subscription fee."
While that's expensive compared to setting up a land-line based or cellular-based internet circuit, it's cheap compared to the costs associated with satellite internet access of the past.
I remember spending 2-4 times that for bad service for someone who insisted on living in the middle of nowhere.
Once upon a time, you could set your browser to refuse all cookies or prompt you before accepting cookies.
I typically set it to prompt me to select between 'accept once', 'always accept', 'deny once' or 'always deny'. With that feature, it was interesting to see all the garbage some site would want to put on your system in the form of various cookies.
And that feature alone enabled me to avoid malware at least a few times
Then then browser makers made it harder and harder to do that before taking away the function completely... claiming that it 'didn't work anyway'... a claim I thought was bogus.
With some luck, the tide is turning and this functionality might come back eventually.
Reading about this doesn't surprise me one bit. I will never have one of these dumb "smart" speakers in my house... not even if someone gives me one for free. When they first came out, my first reaction was "well that's a huge potential for a security breach".
And it looks like I'm right.
"Gates, however, who has pledged to give away 95 per cent of his wealth to charity,"
Let's get one thing straight about these US-based 'charities'... they're little more than tax shelters that distribute a small portion of their money for charitable causes.
It's also a way to get friends and family cushy jobs for a high income at a reduced tax rate.
Charities like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation are ALL about tax avoidance and very little about real charity.