That's what I was wondering
There must be a ton of sync apps, like DropBox, Box, OneDrive, etc. that all face the same issue. What happened to them?
39 publicly visible posts • joined 6 May 2020
How does selling off Chrome actually work?
I've seen estimates saying it's worth $20B but that's because of the Googley bits that were added to open-source Chromium; and there are plenty of alternative Chromium based browsers out there - even Microsoft has one! Those have either replaced the Googley bits with their own equally evil bits or they're selling point is the lack of eny evil Googley bits.
So how does Google sell something for $20B that anyone who's really interested in can get for free already?
And who would be interested in having a browser, and has the expertise to maintain and continue developing it, that has $20B lying around that hasn't already built a Chromium based browser (don't say Apple because a. they're openly hostile towards the Chrome way; and b. Chromium was originally based on WebKit that Safari is based on).
Maybe they can do a swap with ByteDance?!
A better start or first attempt would be to provide more funding for after school programs, sports and culture programs, more play grounds and facilities for kids and support for parents.
This law allows the politicians to say "look at me, I'm thinking of the children - vote for me again!" while they point at big evil foreign tech and the adults to feel all warm and fuzzy because "back in my day when the world was perfect..." and the kids don't care because they've already move on to the next thing (this law is already obsolete)! And the best part is banning things and blaming foreigners means you don't have to raise taxes or offend local employers!!!
This is why I don't understand the fuss: if you want cross-platform advanced messaging the choices are there.
And if you were able to go to the app store and install Candy Crush, Angry Birds, or whatever I'm sure you can figure out how to install another messenger! And I know many people who do.
The caveat being in North America unlimited SMS/MMS is included in even the most basic of mobile phone plans where as limited amounts of data only show up in mid-tier plans and only become viable in high-end plans. So a lot of us have to use SMS to have reliable messaging which on iPhone means iMessage so it may as well be your one-and-only messenger.
I installed Google Family and it works great on the kid's Android devices, partially on the Chromebook, breaks the Chromecast, and not at all on the school devices (iPad, Chromebook, and Windows).
So until there is interoperability for any and all platforms I'm not interested in any technical solutions (and I'm relatively comfortable with technology).
The obvious problem with Canada's link tax law, Bill C-18, is that it's thinly veiled copyright reform! But bragging about copyright reform, especially two elections in a row, doesn't grab the headlines like a David vs Goliath story of defending Canadian values against tech mega corps! So we end up with a convoluted law that will fail judicial challenge, was already obsolete before it was passed, and does nothing to actually help news publishers. Sure it helps shareholders of the major incumbent publishers and gives the politicians something to puff their chests up with but that's about it.
What they should do is
a. Collect corporate taxes from Google, et al like they should and use that money too fund journalism, cancon, etc equitably; and
b. Change copyright law so fair use is a bit more nuanced and Google, FB, etc can't hide behind it
That's a nice theory, but far from reality. The bottleneck is usually physical infrastructure, whether it's running lines through neighbourhoods, putting up base stations, or building retail stores. So these virtual systems, whether it's MVNO's or online shopping, are the only way to compete once an incumbent has settled in. I mean there's five hardware stores in my area, but only one in my neighbourhood - so who do you think gets 90% of business just by virtue of proximity? And if they don't have what I want the next stop is Amazon because they are literally at my door step (virtually)!
The Australian, Canadian, etc politicians love to beat their chests and claim to have protected their national culture against US internet tech giants.
But follow the money, if FB is bankrolling the news then it's controlling the news. The Australian law is quite explicit: only pay if you link, so who do you think FB is going to choose to link to? In Canada, most small independent news publishers, who would benefit most, aren't even eligible to claim compensation under the news law.
Do you really think the politicians are going to admit they screwed up and actually handed the keys to their country to a foreign corporation?
Funny you should mention copyright, that's specifically the problem with Canadian version of the law and it had carve out a "fair use" exemption to avoid contradicting our copyright law. If instead we had updated our copyright law to recognise copying has evolved then we wouldn't have needed a law requiring FB et al. to become the masters of our news industry.
Indirectly YES.
Succesful shops move to more desirable locations where the rent is higher.
If you have less revenue you move to a location with lower rent.
As for payment systems it wouldn't surprise me to find out a mall operator who provides basic infrastructure like heat, lighting, etc. also provides data networking and payment processing and requires them to be offered - even if you tell customers you prefer cash or e-transfer. The payment processors contract with the mall probably stipulates some kind of exclusivity to the extent it's legally allowed.
The Australian law was great for the politicians, it let them claim a David v. Goliath victory over US mega-corps, regardless of the actual results.
So did the Canadian politicians learn that they can win a few votes by appearing to wrangle some foreign tech companies into submission?
Or did they learn that the law needs to ensure Facebook doesn't become the gatekeeper of what news is shared; and Google has to support actual journalism and journalists - not just shareholders; and the definition of news outlet needs to be objective and subject to oversight?
Ha!
FB got exactly what they wanted and made a token contribution to their hand picked winners.
G didn't send a penny down under, it all went to the shareholders in NYC. In exchange G is hosting the content so yet another way for them to slurp your data - without you even visiting a G domain!
Only if you're a first time buyer. Once you're in an ecosystem it's prohibitively expensive to get out. It would be impossible for me to switch now and repurchase all the apps and media on my current phone, and my family member's devices, and the ancillary devices we have in the house.
I blame Google for this mess!
If they had just stuck with GTalk and kept it on jabber/XMPP and the servers open we could be living a messaging nirvana! They could have added SMS/MMS, GPhotos chat, GDocs comments, and what not to the steam. Third parties could have built their own clients and Google would have been shielded for monopoly accusations.
But instead here we are bickering over which messenger to use if we want to stay friends!
It's more convoluted than that. They need to maintain parental consent and can't advertise to kids under the age of 13. So kids are expensive and un-profitable! Something similar exists in most countries so they leave it as an exercise to the reader to infer how & why the question is being asked that way they avoid stating it explicitly and constraining themselves to it.
I've tried Signal a few times but it always comes up short. There's no Chromebook client (even though it's just an Electron app) and SMS from the desktop isn't supported. Ultimately my contacts are using SMS or Messenger (which I can do from Insta now and soon WhatsApp) so the argument for Signal is limited.