This is just a joke, but I would appreciate the support, feel free to look around the rest of my website :3
As I shared on previous posts, my dad and mom acquired new devices, the same model, but with quite different uses!
Regardless, as the more tech-savvy member of the family, the responsibility to set them up fell upon me, having to deal with a lot of progress indicators, toggles asking me to track everything the phone does, and logging in to a online accounts, because that’s how these things go now for regular people.
Many years ago, this blogpost could have been quite different, I may be mentioning some nifty program that can easily back up things and transfer them to the next device.
Especially when I used custom ROMs and root utilities to do all the heavy lifting, I often loved setting up my device again and again every few months. Even getting a new one wasn’t bad at all when I knew I’d eventually use it how I want.
But as time goes on Android has been more locked down, and I have to admit I haven’t caught up with recent backup tools that deal with all that—Even less so when my parents have phones that I can’t really root.
At the very least, the backup tools by OEM’s have caught up quite well, if at the cost of my peace of mind.
I must admit I didn’t do that much this time around. Just the bare minimum list of the things that I had to change.
Data migration - I did this with the Android built-in method, transferring data from device to device. I hate to admit I also used Samsung’s Smart Switch to migrate even more data, like all folders and files, photos and the like. This was not ideal, but I was lazy.
Log-in to Google - Rather unavoidable for a normal person who uses a phone, unless I offered myself for tech support even more setting up Droid-ify or something like that, but no.
Avoid extra log-ins - I didn’t make a Samsung account nor used their Microsoft OneDrive Integration. Of course, some preinstalled apps like Netflix went away too, so no big deal.
Avoid telemetry - Disabled every checkbox that I could find, including personalized ads, both from Google and Samsung services.
Uninstall Bloatware - Removed any Samsung duplicates and most of Google’s junk—still keeping some basics like Calendar or so, sadly. These devices come with a lot of unecessary things…
Default browser - Samsung Internet and Chrome went poof, and I decided to switch both phones to Vivaldi Browser, there was a time where Firefox would have been it, but not today.
Other app replacements - There were not many extra apps I installed on their devices—you are always free to check what’s on my phone though—other than Vivaldi Browser, Fossify Gallery and a password manager like Bitwarden or KeepassXC. I could install some more things, but, meh.
All in all, the new phones are pretty good hardware-wise, and I still need to do a couple of things like installing their banking apps or maybe a few logins that I missed.
Honestly, this experience and the implications was kind of terrible.
Without me, my parents would have ended up creating at least one extra Samsung account. Cloud services like OneDrive or Google Photos would be sucking up files and copying them to their servers, getting filled up with the data and then asking them to subscribe to unlock more storage a couple of months down the line.
Left on their own, my parents may be seeing ads popping up constantly in OneUI, as well as browsing the web without an adblocker, they would be using default applications that don’t work as reliably, that track whatever they do to a certain degree.
And of course, all of those AI assistants would be listening in in the background. It really is a nightmare out there, and it’s not only affecting my parents, it affects all of those unaware of the dangers that these practices bring. It’s a mess all around.
I don’t know how to get out of this one, the hold these companies have is just too much, and I keep on losing my patience and conceding more and more of my—or my family members—data just to get over with it.
So, do you have have any advice or thoughts about this? What would be some phones that don’t have as many privavy-invasive tactics? It would be nice to be aware of hardware that doesn’t do this as much…
]]>Hear me out y’all, everyone should know about this show, it really is absolutely incredible.
This could have been The Clone Wars of the TRON universe.
And here’s the thing, where as Clone Wars—the one with 3D animation, not the shorter and just as fantastic 2003 version—started kind of slow, with the first seasons taking on a “villain of the week” approach, lots of jumps and plots in different planets or characters; Uprising does not waste anytime to be anything but what it is: The beginnings of a revolution against the tyranny of Clu, the program that betrayed Flynn and commited genocide for the sake of “perfection”.
The show doesn’t skip a beat, starting with Beck—a program mechanic–witnessing the deresolution of his best friend at the hands of the Occupation over Argon City. He begins his own rebellious campaign and disguises as Tron—the protector of the Grid who stood against Clu’s plans and allowed Flynn to escape. As Beck tries to escape from the authorities, he is trapped and interrogated, only to realize he’s being tested by Tron himself, who was pressumed dead until then. Tron tasks Beck with taking on the mantle and name of Tron and inspire others to join the uprising, in pursue of freedom.
The artstyle of this show is simply incredible, truly striking and full of color and contrast, the animation is bold and it accomplishes a lot of what we’ve seen perfected in movies such as Into The Spiderverse and KPop Demon Hunters, with an wonderful blend of 2D and 3D animation that holds up extremely well to this day.
Uprising tackles many themes with a mastery I just couldn’t believe. How someone gets radicalized to either side of the conflict, how people lie to themselves to keep it together, how some join a cause for selfish reasons. How trying to rebel can cause harm to innocents and how that may cause them to turn against you. How even the good guys keep secrets, why that may be a necessity in a certain context, or why it ends up not paying off in other times. Genocide, herd mentality, mind control, and many other topics are touched up, and pretty realistically in my opinion.
This manages to reach the heights of even Avatar: The Last Airbender in plenty of occassions, also presenting mature themes to a younger audience, and stays great throughout the whole show.
The soundtrack is incredible as well, with Joseph Trapanese—who collaborated with Daft Punk on Legacy’s soundtrack—taking a similar approach to the film’s masterful mix of electronic and orchestra. Everything fits like a glove, and it elevates every scene with grand success. It stands proud along Legacy and the rest of TRON’s soundtracks, which continue to be the one thing this franchise never gets wrong.
So, wrapping up, the animation is incredible, the plot is awesome, the music is great, the action is top notch, the spectacle is as good as what can be seen in TRON Legacy, and it is actually superior sometimes. Thanks to the limitless possibilities of animation. This show is full of shocking, colorful backdrops and silhouettes, epic moments of heroism and chaos. I can’t praise it enough.
Here are the horrible news: This show ended on the most incredible, gut-wrenching, hype inducing cliff-hanger I have ever witnessed, and it has not seen a continuation for 13 years.
I found myself literally screaming at how wild, how epic, how magnificently the stakes were set, the possibilities and the implications of what was to come. And it never did.
Apparently, TRON Ares is kind of a flop at the cinemas—just like every TRON movie before then. However, TRON Legacy has been trending in Disney’s streaming service for a few weeks, and even if the chances are extremely slim, maybe, maybe, there is some hope that someone out there will greenlight a second season of this masterpiece.
At this point, I would be happy with some fanfiction about this, maybe a comic? there must be something out there continuing this story, I need to see it through. Please, Disney Overlords, if anything needs a continuation more than a decade after its release, this is it.
By the way, I didn’t notice this before, but I think there’s some similarity between 1000xRESIST and TRON: Uprising, I wouldn’t be surprised if TRON inspired some of what we see in that videogame, so maybe give it a shot?
Anyway, now I want some TRON merchandise.
]]>Apple vs Android: Why Apple is the Clear Winner in Security and Features
Smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives. When it comes to the two major players in the market, Apple and Android, there’s no denying that Apple stands out as the clear winner in terms of security and overall features...
Yes I just stole that upper embbeded post thingy from Kev’s site.
Recently Kyle did an editorial piece on Apple, which is, in my opinion, quite interesting to say the least. After reading it a while ago and once again when writing this, I still think that Apple is NOT the clear winner in security and features.
This is going to be a bit of a rant, I ain’t gonna lie, but sometimes, you have to correct things you know are wrong. But hey, maybe I am not correct in many things either so, feel free to respond to this too.
Kyle, I am very grateful for everything you as a developer, and also co-administrating a pretty cozy instance on Mastodon, but this article didn’t really have that many good points—in the opinion of an Android fanboy such as me, lol.
So, since this is my blog, I’ll just write the reasons I consider many of the arguments brought up in this case are wrong—from a certain point of view.
I have to admit, that in a way, Security is the one factor where Apple has a certain advantage, but does it really?
Apple is a closed ecosystem, so, once its compromised, we have to rely on them to fix it. With Android, we can switch, we can upgrade, we can build from source, we can remove system apps and do whatever. Of course it is not always easy and its a burden on the regular user—one does have to get to work and get dirty with some things.
Also, in Android we can usually get apps (at least the FOSS ones) directly from developers and whatever distribution methods they provide (GitHub, F-Droid, Websites), without having to rely on the app store itself. This argument could be used against a Distro Repository, or F-Droid itself. But I would rather trust people and systems I can even contribute to, instead of a corporation.
Apple has a single point of failure and we have to put all our trust in them, simple as that.
I mean, Android has more features—and it is much more flexible. There is simply no comparison. When it comes to interface and design, it is just a matter of taste. Both old and young people can struggle using an Apple device just as much as they struggle with Android. And you can get Android phones with physical keyboards, different screen sizes and features according to your needs.
Apple likes to refine things to a level that sometimes makes no sense, and then they also like to pretend it never existed. Just look at the dynamic island, have you ever heard of any new uses for it since it came out? And look at widgets, they maybe more fancy, but they are nowhere near as useful as on Android, and their potential is very limited, they end up unnoticed and underused, unless they can make money out of it, I guess, like getting rid of the headphone jack, or having a bunch of MagSafe add-ons.
Privacy is a matter of scope nowadays, you can’t be fully private if you have a connection to the internet, but you can choose who you want to be private from.
I don’t trust Apple with my data, and I don’t trust Google with my data. Or maybe I do, I have YouTube, I can use YouTube, but I can also use a frontend for it if I want, which can also serve as a proxy and anonymize me.
But wait! Apple won’t let you install those app frontends like Newpipe or so. At least you can use the brower you want to check websites frontends right? NO, gotta stick to Safari. Or you can use a skin that is just frontend of Safari to watch a frontend of YouTube of course, very fun!—alright enough getting off topic.
Similarly, Android can be used in its AOSP form thanks to a good amount of custom ROMs, maintained by the community. Of course, you have to trust those random developers. But again, I’d rather trust them than Apple or any corporation.
Yes Apple has a bunch of privay claims and they somewhat fulfill them, but it really feels like a marketing strategy rather than something they do just because it is the right thing to do.
Android apps can support multiple Android versions, you can still install modern versions of many apps on Phones running versions like Android 8 (Oreo) or even older.
I may be wrong, but I think that as soon as an iOS version stops getting support, there are really no more app updates for it. Of course they give you a lot of updates for a long time, but Android is catching up on that regard too! At least with some vendors. Not to mention custom ROMs.
While interactions between devices is not as smooth as what Apple can do. Android has a lot of apps that help achieve similar functionality. Kyle mentions the seamlessness of Google products and services, but I don’t use either of them. I can do wit DAVx5 (Calendar and contact sync), Nextcloud (Cloud file storage, also interacts with DAVx5), KDE Connect (Computer and phone sync, share clipboard, and a lot more), Syncthing (Cloudless file sync) and similar tools that get the job done in many regards. And a bunch of these 3rd party apps can’t even work on iOS, so you are stuck with what Apple offers you and not much more.
App Store is controlled by Apple and they are evil.
Play Store is controlled by Google and they are evil.
Apple is barely following EU regulations in the worst possible way regarding their walled garden practices, and I don’t think any upcoming new changes they may have to do will still make it worth it.
Android let’s you install apps from 3rd party sources. You can use F-Droid (FOSS app store, I recommend the Droid-ify client), Obtainium (Fetch app updates from multiple sources, usually the developers themselves), Aurora Store (Get apps from Google servers, without a Google account), and many other options, some more trusted than others, of course.
There’s a lot not to like about Android as it is offered by Google and OEMs, but the community behind it offers a bunch of ways to stray away from the surveillance and data mining that goes on. Apple says they do things, and we have to trust them, but when they don’t, who can hold them accountable anyway? I just don’t trust Apple, and Google sucks too.
Give up on Google, give up on Apple, give up on an easy life and just install a Custom ROM on some random Xiaomi phone while you can, or get a used Pixel that works just as well if not better.
Just kidding, I have Google on my phone, I have to use banking apps now and I gave up on my privacy and freedom and we are all doomed.
This is day 19 of #100DaysToOffload
]]>tl;dr: I bought the same watch from a different source and compared them to each other.
Months ago, I bought a fake Casio watch, a replica of the classic A-168, which I had wanted for a while. However, the purchase was done in a rush, while I was downtown heading somewhere else. I don’t know why I didn’t think it through, but I ended up making a bad purchase. Next day I was able to exchange the watch for a different one, at the very least.
Recently, I finally bought my first G-Shock, which I shared on a post on Mastodon. However, that was not my first attempt at getting the Casio GA-2100.
Two days before that, I actually acquired it from a different seller from Mercado Libre (a very popular Amazon competitor here in Latin America), and I quickly saw some red flags that caused me some concern.
Initially I decided to ignore the packaging, a black aluminum hexagonal conatiner, maybe Casio just simplified the design or something. Opening the box was also quite underwhelming, the manual seemed real enough, but the little label that is usually in the strap’s buckle felt cheap, and had no barcode. Still, maybe it was just repackaged or something.
I openend the watch, and I immediately noticed it was scratched. It was not immediately noticeable, but even some of the printing was worn off, which was quite a bummer. From there on, I decided to store it again and return it. Only then did I decide to spend on another watch from a different seller, and do a comparison when it arrived. Here is what I saw
The original box of the G-Shock has a much better printing design, the labelling is also more detailed, while the fake only had a label that said Casio-003 in it and a barcode. Not visible in the picture.
Opening the boxes the differences are obvious. The original model comes with more paperwork, the warranty and an instruction manual, which is actually specific to the module inside the watch. The fake watch comes with a manual to a different module, and it is also shorter than the original. The fake box shows the aluminum container and the papers were just thrown in there, also the warranty card is thinner.
The packaging of the original watch protects the watch in a square plastic bag, inside the main container that sorrounds it with foam. all around, there’s also a sheet of foam on top of it all, hiding the watch from view once the container is first open. The fake displays the watch sorrounded by the foam, and the label too.
Honestly, other than the kinda bland black hexagonal container, I would have been fooled by the replica, if it wasn’t because I saw multiple unboxings online showing the original box.
Now comes the time to compare the watches themselves. There are quite a few differences that are really hard to notice if you only have the replica with you.
The watch seemed pretty much identical to me, after having the original on hand, I could tell these differences:
Despite all this, the internal module was extremely similar. There are some replicas out there that have clearly different LCD displays, like, 3 rows of digits instead of two. Here it was exactly the same. The only missing feature was the two-button shortcut to move the hands away from the display.
Casio is a brand that everyone in the watch world knows. They offer excellent quality at an excellent price, in a variety of styles and price ranges. From the affordable F-91W, all-rounders like the AE-1200, sporty G-shocks, and their respective luxury editions. So, of course replicas are bound to show up!
Some people out there don’t understand, they say things like “how is there a market or a profit margin for such a cheap watch anyway?”. Well, in countries like mine, 20 bucks is actually a substantial amount of money. You can buy a whole family’s lunch with that. To get this copy, I paid around 111 USD, the original was like 123 USD. It was not that big a difference, and yet I felt like it was close enough to just being a nice offer I found.
I genuinely believe many of the sellers don’t actually have any idea that they are selling fakes, not everyone is as well informed. Looking at their posting on the shop, they even share a picture of the packaging, not even knowing it is not original. On a darker, less optimistic side. I have a theory that many of the parts on this watch may be original, and the watch may be more of a rebuild out of used watches, since this is a very popular watch for modding purposes, the original parts end up unused by many, and probably sold for stuff like this.
But I don’t know, I might say the margin is not that big, but then again, there are replicas of F-91Ws out there. Thankfully, I’ll be able to return this very easily. Good luck shopping watches out there!
This is day 13 of #100DaysToOffload
]]>Last time I ever made use of this stuff was to help me with some code I had already done, and also to generate a blogpost for me, after I typed out everything I did in a list and asked ChatGPT to turn it into a few paragraphs of text. You can see the output of that experiment over here.
At the time, I was quite amused by this, and I remained somewhat optimistic about it. I actually still type prompts to ChatGPT for certain things, since it has quite a bit of uses.
Sadly, as more people caught up to this, a ton of websites saw the opportunity to generate blogposts to whatever questions people may have out of whatever this so-called AI thinks is a good answer.
The worst thing is how the websites are just a list of questions that sometimes aren’t even related to each other but will be answered in succession and end up confusing me even more.
It is so lazy and annoying. Even in the Spanish language websites like this started to show up and it’s the most annoying thing. They don’t make any sense, they are usually wrong and badly formatted, and despite it all they are always at the top of the search results.
I just want to go back to the older days where random websites hosted by people on Blogger or WordPress would have the answers to all my questions, in Times New Roman and an ugly default theme.
This blogpost in particular may be little more than a rant and is probably not the greatest example of the amazing things humans can write about, but it is still better than whatever an AI might spit out of its black box.
This is day 91 of #100DaysToOffload
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