d-RLY?

I also went completely to FF on my phone the moment it had uBlock Origin and some other extensions. Now that I learned how to force other ones, it has been game over for other browsers aside from just seeing how they are every now and then (I work with general public and need to be aware of how they work). The only thing I would really really advise in addition to FF on a non-rooted device is setting the Mullvad ad-blocking/tracking blocking DNS for the device.

It helps even if I need to use a different browser (not as good as also having uBO), and has really good chances of blocking ads in many apps. For example, I kind of treat the Microsoft Solitaire app since it keeps games and stats from my PC. However they have lots of video ads that play after a couple of games. With the DNS it just kind of glitches when an ad should run and just goes on to the next round instead. The only odd thing I see with other apps is that it can cause my bank app to take a little longer to load when signing in (I am guessing due to tracking it is trying to do). But after like ten seconds it goes through like normal.

This is the DNS address to add if you want:

https://base.dns.mullvad.net/dns-query

And here is the main site for all their options and tester to make sure whichever one you pick is working:

https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

I never had a WP, but I do have a few Zunes. The Live Tile main screen for WP is a bit too busy for me, but I would love to have the slightly cut-off styles in settings and menus that it and the Zune models had. Just really vibed with the look for some reason.

OneUI is much much better than Touchwiz was. It has been nice to see Samsung actually putting effort into their main launcher and having the options to add things (and that they can augment stuff while using other launchers). I was using Nova on both my phone and my old Tab S2, but found OneUI to “feel” more correct on my Tab S8+ than Nova. Though Nova has seemed better for my phones over the years.

Probably a good move for them to make tbh. I like how CrowdStrike’s name already sounds like it should be the name of a big malware/virus/zeroday. So we should have seen it coming.

I am really going to miss the old settings when they finally remove what is left of Control Panel. So far they have removed things or moved shit to force the Settings app. But they keep failing to make the new things have anywhere near the level of control. The power settings from Control Panel still matter way more than Settings and seem to actually stick when applied. And I just really have no idea how they have made stuff like resetting networking/connection issues worse over time. Fucking right-clicking on the networking icon on the taskbar and picking “repair” would actually get shit working again 8 times out of 10. But just seems to be a placebo at this point. There are still so many times that using different resets in Internet Options fixes more stuff I see regularly than the resets in Settings->Networking.

And the newer Troubleshooting options never fix any of the Windows Update issues I come across. Just a glorified verification of the failures I already know are happening. I never thought I would so badly miss being able to tell Windows Update to ignore updates if they were bugging out (not to avoid them all together but at least stop the OS from just constantly going through the motions of installing and failing during each reboot/shutdown). So many of the updates that used to give me issues were really either down to them trying to install out of order or due to a fuck-up on MS’s end that pushed bad updates.

The push to so deeply embed these AI models into everything so fast is really pissing me off. Shit is known to have issues with just outright making shit up. Which is IMO reason enough to not be adding them to end-products (especially since the end-products are also still not finished with removing old versions of things). One thing that really worries me in my job with fixing people’s PCs is the AI and search that pushes web content (and the now inescapable placement of ads) above local resources/programs/settings/etc. The main issues people have aren’t actual viruses like in the past. It is the massive levels of scams and fake alerts followed by fake “repair techs.” If the average person is so easy to trick when it is people scamming them. AI is going to blow shit up waaaaaaaay worse and will be able to do it so much faster and completely. Average people are still under the impression that these AI chats are giving completely real and accurate information (reminds me of how people used to believe that if something was said on TV that it was real).

Shit is fucked and going to get much worse at a dramatically faster rate due to rushing things in order to make as much money as fast as possible. Even Microsoft used to ship things in a more complete state. But gaming has made shipping broken products completely normal. So no reason to care about keeping any level of quality.

TamperMonkey is one of the “recommended” add-ons when I look at the list on my Android version of FF and I am not on a beta or dev build.

I think it is due to it not really being any loss for them if they fail to get something like that passed. It serves the purpose of the cheap “pops” of “sticking it to them libs”, and if it passes then that is just a bonus. The whole point is like so many really stupid laws that “look/feel” like something was done but actually just wasted time or makes things just more annoying. So they are “seen” to be “fighting” the other team. Where as if they were to actually push something that requires real functional effort or could lead to massive loss of seats. They would then be seen as big losers and seen as the ego trippers that they really are. It is honestly shit that should just lead to them being put against a wall for all the intentional fucking around they are doing.

ME

It might be a good idea to get a good VPN for any of those sites (even the streaming ones). No hate if you ran into an issue with FF. Every now and then I do see some PCs act weird with FF DNS options. Never able to figure out what causes them to not work correctly while most other PCs are working fine on the same local network. Opera and Opera GX “feel” too “busy” for me personally with just all the random things on the UI and features. I support people using anything that isn’t official Chrome at this point.

If you don’t already have a VPN, here is a list article with more than a few options and give some basic info on stuff like if they keep logs of IPs and for how long. Some of them also have additional DNS options for removing ads. https://torrentfreak.com/best-vpn-anonymous-no-logging/

There are .deb and .rpm versions of Edge for Linux. Doesn’t get mentioned on the main download site until you scroll below the Mac/iPhone/Android options.

The Chromium Edge really started to win me over a bit with how well they have done vertical tabs (Brave only just recently got something even close). Was cool up until Microsoft really seems like they have gotten insecure about trying to be popular again. I fix people’s computers so I see it more than a normal user would, so I will just say that now. But it feels like every time I open Edge it seems to just bukkake my eyes with “helpful” pop-ups trying sooo bad to trick me into turning on more and more data collection “features”. It is already annoying that they try to cover up the area where the download starts if it detects that it is on the Chrome download page.

But they took what was looking to be a shockingly good alt to Chrome, and I have even gone out of my way from time to time to let customers know that they don’t really need Chrome and Edge. Instead I try to at least offer Firefox as a second option. As I do find that if a site is messed up for Chromium based browsers FF might at least give them a usable site until Edge/Chrome starts working again.

That being said, I am really curious how the original Edge would work if they had kept at it. It sucked at first because all browsers suck for awhile when new. The extensions being through the app store seemed about as normal as what Apple does with Safari. But the Edge extensions didn’t require first signing into the store in order to get free ones. So that was much less frustrating. Jumping to Chromium just further enabled Google to be on more fuck shit.

I scrolled through so many comments to see if anyone was just going to let that one go un-asked! I started reading the chart from the bottom and got to chaotic good last and went from leaning back in my chair to fully forward when I read it. Was like car tire screech “What the fuck is the bottle hack?!?!?” lol

LG/HB are vanguard af and we doesn’t afraid of anything! I have this account because I made it around the same time I made my LG account and like that Lemmy.ml is pretty good for normies (no hate) of various kinds. Joined HB long before it federated and after the CTH subreddit was quarantined. Both places are much more chill than folks think. HB is much more trollie and should be taken with more than a pinch of salt. LG is much more serious and strict, but you just need to be clear in phrasing things in good-faith if asking questions. Are there dicks on both? Yes, just like there are on here and any other instance. But I think they both benefit more from lurking for a while if not used to non-liberal leftist spaces. Feel free to downvote all you want if you disagree or whatever…or are right-wing of course. #PunchNazisIntoTheDirt

Installed and seems to have the same issue. But I will keep it installed along with Connect and any others I come across. I like to jump between different apps over time to see how they evolve and compare to each other. Thanks for sharing it!

Installed and it does seem to be smooth, so I do thank you for pointing it out! I am beginning to think what I am looking for is more an issue with Lemmy. The thing I liked about Sync was the ability to have multiple columns of posts in the card format. So each post in a community doesn’t just span the whole width of the screen (which is much more dramatic in landscape). Also keeps it easy to scroll more posts and preview images being smaller, but not as tiny as the super small list view.

That all being said, I do think Connect is very clean and will be using it more for the moment. It is good to see attention from devs being put towards Lemmy.

Might as well ask here. I am waiting on Sync for Lemmy to be released, and more importantly reach a non-alpha/beta release. But for now I am also down to try out others. Are there any that are able to handle Android tablets correctly? At the moment I have only used Jerboa. It is great on my phones, but it looks like the old days of apps for Android being forced to run on early tablets on my Galaxy Tab S8+. It just stretches out and feels off in both landscape and portrait orientations.

Adding this to be more specific, as I blanked on it originally. The thing I was somehow forgetting to mention was having cards in multiple columns. With Sync for Reddit, you could have posts show as cards that had smallish preview thumbnails in multiple columns. So posts would show more like a grid. Not sure why I blanked on saying that when talking about how currently posts just stretch all the way across the width of the display (especially in landscape mode). I am not sure if this is even currently an option with how Lemmy itself works. So hopefully that helps better. lol.

While you did clarify for MrEUser. I will say that they could be weaponized if they are just taken by instances without understanding why they were blocked by the originating instance (especially if it is a larger one). It is obviously up to the instance creators to research things. So I am not saying that it is the same as Reddit outright banning links to sites.

But I think it is fair to consider that since many of the sites that are blocked are either linking possibly illegal or openly bigoted content. That plenty of others will think that all the blocked instances are doing those things. All because the more mainstream a site becomes with “normies”, they just see it as black and white (like they do with lots of real world things). While the actual case is that the ones that aren’t doing those things might just be blocked due to more nuanced reasons. Maybe it is simply differences in politics or maybe even just the creator trying to only federate with instances of the same language in order to make sure everyone can read the posts/comments.

That doesn’t mean that instances being able to block other instances is automatically bad or anything. It is very helpful to be able to openly see which instances are and aren’t allowed. Which is at least surface level transparent for users and potential users. And can be used for creators of instances that might have been blocked to reach out and work things out if it was blocked. Which is something that (to my knowledge) all the major social media sites do not offer and tend to hide. Preferring shadowbans and only openly admitting it if it is super problematic (like bigots or openly illegal stuff).

I mostly agree with you on the first paragraph. Though I would say that I am not so sure they won’t try to phase out plenty of professionals. All of these companies are freaking the fuck out and trying to just rush shit out at rates that are beyond problematic. All the VC’s and major tech companies are chasing the dragon of money and ignoring all the real issues that comes with normies thinking that shit is magic and accurate. Though I am also blaming the for-profit media of all types that are all about hyper-attention grabbing titles. Which does fill the gaps of normies thinking things are much further along than they are. So even if the devs make a point to say that things are not even fully in betas, we are seeing shit being pushed out like it is full release. We already saw how fast internet folks were able to turn old chatbots into outright Nazi sympathizers. There are already well equipped blackhats out there that are trying to take some of these models and remove protections. Though it is very fun to see the ways that how the more prankster folks are bypassing some things with just wording shit differently.

I also agree that I want the healthcare system and insurance needs to be burned down and just moved to tax funded with lives being more important than any money. But the codes I was speaking of wasn’t billing codes. They are actual medical diagnostic codes. So it does kind of matter that things be correct in that element. As it implies that their diagnoses for patients are not based on knowing specifics. One wrong code could change what is being looked for and could be bad in wasting time. Though I will stress that it is likely to not matter for most common tests. So I yield to that in those situations.

Overall I do want to again say that I think we may agree more than my initial reply might sound (or even this one). I just think that we can’t keep the constant hype-trains running so hard all the time as if things are going to work. We are being charged more for less finished products. And we are seeing the beginnings of mass reductions in workforces as the corpo leaders just think that we aren’t needed anymore. But that could work in favor of a worker’s revolution if leftists really start going hard for catching those impacted before they fall into reactionary hands and fascism takes over again. But I don’t wish for so many to suffer more than they have already.

This is a big flashy headline that isn’t as big of a deal as it presents itself. AI is still extremely far from assisting doctors, let alone replacing them.

While I also agree it is less than the hype. There are already people that are just concerned about moving quickly up the ladder and/or lazy that are just using GPT on the low and taking credit (with or without first checking any of it). I read about a law firm that was found to have used GPT for a case and were found out mainly due to legal case citations that they submitted were just made up by GPT and couldn’t be found to have ever happened. They then claimed that they weren’t aware that the AI would provide fake information as it sounded real enough.

Not to mention all the tech companies that are having to tell workers to stop uploading code or other information for the AI to work on. Given how bad the lack of fucks given by so many docs with pill mills and opioids. I am more than willing to believe there are already docs all over that are using GPT or any of the others.

I can attest to many docs/nurses not giving any fucks even when just trying to get correct diagnostic codes for the lab company I worked for years ago to simply bill insurance. We had to get a specific code and not a general code (like they can’t just use something like 264 as it is a general code for “Vitamin A deficiency” and would need to state like 264.1 “With conjunctival xerosis and Bitot’s spot” to specify which kind of Vitamin A deficiency). I would have to call about them missing or not being specific. And I got a shockingly high amount of docs that had ordered the freaking tests just tell me to just use “whatever made sense.” Our already fucked medical services are gonna get much worse.

And they will keep yelling about how leftists are all actually Nazis while literally burning books. The worst kind of fascists are all fascists, but the next in line are the ones that don’t seem to realize that they are. The combination of massive corp greed across all media has done the real work for indoctrinating so many. Doublespeak and gaslighting all the culture war stuff. The right is doing a terrifyingly good job at making people actually proud to be ignorant. It is “American” to be consumed with placing individualism above community. So convinced that any and all assistance programs are “evil” or that we can’t “encourage laziness”. Which is ironic given how folks that claim this shit are among the worst offenders for grifting or otherwise scamming people that do work hard. The “pro-law and order” folks are among the worst offenders of literally breaking laws and threatening people and property (which they won’t STFU about how "Antifa is being trucked into places in order to break shit). I wouldn’t lose sleep if I ever had to put down any of them, as they are only tripling down on their stances and open threats. Not willing to just take the L on shit they have been, or currently are, wrong about (which is admittedly a big step ego-wise). Which is why I do try to do what I can if I manage to get a good-faith conversation going, and I see them actually having their mind blown. But that requires a lot of factors lining up and time isn’t on our side atm.