Yes? I’m forming my opinions based on reporting. You’re basing your opinions based on opinions.

Again I’m not saying you’re wrong. Look at the information Snowden revealed. Before the reveal it was conspiracy theory. Now it’s fact.

This reporting isn’t fact, it’s reporting in progress. At the moment it doesn’t find the always listening allegation to be true, but not impossible either.

Honestly for big boy I hope so, but don’t know. Assuming he loses this year, and assuming he survives until 2028, I would hope he’d be gone, but I can’t be sure. I assume 2026 midterms will give us a rough idea.

It’s not trusting Big Tech, it’s understanding that Little Tech can also lie.

Cox Media Group wants to hype up their product and use AI buzzwords. To be seen as reliable they say that they work with Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.

The report is basically CMG saying they can do X, and everyone else calling bullshit. (And in response CMG clarifying “No, we don’t actually do that” and then also removing the companies they don’t actually work with.)

It isn’t definitively saying they don’t, but also isn’t saying that they do. You can assume the worst if you like, but that doesn’t mean the worst is actually true.

Is it possible this type of spying exists? Yes. Is it possible this is a cover up? Yes. Do we have actual data to support that? No.

Tomorrow an investigation may reveal otherwise, but for now it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Oh but he will. Trump will put all the blame on Vance. He threw him under the bus during the debate and he’ll do it again.

Vance will try to be reasonable but forgets he isn’t dealing with reasonable people. Eventually he’ll turn on Trump as a way to cozy up to “normal” Republicans. He’ll get a few TV appearances and then disappear.

When 2028 comes around he might try to run in the primary but he’ll get stomped on and be one of the first to drop out.

He’s in the Senate now and that’s where he’ll stay. Maybe he’ll get reelected, but I doubt he’ll be around much longer than that.

Because people like to connect with other people and share anecdotes about their own life. That’s human nature.

A man can say he spent the weekend with his husband camping in the woods and how it reminds them of a poem.

A woman can say her wife is picking her up after work and they’re going to a bookstore to pickup the newest book in a series.

These are innocuous statements and yet some states/people would vilify them.

I agree that is a fucking terrible stance. It’s fair to criticize them both for that stance and, especially after the election, we should all push them hard to change their stance.

It is absolutely shitty that they won’t charge until after the election (if ever). Yes. Is it fair? No. Is it likely the only chance? Yes.

I’m voting FOR Harris in the same way I was previously voting FOR Biden. Biden/Harris & Harris/Walz support policies that most closely match those policies I support.

If Trump died tomorrow I still wouldn’t support Vance or any other Republican because they support policies that I am strongly opposed to.

I would like to have more options, but realistically those are my choices.

I don’t have to agree with Harris/Walz on 100% if issues. I’m allowed to criticize them. But at the end of the day I’m voting FOR something and not just against the worst possible choice.

That’s good(?) to know. I asked because I didn’t get those results, I got stupid food, Harris/Trump stuff, kids dancing and obvious ads. Who knows with algorithm stuff how they decide to start.

Out of curiosity do you see similar results without the VPN? A well known VPN provider might already be flagged to show certain types of content.

Of course that’s all secondary since this is a problem with most of these services (and not just short form content). I don’t see a situation where we can ensure people don’t see this sort of content. Plus it would be impossible to properly categorize “good” vs “bad”. I think you’ve just got to make sure that the opposing content is available and that friends/family can help direct people. People who found their way in need to find their way out, but they can have help.

In some ways the Board being the same is a good thing, since it means they remember that they can’t try to pull this shit again.

Of course it also means they had (or supported) the stupid idea, so they’ll probably try to pull something similar again.

Really no matter what it means keep an extra eye on Unity. When it comes time to evaluate engines this incident should always show up on the con side.

I’m a tease.

Not really.

In August 2016 he said he couldn’t support Trump, https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/election-2016-adam-kinzinger-american-before-a-republican/index.html

And I don’t see him reversing that position anywhere.

Yes but PROVE IT. Define what wrong they did. That’s my point.

Take a look at the recent monopoly trial, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html

They claim that spending $18 billion per year to be the default search engine makes them monopolistic. That’s it? That’s all they got?

So the result will be Google stops paying $18 billion and device/browser manufacturers have to put up a Browser Choice dot EU type option.

Go back 10 years and put that law in place. AFAIK Apple has always defaulted to Google. Samsung probably would have sold out to Bing to be the default (although in this case Bing wouldn’t reach a monopoly, so I guess that’s ok for some reason).

I’m not saying paying to be the default didn’t help, but is that the reason they have 90% of the searches? No.

Did they do some else? Maybe. Someone should prove it and we can have an actual change.

Being a monopoly and engaging in negative monopolistic behaviors are also different things.

For example if the only two burger joints in the world were McDonalds and Burger King, and Burger King decided to replace their burgers with literal shit, actual human and animal feces, would McDonalds be a (I hope and assume) monopoly? Probably. Are they engaging in negative monopolistic behavior? Not necessarily.

Obviously, as a quick aside, fuck Google for their shitty software decisions, their cancelling of great products and their enshittification of a majority of their applications.

However simply having 90% of the market does not technically mean they have done anything wrong. You can’t say they have 90% of the market therefore they have done something illegal or have abused being a monopoly.

You have to be specific. You have to call out payment to companies to be the default. But even that isn’t quite enough because companies sold access. Can a company be at fault for buying access as the default? It was for sale. It’s a weak argument, or at least an incomplete one. You need to prove they abused their position. Or you need to make a case that the industry they are in requires additional regulation as a whole.

I say this because although it sounds like I’m defending Google I’m not. There is a difference between something feeling illegal and something being illegal. Technically, although a recent judgement would disagree with me, they haven’t done anything wrong. It feels like they have. I agree it feels like they have. But they haven’t (or there are further pending results which will prove otherwise).

I thought the same for a long time. I had a gaming PC, I had my Switch (or earlier Nintendo consoles), I was covered. Eventually my gaming PC reached the end of the road (15+ years, minor upgrades along the way.) I was happy enough without it so I decided against building a new gaming PC.

Then Baldur’s Gate 3 was announced. I knew I’d need a new gaming PC to play it. Of course alternatives like Stadia showed up at that time, but we know how that story ends, and it ends before BG3 came out.

Steam Deck truly is a savior. I can play the latest games. I can play my old games. I can emulate games.

Plus unlike Android it feels like a Linux machine underneath. I don’t say that to shame Android, but I don’t feel like I own the device. I can customize a lot, but I’m just a user. But the Steam Deck? I can open the hood if I like and it’s a Linux machine with a built in touch screen and controller. It’s my PC.

So the community (users) can move, but I just realized that when an instance shuts down the community (posts) limps on, preventing the community (posts) from actually dying and the community (users) from moving on.

For instance, if you asked me, a lemmy.world user about moviesandtv@lemmy.film I would see, https://lemmy.world/c/moviesandtv@lemmy.film

But if you ask a sh.itjust.works user they see, https://sh.itjust.works/c/moviesandtv@lemmy.film

And lemmy.ml users see, https://lemmy.ml/c/moviesandtv@lemmy.film

We all see different versions of the same community (posts).

I think https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/4619 would fix this.

Re Concentration I’m not concerned that it is as of yet a problem. However I do think it is also a larger problem for Mastodon and other user-centric platforms than it is to Lemmy and other community-cetric platforms.

If a Mastodon user wants to leave their server there are migration pains. If your server makes a controversial change, you may have to migrate. As a follower if something goes wrong I have to remember that I was following Ada & Bob, but maybe Bob now goes by Bobby.

However as a Lemmy user I can just abandon my server and be done with it. If my server makes a controversial change, I can just leave. As a community follower can watch as Star Trek Memes becomes Risa, or Risa becomes Ten Forward. The names changed completely but it’s easy to find my community again.

I use flat case most of the time, but I also try to stick to single word files so there is no case to get in the way.

I think for documents I might share like a PDF I’d use Pascal case.

In a classroom or teaching setting I will sometimes use Kebab case as I find it is the least confusing and makes it extra clear where the word division is. Similarly I avoid Dot notation since it’s confusing for folks coming from a Windows world.

And I would avoid Screaming because that’s just too loud anywhere.

I don’t know much about the UI stuff you’re talking about but welcome.

If you’re looking for an app I recommend Voyager, but I suggest you give them all a try and see what fits (Boost is a good second choice to look at).

There are many Trump supporters who don’t think Trump is racist. In the same way many Trump supporters don’t think he is at fault for Jan 6th. He didn’t literally tell his followers exactly what to do. They just happened to do exactly what he wanted then to do (until they failed).

The same is true for viewing Trump as racist. He can dog whistle all he wants. He can align himself with other racists, but he isn’t racist because he didn’t say the exact words.

You are right that for some people, him saying something gives them the freedom to say it (in their view). However for a sizable portion it will be clear proof that yes, he is racist. Not 100% mind you, cults are hard to leave, but 5%? 10%? Elections are won/lost in the margins and those are sizable margins.

If course I don’t actually want it to happen. There is enough hate in the world and we don’t need more.