Not sure if this is the right community, but I didn't see a general one. What search engine do you use? Besides Google increasingly spying on its users, the quality of its search results seems to have gotten significantly worse over the last decade. What search engine(s) do you use?
Thank you for explaining! And now I am getting downvoted for asking an honest question, so that I can learn more, sheesh. Ignoring the fact for the moment that the Fediverse is becoming more Reddi-fied all the time... I appreciate you actually taking the time to answer.
I actually swap back and forth between Google and DDG. For things like local business hours, Image search and Maps, the former finds the better results. For a few things (that it may consider piracy?), Google refuses to find results even on page 10. For most other things, while the SEOs may not have entirely taken over, they at least have risen to an extremely annoying prominence.
e.g. try searching for the word "inspire", and rather than offer you the dictionary definition, the top hit (for me right now) is the "Inspire" sleep apnea innovation - which nowhere is labelled as an advertisement:-(. I understand that the latter company would like to subvert the normal rules of politeness & etiquette and replace my prioritization so that their name appears at the very tippy-top of the search (possibly locally, or perhaps even world-wide?), but that doesn't mean that that is what *I* wanted. Which is why more & more often these days I go to DDG first and then Google, rather than the other way around which is what I did until very recently.
But yeah, sometimes I do legit use Google search too.
Well I mean, they are at least okay with it. They are after all the ones who remained after Rexodus.
Some are actual heroes - nursing subs in particular, trying to help anyone who goes there for advice.
But most are bots and people who enjoy conversing with bots. And people who enjoy conversing with people who enjoy conversing with bots... which is perhaps the majority answer to your question.
There are a lot of nice people there, but there are far more who are not so nice. I always got so defensive there. Tbh I may be starting to get that way here too, but like 0.1% of what I experienced there.
You cannot fix them - they seem to like it that way - your only choice is to decide whether you want to hang out there or not.
Not all work - when you do it for yourself, it can be a very good thing.
Even toddlers "play" - making art, building blocks, doing routine tasks, engage in roleplay, etc. - is a form of "work", for the gratification of the one doing it rather than increasing the wealth of an abstract corporate behemoth monster.
Imagine sexing someone up, not to feed yourself but just b/c you wanted to brighten their week:-D.
There is little research on the political views of those behind the onslaught of abuse. Some surveys show that Republican officeholders are more likely to report being targeted, often from members of their own party. Research does show, however, that recent acts of political violence are more likely to be carried out by...
McCarthyism predated social media, and when we fought against rather than for it, it retreated into the shadows - for a time. Now it's back, and it won't take less effort to stop it again.
And imho, coming to the Fediverse is a great step towards that end - stepping out from the direct influence of Zuckerberg, Musk, and Huffman is an enormously crucial component. Thanks so much for the devs (backend, frontend, and apps), instance admins, community mods, and community builders/supporters that make that happen daily! And to the community members that promote kindness and acceptance even of newbie Fediverse converts who may require patience as they catch up.
Maybe with continued efforts - that will be labeled "subversive" by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene - we could vote such people out in local elections, and replace the trash with people willing to stand up for better laws that protect the People rather than enshrine protection for the police to crush moral people under their boot heels.
Humanity's closest living relatives, the Chimpanzees, live in forests. They diverged from our lineage 6.5-7.5 million years ago, and there are almost no fossils for them. Except for a statistical fluke, someone studying solely the fossil record could be excused for thinking that they never existed at all... but they do!
You can save posts, at least in the web view of Lemmy but whether a particular app has it or not I don't know. In the web view it's the star icon to the right of the reply button.
Some LGBTQ+ people even vote for conservatives, as too do black, disabled, women, other non-white "minorities" (I put in quotes b/c white people are actually the minority in the USA now, but on the other hand that fact doesn't seem to matter one bit to those who use that term the most... Edit: sorry I misremembered, it is only the under-18 crowd where that is true for now).
And these people are shocked, Shocked I tell you, SHOCKED when the conservative party eventually turns on them. I know, shocking, right?
They don't understand that the result of pyramid-thinking is by its very nature exclusive rather than inclusive (Innuendo Studios video "There's Always a Bigger Fish" + Endnote video "The Origins of Conservatism"). They haven't been excluded from it - YET! - but they will, it is only a matter of time. It's karma. What is done - and allowed to be done - to others, can easily be done to YOU.
Ironically, Jesus Himself said "Treat others as you would wish they would do for you, in fact, even better than that - and nobody gets excluded from that". Also the Bible says a bunch of other stuff - the worker deserves their wages, live & let live, and so, so much else that just flat gets ignored by the people using it as a club to beat someone with.
A large part of the very founding of the USA was due to Quakers escaping the persecution of slave owners, b/c they were so radical in their advocacy to halt slavery. And then it was Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and other faith groups of all kinds who worked to actually stop it, in the UK and the USA. Sadly they worked against others of the same religions who argued (almost) just as vociferously to continue it...
My point is that religion can do great things, if only it would DO IT. It could help ensure that the worker receives their wages, feed the homeless, take care of widows & orphans (& everyone), be kind and like visit the sick or in prison, and on and on it goes - and to the extent that religious people do these things, that is awesome! But... it takes actually reading the book that is claimed to be "holy" (e.g. "show love to one another - be ye not Karens or Dicks to one another"), and second, it takes courage to actually act upon one's convictions, rather than merely say in words how much one "believes".
Okay yeah I misremembered my terms - whiteness is on its way out, and in fact the under-18 crowd has white as a minority already, though I forgot for a moment that the rest of the age groups won't catch up until the next decade or two as the Boomers and such die off. White people tend to have fewer children than non-white people, so that's just how that works.
More important is the fact that conservative voters are in the minority, and have been for a long time. While not precisely the same thing, it is somewhat related.
However, due to awful voter turn out, they represent much closer to 50% of the population that actively votes
I realize you may not want to hear this from me after my mistake earlier, but I believe that is not true. The "popular vote" is also counted in each Presidential election, even though it does not determine anything, and the last time a Republican won that was 2004. For the last 20 years, people's votes simply aren't being counted, bc they tend to aggregate together in cities and university towns, rather than spread far out across hundreds of miles of farmland, as e.g. people in Idaho do.
If you live in an area that leans >80% one way or another, then I don't blame people for not voting, bc their votes won't affect anything whatsoever. Especially young people, who have a disproportionate hardship to "just get out and vote" - having to take time off from work (retired people don't), college students may need to drive hundreds of miles to get "home" (which even if they do "often", still has to coincide with voting time, and comes at cost of sleep, studying, homework, etc.), people with kids have to struggle with daycare, and so on.
If we truly wanted more people to vote, then as a nation we would encourage that - e.g. give everyone a break from work, have appropriately equipped (e.g. staffed) recipient stations, and/or better yet allow mail-in voting. Making votes from some particular areas "count" while those from other areas not count, is very much a feature that was designed - as the very people that did it freely admit, and continue to push forward all the time.
Put another way, voting turnouts heavily correlate with age, aka the ability to vote with greater ease.
take voting seriously
I guarantee you - bc it's simply math - that if every single liberal Democrat were to get out and vote in the next election, thus representing the popular vote by 100% of the eligible people on that one side, it still would have extremely low impact on the actual end result. What would instead have a MASSIVE impact would be a bunch of liberals moving to a state like Texas, and rather than continue to vote from San Francisco or NYC, to influence the Electoral College system from that new location where it has a chance to actually flip it from red to blue, rather than reinforce the already blue still further.
Which has been happening lately - e.g. Austin - but also, I can't blame people especially women who due to the overall lack of healthcare and toxicity of surrounding neighbors may not wish to do that.
All that said, yes overall engagement will be necessary to combat the issues facing us all - e.g. people need to step up and run for office, or else we end up getting the jokers that we currently have. But it's nowhere near as simplistic as you make it sound, like all that would be needed would be to "vote". imho at least!:-)
There is an external definition of "progressive" though, part of which is all about minorities rights. Does he really identify himself with progressivism, or does he just think that he's correct, maybe even that the still he's doing is so correct that it's beyond the scale of progressive vs. conservative philosophies?
In contrast, conservativism is all about "traditional values" and authoritarian thinking. So like a progressive may not like LGBTQ+ stuff but they will defend their right to exist, while a conservative will actively work against their existence and even to take steps to force people to conform (e.g. electroshock therapy).
On the other hand, while Russia seems to be pushing the message of conservativism hard, leaving no room for "progressive" thought, Putin himself may be more of an opportunist and simply uses people and even the whole country as a means towards his own ends of personal gratification. Which at his age is probably to leave behind a legacy that will cause him to be remembered (which will definitely happen, but probably not how he hoped!).
Setting aside whether either of us "like" progressivism - we could get into that but atm I just don't want to get distracted by it - you might be throwing together the ideas of progress-IVE with progress-ING.
Conservatism can make "progress" too - e.g. abortions are now illegal in many parts of the USA, whereas they were not before, that is a step towards the goal that the conservative Right has had for many decades now. The difference, as I understand it anyway, is that Conservatism want to "return to traditional values", whereas Liberalism wants to make up new ones, like historically LGBTQ+ were considered bad but liberals want to expand human rights to include the right of each person to choose their own sexuality. Both move in a "direction", both move "forward", into the "future", but conservatives choose their direction as the past, seeing that as good, while liberals choose... as you say, something that came out of wishful thinking, aka a fantasy, that they want to make into reality.
Where I think it gets confusing - to me at least - is when politicians mix it up to claim one thing while doing the exact opposite (or worse, pick and choose a little bit from each side). Like Hillary Clinton despite being a Democrat, was extremely like a conservative (pro-war, pro-big business, having little to no social justice components in her platform iirc, etc.), and George W. Bush despite being a Republican was very much like a liberal (pro-socialism e.g. school funding, feeding the homeless & needy, etc.).
I am no political theorist, but it looks like there is a Theory, and that is where these terms fit, and then there is the Reality, where anything goes:-P.
But anyway, yes you are correct: most parts of the world seem to be advancing towards Authoritarianism. The rise of super-corporations and the effects of globalization and automation probably made that inevitable - after all if corporations are literally more powerful than governments, then the natural reaction of a government is going to want to become stronger, to keep up. But that is progress-ING, not progress-IVE. And Russia in particular had an extremely authoritarian regime before the Bolshevik revolution, so moving away from democracy and towards an autocratic government with Putin or his successor at the helm, is "conservative", returning to traditional valuations rather than engage in the fantasy play of trying to make a democracy viable.
Which btw is why a lot of people are fleeing Russia right now, to one of those fantasy playgrounds where citizens receive more from their governments. Whether liberalism has any long-term viability remains to be seen, but in the short-term it seems quite attractive, to many people.
Aren’t they all?
Abso-fucking-lutely. Or, at least the smart ones do. But, the crucial point is, not equally so. i.e., some give more back to the People than others, i.e. some are simply better at their jobs. Putin naively believed his advisors when they told him that they would win the Ukranian territory in "3 days", and now look at what it has cost the nation? Not only does it look increasingly likely that a Russian victory is not inevitable anymore, but as more time passes the cost compounds further and such a "victory" starts to look more and more like an abysmal defeat, in the sense that what was delivered was not as promised.
A ton of people want a "strong" leader, but the hard part is that the mere appearance of strength is not the same thing as the reality of it. Same with Trump in the USA, Boris Johnson in the UK, etc., so I'm not just arbitrarily picking on Putin - as you say it's a trend progressing across the world right now. Anyway, it's not that Putin's message is bad (strength, protection, stability, order), it's that he is an opportunist who merely claims that he would, but then has actually failed to, deliver upon those promises. And again, Trump failed to deliver upon his as well (mostly), and Boris Johnson too (I mean... Brexit happened, but are people satisfied with that outcome? Polls show that most say they are not, and if they could un-do it they would, but they cannot go back in time).
To my knowledge, there has never been a nation since the American and French Revolutions that has survived as a stable autocratic country for awhile - the cat was let out of the bag, and once people realized that they did not have to bow down as slaves before an overlord, they henceforth refused to. Then again, modern democracies are extremely vulnerable to disinformation campaigns spread by modern technology so... it is not like I am trying to say that one is superior or will win out over the other - in truth I have no idea what will happen:-P - I am just pointing out some components that I do see.
Netflix has managed to annoy a good number of its users with an announcement about an upcoming update to its Windows 11 (and Windows 10) app: support for adverts and live events will be added, but the ability to download content is being taken away....
"While downloads will no longer be supported, you can continue to watch TV shows and movies offline on a supported mobile device," the Netflix document says
So essentially Windows devices are no longer "supported" wrt this particular feature.
It essentially means the Windows app will be little more than a wrapper for the Netflix website.
It's possible that the move means Netflix can save some money on licensing, which may cost extra if downloads are included – enabling users to take shows and movies around with them and watch them without an internet connection.
So once again everything devolves down to licensing - i.e. it sounds like they were pressured into this hard choice to leave those users in the cold, which they did. Probably bc the user base of Windows phones is so tiny? (Edit: bc they are discontinued, though more likely they meant the desktop - i.e. laptops - sorry if I caused any confusion).
Though that is one of the main advantages of Netflix these days, as opposed to e.g. piracy.
TLDR: Ultimately it is yet more enshittification, and while due to licensing rather than Netflix, still it is Netflix users (on Windows devices) who will bear the burden.
My advice would be to disable automatic updates and coast for a long while on the current app version, though that can be easier said than done due to multiple locations of automatic update settings. I have zero experience with Windows lately, but good luck if you want to try it!:-|
Android in the last couple versions has locked its file system down too
Really!? I'm a bit behind, but somehow this surprises me. I mean, not the intention, bc Google's motto these days is "definitely be evil", but that it had gotten this far this fast.
Anyway at a guess all you'd have to do is download whatever you want, then root, profit, then turn off root and it wouldn't even know? Plus the tons of ways that you can do things without even needing root access these days, and I haven't even mentioned yet a custom ROM. And ofc piracy, where someone else obtains the video files, e.g. ripping from a physical medium. So they will most definitely lose that flight. And in the meantime, the most honest customers are the ones who suffer.
Overall I just chalked this up to: anyone who uses Windows (or iOS) basically is at the mercy of profit-seeking behaviors. You will own nothing, and like it - or else!:-(
It probably depends on what "working" means - it won't ever stop piracy but if they can make things more difficult, then that fact alone gives them a woody.
Also people trying to manipulate the corporate ladder - "hey let's maximize our revenue stream by synergizing the... yeah just gimme a raise won't'cha?" (and since they pay themselves, they won't mind if they do... then use all their "initiatives" like this as justification for that fact). End-users aren't the "customers" anymore these days, in giant megalithic corpos - we are the product that is sold, to whoever is willing to pay.:-(
Netflix hasn't given any reason for ditching downloads on Windows: when Windows Latest asked about it they were simply directed to the relevant support document, which confirms that a new app is "coming soon", without the download option.
The fact that downloading is still available on Windows is purely bc the update hasn't rolled out yet.
They think (unproven) that this radical change might be due to the cheaper licensing options if they remove the ability to download. A cost-benefit analysis where Windows users will either take it and like it or else who cares about Windows mobile users anyway if they leave. Either way, a victory for licensing companies, or they'll spin it that way regardless.
My worry is that it will embolden them to go still yet further, making it harder on both pirates and paying customers just bc they can get away with doing so.:-(
I don't see that feature listed at https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.jellyfin.mobile/? I have never used Jellyfin though - it looks quite awesome! - and so know nothing about it, I mention here to say that it might either depend on how you install it or perhaps it's a plugin.
I presumed it meant existing ones, even if they are no longer making new ones. But yeah, I see you are right, it does seem about the desktop, or presumably meaning laptops that could go offline.
I'm sorry to hear of your loss:-(. Ironically, mobile devices using iOS and Android look to still allow downloading.
Is it possible to simply not update the Netflix app on your laptop?
It really is sad when they push people to use piracy methods, even for things that we would have had access to using totally legal means, but which they choose to no longer support:-(. e.g. in the olden days, it was legal to rip a copy of a CD or DVD for your own purposes, so long as you did not distribute it and thereby prevent a sale to keep the industry running. Whereas by no longer allowing even temporary downloads, Netflix is keeping their same price but now delivering less features in return, which may lose them several customers.
That refers to 8.1 Update 2 (8.10.15148.160), but down under Versions, it mentions an NT 10.0 with an EoL date of January 14, 2020 and the footnote says:
Originally scheduled on December 10, 2019, but delayed following one more security update due to the release of iOS 13.3. Supported until January 10, 2023 via the paid Extended Security Updates service.
And even then people could still hold onto their old phones (though I'm not sure if Windows allows bootloader unlocking and custom ROMs as readily as Android). I keep mine until the battery gives out, many years after purchase - even if only as a media device after removing the SIM, like to control casting to my TV. 8 years is actually normal for me.
Anyway, you are right I bet they were referring more to laptops with a desktop Windows OS.
That's why they will lose... but the authoritarians still keep trying, it's just how they are built. They really aren't intelligent enough to understand any other way, and those few who might seem not to care, being greedy enough to get what they can while they can, letting others deal with the fallout.
What if a malicious app decides to place child pornography or a crypto mining whatever onto your device - but since its space is "private", can unethical people now legally do that, and simply blame that Google wouldn't let them see into the space, hence they "did not know that it was there"? This would seem to open the door to so very many problematic issues...
On the other hand this seems related solely to "external" storage - I haven't used external storage on an Android for... actually I've never used it iirc. For this Netflix case, would they disallow downloading onto your device unless you have an external SIM? Also, if you used external storage, then how da fuq could they control you popping that external storage into some other device entirely, like a rooted device with a custom ROM!? It would have made so much more sense for internal storage... or possibly I am missing something there.
In any case, that sucks that Google seems more and more to be buying into the "walled garden" philosophy - you know, "for your convenience", aka selling YOU as the product to the investor class.:-(
A quick search seems to suggest there is no known way around this, except to use an older Android OS:-(. I would hope that this would absolutely wake people up to realize why Google cannot be trusted - as if what happened to searching wasn't enough on its own.
But these rules only seem to apply to apps that follow the rules. Or perhaps on an OS that does so. Hence a custom ROM would be able to bypass it, or connecting the external storage to a computer via USB or some such? At which point it seems needlessly restrictive. But, I am no expert, and it would indeed increase security for a naive user, so likely that's what they are aiming at.
A super-long time ago I got a Nexus, b/c they were awesome, and Google was still thought of as being somewhat awesome for offering those.
Nowadays I have been dreading the thought of a Pixel - I'd more likely get a Fairphone I think - but whatever I get, it's sad to think that a custom ROM is probably going to have to be the default for so many people:-(.
I also have a Samsung Galaxy, a S22, and kinda regret it. Somehow it's always hot, like just having the screen on is enough to make it hot, and it literally hurts my fingers after a few minutes. Maybe it's my fault somehow, but I definitely researched a lot before buying and all the text and video reviewers swore that the cooling was adequate. I'm so done with big expensive phones.:-( One day I may buy a cheapie and when I have an adequate daily driver play around to see what a custom ROM could do to improve the experience. Basically I miss my Nexus is what I guess I am saying:-).
No - I never created a Samsung account, so I am much to blame for my phone's lack of performance, though at the same time I also blame it for not creating that right from out of the box, for such an expensive device:-).
What bothers me the most about that is how they use double-speak to try to have it both ways - like Samsungs are both supposed to be "great", and also those features are claimed to be "optional", but when you try to go without an account... suddenly you find that much of the phone isn't "great" anymore:-(.
Also, why not allow downloading of such a 100% "free" app without needing an account?
Also, why need an app at all to stop the phone from getting hot just from holding it in your hands and trying to surf the F-ing web with it!? I mean, even if I had an account, that's still effort and more importantly attention I have to expend to make the phone minimally viable...
I'm more used to Apple product I suppose, which truly do "just work" right out of the box. Or replacing the OS on an Android phone, so trying to use it like the former when I clearly should do the latter I guess is my fault. But it also does not absolve them from gatekeeping their product behind a "store" concept, which they clearly are trying to suck me in with the promise of a few freebies and then hope that I stick around to purchase more and more products. The commercialization of it all just turns my stomach.:-(
In any case, thanks for the links! If I take the time to register in the store those sound helpful.
Well, websites can still be made, so not quite the same, but I get what you mean:-).
And similarly, a ton of written material was lost e.g. when a library was burned - often unique or rare material subsequently lost in other ways, so very much the same process.
Singles ( lemmy.world )
voltage rule ( lemmy.world )
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15608336
What search engine do you use?
Not sure if this is the right community, but I didn't see a general one. What search engine do you use? Besides Google increasingly spying on its users, the quality of its search results seems to have gotten significantly worse over the last decade. What search engine(s) do you use?
What is phycologically wrong Reddit's community? ( lemmy.ml )
Different takes I've seen on sex work ( lemmy.world )
‘We’ll See You at Your House:’ How Fear and Menace Are Transforming Politics ( www.nytimes.com )
There is little research on the political views of those behind the onslaught of abuse. Some surveys show that Republican officeholders are more likely to report being targeted, often from members of their own party. Research does show, however, that recent acts of political violence are more likely to be carried out by...
✨✨✨ ( ani.social )
Fossils ( mander.xyz )
Lemmy apps that can swipe to next post?
I have been using Eternity mainly because I can swipe between posts in post view. But the development seems to have stopped/slowed down....
Students Show Up to Graduation, Find Commencement Speaker Is an AI Robot ( futurism.com )
Dead Florida dolphin was infected with highly pathogenic bird flu ( www.wfla.com )
[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]
Dots connected ( lemmy.world )
Netflix Windows app is set to remove its downloads feature, while introducing ads ( www.techradar.com )
Netflix has managed to annoy a good number of its users with an announcement about an upcoming update to its Windows 11 (and Windows 10) app: support for adverts and live events will be added, but the ability to download content is being taken away....
Online Content Is Disappearing ( www.pewresearch.org )
cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/25166889