Smoking cigarettes

Expiration dates on packaged food are almost always about how enjoyable the food is to eat, not safety. Donating expired packaged food with legal protection from liability would be good for the world.

The headline is a little misleading. The actual ruling is that police can obtain warrants to install surveillance malware on phones when they have evidence the owner is using it to communicate about crimes.

Locked bootloaders

From what I can tell, all the karma thresholds are dynamic and probably only knowable by admins. If nearly 1000 isn’t enough to avoid rate limiting then they sound pretty aggressive.

From my perspective HN’s approach seems to do pretty well at mitigating bad behavior, but might be a little too hard on newcomers and casual users.

Low-karma accounts are rate-limited. I don’t know what the threshold is, but that goes away after you gain some karma.

What killed it?

I don’t think there’s a single correct size for a phone. Different people want different things; many want huge phones with screens over 7" while some of us think the Pixel 4a is too big.

My phone got an update on July 18. LineageOS is great.

That’s only “tiny” because phones today are huge. The Pixel 4a, which passes for small today at 144x69mm has a 3140 mAh battery.

The Jelly Max is 129x63mm, smaller than the iPhone 12 Mini’s 132x64mm. That phone has a 2227 mAh battery.

The 4000 mAh battery is probably a contributing factor. I’d probably buy this with a smaller battery, assuming the bootloader is easily unlockable.

Wait… there’s no headphone jack? Alright, keeping my Pixel 4a for another year.

Is it? Android already disables sideloading by default, requires each source to ask for permission, and prompts the user before each install. How does Samsung’s additional setting improve security?

The document states that Microsoft is obligated to make available its APIs in its Windows Client and Server operating systems that are used by its security products to third-party security software makers.

The document does not, however say those APIs have to exist. Microsoft could eliminate them for its own security products and then there would be no issue.

There are some very cute cobras.

I wish this stuff was a little more mainstream. Part of it is simply self-interest: there would be more unlockable devices and fewer app developers trying to block their apps from running on third-party ROMs if more people ran them.

Part of it is I think that would be a better world. Big tech would have a bit less power. Devices would last longer.

I think the main appeal is that it would auto-delete the nudes you send to someone you don’t quite trust. I’m too sober to contemplate why you’d send nudes to someone you don’t quite trust, but I know it’s a thing.

Of course, once it’s on someone else’s device, Snapchat can’t really guarantee they haven’t kept a copy. From what I’ve read about the implementation, it doesn’t even try very hard. The fact that you can’t trust the client is basic network security.

Hate is a strong word.

I prefer to avoid their services due to privacy, and because over the long term, they’re unreliable. Any other for-profit corporation that tries to offer a bunch of free SASS products is going to end up with privacy issues as well; knowing the incentives lets us predict the outcome.

I’m keeping my Pixel 4a as long as I possibly can though.

A power supply, the thing that gets plugged into AC mains power and outputs some sort of DC (usually USB now) to power electronics is not a “charger”. It (usually) doesn’t know anything about charging batteries, and connecting its output directly to a Li-ion battery would lead to an explosion. The charger is integrated into the device receiving that power.

“Portable battery” is a terrible term to describe a USB powerbank. Thousands of battery types are portable, but don’t have USB ports or output exactly the right voltage. Some powerbanks are sold without batteries.

Anyone using Windows, but not CrowdStrike was also unaffected. CrowdStrike had released crashy updates for Linux before.

If an update to the proprietary Nvidia driver causes Linux to crash, that’s an Nvidia problem, not a Linux problem.

Attempted crimes require intent, so there is no attempt for unintentional crimes like manslaughter.

Most US states have a crime for any sort of nonconsensual physical contact, usually including intentionally expelling any bodily fluid onto another person, which deliberately coughing at someone could do. It may be called assault, battery, or harassment. Exposing someone to undue risk of harm is also often a crime with a name like “reckless endangerment”.