And windows being covered with bricks for tax reasons.
Daylight Robbery [1]
[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43805741-daylight-robber...
Readit Newsmandibles commented on Canon wants us to pay for using our own camera as a webcam romanzipp.com/blog/no-you... · Posted by u/romanzipp
mandibles commented on Canon wants us to pay for using our own camera as a webcam romanzipp.com/blog/no-you... · Posted by u/romanzipp
I also discovered that I couldn't use my Canon SLR to record more than 30 minutes of video continuously.
The problem however wasn't Canon, but that I lived in a region (EU) that would have imposed a customs tariff on cameras that could do that, but by keeping it under that, the camera would be classed as a 'stills' camera and so was therefore exempt.
Admittedly this is different from the case in the article - but it would appear that owning something that could physically do what you want it to is only half the battle for numerous reasons, and in this case it would have been my government demanding extra money to 'unlock' this functionality.
Taxes Rule Everything Around Me
mandibles commented on Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable? newsletter.goodtechthings... · Posted by u/forrestbrazeal
Schools are the place most people experience physical violence in their entire lives.
mandibles commented on Sonos CEO steps down after app update debacle reuters.com/business/reta... · Posted by u/saaaaaam
It's the story of good hardware but bad software all over again.
I always wondered why except for Apple nobody gets this right. I know, it's somewhat totally different, but man, it surely can't be that hard (especially not effing 30 million bucks hard).
Luckily I only use my Sonos IKEA lamp only with Air Play, but the few times I have to use their app? Bonkers. Absolutely trash.
Most hardware shops don't understand that the software is also the product.
mandibles commented on Sonos CEO steps down after app update debacle reuters.com/business/reta... · Posted by u/saaaaaam
FWIW there are several third-party mobile applications that work just fine to operate Sonos equipment.
The speakers expose a few SOAP-based APIs to any clients on the LAN. Those allow for track control, grouping, etc. They don't allow adding new music services, but they can do the vast majority of daily interaction. These APIs continue to work nearly flawlessly even for my Play:1 devices that are 10 years old.
Streaming via AirPlay is indeed hit-or-miss, but it hasn't gotten worse in the past couple years.
I control my Sonos from a jQuery-based web application I wrote nearly 10 years ago that runs on a raspberry pi in my closet. I have not had to change anything in several years, and I use my 15+device Sonos system all the time.
The new app is indeed a dumpster fire. Somehow the company managed to make their first-party application worse than any of the third-party applications.
Any links to good third-party apps?
mandibles commented on Sonos CEO steps down after app update debacle reuters.com/business/reta... · Posted by u/saaaaaam
It's less the app, more the business decision to tell people who had spent thousands and thousands of dollars on elaborate sound systems to go throw it all in the trash and start over, all at once.
Even Apple has never been that bad. They drop support for things over time but even their roughest transitions (x86, Apple Silicon) have come with extensive day 1 support for previous functionality.
Are there any projects working on open protocols for digital audio distribution? Any chance manufacturers opt into open protocols?
mandibles commented on I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled linkedin.com/posts/jdkaim... · Posted by u/jdkaim
I've spent quite a bit of time in academia and was going to post something similar. Universities, no matter how great, are filled to the brim with petty bureaucrats just itching to exert whatever meager power they wield over someone whenever they get the chance.
> So be loud, but polite.
Fully agree. In academia problems don't get fixed until it's more annoying to not fix it. The more attention this gets the more likely a petty bureaucrat above the one responsible for this will realize their day just significantly more annoying and will likely squash it quickly and quietly.
The conflict is so intense because the stakes are so low.
Only a true Texan can tell you the difference between "y'all" and "all y'all".
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43805741-daylight-robber...