smolyeet (u/smolyeet)

smolyeet commented on YouTube punishes ad-blocker users with slower videos on non-Chrome browsers androidcentral.com/apps-s... · Posted by u/josephcsible

dschuetz · 2 years ago

If I was a stakeholder in YT I would be worried about users and creators leaving the platform, because YT has become increasingly and more aggressively anti-consumer. I do not mind if the creators incorporate sponsor ads into their content, but what YT does to the user experience is just awful. Inserting multiple, low quality, loud, long unskippable ads into one video, who the heck would want to watch that?! It's clear to me that Google is pressing on to make users buy subscriptions. It's basically a dark pattern, closely resembling coersion.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

people have been using ad blockers for years, which probably prompted showing the more annoying ads. the option is use an adblocker or buy premium. if people are unwilling to do either, then just don't use the platform.

smolyeet commented on OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman openai.com/blog/openai-an... · Posted by u/davidbarker

andersa · 2 years ago

Well, you could just make a free account.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

But that’s too much work. I’d rather do nothing, and just complain about it

smolyeet commented on Privacy is priceless, but Signal is expensive signal.org/blog/signal-is... · Posted by u/mikece

olejorgenb · 2 years ago

Does this entail a 30% cut to Apple/Google?

smolyeet · 2 years ago

Does it matter. 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

smolyeet commented on New devices could change the way we measure blood pressure knowablemagazine.org/arti... · Posted by u/PaulHoule

zaptheimpaler · 2 years ago

It sounds cool but I don't think it would change much practically. I have hypertension and a BP monitor is cheap and easy to buy and use. We have plenty of data on how a measurement taken at rest correlates with CVD risk.

For the 45% of people with hypertension without a BP monitor, they probably aren't going to buy something 5-10x more expensive to do the same thing either.

Not to mention that it doesn't change any of the lifestyle or medical interventions we have to reduce BP.

I've just found the whole biohacking crowd to be generally misinformed and lacking foresight on this stuff. It's very simple - you can measure your BP in the morning as soon as you wake up for one week. If its high, you can get medicines or change lifestyle to reduce it. If you're interested in how BP changes with different activities, you could measure that quite easily too, or just look it up. Physical activity increases BP, weightlifting increases it a lot, and none of these temporary increases mean much for overall health. I don't see how getting some more data or a nice graph in Apple Health is going to change anything.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

Yeah but if uhh if I could add it to a device that I already wear and it monitors passively that’s a game changer. I’d effectively be able to have it checked more often and while I’m asleep so as someone else said I can see what might be influencing any changes over time. It’s doesn’t have to replace what works if you don’t want to but adding it to tech we already use is a good thing in the long run.

smolyeet commented on Netflix's cloud gaming service begins tests in U.S. techcrunch.com/2023/10/16... · Posted by u/andsoitis

distract8901 · 2 years ago

....why?

This horse has been beaten to a fine pulp, cloud gaming just isn't going to happen.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

It already is. And it’s actually pretty good. It’s not there for multiplayer (least to me) but single player games are absolutely fine now. Xcloud is pretty good and people say GeForce now is even better.

smolyeet commented on The Taylor Swift economy is unstoppable bbc.com/worklife/article/... · Posted by u/haunter

bazmattaz · 2 years ago

> The average ticket cost is $254 (£207)

Is this normal? That’s seems extortionate for a concert. Is this the new normal? I get that she is a superstar but a concert at this price must put it out of reach for so many young fans and fans on low incomes.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

If you’re a fan of a popular artist you should probably expect to pay this. Not sure if that’s the case here but tickets are usually more affordable at first but then they get scalped instantly. It’s most of the reason I haven’t gone to a concert in recent years

TS recently caused Ticketmaster to crash because so many people were ordering and Ticketmaster couldn’t handle it. TS is huge

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/11/taylor-s...

smolyeet commented on YouTube: Adblockers violate YouTube's terms of service old.reddit.com/r/operabro... · Posted by u/behnamoh

Kim_Bruning · 2 years ago

No. Anything that blocks adblockers does not get my support. The adblocker is there for my own comfort, safety and security. Anyone who asks me to disable it is not my friend.

Virus scanners and adblockers serve a similar purpose these days, they prevent access by malicious actors. If a service asks you to disable the virus scanner, would you do that too?

If they want me to pay for content produced by 3rd parties... sure, if they're distributing that money fairly to those parties why not? But I'd still run an adblocker.

The argument "If you don’t like ads and desire to continue using the service, it’s time to consider paying for it." doesn't make sense to me. Anytime any service has asked to be paid to avoid ads? Ads got added on later on anyway.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

What kind of mental gymnastics? You think you’re entitled to use a service with an adblocker instead of the service they offer supported by ads/subscription? So you just want to use a service for free?

smolyeet commented on iPhone 15: users of Pro and Pro Max models complain of overheating issues theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/beardyw

highwaylights · 2 years ago

What you can do as a consumer is.. not buy new iPhones?

I don't mean as like a protest or anything. I mean just don't buy your iPhones new. They don't change much anymore, you can get caught out by this or Antennagate (or any other type of issue you get to encounter as a first mover), and the changes between years are genuinely minimal now.

The iPhone came out in 2007. The iPhone 4 came out in 2010. The leap from the original iPhone to the 4 was absolutely worth buying a new device over IMHO. A lot changed in those 3 years. Not much of anything has changed in the last 6. Not really. It's still basically the iPhone X with a couple of screen size options. Yeah the chips are faster on paper, and the photos have gone from really good to better, but it's a really incremental product these days (the notch has a notch now).

A used iPhone 13 Pro Max in great condition is about $450 these days where I am.

A new 15 Pro Max is about $1200. I get that they're not the same device, but is it really 2.1x the device that the 13 is? Am I the only person that thinks about it this way?

I get that I'm no fun at parties, you don't need to tell me. I'd probably tell you to be honest, were I invited, which I rarely am.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

Idk what this has to do with the issue though. I mean sure wait on launch for bugs, but how often you upgrade a phone is irrelevant.

In the last 6 you get 5g, 120hz, usb c, more ram.

smolyeet commented on Block YouTube ads on AppleTV by decrypting and stripping ads from Profobuf ericdraken.com/pfsense-de... · Posted by u/rolph

ryaneager · 2 years ago

Likewise. My biggest tip is set your secondary DNS to something outside your networks so if your pi-hole goes down your entire network doesn’t go down you just get ads.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

There’s also nextdns which I was planning on switching to anyways

smolyeet commented on Google Maps has become an eyesore fastcompany.com/90930810/... · Posted by u/nkurz

JSavageOne · 2 years ago

Criticize Google Maps all you want, but it is easily one of the most useful apps to me, especially as someone who's been been living nomadically the last 5 years. It's kind of scary how dependent I am on this app. Anytime I need to find a restaurant, dentist, electronics store, etc. - I'm looking first on Google Maps and my life is basically dictated by the results.

I have lists like "Places to Work" which is a list of all the nice coffee shops and places I like to work out of (currently have 200). I star hotels + AirBnBs I'm staying in, and bookmark a ton of things. I rely on it for public transportation. If I could only pick 3 apps on my phone, Google Maps would definitely be one of them.

I do wish there were better alternatives and I hate being overly dependent on one company. Unfortunately the open source alternatives like OpenStreetMap don't really even compare.

smolyeet · 2 years ago

Waze is a decent alternative, if not mostly for the community driven aspect of it. Sometimes it’s too aggressive to save 1-2 minutes but it knows tolls , when they’re open, and just as accurate if not more than google maps at times